"Grandpa, I'm home."
"Ah, Haru's back."
Uchiha Setsuna smiled warmly as his granddaughter entered the room. Noticing her awkward demeanor, he only chuckled softly.
"You've worked hard. Come have some dinner first."
At the dinner table, Uchiha Setsuna looked at his granddaughter and asked:
"So… what do you think of this Yuki Seisui you mentioned last time?"
Just the mention of Seisui irritated him a little.
"Yuki Seisui?" Uchiha Haru mumbled with a piece of grilled meat in her mouth. "He's fine."
"He says he wants to… pursue me."
"Pursue you?!" Setsuna's eyes widened, a flicker of danger flashing in them.
"He does," Haru nodded casually, surprisingly unfazed and even a bit dazed compared to her usual cold demeanor.
Setsuna narrowed his eyes, a thought crossing his mind. As the clan elder, he knew all about Sharingan evolution.
He'd keep an eye on things, and let events unfold as they may.
"Just curious," he said finally. "If you have time, bring him over for dinner someday."
At that, Haru paused mid-bite, her cheeks flushing, but she didn't reply, just quietly ate.
==========
The next morning, Yuki Seisui was awakened by his alarm. He sent a shadow clone off to school, then resumed sleeping with the clone muttering curses in the background.
"You really can sleep in."
Jiraiya's voice drifted into his ears.
"Morning, Jiraiya-sensei."
Yuki yawned and sat up, noticing Minato also lying in bed nearby. He'd woken up the moment Jiraiya entered, but feeling Minato's presence, he recognized who it was and didn't immediately lash out.
"Yup, that's just how Seisui rolls," Minato whispered. He was used to Yuki's lazy, irreverent nature. Considering the new teacher might not know, Minato offered an explanation.
"What a slacker, just waking up at nearly noon!"
"If he put in even half your effort…" Jiraiya retorted, hands on his hips and exasperated.
Yuki blinked in disbelief. Did Jiraiya actually think he worked harder? Last Yuki checked, Jiraiya had been a mischievous underachiever in his youth.
Seeing Yuki's skeptical expression, Jiraiya huffed: "You ungrateful brat! Do you not trust the words of the great Toad Sage?"
Yuki patted his chest, suddenly solemn: "Jiraiya-dono, I am your loyal student; I will treat your words as gospel!"
Minato groaned silently, some relationships you should just watch from the sidelines.
=========
At the training ground, Jiraiya stood with hands clasped behind his back.
"Your test yesterday was solid," he said. "Among your peers, you're top tier."
"Even I, at your age, was only slightly stronger."
Yuki didn't call him out; he simply nodded. Minato was blushy and embarrassed by the praise.
Jiraiya exhaled with relief.
"Now, let me introduce ourselves."
"Go ahead."
Jiraiya laughed and sat down cross-legged, mud and all. This place wasn't Konoha's official training ground; it was a DIY arena created by Yuki and Minato. Nobody else knew about it, so privacy was no concern.
"I'm Jiraiya. I like beautiful women, I travel to gather inspiration… I despise Orochimaru, and my dream is peace for all shinobi."
"I'm Namikaze Minato. I love grilled rice balls, I don't really dislike anything, and I want to become Hokage!"
Minato repeated his earlier self-introduction with perfect consistency.
Yuki offered a hearty grin:
"I'm Yuki Seisui. I like to pat heads, I hate people who'll pat mine, and I want to be Hokage. I'll bring a little shock to the ninja world!"
"One day I'll pat every head in this world!"
"Patting heads?" Jiraiya paused, baffled by his student's goal. But genius quirks are nobody's business, some things you just let slide.
(Orochimaru was proof of that.)
Ninja ties are strange things.
"If I'm not wrong, Minato's chakra type is Wind-Fire-Lightning, and Seisui's is Wind‑Water dual type, right?"
Yuki nodded.
"That's excellent. Today I'll teach you two ninjutsu."
