Flying Thunder God

The exam was over, and many parents had gathered at the school gates to pick up their children.

Naruto sat alone on the swing across the way, head lowered, lost in thought.

Sasuke and Chiya walked out of the school, still discussing the key points of the Transformation Technique.

Chiya suddenly noticed Naruto sitting there by himself and sighed inwardly.

Sasuke glanced at him. "What are you looking at him for?"

Chiya looked away and said casually, "Nothing. He just seems pretty lonely."

Sasuke had no interest in Naruto. He merely put away his forehead protector and said flatly, "Just a dead last."

Chiya said nothing.

If nothing unexpected happened, tonight would be when Naruto stole the Scroll of Seals—and when he began to grow.

Chiya found an excuse to part ways with Sasuke, took a detour, and returned to the area near the Ninja Academy.

Mizuki was indeed gone.

Chiya waited nearby for a while. From afar, he saw Mizuki and Naruto talking beneath a tree. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but Naruto's expression made it obvious that Mizuki had already begun feeding him lies.

Naruto was stunned at first, then his eyes slowly lit up, as though he had seized a lifeline.

This kid really was easy to fool.

But that was understandable.

A child whom no one had paid attention to since he was little would easily believe it if a teacher suddenly told him gently, "There's still a way to pass the exam."

All that was left was waiting.

Night gradually descended. One light after another lit up in Konoha Village, then slowly went dark. Chiya changed into dark clothes, stuffed kunai and several shuriken into his ninja tool pouch, and made his way toward the area near Hokage Rock based on his memories.

He did not dare go anywhere near the Hokage Building.

Naruto could steal the Scroll of Seals because he was Naruto. If Chiya really ran over there to join in, the moment the Anbu spotted him, forget seeing the scroll—he would probably be pinned to the ground on the spot.

So Chiya only waited near the woods.

He waited for a long time, until his legs were beginning to go numb. Then at last, hurried footsteps sounded in the distance.

Naruto came running with a massive scroll strapped to his back, completely out of breath.

"You finally came."

Chiya hid in a tree and watched Naruto run beneath him.

The Scroll of Seals was so huge that carrying it on his back was like carrying a door. It was impressive that Naruto had managed to run all the way here with it.

Naruto found an open clearing, sat down, and eagerly opened the scroll.

Chiya held his breath as his eyes grew slightly warm.

Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

He did not dare stare at Naruto for too long. He kept his gaze fixed only on the scroll.

At the very front was indeed the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Naruto read with great focus, even muttering under his breath. Chiya, however, did not look at it for long.

This technique was not suited to him.

Naruto studied the scroll while practicing according to its instructions.

He was utterly absorbed, and he had pulled open a considerable portion of the scroll. Chiya crouched on a branch, his eyes aching badly, but he did not dare blink too often.

The writing on the scroll was far too dense.

Some sections were formulas rather than ordinary text. Even memorizing their shapes was difficult.

Then, as Naruto turned the scroll, another passage behind it was revealed.

Chiya had only given it a casual glance, but the next instant, he nearly fell out of the tree.

Flying Thunder God Technique.

His heart suddenly lurched.

It really was there.

Chiya immediately focused all his attention on it. His Sharingan spun faster, and a sharp pain soon shot through his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he forcefully crammed the shapes of that formula and the several lines of explanation beside it into his mind. It was a mess of symbols that looked like meaningless scribbles. He could not understand any of it, so he would memorize it first.

Before long, movement sounded in the distance.

Chiya immediately deactivated his Sharingan and shrank deeper into the shadows of the tree.

Iruka arrived first.

Then came Mizuki.

What followed was basically the same as Chiya remembered.

Mizuki revealed that Naruto was the Nine-Tailed Fox, leaving Naruto completely dumbfounded. Iruka was injured while protecting Naruto, then told Naruto those words.

This was Naruto's own turning point. Only he could experience it himself.

Very soon, Naruto erupted.

Shadow Clones filled the forest in an instant, packed together in every direction.

Watching the scene, Chiya could not help marveling inwardly.

Ridiculous.

That amount of chakra truly made no sense.

Mizuki was beaten terribly. By the time Iruka put a forehead protector on Naruto, Chiya had already quietly retreated from the tree.

He had seen what he needed to see.

He had memorized what he needed to memorize.

If he stayed any longer, it would be troublesome if the Anbu discovered him.

After returning home, Chiya did not dare turn the lights up too bright. He lit only a small lamp, sat at his desk, and began writing.

The things his Sharingan had memorized were still in his mind, but the sensation was strange. It was like forcibly pressing an intricate picture into his memory. Being able to redraw it did not mean he understood what every stroke meant.

Chiya wrote for a long time, filling the paper with densely packed formulas.

When he finished the final stroke, he stared at it for a long while.

Then he fell silent.

What the hell was this?

He brought the paper closer, then moved it farther away. In the end, he still could not understand it.

Some symbols resembled sealing techniques, some looked like coordinate markers, and other lines were linked together in ways that made his head ache.

Chiya rubbed his brow.

Sure enough, something like the Flying Thunder God Technique could not be learned from a single glance.

He had not even grasped the basics of ordinary sealing techniques yet, and his chakra reserves were nothing special. Dreaming of using a space-time ninjutsu was pure fantasy.

Still, he was not disappointed.

Memorizing it was already a huge gain.

He could learn it slowly in the future.

Chiya carefully folded the paper and tucked it into the hidden compartment of the locked case in his study, then locked the case.

Only after finishing all that did he blow out the lamp and lie back down on his bed.

The sky outside had not yet brightened.

Chiya closed his eyes, but the contents of those formulas still filled his mind.

After a long while, he finally drifted off into a hazy sleep.

The next morning, Naruto had already arrived by the time Chiya entered the classroom.

The kid was completely different from usual. The forehead protector on his head gleamed as if he were afraid someone might miss it. Every so often, he reached up to touch it, his grin nearly stretching to his ears.

"Did you see? Did you see?! This great me graduated too!"

Naruto slapped the desk, his voice loud enough for the whole classroom to hear.

Sakura looked at him with utter disdain.

"You're so noisy, Naruto."

Not only did Naruto not get angry, he became even more smug.

"Heh heh, Sakura, you'll find out just how amazing I, Naruto Uzumaki, am!"

Chiya sat down beside Sasuke and yawned.

He had barely slept last night after returning home and writing out the Flying Thunder God Technique from memory. After writing it down, he stared at it for ages. The more he looked, the worse his headache became, until only one thought remained in his mind.

Was this thing really meant for people to learn?

Sasuke glanced at him.

"You didn't sleep last night?"

"I slept."

"Your eyes are red."

Chiya rubbed at the corner of his eye and said casually, "I had a nightmare."

Sasuke did not ask any further questions.

He had never been much of a talker.

Iruka soon entered the classroom, and the room gradually quieted down. The atmosphere today was different from yesterday. Everyone had received their forehead protectors, and their thoughts had long since flown ahead to their future lives as ninja.

Iruka stood at the front of the classroom, looking at the students below with a faint smile on his face.

"Starting today, you are the genin of Konoha."

Naruto immediately sat up straight, as though those words had been spoken specifically for him.

Iruka cleared his throat and continued, "Next, we'll begin assigning teams. You'll form groups of three, and each group will be led by a jonin instructor."