Sitting inside his tent, Kadoya let out a long breath, a dark purple mist curling from his lips.
"Tiamama, I think you should work on your cooking skills," he said honestly.
"Was Mama's cooking not to your liking?" Tiamat asked, her big, bright eyes already glistening with tears.
"A little," he admitted, tilting his head toward the still-unconscious Minato sprawled on the ground. "My brother hasn't even woken up yet."
Tiamat glanced over at Minato and then walked over to him, gently draping a blanket over his prone form. "Your brother is just sleepy," she said sweetly.
Kadoya: "…"
For some reason, he couldn't help but notice how her way of speaking mirrored his own.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to make it better, right?" Kadoya continued, raising a brow at her. "Or does Mother not want what's best for her child?"
"Of course not! Mama wants what's best for her sweet baby!" she exclaimed, her voice bright and determined. "Mama will improve! Don't you worry!" With that, her form vanished, dissolving back into the seal within him.
Normally, creatures being sealed inside someone's body couldn't freely exit and enter whenever they wanted. But Tiamat is an exception to this rule, one of her skills [Independent Manifestation], letting her freely let herself out whenever she wanted before entering, like his body was her own home.
"Her cooking really is a bit too much," he muttered to himself, his throat still burning faintly from the potent soup she'd made.
Though her soup does have some special effect of breaking down weak cells inside his body and rebuilding them with new and stronger cells, he doesn't know how she could even create this kind of thing. But since she was originally from a world of magic, he guessed that she used magic to make it.
After some time, Minato stirred awake, groaning and clutching his head.
"You good?" Kadoya asked, glancing at his brother as he sat up, wincing.
"My head and body hurt…" Minato mumbled, straightening up with a series of pops and cracks from his joints.
"But," he added after a moment, "my chakra pathways feel clearer. Still… it's probably better to avoid drinking whatever Mama is cooking up. But I don't know if I can refuse her when she looks at me with those eyes…"
Umu! You really are a good brother, being guilted into eating mother's cooking without asking any questions.
"Just rest, the temporary pain will soon pass," Kadoya said, knowing that Minato doesn't heal as fast as him, so this would take some time before he fully recovered, and once he did fully recover, he was sure that Minato would become stronger.
Some time passed, and Team 7 was left to rest at the camp for a few days. Team 6 followed Jiraiya out on a reconnaissance mission, leaving Minato behind because he was feeling unwell.
"Minato, you should take better care of yourself. You are so weak that you get food poisoning from a simple soup." Nawaki said, placing his hand on his hips and acting all smug before throwing another shuriken and hitting the dummy's chest.
"Well, I do feel better now." Minato answered, throwing his shuriken, which directly hit the training dummy's head. "Besides, now that I am back up and running again, I feel much better than before."
"You shouldn't be so careless, take me as an example. I never get food poisoning." Nawaki said, still acting all smug. "Look, I even single-handedly destroyed an Iwa stronghold, with the help of Kadoya and Saiguu, of course.
After all, back in the Ninja Academy, Nawaki was once jealous of the top students' strength, but now he could confidently raise his head high and shout that he could take on the Top 2 without breaking a sweat.
Of course, Nawaki only feels this way because he has been on a long trip when Kadoya somehow led Team 7 right into an enemy stronghold, and they managed to destroy it and come out alive.
Has Minato destroyed an enemy stronghold with his team yet?
The answer was still no, so Nawaki was using this opportunity to rub it in Minato's face.
Although they are friends, the two of them are both Hokage Dreamers, so Nawaki is just being childish and acting all smug while he could.
"Don't worry Minato, I'll make sure to keep the Hokage's seat warm for you so you can become the Fifth Hokage." Nawaki said, giving a bright smile like he had already been declared as the Fourth Hokage.
Minato: "..."
"Nawaki, do you want to be shipped back to Konoha?" Minato asks in his polite tone, now somewhat annoyed by Nawaki.
