To say Katsuro was shocked would be an understatement. The Rinnegan was something thought to be a myth, the eyes of a fabled story but to find out it was real? The surprise visibly showed on his face, which was quite rare.
"The Rinnegan? I was sure that child was an Uzumaki, and there is no record of it appearing before in their bloodline. But to think it was real, as they say where there is smoke there is fire." he muttered.
"It's one of the reasons I looked after those children, the Rinnegan appearing in these turbulent times could become a tide for peace, or for destruction." He said gravely. "Katsuro I must tell you of the prophecy The Great Toad Sage foretold. He spoke of a boy that I would teach who would bring great change to the Ninja world. He would have the potential to usher an era of peace, or destruction. I think that boy might be Nagato… Or I did, but recently I was called again, and the Great Sage told me that the future was now fuzzy and things were no longer as certain."
Jiraiya sighed, and Katsuro gave him a pat on his shoulder, the weight he had secretly been carrying was immense.
"I'll try to ask Lady Katsuyu to see if she knows anything."
Katsuro used the Summoning Jutsu and summoned a small piece of the giant Sage Slug.
With a puff of smoke, the small slug appeared. "Lord Katsuro? Is it time for training again?"
Katsuro had recently used the Shikkotu Forest to train, especially when using destructive Jutsu. The dense natural energy meant that it would quickly recover. He would even fight the beasts residing there from time to time as well.
"No, Lady Katsuyu, not today. I'm with Jiraiya who told me about the prophecy he received from the Great Toad Sage, and I was wondering what you knew about it."
"I see, yes I have heard a little something from him, but I'm afraid I do not have the same divination abilities that he does so much of what I know comes from Mount Myoboku."
Katsuro and Jiraiya said goodbye as she disappeared, left somewhat disappointed. After some more conversation, they returned to the kids with Katsuro's shoulders now a bit more heavy with the weight of the knowledge.
Since he was already there, he stayed behind to help the trio out. He was interested in this new leaf prodigy who the Hokage had high hopes for. And he was sure his presence was already reported, with Hiruzen nervous. But Katsuro only had positive intentions for the boy, what he had said earlier had been completely true and his attitude put him firmly in Katsuro's good books.
While Jiraiya handled the other two, Katsuro decided to have a spar with Minato, to see what just words couldn't tell. Minato was across from him, serious and ready despite the Patriarch still in his robes, hands crossed looking like he was on a walk rather than a fight. Once Katsuro nodded, Minato with Kunai in hand closed the distance with remarkable speed. His body flicker alone already put him comfortable within the levels of Jonin, mildly surprising Katsuro.
But still, for him it was easy to react to, dodging effortlessly. Even as Minato followed up, clearly expecting the dodge with a spin into a back handed strike with his Kunai, Katsuro titled his head causing him to miss by a hair's breath. Continuing his spin, using his momentum, Minato kicked out with his left foot towards Katsuro's left side which as expected was effortlessly caught. Despite the predicament, and before Katsuro used his vulnerable position, Minato decisively threw his Kunai towards Katsuro's chest. Normally, this would have forced the person to dodge and cancel their attack, allowing Minato to both reset and create space, while avoiding taking damage. But the person he was fighting this time was Katsuro, who did not work on the same levels Minato was used to. The young shinobi was shocked to find Katsuro's hand shot up, and saw his index and middle finger holding the Kunai between them with faint flickers of Lightning around them. Katsuro threw the Kunai behind him, before sweeping Minato off his feet with his left leg, while still holding onto his right leg and pulling up.
The result was Minato being almost parallel to the ground mid air as Katsuro punched out, he reacted extremely quickly, managing to cross his arms in front of his chest before the contact, but it still sent him flying with his arms throbbing.
Seeing Minato fly back, land while softening the impact and get up again, Katsuro was impressed.
A high level of battle IQ and planning, the first few moves were well thought out, trying to gauge my reactions. But what is really impressive is his reaction time, at every moment no matter how disoriented he would be able to react, and not just simply either, often it would be the best move he could make.
While Katsuro mused, Minato made the hand signs for the summoning Justus after biting his thumb. As he slammed his hand down, soon in a huge puff of smoke a massive red toad appeared, wearing a dark blue haori and with a tobacco pipe in its mouth.
