Yesterday's speech by the Third Hokage marked the beginning of Tatsumi's final days at the Ninja Academy.
Post-holiday syndrome was truly terrible—most students were still lost in the leisure of summer vacation. Tatsumi didn't care, but a large number of kids hadn't yet adjusted from their relaxed summer days.
Today, Kushina showed up, but Nawaki was still absent.
Teacher Nishimura stood at the podium with a dark expression, watching his listless students. Though, to be fair, his face was always dark to begin with.
At this point, there wasn't much left to teach at the academy.
Rather than listening to Nishimura drone on about useful—or useless—knowledge, Tatsumi preferred to sit alone in the back, practicing wind-style chakra nature transformation.
By the time class ended, he hadn't gained much, but he had consumed a considerable amount of chakra.
"Tatsumi, what are you doing?" Minato asked, puzzled.
Under the desk, Tatsumi's hand was moving rhythmically, his upper body concealed. From an outsider's perspective, his actions were… questionable.
Minato felt a little concerned. After all, Teacher Nishimura had been staring at Tatsumi for the entire class.
Nishimura's expression had shifted from doubt to anger, then to shock, and finally—by the end of class—to admiration. That's right, Minato had seen it clearly: admiration.
This only made Minato even more curious. If it was something that even Teacher Nishimura admired, it had to be interesting.
"I'm practicing chakra nature transformation," Tatsumi said, tossing a soldier pill into his mouth.
Hearing this, Minato looked a little disappointed.
"Chakra nature transformation? Haven't you already practiced that?"
"I practiced fire style before."
"You have two chakra attributes?"
Tatsumi chuckled. "Would I really tell you even if I had three? A ninja must be low-key—otherwise, how will others survive?"
With a sigh, he added, "Being a ninja is hard. Being an excellent ninja is even harder. But being an excellent and low-key ninja? That's almost impossible. As someone constantly compared to others, I'm under a lot of pressure too."
Minato rolled his eyes and decided not to continue the conversation.
Then Tatsumi tossed him a small piece of paper.
"What's this?" Minato asked.
"It's a chakra attribute test paper. I remember your chakra shape transformation is nearly complete, so go ahead and check your attributes."
Minato nodded and accepted Tatsumi's gesture of goodwill.
"You'll have to test it sooner or later. Just channel your chakra into it. If the paper cuts, it's wind-style; if it burns, fire-style; if it gets wet, water-style; if it wrinkles, lightning-style; and if it crumbles, earth-style," Tatsumi explained.
Then he returned to his own practice, extracting chakra into his hand to continue refining his wind-style transformation.
"What attribute?" Tatsumi asked after a moment.
"Wind and water—only two attributes." The little sun looked a bit disappointed. Before testing, most people fantasized about being five-attribute prodigies.
"Wind and water?" Tatsumi was stunned.
Wind style made sense—after all, future Naruto was a wind-style ninja. But he hadn't expected Minato to have water style too.
That was so Minato.
But now that he thought about it... Naruto, you're kind of useless. Your parents had such excellent genes—wind and water, plus Flying Thunder God—and you only inherited one attribute?
"Wind style is fine, but water style might be tricky... I only have information on wind, lightning, and fire-style chakra transformations."
"It's fine, no rush," Minato smiled. "I can always learn from Teacher Jiraiya later."
"True," Tatsumi nodded. That was one great thing about having a teacher.
No jutsu? Let the teacher handle it.
No training method? Let the teacher handle it.
No girls? Hmm… maybe let the teacher handle it.
"By the way, what about Mikoto?" Minato asked.
Tatsumi glanced at the quiet Mikoto sitting beside him. "She also has two attributes—fire and lightning."
Most Uchiha had fire style, but occasionally, some had lightning or other attributes.
Then, Tatsumi gestured toward the listless Kushina, slumped over her desk.
"Kushina, you should test yours too."
He repeated the same instructions he had given to Minato.
"What's the point of this?" Kushina asked.
"Not much, really. It just helps to know your attributes. Your chakra control is already good, and this will play a role in your future development," Tatsumi shrugged.
A few seconds later, he asked, "What attribute?"
"Wind style," Kushina replied.
Tatsumi nodded. That made sense.
So apart from the blonde hair, Naruto inherited almost everything from Kushina.
But Minato… Minato was different.
He single-handedly changed the genetic trajectory of the Uzumaki clan.
The clan that had inherited red hair for generations became a clan that inherited blonde hair for generations—because of him.
Even the First Hokage's lineage had a hair color change by the time of Tsunade, but Minato's genes? Still blonde, generation after generation.
While Minato delved back into his studies of sealing techniques, Tatsumi resumed practicing wind-style chakra transformation.
Then, someone walked over—an Inuzuka kid.
With the war starting, some teachers had been deployed to the battlefield.
As a result, breaks between classes were extended to forty minutes. During this gap, Teacher Nishimura left to oversee another class.
That meant Tatsumi and his classmates were left to their own devices.
The Inuzuka kid was probably bored and, after eavesdropping on Tatsumi and Minato's conversation, wandered over.
"Where's your dog legs?" Tatsumi didn't answer him directly but asked a question instead.
"Dog legs...? Oh, you mean my ninja dog. Fishcake is at home—he had to get vaccinated."
"Ninja dogs need vaccinations?" Tatsumi was puzzled. Wouldn't it be better if they gave someone rabies after biting them?
"What, do you like my Fishcake?" Inuzuka asked.
"No, I already have a summoning beast." Tatsumi shook his head.
A moment later, a large white snake slithered out from his collar, flicking its tongue against his neck before retreating back into his clothes.
"You actually keep a snake on your body?" Inuzuka looked horrified. He had thought carrying a dog on his head was peak performance art, but this? This was next-level.
"Yeah. Because it looks cool."
Inuzuka still didn't leave. Instead, he glanced at Kushina.
But Kushina didn't even acknowledge him.
He inexplicably looked disappointed.
Tatsumi observed the scene and suddenly understood. That conflicted expression… that slight look of loss…
Oh. Ohhh.
He's totally in love with Kushina.
But how? They barely had any interactions. The only thing he could recall was Kushina getting mad when the Inuzuka kid called her a tomato—and then promptly beating him up a few times.
Damn. This is a live case of Stockholm syndrome.
Or maybe… a simple case of masochism.
At that moment, Kushina, still slumped over her desk, suddenly turned her head.
Inuzuka perked up, thinking she was going to talk to him.
But she didn't even spare him a glance.
"Tatsumi, my grandma wants to see you," she said.
Tatsumi nodded.
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