"Ooh ooh ooh! Thanks so much, Hanabi~ Oh, oh, should I also cover my eyes or something?"
Naruto knew that the sensing technique Hanabi had developed was essentially a way to "see" her surroundings. So he naturally assumed he needed to do the same.
"No need. My sensing method is basically similar to how certain animals work—those animals emit ultrasonic waves and sense the feedback from their surroundings. I just substitute chakra for the ultrasonic waves. But for you, Naruto, we can start with training to 'receive' that feedback first."
"Ultrasonic...?"
Naruto's brain was already short-circuiting.
Clearly someone hadn't been paying attention in class.
"It's sound at a frequency higher than what our ears can pick up," Kushina couldn't resist tutoring her son.
"Ooh ooh ooh, so it's sound at a frequency higher than what our ears can hear! Wait—sound has frequencies?"
Naruto immediately trotted out his new knowledge to show off.
But after showing off, he realized there was an even bigger problem.
What was a sound frequency again?
Kushina: ...
[Lmao, Mom is literally speechless]
[I can't, my stomach hurts from laughing]
[Oh, Naruto. Oh, Naruto...]
[So what IS a sound frequency?]
[???]
[Grass (a type of exclamation)]
[Head over to the educational section, please]
Forget the wise-cracking viewers—even Sasuke, standing right there, was giving Naruto the classic "looking at an idiot" expression.
Hanabi, on the other hand, was watching Naruto with a smile.
Except the longer Naruto looked at that smile, the more uneasy he felt.
"Anyway, we'll start lessons tomorrow. I'll first teach you the proper way to use Shadow Clones, and then we can begin training." Hanabi concluded.
"Oh right, Shadow Clones!" Kushina caught on immediately.
"Huh? What about Shadow Clones?" Naruto tilted his head.
"I'll explain tomorrow. For now, I think you'd better deal with your little entourage." Hanabi pointed behind Naruto.
It was Konohamaru and his two friends—Naruto's self-appointed followers. The three of them were currently hiding under a cardboard box, attempting to sneak.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a Metal Gear set. Cardboard-box stealth was painfully conspicuous.
"Uh..."
Naruto scratched his head, turned around, and went to deal with Konohamaru.
Hanabi turned to Sasuke.
"Let me make one thing clear first," she said. "My swordsmanship isn't a ninja's swordsmanship, and it isn't a samurai's swordsmanship either. This is something you need to understand before learning from me. If you can't even grasp the foundational philosophy, you'll be heading in the wrong direction entirely."
Understanding the purpose of the swordsmanship—that was the very first lesson.
"The swordsmanship I'll teach you can cut even the stars~" Hanabi twirled a flourish with the katana in her hand.
Jingliu's sword style was extremely versatile.
Forget katanas—even a longsword, or bare fists and feet, would work just fine.
And her sword style, true to its name, was a style meant to cut through the stars.
Of course, in the context of a world where the five great villages beat each other up, escalating things that dramatically was pointless.
Sometimes it was necessary to "scale down" a bit with a slightly playful tone.
Go too grandiose and it'd be like a savior who'd rescued countless worlds showing up to dominate a high school—give me a break.
"Anyway—oh?"
Just as Hanabi was about to continue, the Stage feed cut to Naruto's side. After goofing around with Konohamaru's trio for a while, Konohamaru had bumped into Kankuro, who was visiting from the Hidden Sand Village.
In the "original" storyline, it was Konohamaru messing around that set Sakura off, and in the ensuing chaos, the group crashed into Kankuro by accident.
Hanabi obviously wasn't going to do something as popularity-tanking as what Sakura Haruno had done, so she'd written off this plot beat entirely.
But just now, Naruto had apparently tried to show off a technique he'd learned from Kushina, and in the ensuing chaos, they'd bumped into Kankuro anyway.
Different cause, same result.
"—Is that Naruto?"
Sasuke reacted instantly. The moment Hanabi paused, his thoughts went straight to Naruto.
Naruto hadn't actually gone very far.
