Hoshi's Jonin Instructor

Hoshi looked at the towering figure and unconsciously swallowed. The uncle before him was honestly a little terrifying-looking.

By Hoshi's estimate, this guy was at least 190 centimeters tall and probably weighed over 240 pounds. He looked both tall and fat, and at a glance, he was clearly not someone to mess with.

With that build and that fierce expression, if this had been his previous life, everyone would have gone out of their way to avoid him.

The man's head was wrapped in a headscarf, so Hoshi could not make out his hairstyle. Even so, the scarf could not hide the two pointed horns sticking up from either side of his head, making him look like he had a pair of tiny bull horns.

His brow beneath the headscarf seemed permanently furrowed. The black parts of his already narrow eyes sat rather high, and he had heavy bags beneath them.

One look at him gave people the feeling of, "Look at me again and I'll punch your damn head in."

Honestly, even Hoshi instinctively wanted to shrink back when he saw the man.

Why had such a fierce-looking uncle suddenly appeared? He had clearly been waiting with Sakumo for their Jonin instructor. Could it be...

No way. This uncle, whose arm was thicker than both of Hoshi's thighs put together, was his Jonin instructor?

Just as Hoshi was about to stand, the thought made his body sway, and he nearly dropped back onto his butt. This uncle looked incredibly hard to deal with. If he fell into this man's hands, wouldn't his future be completely dark? Was it because he had acted too casually in front of the Third Hokage and Mito, making them think he had no sense of propriety, so they had assigned him such a terrifying teacher to straighten him out?

While Hoshi's mind was filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts, Sakumo caught him before he could fall.

"Don't be nervous, Hoshi. I reacted about the same way when I first saw Teacher Torikaze, but trust me, Teacher Torikaze is actually a very good person. Spend some time with him and you'll see just how great he is."

"What did you say?" Hoshi suddenly perked up at those words. He seemed to have just heard a very familiar name.

Sakumo found it strange that Hoshi, who had looked utterly hopeless a moment ago, had suddenly become so lively. Confused, he said,

"Teacher is a very good person..."

"No, I mean, what did you say his name was?"

Torifu Akimichi sized Hoshi up, then suddenly smiled. He crouched down and extended a fan-sized hand toward Hoshi. "My name is Torifu Akimichi. I'll be your Jonin instructor from now on. I may look a little fierce, but I'm very good to my students."

Torifu Akimichi's introduction left Hoshi completely frozen, both because of his voice and because of his identity.

Torifu Akimichi's voice was deep and magnetic. In terms from Hoshi's previous life, it was especially swoon-worthy. The moment he spoke, he gave off the feeling of a warm, mature man, an experience entirely different from his appearance.

If that voice alone were played for some young women, quite a few of them would probably fall for it on the spot.

And this burly uncle was actually Torifu Akimichi, the one from the Original Story who had been a direct disciple of the Second Hokage alongside Hiruzen, Homura, Danzo, and the others. That left Hoshi dumbfounded as well.

Hoshi remembered that Torifu Akimichi had been a rather cute chubby kid in the Original Story. How had he turned into this before even reaching thirty? Teacher, had anyone ever told you that you grew up wrong? No wonder the Third Hokage had said before leaving that Torifu's strength was on par with his own and that he was a good person.

In fact, the Akimichi Clan seemed to have no bad people at all. They were a happy clan that only thought about eating every day.

And from a certain perspective, he also seemed to be the most suitable person in all of Konoha to serve as Hoshi and Sakumo's instructor.

An ordinary Jonin would not be strong enough. In a few years, Sakumo and Hoshi would probably drain them dry of everything they knew, and such a person would not serve any purpose in winning them over. Therefore, their instructor had to be chosen from among the Second Hokage's direct disciples.

Among the five besides the Third Hokage, Homura, Koharu, and Danzo were all ninjutsu types. Hiruzen probably would not let them become his instructors, since that would simply waste resources.

Kagami Uchiha, with his Sharingan and the Uchiha Clan's Swordsmanship, had been a suitable candidate. But he had died young, having fallen on the battlefield of the First Shinobi World War two years earlier.

That left only Torifu Akimichi before them. Fighting through the Partial Expansion Jutsu, Torifu Akimichi was a true taijutsu-type ninja.

And do not assume the Akimichi Clan was slow just because they were fat. Once they used Human Bullet Tank, even many Jonin could not evade their speed.

After confirming that this intimidating-looking uncle truly was Torifu Akimichi, Hoshi's fear vanished without a trace. Before long, he was chatting easily with Torifu.

This made Torifu think more highly of Hoshi. He knew full well what he looked like. Forget ordinary villagers—even many younger members of the Akimichi Clan would tremble all over the first time they saw him, and the more timid ones would even burst into tears on the spot.

This child had adapted so quickly and seen through the gentle heart beneath his fierce exterior. This was the adaptability a ninja should possess.

Thinking of his third student, who still barely dared to speak to him, Torifu could not help sighing inwardly. Why was the gap between people so great?

With that thought, Torifu patted Hoshi and Sakumo on the shoulders and said,

"All right, now that we've met, it's time to take you to meet your teammate. Come with me."

At the word "teammate," curiosity appeared on both Sakumo's and Hoshi's faces. They had thought Torifu had taken only the two of them as students. So there was another one.

Sakumo could not help asking, "Teacher, who is our teammate? Is he the same age as us?"

Hoshi added, "Why didn't he come here with Teacher?"

Torifu shook his head and said,

"Your teammate is Yūhi Shinkō. He's two or three years older than you and is a student in this year's Ninja Academy graduating class.

"He was rather unlucky. Last month, before the war had ended, his team encountered a Cloud Village patrol while carrying out a mission that required crossing the national border. He was the only one in the entire group to survive.

"He needed to be assigned to a new team, and you two happened to be short a member, so you were placed together. He was only cleared to leave the hospital today, so we're going there to pick him up now."

The name Yūhi Shinkō was also very familiar to Hoshi. Of course, the main reason Hoshi knew him was because he would have an incredibly beautiful daughter in the future named Yūhi Kurenai.

In early fanworks, this fellow had been grouped with original characters from several other clans as one of Konoha's Eight Colors. Known as Konoha's "Bloody Sunset," he had been quite a big deal.

(To be honest, even though it's already 2020, I still have no idea which eight people make up Konoha's Eight Colors. Can any experts enlighten Ye Zhi?)

No one probably expected Teacher Torifu Akimichi and teammate Yūhi Shinkō, right? Originally, Yūhi Shinkō's role in the outline had been assigned to an original character named Kurama Ginshin. But today, I discovered that Yūhi Shinkō's abilities were exactly the same as those I had designed for Kurama Ginshin, and he was also about the same age as the protagonists. So poor Kurama Ginshin was forced out of a job before he could even make an appearance.