A Fierce Flurry of Moves, but the Damage Barely Scratched the Surface

Hagoromo stepped out of the Hokage Building and looked up. The sunlight was just right, bright and beautiful.

After two days of rushing about, even Hagoromo felt a little tired.

He hurried home, took a nice, relaxing bath, then got his lesson materials and ninja tool pouch in order.

After getting dressed, he turned and headed straight for the Ninja Academy.

At the Ninja Academy, in Naruto's classroom.

Though class had yet to start, most of the students had already arrived.

"Shikamaru, do you think the teacher will make it back in time?" Naruto, who was sitting beside him, couldn't resist asking Shikamaru yet again.

Shikamaru rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and said helplessly:

"Naruto, you've asked me at least five times already. I don't know either. You can never be sure how long a mission will take."

"Besides, class is about to start. Can't you go back to your seat?"

As he spoke, Shikamaru pointed to an empty seat nearby. Naruto, meanwhile, had squeezed himself in between Shikamaru and Choji.

Choji didn't seem to mind at all. He held a bag of potato chips and munched away, crunching noisily.

"The bell hasn't rung yet, has it? I can just go back when it does." Naruto spread his hands, paying Shikamaru no mind.

"Speaking of which, when did you guys get so close?"

Ino, who sat in front of Shikamaru, turned around and looked at the three of them in puzzlement.

Choji, who had been happily munching away, didn't react much to the question, but Shikamaru's dead-fish-eyed expression changed.

Oh no!

Ino-Shika-Cho were a unit, but he'd forgotten all about Ino Yamanaka.

Shikamaru scratched his temple and thought carefully back to that morning.

His dad had said something about inviting Ino along too, hadn't he?

Oof—

If Uncle Yamanaka finds out, won't both of them give me a beating?!

"Ino, I need to talk to you about something after school."

Shikamaru was silent for a long time before he finally spoke.

"Huh?" Ino was speechless. She'd waited all that time just for an answer like that.

Just as she was about to ask what he meant, a voice rang out from the classroom door.

"Class is about to start! Take your seats!"

Hagoromo walked in with a smile. When he saw that Naruto still hadn't returned to his seat, he spoke up.

"Yes, sir!"

Now that he'd finally seen his teacher, Naruto was satisfied. He got right up and returned to his seat.

"Another week has passed, everyone. Today, we'll be covering the theory behind the Three Basic Techniques."

With that, Hagoromo opened the textbook and began the lesson.

As far as the students in class one were concerned, Hagoromo's teaching made them forget all about when class was supposed to end.

They wished Hagoromo would talk a little longer. After all, none of the other teachers could make their lessons nearly as interesting.

Before long, the whole morning had passed.

Hagoromo had also finished covering some of the key points about the Three Basic Techniques.

[Lesson complete. Calculating results]

[Overall evaluation: A+]

[Obtained one set of the Physique Training Method]

In an instant, numerous techniques for strengthening the body appeared in Hagoromo's mind, along with medicinal baths and other methods of enhancement.

"Physique Training Method? This would be pretty suitable for Choji." Hagoromo skimmed through it and nodded to himself.

"No, wait. With the medicinal bath recipes, all my students could use it."

Thinking of some of the medicinal bath recipes, Hagoromo felt that perhaps he could give them to Shikamaru and the others to use as well.

Besides, the Nara Clan had private clan land where they grew medicinal herbs.

And the Akimichi Clan seemed to have a pharmaceutical workshop too.

He could give the recipes to Shikamaru and the others in exchange for an allocation of medicinal baths. Afterward, both Naruto and his other students could use them.

As for keeping the recipes to himself, forget it. Leaving aside the problem of finding the herbs in them,

Shikamaru and Choji were both his students now.

The Nara and Akimichi clans wouldn't do anything too excessive.

Besides, if a medicinal bath could show him what some people were really like, that might not be a bad thing either.

After school that afternoon, Hagoromo took Naruto and Choji to the small training ground where they always practiced.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, had said he would come over later.

"Hey, hey, Hagoromo-sensei, can you help me figure out why I can never make this Ninjutsu as powerful as yours?"

The moment they arrived at the training ground, Naruto stuck close to Hagoromo and wouldn't stop talking.

"Ninjutsu? You mean the Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique?"

It took Hagoromo a good while to understand which one Naruto meant.

"That's right, sensei. I can use it now, but I only get two or three wind blades, and they're really weak."

Although Naruto had learned the Ninjutsu, he could never seem to make it as powerful as Hagoromo's.

At most, he could use some small trees for target practice.

"Try it. Let me have a look," Hagoromo said.

"Okay, sensei!" Naruto immediately put down his schoolbag, ran to one side, and began forming Hand Seals with great vigor.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

Once Naruto finished his Hand Seals, several tiny wind blades shot from his mouth.

The wind blades lightly scraped the wooden post standing in the training ground, leaving a few marks.

"See, Hagoromo-sensei? That's what I mean."

Looking helpless, Naruto pointed to the wooden post, which his Ninjutsu had scraped and slightly damaged.

A fierce flurry of moves, but the damage barely scratched the surface.

"Naruto, I think you're already amazing for learning it at all right now~"

Choji thought that, at their age, Naruto was already impressive for learning a Ninjutsu.

"Choji, that's different. You've seen that show-off Sasuke, haven't you? He can make his Great Fireball this big."

As Naruto spoke, he held out his hands, spreading them farther and farther apart.

Hearing that, Hagoromo finally understood why Naruto was so fixated on the power of his Ninjutsu.

He had seen Sasuke practicing the Great Fireball.

"Naruto, I'll use it once. Watch closely and see how it differs from yours."

As he spoke, Hagoromo quickly formed Hand Seals.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

After completing the Hand Seals, Hagoromo gathered a massive amount of Chakra. Just as he was about to spit it out, he transformed all of it through Nature Transformation into sharp wind blades.

A dozen or so wind blades swept toward the wooden post like sickles.

In an instant, the post standing in the training ground was like a battered scarecrow under the force of those wind blades.

It fell apart completely, bursting into pieces.

The wind blades' remaining force carried wood chips across the entire training ground.

"Whoa... amazing!"

Naruto and Choji stared blankly at the wood chips falling from the sky.

The voice exclaiming in admiration belonged to a little girl. Hagoromo turned to look.

Shikamaru was covering his face helplessly, while Ino stood beside him, gazing at Hagoromo with an expression of admiration.

Huh? Why does this scene somehow look familiar?