After all, Kadoya has invested so much into him, and his brother trusted him even more than himself. So, Minato had made a promise to himself that he would become the Fourth Hokage or at least the Fifth Hokage.
If someone like Jiraiya, Tsunade, or Orochimaru becomes the Fourth Hokage before him, then he won't be upset, knowing that their skills are way above his and they already have years of experience, along with the reputation to back them up.
But if someone like Nawaki managed to outshine him and become the Fourth Hokage right before him.
Then Minato really doesn't have the face to look at Kadoya anymore.
Nawaki: "..."
Damnit! Why the hell did you suddenly start talking like him!?
Are you secretly his brother or something?
Nawaki wanted to complain, since Kadoya had said many times that he would ship him back to the Land of Fire during their mission.
Now, back in the camp, it was Minato who said that he would ship him back to Konoha.
Nawaki felt like he was being attacked.
"Stupid Minato, you shouldn't threaten me like that! Aren't you afraid that I would tell Tsunade that you are bullying me?" Nawaki shouted at him, although when boasting, he was very confident in himself, but in reality, if he did have to fight Minato.
Nawaki won't dare. After all, this is the man who jumped headfirst into a Tailed Beast Ball just because it was about to hit his friends. Nawaki isn't sure if he could do something like that and come out alive.
"You're already a ninja, yet you still have to tell your sister when someone is bullying you? Don't you find it a bit too low?" Minato simply said, still keeping his polite tone, but now there seemed to be an edge to it.
Nawaki: "..."
Nawaki blinked before rubbing his eyes to check if the one he was talking to was really Minato or he was Kadoya in disguise.
He didn't remember the "Little Sun" being this dark.
Back in the Academy, if someone talked badly about Minato, he would just laugh it off before ignoring them, not making any big deal out of it.
Since when did the Little Sun become the Black Sun?
In the Academy, where Minato is known as the Little Sun, always bright and cheerful, giving everyone warm smiles and drawing them toward him.
Kadoya was secretly called the Black Sun by many students. Unlike Minato, he was somewhat cold, crazed, giving everyone a smile that made them scream in horror as he mentioned the word "dance", but people are still drawn toward him due to his overwhelming power.
It's natural for people in the shinobi world to want to become stronger; only by becoming strong did they gain the power to achieve their dreams, whether it's to become Hokage, protect their loved ones, or even want to have a peaceful life. Shinobi still needed strength if they wanted to make that dream a reality.
The only reason many didn't approach Kadoya was that he scared them too much, so not many were willing to approach him.
"Tch! I'm not talking with you anymore." Nawaki pouted, turning away with his arm crossed before walking away.
He couldn't help but feel that Minato was starting to resemble Kadoya more and more by the day.
Seeing Nawaki walking away, Minato continued practicing. The day Team 7 was sent into the battlefield early, Minato started to act more like Kadoya, skipping classes and only completing half of the test papers before submitting them and leaving to train, earning around 50 or more points.
The shuriken in his hand sliced through the air, flying straight at the training dummy. Before it could strike, he flicked another shuriken with precise timing. The two weapons collided mid-air, ricocheting off each other, spinning around in a deadly dance. With a final ring of metal, they struck the dummy from opposite sides, embedding themselves cleanly in the wooden target.
"I… I actually did it?" Minato murmured, his eyes wide with surprise.
Minato's shurikenjutsu was an adaptation, an alternative version of the Uchiha clan's famed technique. He had never been able to replicate the full complexity of their style without the Sharingan's precise tracking, but he had crafted his own approach, blending speed and instinct.
Lately, though, he had noticed something different. His vision had sharpened; every motion around him seemed clearer. His reaction time had improved, and he felt his mind processing visual information faster, almost like a sudden clarity he'd never known before.
This newfound acuity pushed him to test his limits. His shurikenjutsu had always been reliable, but now… now he felt like he could take it even further.
"I need to find Kadoya," he said to himself, excitement flashing in his eyes. In a blur, he vanished using the Body Flicker, determined to track down his brother and ask him to share more of the Uchiha's shurikenjutsu.
