Chapter 139

As tensions rose in the room, Elder Chiyo's mind raced, searching for a way out of this predicament. They were trapped in a dangerous game of power, where the Leaf village held all the cards. Chiyo knew that challenging Tsunade further would only escalate the situation, leading to disastrous consequences for Sunagakure.

Suppressing her anger, Chiyo took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure. "Hokage-sama, please, let us find a peaceful solution to this matter. War benefits no one," she implored, her voice tinged with urgency. "Surely, there must be a way to resolve this matter regarding Pakura without resorting to violence."

Tsunade regarded Chiyo with a steely gaze, weighing her words carefully. Deep down, she understood the implications of war and the devastation it could bring. However, her determination to protect the interests of Konoha clashed with the Sand village's demands.

"War is not our goal, but we will not back down either. I have said my piece: whether you want to compromise or choose conflict, that's left to you." Tsunade responded, her tone unwavering. "We will await your decision regarding our proposal. However, know that the Leaf village will not hesitate to defend its interests."

With that, Tsunade signaled the end of the discussion, leaving Chiyo and Ebizo to grapple with the weight of their choices. As they left the Hokage's office, a sense of unease lingered in the air, overshadowed by the looming threat of conflict. The fate of both villages hung in the balance, teetering on the edge of war or peace.

Inside the guest room allocated for the Sunagakure delegates, Chiyo paced back and forth, seething with frustration over the recent meeting with Tsunade. Her mind churned with thoughts of retaliation, of creating chaos within the Leaf village as a form of retribution. Yet, even as her anger burned hot, a voice of reason urged caution.

"Damn that brat! Just because she has become a bit stronger and has the support of a fuinjutsu grandmaster, she thinks she can subdue the world!"

She knew that giving in to impulses could spell disaster for everyone on the envoy team. Chiyo paused mid-stride, her brows furrowing as she weighed the consequences of her actions. The delicate balance between vengeance and diplomacy hung in the air, each decision carrying the weight of their village's future.

With a heavy sigh, Chiyo forced herself to calm down, pushing aside her impulses for the greater good. Despite her desire for revenge, she understood that maintaining peace was paramount, even in the face of provocation. However, the tension in the room remained palpable, a silent reminder of the precarious situation they found themselves in.

Just as the two elders were immersed in their deliberations, a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows, causing Chiyo and Ebizo to snap into a defensive stance. Despite the layers of protection set up by the Suna Shinobi outside, the intruder had managed to breach their defenses.

"Before you start throwing out your attacks, aren't you curious about why I have come here?" The cloaked figure's voice echoed cryptically through the room, raising the tension even further. Chiyo and Ebizo remained vigilant; their senses heightened as they assessed the situation.

"How did you get in? You must be affiliated with Konoha; otherwise, you couldn't have entered our room so effortlessly," Chiyo demanded, her voice tinged with suspicion. Simultaneously, she released a flurry of puppets, positioning them to surround the mysterious intruder.

"I'm only here to help. We have a mutual enemy. I know the true reason why your Sunagakure envoy team has entered Konoha, and I can assist you in achieving your goals. In return, I require your help in eliminating Tsunade," the hooded figure explained calmly, though Chiyo and Ebizo remained skeptical.

Without hesitation, the two elders launched a coordinated attack, expecting the figure to crumble under their assault. However, to their surprise, the intruder seemed to have anticipated their moves, effortlessly evading their attacks as if they were mere child's play. The attacks landed on nothing but a substitute wooden log, leaving the cloaked figure unscathed.

"It seems you don't trust my words. In case you reconsider cooperation, use the method outlined in this scroll to reach out to me. Deliver this scroll to Rasa; I know he will be interested in my proposal," the cloaked figure declared before vanishing from the room as swiftly as they had appeared.

Weary but intrigued, Chiyo cautiously probed the scroll with one of her puppets, ensuring it was free of traps before examining its contents. As the cloaked figure had claimed, there was indeed a way to communicate without alerting the leaf village's defenses. Confusion clouded their minds, but ultimately, they decided to bring the matter to Rasa, the Kazekage, for a final decision.

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Ninja Academy Konoha.

"And this is one of the many ways we can modify storage scrolls to make them more discreet and efficient in battle," explained Minato as he drew close to a dozen variants of the fuinjutsu seals used for storage. Since taking over Kazuki's duty of teaching in the Ninja Academy, Minato had discovered a natural talent for instruction. Currently, he was imparting the intricacies of fuinjutsu to the second-year children.

"Sensei, isn't it better to stick to a single stable form of fuinjutsu that we use regularly for storage scrolls? What is the need for so many variants?" questioned a commoner Shinobi who had managed to secure a place in the elite class. The classroom held close to only twenty students, as the current first-year was the only exception with more than forty students in the elite class. For other years, the number averaged around fifteen to twenty.

