Seiki's eyes lit up with joy. As he was about to speak, something suddenly occurred to him and he hurriedly blurted out, "Lord Orochimaru, actually it wasn't me who stopped that older sister last night!"
"Your first thought upon receiving a reward is of others—no wonder Teacher Sarutobi speaks so highly of you," Orochimaru chuckled. "Don't worry, I've already visited Minato Namikaze."
Letting out a breath of relief, Seiki whispered under his breath, "So the older brother's name is Minato Namikaze?"
Orochimaru continued, "Originally, based on your accomplishments this time, it should rightfully be recorded as an S-rank mission. However, due to certain sensitive circumstances, your contributions cannot be acknowledged publicly, or even officially recorded."
Expecting to show off in front of his classmates, Asuma's excitement instantly deflated. He muttered, "How come?"
Seiki, however, remained expressionless without the slightest change.
Seeing this, Orochimaru silently elevated his evaluation of the boy slightly higher.
"As compensation, the village has decided to let you choose any jutsu for your personal training."
Asuma excitedly asked, "Even Ultimate Art-level jutsu?"
"The village doesn't generally encourage training in overly advanced techniques too early, but…" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, "exceptions apply for geniuses."
"Great then!" Asuma exclaimed at first, but after recalling some of Seiki's previous performances, his enthusiasm quickly waned. "What about ordinary geniuses though?"
Seeing Asuma's anxious uncertainty, Orochimaru patted his head and said, "Apologies, Teacher Sarutobi believes your role in this mission was relatively minor, so he specifically proposed limiting your reward to jutsu ranked A and below."
"Pfft, like I wanted it anyway." Asuma turned his mouth sideways.
Honestly, he didn't think it was unreasonable, since even he himself didn't feel like he'd contributed much at all.
Still… it felt pretty frustrating.
"The right to select any jutsu, huh?" Seiki mused. "In my original plan, the ones at the top of my list are [Eight Gates Formation] and [Spirit Transformation Technique]."
"Since [Eight Gates Formation] is only an A-ranked jutsu, using this chance on it feels like a bit of a waste. More importantly, I've already figured out how to get it for free."
"As for [Spirit Transformation Technique], learning it now wouldn't offer much significance either. After all, there's still no suitable target to make full use of its value yet!"
Thinking thus, Seiki 'hesitated' and asked, "Lord Orochimaru, may I ask which jutsu Elder Minato Namikaze chose?"
"It's the Space–Time Ninjutsu—[Flying Thunder God Technique], developed by the Second Hokage. Extremely rare throughout the shinobi world!"
"No surprise there," Seiki thought to himself.
Initially, he hadn't considered exchanging for [Flying Thunder God Technique] mainly because he wasn't sure whether he possessed innate talent for it. Randomly wasting this opportunity would only affect his progress in enhancing strength.
Now, though, acquiring an additional chance to select any jutsu naturally stirred his interest.
Most crucially, Minato Namikaze himself started from zero. Therefore, he might even be able to piggyback on the other's experience and insights.
Thinking of this, Seiki no longer hesitated. "Lord Orochimaru, then I'll choose the Flying Thunder God Technique as well!"
A hint of surprise flickered in Orochimaru's serpentine eyes. "Are you sure? Seiki-kun, the training difficulty of the Flying Thunder God Technique ranks among the top even within all Ultimate Art-level ninjutsu!"
"I just figure if two people talk things through, we'll definitely have a better shot at succeeding than going solo!" Seiki cleverly turned what was basically freeloading into something that sounded like teamwork.
Orochimaru didn't know the trickery behind this, mistaking Seiki's intention as wanting to help Minato Namikaze, thus couldn't help exclaiming, "No wonder Tsunade would recover her spirits because of you. You're truly gentle!"
...
A few days later at the hospital's courtyard.
Seiki controlled his pace, jogging slowly.
Just then, a "whoosh" sound rang out.
A green blur zoomed past Seiki, vanishing like a mirage.
"Thick eyebrows! Stop right there!"
"It's for rehabilitation exercise, not suicide exercise!"
Two out-of-breath figures struggled to chase the green blur, gasping from exertion.
However, the figure racing like a whirlwind showed no sign of stopping.
"No...can't...go on! Feels like my lungs are gonna explode!"
"Darn it, is that brat really a patient?"
"Yumiko-nee, Misa-nee..."
Hearing these familiar voices, the two young nurses chasing the green whirlwind finally stopped.
"Seiki! You're just in time! Hurry! Help us stop him!"
"That kid was hospitalized with pulled muscles in the first place! Is he trying to destroy his legs or what?"
Seiki couldn't help but smile at their complaints. "Yumiko-nee, Misa-nee, leave this to me. I happen to know that student from over there—he's a freshman who just enrolled this year."
"Really?" Yumiko and the other exchanged glances but decided to trust Seiki's capability. "Alright then, Seiki—we have rounds to check urgently now, so we'll leave him to you!"
With that, both limped away supporting each other.
"Might Guy, want to race?" Standing by the edge of the playground, Seiki smiled while offering the bait.
"A race!" The green whirlwind immediately halted before Seiki, his eyes lighting up excitedly. He then eagerly asked, "Senpai Seiki, do you know me?"
While speaking, he continued running on the spot without pause.
"Of course. Forcing our Psychology Club president to join your Passionate Youth Club..." Seiki chuckled helplessly. "How could I possibly forget?"
"It's called the Passionate Youth Club!" Might Guy first solemnly corrected him, then questioned with confusion, "Senpai Seiki, how come you're here at the hospital? Did someone beat you up too?"
"'Too'?" A faint twitch appeared at Seiki's eyebrow as he coughed slightly, "This injury came from fighting a Cloud Village (Kumo) spy a couple nights ago."
Although he couldn't reveal Kushina's involvement, telling only about the isolated spy incident was acceptable.
Otherwise, all the attention he got would make it really awkward trying to explain his injuries.
He certainly couldn't pin every injury on Danzo!
"So you were beaten up too!"
"However..." Might Guy said instinctively, enviously, "Spy-catching? That's truly amazing!"
Seiki's lips twitched slightly. There was something off about those words...
"Then you..."
"I'm different! Some students I tricked into joining my group wanted to hit me, but they couldn't catch me at all!" Might Guy proudly puffed out his chest, "I ran through twenty streets nonstop until my muscles pulled, and still nobody managed to lay a hand on me."
"So, senior," Seiki suggested, "you really should work out more. Wanna train with us?"
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