...
Standing in the training field, Kadoya faced Sakumo head-on, their blades already locked in a test of strength.
With a sudden burst of speed, Kadoya launched himself forward like a bullet, his entire body a blur. His first strike came down in a vicious diagonal arc, the weight of his momentum driving the blade with brutal force. Sakumo met the blow with a solid block, his White Fang blade angled perfectly to deflect the savage attack.
But Kadoya didn't pause. He used the recoil of the block to pivot, spinning his entire body and blade, turning the force of his missed strike into a horizontal slash that cut toward Sakumo's side. Sakumo shifted back smoothly, his feet gliding over the slick earth as he guided Kadoya's blade away. He responded with a sharp thrust aimed at Kadoya's ribs, the tip of his blade glinting in the gray light.
Kadoya twisted, his own blade meeting Sakumo's just in time, the metal kissing his side as he forced his way inside Sakumo's guard. His attacks came faster and faster, a relentless cascade of strikes. Each slash was like a hammer blow, Kadoya's movements fueled by raw aggression, his footwork a blur of launching steps that propelled him forward again and again.
Sakumo moved with practiced calm, his style flowing like water, precise, efficient, always ready to meet Kadoya's fury head-on. He parried each savage strike, reading the rhythm of Kadoya's momentum and using his experience to keep the younger swordsman from overwhelming him entirely.
Kadoya's blade carved wide arcs through the air, sometimes crashing down with both hands, other times flicking around in a single-handed swing, redirecting the momentum into the next blow. His Uchiha taijutsu bled seamlessly into every motion, low sweeps of his legs to knock Sakumo off balance, sudden shoulder checks, and sharp shifts that kept Sakumo guessing.
Sakumo's eyes sharpened, his breath calm and even. He twisted his blade, catching Kadoya's next swing and sliding it aside, then countered with a precise three-strike combo, overhead, side cut, low slash. Each strike was fast and measured, carrying the calm, lethal grace of a true master.
Kadoya didn't yield. He absorbed the pressure, pivoting with the final strike to twist his body into the flow of Sakumo's blade. Their swords clashed, the impact echoing through the rainy field like a crack of thunder.
Sakumo's lips curved into a smirk, a flicker of excitement in his eyes. "Not bad, you've grown faster."
"You're just slow," Kadoya shot back, a grin twisting his lips.
He dipped low, feinting high before lunging forward with a brutal thrust aimed at Sakumo's chest. Sakumo's eyes narrowed in focus, barely sidestepping as the blade skidded past his shoulder.
But Kadoya was already spinning again, using the missed thrust to coil his body and unleash a ferocious horizontal cut. Sakumo had to duck low, the air parting with the sheer force of Kadoya's swing.
The clash became a furious dance. Sakumo's movements were sharp and deliberate, each parry precise and measured. Kadoya was a storm, aggression, speed, and momentum all woven together, forcing Sakumo to match his intensity or be overrun.
Every time Sakumo tried to hold his ground, Kadoya pushed harder, pressing the advantage with savage precision. Sakumo realized quickly that the only way to stand against this onslaught was to keep moving, keep flowing with the storm Kadoya had become.
Sakumo stepped back, spinning his blade in a tight circle to catch Kadoya's next strike. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he redirected Kadoya's sword up and away, following through with a sudden downward cut toward Kadoya's shoulder.
Kadoya twisted again, the blade hissing past his arm. He stepped in, their shoulders brushing as their swords locked together. For a moment, it was a test of will, two blades pressing together, neither side giving an inch. But Kadoya let the clash slide down and away, breaking the deadlock before spinning quickly, building up momentum.
His blade smashed into Sakumo's, knocking the White Fang backward and forcing Sakumo to stumble a few steps.
Nearby, Minato watched with wide eyes, his crimson eyes reflecting every movement of the duel. His awe was plain on his face, seeing Kadoya weaving his own style of kenjutsu, fast and aggressive, made Minato's hands itch to try it himself.