Takeshi narrowed his eyes at Jiraiya, feeling a prickling sense of suspicion. 'Minato wants to talk to me? That doesn't sound right!' He studied Jiraiya's expression, looking for any crack in his confident façade, but Jiraiya's face remained unyielding, betraying nothing.
'Well, maybe he's telling the truth,' Takeshi thought begrudgingly. 'Let's go see what Minato's up to. If Obito and Kakashi are around, I might even manage to earn a few points.' Points, after all, were always on his mind. Despite his current prosperity, Takeshi wasn't one to forget his past struggles—or the resourceful habits that got him through them.
'A wise cat never forgets its roots,' Takeshi reminded himself, adjusting his posture with a sense of feline pride. 'And neither should hoomans, although they often do.' Takeshi would not fall into that trap.
Takeshi, not being such a cat, decided that when he met Obito and Kakashi, he must show them care he had not given while he was away on mission.
He didn't expect them to welcome him back with open arms, of course; that was beneath a cat of his rank. But for the sake of his precious points, he would endure being shameless like hoomans, otherwise, there would be no points.
Jiraiya just waited and watched for Takeshi to leave his tent, because he knew he couldn't conduct his work with this mischievous cat nearby.
As he exited his tent, Takeshi caught Jiraiya watching him with a mixture of amusement and relief, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment to resume his duties in peace. Jiraiya coughed lightly and glanced at Gekko Naoki, who had been stationed nearby.
"Naoki, I know this mission has been grueling," Jiraiya said with a note of genuine respect. "You and Takeshi have done great work. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise, so don't underestimate yourself."
Naoki nodded and inclined his head. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama. Takeshi truly is an incredible ally. I'm just glad to be a part of the mission."
Jiraiya nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Good to hear. Cooperation makes everything easier." He sighed, his thoughts shifting as he added, 'Unlike Kakashi, that kid...'
Thinking of Kakashi, Jiraiya's expression darkened slightly. 'Another Konoha genius,' he thought with mixed emotions. Kakashi possessed talent on par with Takeshi's, but the similarities ended there.
The same talent, the same unpopularity, but Kakashi's situation is much more serious than Takeshi.
While Takeshi could occasionally be convinced to show a softer side, Kakashi's reputation was marred by his unyielding adherence to the mission, even if it meant betraying comrades during difficult times to complete the mission.
It was a source of concern, especially for Minato, who had never dealt with such challenges before. Having taken on the role of a teacher, he now had to manage a team that included not only a difficult genius but also a handful of other, sometimes problematic, students.
Yet Kakashi's issues with teamwork were mostly an outsider's perspective. Within Minato's squad, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin formed a relatively balanced team. Rin, though occasionally saddled with her slightly rebellious feline companion, managed to keep the group steady.
Because Obito listens to Rin, Kakashi is often supported by Takeshi, and Rin is a sensible and dependable teammate, which means Minato only needs to focus on Takeshi, making things relatively straightforward for him.
Her grounded presence provided the glue that held the team together; Obito was deeply loyal to her, while Kakashi, though reserved, often found himself nudged along by Takeshi's subtle encouragements.
With Takeshi off on missions recently, Minato had turned his attention more toward guiding Kakashi and Obito—an endeavor that had its own challenges but was, for the moment, manageable.
When not on a mission, Kakashi is easier to manage.
Takeshi, for his part, had little trouble locating Team 7. He found them clustered in a secluded corner of the camp, inside a large tent that, judging by its layout, had some kind of hidden underground section. Not surprisingly, it was warded by a barrier, likely to keep out any uninvited guests.
'What are they up to in there?' Takeshi wondered, momentarily unsure. After a moment's hesitation, he confirmed Rin's chakra signature inside and approached the tent with care.
The atmosphere within was vastly different from the ambience of the infamous "Friendly Chat Room" in Yamanaka Inoichi's tent. This underground room, Takeshi noted with relief, was much simpler—dug into the earth and lined with basic barriers rather than dark, unsettling shadows.
No sooner had he entered the barrier than Minato's head snapped toward the door, alert.
"What is it, Sensei?" Obito asked, turning with a curious expression, as without proper source of light he could only see dark shadow.
"Nothing," Minato replied, smiling faintly. "It's just Takeshi. I was waiting for him to make his appearance, although I thought he'd come in using the Flying Thunder God technique."
"He can really use that?" Kakashi's skeptical tone was sharp. Unlike Obito and Rin, he knew precisely why Minato had asked them to meet here today. It seemed absurd that a cat could master such a high-level jutsu.
Minato gave a gentle laugh. "That's what everyone said about me too. But with enough practice and a little luck, anything is possible." He smiled at them warmly. "And today, I'd like to teach you all a special version of the Flying Thunder God technique—a group version I developed. It's called the Flying Thunder Formation Jutsu, and it requires three people working together to synchronize."
But it is quite difficult to learn. At least so far, he and Jiraiya have tried to teach it to several ninjas, but none of them could learn it, so it is just a matter of luck.
"Meow, why did you call me over here?"
"For now Come inside."
Takeshi walked up to them and saw Minato and the other three little ones kneeling, with a special kunai on the table.
'What's this for?' Takeshi pondered for a moment, followed by a moment of horror— 'Could it be that someone knows about my ability to use Flying Thunder God?...' he paused before shaking his head, 'No! Don't panic, if I that had been found out, there would be no need to call others over, there must be another reason.'
Takeshi panicked for a moment, but soon calmed down.
Overthinking would only make this situation worse, Instead, he should appear to be calm and composed.
