Progress and Message

Progress and Message

Today was the last day of the semester at the Ninja Academy, so the Third Hokage had arrived early and was already seated at his desk, reviewing the report cards submitted by each teacher.

Sure enough, judging by grades alone, the most outstanding students were Neji Hyuga from Second Grade and Ayato from First Grade.

Even compared to students in higher grades, their results were exceptionally impressive.

"Hyuga..." The Third Hokage looked at Neji Hyuga's name and could not help thinking of the boy's father. He sighed, lost in thought.

Then, he looked at Ayato's name and pondered as well. He had long since reviewed all the information about Ayato's father, more than once, in fact. His life had been clean and ordinary from childhood to adulthood.

Of course, the man's talent had been decent. Overall, he had been working toward becoming a jonin before his death. But from the Third Hokage's perspective, his eventual limit would probably have been Special Jonin. With a bit of luck, he might have earned enough merit to become an ordinary jonin.

Yet he had somehow produced such a gifted child. Whether it was theory, willpower, or talent for ninjutsu, Ayato was outstanding in every regard.

The last time the Third Hokage had seen such a perfect talent, that person had eventually become the Fourth Hokage. It was a pity about Kakashi. He had possessed equally remarkable talent, yet so much of it had been wasted because of White Fang and Obito.

Even so, Kakashi was still one of the village's Elite Jonin, a pillar of Konoha. Looking at Ayato's grades, the Third Hokage smiled. Once the boy matured, perhaps the village would gain another pillar.

As long as Ayato could reach Kakashi's combat level without the Sharingan, the Third Hokage felt this investment would not be a loss.

After reviewing all the grades and arranging the class assignments for this year's graduates, the Third Hokage turned his attention to the Crystal Ball. Scenes from the Ninja Academy appeared within it, and in the end, the view settled on Naruto as expected.

However, after Naruto left, the Third Hokage looked at Ayato, who had been sitting beside him, and suddenly grew curious. Since he often observed Naruto, he naturally knew that Ayato was usually the first one to leave the classroom.

Yet today, he had sent Naruto away first and remained behind in the classroom. He must have had something to do. But what?

After making a mental note of it, the Third Hokage continued watching Naruto. Some time later, he refocused the scene on the Ninja Academy.

"Oh ho, is he fighting Iruka?" Seeing this, the Third Hokage unexpectedly felt a trace of anticipation.

Before long, he watched the entire battle between Ayato and Iruka through the Crystal Ball.

Although Ayato and Iruka's skills looked like amateurish tricks in the Third Hokage's eyes, their ages had to be taken into consideration.

Iruka's potential was already easy to see at a glance, but he was undoubtedly more than qualified as a teacher.

Ayato had actually defeated Iruka. Moreover, his talent for ninjutsu was even more outrageous than the Third Hokage had previously thought. Not only could he use C-Rank Ninjutsu, he could control it.

A Substitution Technique reduced to three hand seals, a hand seal speed of more than three seals per second, complete control over C-Rank Wind Release Ninjutsu, and the ability to use the shape transformation of Lightning Release for temporary reinforcement. Most importantly...

Ayato was only six years old!

Even Kakashi at that age had merely had his own strengths and weaknesses compared to Ayato. But Kakashi had been taught by White Fang, while Ayato had only just come into contact with ninjutsu at six years old. Of course, Kakashi had not worked as hard as Ayato when he was young either. Still, hard work could not hide the fact that this talent was almost absurdly good.

It was even so good that it hardly seemed human. Yet the Third Hokage did not doubt Ayato's identity in the slightest. If Ayato had been a spy planted here, then the village that sent him must have been insane.

They would abandon such a genius in another village as a spy instead of raising him properly? Not even Konoha would be so wasteful!

The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe, and a certain idea in his heart gradually became firm.

Just in time, Iruka would probably come report Ayato's talent to him later. Having Iruka summon Ayato would be convenient.

Ayato headed from the Ninja Academy toward the Training Ground, reflecting on the battle as he walked.

Overall, he felt it had gone fairly well. The initial probing had given him more information than expected. That was also thanks to Iruka's carelessness, which had allowed Ayato to learn the difference in their physical abilities, Iruka's hand seal speed, and the fact that Iruka's fighting ability was somewhat weaker than Ayato had imagined.

