Ninja Academy Life

Six months later.

"Seal of Opposition"

It was the Ninja Academy's taijutsu training class, and Hyuga Ao had already pulled far ahead of everyone else.

Her shuriken skills were solid, her taijutsu was perfect, and her theory scores were perfect as well. Especially in actual combat, she could be said to be second only to Namikaze Minato in this elite class.

That was why the taijutsu instructor no longer let Hyuga Ao spar with the others. She only fought Namikaze Minato. After all, fighting anyone else would simply be too unfair.

Hyuga Ao smiled at Namikaze Minato. She held one hand upright before her chest and the other behind her back, striking a pose like Rock Lee. She crooked a finger and called, "Same as always. One hand only. You attack first."

Namikaze Minato stepped forward and met her with a straight punch, launching a rapid assault. Hyuga Ao casually intercepted his punches with one hand, occasionally raising a foot to block his kicks.

Hyuga Ao watched Namikaze Minato's attacks, her eyes filled with admiration.

She had to admit that teaching Namikaze Minato Wing Chun had been the right decision. Namikaze Minato himself followed an agile path that emphasized rapid attacks. In the later stages, he would even use Flying Thunder God to appear right in front of an enemy's face, defeat them with a single strike, and immediately teleport away.

Wing Chun punches were fast and its defenses were tight. Its footwork was flexible, with quick rises and falls. It emphasized both offense and defense, as well as balancing hardness with softness, while consuming little stamina. Once one mastered inch power, one could attack and defend from the shortest distance and in the least amount of time.

This let Hyuga Ao see what a genius and a child of destiny truly were.

Namikaze Minato learned everything about Wing Chun as soon as he was taught and understood it as soon as it was explained. In particular, both the principles and techniques of Wing Chun suited him perfectly, especially Little Idea, which was required for beginners.

If one's Little Idea was crooked, one would remain crooked for life. This did not merely refer to the fist technique, but also to a martial artist's character, thoughts, words, and conduct.

Minato's thoughts were naturally upright, so his cultivation progressed twice as fast with half the effort.

Furthermore, Little Idea was actually a set of slow punches. It trained concentration and focus while eliminating distracting thoughts. Minato was a ninja who relied on his mind in battle, and under his kind of high-speed combat, the speed of his thinking was particularly important.

After practicing Little Idea, his thoughts during battle became faster and purer. He no longer had any chaotic thoughts, and his reactions became even quicker.

This frightened Hyuga Ao into stopping his studies. She was afraid that if he went too deep, his fighting style would become that of a martial artist rather than a ninja.

She only let him think more, absorb more of the principles, spirit, and power-generation techniques, and use them to complete himself rather than become like a Wing Chun practitioner.

At present, Hyuga Ao could only offer him some pointers and spar with him from time to time.

What Wing Chun improved most for Namikaze Minato was the method and philosophy of generating inch power. Using the shortest time and smallest movement to throw the fastest punch rapidly increased his combat strength.

"Smack, smack, smack!" Hyuga Ao met three punches in succession, the collisions of fist and palm producing crisp sounds.

She looked at Namikaze Minato, who was somewhat exhausted after throwing three punches with inch power, and said,

"Minato, let's stop here for today."

Namikaze Minato looked at Hyuga Ao, who did not even have a drop of sweat on her forehead, and gave a bitter smile.

"I still can't get past even one of Ao'er's hands."

Namikaze Minato felt cheated. A year ago, Hyuga Ao had confidently sworn that he would definitely become Hokage one day. Yet now he could not even defeat her when she was only using one hand. How was he supposed to become Hokage?

Still, Namikaze Minato was ultimately still Namikaze Minato. He adjusted his state of mind quickly and turned to watch Kushina's sparring match nearby.

Kushina was sparring with a chubby boy from the Akimichi Clan—the very same one who had previously been forced to give up his seat to her.

The two were evenly matched. One had thick skin and flesh and used fat to absorb impacts; the other had strong muscles and bones and was born with abundant vitality. Taking a punch or two occasionally was nothing to them.

Finally, after a long and bitter battle, Kushina won through her faster recovery and superior endurance.

Looking at Kushina's flushed, excited little face, it was obvious that she had thoroughly enjoyed the fight.

