Mentor Teacher

"Then shouldn't we find somewhere to celebrate properly?" This happy outcome made Soji very pleased.

"Let's go get some barbecue. What do you think?" Minato agreed wholeheartedly and offered his suggestion.

"I have no objections." No matter what Minato suggested, Kushina Uzumaki would never object.

"No problem." Uchiha Homura naturally had no objections either.

When it was just the four of them, Uchiha Homura had actually been most afraid of being kicked out of this little group. After all, his strength was the lowest among them.

Then the group happily headed to a nearby barbecue restaurant.

While eating barbecue, they also discussed the Hokage's strange request.

Four-person squads were not unheard of. At their largest, there had even been five-person teams.

But those were almost always people who worked together exceptionally well, so they were not split apart when teams were assigned.

Or the squad was too weak and needed extra numbers to make up for it.

A team like theirs, directly grouping together the top four students of their class, had truly never existed since Konoha was founded.

Still, Soji and the others did not specifically question Kushina Uzumaki about it.

Everyone had their own secrets. There was no need to get to the bottom of everything.

As long as they knew she was their teammate and a companion worthy of their trust, that was enough.

Kushina Uzumaki had hesitated several times as if she wanted to say something, and they had all noticed.

"Kushina, don't worry. No matter what happens, we'll protect you." Minato smiled at Kushina Uzumaki.

"Yeah. Although we don't know why the Hokage made such a strange request, protecting girls is our responsibility." Soji pretended not to understand despite knowing full well.

"If there's a fight during a mission, you just need to stay behind us." Uchiha Homura said something incredibly thoughtless.

Then, exactly as Soji and Minato had expected, Uchiha Homura got thoroughly shut down, without even a chance to argue back.

"Huh? What did you say? Minato and Soji are one thing—they're stronger than me. But you, Homura? You think you can protect me? Be grateful if you don't end up needing me to protect you." Kushina Uzumaki shot Uchiha Homura a disdainful glance.

"Kushina, you... just wait. One day, I'll surpass you! And Soji and Minato too! One day, all of you will lose to me. Definitely!" Uchiha Homura was so angered that he immediately made a flag.

Watching the two bicker again, Soji and Minato exchanged glances and helplessly shook their heads.

Who knew whether Uchiha Homura truly had such low emotional intelligence? He always seemed to love challenging Kushina Uzumaki's competitive nature.

Soji really wanted to say, if you don't know how to talk, then talk less. Otherwise, during the next training session, Kushina would slap you in the face again—a literal slap in the face!

After that bit of joking around, Kushina Uzumaki no longer dwelled on the Hokage's request for the three of them to protect her.

In the end, amid their cheerful laughter, the barbecue gathering came to an end.

For the next three days, Soji focused on personal training. The four of them were already familiar with one another, so there was no need to stick together every day. They had plenty of time ahead of them.

His grandfather, Hyuga Kumokawa, had been transferred to the Land of Waves to stand guard against Kirigakure making a comeback.

The last time he had left Konoha was a year ago. Soji had not expected that his grandfather would not even return for his graduation this time, and he greatly missed the old man.

At ten years old, Hyuga Soji had already mastered every Gentle Fist technique of the Hyuga Clan.

He had also learned Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, the absolute defense, as well as long-range attacks like Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm over the past two years.

It could be said that Soji fully deserved his reputation as a genius. If Minato Namikaze, that freak, had not suddenly appeared, Soji would definitely have shone even more brilliantly.

The next day, while Soji was training at home, Minato Namikaze came to visit.

"Soji, I want to go to the Hokage today and choose a ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals. Do you want to come with me?" Minato asked as soon as he entered.

Soji froze for a moment. Only then did he remember that there was such a thing. If Minato had not suddenly come over, he did not know when he would have remembered it.

"Let's go together. If you hadn't mentioned it, I nearly forgot." Soji did not waste any time and immediately followed Minato to the Hokage Building.

When they arrived at the Hokage Building office again, it looked exactly as it had the last time, without the slightest change.

"Children, you've come to choose ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals today, haven't you?" The Third Hokage already had a good idea of why they were there.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," they answered in unison.

As though he had prepared in advance, the Third Hokage directly took out two lists of ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals, complete with descriptions of the various techniques.

Soji had actually made up his mind long ago. He wanted to choose the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, one of the greatest broken techniques in the entire ninja world!

It was not that Soji wanted to toy with the souls of the dead. He was simply afraid that one day, he might die, or that his relatives and friends might pass away and be controlled and exploited by others.

If he knew this technique by then, he could at least resist to some extent. Otherwise, he would be nothing but a tool.

Looking through the list from the Scroll of Seals, he saw powerful ninjutsu such as the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique, Eight Inner Gates, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, Four Symbols Seal, the Second Hokage's Water Release, the First Hokage's Wood Release, and more.

Soji was extremely tempted, but he knew he could only choose one.

Therefore, after taking one last reluctant look at the other techniques, Soji said to the Third Hokage, "Lord Hokage, I've made my decision. I choose the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu."

The Third Hokage nodded, then looked toward Minato Namikaze.

"Lord Hokage, I choose the Flying Thunder God Technique." As expected, Minato Namikaze chose one of his two signature techniques.

"Very well."

