Chapter 10 — Training
The next day, 4 a.m.
Kinoshita Muraichi woke the two of them and led them to the training grounds.
"Since you two have already refined chakra, it's time to teach you ninjutsu."
He pulled out two chakra test papers and handed them over, explaining, "Channel your chakra into this paper, and it will reveal your chakra nature… There are seven types of chakra: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Yin, and Yang. Among them, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Earth are the five great natures."
Namikaze Minato poured his chakra into the test paper. The paper split down the middle.
"Wind, huh? That's a good nature. Wind has the greatest destructive potential."
Kinoshita Hikaru poured his chakra into his test paper. The corner first caught fire, then the paper snapped in the middle, folded, crumpled, and finally became damp.
"Th… five natures?" Muraichi was slightly dumbfounded. How did this kid keep hitting all the jackpot? He'd awakened his bloodline, was a cultivation prodigy, and now he had five chakra natures.
For context, in all of Konoha, only the Third Hokage had five chakra natures—a master of the Five Shields barrage, feared across the ninja world, and nicknamed the Ninja Scholar.
"Wow!" Minato exclaimed, glancing at his own test paper without disappointment.
Even though he had only one nature, he could still become a great ninja.
Hikaru, however, barely reacted. For him, as a system-equipped protagonist, these were just basic stats. What he cared about was Muraichi—stop being so shocked, just teach ninjutsu already.
"Brother, didn't you say you'd teach us ninjutsu?"
"Ahem."
Muraichi's fingers danced through the air: un—mi—in.
"Ninjutsu—Shadow Clone Technique!"
A puff of white smoke appeared, and suddenly there was another Muraichi in the training ground.
"This is an E-rank ninjutsu: the Shadow Clone Technique. Along with Substitution Technique and Transformation Technique, it's considered one of the three basic ninjutsu. Don't underestimate them—they're a mark of becoming a genin and the foundation for many advanced jutsu."
Muraichi explained the three ninjutsu in detail, advising the two that learning these three first was enough. The main focus was to toughen their bodies.
As commoner ninjas, they didn't have access to many jutsu for study and had to accumulate skill points bit by bit. Early on, the main combat method would be taijutsu.
And today marked the beginning of their nightmare. Muraichi could see their potential; as long as they didn't die prematurely, they were destined to become powerful ninjas.
He assumed the stance of a brutal instructor, increasing the intensity tenfold compared to his own childhood training standards (ಡωಡ).
Six months later.
Ninja Academy.
Muraichi stood on the podium, a hint of reluctance in his eyes. For the first batch of students in his teaching career, he felt a bittersweet attachment.
Today was class assignment day. Students who hadn't refined chakra would be placed in the regular class to learn vocational skills. Those with weak talent would be placed in the intermediate class.
"Kinoshita Hikaru, Namikaze Minato, Class 1. Report there tomorrow."
All the students looked at them with envy. Class 1 was called the Genius Class, mostly filled with prodigies from noble families. Commoner ninjas were few and far between.
Hikaru grinned. The two of them had made tremendous progress over the past six months, especially him—thanks to the system, his growth had been explosive.
He opened his status board:
[Multiverse Proficiency Board]
Name: Kinoshita Hikaru
Age: 6
Ability: Rubber Fruit (Beginner) (46/100)
Technique: Chakra Extraction (Intermediate) (459/10000)
Skills: Kunai Throwing (Advanced) (585/10000), Taijutsu (Intermediate) (256/1000), Hand Seals (Advanced) (1258/10000)
Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Technique (Advanced) (16/10000), Transformation Technique (Advanced) (14/10000), Substitution Technique (Advanced) (15/10000), Fireball Jutsu (Advanced) (18/10000), Water Sphere Jutsu (Advanced) (14/10000), Lightning Sphere Jutsu (Advanced) (17/10000), Earth Wall (Advanced) (15/10000), Wind Scorching Palm (Intermediate) (119/1000)
Kinoshita Hikaru's ninjutsu training consisted of only one C-rank Wind Release; the rest were all D-rank and E-rank. For D and E ranks, only 100 proficiency points were needed to level up, while C-rank required 1,000 points.
Over the past six months, he had focused mainly on taijutsu, toughening his body, repeatedly breaking his limits. Yet as time went on, those limits became increasingly difficult to surpass.
But this was expected. After all, his system was a proficiency board—if it were just a sign-in system, a six-year-old could already have awakened the Rinnegan.
Yes, the system gave him invincibility; all he had to do was show off.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. After six months of training, he realized that most ninjutsu only needed to be understood. He only needed to specialize in a few techniques—he just didn't have any good ones yet.
The greatest advantage of his Rubber Fruit, however, was his super-fast recovery.
No matter how exhausted he was, one sleep and a meal restored him completely.
…
Seventh Training Ground.
"Guma! Guma! Attack!"
Kinoshita Hikaru bent his legs, leaned forward, and swung his fists in rapid succession, a dense flurry of punches aimed at Namikaze Minato.
Minato twisted and shifted, weaving through the barrage of fists like a graceful butterfly.
Hikaru smirked, never thinking he could actually harm him.
The two sparred daily and were intimately familiar with each other's moves.
"Guma! Guma! Wind Spear!"
Hikaru formed hand seals and merged the Wind Shield with his right fist, accelerating the punch.
The strike hit like a bolt of thunder, exploding with a resounding boom toward Minato's cheek. In the nick of time, Minato tilted his head and dodged.
Hikaru retracted his fist as Minato stood in place, giving a faint smile.
"That punch is fast, Hikaru-kun," he said.
He thought to himself, If that strike had targeted the forehead instead of the cheek, I wouldn't have been able to dodge at all. My body literally couldn't react—I could only tilt my head.
"This is something I just came up with: attaching wind to your fist. You can also try attaching it to your body to accelerate yourself."
Minato had tried it too, but later realized that wind was too explosive to control effectively.
Hikaru put his arm around Minato's shoulders and said, "Don't worry, you'll definitely create it. I believe in you. Once you succeed, it'll be your signature ninjutsu—a wind-based taijutsu. I heard the Raikage of the Land of Lightning has his own exclusive lightning-based taijutsu, dominating the ninja world."
"Really?" Minato said, lacking confidence. He had ambitions to become a powerful ninja but never considered himself a prodigy. He had little faith in his talent.
After all, being around Hikaru, a supernatural freak, nobody would think they were a genius.
"Of course! You're Minato. Someday, we'll dominate the ninja world together."
"Dominate the ninja world?"
"What, doesn't that sound cool as a goal? …Okay, how about this—become Hokage first?"
"Uh…"
Minato mentally groaned. Can one just casually swap ideals like that?
Hikaru smiled smugly. "Then first become Hokage, and then dominate the ninja world. How's that? Sounds cool enough now, right?"
"That does sound impressive," Minato admitted.
"Of course! But I'm hungry. What should we eat today?"
"Uh…" Minato sighed. Thinking of Hikaru's terrifying appetite, he was speechless.
His own rapid growth was half talent, half being pushed by Hikaru's monstrous eating capacity.
This kid's eating ability was simply unbelievable.