Toru wore a smile the entire time. To Shikaku, it felt like he was mocking him, as if saying that an elite jonin like him had actually been outwitted by a lowly Genin like Toru.
The more Shikaku thought about it, the angrier he got. Then he changed the subject and said, "You succeeded in this mission, but that doesn't mean your performance was flawless."
"First, you didn't maintain a stable formation. A single Kunai trap from me was enough to break it. If I'd taken the opportunity to kill your client then, the mission would've been over."
"Second, you didn't concentrate your strength. Asuma and Toru took turns leading the offense, while Yuhi Kurenai was the only one guarding the client. If there'd been more enemies, or if they'd been stronger, it would've been easy for them to pick you off one by one."
"Lastly, Uchiha Toru's plan wasn't foolproof. To begin with, there was no guarantee the mountains on either side were unstable enough to be brought down with Explosive Tags."
"And even if you'd managed to bring them down, there was no guarantee the collapse would wipe out your enemies. For example, I could've used Shadow Touch Jutsu to wrap myself in shadows. A ninja skilled in defensive techniques could've survived the collapse, too."
The flaws Shikaku pointed out might have seemed like nitpicks, but they were all valid. He wasn't just making things up.
So Toru nodded in agreement.
Seeing that, Shikaku was satisfied. "All right, you've worked hard on your assessment. I'll take you to get something to eat. What do you want?"
"I don't mind," Asuma said in a low voice.
Shikaku turned to Toru and Kurenai. Kurenai smiled and pointed at Toru. "He'll want barbecue again, I bet."
Toru readily admitted it. "I am kind of in the mood for it."
Nara Shikaku pulled out his wallet and checked it carefully. "Barbecue, huh... All right, let's have that."
Toru caught a note of reluctance in Shikaku's voice and teased him. "So even jonin can be short on money?"
Shikaku awkwardly rubbed the beard on his chin. "Well, my wife handles my salary. But I should be able to afford one meal of barbecue."
Perhaps that was the sorrow and stubbornness of grown men.
BBQ Q had been open in Konoha for several years, and it had become quite popular.
Fortunately, the four of them had arrived early, so there were still seats available.
Shikaku walked into the restaurant, and a server greeted them warmly. "Hello! A party of four?"
Shikaku nodded. The server was about to lead them to a table when Shikaku pointed in a different direction. "No need. We'll sit over there."
Following his gesture, Yuhi Kurenai spotted a familiar-looking blond.
She looked at Toru, uncertain. "Toru, is that...?"
Toru nodded with a smile. "You're not mistaken. That's Jonin Minato."
"Namikaze Minato?" Asuma raised his head at the name. He often heard his father mention him, and his father thought highly of him.
Shikaku had chosen to sit over there because he'd spotted Minato.
Shikaku led Toru and the others over. Minato noticed him and greeted him with a bright smile. "Long time no see, Jonin Shikaku. Oh? Are these your students?"
As he spoke, Minato greeted the three of them. He looked surprised to see Toru and Kurenai among them.
"That's right. None of these three are easy to handle," Shikaku said.
Namikaze Minato laughed and invited Shikaku and the others to sit at the table beside his.
Toru noticed that the three people beside Minato were Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. So the teams were arranged in advance after all. It couldn't all have been fate.
Though Kakashi was a Chunin, he'd been reassigned to form Team 7 with Obito and Rin for various reasons, including his age and experience.
Kakashi and the others greeted Toru and Kurenai as well.
Everyone at the two tables was either a colleague or a classmate, and it happened to be both teams' first get-together. They soon got the conversation going.
But Toru wasn't thinking about the atmosphere at all. The only things he cared about were whether they'd ordered the barbecue and whether there was any White Sugar for dipping.
"Did you have a training exercise today, too?" Minato asked curiously.
It was his first time leading a team as a jonin, and he didn't have much experience yet. He wanted to learn how other jonin handled things.
Shikaku glanced up at Minato, thinking that this jonin seemed a little absent-minded. Of course they'd held a training exercise on the team's first day to help them get used to working together.
Still, Shikaku gave him a detailed account of the day's exercise. "That's right. We simulated an escort mission, and I played the enemy."
Minato immediately perked up with interest. "Oh? How did that work? I only know about the bell test. I learned that from my teacher, Jiraiya."
"Hahaha, it wasn't anything special. I had them escort a scarecrow playing the client. But Uchiha Toru here did something pretty interesting." Shikaku recounted the escort exercise from start to finish.
Minato found the story fascinating and praised both Shikaku's idea and Toru and the others' performance during the exercise.
Hearing about the escort mission next door, Obito said enviously, "An escort exercise sounds fun. Our class just had to fight over bells, and we couldn't even touch Minato-sensei."
At that, Minato awkwardly scratched his cheek and gave a few strained laughs.
Rin silently agreed with Obito. The three of them weren't nearly ready to take on Minato, so the bell test had been a real ordeal.
Kakashi, however, wasn't concerned about that. What caught his attention was Toru's performance in Shikaku's account.
When he heard that Toru had earned high praise from both Shikaku and Minato, Kakashi's competitive spirit flared again.
I'm still only a Chunin, but Toru has already been recognized by both Jonin Shikaku and Minato-sensei as being at Special Jonin level. Looks like I've fallen behind again.
Kakashi was carrying his father's White Fang Short Sword on his back. The stubborn look in his eyes was enough to make anyone feel for him.
Asuma saw Kakashi sitting at the innermost seat and felt a little comforted. Even Kakashi can't measure up to Uchiha Toru...
Perhaps, in Asuma's mind, being born in the same era as Toru was a misfortune in a way.
Meanwhile, the culprit, Uchiha Toru, had gone to the kitchen to ask for a jar of White Sugar. When he returned, he noticed that both Asuma and Kakashi were unusually downcast and couldn't figure out why.
But the delicious aroma of barbecue soon made Toru forget all about it.
Dipping barbecue in White Sugar was Toru's favorite way to eat it.
After a pleasant meal, Shikaku's wallet was suddenly much lighter, and he went home, full of worry.
Asuma went home on his own. Toru walked Kurenai home, then returned to his own.
At dusk, Toru stepped into the courtyard of his home.
A pitch-black crow perched by the gate, turning its head as it looked at Toru curiously.
Toru used his Six Eyes to confirm that it was just an ordinary crow, not a summon or anything of the sort.
Then he formed a special hand seal. A black line shot out from his shadow and merged with the crow's shadow.
The crow was instantly immobilized.
"It worked."
Toru's Six Eyes had finished analyzing the Shadow Imitation Technique. He'd discovered that the technique didn't use any of the usual five Chakra natures, but a special kind of Chakra imbued with pure spiritual energy.
An ordinary person might need years to master it, even if they understood the principles behind it.
But Toru was different.
After all, Cursed Energy was a form of pure spiritual energy.
That's right. The Shadow Possession Jutsu Toru had just used wasn't the original version.
Toru still didn't fully understand the principles of Yin Release. He'd used Cursed Energy to create this modified version of the Shadow Possession Jutsu.
"Shadows... Jujutsu..."
"Why do I feel strangely repelled by the idea of combining the two...?"
A strange feeling stirred in Toru's heart, seeming to have something to do with his past life.
"Never mind. I should give it a name first."
"How about... Shadow Cursed Technique?"
In this world, Toru had created his very first Jujutsu.
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