New Semester

Even Satoru had never seen the Eight Gates Formation opened to the third gate before.

That kind of speed and strength could crush most chunin!

This was the legendary forbidden taijutsu—the Reverse Lotus of the Eight Gates Formation's third gate—

There probably were not many people who could successfully dodge such a barrage of attacks, let alone fight back.

And this was only the third gate. Dai had clearly already mastered it proficiently.

From the way he described it, he might even be able to open the fourth or fifth gate in an extreme state.

Just how strong would Dai be with five gates open?

Choza and the others had already shed all their doubts, replacing them with admiration for Dai.

"I cannot practice ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I can only practice taijutsu. And this is taijutsu's forbidden technique—the Eight Gates Formation."

The green glow around Dai faded, and he began panting heavily. That strike had clearly consumed a great deal of his stamina.

"Big Brother Dai! Can I practice this kind of taijutsu too?"

Seemingly instinctively ignoring the words "forbidden technique," Choza asked with shining eyes.

"Unfortunately..."

Dai smiled and shook his head, then briefly explained the principles of the Eight Gates Formation to the four of them:

"The Eight Gates Formation is the final path for people like me, who can only practice taijutsu. It is also a path to survival in desperate circumstances."

"It is a forbidden technique that inflicts tremendous damage on the body. Unless you specialize in taijutsu, you cannot train your body to a level capable of withstanding the burden of opening the gates."

"Moreover, opening the gates causes the Chakra within your body to run rampant, making it impossible to use ninjutsu. For you, it would do more harm than good."

"You only need to use taijutsu to strengthen your bodies. Learning this would waste your talents."

"Oh..."

Choza and the other two nodded in disappointment.

But they quickly recovered—having such a taijutsu expert guiding them meant their own taijutsu training would surely become outstanding.

Satoru nodded lightly as well. The drawbacks of the Eight Gates Formation matched what he knew, so this was not the time to learn it.

Instead, Dai's unusual physique fascinated Satoru.

Unlike Guy, who could still use some ninjutsu despite not being proficient in it.

Dai could not use any ninjutsu at all. He was like someone with the legendary "magic-nullifying physique"—able to produce Chakra but completely unable to turn it into techniques.

This physique was quite rare, and it made Satoru think of the Arcane Body Tempering Technique he practiced.

However, Satoru did not yet have the ability to temper other people's bodies. Perhaps this could become a priority for research in the near future, but for now...

Just as Dai had said, he should focus on building his foundation.

With the taijutsu techniques Dai taught combined with the Arcane Body Tempering Technique, Satoru was confident that even in close combat, he would not be easily suppressed.

"Then, boys! Now is the time to show your youthful passion!"

"From now on, experience the charm of struggle and sweat!"

Dai had clearly entered his role very quickly.

Perhaps because it was his first time "guiding" children, Dai easily saw Satoru and the other three as reflections of himself when he was young:

"First, three hundred push-ups!"

Faced with the four of them turning pale in horror, Dai flashed a dazzling gleam off his gleaming white teeth and gave them a thumbs-up.

"If you fail midway, you have to start all over again!"

"Huh?!"

The days of being relentlessly trained by Dai passed quickly.

Satoru truly came to understand why Dai was so strong, and just how inhumane the Eight Gates Formation was to practice.

Because training at this level was still nowhere near enough to meet the requirements for opening even the first gate.

Of course, they were still too young. Their bodies had barely begun developing, and excessive training would instead damage their foundations.

When Dai had trained alone as a child, no one had been there to guide him, and it had caused some irreversible harm to his body.

Satoru and the others were merely laying foundations and learning taijutsu combat techniques, so they did not have such concerns.

Combined with the Arcane Body Tempering Technique, Satoru could clearly feel his physical strength improving by a tiny amount each day.

The increase was slight, but over time, it would become tremendous progress.

During this time, Satoru set aside his research into other magic and used the powerful magical artifact, The Book of Medivh, to carefully study body tempering techniques.

This involved the application of the Enchantment School, one of the nine major schools of arcane magic.

Satoru's signature spells—Food Creation Technique and Water Creation Technique—were the most famous applications of the Conjuration School among the nine schools.

Fireballs and explosions, meanwhile, belonged to the Evocation School, which kneaded natural elements into whatever shape it pleased.

The Deformation Technique was a famous application of the Transmutation School. Several of that school's other advanced applications included teleportation magic and time magic. Incredible, right...

The Enchantment School, as its name implied, attached magical power to an object or a person, and also included dispelling spells that removed magical effects.

Body tempering techniques were a variation of it. More famous applications included the creation and remote control of magical weapons—those piles of "divine artifacts" belonging to a certain rich fool were prime examples.

The Book of Medivh truly deserved to be called the most comprehensive spellbook spanning two worlds. Although Satoru could currently access only around fifteen percent of its contents, it was enough to make his magical ability advance by leaps and bounds.

Especially after Satoru learned the enhancement spell Arcane Intellect, having a photographic memory became basic practice.

Through sharing hardships together during this period, the four-person group's friendship rapidly solidified, and Satoru could no longer truly regard them as little kids—

The children of ninja, especially Konoha's children, truly matured early.

Their perspective, mental maturity, and way of thinking were simply on a different level from children their age in the peaceful world of Satoru's previous life.

The great clans also seemed to be passing the tense atmosphere between the major nations on to this new generation. Under Satoru's keen senses, an inconspicuous sense of urgency had gradually begun to blanket all of Konoha.

April arrived quickly.

Satoru and the others finished their first year of study and advanced to the second year.

Naturally, a new batch of first-year students arrived at the Ninja Academy to receive the Third Hokage's education in the Will of Fire.

This time, Satoru found one and a half eye-catching names on the enrollment list.

The first name was Minato Namikaze.

The future "Yellow Flash," the man whose face would be carved upon the Hokage Rock Faces, the Fourth Hokage, a hugely popular figure both in life and after death—one of the "key figures."

The Fourth Hokage was pretty cute as a child...

Satoru sat in the classroom, though he had actually cast the divination spell Mage Eye. It was somewhat like the hunters' Eagle Eye Technique, though the underlying principles differed.

Casting Mage Eye required concentration and prevented movement, making it perfect for his current situation. Every child receiving the Third Hokage's instruction in the school plaza was within Satoru's sight.

This covert "observation technique" was explicitly marked in the spellbook as "forbidden for peeping"...

This spell was one of Archmage Khadgar's proudest gossiping spells. Medivh apparently understood Khadgar's gossip-loving heart quite well.

Honestly, Minato was much more handsome than his son Naruto.

And he could suppress the red hair of the Uzumaki bloodline... The last person to accomplish that was probably Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, right?

As for the other half of the name that caught his attention...

It would be more accurate to call it a surname.

Yakushi Nonō, a little girl only five years old.

Starting school at five was not unheard of. On one hand, it showed that this little girl possessed exceptional ninja talent; on the other, she was likely far more mentally mature than children her age.

"Mm, she's a steady little girl..."