"Sensei, these two water techniques only require basic attributes. As long as you have the corresponding attribute, you can use them, so I was able to master them quickly. But really, I'm still far from where I need to be…"
Kyohiko summarized his thoughts.
He knew.
Senju Tobirama's Water Formation Wall could rotate to make its defensive effects even stronger.
Other versions of Water Formation Wall could also be higher and larger.
In comparison.
His own use of water release was merely at the beginner level.
The system panel's attribute system proved this point exactly.
Two conspicuous "beginner level" ratings.
Kakashi couldn't help but say, "That's already incredibly impressive!"
He thought about himself…
The first time he used lightning release techniques, he wasn't like Kyohiko, able to immediately use B-rank jutsu.
Kakashi somewhat understood what his peers must have felt when looking at him back then.
This really stings!
Kurenai's feelings were even more complicated.
Both Kyohiko and Kakashi were undeniable geniuses, so it was only natural for them to become subordinates and disciples of Lord Jiraiya.
What about herself?
Her gaze was vacant, lost in thought, unable to speak for a long time.
At the ninja academy, Kurenai's studies had been excellent too, her grades always at the top of her class. But after leaving the academy, she couldn't help comparing herself to Kyohiko and Kakashi, and her confidence took a serious hit.
Jiraiya glanced over and couldn't help but sigh inwardly—
Kurenai wasn't bad at all, but being around Kyohiko and Kakashi would indeed be rather difficult.
However.
Regarding Kyohiko, what surprised and pleased him most was that Kyohiko was even more mature than he'd imagined.
If it were an ordinary genin who had mastered a B-rank difficulty jutsu on their first attempt, their tail would probably be wagging up to the sky.
This one, though.
Without needing any reality check from him, he first engaged in self-criticism and reflection.
What he needed to do…
Was just hand over the jutsu scrolls and teach Kyohiko how to practice and learn.
So worry-free!
Jiraiya sighed inwardly, though his expression remained calm as he nodded.
"Good that you understand. This level is far from a true genius. If I had used water release like this back then, my sensei would definitely have asked if I was daydreaming."
"Yes."
Kyohiko lowered his head, looking respectful while suppressing a smile.
Jiraiya definitely wasn't talking about himself, but about Orochimaru.
Back in the day, Orochimaru's performance was indeed more monstrous than Kyohiko's and Kakashi's, otherwise he wouldn't have been entrusted with such high hopes by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Jiraiya showed no shame whatsoever.
He cleared his throat and looked toward Kakashi and Kurenai.
"Kakashi, if you have any questions, you can ask me later."
"Yes."
Kakashi answered respectfully.
Finally, there was Kurenai…
Jiraiya's expression became serious.
When he initially selected Kurenai, it certainly wasn't just because she seemed agreeable.
As a Genjutsu ninja, her chakra control was beyond question, and having trained in family-inherited Genjutsu for many years, she was definitely a good candidate for also studying medical Ninjutsu.
"Kurenai, during this period, focus on improving your physical conditioning, then go back and study this jutsu."
He took out a scroll.
Kurenai opened it—
It read: Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane Technique.
"This is…"
Kurenai's eyes widened in disbelief.
She had heard of this technique.
It was Jiraiya's signature jutsu, and it had played a huge role in the morning's assessment.
"As a Genjutsu ninja, your chakra control ability is excellent. Learning it should just be a matter of time. Additionally, if you have time, you can research and learn some medical Ninjutsu."
Jiraiya said seriously, "You don't need to master it deeply. I'll write you a letter of introduction."
"Thank you, sensei."
Kurenai bowed deeply.
Wild Lion's Mane Technique.
Genjutsu.
Medical Ninjutsu.
With this path, her direction would be that of a well-rounded support-oriented ninja.
"Believe in yourself. You have the potential to become a ninja like Tsunade, which is why I chose you."
Jiraiya dispensed his pep talk freely.
Kurenai nodded repeatedly, moved.
The three continued training.
Kyohiko was still practicing water release techniques.
As he had said.
Although he had learned to release the jutsu, he was still quite far from truly "mastering" it.
At the very least—
He needed to get Water Formation Wall to "proficient" level, right?
"Alright, everyone train. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin carrying out missions."
…
Near evening, the team dispersed.
That night in Konoha, many couldn't sleep.
Jiraiya was leading a team again, taking the Hatake family's genius ninja under his wing, and had personally selected a civilian ninja as well.
Many people began inquiring, but in the end, they were all bewildered.
Who is Kyohiko?
Those with children of the same age at the ninja academy asked around, and everyone's answers were consistent—
No particular impression.
This kind of ninja actually became Jiraiya's disciple?
Especially Kyohiko's former classmates—quite a few couldn't sleep all night.
They racked their brains but couldn't figure out how someone who had been a completely unremarkable nobody had suddenly become a "genius" figure far beyond their reach.