"Ow, that hurt, you little brat!"
Kankuro had already lifted Konohamaru off the ground by his scarf.
"Hey, don't start trouble." Temari glanced at her brother.
Kankuro and Temari—Gaara's older siblings—Genin from the Hidden Sand Village, here for the Chūnin Exams.
Of course, whether that was actually all there was to it... hard to say.
"Let me have a little fun before that nagging one shows up." Kankuro grinned coldly.
"Hey, you! Put Konohamaru down right now!"
Seeing his underling get grabbed, Naruto—the big boss—charged in immediately.
Kankuro glanced at Naruto. His fingers twitched.
"Idiot, jump—" Kushina warned.
"Damn fox hag—whoa!"
Naruto cursed but obeyed instantly, leaping into the air.
"Hm?" Kankuro turned his head.
He'd tried to trip the charging Naruto with puppet strings, but the kid had jumped right over them.
—He clearly didn't see them just now, though?
"Interesting!"
Kankuro's grin turned vicious as his threads hooked again.
"Get down!"
Kushina called out.
"What's even happening?!"
Naruto hit the dirt on instinct.
This time he caught on fast—something had just whizzed right over his head.
"Steel wire?!" Naruto flinched and scrambled backward.
He touched his head. His scalp was still tingling.
"You—you saw that just now, didn't you?"
Kankuro stared at Naruto.
He'd assumed this was just some ordinary Genin, but the kid had somehow spotted his traps.
And yet, judging by that clueless face, he didn't look like he'd seen anything at all—which made it even more confusing.
"Sand Village ninja? What are they doing here? Come to think of it, there have been a lot more outsiders these past few days..." Kushina muttered.
"Hey, hey, hey, fox lady—is there some way you can help me get Konohamaru back?" Naruto asked.
He didn't like this woman one bit, but Konohamaru was captured and that was a problem.
"If you'd learned the Adamantine Sealing Chains, this would be a piece of cake!" Kushina jumped at the sales pitch.
"But I haven't learned it yet..."
"Sigh... relax your body a bit. I'll use my chakra to guide you through the Adamantine Sealing Chains."
"Ooh ooh ooh!"
If Kushina fully manifested her power, Naruto's appearance would be "overwritten" to look like Kushina.
But if she only manifested for a split second, the transformation wouldn't have time to take hold—no problem at all.
"On my count—three, two, one—"
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
In an instant, four chains burst from Naruto's back, blocked Kankuro's puppet strings, wrenched his hands apart, and yanked Konohamaru free.
The next moment, Kushina's chakra vanished, and the chains disappeared with it.
But by then, Konohamaru was safely back in Naruto's arms.
"What did you just do?!" Kankuro glared at Naruto.
For a split second, he'd genuinely been terrified.
Something like chains had erupted from this kid's body, and before Kankuro could even react, those chains had suppressed him and snatched back the brat.
"Heh heh, that's just how strong I am!" Naruto puffed up with pride.
Kankuro reached behind his back and pulled off a large, bandage-wrapped bundle.
"Hey, hey, you're seriously gonna use Karasu here?" Temari warned.
"I can't stand cocky little punks like him!"
Getting spooked like that.
He had to pay for that.
"You want to die, Kankuro?"
A cold voice cut through the air.
"G-Gaara..."
Kankuro startled. He looked toward the source—Gaara, standing upside-down on a tree branch.
"What's going on?" Naruto was lost.
This guy with "love" written on his forehead appeared, and the mouthy one in black immediately broke into a cold sweat.
"That guy just had a lucky save. But the one without eyebrows... hmm... could it be..." Kushina murmured.
"Huh?"
Come on, don't be so cryptic.
Naruto was baffled.
What was the fox lady even talking about?
"One more step and you're dead. Idiot."
Gaara vanished from the tree with a Body Flicker and reappeared in front of Kankuro and Temari.
Dust swirled through the air ahead of them.
"...?!"
And only then did Kankuro realize—the space between him and Naruto was crisscrossed with a dense web of steel wire.