Kushina and Minato

"First place, Hikawa."

Eiichirō couldn't help but praise. "Hikawa's progress since enrollment has been obvious to all. Everyone should learn from him."

Hatake Kakashi subconsciously clenched his fist.

Though it was just an unimportant physical training session, he still felt a trace of unwillingness.

After all, he had always been first in the class in every aspect.

"Ah!"

Might Guy couldn't help but grab his head with both hands.

If he hadn't suddenly been struck by illness before the finish line, he might have won.

But no big deal.

Physical training wasn't everything. What excited him was discovering a new rival.

"Kakashi actually lost?"

Obito Uchiha felt worse than if he'd been killed. "Damn it! Kakashi can only lose to me!"

Rin Nohara blinked as she watched that boy who still looked handsome even drenched in sweat.

Curiosity stirred in her heart. An ordinary-born ninja—how could he be this strong?

He'd beaten Sarutobi Asuma, and now outrun Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy. Could their class be producing a civilian genius?

Rin thought of Namikaze Minato, taken as a disciple by Jiraiya.

"It's just physical training."

Sarutobi Asuma ground his teeth.

The next second, the petite figure in his line of sight stood up.

He suddenly wanted to go home. Heartfelt exhaustion.

"Hikawa, you're amazing!"

Yuhi Kurenai jogged over to Hikawa's side and sat down.

She caught her breath, tucking sweat-soaked strands of hair behind her ear, revealing a clean forehead.

Hikawa nodded weakly.

To overtake Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy at the end, he'd unleashed a fierce burst, and now he was completely drained.

But inside, he was still thrilled.

Two traits, plus a month of effort, and he'd already earned the right to keep pace with them. The cheat was really pulling its weight.

Of course, that only applied to running.

He definitely couldn't beat them in a fight right now.

Physical training ended, and it was time to go home.

Hikawa told Yuhi Kurenai to head back, then headed north.

He'd been training at the Fourth Training Ground all this time, so he'd gotten a good grasp of the surrounding area.

Further north of the Fourth Training Ground was the infamous Death Forest—a wonder created by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, with Wood Release.

Hikawa walked for a while, then heard footsteps behind him.

He turned and saw Hatake Kakashi.

"Going to train?"

Hikawa asked.

Hatake Kakashi nodded slightly.

He had some extra practice in mind today, since he'd lost in physical training.

"You training too?"

Kakashi asked in return.

"Sort of."

Hikawa thought for a moment, then replied.

Normal ninjas wouldn't bother with Exploding Tag training.

If you mentioned it, people would just think you had more money than sense.

But he had a panel, and he needed to grind the progress bar.

When they reached the Fourth Training Ground, Hikawa kept walking forward.

Kakashi glanced at him, curious, but didn't ask.

After a moment's thought, he started running.

"Sorry, I had a mission today. I'm a bit late."

Half an hour later, Hatake Sakumo appeared.

Hatake Kakashi shook his head, indicating nothing was wrong.

"What are you doing running today?"

Hatake Sakumo asked, somewhat surprised.

"Warming up."

Hatake Kakashi said calmly.

For some reason, he didn't want to tell Hatake Sakumo about losing the physical training to Hikawa.

But now he had to admit his old man's judgment was indeed spot-on.

Hikawa's rate of progress put a bit of pressure on him.

Of course, he still believed he would be the one to win in the end.

Death Forest.

Dense branches blocked out the sky and most of the sunlight.

Though it was daytime, it felt like night.

Hikawa's eyes suddenly lit up. He sped forward, and the view opened up.

A spacious riverbank.

Seeing this, Hikawa took out an Exploding Tag and casually tossed it down.

Boom.

The ground blasted into a shallow crater, the soil scorched black.

Sure enough, you get what you pay for.

The problem wasn't that the tag was expensive—it was his problem.

Hikawa felt the three-hundred-ryo Exploding Tag's power was even worse than the most basic Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

With a thought, he opened the panel and glanced at the progress bar.

It went up by 1%, confirming that Exploding Tags counted as ninja tools and were effective.

Hikawa continued training.

He felt like a kid again, setting off firecrackers during New Year's.

Too bad that once he had money later, he never got the chance.

Before long, the ground was pockmarked with craters, and an invisible wave of heat rose into the air.

"Which bastard?!"

Just then, a furious shout came from afar, growing closer.

Hikawa followed the sound and saw a Red-Haired Woman.

"Did you do this?"

The Red-Haired Woman spotted him, her expression softening a bit as she asked.

"I'm practicing with Exploding Tags."

Hikawa blinked and said.

"Exploding Tags?"

The Red-Haired Woman curled her lip. "No wonder I couldn't catch a single fish."

Since he was just a kid, she didn't lose her temper.

"Fish?"

Hikawa caught on and said, "Wait a moment."

He walked a few steps to the riverbank. The nearby fish had all been scared off by his Exploding Tags.

That was a bit embarrassing.

Hikawa moved upstream and soon spotted a school of fish. He casually tossed an Exploding Tag.

With a blast, several unconscious fish floated to the surface.

"Come over here!"

He waved at her.

"Using Exploding Tags to fish—only you would think of that."

The Red-Haired Woman glanced over and couldn't help but laugh.

The fish here probably weren't even worth the price of one Exploding Tag.

She waved her hand casually, forming a net of Chakra to pull the fish up.

Hikawa's mouth twitched slightly.

Terrifying chakra control ability.

He had a rough idea who this was—after all, red hair held special significance in the ninja world.

"Kid, what's your name?"

The red-haired woman tossed the fish into the bucket she carried with her.

"My name is Hikawa."

Hikawa replied.

"Kushina Uzumaki."

Kushina Uzumaki shook the bucket and extended an invitation. "There's so much fish, two people can't finish it all. Want to come?"

Two people? Namikaze Minato?

As an original-series fan, he naturally couldn't miss this.

Hikawa nodded.

"Follow me."

Kushina Uzumaki picked up the bucket and headed outside.

A few minutes later, Hikawa spotted a blond young man busy cooking.

"Minato! Look!"

Kushina Uzumaki said, beaming. "I'd say it's three or four pounds!"

Who asked you!

A phrase suddenly popped into Hikawa's mind.

In his past life, a middle-aged neighbor of his loved fishing.

Every time he passed by that neighbor's house, the man would drag his feet and insist on telling him how many pounds of fish he'd caught.

Once, he caught a seven- or eight-pound fish and circled the neighborhood three times.

"The smell of Exploding Tags."

Namikaze Minato sniffed and said.

"A connoisseur."

Kushina Uzumaki laughed. "He used Exploding Tags to blast them."

Namikaze Minato took the bucket, set it aside, and began cleaning the fish.

Kushina Uzumaki pulled Hikawa into small talk.

She chattered on as if she hadn't spoken in ages, endlessly talkative and extremely sociable.

Hikawa couldn't get a word in edgewise.