Konoha Tradition! Bell-Stealing Test 1

But all of that depended on passing the graduation exam.

The four of them had long surpassed the testing standards. This was just going through the motions.

Once it was over, each of them had a brand-new Konoha Forehead Protector in hand.

A spiral leaf pattern was engraved on the silver-gray metal plate, gleaming softly in the sunlight.

A ninja forehead protector was the mark of a ninja village's shinobi, and a ninja's pride!

Kushina turned her forehead protector over several times, then held it up to her forehead. "So this means I'm a Genin? It feels like a dream..."

"You can stay an academy student for another two years if you want," Mirai said from beside her.

"No way!" Kushina quickly tied on her forehead protector and tilted her head. "How does it look?"

"The left side's a little low." Mirai reached over and adjusted it for her, his fingers brushing the loose strands by her ear. "There."

Kushina's face flushed slightly, but before she could say anything,

Minato had already tied his own forehead protector neatly around his brow. His spiky blond hair was pressed into a faint mark by the band.

He checked his reflection in the window glass and nodded in satisfaction. "Feels pretty good!"

Zhili said nothing. She quietly put her forehead protector into her ninja tool pouch instead of wearing it,

as though hanging a piece of metal on her forehead would ruin the overall harmony of her long, straight black hair.

"Well, then." Minato turned around and held out a hand. "Starting today, we're teammates. Please take care of me!"

Mirai looked at the eagerly extended hand, hesitated for half a second, then placed his hand on top. "...Likewise."

Kushina was third, enthusiastically placing her hand atop Mirai's.

Zhili gave a slight nod in response and placed her hand on top of theirs.

All four of them felt that something had changed.

That afternoon, Jiraiya was squatting on the roof outside a bathhouse. He held a little notebook in one hand and twirled a pen in the other, muttering, "...Mm, this angle's good today. I can see three quarters of it..."

"Inspiration's just pouring out nonstop! Wahahaha!"

A ninja hawk fluttered down onto his shoulder, a rolled-up letter hooked in its talons.

Jiraiya opened it without even looking up. His expression shifted from focus to confusion, then from confusion to blank disbelief, until his entire face fell.

"Ah—?!"

He snapped his notebook shut, his face full of the awkwardness of someone who'd been caught red-handed. "Why me, old man?! I haven't even found the Child of Prophecy yet! Who has time to teach students?"

But at the end of the letter was a handwritten note from Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Student roster: Minato Namikaze, Izumi Uchiha, and Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Mirai Uzumaki.

Jiraiya, make sure you train them well."

Jiraiya stared at those words for a long while, scratching his head.

"One Uchiha, one Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and one civilian ninja," he muttered. Some of the frivolity faded from his face. "The old man really knows how to assign missions."

He couldn't help thinking of his own classmates, Orochimaru and Tsunade. The three of them really did resemble his old team a little!

Jiraiya tucked the little notebook into his clothes, leaped from the roof, and vanished into the evening light.

Looks like there won't be much time to look for inspiration from now on!

Early the next morning, Classroom Seven.

The three arrived on time, but after waiting in the classroom for quite a while, there was still no sign of Jiraiya.

Leaning by the window, Mirai stared at the empty hallway outside the classroom door and couldn't help complaining inwardly—

In the original story, Kakashi had loved being late when he taught Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

Minato Namikaze had been Kakashi's teacher, and he'd also arrived late during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.

And Jiraiya was Minato's teacher... So this tardiness tradition had been passed down through the line?

Just as he was thinking that, a figure finally appeared in the doorway.

The young Jiraiya strolled in leisurely, dressed in a white outer robe with long white hair spilling down his back. He was still chewing on an onigiri in his hand. "Yo, you're all here? Good, good."

"Jiraiya-sensei, you're late!" Mirai Uzumaki mercilessly called him out!

"Haha, I happened to run into an old lady crossing the street and helped her over, so I got held up a little." Jiraiya scratched his head sheepishly.

Unfortunately, none of the three kids believed him.

Mirai Uzumaki even looked at him with a hint of contempt. You think you're Obito? Obito really would help an old lady cross the street. You, Jiraiya, would at most be peeping into the women's bathhouse!

Unfortunately, Jiraiya didn't know what Mirai Uzumaki was thinking. Otherwise, he'd definitely have been startled and suspicious. How does he know that?

Shamelessly, he walked to the front of the classroom, stuffed the rest of the onigiri into his mouth, brushed the rice grains from his hands, and looked over the three little kids below.

"Alright, introduce yourselves first. What you like, what you hate, what your dreams are—just say whatever." He leaned against the podium. "You first."

He pointed at Minato Namikaze.

Minato stood straight and cleared his throat. "My name is Minato Namikaze. I like reading and training. There's nothing I particularly dislike, and my dream is... to become Hokage!"

As he said those last few words, his eyes sparkled like a lake under sunlight.

Jiraiya raised a brow. "Oh? Hokage, huh... You've got ambition."

Then he looked at Mirai Uzumaki.

Mirai wore a helpless expression. Introductions really were a Konoha tradition.

"My name is Mirai Uzumaki. I like studying Sealing Jutsu and making friends. I hate being separated from the people I care about by death—"

He paused. Grandma Mito's face flashed through his mind, but only for an instant.

"As for my dream—it's also to become Hokage!"

Minato turned to look at him, then smiled and held out a fist. "Then we're rivals?"

Mirai raised his hand and bumped fists with him. "Yeah. Rivals."

Jiraiya gave Mirai an extra look. The child's expression was calm, but there had been a fleeting pause in his voice when he mentioned hating death and separation.

Having just experienced Lady Mito's passing, it was impossible for the boy not to have been affected. If he got the chance, he needed to guide him properly.

A person's death was the same as writing an ending for a story.

If that ending was perfect, there was nothing to dwell on or feel upset about.

Jiraiya didn't ask further at the moment. He simply nodded. "Alright, next."

Izumi Uchiha spoke in a cool voice. "Izumi Uchiha. As for what I like... there's nothing I particularly like."

Her gaze quickly drifted toward the side before returning.

That direction was—Mirai Uzumaki.

"There's nothing I particularly dislike either. My dream is for my family to be healthy and safe."

Mirai gave her a strange look. An Uchiha's dream was for her family to be healthy and safe?

The ending of the Uchiha Clan from the original story automatically surfaced in his mind: the night the filial son exterminated his clan!

That dream wouldn't be easy to achieve.

Jiraiya seemed to notice the subtle atmosphere as well, and he clapped his hands to lighten the mood:

"Mm-hm, very good, very good. Everyone has dreams, and the world is full of hope!

Alright, introductions are over. Next comes the test. Let's head to the training ground first!"