Chakra Nature Test

Near noon, a swaying figure finally appeared from the other end of the street.

Jiraiya wore a wrinkled red outer robe, his hair a mess and his cheeks flushed an unhealthy red. The smell of alcohol reached them from three steps away.

He yawned and waved. "Yo, morning."

"...Jiraiya CC, it's already noon." Minato pointed at the sun overhead, his smile slightly stiff.

"Well, you see," Jiraiya said, rubbing his eyes, "an old friend came to drink with me last night, and we talked too late...

You know, middle-aged men have social obligations. That's perfectly normal."

The three Genin stared at him in silence. If not for the lipstick mark still on his cheek, they might have believed him.

Feeling a little guilty under their gazes, Jiraiya coughed. "Alright, alright. I won't be late next time. Come on, let's pick up some missions!"

They soon emerged from the mission center of the Hokage Building, Jiraiya holding two mission request forms.

"Only these two D-rank missions are suitable for you today. The first is cleaning trash from the river east of the village. The second is helping a noble family north of the village find their lost cat."

The three Genin looked at the mission sheets in unison and fell silent for three seconds.

"D-rank..." Minato's smile finally cracked.

"Is this really a Genin's first mission?" Zhili's voice was half an octave lower than usual.

Mirai patted their shoulders. "Get used to it. We're just Genin, and we don't have any mission experience. Most of what comes our way will be odd jobs like these."

He had known this already.

D-rank missions—Team 7 had started with this kind of nonsense in the original story too, so he was taking it quite well.

The three accepted their missions, sighed, and got to work obediently.

The river-cleaning mission was fairly simple—there were plenty of dead branches, trash bags, scraps of cloth, and other debris floating in the water.

The three rolled up their pant legs and went into the river. Minato worked seriously as he fished out trash, while Zhili, though her face practically screamed I don't want to touch this filthy stuff, silently bent down and picked it up anyway.

After working for a while, Mirai could only regret that he didn't know the Shadow Clone Jutsu. If he had seven or eight clones working alongside him, this damn job would have been done in five minutes.

The cat-catching mission that followed was even more ridiculous.

The noble family's cat was supposedly a calico with a cold personality. It ran whenever it saw strangers, darting up a tree and refusing to come down.

The three Genin stood beneath the tree and looked up at the cat. The cat looked down at them from above, its tail tip twitching as if mocking them.

"I'll do it." Mirai raised a hand.

A Golden Chain shot from his sleeve, wrapping precisely around the cat's waist before giving a gentle tug—

Before the cat could react, it had already been pulled down through the branches, dangling from the chain with all four legs flailing wildly as it let out an indignant "Meow!"

Mirai caught the cat in one hand and withdrew the chain. The cat froze in his arms for a moment, then gave a haughty "Hmph" and turned its face away, though it didn't struggle.

Supporting the cat one-handed, Mirai handed it to the noble's butler waiting nearby.

By early evening, both D-rank missions had been completed.

The three returned to the Hokage Building and turned in proof of completion. Just as they were preparing to head home, Jiraiya called all three of them over.

"Hold on, there's one more thing." Jiraiya pulled three white sheets of paper from his clothes.

They were about the size of a palm and looked like ordinary washi paper, but a faint Chakra sheen covered their surfaces.

"These are Chakra test papers. One each. Inject a small amount of Chakra into them, and they'll tell you what natures you have."

Minato's eyes lit up. "A Chakra nature test?"

"Right." Jiraiya handed the test papers to the three of them. "Every ninja normally has Chakra natures they're proficient in.

Once you know your nature, you'll know which direction to take when training Ninjutsu. Go ahead and test yourselves."

Minato was the first to take a sheet. Pinching it between his fingertips, he closed his eyes and slowly infused it with Chakra.

The paper suddenly crumpled up, as though an invisible hand had squeezed it into a ball,

then split down the middle with a hiss,

and finally, its edges blackened and curled as tiny sparks appeared.

Jiraiya raised a brow. "Oh... first it crumpled, then it split, and finally it burned—Minato, your Chakra natures are Lightning, Wind, and Fire."

"Three?!" Even Minato looked surprised. "Jiraiya CC, is that good or bad?"

"As far as innate Chakra natures go, the more the better. Using Ninjutsu that matches your nature often gives you twice the result with half the effort. Yours is pretty good," Jiraiya explained. "Though you can also train other natures later in life."

"The paper reacts differently to different natures—Fire Nature burns it, Wind Nature cuts it apart, Lightning Nature crumples it, Water Nature soaks it, and Earth Nature breaks it into small pieces.

There are also two special natures, Yin Release and Yang Release, but they can't be tested with this paper."

Zhili was the second to take a sheet. She pinched it expressionlessly and infused it with Chakra.

The paper first crumpled, then rapidly burst into flames. Sparks spread from the edges to the center, and within seconds, it burned into ash.

"Dual Lightning and Fire natures!" Jiraiya nodded. "Not bad. The Uchiha Clan produces plenty of Fire Release geniuses, and Lightning Release combined with Fire Release has excellent offensive power."

Zhili withdrew her hand and gave a slight nod, showing neither pleasure nor displeasure.

It was time for the last test paper.

Mirai took it and held it between his fingertips. He drew a deep breath and slowly infused it with his Chakra.

At first, the paper didn't move at all.

Just as Minato was about to ask whether he hadn't infused any Chakra into it, the paper suddenly underwent a violent change—

It first crumpled, then split into two pieces. Next, the split sections began to burn. The burnt remnants were soaked by water stains, and finally, the drenched parts shattered into tiny fragments that scattered across the ground.

All five reactions had appeared!

Fire, Wind, Lightning, Water, Earth—all five elements.

The flask in Jiraiya's hand nearly fell to the ground.

He abruptly straightened, staring at the pile of multicolored paper fragments on the ground. His mouth hung open for a long while.

"F-Five natures?!" He grabbed Mirai by the shoulders and looked him over from head to toe, as if examining some rare animal. "Kid, do you know what this means? In all of Konoha, there's only one person who possesses all five Chakra natures at once—the old Hokage himself!"

Mirai was somewhat surprised too, but he quickly calmed down.

He guessed the God Tree had improved his physique. He just didn't know whether he had Yin Release and Yang Release as well.

Jiraiya stared at him for a long time before letting go, rubbing his hair as he muttered, "That old man really shoved someone incredible onto me."

He coughed, reined in the surprise on his face, and returned to his usual carefree tone.

"Alright, that's it for today. Gather at the Hokage Building again tomorrow. Based on your natures and individual traits, I'll arrange some different training for you."

After saying that, he turned to leave, then looked back and added, "I won't be late tomorrow!"

The three watched his back disappear around the street corner.

"Five natures..." Minato repeated softly. Then he looked at Mirai, genuine admiration in his blue eyes. "Mirai, you really are..."

"Just lucky." Mirai Uzumaki waved it off indifferently. "Come on. I think we can show up a little later tomorrow. Jiraiya CC will probably be late again."

"Haha, maybe." Minato scratched his head as well. "But we should still come early. It wouldn't be right to make Jiraiya CC wait for us."

Mirai smiled but said nothing more.

Minato, you're still too young. Once you reach my age, you'll understand.

Behind them, Izumi Uchiha silently watched Mirai and followed at his side toward home.