Inside the noisy Ninja Academy, three girls sat together at a wooden desk.
Kushina rested her chin on her hands.
She let out a long, bored sigh.
“This is taking forever,”
Kushina complained, tapping her fingers on the desk.
“Who do you think our Jonin Sensei will be? I hope it is someone nice. I really don’t want a strict old man who only yells at us.”
Mikoto laughed softly.
She gracefully brushed her dark black hair behind her ear.
“My father said almost all the experienced Jonin are fighting in the war right now,”
Mikoto said thoughtfully.
“We might get someone very young, or maybe someone newly promoted.”
Hanako nodded, her pale white eyes looking toward the front of the room.
“As long as they are kind and can teach us well, I will be happy,”
Hanako added gently.
At the front of the classroom, the academy teacher cleared his throat loudly.
He held a single piece of paper in his hands.
“Quiet down!”
The teacher called out.
“I will now announce the final team. Team Seven will be… Kushina Uzumaki, Mikoto Uchiha, and Hanako Hyuuga.”
The three girls sat up straight, paying close attention.
“Your Jonin Sensei will be…”
The teacher paused.
He looked at the name on the paper, and his eyes went wide with deep surprise.
“Jonin Dale.”
Kushina jumped right out of her seat.
“Yes!”
Kushina cheered loudly, throwing her hands in the air with pure joy.
“Big brother Dale is our teacher! This is the best day ever!”
Mikoto and Hanako looked at Kushina and smiled warmly at her.
They were not surprised.
In fact, they felt incredibly lucky and relieved.
“You are very lucky he is your family, Kushina,”
Mikoto whispered softly, leaning across the desk.
Her dark eyes were full of deep respect.
“My father told me about him last night. He said Dale is not just a normal teacher. He is already a Kage-level ninja.”
Kushina blinked in surprise.
She stopped cheering and sat back down.
“Kage-level? Really? He just plays games and cooks for me at home.”
“It is true,”
Hanako agreed quietly, leaning closer so the other loud students wouldn’t hear them.
“My father told me the exact same thing. He said Dale went to your homeland, Uzushiogakure, completely by himself. He chased away thousands of enemy ninjas all alone. The clan leaders respect him very much.”
Kushina felt a huge wave of pride swell in her chest.
She knew Dale was strong, but hearing it from the daughters of the Uchiha and Hyuuga leaders made it feel so real and grand.
“He is already famous in the enemy’s Bingo Book,”
Mikoto continued, her voice full of absolute awe.
“My father said they put him in the book as a deadly S-rank threat. The enemies gave him a nickname. They call him the ‘Chasing Thunder’.”
“Chasing Thunder?”
Kushina asked, her eyes sparkling.
“That sounds so cool!”
“He got the name because of his fighting style,”
Hanako explained, remembering her father’s serious words.
“The enemies say he uses a teleporting jutsu to chase them down instantly. He blinks right next to them, and then he fires a terrifying lightning jutsu called the Railgun. It is a deadly combo. No one can run away from his speed, and no one can block his lightning.”
The three girls sat in quiet wonder for a moment.
Outside, the world was fighting a dark, terrifying war.
But sitting in this classroom, knowing who was going to protect them, they felt completely safe.
Kushina smiled so wide her cheeks hurt.
“Well,”
Kushina said proudly, standing up from her desk.
“That S-rank ninja makes really good pancakes. Come on, let’s go outside and meet our new Sensei!”
The three girls walked out into the warm sunlight of the Academy courtyard.
Dale was already there waiting for them.
He stood under a large, shady tree, wearing his casual, clean clothes.
He smiled brightly and waved when he saw them.
“Hello, Team Seven,”
Dale greeted them with a friendly, warm voice.
“Big brother Dale!”
Kushina yelled happily, running over to hug his arm.
Mikoto and Hanako walked up behind her.
They bowed politely.
“Good morning, Dale-sensei,”
They both said respectfully.
Dale chuckled and patted Kushina’s red head.
“Normally,”
“A Jonin teacher will give you a very hard test today. They might make you fight them, or try to steal small bells to prove you are ready to be real ninjas.”
The girls looked at each other nervously.
“But I am not going to do that,”
Dale smiled gently.
Mikoto blinked in surprise.
“Why not, Sensei?”
She asked.
“Because I already know you are ready,”
Dale explained honestly.
“I know how talented you three are. I know you will grow up to be incredibly strong. I don’t need a test to see that.”
The girls sighed in relief.
They felt so happy that their teacher trusted them right from the start.
“So,”
Dale said, sitting down on the soft green grass.
He motioned for them to sit in a circle with him.
“The first thing we need to do is get to know each other better. I want you to introduce yourselves. Tell me your names, and most importantly, tell me your biggest goals and dreams.”
Kushina raised her hand high into the air.
“Me first!”
She said excitedly.
“My name is Kushina Uzumaki! And my dream is to become a super strong ninja! I want to be exactly as strong as you, big brother Dale! That way, I can protect you just like you protect me!”
Dale’s eyes softened.
He felt a deep warmth in his chest.
“That is a very sweet dream, Kushina,”
Dale smiled warmly.
“I promise I will help you reach it.”
Dale then looked at the girl with dark black hair.
“What about you?”
Mikoto sat up straight.
Her face became very serious and proud.
“My name is Mikoto Uchiha,”
She said clearly.
“My dream is to change my family. The Uchiha clan is very strict, and men always lead. My goal is to become the very first Matriarch—the first female leader—of the entire Uchiha clan.”
Dale nodded with deep respect.
“That is a very big goal, Mikoto. It will not be easy, but you have the mind and the heart to do it. I will help you become strong enough to lead them.”
