To be honest, even Uchiha Hikaru himself was surprised that he could learn the Flying Thunder God Technique so quickly.
Although his sealing techniques already met the prerequisites for learning it, this jutsu demanded more than just skill in fūinjutsu.
A broad sense of spatial awareness and an innate affinity with space were absolutely essential.
Without this perception, it would be impossible to sense the presence of Flying Thunder God marks—meaning the jutsu would be unlearnable for you.
And without enough spatial affinity, traversing space might lead to... well, not all of you arriving in one piece.
All these factors made the Flying Thunder God Technique incredibly difficult to master.
But fortunately, Uchiha Hikaru possessed the necessary talent and ability.
He suspected that perhaps the Ōtsutsuki bloodline granted him a latent spatial sense, and that crossing through dimensions had further enhanced that gift.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have learned and used Flying Thunder God in such a short time.
That said, Hikaru didn't dwell on it too much—results were what mattered in the end.
And today, Uchiha Hikaru did something out of the ordinary.
Instead of using a Shadow Clone to attend class like he usually did, he chose to head to the Ninja Academy with Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi.
This change took Tsunade by surprise. Her expression was filled with disbelief.
Uchiha Hikaru simply shrugged it off. He thought it was nothing.
Originally, he'd planned to get a group to skip class together—after all, Toki Chi's teaching style clearly wasn't suited for geniuses like them.
But in the end, he decided not to—at least for now—to avoid unnecessary trouble or misunderstandings.
That said, it was just a temporary pause.
Like today, for example—he was ready to have everyone skip class as part of his plan to "guide" Jiraiya.
On the way to the Academy, Uchiha Hikaru chatted happily with Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi.
They talked about recent shinobi news, funny events at school, and their personal growth.
Hikaru found that moments like this... weren't so bad once in a while.
Amid their laughter, the Academy came into view.
The three of them entered the classroom—and sure enough, Orochimaru and Jiraiya were already there.
Jiraiya was chatting with Orochimaru like old friends. Who knew what they were talking about?
Seeing this, Uchiha Hikaru couldn't help but sigh inwardly: So this is that famous bond among the future Legendary Sannin, huh...
But hey—perfect timing. They were both here. That meant it was time to put the plan into motion.
With that thought, Hikaru led Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi over to them.
"What are you two up to?"
Hearing Hikaru's voice, Orochimaru's eyes lit up.
He gave Jiraiya a mildly annoyed look, then slipped out of his grasp and said,
"Jiraiya's been pestering me to teach him some jutsu."
"You know all the jutsu I use were given by you. Without your permission, I wouldn't show them to anyone else."
"But he's just so persistent—keeps clinging to me about it."
Orochimaru sighed, looking helpless.
Jiraiya scratched his head sheepishly. With a slightly awkward tone, he said,
"I can't help it. Our teacher won't teach me jutsu yet—says it's not the right time."
"I just thought Orochimaru seemed to know a lot of them, so I wanted to ask him a thing or two."
Uchiha Hikaru's eyes lit up.
Well, if that isn't a pillow delivered to a napping man...
This was the perfect setup for his plan.
He looked at the slightly embarrassed Jiraiya and spoke:
"Orochimaru does have a few jutsu, but he got them by exchanging things with me. He can't just give them away freely."
"But I can train you myself. Your foundation's still a little weak—you've got to put in more effort."
"Want to join us?"
Jiraiya's eyes gleamed with joy, and he nodded without hesitation.
Seeing that, Hikaru inwardly chuckled. Hook, line, and sinker.
He looked around and said calmly:
"In that case, let's go train together today. Toki Chi's way of teaching isn't really helping us much anyway."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
These past few months at the Academy had already created a huge gap between geniuses and average students.
But teachers couldn't speed up the curriculum for just a few students—otherwise, most wouldn't be able to keep up.
So for them, class was basically a waste of time.
In the original story, the Legendary Sannin had already graduated by age six—not still sitting in class like this.
All of that was, of course, because of Uchiha Hikaru.
To the three of them, if someone as strong as Hikaru hadn't graduated yet, how could they justify leaving first?
Seeing that everyone agreed, Hikaru led them to the Senju Clan's training grounds.
Orochimaru, as usual, went off to study alone after receiving a new ninjutsu scroll from Hikaru.
Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi were about to go train on their own too, but Hikaru stopped them.
"Today, I've got something good for you."
With that, he took out the Summoning Contract from Mount Myōboku.
When he unrolled the scroll, the names of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Hikaru were clearly written.
Seeing the two girls' confused expressions, he explained:
"This is a summoning scroll. Once you sign your name, you can use the Summoning Jutsu to call on a summon beast to help in battle."
"You two sign first. After that, I'll teach you how to use it."
Hearing his explanation, both Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi nodded in understanding.
They'd heard of the Summoning Jutsu before.
And they trusted Uchiha Hikaru. They knew he wouldn't hurt them.
So, one after another, they both signed their names on the scroll.
Afterward, Hikaru began teaching them how to perform the Summoning Jutsu.
It didn't take long for them to succeed.
Although the slugs they summoned were each smaller than the last, it was still a solid start.
Watching from the side, Jiraiya grew more and more envious.
So, after memorizing the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu, he began to give it a try himself.
And from that moment on, fate began to move.
With a poof, Jiraiya vanished on the spot.
Everyone froze when they saw Jiraiya disappear.
They had never seen a case of someone literally vanishing during jutsu practice before.
Jiraiya was their friend, after all.
To suddenly disappear like that—of course they were worried.
Except for Uchiha Hikaru, who didn't seem concerned in the slightest.
Because he knew—at this very moment, Jiraiya had arrived at the place that would change his destiny.
So, after calming the others, Hikaru simply waited.
Waited for Jiraiya to return...
And for the information he would bring back.