This was the ecosystem of the class. At the top of the food chain was Hyuga Ao, firmly holding first place. Namikaze Minato was the eternal second, and beneath them were Kushina and the children of the various taijutsu clans.

Among them, Kushina relied on the Uzumaki physique to sit securely in third place.

Hyuga Ao folded her arms and watched the older students. One of them, a spiky-haired boy, caught her attention.

At a time when the two Senju Hokage had died not long ago, the Third Hokage was in his prime, and the Sannin were at the height of their brilliance, the First Hokage's grandson, Nawaki, was undoubtedly the most eye-catching member of the next generation.

Kushina came over and asked,

"Ao'er, what are you looking at?"

Hyuga Ao pointed toward Senju Nawaki.

Kushina followed her hand and looked over.

"Isn't that Brother Nawaki? What's wrong with him?"

"I'm seeing how much of the Senju talent he inherited." Hyuga Ao smiled mysteriously and turned back toward Kushina.

"How can you tell someone's talent just by looking at them like that?" Kushina muttered. Her eyes swept over Hyuga Ao's mysterious smile before turning back toward Nawaki.

Kushina paused. Feeling that something was off, she turned around and carefully examined the area around Hyuga Ao's eyes. She blurted out,

"You..."

Hyuga Ao took Kushina's little hand and guided it toward the area around her own eye sockets.

"Well? Feel carefully. You can still sense it. This is the result of my latest training."

Kushina was astonished. Normally, when a Hyuga clan member activated the Byakugan, the veins around their eye sockets bulged visibly. Even someone usually gentle would look fierce and frightening at that moment.

Hyuga Ao had clearly activated her Byakugan, yet the meridians that should have bulged showed no sign of doing so. Only when touched could one feel them pulsing slightly.

Kushina asked in confusion,

"What's going on? Why is it like this here?"

Although Kushina had not said it outright, Hyuga Ao knew what she wanted to ask. She squeezed Kushina's soft little hand and responded,

"This is the result of my latest training. I can keep the Byakugan activated at the lowest possible level, allowing me to observe things secretly at certain times."

That was not actually the truth. After unlocking it yesterday, combined with Hyuga Ao's meticulous control, she could supply the Byakugan with maximum energy without showing anything externally. It was equivalent to forcibly suppressing the meridians that transported the energy. However, she could not tell Kushina that.

"Wow!" Kushina exclaimed. "Ao'er, you're amazing!"

"Of course!" Hyuga Ao put on a show, planting her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest.

With Hyuga Ao deliberately fooling around, the girls' conversation shifted to other topics.

Before leaving, Hyuga Ao took one long look at Nawaki and pondered silently.

Regarding Nawaki's death, do I need to do something? Or rather, what do I want to gain?

The next day.

The outskirts of the Forest of Death.

The training ground Hyuga Ao and Minato often visited.

"You spend half the day attending class and half the day escaping. What are you two, college students?" Hyuga Ao thought as she looked at Namikaze Minato scratching his head with a foolish grin and Kushina, who was skipping class for the first time.

"Minato, weren't you the one who said you were tired? How long has it been? You're already using a Shadow Clone to attend class again. And you even brought Kushina out with you. You really are something."

"Haha, I figured the things being taught at the Ninja Academy aren't useful to me anymore. I'll have a Shadow Clone handle half a day of theory classes, then I'll go back as my real body for the other half—the practical classes."

Hyuga Ao shook her head and sighed. What a headache. I never thought this kid Namikaze Minato would become so slippery—spending half the day out here and half the day going back.

She then looked at Kushina and asked helplessly,

"Kushina, what about you? Why did you follow Minato out?"

Kushina blushed and explained in a small voice,

"I don't really want to attend theory class either. A Shadow Clone can go in my place! Besides, I really want to catch up with you two!"

After saying that, she raised her head, her eyes firm and serious.

Hyuga Ao could only sigh again. As expected of Naruto's mother. They really are exactly alike.

Still... Hyuga Ao was puzzled. Why did the Third Hokage let Kushina sneak out with Minato? Maybe this is the difference in Kushina's treatment depending on whether Mito is alive or dead.

Oh well. I'll have to be more restrained from now on. The Third Hokage can observe this place with a Crystal Ball at any time.

But when she looked at Minato and Kushina watching her, Hyuga Ao smiled faintly. After all, spending time with friends was always happy, wasn't it?