"Orochimaru..."
Namikaze Minato sighed softly. "He's going to be a difficult opponent."
Orochimaru was at the height of his prominence.
As one of the Konoha Sannin, he also enjoyed enormous prestige within Konoha and was in charge of a front in this war.
Aside from his performance not being as dazzling as Namikaze Minato's, everything else about him was commendable.
Combined with his past experience and standing, he was undoubtedly a formidable opponent.
As the two discussed this, footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
A moment later, Kakashi pushed open the door and stared at the scene inside in surprise.
"Sensei, what brings you here?"
He looked at Namikaze Minato sitting in the room, his face full of surprise.
But Namikawa Yū surprised him even more.
Inside the room, Namikawa Yū and Namikaze Minato sat facing each other, engrossed in a lively conversation. The atmosphere was clearly warm, as though they were old friends who had not seen each other in years.
"What... is going on?"
Looking at the two chatting so happily before him, seemingly friends of many years, Kakashi felt a little lost.
He felt as though he was rather unnecessary.
Maybe I shouldn't have come back?
The thought flashed through his mind.
"Oh, Kakashi."
Only when Kakashi walked through the door did Namikaze Minato notice his arrival. He gave an apologetic smile, looking a little sorry. "Sorry, we were so engrossed in our conversation that I didn't notice you come in."
"What were you talking about?"
Kakashi was a little curious.
"Just some rumors going around Konoha."
Smiling, Namikaze Minato smoothly changed the subject.
He stayed and chatted with Kakashi for a while before finding an opportunity to leave.
After he left, Namikawa Yū also found an excuse to leave, only setting down the gift he had brought for Kakashi.
Only a bewildered Kakashi remained.
"Are they both in that much of a hurry?"
Standing there, he watched the two retreating figures, feeling rather baffled.
In the days that followed, Namikawa Yū and Namikaze Minato gradually grew closer.
They often discussed all kinds of matters within Konoha together.
And through this process, they gradually became familiar with each other.
Namikaze Minato's mastery of ninjutsu was already profound.
Among the people around Namikawa Yū, he was undoubtedly the most accomplished in ninjutsu, even reaching the point where he could create techniques of his own.
As for Namikawa Yū, his accomplishments across many fields likewise earned Namikaze Minato's admiration.
Aside from his relatively limited knowledge of ninjutsu, he was almost an all-rounder.
This was especially true when it came to development and governance.
Namikaze Minato could not help being surprised.
Talent could explain his strategic ability, but his abilities in other areas seemed like things that could only be honed through practice and experience.
Namikawa Yū was only nine years old. How could he have developed such strong abilities in politics and governance?
Try as he might, Namikaze Minato could not understand it.
But that did not stop him from valuing Namikawa Yū even more.
Over a month later, a piece of news from outside further reinforced his impression.
News arrived from Iwagakure.
Kumogakure's army had invaded the Land of Earth, only to walk straight into a trap and suffer heavy losses.
To cover his army's safe withdrawal, the Third Raikage had stayed behind alone, facing over ten thousand Iwagakure Ninja. After fighting fiercely for three days, he had died of exhaustion.
The news caused an uproar everywhere.
Yū really did get it right.
Inside the camp, Namikaze Minato marveled inwardly as he listened to the news from outside.
Before this happened, Namikawa Yū had predicted how the situation in the Ninja World would develop.
And now, the situation in the Ninja World was exactly as he had predicted, with almost no difference at all.
Such powerful judgment made Namikaze Minato sigh.
After the Third Raikage's death, his son inherited the name A and became the Fourth Raikage.
But from then on, Kumogakure also entered a period of recuperation, no longer having the drive to continue expanding outward.
At this point, the situation in the Ninja World gradually settled down as well.
Half a year later.
Namikawa Yū stood alone before a forest.
A mass of chakra gathered in his hand, and then he suddenly lunged forward.
Rasengan!
The powerful chakra formed a ninjutsu, directly destroying the dummy before him with power far beyond that of ordinary ninjutsu.
"Very good."
Not far away, Namikaze Minato smiled. "At this point, you've mastered the basics of the Rasengan. From here, you just need to keep practicing."
"That's Yū for you. You've actually reached this point in just over a month."
He looked at Yū before him with some amazement.
Over the past six months and more, besides exchanging ideas with Namikawa Yū, he had also been teaching him ninjutsu.
As a Medical Ninja, Namikawa Yū was outstanding.
He used Medical Ninjutsu very well and performed excellently in many areas, far surpassing ordinary Medical Ninja.
But in other areas, he was relatively lacking.
After all, his previous self had merely been an ordinary student who had spent a few years at the Ninja Academy and barely learned some basics.
Although his fundamentals were fairly solid, they were hardly outstanding.
Namikaze Minato's instruction had done an excellent job of making up for this.
In just half a year, Namikawa Yū had remedied his weaknesses, becoming a match for Jonin in many areas.
For someone his age, this was already a remarkable achievement.
"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Minato-sensei."
Namikawa Yū smiled. "If you hadn't taught me so patiently, I probably wouldn't have improved this quickly under an ordinary teacher."
"The same goes for both of us."
Namikaze Minato shook his head, then said, "Once your Rasengan training is finished, the next step will be training in nature transformation."
"You have plenty of choices in this area, so you can take your time thinking it over."
As early as half a year ago, when he had first begun teaching Namikawa Yū, Namikaze Minato had tested his chakra natures.
The results of that test had been quite surprising.
Namikawa Yū was born with all five major chakra natures. In other words, he had every chakra nature, with none missing.
Namikaze Minato and Kakashi had found this surprising, but Namikawa Yū thought it was perfectly ordinary.
After all, he was Karma's inheritor. After being transformed by Karma, he could now be considered to possess an incomplete Otsutsuki Body.
And given the Otsutsuki Clan's affinity for chakra, possessing every chakra nature was entirely normal and nothing surprising.
"You mentioned last time that you wanted to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Looking at Namikawa Yū before him, Namikaze Minato spoke again.
"Yes."
Namikawa Yū nodded.
Having finally managed to become Namikaze Minato's student, what he wanted to learn most was naturally the Flying Thunder God Technique that Minato had mastered.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was an exceptionally rare space-time ninjutsu, as well as the foundation of Namikaze Minato's strength.
Even much later, when combat power kept losing its value, this was one of the few techniques that had not become obsolete and could still play an important role.