The Seeds Planted

The leaden clouds were heavy and gloomy; even though it was nearing noon, the sky looked as if it were dusk.

Despite the harsh weather, the rainfall today was uncharacteristically light. On a wide stretch of river, five figures stood perfectly still upon the surface. Although rapid currents flowed beneath their feet, they stood as firmly as if they were on solid ground.

"Everyone is here, good!"

Jiraiya nodded at the youths standing in a row. His expression was uncharacteristically serious today.

Seeing his expression, the youths knew the importance he placed on today's trial, so they remained silent, waiting for his instructions.

"You have followed me for three years of training. In such a long time, you have all grown significantly. But to what extent your strength has reached, and whether you possess the power to protect yourselves in this chaotic world, can only be known through my test."

"I summoned you here today to examine the fruits of your training and to see if your past efforts can provide a perfect answer for me—and for yourselves!"

"What you must do next is attack me with all your might. Only by holding the resolve to kill me and exhausting every ounce of your ability will you be able to correctly gauge your own standing and understand your own capacity!"

"Alright, let us begin!"

"Wait, Master Jiraiya!" Yuehua Ai raised his hand to interrupt.

"Oh, what is it, Little Ai? Do you have a question?"

Jiraiya looked at the hand-raising Yuehua Ai with some confusion.

"May I withdraw?"

"Uh... why?" Jiraiya looked stunned. This was the first time Little Ai had ever asked to opt out of his trials.

Over the past three years, he had set many dangerous tests for the youths, yet even when facing the most perilous enemies, Little Ai had never once flinched. Today was not a life-or-death battle against an enemy; it was merely a test conducted by him personally. He truly could not fathom what the boy was thinking.

"Because Master Jiraiya said we must attack with the resolve to kill you, and that is something I cannot do!"

Yuehua Ai explained, and these words were his heartfelt sentiment.

Although it was unlikely that the four of them could injure Jiraiya even if they gave their all, this was not a matter of strength. Distinguishing between gratitude and enmity was Yuehua Ai's personal code of conduct. To attack his own mentor with full force—even in a drill—was a line he could not cross in his heart, provided there was even a chance of hurting him.

"Haha, how could your strength possibly hurt me, the great Toad Sage Jiraiya? Don't worry, Little Ai. I asked you to hold the resolve to kill me simply to force you to unleash your full potential. If you truly had the ability to hurt me, I would be quite pleased!"

Hearing Yuehua Ai's reasoning, Jiraiya laughed heartily, but a sense of being moved welled up in his heart. Despite being the youngest among the children, Yuehua Ai was the most considerate.

"This isn't a question of whether it's possible to hurt you or not. The reason we train so hard is to have the strength to protect what we cherish. You speak lightly of attacking you with full force, but I cannot get past that mental hurdle!"

Yuehua Ai rolled his eyes at Jiraiya before stealing a glance at Yahiko and the others. He noticed that after hearing his words, the youths had fallen into deep thought, with flashes of shame occasionally crossing their faces.

Sensing their reactions, Yuehua Ai felt a sense of relief.

Although Jiraiya was a dedicated and responsible teacher, while educating the youths, he had overlooked one very important thing: he had forgotten to teach them the heart of gratitude!

Jiraiya had always been the type to give without asking for anything in return. Even regarding the disciples he had taken in, he never considered what they might give back. It was precisely this selfless nature that caused him to neglect teaching the youths the importance of respecting their teacher and the way of gratitude.

The fact that Nagato and Konan, who would later suffer great pain and undergo drastic changes in temperament, could strike at Jiraiya without hesitation in the future was the greatest failure of Jiraiya's current teaching method.

Jiraiya's death in the original story had always weighed heavily on Yuehua Ai's mind. Now that he had been reborn as his disciple in this life, he would absolutely not allow that tragedy to repeat itself. Yuehua Ai's explanation to Jiraiya just now was intentional; it was meant to plant a seed in the hearts of Yahiko and the others, to make them reflect and to help them define a sense of gratitude within their own kind hearts.

Yuehua Ai had spoken up to shift the topic toward gratitude. While he truly could not bring himself to harbor killing intent toward Jiraiya, this was, after all, just a test. If he really had to fight, how could he be unable to do so?

From the moment he interrupted Jiraiya, Yuehua Ai had been trying to compensate for the gaps in Jiraiya's education of the youths. Now that three years had passed, he knew that the day of their parting was not far off!

Meeting Yuehua Ai's clear eyes, Jiraiya walked over and patted his head with a gratified smile.

"Don't overthink it. Rest assured, your opponent this time will be my shadow clone. You may attack them with all your might. As for what you can achieve, that will depend on your own strength!"

"A shadow clone? That's good, then I won't hold back!" Yuehua Ai feigned a sigh of relief and grinned.

"Haha, no problem then. Let's begin!"

Jiraiya let out a loud laugh, and once finished, the original body left behind a shadow clone and retreated into the distance.

"Now I have nothing to worry about!"

Seeing that it was a shadow clone, Yahiko slapped his fist into his palm. Already eager to try, he was the first to charge forward.

Watching Yahiko engage in combat with Jiraiya's clone, Nagato, Konan, and Yuehua Ai exchanged glances before joining the fray simultaneously.

Jiraiya's mastery of taijutsu was in no way inferior to his ninjutsu. He was tall and imposing, his presence steady. Between offense and defense, his demeanor as a grandmaster was fully revealed. Even as he shifted positions on the river while Yahiko attacked frantically, his footwork remained as steady as a mountain, not splashing a single drop of water despite standing on the surface.

