Thus, Shiyu Uchiha had no choice but to rack his brains for a solution. Recalling his past life and the original storyline, he suddenly had a brilliant idea. After organizing his thoughts, he launched into an impromptu speech—one where one dared to speak, and another dared to listen.
"Minato," he began, "you have to understand that if you want to chase after a girl, it's not just about sincerity—you also need strength and resources.
As for sincerity, we can skip that part since I've already sensed your sincerity.
Secondly, as ninjas, we must protect those we care about and give them a sense of security—that's how they'll come to like you.
And finally, money is needed to provide the life they want. Though honestly, it's not that important—if you have power, all that stuff will come naturally anyway."
In reality, Shiyu hadn't felt any sincerity at all—it was complete nonsense. Everything else was just him making things up as he went along.
If someone with half a brain had overheard this conversation, they'd know Shiyu was borrowing ideas straight from old wildlife documentaries. Still, what he said wasn't entirely unreasonable.
However, while Minato Namikaze was undeniably smart, he lacked experience in this area. Influenced by preconceived notions, he briefly considered what was said, found some logic in it, and took every word as gospel truth. He then started reflecting deeply on the issue of strength.
After thinking it over, he realized he currently stood no chance against Kushina Uzumaki. After all, she was the top student of their year. Although he could try to rely on hit-and-run tactics, he himself felt that approach wasn't reliable. Still unwilling to give up, he directly asked Shiyu:
"Shiyu, I'm slightly weaker than her, but I believe I can manage using my Shifting Body Technique. What do you think?" Minato asked nervously.
Minato felt uneasy, but Shiyu felt even more anxious. How was he supposed to know the answer? He wanted to say "you can give it a shot," but was afraid things might go wrong.
So he replied firmly, "Absolutely not. If you can't defeat her head-on, how can you prove yourself? If she thinks your speed impresses her now, but during a real crisis on the battlefield she can't count on you, she might cut ties completely—and your reputation will be ruined for good. You should instead work hard and challenge her directly when you're ready. That's the only way to win."
Believing in Minato's potential, Shiyu was sure everything would work out just fine in the end.
But coming from a small ninja clan, Minato had yet to fully recognize his own talent. His family didn't leave him much in terms of legacy, so facing someone like Kushina—who possessed both outstanding talent and a powerful clan background—he still felt somewhat confident.
Yet before graduating from the ninja academy, he saw absolutely no hope. Thinking about it made him feel very sad, his mood dropping drastically.
Seeing this, Shiyu roughly guessed what Minato was thinking. After all, his sadness had spread to everyone around him. Even Shun Mizutani and Taki Tachibana, who were nearby practicing sword techniques while secretly eavesdropping, had stopped training—women will be women when it comes to gossip.
Then Shiyu spoke up: "Minato, there's an opportunity—are you willing to try?"
"What kind of opportunity, Shiyu?" Minato asked anxiously.
At this moment, Shiyu Uchiha, looking like a pyramid scheme leader, pulled out once again the Crash Course on Swordsmanship scroll from his hand. "This is it—it's perfectly suited for your talent. With your potential, I think you can master it within six months. Most importantly, it comes with the Shifting Body Technique which surpasses yours by far and complements your innate reflexes so well that it'll fully unlock your abilities."
Although Minato Namikaze was extremely tempted, he restrained himself and said, "Shiyu, I can't accept this—it's your family's secret sword art, after all."
After Shiyu explained further, Minato realized this sword technique wasn't as valuable as he'd initially thought, yet he still kept Shiyu's kindness deeply in mind. After all, for him, it was a godsend—the first real opportunity in his life.
As Shiyu was about to explain the sword techniques, Saya came running over and told them, "Shiyu, I found a wild boar nearby. Let's have pork for dinner today!"
"Let's eat first," Shiyu said, glancing at the time. Minato patted his stomach, feeling this proposal sounded great, so he nodded in agreement.
Then Shiyu gestured to Shun Mizutani and Taki Tachibana to start the fire, asked Saya to lead the way, and both Minato and Shiyu each grabbed several prepared weapons before following Saya off.
"Shun, don't you think Shiyu is really unreliable? And Minato actually believed him—he actually believed!" Taki Tachibana muttered to Shun Mizutani, who was preparing to start the fire, her voice filled with disbelief, repeating herself twice.
