"I'll listen to you, Grandma," he said.
Mito nodded. "Your current strength is already enough to be a Chunin, and not just your strength, but your tactical proficiency is also sufficient. Additionally, your foundation in sealing jutsus has been solidified. The rest depends on how you utilize it yourself. There's no need to stay home and study all the time."
The basic principles of sealing jutsus were like individual words, and he had indeed mastered most of them. What remained was how to combine those words into sentences to deal with various situations. Progress had to be made through practice; studying in isolation would only lead to stagnation.
"Does Grandma mean to encourage me to graduate now?" Kyuushin asked.
Mito, however, shook her head. "Being a ninja means constantly being accompanied by danger. Naturally, I don't want you to graduate so quickly. However, as a representative of the Uzumaki, you must shoulder the family's responsibilities. Your grandfather, to put it nicely, is a high-level advisor, but he's pretty much just a figurehead, so you need to step up."
Kyuushin understood. Although the Uzumaki clan had joined Konoha, after more than two years, they still weren't very active in the village's ninja community, which was disadvantageous for them.
"Furthermore, friction in the ninja world is intensifying," Mito continued. "It's only a matter of time before a new great war breaks out. I don't want you to go directly to the battlefield as soon as you graduate. It's good to accumulate more experience while the war hasn't started yet. I'm also considering this for Nawaki's graduation now."
"I will arrange for you and Nawaki to be on a team. Although you are younger, your thinking is more mature, and he also trusts you more. With you together, I'll feel much more at ease."
"What about Kushina?" Kyuushin asked.
"Kushina doesn't need to graduate early. One of you must stay in Konoha, and I plan to train her to be a ninja specializing in sealing jutsus. She will have very few opportunities to go out on missions in the future, so let her graduate in due course."
This was a reluctant but necessary move. The Uzumaki clan needed them, but they were also candidates for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Therefore, their chosen paths had to diverge. Kyuushin would follow the regular ninja path, serving as the official representative of the Uzumaki, but this also carried high risks. As for Kushina, she would specialize in sealing jutsus and remain in Konoha, serving as a backup in case something happened to Kyuushin.
"I'll follow your advice, Grandma. Nawaki and I have been training together, and our teamwork is good," Kyuushin nodded. "Do you have an arrangement for our other teammate?"
"Do you have any recommendations?" Mito asked him.
"I think Minato is a good choice, Jiraiya's future disciple." Although Konoha squads were typically two males and one female, there were special cases. Minato's strength was excellent, and his personality was good. They were also very familiar with each other from their training together.
"Then you'll have to go and talk to him yourself. I can't just let your classmate graduate early," Mito said with a smile. Kyuushin agreed, feeling that convincing Minato was quite likely.
"Come, let's test your chakra nature," Mito said, taking out a piece of chakra paper. "You're graduating, so it's time to learn a few more ninjutsu and enrich your techniques."
Kyuushin took the paper and infused some chakra into it.
"It tore and got wet. It should be Wind and Water nature," Kyuushin said, observing the changes in the paper.
Mito nodded. "That's right. Most of the Uzumaki have a predominance of Water-nature chakra. You also have an additional Wind nature. I suggest you start by cultivating Water-nature ninjutsu."
"Why do you say that?" Kyuushin asked.
Mito explained, "The seven elemental natures are Yin, Yang, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, and Fire. From a natural perspective, Water and Earth are tangible and have substance. Wind is intangible but has substance. Lightning and Fire are tangible but have no substance. And Yin and Yang are both intangible and have no substance. Therefore, when first learning elemental jutsu, Water and Earth are relatively easier to learn, as they can be seen and touched. Even without mastering nature transformation, you can still unleash considerable power by relying on natural sources, like Nawaki's water whip earlier. However, Wind, Lightning, and Fire are more difficult."
Mito's explanation gave Kyuushin a clearer understanding.
"Therefore, you can start by learning Water Release. Water is everywhere, and the more you interact with it, the easier it will be to understand its properties, which will be beneficial for your training." Mito took out some scrolls. "Tobirama's mastery of Water Release was quite impressive. These are some of his early records of learning it. I hope they will inspire you."
Kyuushin took the scrolls. "Thank you, Grandma." After putting them away, he asked, "Why does chakra have nature transformations? Is it idealistic? If I try hard to make my chakra turn into water, can it become water? Or is it related to something else, and in the process of our training, we just happen to meet certain conditions for it to possess the nature of water?"
Kyuushin was asking a question that had always puzzled him. If it were idealistic, then cultivating nature transformation would essentially be self-hypnosis. But that created contradictions. Why only seven natures? Couldn't he hypnotize himself to create others?
If he changed his way of thinking, chakra was actually related to something else. As long as chakra met the relevant conditions, it would exhibit the nature of a certain attribute. And the process of cultivating nature transformation, although subjectively unaware of these conditions, objectively moved towards meeting them. Kyuushin felt this second explanation was more logical.