"A good question. Let's have a quick exercise. I want you all to walk up to the podium and pick the scroll that you think is safe," Minato proposed, creating a dozen scrolls, each with different fuinjutsu seals drawn on the blackboard.

"Who wants to come up first?" Minato gestured, encouraging the students to step up and choose the right scroll. The first student called was immediately dumbfounded, as every seal seemed almost identical to the standard fuinjutsu storage seal.

"Go on," Minato urged, and with a gulp, the student examined the scrolls. Finally, he picked one and unfurled it, only to be engulfed in thick black smoke, turning his face black. "Now you're dead!" Minato announced with a chuckle, asking the student to return to their seat. No matter how hard the student tried to clean the soot, it wouldn't budge, leaving him resigned to his fate.

"There is only a single safe scroll among the dozen, and the one who chooses correctly will receive a special prize," Minato declared, igniting excitement in the eyes of the children. However, their enthusiasm quickly waned as Minato rearranged the scrolls at blinding speed, leaving them cursing their misfortune. Originally, they had thought of using an elimination game to find the safe scroll, but now it seemed all was lost.

One by one, the children approached the podium to carefully study each scroll and find the safe one. However, even after a dozen children tried their luck, none could pick the right scroll, and each one's face ended up dyed black.

"First of all, you kids need to step out of the little mindset to which you keep yourselves confined. Fuinjutsu is one of the more elusive and far more deadly art compared to ninjutsu. For someone who can truly master the art of fuinjutsu, they can even challenge death," Minato remarked, sparking interest in the kids, many of whom reeled in shock.

"Sensei, is that... is that how you came back to life? Using fuinjutsu? There are so many rumors out there. Some say that you were in hiding, some say you came back from the dead, but no one knows the exact truth," a Uchiha kid mustered up the courage to ask about the rumors circulating about Minato's return.

The most popular one was that Minato had returned from death because no one in Konoha believed that he was a coward who would go into hiding, leaving his only son behind. It was now known to everyone in the village that Naruto was Yondaime's son.

During the Nine Tails incident, the Yondaime chose to seal the Kyubi inside his own son to safeguard the village. Many in the village, after learning the truth, had personally visited the Namikaze household to apologize to Naruto for mistreating him all these years. Many students turned to the Uchiha and gave him a thumbs-up for boldly asking a question that many had in mind.

Minato couldn't help but chuckle at how perceptive the children were. Although the exact method of his resurrection was a top-guarded secret, the idea that he was brought back using fuinjutsu was a popular opinion in Konoha, especially with Konoha being home to a fuinjutsu grandmaster. So, Minato chose to break the suspense for the kids, allowing them to understand the true depth of fuinjutsu.

"Yes, you can say that fuinjutsu played a major part in my return. However, if you kids want to know more about this matter, then you'll have to at least reach the stage of a fuinjutsu master. Now, let's move on to the next student. Neji, would you like to give it a try next?" Minato gazed at the trio who sat at the back of the classroom, with Tenten seated in the centermost seat of the back row as the undisputed queen of the second-year elite classroom.

Neji had originally maintained a distance from everyone in the class after the events transpired at the Hyuga clan, as opinions about the Hyuga clan were still up for debate within the village. Neji disliked the judgmental looks, even if they were from his classmates.

However, Lee and Tenten were exceptions because they accepted him for who he was, not for his clan or anything else. With Lee's genuine character, Neji quickly merged into the group. Now, the three kids were the undisputed overlords of the elite class in year 2.

Neji somewhat enjoyed Minato's class because the Yondaime didn't give special privileges to anyone. Although the new academy rules strictly eliminated such things, some subtle biases etched into the bones of some Shinobi, especially the treatment of students according to their pedigree, were still seen in some rare cases.

However, the good thing was that if such a thing was brought to the management's attention, the said instructor would be subjected to heavy punishment. Tsunade had personally made one of the instructors an example for trying to suppress an orphaned child using his clan name.

As Neji stepped up to the podium, he subtly glanced to the side where Minato stood. His attention was drawn to Minato's eyes, noticing their similarity to his sister Hinata's. From what his father had told him, those eyes were called Tenseigan, a higher form of Dojutsu compared to the Byakugan. Neji wondered how Minato-sensei had acquired those eyes, but he was not foolish enough to ask such a delicate question.

Shaking off the distraction, Neji activated his Byakugan to scan the dozen scrolls on the table.

"That's cheating! He can use his Dojutsu to differentiate between the scrolls, no fair," one of the kids commented upon seeing Neji use his Byakugan, as Minato had not restricted them from using any methods.

