Jiraiya Takes a Disciple

"Soji, you're back."

The moment he got home after school, Hyuga Kumokawa called out to Soji, who was about to head into the yard to train.

Recently, busy with preparations for the war, Hyuga Kumokawa had arranged for clan members to pick Soji up from school every day. He was no longer as free as he had been at the start of the school year.

"Yeah, Grandpa. Is something wrong?"

Soji stopped and turned to Hyuga Kumokawa.

"I heard all about what happened at school today. What do you think about it?"

"???"

Soji was full of question marks. What was he supposed to think?

If he had any thoughts, it was that he was happy!

Everyone's attention was finally no longer focused entirely on him. How could he not be happy?

"Don't worry, Grandpa. I'm fine."

Still, Soji understood what Hyuga Kumokawa was worried about and answered calmly.

"That's good."

Seeing that his grandson did not seem to be putting on a brave face, Hyuga Kumokawa finally let go of the worry he had been carrying.

He had been afraid Soji would not be able to handle the sudden disparity, which was why he had hurried home as soon as he finished arranging his work for the day.

Before he left, the Clan Head had even specifically reminded him to properly talk Soji through it.

Now, it seemed Soji was in even better condition than either he or the Clan Head had expected.

"Then, Grandpa, I'll go train first."

"Mm, go on."

After their usual exchange, grandfather and grandson went their separate ways, and Soji headed into the yard to train on his own.

As he grew older and time passed, Soji had become quite proficient with the Gentle Fist's Thirty-Two Palms. As for the subsequent Sixty-Four Palms, he had long since learned the training method from his grandfather.

All he needed to do now was practice diligently step by step. Mastering the Sixty-Four Palms would come naturally.

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, ha!"

"Bang!" "Ah!"

"Phew... it seems Minato affected me more than I appeared to let on."

After forcibly performing the Gentle Fist's Sixty-Four Palms and suffering a backlash, Soji gradually calmed down and thought to himself.

He had only just become proficient with the Thirty-Two Palms, yet he had tried to make a huge leap and master the Sixty-Four Palms in one go. Soji knew he had been too hasty.

According to the script Soji had laid out for himself, he was supposed to master the Sixty-Four Palms next year.

Now, both his arms were bright red from forcibly using a move he had not yet mastered. That was the consequence of Chakra flowing backward.

He had not intended to compete with the Child of Destiny's father, but young people had their hot-blooded moments. It was normal to get stubborn once in a while.

If he could stay rational about everything, what difference would there be between him and an old man?

All that outward calm, all that inner composure—it was all an act!

Soji knew that over the past year, he had put in more effort than ninety-nine percent of people. Yet now he had been easily surpassed. How could he possibly feel good about that?

"No, I need to find a chance to beat Minato up. If this goes on, I might not get another chance in the future!"

His arms injured and ointment applied, Soji lay on his bed and pondered seriously.

When the new era arrived, he could proudly say, "I beat up the Fourth Hokage when I was a kid."

Or, "Naruto, I beat up your dad when I was a kid!"

Meanwhile, after enjoying the feeling of surpassing a genius, Minato returned home and happily fell asleep.

However, it probably was not a good dream, judging by his furrowed brow.

In his dream, Soji was beating him senseless.

The next day, Minato woke up groggily.

"Why would I have a dream like that? And why would Soji beat me up?" Shaking his head helplessly, Minato washed up and prepared to leave for school.

For Minato, who had been without parents since childhood, going to and from school alone was normal, even on the eve of an impending war.

"Hey, kid. I can tell from your extraordinary bones that you're a martial arts prodigy seen only once in a century. So, how about becoming my disciple?"

Not long after Minato left home, a white-haired young man stopped him.

"Huh? Mister, who are you? Sorry, but I'm going to be late for school."

Faced with this oddly dressed, white-haired strange uncle, Minato's first instinct was to be on guard.

"What? M-M-Mister? Do I look that old? I'm not even twenty yet!"

This white-haired young man whom Minato had called mister was none other than Jiraiya.

After a carefree night, Jiraiya woke up early in the morning and finally remembered what he had forgotten the day before.

So he rushed to Minato's house without stopping. The moment he arrived at the door, he saw the little fellow running out in a hurry.

Wanting to put on the airs of an expert, he had opened with those words.

But Jiraiya had not expected this little fellow to be so vigilant. He had barely started speaking when the other party already seemed ready to run.

That would not do. If Jiraiya had set his eyes on a disciple, then even if the boy ran to the ends of the earth, he would drag him back.

After politely declining the strange uncle, Minato ran all the way toward the school and soon put the matter out of his mind.

Yet, perhaps it was just an illusion, but the road to school seemed unusually long today.

After running for another ten minutes or so, Minato realized he still had not seen the school gates.

If he still did not realize he had fallen under a genjutsu at this point, then he might as well go home and sleep.

Stopping, Minato took a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and warily scanned his surroundings.

Around him was still the bustling street, with shop owners calling out from the roadside stores.

Yet cold sweat was pouring down Minato's forehead. He had unknowingly fallen under a genjutsu, and the illusion had perfectly overlapped with reality. If he had not been unable to reach the school, he would never have realized he was trapped in a genjutsu.