"Minato, you can learn Fire Release: Great Fireball. Flame works well with your Wind element."
Minato brightened.
Yuki's lips quirked. He knew what was coming.
Jiraiya continued:
"And Seisui, you've got a sword move that pulls your enemies, right?"
Yuki nodded again. "Iaijutsu: Water Severing Strike," a technique he made, transforming chakra into a pulling force of water.
"This Water Prison jutsu suits you perfectly. Make your seal, thrust your hand into the prison, trap them in water. But do not let go, or it fails."
"However, I trust you can fuse its principle into your swordwork. I'll research it with you."
Jiraiya seemed confident, two geniuses working with ninja arts should be enough.
Yuki sighed inwardly. He invented Water-Sever Slice, yes, but it just leveraged attracting and repelling chakra forces. Anybody who understood it could crack the mechanic. And Jiraiya clearly knew Water Prison.
By day's end, both Yuki and Minato were exhausted, absent from their secret base's training entirely.
Yuki thought he had been efficient with chakra, but Jiraiya taught him a lesson:
"Chakra is like a part of your body, spiritual and physical energy intertwined. Use as little as possible, don't just brute‑force it."
"You both have strong foundations, but your understanding above that foundation is lacking."
In one day, Jiraiya learned their strengths and weaknesses: both had rich training experience from duel arena practice. Minato tended to go loud and bold, risking his own safety. Yuki was the opposite, always fearing death, adding unnecessary chakra to every jutsu.
If Yuki realized this estimate was right, he'd spot his flaw immediately: Firepower-deficit Anxiety, a national disease: fear stemming from insufficient power.
"Alright, it's near dusk. Let me take you both out for ramen!"
Yuki quickly sent a shadow clone to continue ninjutsu practice. The clone spat furious complaints:
"I go to school, practice jutsu, do everything, are you even human?!"
"We're one," retorted the clone.
"You'll regret this!"
Minato raised an eyebrow. Jiraiya mused: "Perhaps this is how capitalists feel."
After class was dismissed, they wandered into a local ramen shop. Soon, ramen arrived from a teenaged boy, shaded eyes, a few years older than Minato, and Yuki frowned at the familiarity.
"Have we met before?"
The boy named Teuchi beamed and shook his head politely.
Before his invocation, Yuki realized Teuchi was the name of the future Ichiraku ramen owner, what a nostalgic encounter.
As they ate, Minato whispered:
"I don't think you actually came here before…"
Yuki's reply: "Maybe I saw him back home. Let's just eat."
Then… a voice from behind them called:
"Uzumaki Minato? Yuki Seisui?" They looked up to see a blond woman and Haru.
It was Tsunade. She ordered two signature bowls and sat beside Jiraiya.
"Fancy meeting you here," she greeted.
Jiraiya glanced at his wallet, silently crying, today ramen was on a tight budget.
"This is Jiraiya uncle from your squad?" Haru asked Minato.
"Uncle?!" Jiraiya pouted. "Why uncle and not aunt?!"
Tsunade laughed. "Fine, he's now Jiraiya uncle."
Minato suggested kindly:
"Jiraiya-sensei, maybe you should style your hair?"
"I know, right?" Yuki chimed in. "My summon beast actually thought you were a grandpa."
Jiraiya felt like he'd been skewered twice. But recovered almost instantly:
"Jiraiya-sama will never be defeated by words alone!"
Haru asked excitedly:
"A summon beast?"
"When'd you get one?"
Yuki gave his practiced excuse: "I found it when cleaning the house. Must've been from my parents."
Minato begged:
"Can I see?"
Yuki nodded and summoned the panda cub into his arms. It growled adorably at Minato, claws waving, and one still gripping Yuki tightly.
Haru stared with eyes shining. Panda cubs have that effect on girls. Even Tsunade couldn't hide the sweetness.
"How does that turn into what we saw yesterday?" Jiraiya wondered, recalling the fierce giant panda. He wasn't ready to face a full-grown version head-on.
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