The next morning, when Yahiko saw Nagato's adorable red "watermelon" hairstyle, he burst into laughter and rolled on the floor.
"Nagato... what's with your hair? It's too funny! Hahaha!"
"..."
Hearing Yahiko's laughter, Nagato blushed and lowered his head.
Aburame Shigeo's eyes flashed coldly. He pulled out his scissors and started walking toward Yahiko.
"Hahaha… uh… Shigeo, what are you doing?"
Seeing Shigeo approaching him, Yahiko's laughter stopped abruptly, and his expression turned panicked.
"Don't do anything rash! I'll tell the teacher! Don't come closer... help! Nagato, Konan, save me! Nooo..."
...
Five minutes later.
Yahiko, now sporting an orange "watermelon" hairstyle, knelt on the floor, crying, while Nagato and Konan tried to comfort him.
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caught everyone's attention. Turning to look, they saw that Jiraiya, who had left before dawn, had returned.
Yahiko seemed to have found his savior and ran crying to cling to Jiraiya's leg. "Teacher, Shigeo bullied me! Look at my hair!"
"Oh?"
Jiraiya glanced at Yahiko's hair, stroked his chin thoughtfully, and nodded.
"Hmm, this hairstyle looks energetic. Not bad. So, what's this about Shigeo bullying you?"
"..."
Yahiko gaped, speechless and forgetting to cry.
Seeing this, Konan and Nagato burst into laughter, leaving Yahiko fuming as he stormed toward the door.
Before he could get far, Jiraiya pulled him back.
"Haha, don't be mad. Look at what I've brought for you—ta-da!"
Like a magician, he pulled out several green frog costumes.
Seeing this, Shigeo's expression froze, and he discreetly edged toward the window.
Unfortunately for him, Jiraiya was prepared. With a body flicker, he appeared in front of Shigeo and handed him a frog costume.
"Come on, Shigeo. As the senior, you need to set an example. Put it on. This is a teacher's order; you can't refuse!"
Shigeo: "..."
This order is absolutely ridiculous!
Reluctantly, under Jiraiya's watchful eyes, Shigeo put on the frog costume.
Soon, everyone was dressed in frog outfits, turning the room into a scene of one "big frog" and four "little frogs."
With the costumes on, lessons began.
Jiraiya started teaching basic theory—how to use kunai and shuriken, foundational hand signs, and so on.
Since Shigeo already knew all this, he tried sneaking away to nap, but Jiraiya caught him.
"Shigeo, your hand signs are very precise. Come here and demonstrate the twelve seals for them."
"Alright."
Resigned, Shigeo walked to the front and began demonstrating.
"I'll go through them once; watch closely. Starting with 'Rat'—this is 'Rat,' this is 'Ox,' this is 'Tiger'..."
After finishing, he turned to Jiraiya. "Teacher, I'm done!"
"Good!" Jiraiya nodded with a smile. "Your next task is to teach them these twelve hand signs. Got it?"
"Yes!" Shigeo nodded.
"Your 'yes' doesn't matter!"
Jiraiya grinned and patted Shigeo on the shoulder.
"A teacher's burden is shared by their students. You said it yourself! I've got some inspiration for my novel, so I'll be off to write. You stay and teach them until they've learned it all!"
"Uh..."
At that moment, Shigeo truly understood what it meant to be hoisted by his own petard.
"Tch... fine, I'll teach."
Resigned, he began teaching the trio the hand signs.
"I'll break it down step by step. Start with 'Rat.' Overlap your thumbs, with the left thumb on top, like this..."
Nagato, perhaps due to his Rinnegan, learned quickly, mastering the signs after two demonstrations.
Konan took a bit longer but got it after a few hands-on corrections from Shigeo.
Yahiko, however, was a different story. Despite Shigeo dedicating most of the time to him, Yahiko only managed to memorize four signs by noon and often got them wrong.
This infuriated Shigeo, who resorted to rapping Yahiko's "watermelon" head with his knuckles.
"What's in your head? Glue? How can you still not get it after so many tries? Why are you running?"
"Stop hitting me!" Yahiko cried, running in circles. "You'll make me dumber!"
"Could your IQ drop any further? Maybe a few knocks will knock some sense into you. Get back here!"
"No… don't come any closer!!!"
"..."
As a trained ninja, Shigeo easily caught Yahiko after two laps and knocked him senseless before making him continue practicing hand signs.
Three days later, Yahiko finally learned all twelve hand signs without mistakes.
For him, those three days were a nightmare. Every time he began forming signs, his head ached.
For Shigeo, however, teaching Yahiko gave him a taste of being a mentor, which made teaching substitution techniques easier.
Once the trio mastered the three basic jutsu, Shigeo's part of the teaching ended.
Next, Jiraiya would teach them combat skills.
Before that, Jiraiya hung some boards on the wall of their cabin. Each board had a red and white side, with their names written underneath.
"Konan on the right, Yahiko in the middle, and Nagato on the left!"
After setting up, Jiraiya explained the purpose of the boards.
"These are flip boards. Flip them red when you're in the base and white when you're out. By the way, the frog symbol on them also means 'be back soon.'"
"But… why do we have to do this?" Konan asked curiously.
Jiraiya explained, "Because this area isn't completely safe. Staying at the base is actually the most dangerous since it's easy to be ambushed!"
Hearing this, Konan nodded in understanding.
"I see. If the board is red but no one's in the base, it means they were likely captured. If it's white but someone's in the base, it's probably an imposter. This makes it easy to spot trouble!"
"Exactly! Smart thinking, Konan!"
Jiraiya praised her and then glanced at Yahiko.
"Smarter than Yahiko, that's for sure!"
Shigeo added, "Comparing Konan to Yahiko is an insult to her intelligence."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Absolutely!"
Their banter left Yahiko red-faced and fuming.
Sensing the joke had gone far enough, Jiraiya changed the subject.
"Alright, this is our secret system to confirm each other's presence. Always check the boards and stay vigilant, even in the base. Also..."
He tapped a floorboard with his foot, revealing a hidden trapdoor.
"I've prepared a secret room and an escape tunnel. If anything happens, use this to flee. Now, let's head out for some field training!"
"Awesome!"
Yahiko cheered, running into the rain with his fists in the air.
"I'll become stronger and change this country with my power!"
His declaration was promptly interrupted by Jiraiya's scolding: "Flip your board first!"
"Haha, give it up, Jiraiya-sensei."
Shigeo leaned against the doorframe, waving at Jiraiya.
"Yahiko's brain is beyond saving. I exhausted myself teaching him clones this morning, so I'm staying behind."
Jiraiya nodded reluctantly. "Alright, just be careful while you're here alone."
"Got it!"
Once they were out of sight, Shigeo returned to the cabin, shut the door, and took out a kikaichū and a strand of red hair.
"Synthesize!"
(*End of Chapter*)