The Junior Uncle

"Katsuhira!? Are you all right!?" Teacher Suzuki immediately checked on him.

"I can keep going!" Katsuhira roared, sounding utterly unwilling to give up.

"I didn't expect this guy to have so much grit. I'm impressed." Shiyu had thought he'd already won, but he hadn't expected Katsuhira to keep fighting even after sinking into the swamp.

"Lightning Release: Earth Running!" To everyone's surprise, Katsuhira Yoshida could still struggle to use Lightning Release in an attempt to break free of Yellow Springs Swamp.

But his predicament didn't change much just because he used Lightning Release.

"I didn't expect you to know Lightning Release Ninjutsu, too. As far as I know, very few people in Konoha have both Lightning and Water chakra natures!" Shiyu shook his head. "Oh well. Since you still refuse to give up, I'll give you something else to enjoy!"

Then he swiftly formed Hand Seals once more.

When Shiyu finished forming the Hand Seals, he leaped up from the Earth Wall he'd summoned and called out from midair:

"Wind Style: Wind Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Suzuki immediately exclaimed, "That's...!? The Third Hokage's technique! The B-rank Wind Dragon Bullet Technique!? Could it be—"

"Stop! Stop right now! You'll kill him!" Suzuki shouted, trying to stop Shiyu from attacking again.

But ninjutsu wasn't something one could simply stop at will.

A wind dragon roared with its mouth open as it charged toward Katsuhira.

Before it even reached him, the wind dragon knocked Katsuhira to the ground as he tried to use Lightning Release.

The wind dragon barreled toward Katsuhira with unstoppable force.

"That's enough! We surrender!" Saori Suzuki cried out in terror. She hadn't expected a Genin to pose a threat to her student's life.

She had already released her jutsu, but it was too late to call it back.

Shiyu did his best to redirect the technique away from Katsuhira, but its power and range were simply too great. Even after he'd pulled back a lot of chakra, it could still cause Katsuhira unpredictable harm.

"Look out!" A voice came from behind Shiyu. In an instant, a flash of yellow streaked across the field, and the air rippled around it.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!"

When Katsuhira reappeared, he was already in a safe spot.

The spot where he'd been standing moments ago had been blasted to pieces along with Yellow Springs Swamp, showing just how powerful Shiyu's jutsu had been.

Standing before them was a blond man in a blue bodysuit with a Jonin uniform underneath.

He appeared between Shiyu and Suzuki.

"Minato-sensei, thank you! And Uchiha Shigure, thank you for holding back." Saori Suzuki wasn't foolish. She knew Minato had saved her student, but without Shiyu pulling his attack, even Minato would have had trouble getting him out.

"Mm. Please don't provoke us again. Someone could get hurt during a spar." Shiyu left them with a veiled threat, making Saori Suzuki feel awkward.

"Teacher Suzuki, you're welcome. Were you sparring?" Minato Namikaze asked.

Then he immediately turned to Shiyu. "I'm sorry, but I had to save him. He's a Konoha Genin, after all. And who are you? Are you a newly promoted Jonin? Why were you fighting a Genin?"

"Uh..." Suzuki didn't know what to say, so she quietly waited off to the side with her three Genin students.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking someone else?" Shiyu crossed his arms, looking rather haughty.

But Minato could tell Shiyu meant no harm, so he put away the special Kunai marked with a formula, rubbed the back of his head, and apologized. "Oh, you're right. I was rude. My name is Minato Namikaze, and I'm the Jonin leader of Minato Namikaze's Team."

Shiyu didn't dislike people who spoke with humility and courtesy, so he dropped his rude attitude and replied, "I'm not a Jonin. My name is Uchiha Shigure. I'm a member of Team Seven, the team led by Hizashi Hyuga, and the leader of our Genin squad."

"What?!" Minato Namikaze couldn't believe it. It sounded impossible.

"You're a Genin?!" Minato asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. Is there a problem?" Shiyu replied, almost laughing to himself. He seemed to have already guessed how Minato would react.

"Not at all. I followed you here, and I thought you'd be a Jonin. Come to think of it, Genin does make more sense at your age. But judging by your strength and speed just now, even if you'd told me yourself that you were a Jonin, I would've believed you." Minato spoke admiringly.

Then Minato pointed at the traces left by Shiyu's jutsu. "Did you use all these techniques? Isn't Yellow Springs Swamp my teacher's jutsu?"

"This is incredible! You've wrecked the entire training ground! Are you really just a Genin?" Minato asked again, still unable to believe it.

Shiyu looked at the destruction and replied with a mischievous grin, "By the way, Minato, I just realized something."

"You and I are related, too! If we go by seniority, you have to call me your junior uncle!"

"Junior uncle? My teacher is Lord Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, and Jiraiya's teacher is the Third Hokage. Could you be the new student of Lord Third that Teacher Jiraiya told me about?" Minato asked in surprise.

Not many people knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi had taken on a new student. And few would believe that the Third Hokage, who followed the Second's beliefs and kept the Uchiha Clan under constant suspicion, would take an Uchiha as his student.

However, Jiraiya had told Minato about it in a letter some time ago.

"Heh, looks like Brother Jiraiya already told you." Shiyu smiled and nodded. "Come on! Call me junior uncle!"

Minato gave an awkward grin. As a young man of about twenty, calling a child his junior uncle felt strange.

In the end, though, Minato was quick-witted enough to say, "Little Junior Uncle!"

"Clever guy." Shiyu didn't mind Minato's little trick. Having the future Fourth Kazekage call him junior uncle was a pretty satisfying feeling.

"Minato-sensei! You run way too fast!"

"I'm gonna throw up from all this running!"

"Obito! If you hadn't slowed us down, we would've caught up with Minato-sensei ages ago!"

"Come on, Kakashi! Don't blame Obito! He was just trying to help an old lady cross the street."

The three Genin finally arrived. Shiyu saw the other members of Minato Namikaze's Team—every one of them would turn the Shinobi World upside down.

"Minato-sensei? Who were you fighting here? This is Training Ground Four, right? How did it end up like this?"