All of that was crucial information in battle. Once he had obtained it, Ayato had formulated his subsequent battle plan, and in the end, it had succeeded. He had won the fight.

Sure enough, a battle with intelligence and one without it were completely different things. If he fought Iruka again, he would still have a chance of winning, but as for the odds, there was no need to mention them.

Still, Ayato only needed to grow for a while longer. At the very least, once the difference in strength was not so great, winning would no longer be difficult. Right now, his overall physical qualities were simply too low.

Then there was his throwing technique. Ayato knew that his skill only guaranteed accuracy. There was no variation whatsoever in his throws. Although that was partly related to the pebbles he used, it was more because he wanted to learn but did not know how to train it.

As far as he knew, the Uchiha seemed to be the best at varying their throws. Others were not particularly skilled at it either, and Iruka probably could not teach him. So he could only maintain his current level. If Ayato's throwing technique had any defining traits, they were accuracy and speed!

But without variation, his attacks could still be dodged by some fast-reacting ninja...

Of course, Ayato would not underestimate himself. Even against a Chunin, he was no longer completely helpless. He did not know the opponent's ninjutsu, but did the opponent know his? They probably would not be skilled in throwing techniques either. More importantly, if he could not win, Ayato could flee using Lightning Reinforcement together with the power of Wind Release Gale Leg~

His natural speed was not slow to begin with. With the boosts from those two techniques, he could still escape from most Chunin who did not specialize in speed.

Still, he could not become complacent because of that. He was only exceptional in certain areas. In terms of basic attributes, he was still inferior to most Genin. He had to keep working hard.

Thinking that, Ayato arrived at the Training Ground. He still had plenty of stamina left after fighting Iruka, so there was no need to rush home. Sinai had not taken leave today, so it would not be too late to return after training.

Sure enough, Rock Lee was already at the Training Ground. Judging by his condition today, he seemed to be training even harder than usual, almost as if he were venting something.

Ayato could guess why. It was probably the end-of-semester grades. Second Grade assessments were different from First Grade assessments. With ninjutsu added as a subject, its importance to a ninja was self-evident, so it accounted for a large portion of the final score.

Given Rock Lee's condition, he could only receive zero points in that subject. Combined with his poor theory grades, even placing first in taijutsu was useless. His total score was still at the good-for-nothing level in the class.

So Rock Lee had clearly been stimulated by his grades once again.

Seeing how hard Rock Lee was training, Ayato found himself encouraged as well and joined in today's training.

What Ayato did not know was that while he trained, Iruka had arrived at Ayato's home to find him, only to discover that no one was there. Iruka scratched his head. His initial excitement calmed somewhat. The Third Hokage had sent him to summon Ayato.

Naturally, Iruka had told the Third Hokage about Ayato defeating him. This had been the Third Hokage's instruction all along. Every teacher was required to report promising students in their classes to him. Iruka had thought this would merely be a routine report, but he had not expected the Third Hokage to ask him to bring Ayato over!

Was the Third Hokage going to invest in him directly? Iruka was sincerely happy for his student, so he had hurried over without stopping, following the home address left during enrollment. Yet Ayato had not gone home at all!

Could Ayato be training again at this time? Iruka drew in a cold breath. It really did seem possible. Honestly, he had always been shocked by Ayato's talent, but now he suddenly felt... perhaps it was not so impossible after all.

Iruka looked at the cold weather and sighed. What else could he do? It was vacation now, and he had nothing else to handle. He would just wait here for a while.

Naturally, Ayato had no idea Iruka was waiting for him. Once he finished training, he began using his remaining Chakra to give himself a Lightning Release Massage. Even after doing it many times, every massage remained a pleasure for both body and mind. He felt that it improved not only his body but also his mental state.

Only after the massage did Ayato slowly close his eyes and gradually enter the Void State.

That was right. His progress this semester had been far more than a little. He no longer needed to be in an exhausted state after training to enter the Void State. While he still could not enter it directly under normal conditions, Ayato estimated he was close.

Entering the Void State for the first time had truly been difficult. But after entering once, the difficulty decreased. It was like climbing a ninety-degree cliff at first, only to reach a point where the rest became a mountainside. It was still steep, but much easier than before.

Still, the Void State no longer helped Ayato as much as it once had. Yet he still enjoyed entering that state, observing certain things within it, and trying to think about matters, because his thoughts were extraordinarily clear while in it.

