Not even two minutes after Jiraiya carried Uzumaki Rin away, he fell asleep again. It couldn't be helped—crying was exhausting for a baby.
When Uzumaki Rin woke up once more, he found himself lying in a cradle.
Just as he was wondering whether he should start crying again, two figures suddenly appeared beside the cradle with a flash, startling him.
But when he saw their faces clearly, he finally felt at ease.
"Little Rin, are you hungry? Do you want some milk?" Tsunade asked with a smile.
"You're going to feed him?" Jiraiya stood to the side, staring at Tsunade's chest as he swallowed hard.
Boom!!!
In the next second, Jiraiya vanished, and a large hole appeared in the roof.
Seeing such a familiar scene, Uzumaki Rin burst into laughter—truly happy laughter.
As expected of Jiraiya, always courting death. Saying something like that to Tsunade… he really had a death wish.
"Little Rin seems happy. Oh right, your name will be Uzumaki Rin. How does that sound?" Tsunade said as if nothing had happened.
Uzumaki Rin? Not bad. At least it's not some ridiculous name.
Alright, from now on, my name is Uzumaki Rin.
"Since you're smiling, I'll take that as agreement. Now, time to drink your milk," Tsunade said with a grin.
From then on, Uzumaki Rin lived a blissful life of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating.
At the same time, he seemed to awaken a bloodline ability that came with his age—
Cuteness Release.
Jiraiya lost his temper several times and threatened to give him away, but every time Rin acted cute, Tsunade would instantly transform and beat Jiraiya senseless.
Eventually, Jiraiya couldn't take it anymore and dumped him at Minato's house.
That was how he met the legendary Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki. Perhaps because they were both from the Uzumaki clan, Kushina treated him extremely well.
Although Kushina was only in her teens at the time, her temper was exactly like in the original story—she would explode at the slightest provocation. Yet toward him, she had never once lost her temper.
Compared to Kushina, Tsunade also treated him very well, though she would occasionally lose her temper. While she never directed it at him, it was still quite intimidating to witness.
And so, time passed like this—spending a few days at Minato's house, then a few days at Tsunade's, even staying at Orochimaru's place at times. Before he knew it, more than three years had gone by.
"Uncle, I want to learn ninjutsu," Uzumaki Rin said to Jiraiya after finishing his meal.
"Hm… why do you want to learn ninjutsu?" Jiraiya had long grown used to being called "uncle." Ever since Tsunade told Rin to address him that way a year ago, he hadn't changed it.
"Do you want the honest answer or the fake one?" Rin asked, putting on a mature expression far beyond his years.
"What's the fake answer? And the real one?" Jiraiya became interested and asked curiously.
"The fake answer is that I want to become the strongest ninja and help you block Tsunade's punches when she beats you up."
"…And the real answer?"
"The real answer is that the next time you dump me in the women's bathhouse and run off, I'll be able to leave on my own instead of getting surrounded by a bunch of aunties."
Jiraiya's mouth twitched. He had no way to refute that.
"Alright, since you're so sincere, I'll teach you. But before learning ninjutsu, you need to learn how to refine chakra." Jiraiya took out a scroll on chakra refinement and began instructing Rin.
Rin listened very carefully. Although he had grown up around the Legendary Sannin, no one had taught him ninjutsu yet because he had been too young.
But that didn't mean he had been idle over the past three years. Even though he couldn't refine chakra or practice ninjutsu, he could still train his body.
From the moment he learned to crawl, he had been moving all over the courtyard, deliberately training his coordination. Babies had a natural advantage in this regard, and now his reflexes were exceptionally well developed.
"Do you understand?" Jiraiya asked after finishing his explanation.
"I understand. I'm going to train now," Rin said, unable to suppress his excitement as he ran into the room.
Closing the door, Rin sat cross-legged and began refining chakra with his eyes closed.
As a transmigrator, although he hadn't discovered any special advantage over the past three years, his mental strength was still stronger than most. Combined with the fact that this body belonged to the Uzumaki clan, naturally possessing powerful vitality, there were no obstacles in refining chakra.
Soon, strands of chakra began to emerge from his cells, flowing through his meridians and gathering in his lower abdomen.
Everything was going smoothly—until the chakra entered his core.
It disappeared.
Just as Rin was about to panic and go ask Jiraiya what was happening, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Energy replenishment initiated… 1%… 2%…"
What's going on? Energy replenishment? Is the chakra I'm losing being used to power this unknown thing?
"What are you?" Rin asked cautiously. Although he suspected this might be his cheat ability, he needed confirmation.
Unfortunately, there was no response. The only thing echoing in his mind was the continuous progress of energy replenishment.
Gritting his teeth, Rin stopped asking and continued refining chakra.
It wasn't that he was careless. If he wanted to become a ninja, refining chakra was inevitable. Even if he stopped now, he would have to do it sooner or later—unless he planned to never use chakra in his life. And besides, whatever this thing was, it was already absorbing his chakra. It wasn't something he could control.
An hour later, the notification in his mind finally changed.
"Energy replenishment complete… Initial activation of Super Fusion System… System initializing… Beginning soul binding… Soul binding complete."
Before Rin could even ask what the system was, a massive wave of information suddenly flooded into his mind.
[ New Book Please Send Power Stones And Add To Collection]