Finally, Dale turned to the quiet girl with pale white eyes.
“And you?”
Dale asked softly.
Hanako looked down at her hands.
She started to fidget nervously.
She looked very afraid to speak.
“It is okay,”
Dale said gently, giving her an encouraging smile.
“We are a team now. We are a family. You can tell us anything, and we will not judge you.”
Hanako took a deep, shaky breath.
“My name is Hanako Hyuuga,”
She whispered.
“And my dream… is to abolish my clan’s oldest tradition.”
Mikoto and Kushina gasped softly.
They knew how strict the Hyuuga rules were.
“I want to destroy the rule of the Main House and the Branch House,”
Hanako continued, her voice growing a little stronger, though tears formed in her eyes.
“I hate that my cousins and family members are marked with a cursed bird cage seal. I hate that they are treated like servants just because of when they were born. I want to set them all free.”
The space under the tree went completely quiet.
Dale looked at Mikoto and Hanako.
He realized that these two young girls carried incredibly heavy weights on their small shoulders.
They wanted to change hundreds of years of deep, dark history.
Dale leaned forward.
He looked deeply into the eyes of his three students.
“Those are beautiful dreams,”
Dale said, his voice ringing with absolute certainty.
“But I will tell you a secret about this ninja world. If you want people to listen to your words, you must have the power to back them up.”
Dale raised his hand and closed his fist.
“If you are strong, everything is possible,”
Dale told them firmly.
“I am not the strongest ninja in the world right now. But I promise you, I believe I will become one in the future. And as your Sensei, I will make sure all three of you become so strong that no one in your clans can ever ignore you.”
The girls looked at Dale’s confident, handsome face.
The heavy burdens in their hearts suddenly felt a lot lighter.
They all smiled and nodded together.
They were ready to train.
The next morning, Dale brought his new team to an empty training field.
He asked them to stand in a straight line.
“Hold out your arms,” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Dale instructed them gently.
He placed a small, black paper seal on the shoulder of each girl.
The ink glowed blue for a second before sinking completely into their skin.
Instantly, all three girls dropped right to their knees.
“Woah!”
Kushina gasped, her arms shaking violently.
“Sensei! What did you do? I feel like I am carrying a giant boulder on my back!”
Mikoto gritted her teeth.
She planted her hands in the dirt and tried to push herself up, but her legs trembled badly.
“It is not just our physical bodies,”
Mikoto said, breathing very heavily.
“My chakra… it feels so heavy and slow. It is like trying to swim in thick mud.”
Hanako was already sweating, but she nodded in quiet agreement.
She couldn’t even stand up straight.
“This is your first real lesson,”
Dale explained.
He looked down at them with serious but very caring eyes.
“These are gravity and chakra restriction seals. I made them myself. They will constantly push down on your muscles and block your energy.”
He crouched down so he was right at their eye level.
“If you want to change your clans, and if you want to protect the people you love, normal training is not enough,”
Dale told them softly.
“You must train much harder than anyone else. It will be exhausting. It will be painful. Do you want me to take them off? Are you going to give up?”
Kushina squeezed her fists.
She forced herself to stand up.
Her legs shook, but she looked at Dale with fiery, determined eyes.
“Never!”
Kushina yelled.
Mikoto and Hanako slowly stood up right next to her.
They were covered in sweat and breathing hard, but they did not complain at all.
They had absolute faith in Dale.
If he said this would make them strong enough to reach their dreams, they believed him completely.
“Good,”
Dale smiled warmly, proud of their strong will.
“Now, let’s go do our first official mission.”
The girls thought they were going to fight bandits or guard a gate.
Instead, Dale took them to a small, quiet farm.
Their mission was to pull weeds and carry baskets of vegetables.
It was a simple D-rank mission.
Normally, pulling weeds was boring and incredibly easy for Academy graduates.
But with Dale’s heavy seals pushing them down, it was a total nightmare.
Kushina reached down to pull a single weed.
She pulled with all her might, her face turning completely red.
“Why is this tiny weed so strong?!”
Kushina cried out, falling backward into the dirt.
“The weed is not strong, Kushina,”
Dale laughed softly, sitting comfortably on a wooden fence nearby.
“The seal makes your arms heavy. Every time you move your arm, every time you take a single step, your body is doing intense physical training.”
Mikoto wiped dirt from her sweating forehead.
She was carrying a small wooden basket of cabbages, but she was struggling as if she was carrying heavy blocks of solid iron.
“Sensei,”
Mikoto asked, taking deep, hard breaths.
“How long do we have to wear these seals?”
“Until your bodies get completely used to the weight,”
Dale answered simply.
“Right now, doing a D-rank mission feels like a C-rank mission. Just walking is a massive struggle. But think about what happens when I finally take them off.”
Hanako stopped picking vegetables.
Her pale eyes widened in sudden realization.
“When the seals are gone…”
Hanako whispered tiredly.
“Our bodies will feel incredibly light. Our chakra will flow faster than ever before.”
“Exactly,”
Dale nodded proudly.
“Your muscles and your chakra coils are fighting back against the pressure. When the pressure is gone, you will be faster and stronger than your enemies can even see. So, keep pushing. Do not stop.”
The three girls gritted their teeth and went back to work.
Their muscles burned with pain.
They were completely exhausted.
But no one complained again.
They didn’t doubt his methods for a single second.
Every heavy, painful step they took brought them one step closer to changing their destinies.
Miso: Alright, this is really the last chapter of this month.
See you again on May 1st.
Dale had world hopping power after all.
Where should he went to have adventurous date with Tsunade.