"Minato-sensei, you're finally here!"
Obito was the first to jump up, his face full of surprise. "Where have you been these past few days? I thought you'd forgotten about us! Um… about the Chūnin Exam, do you have any insider information for us, like the exam content or something? Hehe!"
"Sorry. I had to handle some affairs arranged by the village."
Minato smiled, first answering Obito's first question, then corrected him. "Obito, the Chūnin Exam is a selection exam. Leaking the questions in advance would be against the rules. However… before the exam, I'll help you improve your strength as much as possible."
"Obito, as for you, I found a more suitable teacher… I'll leave him to you, Fugaku."
As Minato spoke,
another chakra presence appeared on the grassy field.
It was Uchiha Fugaku, wearing a dark green jōnin vest, his face solemn.
"Uchiha Obito, correct? I heard you awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan on the southwestern battlefield. Not bad. Come with me. I'll teach you how to use those eyes."
Although they were from the same clan, Obito and Fugaku were not close. If not for Minato's request, and if not for Obito's direct awakening to two tomoe being a fairly impressive record, Fugaku, as clan head, would not have bothered wasting time on him.
Objectively speaking, Fugaku was indeed better suited to teach Obito. After all, Obito's combat system revolved mainly around the Sharingan and Fire Release, which was quite different from Minato's. The guidance Minato could offer in that area was limited.
"…Oh, okay."
Obito answered somewhat stiffly, glanced at Rin with some reluctance, then left.
After that,
Minato turned to Mikami Yuu, his tone becoming solemn.
"Yuu, your current level has already far surpassed the standard of a chūnin, so I'm not worried about whether you can pass the exam. I'm considering something more long-term."
"…What do you mean, Minato-sensei?"
"How much do you know about the Summoning Technique?"
Minato asked.
Hearing this, Yuu's heart stirred.
So it wasn't Flying Thunder God he wanted to teach, but Summoning Technique?
That made sense.
Flying Thunder God was essentially a derivative application of summoning techniques. Trying to skip the latter and directly learn Flying Thunder God would be too difficult. So learning the prerequisite first wasn't wrong.
Yuu nodded.
"I know a little. The Summoning Technique is a ninjutsu that performs spatial summoning through a contract. There are mainly two types. One is blood-contract summoning, where you summon contracted beasts to assist in battle. The other is object summoning, which targets specific items, such as the First Hokage's legendary Rashōmon."
"Correct."
Minato nodded approvingly. "Jiraiya-sensei and I are both contractors who have signed blood contracts with Mount Myōboku, one of the Three Great Summoning Holy Lands. The toads of Mount Myōboku are not only powerful, they also possess a unique inheritance of senjutsu.
"Yuu, your talent and potential are both very high. If you can obtain Mount Myōboku's assistance, it will greatly benefit your future growth. I have already asked Jiraiya-sensei. If you're willing, I can serve as your introducer and make you the third contractor of Mount Myōboku."
"!"
Yuu's heart jumped.
To be fair, the weight of this proposal was very heavy.
A summoning contract with one of the Three Great Holy Lands was something almost every ninja dreamed of. Even an ordinary genin, if they could summon one of Gamabunta's brothers, would at minimum be able to fight an elite jōnin. Not to mention, Mount Myōboku also had a relatively mature senjutsu system.
However…
Subduing those proud, unruly toads was not easy.
And Yuu had another option: relying on his relationship with Tsunade to obtain the summoning contract of Shikkotsu Forest. Although Katsuyu's combat power wasn't as strong as the toads', her support ability was maxed out, and she basically didn't require any process of being subdued.
The only problem was that he didn't know whether Shikkotsu Forest had a senjutsu inheritance. After all, the original story never explained where Senju Hashirama's Sage Mode came from.
As for Ryūchi Cave, there was basically no need to consider it. Those guys were even harder to deal with than the toads. Even Orochimaru couldn't handle them. Yuu didn't want to make trouble for himself.
Considering that the Holy Land summoning beast clans were mutually exclusive, he could only choose one of the two.
For a moment, Yuu found it difficult to decide.
Rin raised her hand curiously and asked, "Minato-sensei, do you have to have a summoning beast to use the Summoning Technique?"
"In theory, yes."
Minato nodded slightly. "However, only a minority of ninja can sign blood contracts with powerful summoning beast clans. For ordinary people, they can search for a suitable summoning beast themselves, negotiate with it, or defeat it and subdue it for their own use."
"Then… what happens if you use the Summoning Technique without a contract? Would it summon something strange?"
Rin asked again.
"In that case, your chakra would be wasted and nothing would happen. But there are occasional exceptions. For example, when Jiraiya-sensei was young, he randomly tried using the Summoning Technique and ended up reverse-summoning himself to Mount Myōboku, which is how he became a contractor there."
After answering Rin's question,
Minato turned to Yuu.
"Yuu, choosing a summoning beast is indeed something that requires careful consideration. You don't need to rush. Mount Myōboku's invitation will remain valid. You can weigh it slowly. For now, I'll teach you the technique itself."
"This technique can also be considered a type of space-time ninjutsu. Its formula structure and spatial positioning techniques are very valuable to study. It shares principles with higher-level space-time ninjutsu such as Flying Thunder God. If you build a solid foundation in advance, learning those later will be much easier."
"…Alright, I understand."
At once,
Minato began explaining the technique to Yuu and Rin.
From the structure of the formula, to the key points when using it, to many possible details that might arise during the process, he explained it step by step.
During this process,
the familiar galgame system prompt box popped up with a "ding!"
[Ding! High-quality potential target detected: "Summoning Technique"! Trigger encounter event?]
[Yes / No]
[Using the formula taught by your teacher, you drew a giant array on the training field west of Konoha Village. As light flashed, a blonde girl who looked like a spirit appeared before you.]
[She wore a long dress embroidered with ancient runes, her feet bare as she floated in midair. Translucent chains hung from her wrists and ankles, stretching down into a silver water surface and stirring ripples. She opened her eyes and carefully sized you up, as if observing an interesting toy.]
[Summoning Technique: (yawning) Ah… It feels like I slept for a very long time. I finally get to see a living person again. Hey, little guy, are you my master?]
"…Huh?"
~~~
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