So, Takeshi jumped onto the table without any nervousness.
"Meow?"
After Takeshi entered, Minato started talking, "I have created a space-time ninjutsu that allows instant teleportation. You should know this. So now..."
"Sensei, are you going to teach us this jutsu?" Obito's eyes widened with excitement, and he jumped to his feet. Minato nodded, and Obito let out a gleeful shout, accidentally smacking his head on the ceiling beams in his excitement. He staggered, rubbing his head while Kakashi rolled his eyes.
'Good luck with that loser,' Kakashi muttered, a tinge of derision in his voice. 'This is a complex technique. I doubt you'll even understand half of it.'
"Damnit Kakashi, don't look down on me, I am a genius who has unlocked two tomoe sharingan!", Despite the headache Obito rushed to defend himself from the verbal attack.
"Don't argue unnecessarily, listen to the Sensei, Takeshi..." Rin tried to calm them down, but seeing them ignoring her, she called out Takeshi.
"Meow~." Takeshi nodded, as he enlarged paws and smacked Kakashi and Obito directly.
They quieted down instantly, scowling at the smug-looking cat. But they knew better than to argue. Even as a mere Special Jonin, Takeshi's prowess was evident—and on top of that, Minato was unlikely to step in to protect them from their feline enforcer.
Minato's approving nod was subtle. 'Perfect,' he thought. 'That's exactly why I wanted Takeshi to join us.'
With it, Kakashi and Obito's unanimous empathy for eachother soared straight, otherwise, if they didn't focus, they might not be able to master the Flying Thunder Formation jutsu.
"The Flying Thunder Formation Jutsu is a combination of the Flying Thunder God jutsu and the Reverse Summoning Array that I came up with. The effect is that the three of people can teleport the person in the middle of formation." Minato explained.
"Sensei."
Obito immediately raised his hand—he was not so obedient at ordinary times, but just now Rin previous words and Takeshi taking action, so he learned his lesson.
"Ask."
"If we can only send the person in the middle, then aren't we still doomed?"
Obito has been coveting the Flying Thunder God for a long time. The teleportation allows for is phenomenal mobility, it is even more powerful when used in conjunction with other Jutsus, and the most important thing is that it look so cool! 'I bet Rin would find me cool if I could learn it!'
As a result, after listening he felt abit disappointed, that this is a jutsu to teleport others...
"Stupid, if we can master it, we can directly send the senior ninja to the enemy's rear during the battle. This is a ninjutsu with great strategic significance." Kakashi scolded mercilessly.
"Bakashi! Who are you-"
"Meow!" Takeshi called out, and Obito's shouting stopped abruptly.
No wonder Minato had to add a few barriers. With Obito's voice, even without the barriers, everyone in the camp would know that they were learning Flying Thunder God.
"As Kakashi said, this jutsu has a high strategic significance, so Jiraiya Sensei and I have been selecting people to train with recently, but unfortunately, no one has been able to learn it so far." The method required an understanding of spatial perception and extreme chakra control, skills that most ninjas didn't possess. Minato pushed a special kunai forward as he began to outline the technical principles behind his version of the Flying Thunder God.
Kakashi focused intently, his eyes narrowing as he tried to absorb the information. Minato's explanations were meticulous, yet the complexity of the technique was daunting.
Despite Kakashi focusing for whole lecture, he would barely comprehend 1% of content.
Insulting Obito's low intelligence can wait, but his current state is like Takeshi felt like being thrown headfirst into advanced mathematics—a collection of symbols and terms he recognized individually but struggled to understand as a whole.
Beside him, Obito was completely lost, his eyes glazed as he tried to follow the instructions. Rin seemed to fare only slightly better, her brow furrowed as she took careful notes, but the overwhelming complexity was evident on her face as well.
'It is really difficult!' Three of them sighed, Takeshi also joined along sighing in his heart. The version given by the system only required to put the spatial marking using his paws and how to teleport to it, without involving the background knowledge.
Now listening to Minato's analysis, he knew that it is so complicated.
Fortunately, he has the system. Otherwise, in his situation, he would've had to say goodbye to Flying Thunder God.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. The mark is the most important part of Flying Thunder God. I would find it strange if you can understand it instantly. However, if you want to train the Flying Thunder Formation Jutsu, you must learn to sense the Flying Thunder God mark, which is also my next focus."
Minato then explained the so-called "trick".
Takeshi listened carefully on the side, but even though he knew how to use Flying Thunder God and putting spatial markings , he still didn't understand it... But there was one thing he understood.
Although he didn't know how much Minato's "sensing technique" had been developed, it seems low grade version compared to his, the spatial marking method given to him by the system had been optimized.
Atleast that's Takeshi's understanding.
Takeshi is feeling quite happy. If it weren't for the help of the system, he would not be able to learn even this low grade version. It's too difficult!
It's hard to imagine how Tobirama Senju created it. He is worthy of being the master of forbidden jutsu's in Naruto-verse.
As Minato kept trying to explain to them repeatedly, even giving demonstration, but the eyes of the three students were just glazed without any change.
'What a familiar scene!' Takeshi couldn't help but sigh with emotion, and the memories in his past life suddenly surged out. When he was studying advanced mathematics, he was like them staring at the blackboard. After couple classes, that lecture became his nap time.
But these three cannot even act distracted because Minato's full focus is on them, and for fear that they would miss a word and completely miss it.
Takeshi felt that it was time for him to save these kids. With a dramatic flair, Takeshi smacked his paw on the table, embedding a spatial marking with ease. "Meow!" he announced confidently.
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