Who was it?

A spy in the village?

Or had his performance yesterday drawn the attention of someone with ill intentions?

Neither possibility was good for him.

Then, a suspicious figure he had met that morning suddenly flashed through Minato's mind.

It was that strange white-haired uncle with two red markings on his face, standing outside his front door.

"Mister, is that you? What do you want with a kid like me?" Minato asked tentatively as he looked around.

"Not bad, kid. You're quite perceptive, worthy of praise. But I'm not some mister. I'm one of Konoha's finest young men, the great Jiraiya!"

With a bang, white smoke filled the area not far in front of Minato. When it cleared, the strange uncle he had seen that morning appeared.

Moreover, this strange uncle was striking a bizarre pose. Wearing wooden clogs, he stood on one leg with the other laid across his knee. One arm pointed diagonally upward while the other stretched forward, fingers spread wide, his face tilted toward his raised right hand as though gazing up at the sky.

Minato felt like a crow was flying over his head.

And you still say you're not a strange uncle?

He already looked weird enough, but once he struck that pose, his negative impression in Minato's mind multiplied geometrically.

Minato dared to guarantee that if they were not inside a genjutsu space, Jiraiya would definitely be invited to have tea with Konoha's Military Police Force dressed like that!

"Um, strange unc—no, Lord Jiraiya. May I ask why you stopped me?"

Minato asked cautiously, not forgetting to heighten his guard.

"Hmm? Is my pose not cool enough?" Jiraiya thought as he saw the little fellow become even more wary of him.

If Minato could hear Jiraiya's thoughts, he would definitely retort, Cool? You mean cricket cool, right?

"My name is Jiraiya, kid. Jiraiya, understand? Do you know what that name means?" Seeing Minato still looking utterly lost, Jiraiya could only repeatedly mention his own name as a hint.

Jiraiya? Jiraiya... Jiraiya!

Was he the Lord Jiraiya Minato had in mind?

Judging by his appearance, he did seem to match the rumored Lord Jiraiya.

No, no. The Lord Jiraiya from the rumors, the one Minato had imagined, should have been handsome and dashing, not like the one standing before him now...

"Are you Lord Jiraiya, the disciple of the Third Hokage?"

Minato voiced what was on his mind. The gap between his impression and reality was simply too great.

Was this what they meant by being disappointed after meeting someone famous?

"Yes, that's me! Hahaha!" Jiraiya was quite proud that Minato had heard of him.

Uh, he really did not look like it at all.

"May I ask how you can prove that you are truly Lord Jiraiya?"

Although he was already eighty or ninety percent sure, Minato still voiced his final doubt.

After all, if he were a spy from an enemy nation, they would not send someone so foolish to kidnap him.

Besides, this was Konoha's street. For someone to cast a genjutsu on a Konoha student without anyone nearby noticing...

If a spy had truly infiltrated, how powerful would that spy have to be? And just how rotten would Konoha have to be?

At last, Jiraiya dropped his comedic expression and looked approvingly at the disciple he was about to take in.

"Genjutsu: Release!"

Jiraiya formed a hand sign in front of his chest with his right hand and shouted.

Minato watched as the surroundings began to distort, then shattered piece by piece like a mirror. After a brief instant of darkness, light returned before his eyes.

Minato realized that he was still standing beneath his own apartment, with the uncle claiming to be Jiraiya right in front of him.

"Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

Minato watched the uncle bite his finger, swiftly form a hand sign, and press one palm to the ground.

In an instant, dense tadpole-like runes spread from beneath his palm across the ground.

With another bang, white smoke billowed out.

When the smoke dispersed, a red toad roughly the size of an adult appeared before Minato.

"That should be enough to prove who I am, right?" Jiraiya said with a smile as he looked at Minato Namikaze.

"Phew... I'm very sorry, Lord Jiraiya. I was suspicious of you just now. Please forgive my disrespect."

At that moment, Minato finally lowered his guard completely.

He did not believe the great Lord Jiraiya would have any ulterior motives toward him!

And when he recalled what Jiraiya had said that morning about taking him as a disciple...

It seemed that his performance at school yesterday had caught the attention of Konoha's higher-ups.

Minato was not unhappy about that at all. On the contrary, he was delighted. It proved that he was valuable enough to draw the attention of Konoha's upper ranks.

For Minato, who came from an ordinary family and had now lost both his parents, this was undoubtedly a shortcut to rapidly increasing his strength.

Minato loved the village and the people here, so once he had the strength, he was willing to give everything for them.

"Well then, are you ready, kid? Let's go!"

The toad beneath Jiraiya flicked out its tongue, wrapped Minato Namikaze up, placed him on its back, then leaped high into the air and bounded toward the outskirts of the village.

"Ah, wait, Lord Jiraiya! I still have school!"

"What school? Once you become my disciple, I'll personally teach you one-on-one! Hahaha!"

Jiraiya's laughter carried far into the distance. That day, Konoha was missing one old man and one young boy!

What Soji did not know was that his plan to beat Minato up seemed to have fallen through.