Yakiniku Q.
“I fought Gamabunta?
Really?”
Gekko Ryun’s chopsticks, holding a piece of grilled meat, froze mid-air.
He stared at Tsunade, who was struggling to hold back her laughter, and was momentarily stunned.
He wasn’t surprised that Minato had learned the Summoning Technique.
But being able to summon Gamabunta right after learning it… wasn’t that a bit excessive?
He glanced at Minato, who was silently focused on eating his yakiniku.
That level of Chakra… he had to admit he was a bit jealous.
‘I must find equipment to increase my Chakra reserves as soon as possible!’
This was currently his biggest weakness.
If he didn’t address this shortcoming, it wouldn’t be long before Minato’s power surged ahead, leaving him behind once again.
He began pondering the various entities that appeared in the original story.
Tailed Beasts, the Dragon Vein, Hashirama Cells, the Zero-Tails of the Hidden Sky Village, the Hero’s Water of the Hidden Waterfall Village.
‘Tailed Beasts… can’t get those for now.’
‘Could the Dragon Vein be equipment material?’
In the original story, Naruto once undertook a mission related to the Dragon Vein and accidentally encountered a young Minato.
Not only was its energy immense, but it also possessed some space-time traversal abilities.
The only problem was that the Dragon Vein existed as a form of energy, lacking a complete physical form.
He wasn’t entirely sure if it could be used as equipment material.
He mentally noted the Dragon Vein for now.
‘As for Hashirama Cells…’
He glanced at Orochimaru, who was eating his yakiniku unhurriedly, unsure if Orochimaru had already joined the Wood Release experiments at this point.
Hashirama Cells were the most ideal choice.
He was almost certain that Hashirama Cells could definitely be used as equipment material!
In the original story, Danzo and Orochimaru conducted countless human experiments, resulting in numerous tragedies, and ultimately only produced one “bootleg” Wood Release user: Yamato.
Ordinary people simply couldn’t withstand the erosion of Hashirama Cells.
‘But I’m different!
I can just refine them into equipment!’
As long as they were refined into equipment, not only would his Chakra problem be solved, but he might even have a chance to awaken Wood Release.
It was a win-win situation—he’d win twice.
The only problem was, how could he get access to Hashirama Cells…
‘The Zero-Tails… if I remember correctly, the Hidden Sky Village was defeated by Konoha in the Second Great Ninja War.
The Land of Sky, was it?’
‘And the Hero’s Water from the Hidden Waterfall Village.’
It was said that Hero’s Water could increase a ninja’s Chakra dozens of times over, at the cost of being a bit… lethal.
He had no interest in drinking the stuff, but if it could be equipment material, that was a different story.
“What are you thinking about?
Scared?”
Jiraiya said with a wink.
Gekko Ryun chewed his grilled meat without answering, instead looking at Tsunade with hopeful eyes.
He wasn’t taking on any pressure.
Even though he hadn’t managed to read a single book yet.
But taking a step back, as his future teacher, weren’t you at least a little bit at fault?
Tsunade rolled her eyes.
This troublesome disciple, this inherently wicked Gekko brat, had cost her half a meal at Yakiniku Q.
“After you finish reading all those books, I’ll sign the Shikkotsu Forest Summoning Contract with you.”
“Thank you, Sensei!”
He enthusiastically piled freshly grilled meat into Tsunade’s bowl.
A Summoning Contract was great.
After becoming a contractor of Shikkotsu Forest, he might even be able to acquire new equipment materials.
As for those books?
A piece of cake!
What’s so hard about reading?
So they were stacked taller than he was?
So each one was full of technical terminology?
A mere pile of books?
‘I need to find equipment that can enhance medical ninja talent…’
He thought to himself.
Kushina and Nawaki both put down their chopsticks simultaneously.
Nawaki stared straight at Orochimaru, the hope in his eyes almost overflowing.
Orochimaru glanced at Tsunade and Jiraiya who were watching the scene with amusement, and calmly said, “After you graduate, I’ll let you sign the Summoning Contract for Ryuchi Cave.”
Nawaki was overjoyed: “Thank you, teacher!”
This made Kushina even more anxious.
Ryun was Tsunade’s disciple, Nawaki was Orochimaru’s disciple, Minato was Jiraiya’s disciple—all three either already had or would soon have summoning beasts.
It seemed like she was the only outsider, with nothing at all.
But she didn’t know who to ask either, so she could only stare blankly for a while.
Gekko Ryun looked at Kushina, whose little mouth was pouting high, and could only turn his sincere gaze toward Tsunade again.
Tsunade rubbed her forehead.
“Kushina, you can train with me temporarily for now.”
Kushina smiled sweetly: “Thank you, Tsunade~”
Ryun was Tsunade’s disciple, and she would also be training with Tsunade—could there be anything more wonderful in the world?
A few minutes later.
Jiraiya took a sip of wine, looking somewhat troubled: “I’m wondering if we should let them graduate early.
What do you think?”
Huh?
As soon as he said this, everyone turned their attention to Jiraiya.
Gekko Ryun’s heart stirred—early graduation?
With his current strength, staying in the Ninja Academy for classes was somewhat a waste of time.
The urgent matter was to find more equipment materials.
And the Ninja Academy temporarily had no equipment materials to farm.
From this perspective, going out of the village on missions was a good choice.
Minato pondered thoughtfully—if not for Gekko Ryun, he would probably have applied for early graduation soon.
Kushina secretly glanced at Ryun—if they graduated, could they be assigned to the same team?
Nawaki, however, looked pained—why wasn’t early graduation mentioned earlier?
He was already in sixth grade, about to endure until graduation.
And now they were talking about early graduation…
“Jiraiya!!”
Tsunade saw that several of them were tempted and decisively refused: “No, the ninja world isn’t as wonderful as you imagine.
They should focus on their studies.”
“…..Ahem, with their current abilities, they’re not really learning much in school anymore.
Getting some early training might be good.
What do you think, Orochimaru?”
Orochimaru was somewhat exasperated that Jiraiya always dragged him into things, but this time he quite agreed with Jiraiya’s idea.
“Rather than sending them into battle completely ignorant, letting them gain experience with low-level missions first might be a good choice.”
Tsunade: “..”
For the next ten minutes, Gekko Ryun and the others focused on eating.
Tsunade and the others argued about whether to arrange for their disciples to graduate early.
No one could convince anyone else, and it seemed they were about to reach a stalemate.
Gekko Ryun took the initiative to say: “If we don’t graduate early, can we still take on missions?”
Jiraiya clapped his hands, a smile appearing on his face: “Right!
Since it’s all about training anyway, there’s no need for early graduation.
I can take on some low-level missions in my name and hand them over to you for training.”
In principle, one needs to first become a ninja and have their own ninja registration number before gaining the authority to accept missions.
Accepting missions in someone else’s name goes against the rules.
But…
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru—these three standing together almost equaled the rules themselves.
Tsunade thought for a moment, then nodded.
This was indeed a compromise.
She didn’t want to see them enter the world of shinobi too early.
If they didn’t choose to graduate but only took on a few missions occasionally for training, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“…Alright, I’ll select the missions for them.”
She leaned forward, looking at the eager faces before her, and curled her lips into a smile.
“So, are you all ready to experience the world of shinobi?”