The night was deep, the bright moon hanging high, everything cloaked in silence.
"Ugh..."
On the hill behind Konoha village, Minato, lying flat on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes. They were a striking blue—beautiful and full of spirit, glowing even in the darkness.
"Did I pass out again?"
Minato murmured to himself, already accustomed to this situation. As a regular ninja with no notable background, keeping up with—and eventually surpassing—his classmates from prestigious clans like the Uchiha and Hyuga was no easy task.
All he could do was practice relentlessly while others rested.
Even though he possessed talent, compared to powerful lineages like the Uchiha or Hyuga, achieving his dream without effort was impossible.
Thinking about this, Minato felt these efforts weren't so bad after all. He sprang up to his feet.
"This…"
Unexpectedly, the usual body fatigue didn't come. Instead, he felt unusually light, more agile than before starting this training session.
"Could it be that today's training succeeded?"
At only seven years old, Minato didn't feel delighted about his sudden improvement. Today's training intensity had been normal—just basic Ninjutsu fundamentals.
Such dramatic progress shouldn't be possible.
He carefully examined his body but found nothing unusual.
"In that case..."
Unable to find any issues, the cautious Minato decided to test whether his training had truly succeeded.
His eyes narrowed in focus. [Chakra] within his body began gathering into both of his legs—an action Minato had repeated countless times.
Whoosh!
His figure transformed into a blur, golden hair trailing behind him. For that instant, he truly seemed like a flash of light.
"Uh-oh!"
But this time exceeded even his expectations. His speed and distance traveled were far greater than usual, and he hadn't anticipated drawing out such powerful chakra.
Right ahead of where he moved stood a large tree!
In this moment of crisis, Minato reacted faster than most Ninja Academy students ever could. He crossed his arms just in time to protect his head.
Boom!
A loud sound rang out as the tree slightly trembled. Finally stopping, the force of impact pushed Minato several meters backward. Unable yet to fully control this new chakra strength, he landed heavily onto the ground behind him.
"That hurts..."
Wincing in pain, Minato forced himself upright. Leaves rained down from the massive tree in front of him, landing at his feet.
Shaking his sore arms, Minato's young face revealed astonishment.
That burst of power from his legs—unprecedented in intensity—caught him completely off guard, leaving him in such a messy state.
However, soon a new question arose in his mind.
"This chakra... it's practically beyond the level of an ordinary genin..."
Minato thought to himself. Previously, he indeed possessed chakra at the genin level. Yet each time he performed that ninjutsu before, he could only move less than ten meters and would completely exhaust all his strength.
But this time, the distance had more than doubled, and the speed was incomparable as well. Even his reflexes, honed through long training, almost failed to keep up...
More importantly, although Minato felt physical fatigue, he lacked the usual sense of complete depletion. In other words, even now, he hadn't yet reached his limit.
After just one training session, had his chakra truly taken a qualitative leap?
According to theories taught at the Ninja Academy, chakra was a product of both physical and spiritual energy. As ninja, they could enhance their chakra through continuous refinement.
But such progress always required an extremely lengthy process, unless someone had a special physique like the Senju clan, who naturally possessed strong bodies from birth.
Minato knew he didn't have such a constitution. His parents were ordinary people. When he was very young, during a trip outside the village, bandits robbed and killed them.
That was also why Minato pursued his dream—if the village was his family now, then he wanted to protect everyone here from being harmed again.
Therefore, as an ordinary ninja, the hardships he must endure would be unimaginable—but they wouldn't stop him from chasing his dream.
The physical pain slowly eased. Minato slowly stood up, patting off the dust from himself. Once again, determination gathered within his deep-blue pupils.
"Just one more time!"
He turned around. Chakra once again concentrated at his calves, but this time he deliberately controlled the output instead of letting it surge wildly as before.
But with his chakra already drained, he barely moved five meters this time.
"Still not enough control..."
Minato murmured. He was still far from his ideal state. As a ninja, if one couldn't precisely control movement distance and direction during battle, death might follow.
He still had a dream to fulfill—how could he possibly die now?
Then he tried moving again—this time slightly better than before. But afterward, his chakra reserves were nearly completely gone.
"It's time to head back..."
After resting briefly, Minato got up. He had class at the Ninja Academy tomorrow—he couldn't possibly stay out all night.
Remaining a ninja meant maintaining full stamina at all times, another fundamental principle.
Soon after, he jogged away from the area. Even though his chakra was completely used up, Minato's physical conditioning was still solid for a genin.
Minato's house was by no means small, given that his parents had been merchants by trade. Yet, coming back to this empty house always brought a wave of disappointment to his eyes.
After all, he was only a seven-year-old child—still at the age where he should be pampering himself on his parents' laps. But… his parents were no longer around.
Still, as he stepped into the house, Minato clasped his hands and closed his eyes.
"I'm back!"
After simply washing up, Minato went directly upstairs to his room.
The window of his room faced straight toward Konoha's symbol—
[Hokage Rock!]
Three faces carved into the cliffside—the elders Minato deeply admired, and also the very embodiment of his dream.
[Hokage!]
...
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