Yahiko was still more than half a head shorter than Jiraiya, putting him at a physical disadvantage from the start. However, in the exchange, he maintained the mindset of "attacking like fire, with momentum as the priority," launching a continuous barrage of attacks from the start to firmly seize the initiative.

Facing Yahiko's aggressive momentum, Jiraiya remained calm and composed, responding with ease. While Yahiko's taijutsu training was impressive, it was still far behind his own!

Momentum was something that was difficult to sustain once the initial burst faded. After a dozen exchanges of offense and defense, Yahiko's momentum inevitably began to wane. Just as Yahiko's attack failed and he pulled back his fist to catch his breath, Jiraiya seized the opening, sweeping his leg to strike Yahiko in the abdomen and sending him flying far away.

Just as he was about to follow up with another attack, several shuriken instantly whistled through the air, cutting off his path.

Yahiko clutched his stomach, kneeling on the water and coughing a few times, while Yuehua Ai and the others took the opportunity to reach his side.

"Yahiko!" Nagato called out nervously.

"I'm fine!" Yahiko stood up, patted his clothes, and waved his hand without looking back.

Although he had taken a hit from Jiraiya, he was not seriously injured. When Jiraiya's attack arrived, Yahiko had reacted in time. Realizing that being hit was unavoidable, he had used the impact to push himself backward, absorbing the force. Although he couldn't avoid the blow, he had neutralized most of the power in Jiraiya's leg by moving with it. After sliding over ten meters across the water, he only felt a slight churning in his stomach.

"Let me see the results of your teamwork!"

Watching the youths gather together, Jiraiya's clone stepped back and beckoned them with a provocative gesture.

"Right!" Yahiko shouted. Having recovered, he was the first to attack again, but this time his path was an arc—this was the combination technique he had practiced extensively with Nagato, Konan, and Little Ai!

"Go!" Konan cried out. Several paper shuriken suddenly appeared around her. As she shouted, the shuriken, which had been floating in mid-air, began to spin rapidly, tracing arcs through the sky as they attacked Jiraiya's shadow clone.

Watching the boys' offensive, Jiraiya did not dare to be the least bit careless; he was well aware of how formidable his disciples were.

All of Yahiko's previous attacks had been bare-handed. As his teacher, Jiraiya naturally knew that Yahiko's path of cultivation balanced both swordsmanship and ninjutsu. He possessed excellent physical fitness, lightning-fast reflexes, and an astonishing combat intuition, showing high talent in both taijutsu and ninjutsu. Furthermore, he could integrate ninjutsu with taijutsu; the few exchanges they had earlier did not represent the true extent of Yahiko's strength.

Konan lacked the talent for traditional ninjutsu due to her constitution, but she had managed to blaze a new trail by integrating everything she learned into her unique Paper Style. This Paper Style was the first of its kind in the Ninja World, and even Jiraiya could not fathom its full potential. Previously, Konan's Paper Style had focused primarily on "trickery," but ever since Yuehua Ai suggested incorporating Explosive Tags, the power of her Paper Style had seen an unprecedented increase. As for what heights Konan and her Paper Style might reach in the future, Jiraiya truly could not imagine.

Yuehua Ai was the youngest of the group, yet despite his age, his strength was certainly not the lowest. Little Ai possessed a talent for spiritual energy the likes of which Jiraiya had never seen, making him the most unique sensory-type ninja he had ever encountered. Ai possessed a maturity far beyond his years, an unimaginable speed in learning ninjutsu, and a unique way of thinking that allowed him to summarize experiences and draw inferences during his studies. In terms of creative talent for ninjutsu, Jiraiya could almost see the shadows of the Second Hokage and Orochimaru in him. Yuehua Ai hid his strength quite deeply, and Jiraiya was not entirely certain of the specific results of his training, making him the only child among the group whose true depth Jiraiya could not gauge.

Jiraiya was very gratified by how hard Ai worked and how quickly he grew in his ninja path, though the only thing that worried him was that Yuehua Ai learned too many things. Not only did he study both ninjutsu and taijutsu, but according to him, his greatest interests were actually genjutsu and medical ninjutsu.

Among the youths, Nagato was undoubtedly the strongest. Although he usually kept a low profile, Jiraiya had come to understand just how formidable Nagato's strength truly was while teaching them ninjutsu.

Nagato was capable of mastering all five elemental ninjutsu—lightning, fire, water, earth, and wind—and he could even learn the rare Yin-Yang Release. At such a young age, he had already mastered multiple chakra nature transformations, granting him an all-around, all-terrain combat advantage and a combat talent that ordinary ninjas could never hope to reach.

In terms of taijutsu, Nagato possessed strength that was in no way inferior to Yahiko's. While he lacked the unique sensory talent of Ai, his eyes granted him an observational ability that surpassed even Ai's.

Moreover, Nagato had a special constitution and possessed an unimaginable life force. Jiraiya's own chakra reserves were already far beyond those of an ordinary person, but compared to Nagato's, they were not even worth mentioning; at this stage, Nagato's chakra reserves were already several times greater than his own.

The strength of Nagato's talent was the greatest Jiraiya had ever encountered in his life—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

Nagato's talent and strength were already this terrifying at his current stage, and this was merely his state before even tapping into the Rinnegan. Jiraiya didn't even dare to imagine what level of strength he would reach once he could skillfully utilize the legendary Rinnegan.

Regarding Nagato's growth, Jiraiya could only sigh in his heart. If he continued to develop along this trajectory, he would one day possess the power to change the Ninja World, just as the prophecy foretold. Thinking of the heights the boy would reach in the future, Jiraiya marveled inwardly: Nagato was truly worthy of being the Child of Prophecy foretold by the Great Toad Sage!