After much back-and-forth haggling, Bai ultimately left with only one B-rank jutsu and two C-rank Fuinjutsu scrolls.
In truth, Bai had little interest in most of these jutsu, as a huge portion were products of Anko’s childhood tantrums back in the day—such as a jutsu designed specifically to heat bathwater.
Bai genuinely wondered what Orochimaru’s expression looked like when Anko made that demand…
Besides, Bai had the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, allowing him to copy ninjutsu and taijutsu, while Genjutsu could be taught by Kurenai.
Among Anko’s collection, only Fuinjutsu, summoning scrolls, and secret techniques related to Yin-Yang Release caught Bai’s interest.
However, the first B-rank scroll Bai took wasn’t a Yin-Yang Release technique, but the B-rank Earth Release jutsu: Mud Wall.
A person had to stay grounded; Yin-Yang Release wasn’t something Bai could figure out right now.
He had some Genjutsu foundation for Yin Release, but knew nothing about Yang Release, so taking those scrolls home would be useless.
From that day onward, Bai effectively had two elder sisters.
Though Anko’s sisterhood was self-appointed, whenever Kurenai went on missions, Anko would pick Bai up after school—unlike Kurenai, Anko rarely received C-rank or B-rank relaxed out-of-village missions due to her background; leaving the village usually meant A-rank or S-rank missions.
Therefore, Anko was far freer than Kurenai.
Kurenai eventually learned that Anko gave Bai the Mud Wall scroll, but she was quite relaxed about it, lacking the guilt she felt when teaching him Tree Bind Death.
After all, entering the Academy made Bai a reserve ninja; during wartime, he could be called to the front lines at any moment.
Even within the Academy, competition existed, and since both Anko and Kurenai knew Bai aimed to be top student, they naturally supported him.
Furthermore, the precocious wisdom Bai displayed over the past two years gave Anko and Kurenai peace of mind.
As long as it wasn’t a forbidden technique, teaching him was fine.
Kurenai herself planned to gradually teach Bai the Yuhi clan’s Genjutsu legacy.
As a result, Bai’s schedule became even tighter.
Neither Anko’s nor Kurenai’s ninja inheritances were weak—one originated from Orochimaru of the Sannin, the other from Shinku Yuhi of the Konoha Eight.
Even with Bai’s high talent, mastering them fully would take years.
Neither Anko nor Kurenai was willing to teach Bai the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, leaving him with only the basic Shadow Clone Technique—one real body and one shadow clone, perfect for training under one sister each.
Bai had originally planned to find Might Guy to learn taijutsu, but now he had no spare time.
Bai didn’t feel much disappointment—the Eight Gates were powerful, but offered fleeting glory, trading life for Six Paths level combat power, which wasn’t what Bai sought.
As for other taijutsu, he could simply copy them with his Sharingan.
By comparison, Orochimaru’s ninjutsu and Shinku Yuhi’s Genjutsu were top-tier—Orochimaru went without saying, while Shinku Yuhi’s Genjutsu was powerful enough that not even a Mangekyo Sharingan could reflect it, proving his mastery over Genjutsu and Yin Release!
Regrettably, some of those techniques hadn’t been fully mastered even by Kurenai, requiring Bai to figure them out on his own.
As days slipped by, Bai finally spotted a day when Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji weren’t rushing home after school, proposing: “Ino, why don’t we invite Shikamaru and the others out for BBQ today?”
“Huh?” Ino’s face flushed with pleasant surprise: “You’re not going to train with those two seniors today?”
Saying that, Ino couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful.
Not toward Bai, but toward Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi.
Because of the two women’s tireless teaching, Bai rushed home every day as soon as school ended, leaving no time to hang out with Ino and the others.
Even at the Academy, Bai constantly looked sluggish and listless—while Anko and Kurenai forbade him from training too late, Bai never listened, getting insufficient sleep at night and using daytime classes to catch up on sleep.
It was thanks to his Sage Body’s incredible recovery capacity that he held up; an ordinary person’s body would have collapsed within two weeks.
Seeing the resentment on Ino’s face, Bai realized he had indeed neglected the three girls at school lately, chuckling, “Sister Kurenai went out on a mission, so today is a rest day!”
“Where are we going?
I want to go too!” Naruto, who was fooling around with Kiba Inuzuka, overheard Bai and Ino’s conversation and immediately sent a shadow clone over, thoroughly enthusiastic.
Bai was the one who taught Naruto the Shadow Clone Technique—with it, though Naruto’s written scores remained terrible, his combat results were no longer at the bottom, successfully shedding his ‘dead last’ title.
But that was as far as it went…
Besides the Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto couldn’t learn other jutsu right now; the Nine-Tails’ chakra constantly disrupted his chakra control, leaving him with immense chakra that he had no way to utilize, making Bai feel both envious and amazed.
Just how terrifying was Naruto’s chakra capacity?
Bai had the Sage Body, giving him plenty of chakra—roughly four or five Kakashis worth—yet current Naruto possessed ten times that amount!
“You can come, but you have to disguise yourself!” Bai glanced at Naruto, shrugging—if Naruto walked into the BBQ restaurant openly, even if the manager didn’t kick him out out of respect for the clan kids, the meal wouldn’t be enjoyable.
Naruto didn’t overthink it, nor did he feel Bai was excluding him, since it was the plain truth.
After a moment of quiet, Naruto nodded.
Bai was surprised; he clearly remembered Naruto couldn’t even use the basic Transformation Technique apart from the Shadow Clone Technique!
Yet in the next moment, Naruto formed hand seals solemnly.
With a poof, a gorgeous girl with a high blonde ponytail stepped out of the chakra smoke.
Though based on a six-year-old girl’s template, her face was not inferior to Ino or the others in the slightest!
Several young boys silently blushed to the tips of their ears!
However, looking at the outfit and the six whisker marks on the blonde girl’s cheeks, it was clearly Naruto transformed!
Ino and Sakura shot sharp gazes toward Bai immediately, only to see Bai freeze for a second before giving “Naruko” a heartfelt thumb-up, praising: “Naruto, you’re a absolute genius!”
Bai meant this from the bottom of his heart; he recalled that during the Transformation Technique exam a few days ago, Naruto had failed.
Turns out Naruto wasn’t incapable of transforming—he could only transform into beautiful girls!
And one had to admit, men truly understood men best—Naruto nailed every subtle detail so perfectly that for certain perverts, it was criminally tantalizing!
Ino and Sakura were reasonably satisfied with Bai’s reaction, but turning to Naruto together, they had to admit they felt strangely relieved that Naruto wasn’t actually born a girl.
They couldn’t compete with that at all!
With Naruto’s antics stirring things up, the BBQ group expanded instantly into a grand party of over a dozen kids; except for Sasuke, every single one of the original Konoha Rookie Nine was present.
Bai didn’t mind.
Beyond comforting Ino and Sakura, his main goal in organizing this gathering was for little Hinata.