The Scales in Minato's Heart

The Scale in Minato's Heart [Please Vote]

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

Beside the small woods, Toneri stood quietly on the surface of the lake, watching the fist-sized fireball that had just shot from his mouth.

If he was being honest, a fist-sized fireball could count as a Flame Bullet...

Right?

This was Toneri's first attempt at releasing the jutsu after obtaining its scroll from Orochimaru.

He knew his own shortcomings, at least. He had that much self-awareness.

Toneri wouldn't deny that his chakra control was indeed rather weak.

Most of his energy went into improving his Taijutsu. Even after learning the Shadow Clone Technique and assigning one clone to practice chakra control, it wasn't so easy to make up the difference.

After all, he had only learned Water Walking yesterday, yet today he was already attempting the simplest of the three jutsu: Flame Bullet.

Although his first Flame Bullet looked more like a Flame Egg, at least he could see a model of it, couldn't he?

Not everyone could successfully release a jutsu on their first attempt. Otherwise, everyone would be Itachi.

Even Uchiha Sasuke had needed many attempts before successfully using his Great Fireball Technique, hadn't he?

"Hahahaha—Toneri, that counts as a ninjutsu?" Kushina had been resting on the grass by the river. Seeing Toneri's stance, she had thought he was about to perform some incredible technique. She hadn't expected such a "little fireball," and immediately clutched her stomach and rolled on the ground laughing.

Minato was sitting beside Kushina. Seeing what Toneri had done, he couldn't help laughing as well.

Just now, Toneri had called the two of them over to the riverbank, saying he wanted to demonstrate the jutsu he had just learned. The result had been this scene.

Toneri, Minato, and Kushina had already been training together in the small woods for two weeks.

At first, they had still used honorifics when speaking to one another. Now, they had become friends who could converse casually and joke around with each other.

Minato was easy to get along with in the first place. Although Kushina had been somewhat biased against him at first, it had only been a bias. After spending some time with him, she realized that she had indeed misunderstood him somewhat. He was merely gentle in the way he handled people and matters; that didn't mean he was effeminate.

Besides, with Toneri around—a person she occasionally wanted to beat up—the three of them had become close enough to share one pair of pants... Ahem, Minato and Toneri had become close enough to share one pair of pants.

Unwilling to admit defeat, Toneri tried several more times, but still couldn't break through the fist-sized limit. He didn't know how powerful it was yet, but he had nearly laughed Kushina to death.

Now, he was certain that having a large amount of chakra wasn't always a good thing.

The more chakra one had, the more time and energy it took to control all of it freely.

Still, his progress during this period hadn't been limited to that. At the very least, he could now endure more Shadow Clones.

The more Shadow Clones he created, the faster his strength would improve. It was a virtuous cycle.

After all his effort, his Taijutsu alone had now reached the level of an ordinary Genin. At least Kushina could no longer beat him black and blue so easily.

In throwing ninja tools and the Three Basic Ninjutsu Techniques, he had also barely begun to grasp the fundamentals.

The rest couldn't be improved overnight. It required persistent practice.

Take his Taijutsu, for example.

During the first two weeks, his improvement had been tremendous. He had changed almost every day. That was because he had started from a low point, and his high-intensity, limitless training had allowed his Taijutsu to reach the threshold of the Genin level in a short time.

During the following two weeks, however, he had only "just" entered the Genin stage after touching that threshold.

The stronger one became, the slower one's improvement naturally became, because a person's bottleneck kept rising higher.

A simple example was that, when he first began, running one lap around Konoha had left Toneri exhausted. Under those circumstances, persevering meant making progress. But after his Taijutsu improved, he might not reach his limit even after ten laps. To break through again, he could only exercise more.

The stronger he became, the harder it was to surpass his physical limits. Without surpassing those limits, his advantage as a Jinchūriki wouldn't be as obvious.

"Phew—"

After trying several more times, he failed each time.

Toneri knew this wasn't something that could be accomplished in a single stroke. He had merely gotten excited because he felt his chakra control had improved considerably and wanted to try the new jutsu. He hadn't expected to embarrass himself.

He walked to the shore and watched Minato and Kushina gradually grow closer. Toneri nodded in satisfaction.

Mm. Tool Man Number Two and Tool Man Number Three are getting closer and closer to the day I rule the world.

