Half a month later, Uchiha Mai stood by the lakeside, tears in his eyes, arms spread wide, face lifted toward the sky as he shouted with all his might:
"I am invincible throughout the entire world!"
At that moment, the only thing missing was The Daggers' Society Opening Theme playing dramatically in the background.
For fifteen whole days, no one had any idea what kind of torment Uchiha Mai had endured.
Every single day, Sensei Minato would offer suggestions that sounded extremely reasonable, yet in practice were utterly useless. The end result was Mai nearly developing PTSD from exploding over and over again.
Even so, on that day, after half a month of so-called "guidance," Uchiha Mai had finally completed the development of Hundred Forms · Demonic Incineration in its entirety.
Despite that, he had more than enough reason to suspect that the success was nothing more than Namikaze Minato getting lucky - an accident on the level of a blind man stumbling into a dead rat. After all, every time his sensei offered advice, he did so with unwavering confidence.
This was a small step for Hundred Forms · Demonic Incineration, but a giant leap for Mai's Ancient Martial Style!
From now on, whenever Uchiha Mai wanted to develop a new fire-based nintaijutsu, he would no longer need to rack his brain over chakra circulation paths or flow velocities.
All he had to do was think about how to make the move look cooler, and how to squeeze the maximum value out of his chakra - achieving twice the effect with half the effort.
The student had created a powerful nintaijutsu, and Minato, as his teacher, was just as excited. He grabbed Mai by the shoulder and said enthusiastically:
"I knew it would work! Look at this - just half a month, working together, and we've developed a whole new nintaijutsu system. Turns out I really do have talent as a teacher!"
Powerful nintaijutsu were in no way inferior to kekkei genkai. A classic example was the Lightning nintaijutsu of the Hidden Cloud Village, which, when pushed to its peak, allowed its users to face tailed beasts and jinchūriki head-on.
In Minato's eyes, Mai's Ancient Martial Style possessed tremendous potential, with vast room for future evolution and further development.
Creating a nintaijutsu of this level was almost as difficult as fusing two chakra attributes to form a kekkei genkai. The fact that they had managed to complete it in just half a month was undoubtedly something worth celebrating.
Uchiha Mai was in a good mood and didn't bother provoking his sensei.
Maintaining his smile, Minato steered the conversation toward a topic he was clearly very interested in:
"Mai, now that your nintaijutsu is finished… have you given this move a name yet?"
He cleared his throat lightly.
"After all, I contributed quite a bit to its development too. I'm not trying to steal credit or anything… it's just that, regarding the name of the technique…"
Uchiha Mai immediately went on alert. His sensei was finally revealing his true intentions.
As a naturally scatterbrained and self-proclaimed chūnibyō, Namikaze Minato possessed a frightening talent for naming techniques, along with an almost pathological enthusiasm for baptizing other people's moves.
In the original history, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Naruto and Sasuke merely combined the Rasenshuriken with Kagutsuchi, and Minato had already come up with an absurdly complicated name.
Something along the lines of: Scorching Style · Light Arrival · Swift Wind Black Arrow · Zero Form.
To be fair, Naruto had never been lacking in long, awkward technique names. Even Senju Hashirama, when he was young, had pulled similar stunts, inventing things like Supreme Taijutsu Technique · Super Illusory Fire · Great Cutting Shuriken · Second Stage.
The problem with Minato was that, aside from the Rasengan, practically every technique he named came with an outrageously long title overflowing with main-character syndrome.
Uchiha Mai strongly suspected that the name "Rasengan" had been Jiraiya's idea.
The stage was set. With the blade finally revealed, the sensei was clearly itching to name Mai's technique.
Fortunately, Uchiha Mai was already prepared and replied without hesitation:
"I'm sorry, Sensei Minato, but I've already named this technique."
"It's called: Mai's Ancient Martial Style · Scorching Red · Super Torrential Flame Fury · Deadly Ascending Strike · Hundred Forms · Demonic Incineration!"
If it was going to be chūnibyō, then it would be chūnibyō versus chūnibyō.
Upon hearing that name, Namikaze Minato was momentarily stunned. Then, deep respect welled up in his heart.
I've lost. Completely lost.
I never imagined that my seemingly ordinary student possessed such a terrifying talent for naming techniques. The name I had pondered for so long simply couldn't compare - this one was both absurd and glorious.
Perhaps this was the true meaning of "the student surpasses the master."
Guy and Kakashi were utterly speechless. What kind of insane name was that?
In many battles, ninjas would shout the names of their techniques to boost morale and reinforce their resolve. Mental strength was one of the sources of chakra, so this behavior could genuinely enhance combat performance.
But a name this long and awkward… could anyone really shout it in front of an enemy?
Namikaze Minato: Absolutely. Don't criticize.
After the brief farce, everyone finally returned to the main topic.
Minato gathered the three of them and said:
"In half a month, your teamwork training has already become very solid. You can execute refined combinations. Mai's nintaijutsu has also been successfully developed, and our team's overall strength has increased significantly. We're now capable of dealing with many types of enemies and situations."
He clenched his fist, full of confidence.
"I believe it's time to accept a mission of sufficiently high level to test the results of our training."
A high-level mission…
"How high?" Kakashi asked.
"Hmmm… something around an A-rank mission. I believe all of you can handle it," Minato replied.
Starting straight with an A-rank… that's heavy!
At eighteen years old, Namikaze Minato had already completed countless A-rank missions on his own, and even a few S-rank ones. Now, with three students at his side, A-rank missions were nothing more than routine.
"That's awesome! If my dad finds out I'm already participating in A-rank missions, he'll definitely be proud of me!" Guy cheered excitedly.
Because Might Duy was only a genin, he couldn't accept high-level missions on his own, and his income had always been limited.
Now that Guy was participating in A-rank missions, even with the reward split, it would still be good money. His father wouldn't have to work so hard anymore.
If anyone asked, the answer was simple: I completed an A-rank mission together with Namikaze Minato.
After obtaining the consent of all three, Minato led his students straight to the Hokage's office.
Along the way, he wouldn't stop talking - explaining mission precautions, sharing life experiences, and elevating his students' "professional posture."
Konoha had a specific hall for posting and accepting low-level missions.
A-rank missions, however, were considered extremely dangerous - even for many newly promoted jōnin.
To post or accept such missions, it was mandatory to go through the Hokage personally. He would assess the group's strength and only authorize the mission if he was confident that their chances of success were high.
Even Konoha couldn't afford to casually sacrifice its ninjas.
Before long, the group arrived at the door of the Hokage's office. Minato raised his hand and knocked lightly.
"Come in," Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice responded.
They opened the door and entered.
Sarutobi Hiruzen set aside the documents in his hands, lifted his gaze, and asked:
"Oh, Minato. What is it?"
Before Minato could answer, Guy leapt forward, blood boiling with excitement:
"Hokage-sama! We want to accept an A-rank mission! Sensei Minato said we're already strong enough for it!"
End of the chapter.