Late at night.
On the open ground at the edge of Training Ground No. 44—also known as the Forest of Death.
Yan knew this place well. After awakening the Magma-Magma Fruit at twelve, he often came here in secret to practice controlling his abilities. Several magma pits he had left around the area back then were still there, and the training ground administrators had even labeled them "geological wonders."
The moonlight was good. A half-moon hung in the sky, its pale glow painting the ground silver-gray.
Yan had arrived first. He crouched beneath a large tree, eyes closed as he adjusted his state.
Observation Haki spread silently outward. Within a three-hundred-meter radius, he could sense every insect and every blade of grass.
Then, an extremely fast point of light appeared at the edge of his senses.
He was here.
"Whoosh—" A golden figure slid out from the woods and landed steadily twenty meters across from Yan.
Minato Namikaze.
At twenty-one, Minato had fully grown into himself. His short blond hair and handsome features lacked any sharpness, instead carrying a gentle warmth that made people instinctively want to draw close. He wore Konoha's standard ninja flak jacket, with a row of specially made three-pronged kunai—Flying Thunder God Kunai—at his waist.
"Did I get here early?" Minato asked as he walked over.
"I've been waiting fifteen minutes."
"I ran into a lost genin on the way and helped him find the road."
"Your personality would make you a good Hokage. You're just too easy to hold up."
Minato smiled but did not respond. He crouched down and began setting markers on the ground.
The Flying Thunder God Technique required specific formula markings as anchors. Minato took more than a dozen kunai engraved with Flying Thunder God markings from his pouch and planted