In a cave in the mountains outside the village.
The place was extremely well hidden and served as Hongshi's usual training base.
Two Hongshis stood facing each other. Since Nuclear Release was simply too powerful, he always practiced with two Shadow Clones, one unleashing Nuclear Release and the other absorbing it with the Preta Path.
"╮(•́ω•̀)╭ I've really worried myself sick over Konoha's safety!"
"Nuclear Release: Thermonuclear Orb. One percent."
Hongshi pressed his palms together. A fist-sized ball of white light flew from his hands, scorching and distorting the surrounding air as it shot toward the Shadow Clone.
"Preta Path!" The Shadow Clone showed no fear at the sight of the orb (obviously, why the hell would he fear his own ninjutsu?). He grabbed straight at the Thermonuclear Orb with his right hand, releasing a powerful absorbing force from within his body. It took three seconds to absorb it.
"Poof!" The Shadow Clone vanished.
Watching from the side, the original Hongshi rubbed his smooth head. "Hmm. My control's improved a little more. Counting Nuclear Heavy Fist and Thermonuclear Orb, I've created seven Nuclear Release techniques. With the ninjutsu and taijutsu exchanged from the shop, I now have twelve Nuclear Release techniques. That's enough trump cards. Next, I need to learn ordinary ninjutsu."
He created twenty Shadow Clones, who studied the ninjutsu scrolls he had copied earlier.
"Poof, poof, poof, poof." Only after a day passed did he dispel the Shadow Clones.
At the same time, vast amounts of knowledge flooded Hongshi's mind. These clones had spent three days finally mastering the scrolls' contents.
"He really deserves to be called the Professor of Ninjutsu. With the chakra conversion technique, I can use all these ninjutsu and taijutsu."
The chakra conversion technique was not actually difficult to learn, but mastering it was hard. The better his mastery, the higher the conversion rate, and the less chakra he wasted. Moreover, Nuclear Release was a fusion of two Kekkei Mōra, and its conversion ratio to ordinary chakra was one to ten. In other words, he had ten times as much chakra as an ordinary person.
Nuclear Release was too powerful. A Nuclear Heat Orb using one percent of Hongshi's current chakra could match the power of the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb. Without proper control, it could easily injure allies.
"╮(•́ω•̀)╭ Being invincible from the start really is a pain. Getting weaker is so hard."
"Then let's give it a try! Shadow Clone, go be a target!"
"Great Fireball Technique!"
"Water Formation Pillar!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
"Lightning Sword!"
"Great Breakthrough!"
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
After another full seven days of training, he could perform all the basic ninjutsu and taijutsu. Only then did he leave the cave and head toward the Ninja Academy. "I wonder which team I'll get assigned to. Ideally, I'd be on a team with little Hinata. Ino would work too. Hahahaha."
"Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha will be on the same team. Hongshi will also join your team temporarily. Some students will transfer here from other ninja villages in a while, and Hongshi will be assigned to a separate team then."
Hongshi shot to his feet. "(งᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃ Sensei, I have something to say."
Iruka said, "(╬•᷅д•᷄╬) Shut up! Sit down!"
Naruto could no longer stay seated. He stood and pointed at Sasuke Uchiha. "Iruka-sensei, why does someone as outstanding as me have to be on a team with someone like him?!"
Iruka looked at Naruto calmly. "Sasuke Uchiha has the best grades, while you and Hongshi have the worst. I'm balancing your strengths. Even your combined scores are lower than his. Stop embarrassing yourselves. (-ι_-)"
Sasuke Uchiha rested his chin on his hands. "Naruto, you'd better not get in my way, dead last."
Sasuke and Hongshi were still on very good terms, so he left him out of it.
(Hongshi: I don't actually give a damn either.)
Naruto said, "(╬◣д◢) What did you say, you bastard?!"
Sakura Haruno grabbed Naruto by the collar. "(งᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃ How could you talk to Sasuke like that? Apologize!"
Naruto cried, "Ow, ow, ow! Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"
Sasuke said, "..."
Hongshi went, "ZzzzZ."
Iruka held his head. "I really don't know whether letting you become genin was right or wrong."
"I'll introduce you to your jonin teachers in a little while."
That afternoon.
The jonin teachers came and took their respective students away, leaving only Team 7's four members.
Naruto bounced his leg restlessly in his seat. "Damn it, why isn't he here yet?!"
Sakura Haruno said, "Naruto! Just sit still for a while!"
Naruto said, "Only our Team 7's teacher hasn't come! We've been waiting forever! What kind of teacher is this?!"
Sasuke rested his chin on his hands, his thoughts a mystery.
Hongshi went, "Z zz Z."
Sakura Haruno looked at Hongshi, fast asleep while sitting perfectly straight. "=͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇) He can sleep like that?!"
