After a while, I returned to the residence to hear Kushina's rant.
"I abandoned myself again, leaving myself alone," she pouted.
"Well, you shouldn't fall for the same old distractions, since nothing has ever changed in all this time," I retorted.
"But what if you take note and there really is something important there? What if I miss it because I think you're deceiving me?" she began, making me feel a little guilty for deceiving her and still having so much faith and trust. Well, just a little guilty, a tiny bit.
I chuckled a little at this.
"So, what did you do all this time?" Kushina asked me, prompting me to try to remember what had happened.
...
*Flashbacks*
I was looking at a clock while Daiki and Makoto had their heads submerged in a jar of water, holding their breath, forced to do the same by the tools.
"Time," he said, signaling the tools to release them, causing Daiki and Makoto to climb out of the jar and gasp for air.
Their gasps were audible; they were trying to replenish their lost air.
"Time," I said again, signaling the tools to force their heads back underwater.
At one point, I realized Daiki wasn't moving anymore.
"Time," he ordered, signaling them to pull them out of the water. I saw Makoto spitting water from her mouth, while Daiki lay on the ground, completely drowned. "Again," I complained, walking over to where he was.
Using a medical jutsu technique, I removed the water from his lungs and revived him.
As soon as he woke up, he started coughing uncontrollably.
"Remind me why we're doing this," Makoto complained.
"To build endurance and hold our breath underwater," I replied simply, glancing at my watch. "Time."
"Let me breathe," Daiki gasped, only to be ignored and forced to put his head underwater, just like Makoto.
...
The two of them could be seen constantly levering a huge piece of iron they'd each gotten.
"578," Makoto said, his arms limp as he gasped for breath.
"604," Daiki said, levering the giant piece of pure iron again. It was about the size of an akimichi when they'd thrown a ball and attacked. "605."
"Come on, guys, you have to get to 1000 or you'll be back in the electrical resistance training," I said, encouraging them.
It worked, as they started doing it faster and more frequently than before; Even if something gets broken, he can fix it.
...
He watched as Makoto was being brutally beaten by 0, while Daiki was doing the same to 2.
Makoto could barely stand, his face and body covered in blood and bruises, while Daiki was trying to land a blow only to be brutally countered with a punch to the abdomen, knocking him to the ground; it's worth mentioning that he was in the same condition as his training partner.
"That's it; two hours of continuous combat are up; bring him in for repairs and get some food or drinks to replenish his energy."
...
*End of flashback*
"I was practicing a secret jutsu," I lied.
"Amazing, when can I see it?" she said, her eyes sparkling.
"Soon," I replied, going inside.
"Wait, Miyu," Kushina stopped me, and I looked at her. "You were supposed to train with Minato and Kosuke tomorrow, right?"
"That's right," I said.
"So, can I come with you guys?" she asked.
"Why? What happened to your genin team?" I asked her back.
"Miyuki-sensei got appendicitis and will be hospitalized for a few days," she informed me.
I had never thought about a jōnin getting sick or having any health problems other than losing a limb or dying, but in a way, they're still human.
"Okay, I don't think those two will mind me being there," I told her.
"Thank you so much, Miyu," she said, hugging me.
I don't know why she's exaggerating so much; she would have gone regardless of my answer.
...
The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the air; I slashed in Minato's direction, only to see that I had severed a piece of tree trunk.
I sensed Minato's presence behind me; I quickly formed hand signs and unleashed the jutsu.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball," I exclaimed, spitting a giant fireball from my mouth.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall," Minato said, raising a wall of earth in front of him.
Taking advantage of the fact that neither of us could see what we were doing, I ran to the side of the earth wall and, with Etto, sliced Minato in half, only to see him disintegrate into smoke, revealing that he was a shadow clone.
I felt the wind rush past me and saw three kunai with explosive tags coming my way.
"Earth Release: Earth Shield," I said, striking the ground with my palm so that a pillar of earth rose from the ground, launching me into the air, avoiding the explosion, and destroying the pillar in the process.
