Starting Today, Prone

Thud.

Ibiki Morino lay on the ground. Jueming had knocked him down.

And by taking down the gatekeeper of the second tier... the last one, the big Ibiki Morino.

Jueming had completed the final piece of the puzzle.

"Prone?"

Jueming checked the newly acquired skill.

"Not bad. After this, you can challenge Asuma Sarutobi, Tekka Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and the others..."

There was a hint of surprise in Mito Uzumaki's voice.

From being unaccustomed to it at first to now... once she accepted the idea of Handstand, it somehow no longer seemed like a problem?

So.

Jueming dropped his Handstand stance on the spot, going from upside down to lying prone on the ground.

Mito Uzumaki: "???"

Meanwhile...

Before the big Ibiki Morino could even say the words "I surrender," he was already screaming internally, What the hell?

Under his dumbfounded gaze.

Jueming propped himself up, moved with all four limbs, and scuttled away.

"So perverted..."

Ibiki Morino said blankly.

"But also so powerful."

Jueming sped along like the wind, using all four limbs.

Before long, he ran into a kindred spirit on the road.

"Yo, you practice the Four Legs Technique too?"

The wild-looking short-haired girl was named Tsume Inuzuka.

She was a classmate of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

Mito Uzumaki took a moment to recognize the little girl from the Inuzuka Clan from back then.

Tsume Inuzuka's status was rather special.

At fourteen, she was already a Chunin of Konoha.

She was also the next clan head of the Inuzuka Clan.

Seeing Jueming using both hands and feet, she thought someone else had taken up an Inuzuka Clan Ninjutsu.

"The Four Legs Technique?"

Mito Uzumaki gave it some thought.

It really was an Inuzuka Clan Ninjutsu.

At first, it had been a "Secret Technique," but it was later contributed to the village and became a technique stored by the village.

Once a Secret Technique was made public, it became "Ninjutsu" and was assigned a rank.

The Four Legs Technique was D-Rank Ninjutsu. It could beastify the human body, making one crawl on the ground and move with all four limbs, as swift as the wind like an animal.

But the posture was hardly elegant.

So aside from Inuzuka Clan Ninja, no one practiced it.

This had always left the Inuzuka Clan Ninja rather regretful.

After all, they had made a tremendous decision before choosing to contribute that Secret Technique to the village.

Seeing someone practicing the Inuzuka Clan's Four Legs Technique today made Tsume Inuzuka particularly happy.

"..."

Jueming frowned, just about to refute her.

But then he nodded.

"Letting people think I practice the Inuzuka Clan's Four Legs Technique can count as a form of disguise."

"Keep it up, Kid! I believe in you!"

Encouraged by Tsume Inuzuka, Jueming scuttled away on all fours.

[Odd Behavior +1]

"When did you learn the Four Legs Technique?"

After returning home, Mito Uzumaki asked.

"This isn't the Four Legs Technique."

Jueming stood up, went into the bathroom, and washed his hands.

Judging from the skill description, this "Prone" was extremely powerful. It could stack with the defense granted by the earlier "Handstand."

Once he lay prone on the ground, he could enjoy the defensive boosts of both at once.

And with "Fencing," that made three in one.

"Tomorrow is the Monthly Exam."

Jueming thought to himself.

"I'm confident I can take first place."

The Fencing and odd behavior he had done for some time, along with weeks of effort, were why Jueming was so confident.

"If I take first in the Monthly Exam, I can ask the Great Elder for a reward."

The Senju Clan's inheritance.

Jueming was quite eager for it.

Though the Senju Clan had declined, it had once been one of Konoha's founding clans.

Who knew how many good things were held by the Senju Clan's upper ranks?

Besides...

"After the Monthly Exam, the Ninja Academy will begin teaching the Three Body Technique."

Only by learning Ninjutsu would one truly enter the path of a Ninja.

"There's one more thing..."

Jueming's tone was clearly directed at Mito Uzumaki.

"Have you not noticed... that you're completely useless?"

Mito Uzumaki: "..."

That night.

After finishing his training, Jueming lay on his bed and quietly watched the prompt before him.

[Stamina +1]

In the quiet night, someone's heart was far from calm.

Mito Uzumaki stood within Jueming's Mental Space.

"Have you not noticed that you're completely useless?"

Those words lingered in her heart.

Back then.

For the stability between the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, two clans related by blood.

Following tradition, she had married Hashirama.

The Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan had thus continued to coexist peacefully.

Later, during Konoha's construction.

The Uzumaki Clan had contributed greatly.

Even now... a sentence was recorded in the Ninja Academy's textbooks.

—The Uzumaki Clan were the founders of Konoha's Sealing Technique.

All kinds of Sealing Techniques and Barrier Jutsu had been taught by the Uzumaki Clan.

Even the "Spherical Sensory Barrier" above Konoha had been personally created by Mito Uzumaki.

Later.

Hashirama subdued the Nine-Tails.

She used Adamantine Sealing Chains to seal the Nine-Tails within her own body.

She became the Nine-Tails' vessel, as well as its first Jinchuriki.

From then on, she spent most of her time in a residence on the outskirts, quietly waiting for time to pass.

As a vessel, she contributed the rest of her life to Konoha.

Her life had been magnificent and turbulent; she had devoted herself to Konoha until death.

And now...

This Kid actually said she was completely useless?

Mito Uzumaki instinctively wanted to refute him, only to find herself utterly unable to do so.

Because...

During this month of recovery, she truly had not been of any help. Instead, she had dragged him down the whole way.

She had pulled Senju Jueming back, refusing to let him move forward.

Yet even so, Senju Jueming had continued surpassing one opponent after another through astonishing perseverance.

Under those circumstances, she instead seemed like dead weight.

Am I really completely useless?

What a joke!

Late at night.

Moonlight streamed in, bleaching the floor a deathly white.

Jueming was already asleep.

Rustle.

At some point, the scroll on the table began moving without wind and floated into the air.

As the scroll unfurled, a brush rapidly began writing across it.

Before long, it produced characters that looked like ghostly scribbles.

"Seal!"

Within the Mental Space, Mito Uzumaki formed Hand Seals as she directed everything.

The next moment.

The Shuriken, kunai, and other items on the table were sealed into it.

Words appeared on the scroll...

Then, the scroll slowly drifted down and returned to the table.

"..."

Not long after, Jueming opened his eyes, glanced at it, then closed them again.

The next morning.

Jueming got up.

He casually picked up the scroll and looked around.

The assorted Ninja tools on the table had all disappeared.

They had clearly been sealed inside the scroll.

"You're somewhat useful after all."

Jueming tucked the scroll into his clothes.

"Sealing Technique: Storage" was a basic Sealing Technique.

It functioned like a spatial pocket, greatly compressing an object's mass and size.

When needed, one could unseal it through the prescribed procedure and retrieve the objects within.