Afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves of Training Ground Three, casting dappled shadows as the newly transplanted trees swayed gently in the breeze.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had changed into a dark blue training outfit and stood at the center of the training ground, looking at the three students before him.
His expression was far gentler than it had been in the office, though his eyes still held a mentor's characteristic sharpness.
"Although you've already graduated, this is your first time training together as a team."
Hiruzen got straight to the point. "So this afternoon, we'll start with the basics."
He took three small wooden tokens from his ninja tool pouch, each the size of a coin and engraved with simple Sealing Jutsu formulas—training tools used to record the number of chakra contacts.
"These three Resonance Tokens."
Hiruzen tossed a wooden token to each of them.
"You need to activate them with chakra at the same time.
"The rule is that within the next hour, you must make all three tokens light up simultaneously at least ten times."
Jiraiya caught his token and turned it over in his hands. "Light up at the same time? What's so hard about that?"
"You'll find out once you try."
Hiruzen smiled faintly. "Begin."
Jiraiya immediately poured chakra into his token, and a faint blue glow surfaced across its face.
Almost simultaneously, Orochimaru and Tsunade infused theirs as well, and all three tokens lit up.
"See? Easy!" Jiraiya said smugly.
But in the next second, the three tokens began flickering unevenly before going out almost at the same time.
"What happened?" Tsunade frowned.
"The Resonance Tokens require synchronized chakra output."
Hiruzen explained:
"It isn't enough to inject chakra separately. The intensity, rhythm, and even nature of all three people's chakra must align in an instant.
"The