"The Fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki Clan is truly superb, even just the theory is enough for me to learn." Shinji said with a sigh, slowly closing a book.
The cover of the book read, "Written by Uzumaki Ashina."
Minato had recommended this book to him, and he had then gone to Hiruzen to obtain it. After all, with the disappearance of the Land of Whirlpools, books written by the Uzumaki Clan's patriarch and the village leader of Uzushiogakure were considered treasures.
Decades ago, Hiruzen had already ordered its removal from the Konoha library. Since then, it had been preserved in the Hokage Building. No wonder he had never seen this book in the library himself.
As for who this person was, he was the father of the First Hokage's wife, known as the patriarch of Konoha's Fuinjutsu.
The book Shinji held was a basic one, with several more advanced ones to follow. However, Shinji didn't take too many for now, as such things required slow and careful study.
Minato highly praised these books, calling them a guiding light in Fuinjutsu. He did, however, sound a bit awkward when he said it.
Shinji couldn't help but wonder, perhaps... Kushina's teaching style was very similar to Naruto's?
Cough—
If that were the case, Shinji would have to marvel at Minato's genius once again.
"Sensei! I won!" Naruto shouted excitedly from a distance.
Shinji looked up to see Sasuke's displeased expression contrasting sharply with Naruto's excitement.
Shinji chuckled and shook his head. Sasuke was already quite strong, especially with his two-tomoe Sharingan. To be honest, he already surpassed all of his other disciples. It was just that Naruto had the Nine-Tails as a cheat.
And Nine-Tails particularly disliked the Uchiha, causing it to release its Chakra every time Naruto fell under a Genjutsu. This allowed Naruto to break free from the Genjutsu.
Without the limitations of Genjutsu, Naruto's Taijutsu was stronger than Sasuke's, so being defeated was a common occurrence.
However, this time Naruto had bet on the topic of their duel. The winner would not have less work but the loser would have 50% more. That's why Naruto was so excited.
"Loser, it's only an increase of half, it's nothing." Sasuke said, hands in his pockets, clearly annoyed.
"So what? All that matters is I won." Naruto said smugly, hands behind his head.
"I have a lot of topics, so it'll just add a little, and maybe my grades will even go up because of it." Sasuke gritted his teeth and said.
A gust of wind blew by, and Naruto, who had been excited, instantly quieted down.
That's right! Why hadn't he thought of that?
Seeing Naruto's careless expression, Sasuke's lips curved upward.
You're still far from it.
"What's wrong?" Shinji walked over and asked, seeing Naruto's previously excited face now looking dejected.
"Sensei, I think I'm helping Sasuke improve. What if Sasuke's grades go up in the next exam because he lost to me and got more topics?" Naruto quickly sought Shinji's arbitration.
"Then I guess you have to work harder?" Shinji raised an eyebrow, saying uncertainly.
"Pfft—"
Shikamaru and the others nearby instantly burst out laughing. Shinji's jab was harsh.
Naruto's face stiffened at this reply, then he waved his hand and said, "Never mind, I won't use this as a bet next time."
"Then I won't accept the challenge." Sasuke said calmly, raising an eyebrow.
"...Stinky Sasuke, don't be so insidious!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Sasuke in exasperation.
Pat—
Shinji, standing nearby, flicked Naruto's forehead with two fingers, annoyed, and said lightly, "Naruto, I think we need to change the rules next time. The winner does half more, and the loser doubles."
Only Naruto could come up with such a way to evade things. He seemed so good recently, though?
Minato, who was in the Sealed Space, had something to say. If he weren't a Chakra entity, he'd be bald by now.
"No, please, sensei!" Naruto instantly clung to Shinji, saying exaggeratedly.
"Alright, report your respective training progress." Shinji said, pulling Naruto along.
Naruto's height was quite good now. At least, there was almost no difference between him and the others.
Hearing Shinji's question, Naruto immediately raised his hand and said, "Sensei, I'm almost able to use Earth Release."
Sasuke nodded and said, "Me too, I feel like I'm almost able to use Water Release."
To avoid falling behind, he almost always chased after Naruto to keep up with the progress.
"Good, keep up the hard work." Shinji nodded with satisfaction.
"Sensei, I can now use Eternal Fist, but I still need to deepen my proficiency." Neji thought for a while before speaking to Shinji.
Shinji nodded, offering Neji some advice. "Good, Taijutsu is different from Ninjutsu. You need to be constantly demanding of yourself."
"Later, if you have nothing else to do, spar with Naruto more often."
"Yes, sensei." Neji replied respectfully.
Subsequently, Shinji inquired about the progress of his other disciples one by one. Overall, they were all doing very well, and he estimated that the next wave of growth rewards wouldn't be far off.
Moreover, Hinata was the biggest surprise among them. Thanks to the breathing technique, she was able to apply Chakra Nature Transformation to Gentle Fist and Eternal Fist.
This amazed Shinji, as Hinata's comprehension was actually quite good.
Her mastery of the breathing technique was the highest among them, besides Naruto, and she subtly showed signs of catching up to Naruto.
"If you don't understand anything, you can ask me. Next, I will specifically train your Nature Transformation." Shinji said, showing his support, and decided to observe her more closely recently.
After all, the combination of Gentle Fist and Chakra Nature Transformation might lead to an unexpected style.
"Yes, thank you, sensei." Hinata replied very seriously.
Here, no one treated her as the Hyuga clan's princess. This relieved a lot of pressure from Hinata.
After instructing Hinata, Shinji turned and said to all his disciples, "Let's go, today we're going hunting in the forest, and we'll have a picnic tonight!"
"That's great! Sensei! You're finally cooking again!" Naruto jumped up happily.
As Shinji became busier, he hadn't cooked for a long time, relying instead on the Akimichi clan's restaurant to deliver meals. Although the taste wasn't bad, Naruto felt that he didn't enjoy eating as much as before.
"Alright, dinner will be barbecue and hotpot, since anything too complicated won't work." Shinji said, patting Naruto's head and looking at his disciples.
"So the richness of dinner depends on what prey you can hunt."
"Understood, sensei!"
With that, Naruto and the others quickly ran out of the training ground.
Seeing this, Shinji could only slowly follow.