"You've probably heard how I fight," Minato's shadow clone said evenly, standing with them in a forest training ground. "Keeping up with me is extremely difficult."
He didn't exaggerate.
"Even in the shinobi world, there are very few who can follow me when I'm fighting at full strength."
He raised two fingers.
"So after discussing it with the advisers, I adjusted how we select my guards."
"First," the clone continued, "raw combat power doesn't have to be exceptional. But you must have several aptitudes: excellent reaction speed, precise chakra control, and most importantly—spatial sense."
"Second is…"
He dragged the last part out on purpose. Neither of the two in front of him so much as twitched—two stone-faced kids staring back like mirror images.
Minato's clone sighed internally.
How did I end up with two more Kakashis?
Yakumaru hadn't been like this before. Ever since Yuu beat him, he'd gotten steadier—more disciplined. Which was good, sure.
But this was the part where someone was supposed to look excited.
Minato gave up trying to lighten the mood.
"Second: you need enough merit to qualify for learning this forbidden technique—the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Yuu drew in a sharp breath. Even though he'd expected it, the heat in his eyes still flared.
Flying Thunder God.
The technique that let a Hokage stand untouchable in the early days—appearing wherever he pleased, striking wherever he wanted.
Yuu had thought about obtaining it through Orochimaru, but Orochimaru didn't know it. The only way would be the Scroll of Seals… and that was the kind of move that left fingerprints.
So Yuu had chosen Minato's route instead.
Minato needed support among the clans to make his orders land cleanly, and the Hyuga—fresh out of internal upheaval—were an ideal choice. Their Byakugan was also the perfect tool for a bodyguard.
Two needs aligned.
Yuu had always liked plans that clicked into place.
And the benefits were obvious. A real teacher beat blind trial-and-error every time.
Without a proper senjutsu lineage, Naruto and Kabuto never would've learned it. The same logic applied here.
Minato—currently the only shinobi alive who had mastered and refined Flying Thunder God—was the best teacher possible.
And in the original flow of history, Minato had taught it to Genma and the others… even if they never fully mastered it.
Yuu exhaled, forcing his excitement down.
Learning it and being offered it are not the same thing.
If he ended up with a half-baked version like Genma's team, it would be a wasted miracle.
Minato's clone noticed their shifting expressions—Yakumaru in particular looked like he might burst—and smiled faintly.
Then he looked at Yuu.
"Yuu. Your battlefield merits… you've never exchanged them for jutsu, have you?"
"No, Hokage-sama," Yuu answered flatly. "I didn't need anything."
Minato frowned, then seemed to understand. Considering how rigid the Main House was, Yuu realistically couldn't gain access to much in the village's libraries anyway.
His voice softened.
"Then your merit is more than enough."
He turned to Yakumaru.
"And you've earned plenty too—capturing spies, patrol work around the village, security assignments. You qualify."
S-rank meant difficulty, not rarity.
And Flying Thunder God's strategic value was so high that the village would love for more people to learn it.
Merit requirements were just a filter.
Minato's clone pulled out two scrolls and handed one to each of them.
"These record the essentials and my personal notes for learning Flying Thunder God. Read them, then destroy them. No copying. No sharing."
"Yes!"
Yuu and Yakumaru accepted the scrolls and began reading.
Yuu only got a few lines in before his eyes narrowed.
The notes weren't vague "feel it out" nonsense—they were meticulous, structured, and brutally practical.
No wonder nobody outside Minato's circle had ever truly learned it.
This wasn't a jutsu manual.
This was Minato's core inheritance.
Minato's clone continued, tone turning serious.
"Out of the required aptitudes, spatial sense is probably the one you lack."
"But it can be cultivated."
"Today, I'll use Flying Thunder God several times with you watching—and feeling—the shift. There'll be time between each move for you to process it."
"From tomorrow onward, five in the morning. Every day. Here."
"When the time is right, I'll start warping repeatedly around you."
He lifted a finger.
"At that stage, you're not allowed to rely on dōjutsu. My speed won't be fast."
"But the test is simple: if you can predict where I'll appear before I appear, you pass. Record everything."
"If you have questions, ask. I'll answer until this clone disperses. Once you clear this stage, we begin proper Flying Thunder God training."
"Yes!"
Yakumaru glanced at Yuu, then steadied his breathing.
With the Sharingan, he refused to be the one who fell behind in learning.
Flying Thunder God was one of the Second Hokage's forbidden techniques.
Unlike Edo Tensei—which was branded forbidden for being outright vile—Flying Thunder God was forbidden because it was absurdly hard to master.
Even with Minato's shadow clone teaching them, even after they'd begun to develop a sense for space, Yuu still couldn't find the "handle" to actually do it.
But he'd expected that.
What he didn't expect was who showed up in the training ground a few days later.
"Fifteen years old, and you're walking around with that heavy face all day?" a woman said brightly. "That's no good. You should enjoy your free time like Jiraiya-sensei does."
She jabbed a finger in the air.
"Of course—don't copy his bad habits!"
The woman had long, thick red hair—the unmistakable mark of the Uzumaki.
And there was only one Uzumaki in Konoha now.
Minato's wife.
The Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
Uzumaki Kushina.
"Kushina," Minato's clone said, already sounding tired, "don't bother Yuu. He's training Flying Thunder God."
"Huh?" Kushina snapped her head around. "Isn't he basically your student too?"
"You're just going to watch him turn into another Kakashi—cold, silent, and miserable?"
"Kushina," Minato said with a helpless smile, "Yuu's been like this since he was little. He's not the same as Kakashi. You don't have to—"
"I do have to." Kushina waved him off. "Kakashi's situation is… I get it. And I can't exactly 'mother' him properly."
She leaned toward Yuu with fierce, determined energy.
"But this Kakashi Number Two? I'm trying. End of story."
She planted her hands on her hips, eyeing him like an examiner.
"You're Yuu, right? What's your favorite thing?"
"Reading."
Kushina's brows knit. "Nope. Too boring. Second favorite?"
"Training."
"…."
Kushina's eyes narrowed into a lethal squint.
Yuu's face didn't move at all.
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