[Minato Namikaze's Kunai]

Deep underground.

"Lord Danzo, Moonlight Ruyun defeated Minato Namikaze in the Ninja Academy's practical test this morning."

"Hmm?"

Danzo frowned, tapping his cane with his fingers as he sank into deep puzzlement.

As the leader of Root, the intelligence at his disposal was no less comprehensive than that of the Hokage's Office.

Judging purely by their strength on paper, Moonlight Ruyun's only advantage was a single ninjutsu.

For an academy student, a ninjutsu might be powerful, but it still had to hit its target.

In short, by his estimation, Moonlight Ruyun's chances of defeating Minato Namikaze had been pitifully low.

"How did he win?"

"Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya were all at the Ninja Academy. We couldn't get close."

Danzo's frown deepened. What were those three doing at the Ninja Academy out of the blue?

Even if Minato Namikaze was Jiraiya's student.

That hardly explained why Tsunade and Orochimaru had both shown up.

"Tsunade aside, Orochimaru..."

Greed flashed through Danzo's eyes. Over the past few years, every Wood Release experiment performed on adults had failed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had ordered all research halted, with every record and result sealed away.

That was intolerable to him. What did a few sacrifices matter if they could recreate the mighty power of Wood Release?

They were nothing more than a string of numbers.

As long as they could produce another First Hokage, it would all be worth it!

A more perfect First Hokage, entirely under his control, who would never believe in that ridiculous ideal of peace... the entire Shinobi World would prostrate itself at Konoha's feet!

Whenever he imagined that dreamlike scene, his dormant heart surged with excitement.

It didn't matter that he lacked a first-rate researcher.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had one.

If he could just find a way to bring Orochimaru over to his side...

Danzo cut off that line of thought. Although he could see the darkness hidden in Orochimaru's heart at a glance, the man's position and strength could not be underestimated. He couldn't act rashly.

His gaze returned to the Root operative kneeling below him.

"Why didn't you bring Moonlight Ruyun back?"

Danzo knew perfectly well that, with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki involved, Hiruzen Sarutobi would most likely refuse to let him recruit Moonlight Ruyun.

But...

Controlling Moonlight Ruyun would mean indirectly controlling the next jinchūriki.

And now, it seemed he would also gain a genius every bit as talented as Minato Namikaze.

There were simply too many benefits.

The Root operative fell silent for a few seconds. "ANBU stopped us. It was Hatake Sakumo."

The Hayate Clan residence.

During his lunch break, Moonlight Ruyun visited his uncle at the hospital and told him that he had won the duel.

Then, under his uncle's gratified gaze, he hurried home, unable to wait any longer.

In his room, he sat cross-legged in front of the table and took the kunai bearing a trace of blood out of his ninja tool pouch.

With a complicated look in his eyes, he gently stroked its handle.

This was the first piece of equipment material he had found, obtained by trading a metal short sword with Minato.

It was also the "first piece of equipment" he had longed for through countless days and nights.

Back then, he had been brimming with excitement. Unfortunately, he had never managed to get Minato's blood.

Who would have thought a chance encounter with Kushina Uzumaki would unexpectedly give him his first piece of equipment instead?

But he had never stopped thinking about [Minato Namikaze's Kunai].

Now, at last, he had fulfilled its special condition.

"Begin crafting!"

He took out his money.

Fortunately, his previous attempts had all succeeded on the first try. Combined with the living expenses his uncle had given him, he still had enough for one attempt.

[Crafting started]

[Estimated time: 10, 9, 8...]

His heart rose into his throat as the countdown ticked away.

He unconsciously held his breath.

His eyes remained fixed on the countdown without blinking.

If it failed, he wouldn't be able to afford a second attempt for the time being.

The publisher had only just finished printing, and it would be quite a while before the money came in.

Borrowing money... he dismissed the thought as soon as it appeared.

He hadn't even paid back the money he owed Kushina yet.

"If all else fails, I'll have to rely on Tsunade. I'm half her student, after all. Betting against my teacher means keeping the profits in the family."

[3, 2, 1]

As the countdown reached zero, a message popped up on the screen:

[Crafting successful]

He let out a long breath.

After crafting several pieces of equipment successfully on the first try, he was now fairly certain that the [Maiden's Blessing] trait was doing its work.

"Praise Kushina!"

He hurriedly opened his inventory to inspect the freshly crafted equipment.

[Minato Namikaze's Kunai]

[Quality: green]

[Trait 1: extreme speed]

[Effect: increases speed by 60%]

[Trait 2: enhanced neural reaction speed]

[Effect: increases neural reaction speed by 100%]

[Note: the speedster was always one step too slow.]

He read the equipment description word by word, lingering over the two percentages for a long time.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Suddenly, delighted laughter rang out in the room.

It was even better than he had imagined. He had finally rolled Minato Namikaze's core attributes!!!

The first trait increased speed by 60%.

He remembered how his uncle had praised him after he obtained [Kushina Uzumaki's Red Hair] and his strength increased by 60%.

His uncle had also lamented that, if he could make up for his lack of speed, he would qualify to learn White Fang Swordsmanship.

Now, that gleaming trait sat right before his eyes.

"Now I can give Uncle a little demonstration of the beauty of raw stats..."

He was quite pleased with this.

If he fought Minato again, the combination of his strength and speed would raise his threat level another notch.

Previously, with strength alone, he had been forced to build all his tactics around it, leaving him with limited options.

But what truly made him unable to contain his excitement was the second trait.

A 100% increase in neural reaction speed!

He understood perfectly well that, if the speed boost made up for a weakness, then the increase in neural reaction speed broke through his limits.

A ninja's usual training covered only things like strength, speed, hand seal speed, and ninja tool throwing.

It wasn't because they didn't know how important neural reaction speed was.

It was because that was something you were born with. Training could improve it only slightly, nowhere near enough to produce a qualitative leap in strength.

At least in the current Shinobi World, no one had a way to substantially improve their neural reaction speed.

They could only rely on winning the genetic lottery...

For instance, during that morning's fight, Minato Namikaze had seized a split-second opening to dodge the kunai and perform the Substitution Technique.

That kind of reaction speed had made him intensely envious.

"Now I can do it too!"

Besides, he knew full well that the importance of neural reaction speed went beyond that.

Minato had become a Flying Thunder God user and ultimately fought his way to the title of "Yellow Flash."

Neural reaction speed and spatial perception were both indispensable.

"So, I've already collected one piece of the puzzle for the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

At that thought, he nodded in satisfaction.

Given the chance, who wouldn't want to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique?

A top-tier Flying Thunder God user could fight or flee at will, making them the opponent every hidden village dreaded most and least wanted to face.

"Equip!"

The kunai-shaped piece of equipment vanished from his inventory and reappeared in an equipment slot.

A tingling sensation spread through his brain, and he let out a soft hum.

He began making plans.

"Four pieces of equipment. As I am now, I'm already no weaker than Minato."

"Next, it's time to solve my chakra problem..."