"If only it were that simple. Do you think a fuinjutsu scroll made by Minato-sensei is so easily discerned?" Tenten chimed in, countering the other kid's complaint. Next to her, Lee just scratched his head, not understanding what exactly was going on. To him, all those scrolls seemed the same from his vantage point.

Neji concentrated, channeling his chakra through his byakugan. After scrutinizing each scroll in detail, he finally picked one. Everyone in the class waited to see if Neji had chosen correctly. Suddenly, as he opened the scroll, thick black smoke sprayed out, plastering his whole face with black soot.

The whole class erupted into laughter, welcoming Neji to the club of blackened faces.

Minato tried his best to hold back his laughter, but the comical faces of the children made him chuckle every time. Soon enough, Neji returned to his seat, receiving a tight smack on the back of his head.

"Ouch! Why did you hit me?" Neji questioned his friend, who was fuming at him as if he were some sort of fool.

"I was not able to detect even the smallest difference, even using my Byakugan." Neji tried to defend himself for failing to find the right scroll.

"You idiot! You had an entire blackboard of reference material, but none of you even bothered to use it. Why do you think Minato-sensei did not erase the seals on the blackboard before starting the exercise? Forget about being stupid; you even lack common sense. Sometimes you prove you are worse than Lee here," Tenten commented, teasing her friend.

"What did I do?" Lee questioned, not understanding why his name was being dragged into the topic.

"Lee, you're up next," Minato's voice echoed, picking out the next victim. Lee, with a dumbfounded look plastered on his face, walked up to the podium. Everyone in the class knew that the only reason Lee was still in the elite class was because Tenten helped him with his studies.

Tenten had found a unique way to teach Lee, incorporating physical exercise with theoretical knowledge; this was originally a method that the Kazuki Niisan had come up with to teach Naruto and Choji. However, Lee's scores in other subjects were shining, helping him stay above the threshold.

Just as the entire class eagerly awaited Lee's return with a black face, he picked up a scroll and unfurled it without spending any time like the others probing each scroll.

However, to the dumbfounded gaze of everyone in the class, the scroll Lee opened did not pop out with black smoke, which only meant that he had picked the right one. Both Tenten, Neji, and the entire class had dumbfounded looks plastered on their faces.

"Not bad, Lee! You managed to pick up the only safe scroll among the rest. Congratulations, you are the winner." Even Minato was surprised that Lee was able to single out the scroll. Originally, he had thought it would be Tenten who would find the right scroll, but then Lee surprised him.

"Care to share how you singled out the safe one among the rest?" Minato questioned Lee, as he didn't believe it was merely luck.

"Sensei, I merely picked up the scroll that felt like there was no trap hidden within it," Lee commented casually, as that was how he chose the scroll, as his instinct pointed out the only right scroll to him.

Minato couldn't help but admire Lee's intuitive approach. It was a reminder that sometimes, in the complex world of Shinobi techniques, instinct and intuition could be as valuable as rigorous training and analysis.

"Well done, Lee," Minato praised with a smile. "Your instincts served you well. Remember, trust in your intuition is crucial, especially when dealing with unfamiliar situations or techniques."

As Lee returned to his seat, Tenten leaned over to him, her expression a mix of pride and surprise. "I have to admit, Lee, I didn't expect that. You've got quite the knack for this."

Lee's cheeks flushed with pride at Tenten's compliment. "Thank you, Tenten! I suppose sometimes it's better to trust what you feel rather than overthink things."

Meanwhile, Neji, still reeling from his own failed attempt, couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at Lee's success. He had always prided himself on his analytical skills, honed through years of rigorous training in the Hyuga clan's techniques. Yet here was Lee, effortlessly achieving what he couldn't with all his Byakugan prowess.

Minato noticed Neji's dejected expression and approached him with a reassuring smile. "Don't be discouraged, Neji. Each of you has your own strengths and talents. Lee's success doesn't diminish yours in any way. Use this as an opportunity to learn and grow."

Neji nodded, absorbing Minato's words. Perhaps there was more to mastering fuinjutsu than just keen observation. Maybe it was time for him to explore new approaches and trust his instincts more.

As the class continued, Minato guided them through more exercises, each designed to challenge their perception and understanding of fuinjutsu. And amidst the laughter and camaraderie, the students learned valuable lessons not just about the art of sealing but also about themselves and their abilities as shinobi.

As Minato encouraged each student to explore the intricacies of fuinjutsu, he also instilled in them the importance of responsibility and caution. Fuinjutsu, he explained, was not to be trifled with, as even the slightest error could have catastrophic consequences.

Meanwhile, outside the academy, the cloaked figure watched from the shadows, observing Minato's class with keen interest. The mysterious individual had a vested interest in the students' progress, knowing that they held the potential to shape the future of the Shinobi world. With a subtle nod of approval, the figure vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a lingering sense of intrigue and anticipation.