Knowing Minato's direction, I performed my next jutsu.
"Water Release: Decapitating Wave Jutsu," I said, spitting out a massive blast of water that sliced through everything in its path.
I sensed something beneath me, so I quickly replaced myself with a clone I had on hand, only to see it sink into the ground. Minato then emerged and launched a ball of water from his mouth.
(Note: Minato didn't demonstrate any elemental jutsu, or hardly any, but being an elite jonin or Hokage, he must know at least one of each element, perhaps not at Hiruzen's level, but he must have a basic understanding.)
Seeing him there, I performed the hand seals.
"Earth Release: Mountain Clash," I whispered, causing two spherical chunks of earth to erupt from Minato's position, attempting to crush him. I escaped with a swift Body Flicker Technique.
"Time," Kosuke said, holding a clock—the same one I'd used for Daiki and Makoto's super-special training.
Minato and I were both a little sweaty, but neither of us gave it our all, since this was just a parry.
The previous one was between Minato and Kosuke, and the next one, which will be in the following training session, will be between Kosuke and me.
"I started by saying we were going to be fighting all day and not training," Kushina complained.
"We're done now, so we can focus on helping you as much as we can," Minato said, flashing his trademark smile, which disgusted me a little, since he did it to impress Kushina.
"Go scare other people with your ugly face," I said to Minato as I approached Kushina. "Here, these are chakra papers; with these, we'll know your elemental affinities so you can start practicing as soon as possible."
She nodded and, placing the chakra on the paper, it burst into flames.
"Oh, I see, you have an affinity for the fire element. You're lucky," he commented.
"Why?" she asked me.
"Because right now I'm training my affinity with the fire element," I replied.
Currently, I've already learned most of the elemental jutsu that interested me from the Senju library, including those in the clan head's office.
From there, I found some pretty interesting fire-element jutsu that caught my attention more than wind or lightning.
"Do you also have fire as an affinity?" he asked.
"Nope, I have an affinity with water and earth," I said, pointing to a Minato I saw in the distance. "Minato has an affinity with wind," he said, then pointed to Kosuke. "And Kosuke has an affinity with fire, but he's already trained his element, just like I have with mine."
"Minato preferred to learn non-elemental jutsu and jutsu of elements he doesn't have an affinity with, since it's more useful for him," Kosuke said, as if it were a bad thing.
Ignoring that, I continued with my story.
"You have two options: come train with me and that brainless idiot over there, who refuses to train any elemental ninjutsu other than fire, or you can go train with Minato and do something else," I said, assuming he'd obviously try to train his elemental chakra.
...
In the distance, I saw Minato helping him into his taijutsu stance.
"I don't know why I thought he'd come with us," I remarked to Kosuke.
"I can already picture you two married with kids in the future," he added.
"Now that I think about it, don't you ever plan on having a family and all that?" I asked casually.
At that, Kosuke's cheeks flushed slightly.
"Well, I would like to have a family and all that, but the girl I like is from another clan, and she's too high-ranking for her to marry me and all that," he said without looking me in the eye.
I approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder, which made him look at me; I could see the sadness and longing in his eyes.
"What a shame about your life then. You're going to end up sad and alone for the rest of your life, that's for sure." With that, I took my hand off his shoulder and walked to the center of the training field.
When I said that, I could see the disappointment and sadness on his face, but I didn't care; it was his fault for falling in love with someone outside the clan. That kind of thing doesn't work, kid.
"You're not going to come here to train or spend the rest of your life wallowing in self-pity," I told Kosuke.
"Yeah, I'm coming," he said listlessly, walking over to where I was.
...
"So, Uncle Toad is coming back to the village soon?" I asked Minato, who had a toad beside him and Kushina.
"Exactly. He said he'd finished his duties in Amegakure. He just had a few quick things to do elsewhere and then he'd return to the village to take command of the team again," Minato replied.