"Erm...Taki, don't say it like that. What Shiyu said makes some sense. It's just…just…" Shun tried to defend Shiyu a little but struggled to find convincing reasoning.
If Shiyu had been even slightly more reliable, their three-person relationship wouldn't have deteriorated into its current state—still, there remained slight hope.
The two fell silent afterward until Shun finally spoke up: "Well then, let's just leave it be. Maybe things between guys are always like this—we should stop meddling and let nature take its course."
"Fine, okay then." Taki tilted her head slightly, pondered briefly, and agreed. Then they resumed gathering firewood together to stoke the flames.
Before long, Minato and Shiyu returned carrying a wild boar while the two girls already had a fire going. Four humans and a cat happily began their picnic, completely ignoring the protesting boar who let out disgruntled squeals.
In the afternoon, Shiyu started coaching Minato in swordsmanship. Since this particular sword style could be practiced with kunai instead of actual blades, and considering Minato's financially strained household situation, he opted directly for kunai rather than searching for a real blade.
Minato had already mastered the basics of kunai back at school, so Shiyu skipped preliminaries and jumped straight into teaching the sword art itself.
During this lesson, Minato's talent truly shone through. He not only picked it up fast but also connected the dots, making such rapid progress that amazed both Shun Mizutani and Taki Tachibana. The two were greatly motivated and started sparring more intensely than before.
Because this [Sword Technique] was inherently simple, combined with Minato Namikaze's exceptional talent, he had grasped the key points of the first two forms in less than an afternoon. It wouldn't take long for him to fully master them, so all that remained was hard practice. Afterward, everyone went their separate ways.
Time passed swiftly with their hard work. Before long, Shiyu Uchiha had turned over nine and entered his fourth year at the Academy. During these past six months, his strength had improved dramatically—he'd become quite capable even among Genin, now on the verge of becoming eligible for a Chunin exam—though failure still seemed more likely than success.
What Shiyu had improved the most during this time was his [Meditation Technique]. Perhaps because he already had a solid foundation, after five years of cultivation alongside experience from his past life (albeit passively perfected, yet having reached ultimate mastery, it held immense reference value), he had finally neared perfection again. At the moment of breakthrough, he once again saw the shattered crystal that had caused his transmigration.
As soon as he noticed the crystal, Shiyu's attention became completely captivated. Before he could even properly express his emotions, the crystal reacted to stimulation from his spiritual energy. Its special patterns began emerging, naturally drawing in his spiritual force. At this moment, he appeared to be glimpsing the truth of heaven and earth itself—finally guided into an enlightening state.
As an Uchiha, he'd once been inspired by a sudden idea—to merge his Uchiha bloodline with the Meditation Technique. However, despite repeated attempts, all had ended in failure. Although each attempt did bring progress, he didn't expect himself to realize this idea within a short time span, believing merely achieving it when his Sharingan evolved to the triple-comma stage would be satisfactory.
Within this state, his comprehension of the Meditation Technique advanced greatly—many areas previously uncomprehended suddenly became clear as if enlightenment had opened his mind. Instantly, he grasped every detail thoroughly and even managed to draw broader conclusions, ultimately mastering the insights held just before death in his previous life. Now, one could say he had perfectly mastered the entire Meditation Technique.
Looking back, he realized this Meditation Technique wasn't complicated at all—even someone with basic ability could cultivate it to completion.
He simultaneously realized the primary purpose of this technique lay in enhancing the quality of spiritual energy, purifying his own spirit while bringing inner peace and possessing an enlightening effect on wisdom.
With the enhancement provided by enlightenment, he perceived the future path of the Meditation Technique, instinctively using pure spiritual power to solidify the object of his meditation—the triple-comma Sharingan.
His understanding of [Swordsmanship] and [Fire Release] also unknowingly improved significantly. As a result, his progress in these two areas over the coming days would become especially evident.
However, once the solidification of the triple-comma Sharingan—the object of meditation—was completed, Shiyu's spiritual power gradually drained away. He slipped out of that state, soon afterward overcome by a wave of dizziness that intensified rapidly until he finally collapsed into unconsciousness.
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