Hayato, this golden age is just as you wished

The Hokage's Office.

"Haru, go ask the Yamanaka Clan head to come here."

After the Anbu ninja left, Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow relaxed a little.

His gaze swept over Jiraiya, Minato, and Nawaki in turn.

Finally, it settled on Liu Yun, filled with approval.

He had never expected Liu Yun to bring him more good news so soon after the Uzushio Village incident.

This time, it very likely concerned an entirely new chakra ore vein.

According to the shinobi world's records on chakra ore veins, even the poorest deposits produced ore worth hundreds of millions of ryo.

A rich deposit could easily reach several billion, or even tens of billions of ryo.

Even for Konoha, that was an astronomical sum.

As for the man responsible, once the Yamanaka Clan head arrived, every last piece of intelligence in his brain would be extracted.

Hiruzen Sarutobi would not hesitate in the slightest.

Never mind how precious a chakra metal mine was.

Falsifying a mission's rank alone was enough for Konoha to hold him accountable.

Putting those thoughts aside, Hiruzen Sarutobi asked curiously, "Jiraiya told me you've developed another new jutsu?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage. I named it Lightning Release: Heaven-Splitting Thunder Serpent. It's still incomplete, but I promised to teach it to Nawaki and Minato once I've perfected it."

Liu Yun described the jutsu's effects in detail and mentioned his promise to teach Nawaki and Minato.

This was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate his Will of Fire.

Sure enough, he noticed the approval in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes deepen.

Hiruzen Sarutobi teased, "Still incomplete, yet it can kill an entire squad of jonin in an instant? I wasn't that strong at your age."

"Neither was I," Jiraiya chimed in.

Minato and Nawaki shook their heads too, indicating that neither were they.

Liu Yun said earnestly, "The contents of the Scroll of Seals gave me a great deal of inspiration. If you hadn't allowed me to read it, Lord Hokage, I couldn't have developed a new jutsu."

He had found himself a good explanation for his ability to develop jutsu.

Otherwise, going from knowing only the Great Fireball Technique to developing an A-rank or even S-rank jutsu in such a short time would have been far too shocking.

If he had studied the Scroll of Seals, it made much more sense.

No questions necessary. The answer was that the wisdom of Tobirama Senju, that master of forbidden jutsu, had inspired a later generation.

Doubtful? Confused? Couldn't understand it?

That simply meant you weren't a genius and couldn't comprehend the connection between geniuses.

Hiruzen Sarutobi burst into laughter at those words. He had been a little worried that Liu Yun might recklessly practice the forbidden jutsu in the Scroll of Seals.

Now he learned that Liu Yun hadn't practiced them at all, but had instead studied their underlying principles and developed a jutsu of his own.

Not only was he relieved, but he also deeply admired Liu Yun's astonishing talent for developing jutsu.

After a moment's thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi opened a drawer in his desk and took out a scroll.

"These are some thoughts I recorded while researching jutsu in the past. Perhaps they'll help you perfect yours."

Liu Yun froze for a moment. He hadn't expected to receive anything out of this.

He accepted it.

[New equipment material detected]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi's Training Notes (I)]

[Estimated quality: Blue]

[Refinement cost: 60,000 ryo per attempt]

[Special condition: Personally gifted by Hiruzen Sarutobi]

[Condition met. Begin refinement?]

Minato and Nawaki stared fixedly at the scroll in Liu Yun's hands.

Minato, in particular, couldn't tear his eyes away.

Lord Hokage's training notes!

He never slept through lessons on the Will of Fire and had even taken countless notes. He knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's deeds and titles backward and forward.

He could hardly imagine how precious the thoughts Hiruzen Sarutobi-known as the Professor of Ninjutsu and the strongest Hokage-had recorded while practicing jutsu must be.

To any ninja, they would be a priceless treasure.

And now, that scroll lay quietly in Liu Yun's hands.

No!

Liu Yun came back to his senses, glanced at the system prompt, and carefully put the scroll away.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched with considerable satisfaction and told him, "Whether it's about developing jutsu or your daily life, you can come to me whenever you have a problem."

Minato and Nawaki had already gone numb.

Liu Yun nodded, pleasantly surprised.

As Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi surely had plenty of good things.

Even putting everything else aside, just seeing this equipment material, [Hiruzen Sarutobi's Training Notes (I)], was enough.

It meant there had to be a second volume, a third, and perhaps even more.

Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi had personally given him permission, Liu Yun wasn't going to stand on ceremony. He would have to visit a few more times, no matter what, and see whether he could score some more equipment.

"All right, thank you for your hard work on this mission. Minato and Nawaki did well too. Go home and rest," Hiruzen Sarutobi said. "Oh, and Jiraiya, don't forget to submit a mission report."

Class 3-A.

Liu Yun stared into space, utterly bored.

"Was this mission dangerous?"

"It wasn't too bad. A little dangerous, but not much."

The Takigakure Squad hadn't been weak. They had simply had the misfortune of running into him.

Even without him going all out, Minato and Nawaki alone could have held them off for a while.

Besides, with Jiraiya there, they could breeze through most missions.

Liu Yun wound a strand of Kushina's hair around his finger and asked casually, "How's looking after the kids?"

He didn't believe Tsunade could settle down and look after children.

She had most likely handed the job over to Kushina.

"Hmm?" Kushina caught on, and a smile spread across her little face. "It's tiring, but I'm really happy. Having my clansmen around makes things feel so lively."

"That's good."

Seeing Kushina's eyes curve into crescents lifted Liu Yun's spirits too.

"I'd still rather go on missions with you. Big Sis Tsunade said I could once I'm able to use Adamantine Sealing Chains."

Liu Yun smiled and nodded. "All right. I'm looking forward to it."

His three-man squad with Minato and Nawaki was only a temporary arrangement.

After all, his teacher was Tsunade, Minato's was Jiraiya, and Nawaki's was Orochimaru.

Probably no one in all of Konoha would dare become that squad's leader.

Having Tsunade and the other two take turns teaching them wasn't quite appropriate either, so the squads would probably be rearranged after graduation.

He and Kushina would be on one team, along with some random third teammate.

He didn't know about Nawaki.

As for Minato...

He looked up at Minato, who sat in the front row writing the mission report Hiruzen Sarutobi had assigned to Jiraiya.

Beside Minato sat a girl, Ayaka Uzumaki.

After returning from Uzushio Village, he had told Hiruzen Sarutobi about Ayaka Uzumaki as Mito had requested, then paid no further attention to the matter.

Before he knew it, Ayaka Uzumaki had become Minato's deskmate.

Not only that, but a glance around revealed several more red-haired members of the Uzumaki Clan in the classroom.

Just then, Liu Yun suddenly remembered Hayato. During their fight, Hayato's jutsu formula had gone out of control and damaged his chakra pathways. He was still lying in the Ninja Hospital.

When Kushina had first enrolled, Hayato had mocked her red hair and even said that all redheads were monsters.

Well, now there were several redheads in the class.

"Hayato, this golden age is just as you wished..."