That night, everyone gathered at the Akimichi clan's barbecue restaurant.
It wasn't their first reunion, but Hoshiyomi and the others had been away from Konoha for more than half a year. And with everyone being familiar faces—and Nawaki and Kushina, those two little rascals, livening up the atmosphere—the celebration turned out to be loud and cheerful.
Shinku Yuhi arrived with his wife and their daughter, little Kurenai. Despite Hoshiyomi's butterfly-effect-level interventions in the timeline, Kurenai hadn't been affected. She was just six months old, but her ruby-red pupils and soft, curly hair were already proof of her identity.
Hoshiyomi held Kurenai in his arms and watched as she waved her tiny hands and feet, babbling nonsense. He found her quite amusing.
He also noticed something else during the gathering—Minato and Kushina seemed to be... a thing now. They were only ten, but even at that age, Hoshiyomi could practically smell the sugar-sweet scent of puppy love wafting off them.
Hoshiyomi asked about it and learned that Kumogakure kidnapping incident from the original story had indeed happened, but things were quite different from the original.
That afternoon, Minato had arranged to train with Kushina. But on the way there, she was abducted by Kumo shinobi. Fortunately, she hadn't been taken far before Minato noticed something was wrong and sprang into action.
Under Hoshiyomi's guidance, Minato's strength had already surpassed what it had been in canon. He easily wiped out the Kumo ninja in mere moments. Members of the Uzumaki clan arrived in time to handle the aftermath.
Hoshiyomi had already been subtly matchmaking the two of them, so there was already some affection brewing between them. Now, after this "knight saving the princess" moment, Kushina's lifelong dream of becoming the first female Hokage had been quietly replaced with a new one—becoming the wife of the Hokage.
Meanwhile, Nawaki—the poor kid who was supposed to be dead by now—was very much alive. But at the dinner table, he looked rather sullen, frequently casting Hoshiyomi resentful glances as if asking: Why haven't you taught me anything awesome?
Over the past six months, Nawaki had challenged Minato nearly every three days—only to suffer soul-crushing defeat after defeat.
At first, he could sometimes eke out a narrow loss thanks to his stamina advantage. But it didn't take long before it became obvious to anyone watching that even those narrow defeats were due to Minato going easy on him.
It wasn't that Nawaki lacked talent. In fact, he was quite gifted. The problem was—he had no idea what kind of shinobi he was supposed to be.
Nawaki had the natural chakra reserves and aptitude of a ninjutsu-based caster, but for some reason, he insisted on brawling it out in close quarters with Minato, who was practically born to be a high-speed assassin. Of course he was going to lose.
Hoshiyomi had already made up his mind: during this Second Shinobi World War, he wasn't going to let Nawaki anywhere near the battlefield.
It wasn't just a matter of personality. He was also worried that if Nawaki did fight, Black Zetsu might take notice.
Nawaki and Tsunade were the only two direct descendants of Hashirama Senju. Tsunade was already an adult and had clearly shown no signs of Wood Release, but Nawaki was still young—and his chakra nature included both water and earth. There was a real chance he might eventually awaken Mokuton (Wood Release).
In the original story, Nawaki died under suspicious circumstances, and Hoshiyomi couldn't shake the feeling that Black Zetsu had something to do with it.
Rather than send Nawaki to his death, Hoshiyomi figured it was safer to have him hang around the Hokage's office and run errands for Hiruzen. Who knows—maybe Hiruzen would say something that finally clicked, and Nawaki would awaken Wood Release on the spot?
And if that happened, it'd be like installing a permanent failsafe on Kushina and future Naruto.
Now that would be a win.
...
Because there were several kids at the table, the dinner didn't run too late.
By around nine, everyone began heading home. Kushina no longer lived with the Senju—being the little princess of the Uzumaki clan, she had been taken to their estate early on.
Only Tsunade and Hoshiyomi remained, taking Minato and Nawaki home together. (As mentioned earlier, Hoshiyomi currently lived near the Senju compound.)
After sending the kids off to bed, Hoshiyomi and Tsunade flirted a bit by the doorway before parting ways for the night.
Upon entering the house, Hoshiyomi greeted his mother.
Rie was already in her forties. Though no longer as youthful as she once was, she had few worries in life—and thanks to Tsunade generously sharing some of her beauty-enhancing formulas, Rie was aging gracefully and looked wonderful.
After chatting with her son for a short while, she went to bed early. Her motto was "early to sleep, early to rise" to maintain beauty and vitality. Hoshiyomi truly admired her peaceful mindset.
With the Gekkō household quiet once more, Hoshiyomi finally had time to draw his new skill.
He knew that any sword technique granted after reaching Kage-level wouldn't be weak—but still, he couldn't help going through a little ritual for good luck.
What if the RNG gods blessed him tonight?
Taking a deep breath, he confidently activated the draw.
The system interface—still as plain and unremarkable as ever—shifted slowly, the glowing panel cycling through skill names without any flourish.
Finally, it landed on one.
Congratulations! You have obtained a growth-type sword technique: Dance of the Startled Swan
The name left Hoshiyomi momentarily confused. This was the first time he'd pulled a so-called "growth-type" skill. Curious, he tapped on the description.
Skill: Dance of the Startled Swan
"In ancient times, there lived a beauty of the Gongsun clan. Her sword dance stirred awe throughout the land."
An ultimate technique created by the swordmaster Lady Gongsun in the final moments of her life.
When activated, the user may dash in any direction, ignoring all physical obstructions.
Each dash leaves behind a sword-shadow that only the user can see. The user may instantly return to any of these sword-shadows, upon which that shadow will vanish.
Note: This is a growth-type, charge-based skill. Maximum charges, recharge rate, and sword-shadow duration all scale with the user's swordsmanship level.
Current Max Charges: 3
Recharge Time: 6 hours per charge
Sword-shadow Duration: 1 hour
Every 250 points of swordsmanship experience will:
Increase maximum charges by 1
Reduce recharge time by 1 hour
Extend sword-shadow duration by 1 hour
Hoshiyomi was stunned—not because the description was overly complex, but because the skill was just that good.
Even just from the basic description, this was already broken-tier.
You could think of it as a powered-up version of Li Bai's first skill from Honor of Kings, or a charge-based version of LeBlanc's W from League of Legends.
In any game, movement abilities like these—short-range blinks or dashes—were always the most valuable tools for survival. And in real combat, such techniques could be literal life-savers.
When Hoshiyomi was weaker, Crescent Moon Slash had helped him escape countless deadly situations. But as he grew stronger, its limitations had become increasingly obvious.
These days, he could only make Crescent Moon Slash work by combining it with Shunpo and Wind Release chakra to just barely keep up in combat.
Against high-level opponents with unpredictable abilities, Crescent Moon Slash had lost much of its edge—and as a result, Hoshiyomi had been using it less and less.
But now, he had a new dash skill, and this skill would continuously grow with him! His 'Star Treasure' was finally getting better!
Author's Note:
It didn't take long to write this chapter, but I spent a long time weighing the skill values. I can sort of understand the designers of League of Legends now; it's genuinely tough. I'll think about it again later; the skill values might still change.