"We're about done for today. Come to think of it, ever since we met, all we've done is train. Why don't we go have some fun? I've been in Konoha for over a month, but I haven't even gone out to play in the streets," Toneri suggested.

"Sure! Sure!" Kushina immediately agreed.

She had also been in Konoha for quite some time. However, she had no friends, so she had rarely gone out to play.

When she had been young, those little brats had mocked her as a "tomato" whenever she went into town. Unless it was necessary, she had rarely gone out afterward.

However, there was one very important thing needed to go out and have fun: money!

They had no money!

There was no need to look at Toneri when it came to money. He was the poorest of the three, so poor that he couldn't produce a single coin.

Thus, Toneri and Kushina shifted their gazes to Minato, especially to the Headband on his forehead.

A ninja...

They seemed to make money pretty quickly, right?

Noticing their expectant looks, Minato knew it was time for him to speak. After all, he was the only ninja among the three and had already carried out several missions, so he had a little money on him.

"Let's go. I'm treating today!" Minato patted the grass clinging to his pants.

"Let's go!" Kushina cheered excitedly.

Toneri set off at a run and shouted, "Let's see who gets there first!"

Seeing Toneri dash away, Kushina's expression changed. She rushed after him as well.

Minato got off to a leisurely start. "Kushina, if Toneri wants to come first, just let him. There's no need to compete over this."

But Kushina's voice came from far ahead. "Compete over what? Let him lead the way. Do you know what will happen if he does?!"

Hearing that, Minato's expression changed just like Kushina's. He pushed off with his feet.

Whatever. He activated the Body Flicker Technique and immediately caught up.

If Toneri led the way, would they even get dinner?

Ten minutes later.

Toneri covered his cheek and the noticeably swollen back of his head.

He muttered, "We were just competing. Why did you have to hit me?"

Kushina glared at the innocent-looking Toneri and said irritably, "You still have the nerve to say that? With your sense of direction, don't you have any idea by now? What was that number you mentioned last time?"

Toneri rolled his eyes at her.

He had only said it once, yet Kushina had remembered the term "AC number."

Still, Toneri had truly suffered an undeserved beating this time. He wasn't actually direction-blind. If someone else was paying for dinner, why would he take them on a detour?

At most, he would have run one lap around Konoha...

Minato watched the two of them with a beaming smile.

At that moment, he felt that he had gained two good friends with whom he could truly be himself.

Although Minato had sensed at the beginning that Toneri seemed to be deliberately approaching him, everything had become so natural after Kushina joined them.

Minato would never admit that he only stopped caring about those details because Toneri had tricked Kushina into joining them...

But to be fair, Toneri was sincere toward him. Minato had felt that, which was why he ignored Toneri's purpose in approaching him.

People shouldn't underestimate him just because he was still young. They said that children from poor families matured early. Minato had lived alone since childhood and was wise beyond his years. When it came to people's hearts, he had his own scale for weighing them.

Being sunny didn't mean being stupid.

Enough said. Go bathe, change clothes, and get nice and fragrant. As for the votes, it's still up to me. You choose!

Book recommendation: I Really Only Wanted to Play Basketball, by Jing Qiao Qiao Xie. (Shui Duan Qiao/Long Poor Qiao.) This basketball novel is great. The author has finally set his sights on Kobe and AI, much to my satisfaction. Friends who enjoy basketball novels can give it a try. The author is very long-winded... about as long-winded as Jin Mu! If you go, remember to leave my name, Jin Mu's, behind—the man who is as long-winded as me!

Book recommendation: I Really Only Wanted to Play Basketball, by Jing Qiao Qiao Xie.

In the 1990s, just as David Stern stood anxiously outside the television station in the great land of China, looking at the NBA videotape in his hands and pondering how to open up the boundlessly promising Chinese market, he never could have imagined... that praying to God would really fucking work!

"Iron Shadow," "God of the North," "NBA Rim Smile Protector," "Never Shoots Without a Fadeaway," "A Jump Shot as Beautiful as a Painting"... When Su Feng, who possessed all these nicknames, emerged, the youth of countless people in the future began at this very moment!

"Bah! Will these haters ever stop? My nickname is clearly 'Godslayer'!" Su Feng said indignantly as he looked at the newspaper.

The "slayer" in Godslayer was the slayer who slew gods, and the "one" was the one in Godslayer. As for gods? How many gods could there be in the NBA of the 1990s?

Today's acknowledgments for the tips can wait until tonight.