Dusk had arrived.
Kitazawa first let the first-year Class A students leave, then headed to the training field.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, and Sakura Haruno, who had stopped their training, all gathered around.
"Sasuke, tomorrow you can practice the Manipulated Shuriken Technique with moving targets," Kitazawa said, looking at Sasuke.
As a member of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke picked up the technique quickly.
Unfortunately, he hadn't awakened his Sharingan; otherwise, he could have mastered it in less than an hour.
The Sharingan was like a cheat code—it easily outclassed ordinary ninjas.
After Kakashi Hatake obtained the Sharingan, he learned over a thousand jutsu.
A normal ninja could consider themselves very capable if they learned even dozens of jutsu in a lifetime.
"Understood, Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke nodded.
Kitazawa's gaze then shifted to Hinata Hyuga.
In terms of diligence, she was the hardest-working among the four.
Her Byakugan training had reached its limit; she only needed a small trigger to awaken her eyes.
However, Hinata's introverted personality had left her unaware of this.
Kitazawa planned to have her participate in the friendship match against second-year Class A—just enough stimulus to awaken her Byakugan.
Of course, not against Neji Hyuga.
Although Hinata had improved a lot, she still had little chance against Neji.
Kitazawa didn't want her to become discouraged from one sparring match.
But she would eventually face Neji—after all, he was her personal obstacle, and facing fear was the only way to overcome it.
"Sakura and Ino, your water-stepping training is almost done. After the friendship match, you can start new training," Kitazawa said thoughtfully.
"What's the new training?" Ino asked curiously.
"Ino, haven't you learned the Yamanaka Clan secret techniques yet?" Kitazawa countered with a question.
"My dad said my foundation isn't enough yet. He'll teach me later," Ino replied.
"Then in a couple of days, you can learn the Yamanaka secret techniques from your dad," Kitazawa said with a smile.
Secret techniques are also jutsu. All jutsu rely on three foundations: chakra control, chakra shape transformation, and chakra nature transformation.
Ino now had good chakra control, so even a secret technique could be attempted.
Not mastery, but at least an entry-level understanding was possible.
"Really?" Ino's eyes lit up at Kitazawa's implication.
Her goal in training had been to surpass Sakura, but this was an unexpected bonus.
"Yes," Kitazawa confirmed.
"And me?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.
She wasn't from a ninja clan and had no secret techniques to learn.
"What jutsu do you want to learn?" Kitazawa asked.
"I… I want to learn medical ninjutsu!" Sakura said excitedly after a moment of hesitation.
Partly because Tsunade was her idol, and partly because she wanted to heal Sasuke when he got hurt—giving her opportunities to act freely.
"Sakura!" Ino's expression changed slightly as she quickly signaled a warning to Sakura.
As the Yamanaka heiress, Ino's insight was far superior.
She knew the difficulty of medical ninjutsu.
Kitazawa was skilled, but he was still only an ordinary Chunin—how could he possibly teach medical ninjutsu?
If he could really do medical ninjutsu, he'd be working at Konoha Hospital, not teaching.
Ino intervened to prevent Sakura from embarrassing Kitazawa.
After all, a good teacher like him was rare.
"Okay," Kitazawa agreed.
In fact, Sakura's wish to learn medical ninjutsu fit perfectly into his plan.
He had been looking for a chance to show Tsunade his interest in medical ninjas and his aptitude for medical jutsu.
"Great!" Sakura said excitedly.
"Huh?" Ino's eyes widened.
This world is insane.
An ordinary teacher can even teach medical ninjutsu?
This isn't realistic—it's not ninja-like!
[Current Task: Help Sakura learn her first medical jutsu.]
[Task Reward: Delicate Illness Extraction Technique.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
The Delicate Illness Extraction Technique was a B-rank medical jutsu, capable of removing poison or organs, or even transplanting them.
Typically, only medical Jonin could master it.
"All right, for the remaining two days of training, stick to your usual plan. Focus on winning the friendship match first," Kitazawa said, clapping his hands. "See you tomorrow."
"Goodbye, Kitazawa-sensei," the four responded quickly.
After leaving the school, Kitazawa went to Kurenai's home.
"Tsunade-sama hasn't arrived yet," Kurenai said, flopping onto the sofa. "We can discuss things first."
"Has Yakumo arrived? I have a favor to ask her," Kitazawa said, standing to admire Kurenai's beauty.
Today she had returned to her usual red-sleeved white outfit, exposing her snow-white thighs.
"She's on the rooftop," Kurenai pointed.
"I'll go find her first," Kitazawa said, smiling, and headed upstairs.
On the rooftop, Yakumo was painting in front of an easel, focused on a nearby tree.
"Kitazawa-sensei," she greeted him.
"Have you heard of Neji Hyuga?" Kitazawa asked directly.
"Yes," Yakumo nodded. "He's a renowned genius of the Hyuga clan."
"Our class has a friendship match against second-year Class A on Friday," Kitazawa said, stating his purpose. "Do you want to spar with Neji Hyuga?"
"Can I?" Yakumo hesitated.
"You don't realize your own strength," Kitazawa said with a smile. "Even your current genjutsu is enough to give most ninjas headaches."
Yakumo's bloodline limit genjutsu was terrifying—it couldn't be broken without a teammate's help.
There were two ways to break a genjutsu:
Break it oneself. If the victim realizes they are trapped, they can disrupt their chakra to break free.
Break it with a teammate's help. This occurs if the genjutsu is normal but unnoticed, or if it's a special genjutsu like the Sharingan.
The Sharingan's terrifying effect is similar: ordinary people can't escape its genjutsu on their own.
Yakumo's bloodline limit had a comparable effect.
As long as she avoided close combat with Neji, she was virtually unbeatable.
"I'll try," Yakumo said after a moment, agreeing.
Though she had never fought anyone before, she couldn't refuse Kitazawa, who had helped her.
Half an hour later, Tsunade and Shizune arrived, and the group began discussing new jutsu. There were many memory-sealing techniques in Konoha that could serve as references.
Unfortunately, Kitazawa didn't know any of them. After a short discussion, he went to a secluded spot behind the house.
He pulled out the balloon he had bought earlier. Yes, he was going to learn the Rasengan.
In the original series, the steps to train the Rasengan were clear:
Make a water-filled balloon explode.
Break a ball a hundred times stronger than the balloon.
Abandon the balloons and directly form the chakra in hand, spinning rapidly and continuously.
Each stage was progressively more difficult.
Kitazawa held the water-filled balloon, inputting chakra; the water began moving irregularly.
[A genius should self-learn jutsu.]
[Current Task: Master the Rasengan without assistance.]
[Task Reward: Konoha Body Flicker Technique.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa let out a small, intrigued sound.