C 90(1)

An uninhabited forest outside Konoha Village.

In order to increase his disciples' experience in combat, Jiraiya had been training him for several days on his own. 

At this moment, Namikaze Minato hid his body among the dense trees. Jiraiya was doing the same. This time, he wasn't teaching ninjutsu to his disciples; rather, he was cultivating Minato's battle instincts in dangerous situations. 

He wouldn't be holding back.

That said, Jiraiya wasn't using all his skills. If he did, he would summon Gamabunta directly. Once the toad was summoned, Minato would have no way to counter the attack.

The forest was silent, the only sound being the wind blowing through the leaves. There seemed to be no other living creatures around.

Boom!

A cloud of smoke suddenly erupted in the woods. Someone had used a smoke bomb. 

Jiraiya, hidden behind the thick foliage, noticed the smoke but remained unmoved. 'Trying to lure me out like this? It seems like today, Minato's going to learn what being a ninja truly means.'

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Before Jiraiya could finish his thought, he heard several piercing sounds—shurikens attacking him. To his surprise, Minato had found his position first.

Jiraiya leapt from the bushes and landed on a different tree branch. However, before he could even locate Minato, several kunai were thrown at him. 

Following the kunai, Minato unleashed Wind Style ninjutsu.

Wave after wave of attacks came. Minato's fighting style was methodical. 

He observed his opponent's reactions, like a puppeteer manipulating his puppet, setting traps and luring the enemy into them step by step.

Jiraiya jumped to the ground to avoid the kunai, but he immediately faced an oncoming wave of Wind Style ninjutsu.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

An earthen wall rose before Jiraiya, blocking the sharp wind blades. But in the next moment, several kunai struck the wall, accompanied by the faint sound of a fuse lighting.

'It's the explosive tags!'

Jiraiya, recognizing the danger, couldn't help but feel a surge of pride in his disciple's strategy. If it had been an ordinary Jōnin, they would have been exhausted by now, and their mentality might have shown a crack.

And a crack in one's mentality during a fight is often a death sentence.

Although Jiraiya was pleased with Minato's progress, he had decided to hold nothing back during this battle. He quickly performed a hand seal and unleashed two ninjutsu before the explosion could trigger.

Boom!

The explosion of the explosive tags sent fireworks and gray fog into the air. 

Jiraiya seized the opportunity to leap out of the smoke. While airborne, he noticed a special Flying Thunder God kunai mixed among the regular kunai Minato had thrown, aimed directly at him.

The explosive tags' fireworks had the added effect of impairing vision, and in mid-air, it was difficult for ordinary ninjas to deal with such a tricky kunai throw.

However, Jiraiya used ninjutsu to harden his hair, making it as tough as metal, and wrapped his whole body to prepare for the kunai impact. 

But just as the kunai was about to strike, Namikaze Minato suddenly appeared beside Jiraiya. 

The kunai in Minato's hand quickly aimed for a weak spot, but in the next instant, Jiraiya's long white hair shot out from the cloud of smoke still lingering on the ground.

Minato noticed the attack and quickly spun in the air, trying to cut the hair with the kunai in his hand. However, it was useless. 

The hair, infused with chakra, was incredibly tough. Minato couldn't hold on for more than two seconds before being bound by Jiraiya's hair.

After the battle, Jiraiya pointed out, "Minato, although the Flying Thunder God Technique is convenient, if you want to integrate it into your fighting style, you need to keep refining it. Your biggest weakness right now is the lack of a one-hit kill move, which forces you to constantly distract me to create openings."

"If you know any ninjutsu with strong offensive power, you can try it out with Flying Thunder God. If it doesn't land, you can just retreat. You should also study Senior Sakumo's sword techniques. His Hatake sword technique, using Wind Style chakra nature transformation, can easily cut through metal. Even my ninjutsu couldn't defend against it."

"Wind Style sword techniques?" Namikaze Minato nodded thoughtfully. 

This could indeed boost the lethality of his close-range attacks, but he didn't know much about sword techniques, and he wasn't particularly familiar with them. 

Mastering swordsmanship was also a difficult and time-consuming task.

Namikaze Minato was quick-witted and fully aware of his own shortcomings. While the Wind Style chakra nature transformation sword technique could enhance his strength, it would only offer a slight improvement.

"I understand, Teacher Jiraiya. I'll go back and think about it," Minato said, bowing to Jiraiya to show his thanks for all the help.

Jiraiya, knowing that Mr. Sarutobi had high expectations for Minato, smiled. 

The old man had told him multiple times to teach Minato well, which is why he didn't assign them many team tasks.

….

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