Minato entered the classroom, gripping the wall for support. He had used his sheer willpower just to get out of bed, but his body still hadn't fully recovered.
His legs felt weak, his muscles were sore, and his face was slightly pale.
As he struggled to make it to his seat, a familiar voice called out.
"Where have you been?"
Minato turned to see Kushina staring at him suspiciously.
"Did you even sleep last night?"
Hearing her words, Minato looked at her with wide, teary eyes. 'Is… is she worried about me?'
"It's nothing, just overtraining," he said casually, waving his hand like it wasn't a big deal. Of course, that didn't stop him from sneaking glances at Kushina from the corner of his eye.
"Figures." Kushina pouted. "Haruki-sensei wasn't here yesterday. Did he give you some kind of special lesson?"
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she grumbled, "Seriously! I knew him first! Why didn't he teach me?"
Minato's confident smile froze. 'Hahaha… haha…'
His soul left his body for a moment.
'So Haruki-sensei really is my biggest rival…'
For a second there, he thought he had finally made an impression on Kushina. But he had just been imagining things.
Still, he wasn't ready to give up just yet. He wanted to at least share how hard he had trained yesterday.
But just as he was about to speak, Kushina was already at her seat.
Minato felt his heart crack a little. He let out a silent sigh, rubbed his sore waist, and resigned himself to waiting for class to start.
He was nearly ready to graduate. He had already mastered all the coursework.
The only reason he was even in class today was because the first period was history, taught by Haruki.
And there was no way in hell he was skipping that man's class after what happened yesterday.
Haruki appeared at the podium, holding a textbook.
As he scanned the room, his eyes landed on Minato. He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
'Didn't expect this kid to be this dedicated to learning… Good! I should really pile on even more lessons!' Satisfied with this revelation, Haruki knocked on the blackboard and started the class.
"Today, we'll continue discussing the deeds of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Last time, we covered how he decided to join forces with Madara Uchiha to establish an unprecedented world."
To be honest, compared to Tsunade, Haruki had it easy.
The medical course was built from scratch and still had too many things that needed improving. Worse, there were so few high-level medical ninjas that Tsunade had to handle a lot of the work personally.
Haruki planned to wait until the Oshima Chamber of Commerce ninjas arrived in Konoha. Once they did, he could free up her schedule a bit and lighten her workload.
By the time class ended, Haruki wasted no time calling Minato over. It was time to move on to the next stage of Rasengan training.
"I'm coming too!"
Kushina suddenly tagged along, her face full of excitement.
Haruki blinked. "You want to learn too?"
She nodded enthusiastically.
Haruki was surprised but didn't really mind. In his opinion, Kushina didn't need Rasengan at all.
As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, she had the ridiculous sealing techniques. Even the Nine-Tails itself couldn't do much against her.
Honestly, Haruki was a little envious.
Compared to her, all he had was the Diamond Seal.
Besides, if anyone was truly suited to be her teacher, it wasn't him.
It was Mito Uzumaki.
Haruki knew Kushina didn't have the talent for medical ninjutsu, so he had never really considered teaching her.
But before he could say anything, Kushina pouted, looking as if she had suffered a great injustice.
"Sensei, you can't play favorites!"
Haruki sighed, thinking it over.
In the end, she was actually a good fit for Rasengan.
The Uzumaki Clan was born with massive chakra reserves. It would be a waste if she didn't spam Rasengan like her future son. In fact, since Kushina was a pure-blooded Uzumaki, her chakra levels were probably even higher than Naruto's.
Haruki suddenly imagined a future where Minato, Kushina, and Naruto were all casually chucking Rasengans left and right, an entire family of Rasengan-spamming maniacs.
The image was so ridiculous that he couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.
"Alright, I'll teach you."
"Yay!" Kushina literally jumped in joy.
Haruki led them back to the same training spot as yesterday.
Pulling out a few unused balloons, he casually tossed them toward Minato.
"Alright, get started."
Minato nodded and began blowing up the balloons, filling them with water. Meanwhile, Haruki repeated his instructions from yesterday for Kushina.
Right on cue, Minato handed over a filled water balloon.
"Here you go."
"Thanks."
Kushina took it, glancing at him curiously. Minato, for some reason, looked way too happy about such a simple exchange.
Before she could think too much about it, Haruki called out, waving him over to a spot about seven or eight meters away.
"Minato, move over. You're too close, and it'll mess up each other's training."
Once Minato stepped back, Haruki continued, pulling out a rubber ball.
"The second stage is similar to the first, but instead of a water balloon, you'll be using a rubber ball filled with air. Unlike water, air doesn't provide resistance, so it's much harder to control the chakra and make it explode."
Minato clenched his fists. "I'll do my best!"
All traces of exhaustion from the morning were completely gone.
"Kushina can see you clearly from here," he teased, tossing the rubber ball over. "If you want to impress her, this is your chance."
Minato nearly fumbled the catch, his face turning red.
Haruki chuckled and turned his attention to Kushina.
In terms of pure talent, she wasn't quite at Minato's level. But she definitely wasn't bad either.
Time flew by.
Haruki gave as much instruction as possible, occasionally giving Minato buffs to speed up his recovery.
Minato flinched every time but still gritted his teeth and accepted it.
Haruki couldn't help but find it amusing.
After using medical ninjutsu on Minato three times, Kushina finally ran out of chakra.
Haruki noticed the sweat on her face and said, "Alright, Kushina, take a break."
"Minato didn't rest, so why should I?" she shot back. Then, eyeing him suspiciously, she added, "Sensei, you should heal me too."
She'd clearly caught on to what he was doing during their training.
Haruki raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? You're gonna regret it tomorrow."
Kushina crossed her arms and huffed. "I can handle it."
Haruki smiled as these two were way too similar sometimes.
"Alright, don't blame me later."
He casually wrapped her in a light green glow, washing away her fatigue, then handed her a three-colored pill.
Before he could say anything else, Minato's voice rang out. "Sensei! Over here, hurry up!"
Haruki flickered over in an instant, finding Minato sprawled on the ground, completely wiped out.
He pointed at Kushina and grinned. "Tell me, Minato, what's the Uzumaki clan's biggest strength?"
Minato blinked. "Uh… they have a lot of chakra?"
Haruki shook his head. "Nope. It's their stamina."
"Huh?"
Haruki chuckled. "You better train harder. If you want to impress her, you can't be weaker than the girl."
Minato groaned in exhaustion while Haruki casually relieved his fatigue.
As the sun dipped toward the horizon, Haruki clapped his hands together. "Alright, that's it for today!"
Minato and Kushina both let out a sigh of relief.
"Sensei, let's go eat ramen!" Kushina grinned, clearly already looking forward to it.
Haruki rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah… we should celebrate the formation of our team."
Kushina beamed. "Now you're talking!"
Minato chuckled but suddenly remembered something as they waited for their food. "Wait, Sensei… aren't we missing a teammate?"
Normally, a team had three students and a senior ninja to lead them.
"You'll meet them soon," Haruki said, casually sipping his tea. "But they're not from your class."
Minato blinked in surprise. "So… they're older?"
Haruki nodded. "Yep."
Sometimes, graduates from previous years were reassigned to new teams. Ninja work was dangerous, losing teammates was common, so teams had to be adjusted.
Minato's mind raced through possible candidates. "Who is it?"
Haruki smirked. "What do you think of Hyuga clan leader's son?"
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