…
The next day, at the ninja academy, in Kyohiko's former classroom.
"Did you hear? After Kyohiko graduated, his jonin instructor is actually Lord Jiraiya."
"What?"
"Really?"
"My father told me yesterday."
The classroom was in an uproar.
The Sannin.
To them, these were figures far beyond reach, but now someone close to them had become their disciple, and it suddenly felt incredible.
"What's the big deal? I also know Kakashi is one too!"
Another person said.
A flash of envy crossed Sarutobi Asuma's eyes.
He hadn't chosen to graduate this year.
If only he'd known Jiraiya would be teaching, if only he'd known Kurenai would graduate this year and become Lord Jiraiya's disciple…
"Sigh!"
The young boy wore a sorrowful expression, sitting by the window, gazing forlornly outside.
Each child's thoughts were different.
What was the same.
On this day, the previously unknown "Kyohiko" suddenly became the topic of discussion throughout the entire school.
However.
On this very day, Kyohiko, the subject of everyone's discussion, was arguing his case with Jiraiya in the Hokage's hall over missions.
"I'm the team's instructor, and I think we can take C-rank missions directly!"
Jiraiya slammed the table.
Hamano Ritsu's forehead was covered in cold sweat, but he still mustered his courage.
"Lord Jiraiya, all new teams must take D-rank missions. That's the rule, and even you cannot break it."
He was only a chunin.
Facing one of the legendary Sannin, being able to say this much required considerable mental preparation.
Jiraiya wanted to continue "arguing his case".
Kyohiko stood in front of the mission board for a long time, then finally walked over and said, "Sensei, D-rank missions are fine too. After all, it's all about serving the village."
"This gentleman is absolutely right. No matter what rank the mission is, everyone is serving the village. Lord Jiraiya, please don't make things difficult for us."
Hamano Ritsu pleaded repeatedly.
Jiraiya smacked his lips and had no choice but to nod, "Fine then. Let's start with a water-carrying mission."
Leaving the Hokage building.
"With Kakashi on our team, executing C-rank missions would be more than manageable. I was originally planning to go find the old man…"
Jiraiya still felt regretful.
Kakashi and Kurenai didn't respond.
The former would go along with whatever the rules dictated.
The latter had no opinion.
Kyohiko said in a low voice, "Sensei, we can't really just get special treatment outright. How about we grind through a bunch of D-rank missions? Once the numbers go up, we should be able to take C-rank ones. Besides, we can still train during D-rank missions. It's not that different."
"That works too."
Jiraiya waved his hand, "Then let's start grinding!"
Before long, the water-carrying was complete.
"Another mission!"
"Huh?"
Hamano Ritsu was stunned, but meeting Jiraiya's gaze, he immediately assigned another D-rank mission.
This time it was chopping firewood.
However.
It didn't take much time either.
"Another one."
…
Half a month later.
"Lord Third, this really won't work! Please, make him stop. If this keeps up, we won't have any D-rank missions left!"
Hamano Ritsu couldn't take it anymore and went upstairs to complain to the Third Hokage.
He had no choice.
It wasn't that he didn't want to assign them, but over the past half month, Jiraiya's squad had completed more than half of the village's D-rank missions.
At this rate, in a few more days, the village's D-rank missions would be completely depleted.
What would happen to the other squads and ordinary genin then?
Cut off their income?
This was really quite a serious problem.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had a headache and pondered for a moment.
Jiraiya's squad's strength was indeed first-rate.
The captain went without saying.
Among the team members were Kakashi, who was already a chunin, Kurenai who excelled at Genjutsu, and also Kyohiko…
C-rank missions wouldn't be difficult for them.
"Next time, let him take C-rank missions."
"Yes."
Hamano Ritsu breathed a sigh of relief.
C-rank missions…
It wasn't that he refused to assign them, but the current situation wasn't entirely clear.
Although the nations had ceased hostilities, peace wasn't complete, and there were still some minor frictions between them.
Moreover.
After the war, there were large numbers of wandering ronin and bandits on the loose.
Executing C-rank missions now was far more dangerous than in peacetime.
Hamano Ritsu merely assigned missions on behalf of others; he didn't have the authority to decide the mission-taking rules for new squads.
The Third Hokage nodded, so naturally he didn't need to push back anymore.
…
[As Hokage, you actively do real work for the village, and your contributions are widely recognized by everyone]
[Reward: Water Release: Wild Water Wave raised by 1 level]
Huh?
In the morning, Kyohiko, who was waiting at the Hokage building for the team to gather, was bewildered.
What's going on?
Where did this reward come from?
Recently grinding D-rank missions like crazy, and he'd actually received a reward from who knows where.
He glanced at his status panel.