Naruto walked over and shoved Hongshi. "Hongshi! You've been sleeping all day! Look at the time, and you're still asleep!"
Hongshi slowly woke. "Huh? Do you need something, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto grabbed Hongshi's collar. "Why do you keep sleeping all the time?! And how did you build all those muscles?!"
Hongshi rubbed his smooth head. "Oh, that. Training at night wears me out. Besides, this is so boring."
"Creeeak~"
The classroom door slowly opened. Our very own Fifty-Fifty Hatake-oh, no, Kakakai Hatake... Mr. Kakashi Hatake had finally arrived.
"Huh! I thought there'd be a chalkboard eraser above the door."
Sakura Haruno stood properly and bowed. "Hello, sensei."
Kakashi looked at the four in the classroom. "Oh, you must be my students. Hmm... you look pretty... annoying. Oh! You're Hongshi, right? I quite like you!"
Naruto said, "What kind of teacher are you, you bastard?!"
Kakashi stood facing the four. "Well, let's introduce ourselves. Your interests and hobbies, what you like, what you hate, things like that."
Naruto said, "Hold on, sensei, you go first!"
Kakashi pointed at himself. "Me? You mean me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. As for what I like and hate, that's a secret. Dreams? I don't seem to have any. As for hobbies, I have quite a few."
Naruto said, "(≖_≖) Isn't that the same as saying nothing?"
Sakura Haruno said, "My turn, my turn! My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like most-no! I should say the person I like most... should I really say it? (｡∀<｡) My dream is... should I say it...? What I hate most is Naruto!"
Naruto said, "What?!"
Kakashi said, "Naruto, your turn!"
Naruto said, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What I like most is ramen, Ichiraku Ramen. What I hate most is the three-minute wait for ramen. My dream is to surpass every Hokage before me and make everyone in the village acknowledge me."
Kakashi said, "That's some big talk."
Hongshi said, "(͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ Big breath comes from internal heat and inflamed gums."
Kakashi said, "???"
Sasuke said, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are plenty of things I hate and not many things I like. My ambition is to kill that man and restore the Uchiha Clan."
Hongshi said, "(͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ Isn't your name Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sasuke said, "????"
Hongshi said, "My name is Kira Hongshi. What I like most is sleeping quietly. What I hate most is... I don't think there's anything I hate. My ambition is to maintain peace in the shinobi world. If it isn't peaceful, I'll use nuclear means to make it nuclear-peaceful."
The Main God said, "I fucking think what you like most is snarking."
Kakashi nodded. "A fine ambition. Do you want to be a politician? Your looks won't do!"
Hongshi said, "(≖_≖)? A politician? What's that? Aren't we ninja?"
Kakashi said, "..."
Naruto said, "..."
Sakura Haruno said, "..."
Sasuke said, "..."
Kakashi said, "All right, that's it for today's introductions. We'll start carrying out missions tomorrow."
Naruto perked up at that. "All right! Missions! We're going on missions! Sensei, what kind of mission is it?!"
Kakashi looked calmly at the four. "Only the five of us will carry out this mission. A wilderness survival exercise."
Sakura Haruno said, "An exercise? Didn't we do those all the time at school?"
Kakashi gave the four a meaningful look. "This exercise will be different. Your opponent will be me!"
Sakura Haruno said, "Wait, sensei! Why does something feel off?"
Kakashi said, "Hehehe. Not at all. You might quit if I tell you. Of this year's twenty-eight graduates, only nine will be recognized as genin. The elimination rate is as high as sixty-eight percent!"
Naruto cried, "Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ What?!"
Sakura Haruno said, "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Kakashi straightened up. "All right, that's that. See you at the training ground tomorrow. Don't forget your equipment. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll definitely throw up!"
With that, Kakashi slowly left.
Naruto said to Hongshi, "Hongshi, you'd better not fall asleep again tomorrow! If we fail, I won't let you off!"
Hongshi said, "(≖_≖) Oh."
Sakura Haruno looked at Sasuke Uchiha. "Sasuke-kun, what should we go do?"
Without a word, Sasuke stood to leave as well.
Hongshi said, "Ah! Let's go get ramen!"
Naruto said, "Yay!!"
Sasuke said, "Hmm. That sounds... pretty good."
Sakura Haruno said, "Sasuke-kun's going? I'm coming too!"
Don't ask. If you do, the answer is Ichiraku Ramen.
Naruto said, "Slurrrp~~ (｡∀<｡) Old man Teuchi's ramen is so good!"
Sasuke said, "(≖_≖) Slurrrp. Hmph, it's all right."
Sakura Haruno said, "(*≧▽≦) I'm eating ramen with Sasuke!"
Hongshi said, "⁽⁽ଘ(ˊᵕˋ)ଓ⁾⁾ Heaven."