When Tsunade came in, she greeted everyone and said, "Sorry, I'm better at taijutsu. Your teacher probably hasn't arrived yet."
She turned to the other team. "Team Six, come with me. Starting today, I'll be training you. I'm Tsunade!"
"Hey, how come? I thought Sister Tsunade was going to be our Jonin Leader."
Watching her familiar Sister Tsunade leave, Kushina deflated like a punctured balloon.
"Don't worry. The best things always come last," Sen said with a reassuring smile.
He had already figured out who it would probably be. Several familiar faces had shown up, including Hatake Sakumo, Dan Katō, and Tsunade, one of the Sannin.
That meant the remaining candidates were probably Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
Jiraiya seemed more likely. If Orochimaru had been assigned to train new recruits, he probably wouldn't have wanted the job. Orochimaru was interested in dissecting people, not raising them.
As he pondered this, a voice rang out before its owner arrived.
"Tsunade! Long time no see! You've gotten even prettier!"
A roar came from the hallway. "Get lost!"
Muttering, "Her chest and her temper just keep getting bigger," Jiraiya opened the classroom door.
The moment he saw the three of them, he straightened up, smoothed his silver-white hair, and walked up to the platform.
"You're Team Seven, right? I'm really late today. If I'd gotten here sooner, the other students could've seen my heroic figure too! I'm your Jonin Leader, the Mount Myōboku Sage, Lord Jiraiya!"
When he finished, he flashed what he considered a handsome peace sign.
Kushina pressed a hand to her forehead. This Jonin didn't seem very reliable. He was probably even worse than their previous teacher, Murashita Ryukawa.
Sen had a similar look on his face. He sized up Jiraiya, who was only in his early twenties. Compared to his middle-aged self, he seemed even more carefree now.
"So cool! Do all sages have white hair?" Minato was the only one to give Jiraiya a thumbs-up, his face showing both admiration and envy.
Seeing their reactions, Jiraiya immediately felt deflated. Two of them weren't interested in him at all, and the last kid to speak seemed a little dim...
I call myself a sage because I'm handsome. What does that have to do with white hair?
If it had to do with hair, wouldn't two of you three be sages, too?
Jiraiya shook his head. "Come on. Let's find an open space and get to know each other."
They soon arrived at an empty training ground.
Jiraiya introduced himself first.
"My name's Jiraiya. I'm the Third Hokage's student, and I only recently returned to the village. I'm good at all sorts of things. As for my dreams and the like, you brats wouldn't understand, so let's hear your introductions."
Minato spoke first. "I'm Namikaze Minato. I'm good at basic techniques like the Substitution Technique, and I've learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, too. My dream is to become Hokage! I hope you'll look after me, Sage Jiraiya."
Jiraiya nodded. That matched the information he'd received with the mission: Namikaze Minato, a genius from a civilian family.
"Next."
Kushina raised her fist. "He's not going to be Hokage. I, Kushina Uzumaki, will definitely be Hokage!
"I only know some simple Sealing Jutsu for now, but I'll learn more ninjutsu from Grandma Mito. Someday everyone in the village will know my name."
After a month of training with Sen and Minato, Kushina was full of confidence in her abilities.
Jiraiya's expression grew more serious. So this was the Jinchuriki he had to protect at all costs, according to the mission?
It was a shame that such a lively girl was going to become a Jinchuriki trapped in a cage.
His gaze shifted to the last person, Uchiha Sen.
He was the last target of the mission: to observe whether he felt any loyalty to the village.
Noticing the others looking at him, Sen said, "I'm Uchiha Sen. I didn't used to have anything I particularly liked, but now I like tomatoes. My dream is to protect the people I cherish."
Kushina's face instantly turned red.
Jiraiya understood what was going on.
The tomato he mentioned must be Kushina's nickname.
It seemed this kid wasn't as cold as the other Uchiha.
But...
He instinctively touched the bells in his Ninja Tool Pouch.
War was imminent. Was it really right to graduate these three nine-year-old kids?
Maybe...letting them fail under his supervision and keeping them out of the war was the best way to protect them.
Having made up his mind, Jiraiya took out two bells and held them up by their strings.
"Now that you've all introduced yourselves, you don't think graduating means you can become ninja, do you?
"You still have to pass my test. If you pass, you can officially become Genin. Otherwise, you'll have to repeat the year at the academy! Back in my day—"
Jiraiya reluctantly recalled being tied to a tree stump back then. His eyes darted around as he continued, "I fought Teacher Hiruzen for over three hours before I managed to get one. Let's see what you're capable of!"
Kushina and Minato stood up straight at his words. They'd thought they'd already graduated. How could there still be an exam?
Sen shook his head. He didn't bother exposing Jiraiya's old record as a dead-last student. Instead, he stepped forward and examined the bells. "Jiraiya, you have great taste. Those bells look really nice. Where did you buy them?"
"Of course. Lord Jiraiya has impeccable taste." Seeing Sen getting too close, he changed tack. "Don't think you can just snatch them. The test hasn't started yet! And you should call me Teacher Jiraiya!"
Sen looked at the bells a couple more times, then said disappointedly, "Aw, you caught me. Fine, got it, Jiraiya."
Minato immediately spotted the problem. "Teacher, there are three of us, but only two bells..."
"Good catch. The one who doesn't get a bell will go back to the academy and repeat the year!" Jiraiya said with a sly grin. "You'll have such a great time being senpai to your juniors, won't you?"
Minato and Kushina both flushed with embarrassment. If they had to go back to school with their juniors, they'd never live down the teasing...
Forget dreaming about becoming Hokage. They might as well lie down beside the First Hokage...
"Get it together!" Sen interrupted them. "We can worry about that after we get the bells! Teacher, this is a team exercise. Can we discuss a strategy first?"
Jiraiya silently praised him. Uchiha were extremely levelheaded most of the time, as long as emotions weren't involved. That was a great quality for missions.
"I'll give you ten minutes!"
Jiraiya watched the three of them confer with approval. Then, the very next moment, Sen and Minato were already arguing.
Minato shouted, "The Shadow Clone Jutsu hand seal is clearly the two-handed Tiger seal! What do you mean, a cross seal? There's no such seal!"
Sen retorted, "You idiot, you know how to do it, don't you? I'll summon two Shadow Clones right now and show you!"
With that, he formed a cross-shaped hand seal and summoned two Shadow Clones.
Seeing the clones appear, Minato looked envious and surprised. Then he scratched his head. "Oh, I got it mixed up. That one was the Transformation Technique..."
Sen said in annoyance, "Idiot, remember to follow my lead later. I'm still not very good with Shadow Clones, so these two aren't much use. I'll dispel them!"
The two Shadow Clones turned into puffs of smoke and vanished. Just as the smoke disappeared, Sen stealthily closed his hand around something.
Watching this, Jiraiya felt his vision go dark.
He'd just praised Uchiha Sen, but it looked like the kid was only good at ninjutsu and had no tactical sense at all.
At the very least, he shouldn't have dispelled the Shadow Clones like that. They could've been useful in a fight! What a waste of chakra.
Those idiots. He might as well send all three of them back to the academy!
Seeing the two of them still arguing, Kushina yelled, "Stop arguing! The ten minutes are up! We haven't even come up with a strategy, and now we have to fight Teacher Jiraiya! What are you two doing?"
Jiraiya fastened the bells to his belt and took a step forward, his gaze sharp.
"You three don't stand a chance! Get ready to go back to the academy!"
Before you continue