It was just a pity that he still could not think too much. Otherwise, he would immediately exit the Void State. But presumably, that day was not far away.

Therefore, the order of Void State and Lightning Release Massage had naturally been arranged in the most reasonable way now. However, compared to Ayato's ultimate idea, putting these two together was still very far from enough.

After a long while, Ayato opened his eyes and called Rock Lee over.

"I'll have to trouble you again today, Ayato," Rock Lee said somewhat sheepishly.

"It's fine. A free test subject is still very important to me," Ayato teased.

"Mm." Rock Lee nodded heavily, completely unconcerned by the remark and full of gratitude.

Ayato was not entirely joking. After every Void State session, his understanding of shape transformation deepened a little. The most suitable test subject for those insights was naturally Rock Lee. After all, Rock Lee's physical talent was strong, and he could withstand it.

And after Ayato finished experimenting, if he made progress, he could apply it to his own massage the next day. It was killing two birds with one stone.

However, Ayato did not feel guilty about treating Rock Lee as a test subject despite Rock Lee's gratitude. After all, even if he told others about it, would they not be willing to become his test subjects? There was no danger to their lives, and they could improve their physical strength for free. Why would they refuse?

Before long, Rock Lee felt so comfortable that his entire body seemed about to go limp. As Ayato improved, the effects of Lightning Release Massage on Rock Lee gradually became better as well.

However, it was still nowhere near as effective as it was on Ayato himself. And according to Ayato's experiments, there seemed to be an upper limit. Rock Lee did not possess the Lightning Release affinity. Even if he received Lightning Release Massage every day, his resistance to Lightning Release would not increase much.

Therefore, as Ayato improved, he could control his Chakra more precisely, but the limit Rock Lee could endure still depended on his resistance to Lightning Release. If it exceeded that resistance, it would harm Rock Lee's body, which would not be worth it.

Today's Lightning Release Massage soon came to an end. Ayato looked at his hands, and a smile appeared on his face. He felt that this aspect had reached the required standard. His previous idea should be ready to put into practice.

After that, Ayato ended his training for the day and bid Rock Lee farewell. After receiving the massage, Rock Lee still had much more training to do.

Although the best way to maximize the effects of Lightning Release Massage would be to wait until Rock Lee had completely finished training, Ayato did not have that much time to wait for him. And Rock Lee would never ask Ayato to wait for him because of it.

So even though both of them knew what would produce the best effect, neither mentioned it.

Ayato had never minded helping Rock Lee, but the premise was that it could not affect himself. No matter what, Ayato had always put his own interests first, and he would continue to do so in the future.

Looking at the sky, Ayato noted that it was the last day of the semester, so there had been no classes. Even after training, it was still early. Sinai was probably not off work yet.

Lost in thought, Ayato finally headed home, only to see Iruka standing outside his door.

"Iruka Sensei? Why are you here?" Ayato was greatly surprised. Did he come for revenge because he lost to me? That can't be it, right?

Iruka shivered from the cold. The weather was far from warm. Looking at Ayato, he could tell at once that Ayato had clearly just finished training.

After sighing inwardly, Iruka did not hesitate and told Ayato that the Third Hokage had summoned him. Ayato's eyes suddenly narrowed, followed by intense delight.

A summons from the Third Hokage—what did that represent?

His background was clean, and he had talent. This kind of summons would basically only bring him benefits, not trouble. He also did not need to worry about someone discovering anything suspicious and killing him on the spot.

"Let's go. The Third Hokage has probably been waiting a long time," Iruka said immediately, despite feeling cold.

"Um, should I clean up before going?" Ayato pointed at his sweat-soaked body. Would it not be rude to go like this?

"Ah, right." Iruka came to his senses and agreed.

So after inviting Iruka inside and making him a cup of hot tea, Ayato took some clothes and entered the bathroom.

Even while washing up, Ayato could not help feeling excited!

PS: There will only be one chapter recently. The company has been especially busy these past few days, so I have not had time to slack off and write. By the time I get home, I'm exhausted. Sigh...

But it is more or less the same. Two chapters are a little over two thousand words each, for a total of over four thousand words. One chapter is also around four thousand words, just usually a little shorter than the combined word count of two chapters.

Things should improve once the end of the year is over...