[Name: Kyohiko Yoshimine]
[Age: 7 years old]
[Skills]:
Transformation Jutsu (Proficient), Clone Jutsu (Proficient), Substitution Jutsu (Proficient), Body Flicker Jutsu (Master), Water Release: Wild Water Wave (Proficient), Water Release: Water Formation Wall (Skilled)
Over the past half month, Kyohiko had mainly trained Taijutsu and the two water release techniques, but all of them had only reached the skilled level.
Now, Wild Water Wave had directly reached proficient.
In his mind, considerable knowledge about Wild Water Wave surfaced, a small portion of which was about how to control water release techniques and better utilize water release chakra.
Wild Water Wave was very basic and didn't involve advanced nature transformation.
However.
The "proficient" level techniques could greatly reduce the chakra needed for the jutsu.
Theoretically speaking, with the same amount of chakra, he could spit out thirty percent more water than before.
Not only that, many water release technique skills were interconnected.
Especially Wild Water Wave and Water Formation Wall.
The ordinary versions didn't have profound nature transformations; as long as one grasped basic nature transformation and could extract water release chakra, they could easily perform them.
Both were like this.
Among the knowledge accompanying "proficient" Wild Water Wave, some could coincidentally be applied to Water Formation Wall.
Kyohiko was secretly delighted.
This improvement was significant!
Although Ninjutsu weren't very useful in later high-level battles, at present, what he needed to consider more was still the Third Shinobi World War.
At the ordinary ninja level, water release techniques were quite useful.
"Kyohiko-kun."
Behind him, a soft female voice approached from afar.
Kyohiko turned around—
Kakashi and Kurenai, one in front of the other, were running quickly this way.
The three gathered together.
"You got here so early?"
Kurenai said breathlessly.
"Not long ago, I was running past and just waited here."
Kyohiko answered.
Kakashi showed hesitation, about to speak, but catching something in his peripheral vision, he swallowed the question that was on the tip of his tongue.
"Hahaha, everyone's here early!"
Jiraiya arrived.
He was holding two sets of popsicles, breaking them apart one by one, giving everyone one.
"Let's go, start today's mission. The sooner we complete enough, the sooner we can take on higher difficulty C-rank missions."
Jiraiya was fed up with D-rank missions.
For ordinary ninja squads, D-rank missions might help with team coordination and ability development, but their squad…
Forget it.
As a chunin, Kakashi understood all the principles he should; it was just that his emotional knot was hard to untangle, and Jiraiya currently had no good solution.
Kyohiko—
This child was the one who needed the least worry.
What Kurenai lacked was only ability, but if she were to be the team leader, Kurenai still had a long way to go.
For them, C-rank missions and above, actually fighting wandering ronin, bandits, or even ninja, were what could truly teach them things worth improving on.
Since they wouldn't let him take C-rank missions, then he'd clear out all the D-ranks.
Jiraiya resolved fiercely.
Entering the hall, he headed straight for Hamano Ritsu.
"Give me…"
"Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage says you may now take C-rank missions."
Hamano Ritsu immediately reported.
Jiraiya smiled, "Really? No need to do D-rank missions anymore?"
"No need, you've done enough D-rank missions. Please take a look at the C-rank missions."
Hamano Ritsu smiled wryly and brought over a new mission board.
Kyohiko glanced at it.
It seemed the earlier reward should have come from them.
Then, he looked at the mission board.
Most were escort missions for merchant caravans.
The escort destinations…
Generally were chaotic places like the Land of Rivers and the Land of Waves; those heading to ninja nations like the Land of Earth probably couldn't be counted as C-rank missions.
"This one."
Jiraiya pointed to a line—
Travel to Tanzaku Town to protect a creditor collecting debt.
The corner of his mouth lifted.
"This mission, where's the client?"
"This mission was just posted yesterday. You only need to go to Tanzaku Town, to the Seika Pavilion, and find someone called Matsuyama Koji."
Hamano Ritsu answered.
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "However, the payment they're offering almost reaches B-rank mission standards. I suspect the debt collection won't be simple."
"No problem, as long as the money's right. I also know how to get to Tanzaku Town."
Jiraiya waved his hand, his face beaming with smiles.
Kyohiko's expression was peculiar.
Tanzaku Town—that wasn't a good place.
Ninja going to that kind of place would very likely break the Three Prohibitions of Shinobi.
It was hard not to suspect—
His teacher accepting the mission was a pretense; wanting to go have some fun was the truth.
He couldn't help but grumble internally.
Kakashi and Kurenai showed no reaction, whether they had no understanding of Tanzaku Town or simply didn't care.
In any case, Jiraiya happily accepted the mission.
However.
When he walked out of the mission hall, a figure blocked his path.
"Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage requests that you go upstairs."
An ANBU ninja.
Jiraiya sighed, nodded, greeted Kyohiko and the others, and headed upstairs.
"Kyohiko, Kakashi!"
While waiting, a shout came from inside.
Kurenai's expression became slightly complicated—
That weirdo again!
Might Guy.