During this time, Toji had not completely abandoned his duties as a supervising Jōnin.
Whenever he had time, he still made a point of teaching the three ninjutsu.
After consulting Mito Uzumaki and obtaining her permission, he officially taught the Yin Seal to his three students.
The Yin Seal was highly practical. Under normal circumstances, it trained chakra control; once released, it provided an extra reserve of chakra for all sorts of ultimate ninjutsu.
But the three progressed at different rates.
Tsunade showed great talent for the Yin Seal. Toji personally guided her by day, and at night, Chiri gave her hands-on instruction.
Chiri activated her Sharingan to see the state of Tsunade's chakra, then touched key acupoints on her body, pointing out each problem in her training.
With that kind of private tutoring, Tsunade advanced by leaps and bounds.
But she spent every day eating and sleeping at Toji's house and had not come home in ages. This drew complaints from the princess, whose belly was already growing, about how daughters grew up and stopped listening.
Orochimaru and Hiruko progressed much more slowly.
Orochimaru was still all right. To Toji, his progress resembled a cloud drive without a paid subscription: slow as a crawling turtle, but at least it kept moving toward one hundred percent.
Hiruko was another matter.
Hiruko's talent for ninjutsu was thoroughly ordinary. Before he developed the Chimera Technique, he had been just another Konoha Jōnin. A technique like the Yin Seal really was difficult for him.
Toji did not pressure him. Instead, he kept encouraging him, bringing him to grateful tears yet again.
Those peaceful days finally changed on the third day after Team 7 was formed.
A girl of fifteen or sixteen stood before Konoha's gates.
Long black hair fell past her waist. Her