A Training Strategy

Hyuga Shinichi looked at the younger brother he had known for only a short time, yet who trusted him completely and was even willing to entrust his life to him. A warmth welled up in his heart.

Back then, seeing Minato looking so pitiful had reminded him of his own circumstances in both of his lives. He couldn't help feeling a strong sense of sympathy and compassion.

So he had reached out, hoping to give Minato the warmth of a family again and help him feel loved and cared for.

From the moment they became brothers, he had treated Minato like family, giving him his whole heart and hoping to be by his side through every difficult moment.

They shared both laughter and tears, and whether Minato succeeded or failed, Shinichi always stood by him and supported him.

These sincere feelings came not just from sympathy, but also from the lonely person he had once been deep down.

But such complete trust from Minato was truly rare. How many people in the world could really do that?

This alone was enough to show that Minato already saw him as a brother in every sense, and as an indispensable member of his family.

At the thought, Hyuga Shinichi's lips curled into a smile, and he let out a hearty laugh.

His laughter rang through the air, as if carrying all his joy and relief with it. When it finally died away, Hyuga Shinichi reached up and gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

He couldn't tell whether they had come from laughing or from being deeply moved. Perhaps only Hyuga Shinichi himself knew.

Hyuga Shinichi slowly reached out his right hand, intending to ruffle Namikaze Minato's thick blond hair.

But when his hand was halfway there, he stopped. Looking at Namikaze Minato, Hyuga Shinichi sighed inwardly.

Minato seemed more mature than he had imagined.

His hand curled into a fist in midair. He held it out toward Namikaze Minato, smiled faintly, and nodded.

Namikaze Minato understood what Hyuga Shinichi meant. He smiled brightly too, raised his right hand in a fist, and bumped it against Shinichi's.

"What a silly little brother. Leave it to me, Minato! I absolutely won't let anything happen to you!"

Jiraiya ultimately agreed to start with combination techniques and see if they could sense the changes that came from combining two types of chakra.

Hyuga Shinichi immediately began teaching Namikaze Minato Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, thinking it could be combined with the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique Jiraiya had just taught him.

Minato was highly perceptive, and with Hyuga Shinichi and Jiraiya demonstrating the techniques on the spot, he had a basic grasp of both after a little over two hours.

After taking a short break, Minato couldn't wait to see how the combination worked. He tried it on a wooden post in front of him, drawing on the chakra inside his body and rapidly forming hand seals.

He first took a deep breath and gathered the chakra in his mouth into a fireball. Before he could spit it out, he formed another set of hand seals and used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

But the imagined scene of Wind Style enhancing the power of Fire Style never came to pass. Instead, thick black smoke poured from Minato's mouth, as if he'd just botched a magic experiment.

It didn't seem to have harmed him, so Minato tried again and again. Each attempt ended the same way. Not only did he fail to get the result he wanted, but the dense smoke made him cough uncontrollably.

Watching the chakra inside Minato with his Byakugan, Hyuga Shinichi thought, Just as I expected. He hasn't even learned to walk, and he's already trying to run. I'm asking too much of Minato. But judging by Minato's excited expression, he clearly wasn't discouraged by a temporary setback.

Jiraiya watched with an exasperated smile. "Don't rush. Take it one step at a time."

Nawaki offered his own experience from the sidelines.

"When I first tried combination techniques, I was just like you are now. I ran into setbacks and failures all the time. That's perfectly normal.

"It took countless training sessions and many attempts before I could reach the level I showed when I sparred with Shinichi just now.

"So, Minato, don't get discouraged! Keep practicing, and I'm sure you'll succeed one day."

Minato nodded and readied himself to try again.

Nawaki's words gave Hyuga Shinichi a new idea, especially the phrases "countless training sessions" and "many attempts." He remembered that in the original story, Naruto had used a certain technique while training in Sage Mode and Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.

Multi-Shadow Clone Technique!

He could send out shadow clones to train, then have them dispel. Their memories and experience would return to the original, speeding up Minato's progress.

He only knew the Shadow Clone Technique. Although he had learned it faster than his friends back then, he wasn't very good at using it and could only make two clones, which he couldn't maintain for long. He could only use Taijutsu and swordsmanship with them; they couldn't use chakra. So he explained his idea to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya immediately understood what Hyuga Shinichi had in mind. His eyes lit up, and he excitedly swung his right fist down into his left palm.

"Right! We can do that! How did I not think of it?"

The two of them started teaching Minato the Shadow Clone Technique. Neither of them knew the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, and neither could use it. After all, they weren't like Naruto, who had the chakra reserves of the Uzumaki Clan combined with the Nine-Tails.

An ordinary person who made that many shadow clones at once would use up all their chakra. Each clone would have so little chakra that they couldn't fight, leaving the original at a disadvantage instead.

So even if someone could get their hands on the forbidden technique, the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, they wouldn't choose to learn it.

By the time they had taught Minato the Shadow Clone Technique, the sun was already sinking. They had no choice but to call it a day and continue the next morning.

The four of them returned to the Senju Clan Compound. Why four?

Because Hyuga Shinichi's cooking was so delicious that they all wanted to come over and mooch a meal. Naturally, he didn't mind.

The dinner party included the same people as before, except Orochimaru was missing. Even Jiraiya and Tsunade, his teammates, didn't know where he had gone.

After dinner, they agreed to meet again the next morning. Jiraiya and Dan Katō both had things to take care of, so they left the Senju Clan Compound together, chatting and laughing.

In Hyuga Shinichi's view, Dan Katō was Jiraiya's romantic rival, so by all rights, the two of them shouldn't have been able to get along.

And yet Jiraiya was just like he had been in the original story. He only wanted Tsunade to be happy. He gave little thought to anything else.

In the original story, Jiraiya had said, "A man who's been dumped can grow stronger. If you can't even laugh about it, you're no man." He had also said, "Besides, happiness isn't something a man should pursue."

That alone said a lot. Jiraiya hadn't never pursued happiness, but there were things more important to him than his own happiness.

Because Jiraiya's life had long since become bound to the responsibility of being the Child of Prophecy and changing the world.

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