Hoshiyomi and Tsunade devoted themselves entirely to caring for their two children day after day, and just like that, time slipped by without them noticing.
In the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
During those three years, Rinne and Ryūshin had changed quite a bit.
There wasn't much to say about their looks—both Tsunade and Hoshiyomi were exceptionally attractive, so naturally their children were beautiful as well.
Even though they were only three, whenever they were taken out, they were already at the "everyone loves them" level.
But compared to their looks, their personalities were even more noteworthy.
As the saying goes, a child's nature shows at three, and the adult they'll become shows at seven. Even though they were only three years old, their individual traits were already clearly visible.
The twins may have been born a boy and a girl, but their personalities were the complete opposite. It was like Tsunade and Hoshiyomi's temperaments were mixed together and then split evenly between them.
Ryūshin, the older brother, was only three, but he already showed Hoshiyomi's deeply rooted "avoid trouble" nature.
Despite being so small, he carried the same lazy, bored expression as Shikamaru.
But unlike Shikamaru, who actively avoided effort, Ryūshin simply used the most straightforward and efficient method to solve problems as a habit.
Rinne, on the other hand, inherited Tsunade's hidden cuteness. Everything she said or did carried a natural airheaded charm.
As a side note, Rinne perfectly inherited Tsunade's monstrous strength.
But because she also had an innate airheaded temperament, her destructive power was far greater than Tsunade's.
Hoshiyomi never tried to correct their distinct personalities.
Instead, he found both of them interesting and full of character.
Both children had already begun their chakra training, and the results were astonishing.
At just three years old, both of them were already capable of refining chakra.
Ryūshin had already begun sword training under Hoshiyomi, and his talent in swordsmanship shocked Hoshiyomi the most.
Ryūshin's understanding and intuition could only be described with one phrase:
"Once-in-a-lifetime genius."
At only three years old, after watching Hoshiyomi demonstrate twice, he could perfectly remember the key fundamentals of the sword forms.
He could already perform an entire basic sword kata with surprising accuracy for his age.
Even Hoshiyomi—who was about to step into the realm of Sword Saint—felt humbled by that level of talent.
With such a father guiding him, Ryūshin's achievements in swordsmanship would certainly be extraordinary.
His sister, Rinne, was uninterested in swordsmanship and was not yet aware of her own monstrous strength. Instead, she particularly loved Haku's Ice Release Ninjutsu.
Judging from her chakra paper results, her ninjutsu talent was indeed exceptional.
Perhaps because Hoshiyomi possessed all chakra attributes, Rinne naturally had all five elemental affinities as well.
Yin and Yang release couldn't be detected yet—it would require her to grow older.
Still, with all five base elements present, a future specializing in ninjutsu seemed very promising.
Judging from their talent, both children were destined for greatness.
Hoshiyomi felt genuinely proud.
Aside from his own twins, Hoshiyomi also continued training Kimimaro and Haku.
He had originally planned to send them to Orochimaru after graduation, but that was clearly no longer necessary.
Their talent was undeniable; with just a bit of guidance from Hoshiyomi, they far surpassed their original story counterparts.
Both were now third-year students at the Ninja Academy.
At nine years old, they were already fully capable of graduating—or even participating in the Chūnin Exams.
But Hoshiyomi had no intention of letting them go out into the field so early, so he kept them enrolled at the academy for now.
Hoshiyomi focused on developing Kimimaro's taijutsu and reflexes, while avoiding excessive involvement with the Shikotsumyaku—his strongest ability.
From the explanation given by the Kimimaro of the other world, Hoshiyomi already had a good understanding of the nature of his bloodline illness.
He had also found a concrete solution: transplanting Hashirama's cells.
His plan was to send Kimimaro to Orochimaru after he graduated at age twelve so he could receive the transplant.
Once the fusion succeeded and the bloodline illness was no longer a concern, he would then help Kimimaro fully develop the Shikotsumyaku bloodline.
As for Haku, Hoshiyomi focused on developing his chakra control.
Haku's chakra control talent had already been highlighted clearly in the original story.
Both Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death and Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals required extremely refined chakra manipulation.
With such an exceptional natural talent for control, paired with that gentle, angelic personality, inheriting Tsunade's medical legacy was simply perfect for him.
Over the three years, Haku officially became Tsunade's second disciple—after Shizune.
And he did not disappoint her.
At only nine years old, he could already use healing techniques and the Mystical Palm Technique proficiently.
Becoming a medical master like Tsunade was only a matter of time.
Aside from these, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, and the rest had also become completely familiar with the four kids in Hoshiyomi's household during those three years, often coming over to play.
Whenever Hoshiyomi was teaching his own kids, he couldn't just let the others sit and watch.
Following the principle of "If you're herding one sheep, you might as well herd the whole flock," Hoshiyomi's home unknowingly became Konoha's unofficial genius training class.
Shisui, Itachi, Kimimaro, Haku, Naruto, Sasuke, Ryūshin, Rinne—all future prodigies of Konoha—spent every day in the Gekko household.
They studied until they were tired, played until they were tired, then studied again.
In just a few months, their development was visible to the naked eye.
Konoha wasn't that big, and because of Hoshiyomi, their connections were countless times deeper than in the original timeline.
Kids being together inevitably led to ninja games, and once they compared their skills, the gap became obvious.
And when they asked each other why—
Well, of course. They were being personally trained by the strongest shinobi in Konoha, possibly the entire shinobi world.
Among children this didn't matter much.
But in the eyes of adults, this was a completely different story.
Who was Hoshiyomi?
Konoha's strongest shinobi.
And even more terrifying than his combat power was his ability to teach and identify talent.
Anyone he had trained had grown into Konoha's top-tier elites.
If their children could get even a tiny bit of guidance from him, their future could be limitless.
And besides, only an idiot couldn't see it:
The children Hoshiyomi was raising were all terrifyingly gifted.
If their own kids could mingle with that group from childhood, just imagine the kind of powerful network that would form—and the benefits it could bring to their clans.
With that thought, the clan heads of Konoha were practically overjoyed to the point of climax—
They were desperate to squeeze their own children into Hoshiyomi's "genius class."
Little by little, Shikamaru, Choji, and the rest of the future "Konoha 12" also joined Hoshiyomi's training group.
At this point it could no longer be called a simple class.
Calling it a Genius Training Camp would not be an exaggeration.
Seeing this, Hoshiyomi couldn't help but sigh:
He really was starting to feel more and more like the "Zephyr" of the shinobi world.
...
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