I noticed the shift in the classroom the moment I walked in.
More eyes. Different quality of attention. The kind that comes after someone files you into a new mental category.
Yesterday I was the hardworking civilian kid at the top of the class. Solid, admirable, a bit of an underdog story.
Today I was the guy who created a jutsu on the spot and made Sasuke give him a clan scroll.
Different category entirely.
Ino's stare in particular was doing things that made me slightly concerned for my personal space.
I ignored all of it, opened my notes, and paid attention to Iruka-sensei's lecture.
Which, predictably, made it worse.
"Saiki-kun — stay behind for a minute."
The class filed out around me. A cascade of see you tomorrows followed, most of them aimed in my direction with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
I waved back to each one and sat down.
When the last student disappeared through the door, Iruka-sensei turned to face me properly. He had the expression of someone who'd been sitting on news all day.
"Saiki-kun. You're genuinely exceptional. I want you to know that."
"I still have a lot of room to improve."
Standard response. Humble, deflective, keeps the persona consistent.
Iruka shook his head.
"The Hokage said the same thing."
There it is.
I already knew this was coming. The Telescope Jutsu was well-documented — Hiruzen used it constantly to keep tabs on the village. A civilian kid creating original jutsu and pulling a clan scroll from Sasuke in the same afternoon would've shown up on his radar before dinner.
If anything, I was surprised it took until now.
I let my eyes go wide.
"The Hokage — acknowledged me?"
"He did."
Iruka slid a scroll across the desk toward me.
"He specifically asked me to give you this. A Water Release ninjutsu. He said to tell you to keep working hard."
I stared at the scroll.
Water Release ninjutsu.
From the Hokage. Directly. Because I spent one afternoon performing well and he liked what he saw.
Okay. I'll admit it. Some of the excitement on my face right now was not entirely an act.
Civilian ninjas didn't get ninjutsu handed to them. That wasn't how it worked. You were born into a clan with a library of techniques, or you scraped for years to afford a single C-rank scroll, or you went without. Those were the options.
This was real. An actual ninjutsu, from the Professor himself, because I'd caught his eye.
The beginning is always the hardest part.
I picked up the scroll carefully.
"Please tell Hokage-sama that I won't waste this." I looked at Iruka directly. "And thank you, sensei. I mean it."
Iruka smiled the smile of a teacher who'd just watched something good happen to someone who deserved it.
I filed that expression away too. Iruka's goodwill was worth maintaining.
Across the village, in an office with a hat on the desk and far too much paperwork, an old man dispelled his crystal ball jutsu and leaned back in his chair.
Good kid.
Hiruzen had been watching through the Telescope Jutsu for the entire conversation. Old habit. Necessary one, in his position.
The excitement had been real. He could tell. Two decades of reading people had given Hiruzen a very fine-tuned sense for when someone was performing versus when they actually meant it.
Saiki had meant it.
Will of Fire, he thought again. The genuine article.
He tapped his fingers on the desk once, then reached for his pipe.
There was still the question of how far this kid would go. The Chakra Burst Jutsu was clever but limited — raw output had a ceiling if you weren't born with reserves like Naruto or Kushina. The spiritual energy cultivation was more interesting. That was a longer game. Quieter. The kind of development you didn't see until it was already too late to be surprised by it.
Just like Minato, in some ways.
Different in others.
He'd keep watching. That much was certain.
Home. Night.
I sat on the floor with the scroll open across my knees and read through the technique twice, then a third time.
Suiton. Water Release.
A real ninjutsu. Mine.
I leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
Status.
[Ninjutsu: 41 | Taijutsu: 37 | Genjutsu: 0][Skills: Chakra Burst Jutsu | Suiton Ninjutsu — Unlearned]
Unlearned. For now.
I looked back down at the scroll.
The first step was always the hardest. Getting noticed, getting resources, getting into the rooms where things actually happened.
I was in the room now.
Let's get to work.