Taijutsu at Its Ultimate

"Was that... the Body Flicker Technique?"

Inside the Ninja Academy's teaching building.

At that moment, two men stood before an enormous floor-to-ceiling window, watching the test at the distant Training Ground with interest.

But when Liumu suddenly appeared beside Obito and defeated him with Thousand Years of Death, one of the men immediately stepped forward in surprise.

Hearing the startled voice behind him, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, smiled faintly and shook his head.

"But just now, he clearly..."

Before the man could finish, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around and interrupted him. "You're mistaken, Minato."

"I'm mistaken? Wasn't that child using the Body Flicker Technique just now?" Minato Namikaze asked.

"What that child used wasn't ninjutsu, but pure taijutsu!" Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked the beard on his chin, took a pipe from behind his back, and continued, "There were no hand seals, nor any signs of chakra flowing. Those two points alone prove that he wasn't using ninjutsu. To achieve speed rivaling the Body Flicker Technique with his body alone, Minato..."

A gratified smile suddenly appeared on the Third's aged face. "Including that little fellow from the Hatake Clan, this year's Ninja Academy students truly have some remarkable talents hidden among them!"

As Konoha's Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi enjoyed the title of Professor of Ninjutsu throughout the shinobi world, and his own five chakra natures made him particularly sensitive to the flow of chakra itself.

Watching Liumu surrounded by girls in the distance, Hiruzen Sarutobi took out a match and slowly lit his pipe. Then he turned and asked Minato Namikaze behind him in a solemn tone, "Have Jiraiya and the others returned?"

Hearing this, Minato answered truthfully, "Lord Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, and Lord Orochimaru returned to the village last night."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, a trace of helplessness flashing through his clouded eyes as he murmured quietly, "There are other reasons behind the unrest in the Land of Rain. Those three alone cannot possibly influence the situation there."

At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed heavily. "Have Jiraiya wait for me in the Hokage Office."

Inside the Konoha Office.

Jiraiya sat casually before the desk, staring at Hiruzen Sarutobi across from him without a word.

"Nothing to say?"

After experiencing the Second Shinobi World War, especially his battle against Hanzo of the Salamander, known as the "Demigod," in the Land of Rain, even Jiraiya, one of the Konoha Sannin, held a less-than-optimistic view of the current attitudes among the shinobi world's various powers.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep pull on his pipe. A cloud of white smoke slowly drifted out, spreading between the two and suddenly lending the atmosphere an added gravity.

"I think I've found the legendary Child of Prophecy."

"Oh?"

Hearing the words "Child of Prophecy," Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately looked shocked. "You truly found the person that sage of Mount Myōboku spoke of?"

Jiraiya frowned and replied, "Yes. His talent astounded me. Whether in learning ninjutsu or in his own chakra, he fully deserves the title of Child of Prophecy. What's more, his deep bonds with his companions make it seem as though he's engraved the Will of Fire firmly in his heart."

Listening to Jiraiya, Hiruzen Sarutobi grew solemn. "You must understand, according to that sage, the Child of Prophecy will save the entire ninja world in the future. Are you certain you haven't misjudged him?"

Jiraiya fell into thought at this, but recalling those strange Rinnegan eyes, he ultimately nodded. "I believe in him."

"Liumu, why haven't even you done your homework?"

Inside the Ninja Academy, the chunin teacher in charge of the class stood at the podium, berating the several students standing below, frustrated by their failure to live up to expectations.

"As you all know, Kakashi, who used to be your classmate, has already graduated and become an honorable genin of Konoha. And you? Now you even need me to chase you up over your homework!"

Standing in the first row, Liumu watched the teacher spraying spit on the podium and answered innocently, "The homework was too easy. I really couldn't find any desire to do it."

Teacher: ...

Classmates: ...

Liumu, who had always seemed gentle and modest, had actually said something so pretentious. Not only the teacher, but even his classmate Rin was momentarily shocked.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Just then, a sound suddenly came from the classroom door. A man wearing pitch-black sunglasses pushed it open, walked over to the chunin teacher, and whispered to him for a moment.

"Really?"

After a long while, the chunin teacher suddenly cried out in delighted surprise before everyone.

The man in sunglasses nodded and urged him, "Hurry. That lord has already been waiting a long time."

"Yes, yes, of course." The chunin teacher hurriedly agreed with a smile, then turned toward Liumu and ordered, "Liumu, go with this teacher."

"Me?" Liumu hadn't expected to be called away at this time. What could it be about?

"Stop dawdling. Get going." Seeing Liumu still moving so lazily, the chunin teacher wished he could grab him by the collar and kick him straight out.

It's him?

My idol!

The moment Liumu entered the faculty office, he saw Jiraiya with his needle-like white hair. Familiar with Jiraiya's portrayal in the Naruto anime, Liumu had considered him his idol ever since.

What was Jiraiya most celebrated for?

Ninjutsu?

No!

Senjutsu?

No!

That's right, it was fucking Icha Icha Paradise!

With even an old pervert like Kakashi so devoted to those books, how could Liumu, who had been at that restless age back then, not want to know just what was written in them?

"What are you standing there for? Hurry and greet Lord Jiraiya."

Seeing that Liumu had failed to respond for so long, the man in sunglasses beside him immediately gave him a discreet nudge with his knee.

"It's all right."

Jiraiya looked solemnly at the boy before him, whose face bore a strange smile, and bent down to ask, "You're Liumu?"

"Huh? Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Liumu replied.

"I heard you achieved speed comparable to the Body Flicker Technique using nothing but taijutsu in today's assessment. Is that true?" Jiraiya frowned slightly, seemingly trying to discern something in Liumu's eyes.

"They're exaggerating. Compared to my classmates, I'm only a tiny little bit faster."

The Body Flicker Technique was the ultimate speed-based ninjutsu developed by Konoha's Second Hokage Tobirama Senju. Never mind just how fast the Body Flicker Technique was as a forbidden ninjutsu-this child before him was only five years old, and he was supposed to match such impossible speed with taijutsu alone...

Jiraiya shook his head. Surely Teacher Sarutobi had exaggerated.