As soon as it appeared, it looked on top of its head, "Minato, it's you this time. I told you not to summon me unless it's urgent!"
Minato on top of it spoke, "Gamabunta! Sorry! But I need your help this time!"
"Hmph, so what's going on, where's the big army? Who are we fighting." Although Gamabunta acted like a bit of a Tsundere, he cared for his contractors, especially Minato and Jiraiya who had earned his respect.
"There's no army, and this is just a spar. But our enemy this time is Lord Katsuro, he wanted to check my limits and I can't do it without you!"
For a moment there was silence, "WHAAAT! Minato! Did you bring me to die? You have any idea of what Senju Katsuro is capable of??" The frog said animately.
Katsuro chuckled at the scene of a young teen arguing with a huge frog, Minato even being able to summon Gamabunta who was Jiraiya's main summon at his age was an achievement in itself.
Finally, Minato seemed to have pacified Gamabunta, and quickly, the huge frog sprayed yellow toad oil towards Katsuro which Minato ignited using Fire release to form the Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet, creating a massive amount of fire. Katsuro neutralised it with a huge Water Style: Water Formation Wall, but the nature of it being formed of oil meant the fire was not easily doused and struggled through it. Much of the Jutsu was dealt with but Katsuro was still forced to dodge backwards it created an opportunity for Minato who had body flickered off Gamabunta towards Katsuro's side and used the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough pouring lots of chakra into the low rank Jutsu to ensure it would cover Katsuro's escape routes. As the net of wind slashes flew at him, Katsuro stood motionless, acting as if he had no plan to block or dodge.
Then the next moment he blurred out of existence, appearing behind Minato suddenly. To Minato's credit he seemed to somewhat anticipate Katsuro using the Flying Raijin, and reacted almost instantaneously stabbing backwards with another Kunai, but Katsuro caught his arm.
"Let's end it here for now," he said, letting go of Minato's arm. Minato nodded, before looking at Gamabunta who swiftly departed in a poof, thankful he left in the same condition he came.
"You seemed to anticipate the Flying Raijin, how?" Katsuro asked.
"Jiraiya sensei had spoken about your Jutsu before, and when you didn't react I thought you might use it so I stayed prepared."
Katsuro nodded and asked, "How old are you now, kid?"
"I just turned 14."
14, just 7 years younger than me and he's already moving like that..
"I am quite impressed, what everyone says about you isn't wrong at all. You are clearly a prodigy, your battle IQ is impressive and you don't just rush in without thinking. Your chakra levels are already at Jonin levels and your overall battle strength will reach there soon. As far as I can tell, you are only being held back by your relative lack of experience and your body's maturity. However, what I think is most impressive is your reaction time. Tell me, has Jiraiya ever told you to learn Flying Raijin?"
Minato had been taking Katsuro's analysis seriously, and was happy that he was received well. "Yes, Sensei has mentioned it before. He said a bit later on he would ask Lord Hokage if I could learn Jutsu."
"I see, Jiraiya must've seen it too. The Flying Raijin essentially requires a couple of things. A natural inclination towards speed and space as well as Fuinjutsu mastery. Fuinjutsu mastery is something that can be learned, but if you wish to learn the Flying Raijin you need to be able to sense the markers within space, which is highly different from conventional sensing. And to use the Jutsu effectively, you will also need an extremely high reaction time. It helps that an inclination towards space often manifests as good spatial awareness, high reaction times and high speed which can all be observed. From what I understand, you have all these attributes. Which makes me believe you'll be able to use the Flying Raijin too. When you're free, come to the Senju Compound. I'll show you the Flying Raijin and check if you'll be able to learn it."
Minato was surprised at the revelation, Flying Raijin, an S class Jutsu. That alone would instantly take me to the top of the Ninja world. Lord Katsuro is quite literally offering me a path to the top… but why would he? This has to be a test, and I can't ruin my chances with Kushina - but I really want that Jutsu! What should I say...
AN: If you would like to view up to 20 chapters ahead, and would also like to support me, please visit my P@TR30N, at pa tr eon.com / GhidorahWriter (remove the spaces). Thanks for reading and make sure ADD to your COLLECTION and VOTE with POWER STONES! The next target is 100 POWER STONES for the next BONUSCHAPTER!