Namikaze Minato

"KaKashi, did you know that water conducts electricity?" Yamanaka Tohru's words caught Kakashi off guard. Of course he knew water conducted electricity.

"Then did you know there's water in the mud too? [Lightning Release: Earth Walk]!"

"Not good!" Faced with Yamanaka Tohru's Lightning Release, Kakashi could only leap high into the air. If he were paralyzed by the lightning, Yamanaka Tohru would definitely seize the chance to deal him a crushing blow.

Watching Kakashi in midair, Yamanaka Tohru formed hand seals. "[Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet]!"

Kakashi had no foothold in the air. This attack was almost impossible to avoid.

Kakashi clearly knew he could not evade it and could only take it head-on. Ox—Rabbit—Monkey. "[Chidori]!"

Chidori was an A-rank ninjutsu, while Water Dragon Bullet was B-rank. Kakashi's Chidori pierced straight through the Water Dragon Bullet.

Yamanaka Tohru did not continue attacking. After Kakashi landed, he panted heavily.

"Two years apart, and you've gotten this strong." Over the past two years, Kakashi had honed himself through all kinds of missions. At six years old, he had become a Chunin entirely on merit. In fact, setting mission experience aside and speaking solely of strength, Kakashi was solidly at elite Chunin level.

Kakashi had thought he would be able to defeat Yamanaka Tohru when he returned this time, but he had not expected Yamanaka Tohru's strength to improve so rapidly in two years.

"Hehe! Kakashi, want to keep going?"

"No need. You won!" Kakashi readily conceded. Seeing how effortlessly Yamanaka Tohru had handled the fight, Kakashi knew his strength was far from all he had shown.

"Kushina, is this your student? What a genius!"

"Of course! My student has to be a genius!"

At the entrance to Training Ground Three, Kushina stood hand in hand with a handsome blond young man as they discussed Yamanaka Tohru and Kakashi.

Having just finished their spar, the two were suddenly force-fed a huge dose of PDA. Yamanaka Tohru walked toward them.

"Sister Kushina, is this your boyfriend?" Blood Red Pepper rarely had such a demure side. Yamanaka Tohru felt he would be letting himself down if he did not tease her a little.

At Yamanaka Tohru's words, Kushina's face turned bright red. She secretly glanced at Namikaze Minato and pulled her hand out of his.

Namikaze Minato was a little embarrassed as well, but as someone destined to become Hokage, he quickly returned to normal.

"Ahem, hello. I'm Namikaze Minato, a Konoha Jonin."

In his previous life, Yamanaka Tohru had liked Namikaze Minato very much. Konoha's Golden Flash possessed unparalleled speed in the shinobi world with his Flying Thunder God technique.

Namikaze Minato was generous and gentle, cautious and earnest in his work, calm and wise-minded. Though he was a civilian shinobi, he had reached Kage-level in his teens and become famous throughout the shinobi world during the Third Shinobi World War.

He had made the other villages issue an order like this: whenever they encountered Konoha's Golden Flash, they could immediately abandon their mission and flee, and their village would not punish them in any way.

After becoming Hokage, he died during the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha in Konoha Year 48.

The current Namikaze Minato looked fifteen or sixteen. A gentle smile always rested on his lips, giving people a warm feeling.

"Hello, Senior Minato! I'm Yamanaka Tohru, a Konoha Genin."

"Tohru, don't be so formal. Just call him Brother Minato!" Kushina said.

At Kushina's words, a gleam flashed through Namikaze Minato's eyes. He understood Kushina's personality better than anyone. For Kushina to say that meant she truly acknowledged Yamanaka Tohru and regarded him as family.

Namikaze Minato began to take an interest in Yamanaka Tohru. Kushina was extremely perceptive. After becoming the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, she had gained the ability to distinguish good from evil. Anyone Kushina acknowledged had to be someone who sincerely treated her well. Thinking of this, Minato felt that nothing else mattered. As long as he sincerely treated Kushina well, everything else was unimportant.

They said that people deeply in love had IQs approaching zero. Just one sentence from Kushina greatly improved Namikaze Minato's impression of Yamanaka Tohru.

"Brother Minato!" Naturally, Yamanaka Tohru would not pass up a chance to grow closer to the Fourth Hokage. With Kushina making the introduction, he smoothly changed the way he addressed him.

"Sensei, isn't that a little inappropriate? Tohru and I are classmates at the Ninja Academy." Hearing Yamanaka Tohru call his teacher brother, Kakashi could not help speaking up.

"Come on, what does it matter? Tohru is so mature, unlike you, you little brat!" Before Namikaze Minato could voice an opinion, Kushina directly settled their relationship.

Namikaze Minato could only nod helplessly. Between his girlfriend and his student, of course he chose his girlfriend.

After the four chatted for a while, Yamanaka Tohru's Chakra had mostly recovered. He really wanted to know just how strong Namikaze Minato was at this point.

"Brother Minato, I want to spar with you." Namikaze Minato froze for a moment, then glanced at Kushina. Without hesitation, Kushina nodded and put on an expression as though she were watching a show.

"All right!" Since Kushina did not object, Yamanaka Tohru's strength presumably was not weak. Namikaze Minato agreed.

"Tohru, use all your strength. Minato is very strong. You can trust him."

"Okay!" Hearing Kushina's words, Yamanaka Tohru agreed without hesitation—partly out of his trust in Kushina, and partly because of his fondness for the Fourth Hokage from the original work.

"Brother Minato, I'm coming!" With that, Yamanaka Tohru opened his Sharingan. Two tomoe spun within his scarlet eyes.

Sharingan? And two tomoe at that! Wasn't Yamanaka Tohru from the Yamanaka Clan? Namikaze Minato looked at Yamanaka Tohru with uncertainty.

After activating his Sharingan, Yamanaka Tohru did not hesitate in the slightest. He fired two consecutive [Water Release: Water Ripple] attacks at Minato, but Minato easily evaded Yamanaka Tohru's Water Release.

After the Third Shinobi World War began, Namikaze Minato was hailed as the fastest shinobi in the world. Speed was Namikaze Minato's defining trait.

Without hesitation, Yamanaka Tohru used Ice Release to freeze the water from Water Ripple, immediately surrounding Minato in ice.

Yamanaka Tohru did not activate Ice Lightning Mode. Ice Lightning Mode consumed too much Chakra. Although it could enhance his reaction speed and the power of his Lightning Release attacks, neither would be useful against Minato's ultimate speed. The only thing Yamanaka Tohru could rely on was Ice Release's teleportation ability.

Yamanaka Tohru could use Ice Release too? Minato grew increasingly curious about Kushina's student.

PS: Let me explain the Uchiha Clan's Fire nature issue. Today, a reader said in the comments that every member of the Uchiha Clan should have a Fire nature. That was indeed how it was in the anime; the anime said, "The Uchiha Clan is born with exceptional fire-control abilities."

The protagonist was originally set up with Lightning, Fire, and Water natures. But before I began writing, I happened to remember this topic while chatting with a friend in Japan and casually asked him about it. He's also a Naruto fan, and he directly told me that not every member of the Uchiha Clan was born with a Fire nature. He even specially messaged a Naruto content creator on Niconico, who told him that the line in the Naruto manga meant, "Most members of the Uchiha Clan are born with exceptional fire-control abilities." Most, not all.

Because of the protagonist's Ice Release, after much consideration, I decided to remove the protagonist's Fire nature. The setting was also changed so that only most members of the Uchiha Clan had a Fire nature.