Romantic Undying Secret Art

The highly anticipated first round of the Chunin Exams had everyone expecting Konoha Village to put on a grand ninjutsu spectacle.

The villagers of Konoha Village liked Fire Release Ninjutsu best—nothing else had such impressive grandeur. They disliked Earth Release Ninjutsu most, since sometimes they could not even see where the ninja had gone.

Yet unexpectedly, Earth Release was what appeared in the very first match of the Chunin Exams.

After the blond kid finished his technique, the finals arena began to churn. Dark, fresh soil rose from below, while the hard clods on top cracked apart, overturned, and vanished beneath the surface.

Following a brief moment of silence, the spectators all turned to look for vendors selling paper.

Sheets of white paper were bought, crumpled into balls, and hurled into the arena.

"Refund! You charged us for tickets to this? Refund!"

The angry villagers immediately unleashed a rain of paper balls.

Minato did not feel embarrassed in the slightest. He looked around and noticed that the higher up people sat, the cheaper their tickets were, and the quieter they remained.

Most of them were familiar with farm work and found the technique rather interesting.

As for the daimyo and nobles, Minato was disappointed to see the curtains lowered in several VIP rooms. It meant they had no interest in the match and did not want to be disturbed while they chatted.

On the main platform, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and glared at Jiraiya.

It was one thing for Minato to act crazy like Jiraiya normally did, but why was he fooling around during the Chunin Exams too?

Jiraiya simply said, "If Minato fights Kushina, wouldn't that mean Kushina's elimination was predetermined? I think Minato's doing great. Perfect, this is exactly the effect we want."

The ground was covered in loose soil, so Hatake Sakumo stood atop a high wall at the side. To prevent ninjutsu from accidentally injuring the audience, the spectator stands were more than ten meters above the arena.

Minato shook his head slightly, understanding a simple truth: when the world changed, some people would be left far behind without even realizing it.

He reached into the Ninja Tool pouch at his waist, grabbed a handful of rapeseeds, and tossed them out.

The rapeseeds scattered across the overturned soil. Even Kushina had no idea what Minato intended to do.

Minato formed seals again. "Ninja Art: Morning Life, Evening Death, Thick-and-Strong Seed Germination Technique!"

A type of Chakra similar to medical ninjutsu spread outward. Minato's medical Chakra was weak, but he had plenty of it.

This was a D-Rank Ninjutsu developed from Orochimaru's scrolls, capable of rapidly ripening herbaceous plants.

The technique was used to verify seed traits, preventing farmers from buying fake seeds and wasting an entire year of planting.

It could also rapidly determine whether seeds were high-yielding through repeated crossbreeding.

This Ninja Art was rather limited in effect. It could only stimulate the seeds of herbaceous plants; trees, shrubs, and the like were unaffected.

Once the technique ended, the rapeseeds on the ground quickly took root, sprouted, and grew tender shoots.

Kushina did not understand what Minato was trying to do, but she knew that now was the time to water them.

After a Water Release technique, droplets appeared in the air as Kushina created a small-scale artificial rain with no offensive power whatsoever.

In the stands and on the platform, no one knew what Minato intended to do.

Until the rapeseed blossoms bloomed, carpeting the ground in vivid pale yellow.

Jiraiya suddenly understood. He shouted, "I get it! Minato! As expected of the one who can teach me how to pursue Tsunade!"

Jiraiya's voice was so loud that Minato heard every word clearly.

Minato turned toward Jiraiya and shouted:

"Sensei! Watch me teach you a ninjutsu!

Ninja Art: Love Rises in the East and Sets in the West, Petals Dance with Love, Romantic Undying Secret Art!"

Rather than using the Wind Cutter Technique he had painstakingly practiced, Minato casually used a Wind Release: Tornado.

A whirlwind appeared in the arena, sweeping up petals until they danced through the air.

But it was not over yet. Minato rapidly formed seals, using nearly half of his Chakra.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes suddenly widened. Those hand seals... weren't they for his Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique?

Beside him, the Third Lightning Kage abruptly rose to his feet.

That Chakra volume was far too immense!

Was that the amount of Chakra a genin should have?

On the side wall, Hatake Sakumo shifted his foot. With such an enormous amount of Chakra, could the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki withstand it?

He needed to be ready to save the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki at any moment.

Yet to everyone's astonishment, Minato did not take out a kunai. The targets of his technique were the pale yellow petals of every rapeseed blossom.

"Ah!"

"Waaaah!"

Every spectator erupted.

Under the effect of the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, the rapeseed petals suddenly split into a terrifying number of duplicates.

Combined with the tornado that had just appeared, the entire arena—a pit more than ten meters deep—was filled with pale yellow petals.

Petals whirled through the air, surging out of the arena like a cascading floral fountain and flooding toward the surrounding spectator stands.

A fresh, sweet fragrance enveloped everyone.

Petals settled on people's shoulders, heads, and the backs of their hands, leaving everyone with the sight of pale yellow snow falling before their eyes.

Once all the petals had fallen, the crowd looked toward the center of the arena.

Amid a sea of petals thigh-deep, golden-haired Minato Namikaze had somehow appeared behind red-haired Kushina Uzumaki.

Pale yellow petals clung to Kushina's hair, shoulders, and even the tip of her nose.

Minato reached out and brushed the petals from Kushina's hair.

"Can you surrender, Miss Kushina?"

Kushina blushed and dared not breathe. Then she took a deep breath, drawing in the distinctive scent of rapeseed flowers.

"All right, I surrender."

Hatake Sakumo appeared on the ground. For the first time, the ever-serious man beheld petals up to his knees and experienced a splendor no ninja had ever seen.

"Minato Namikaze wins!"

On the viewing platform, Jiraiya nearly burst into tears, his eyes brimming with them.

"If I knew a technique like that, would Tsunade ever have rejected me? I'm learning it! I have to learn it! What was that technique called again? Love-So-Dead Petal-Flying Ninjutsu? That doesn't sound quite right. It's too long—Minato's original ninjutsu names are all so strange!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi furiously slapped the railing in front of him. This match was supposed to hand Kushina a Chunin qualification—even if she lost, we were going to give it to her. Couldn't you at least let her show something, use any random ninjutsu?

How am I supposed to give it to her now?

What? She gets to become a Chunin just because she watched a petal rain?

How will the village remain fair and impartial to civilian genin in the future if we do this?

Biwako, however, smiled and sat back down. Kushina has been so lonely, and lately she's been worried about her younger brother too. She's been in a terrible mood. Getting to witness something like this can count as a kind of consolation.

From the very back, Orochimaru let out a strange, raspy laugh. There really were people in this world so stupid they became absurd. Someone was actually cheering for a technique like this?

The female villagers in the spectator stands erupted in excitement, waving their handkerchiefs and cheering. Ninjas really knew how to have fun—they could make it this romantic.

The female ninjas, meanwhile, were filled with envy. Who could use such a complex ninjutsu? Especially when he had used the Third Hokage's signature technique at the end, all just to create a rain of petals?

Minato and Kushina left the arena side by side, smiling.

The romance-blind Akimichi Clan sent out dozens of ninjas, who transformed into Human Bullet Tanks and quickly compacted the arena again, crushing the petals into the earth along with it. This drew a chorus of boos from the female villagers.

They had thought that this year's Chunin Exams would be fought entirely amid the petals.