"It's about time. I wonder what he was doing over there in that war zone, Jiraiya-sensei," Kosuke said.
"Maybe laying the groundwork for a criminal organization," I said, to which everyone fell silent. "Just kidding. He wouldn't be capable of something like that, at least not him," I added.
"Well, he said he'll be back in the village in two weeks, and he was just planning to go and find a mission that would last a week or so tomorrow," Minato said.
"What kind of mission?" I asked.
"I wonder what he was doing over there in that war zone, Jiraiya-sensei." "A Class B mission. They're requesting an extra squad to deliver resources to the Iwa front from the Kusagakure front," Minato told me.
"Is that all?" Kosuke asked.
"That's what the mission says: just escort duties with possible ambushes by enemy ninja," Minato said.
"It shouldn't be that complicated," I said.
...
A row of trees could be seen, which had destroyed several ninja from Iwa and Kusa.
In the middle of the mission, we discovered that Kusa and Iwa were in the final stages of a secret alliance. When they discovered us, almost the entire Kusa and Iwa squad went after ours.
I couldn't use the same move I'd made in Taki, so I opted to use Wood Release to defeat them all. When I saw we had two options, none of us would survive, or only one or two would.
"I didn't expect the princess of the Senju clan to possess the First Hokage's kekkei genkai," a jonin beside me said, admiring my display of strength and how I'd saved almost all of them.
"If you call me princess of the Senju clan again, I'll shove one of these branches up your ass, and you won't like what comes next. I'm the leader of the Senju clan; I shouldn't be here first," she said, a little angry about the situation.
Another mission gone wrong. When will Minato learn the Flying Thunder God Technique? I could pass it on to him, but I wouldn't have a valid reason to do so, other than friendship. But the mystery of how he acquired it would remain, since the old monkey doesn't know about the backup scroll I have.
"Killing over 30 ninjas with just two Wood Release techniques is extraordinary," said another jonin who was part of the Allied Front.
"I think there's one still alive; you can extract all the information from him and, while you're at it, send a warning to Kusa to think carefully about what he's doing if he doesn't want us to declare war on him too," I told that same jonin.
"Does he have the authority to declare war on a country?" he asked.
"No, but they don't need to know that detail," I said with a malevolent smile.
"Kosuke, it's your turn to shine," Minato said not far from me to the Uchiha on my team.
"How is it possible that I'm the only one with genjutsu abilities?" he complained as he did what they asked.
While they were doing all that, I realized that since I've been using Mokuton more consistently, I've felt the natural energy of the air more harmoniously.
This reminds me of Hashirama's unique Sage Mode and how infuriated I was that he didn't write anything about it.
This means I'll have to learn everything from scratch, starting with zero information. Maybe I can ask Uncle Toad for help; at this point, I think he's already a Sage Toad.
Now, with all this, I'm closer to reaching the rank of jonin. I have the power, to put it more modestly, of an elite jonin. I just lack more merit and responsibilities, since I spend all day training at Root, in the training grounds, and with my new pawns for entertainment.
Minato has been helping out at the ninja academy and its library, not to mention that he helps other ninja train whenever he can. As for Kosuke, he's been helping with the Uchiha Ninja Police, which already grants him high status for possessing the three tomoe, something they consider a jonin-level ninja.
Having a powerful weapon doesn't make the user strong; these Uchiha only think with one neuron, and apparently, it's a collective one.
But considering what happened before, that already gives them both the opportunity to reach the rank of jonin. I don't do anything other than manage the clan with some shadow clones.
Still, thinking about it this way, I think I can gain both recognition and merit; I still don't understand how those four's brains work when making decisions for the village.
"Done," Kosuke said, deactivating his Sharingan.
"Good, let's help tidy this place up and return to the village to report on this situation," Minato said to the jonin leader of this base.
"No problem, we appreciate your help."
And with that, after helping out at the site, we returned to the village, and I'll most likely have to report on the wood element to the old monkey, hoping that all of this doesn't backfire.