After realizing that his ninja career had a serious foundational flaw, Naruto muttered to himself and went off to learn the basic Twelve Hand Seals from Haku (Yuki clan).
If he couldn't even perform hand seals properly, what right did he have to talk about learning ninjutsu?
Jutsu were the language of shinobi, and the Twelve Hand Seals were the fundamental syllables that made up that language. Teaching Naruto ninjutsu before he had mastered this foundation had indeed been a bit reckless on Hagoromo's part. At the very least, he should have checked first.
Hagoromo had simply taken it for granted. Naruto kept shouting about learning ninjutsu, so he had assumed the basics could be skipped. Who would have thought that in Naruto's mind, he might not even be able to distinguish between basic and advanced?
Not every kid was knowledgeable enough to grasp things intuitively. Step by step was the only way.
Thinking this, Hagoromo dispelled the Ninja Dogs and put his summoning scroll away.
The summoning process itself was already complete. Naruto no longer needed the scroll—once he signed his name, the contract and spiritual link with the summoning beasts had been established. From then on, it was only a matter of repeated practice until success.
Being a full-time caretaker wasn't easy. After handling Naruto's training, Hagoromo still had to continue guiding Mirai in taijutsu.
Compared to Naruto, Mirai was far less troublesome. Perhaps it was because she stayed close to him and benefited from that influence, or perhaps because she had inherited not only her parents' bloodlines but also their brains. In any case, there was very little about her that required excessive worry.
Though she couldn't be compared to Hagoromo himself, she learned remarkably fast.
"Ready, Hagoromo? I'm starting," Mirai said.
"Go ahead."
When sparring with Mirai, Hagoromo didn't need to prepare anything. If he got hurt by a kid, all his years of training would have been for nothing.
"This is the initial phase—basic sparring. Understood?"
"Understood."
She moved the moment she finished speaking. Hagoromo didn't just defend—he counterattacked as well.
Sparring only had meaning if both sides fought back. Acting as a punching bag led nowhere.
Overall, aside from the obvious disadvantages caused by her age—height, reach, muscle strength—Mirai performed very well. Her speed, attack transitions, defensive timing, and angles were all solid.
The comparison was, of course, with others her age. At the very least, Hagoromo himself hadn't been this good when he was her age—back then, no one had taught him so carefully.
In just a few minutes, Hagoromo had a clear grasp of Mirai's level. She had improved again since their last session.
That likely meant she had been doing plenty of "instruction" with her beloved classmates at the Ninja Academy.
"Good work, Mirai. Let's move on to the next stage."
After fundamentals came advanced application.
The next phase was Chidori Flow–style taijutsu.
At Hagoromo's words, Mirai stepped back, steadied her breathing, formed hand seals, and lightning chakra spread across her entire body.
His praise made her happy—but she knew she had to do even better.
Once she entered Chidori Flow mode, the spar resumed.
Compared to before, her speed and strength had increased dramatically—but new problems emerged. Compared to her solid base taijutsu, her control over Chidori Flow was still unstable.
Simply put, she couldn't fully handle the sudden surge of power. She was fast, but her movements were riddled with openings.
Hagoromo had already trained her perception extensively, but it was clearly not enough. She needed more time to adapt to high-speed combat.
"I think I understand now," Hagoromo said after a moment.
"Let's try something you've never done before. You can handle it, right, Mirai?"
Having identified her weaknesses and formed a rough training plan, Hagoromo decided to let her attempt a new exercise.
The next stage of Chidori Flow should have been Second Stage Chidori Flow—but that wasn't possible. No matter how strong her chakra was, she couldn't use it, because "Second Stage" wasn't actually a ninjutsu at all.
So her next step was—
Third Stage Chidori Flow.
"Really? Are you sure, Hagoromo?" Mirai asked.
After he nodded, her eyes lit up. This was him allowing her to use a restricted technique. She had wanted to try it for a long time, but the limits placed on it had stopped her from doing so recklessly.
She stepped back again. Once the lightning patterns fully spread over her body and she entered the state, she charged forward.
This time—
She didn't even come close to Hagoromo.
Instead, she shot forward at terrifying speed—straight toward a wall.
She smashed through the wooden wall without slowing, punched a hole straight through it, and disappeared into the building beyond.
The sound of bottles and containers crashing echoed from inside…
As expected, this mode was still far too early for her. She'd need to fully master Chidori Flow first before even thinking about Third Stage.
Hagoromo shook his head.
When he had first returned to Konoha, he'd briefly considered giving Naruto a full-body chakra pattern as well—but abandoned the idea. Naruto carried an extremely important seal, a complex triple-layered sealing formula. To avoid unnecessary interference, even the possibility of disruption had to be eliminated.
So Naruto couldn't be given extra "features" for now.
Today's training was over anyway. Hagoromo needed to check on the kid—after all, the only one who could injure the Ninja Academy's "big sister" was herself.
Seven days after Hagoromo taught Naruto the Summoning Technique, Naruto finally succeeded.
The first creature to answer his call was a giant bull with two pairs of iron hooves.
This thing was extraordinary. If turned into skewers, it could probably feed half the village.
The time it took couldn't be blamed on Naruto—most of those seven days had been spent just practicing hand seals.
It should have been a happy moment.
But then an ANBU messenger arrived with news that made it seem far less important.
"Lord Hagoromo, Lord Jiraiya has returned to the village."
That single sentence captured all of Hagoromo's attention.
There was no need for guidance—he already knew where to find Jiraiya. Every time the man returned to Konoha, he camped out in the hot spring district.
And sure enough, Hagoromo's guess was right.
No matter how the world changed, Jiraiya remained shameless.
Time, however, was merciless. When Hagoromo saw him again, the red markings beneath Jiraiya's eyes had spread across his cheeks with age. To operate more easily abroad, the Konoha forehead protector had been replaced with one bearing the kanji "Oil", symbol of Mount Myōboku.
Watching him squat with a telescope, peeping like a criminal, Hagoromo felt the urge to shout "Pervert!"—but he no longer could.
Years had passed since their last meeting.
Back then, he was Hagoromo the kid.
Now, he was Hagoromo the man.
Back then, Jiraiya was Jiraiya-senpai.
Now—
He was Grandpa Jiraiya.
Fortunately, both of them had white hair. No matter how old they got, no one could mock them for "going gray."
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