After agreeing, the Third Hokage had an Anbu guard nearby retrieve the two techniques Soji and Minato had chosen.

Less than five minutes later, the Anbu ninja returned with two scrolls and handed one each to Soji and Minato Namikaze.

"Before you begin learning the ninjutsu on these scrolls, I must remind you two of something. Forbidden techniques are forbidden because they carry all kinds of side effects. You should have understood that when I showed you the list earlier. Remember never to use forbidden techniques carelessly."

The Third Hokage spoke very seriously. He did not want these two children, who were destined for great futures, to suffer backlash from forbidden techniques.

"We understand. Thank you for your guidance, Lord Hokage."

"I'll remember your words, Lord Hokage."

Both of them answered with equal seriousness.

"That's good. The ninjutsu on these scrolls must not be passed on to anyone else. In three days, I will send Anbu to retrieve them."

After nodding, the two left together.

Afterward, they said they would meet again in three days, then each hurried home impatiently.

They both wanted to learn the techniques as soon as possible. After all, having one more ninjutsu meant having a little more safety.

After returning home, Soji opened the scroll and quickly skimmed through its contents. Before long, he had memorized it all.

The hand seals for casting it and the seals for releasing it were not difficult. The difficult part was finding suitable material to test the technique.

The Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu required a living sacrifice, as well as a portion of the reincarnated person's body tissue. Soji could not meet either condition.

With no other choice, Soji memorized the seals and put away the scroll.

Thus, for the next three days, Soji only practiced the hand seals and release seals for Impure World Reincarnation, along with his Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist.

At last, three days passed.

Before leaving home that day, Soji handed the scroll containing the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to the Anbu who had come to retrieve it.

That day, all the students gathered in the classroom once more, greeting one another as they waited for their Mentor Teachers to come and take them away.

They had also finally learned that Soji's group was a four-person squad.

Although they had raised questions, Soji and the others brushed them off by saying it was the teachers' arrangement and that they did not know the reason.

Their four-person squad was also given the nickname Genius Squad by the more gossip-loving students.

After all, it seemed there had never been a team made up of the top four students in the class before.

The hands of the clock on the wall slowly moved forward, and fewer and fewer students remained in the classroom as their respective Mentor Teachers called them away.

Most students had Chunin as their Mentor Teachers. Only a small number of stronger squads in the class were assigned Jonin as mentors.

"Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, you three, come with me." The one who took away the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was a Jonin from the Nara Clan.

As for how Soji knew that—

When the ninja entered the classroom, Shikaku Nara immediately called him uncle!

"We're leaving. From now on, we'll be rivals." Before departing, Shikaku Nara waved goodbye to the classroom, where only Soji's group of four remained.

"Yeah, we won't lose to you!" Kushina Uzumaki, ever competitive, answered on behalf of the four of them.

Soji and the others merely smiled at the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

"Why are we the only four left again?" There was no need to look to know that complaint came from Uchiha Homura.

Soji and Minato, on the other hand, calmly waited in their seats.

They both knew that whoever became their Mentor Teacher had to be at least an Elite Jonin. Otherwise, they would not be able to provide them with effective guidance at all.

An hour passed as they waited.

By then, even Soji and Minato were starting to get restless.

Not to mention Uchiha Homura beside them, who had long since been anxiously pacing and fidgeting.

Even Kushina Uzumaki's hair looked as though it was beginning to stand on end.

Soji remembered that whenever a Mentor Teacher came through the front door to take students away, the gap between arrivals had never exceeded ten minutes.

Yet this time, more than an hour had passed since the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had been taken away, and they were still sitting foolishly in the classroom.

"Is our Mentor Teacher even coming? Don't tell me they overslept?" Looking at the clock on the wall, which now showed twelve noon, Kushina Uzumaki said this while trying her best to suppress her anger.

"Surely it can't be that we don't have a Mentor Teacher?" Soji joked.

"That... doesn't seem impossible. There aren't many people in the village who have reached Elite Jonin level and can serve as our Mentor Teacher, right? Most of them have gone to the front lines." Seeing the situation before them, Minato Namikaze began to analyze it as well.

"Then how will we accept missions in the future? What are we supposed to do next?" Soji and Minato's words left Uchiha Homura completely dumbfounded.

"Haha, just kidding. I only wanted to lighten the mood." Minato, rarely led astray by Soji, joined in with the joke.

"Seriously, Minato, that wasn't funny at all." Uchiha Homura looked deeply aggrieved.

With their Mentor Teacher still absent, they could only continue waiting on empty stomachs.

Finally, another hour passed, and the time reached one in the afternoon!

The group was finally on the verge of exploding. They had been waiting since nine in the morning, sitting uselessly in the classroom the entire time. Anyone would be angry after being strung along like this.

Even a clay figure had three parts anger, let alone four normal people who had been waiting here foolishly on empty stomachs.

Tap, tap.

Clear footsteps from outside the classroom interrupted the anger that had just begun to rise again.

They had all reached the same decision: once this irresponsible teacher who had forgotten the time arrived, they would definitely give him an unforgettable welcome!

Click.

The classroom door opened.

Then a young man in wooden sandals appeared before the four of them. He had a full head of white hair and wore a forehead protector bearing the character for "Oil."

"Yo, good afternoon, little ones."

"Jiraiya-sensei!"