Ch.242 An Urgent Matter!

After instructing Ido not to act recklessly, Uchiha Shinji sent her back to the main residence of the Kurama clan.

Currently, for Ido to move independently, she not only needed Yakumo's permission but also required Shinji to infuse her spirit with the ocular power of the Hogan to maintain her form. Therefore, even though Ido was inherently fierce and difficult to tame, she was still under control for the time being.

As for Yakumo's surgery, Shinji decided to put it on hold for now.

He wasn't sure what Tsunade had discovered about Yakumo, so it wasn't the right time to act rashly.

However, he would still use 'Wazunagi' every night to infuse some of Karin's Yang Release chakra into Yakumo's body, maintaining the illusion that her physical condition was improving.

Another morning arrived.

The sky was still dim, but the training grounds of the shinobi academy were already bustling with activity.

Perhaps inspired by the fact that even the frail and sickly Yakumo had started morning training, the number of female students participating in morning exercises had suddenly increased.

In one corner of the training grounds.

Mion, who was being supervised by Shinji during her training, said, "Shinji, why don't we invite Yakumo to train with us?"

Shinji glanced toward Yakumo, who was training alone in the distance.

Seeing that Shinji didn't object, Mion quickly ran over and started talking to Yakumo.

After listening to Mion, Yakumo turned her head to look at Shinji, then coldly shook her head, seemingly rejecting Mion's proposal.

Not long after, Mion returned to Shinji's side, pouting, "She doesn't want to train with us. She must still be upset about what happened last time!"

Shinji smiled but didn't say anything.

He could sense the competitive edge in Yakumo's gaze when she looked at him. It seemed she wanted to prove herself and regain her pride.

Undoubtedly.

In Yakumo's eyes, Shinji, who came from a prestigious clan and had topped the academy's exams twice in a row, was surrounded by too many accolades.

Thus, she had always seen him as a rival!

This was precisely why, when she had lowered her head to ask Shinji for special training, it had been a plea made after setting aside her pride.

Therefore, Shinji's cold refusal at the time had deeply hurt her.

Now that she saw hope for her body's recovery, she had regained her confidence and was ready to compete with Shinji, the academy's top genius!

Of course.

She had no idea that the one giving her hope in the shadows was none other than the very genius she was determined to defeat—Shinji himself!

Shinji wasn't bothered by Yakumo's attitude.

In fact, he didn't want all of his 'attendants' to be too closely associated with him in public, as it would increase the risk of exposure.

So, Yakumo's reluctance to train with Mion under his supervision was actually a good thing for him.

On the other side of the training grounds.

Naruto and Sakura approached Sasuke, who was practicing one-handed hand seals.

Sasuke had been working hard on one-handed seals because he had told Kakashi about how Shinji had used an enemy's hands to complete a seal during the exam. He had then asked Kakashi for advice on how to train for it.

After hearing this, Kakashi had marveled at Shinji's creativity but also pointed out that relying on an enemy's hands to complete seals was impractical in real combat.

Instead, Kakashi suggested that Sasuke practice one-handed seals.

However, Kakashi hadn't expected that his offhand remark would stick with Sasuke, becoming the latter's current goal.

But one-handed seals were no easy feat. Not only were they beyond the reach of most academy students, but even many Jonin couldn't master them. So, despite Sasuke's talent, he had made no progress in his training over the past few days.

Naruto asked, "Sasuke, can we train together?"

Annoyed, Sasuke glanced at Naruto and Sakura, "Don't bother me!"

Sakura quickly chimed in with a smile, "Sasuke, other teams are training together. Why don't we do the same?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah! Shikamaru and Kiba are training together, and they're improving really fast. Let's do it too!"

Sasuke looked around the training grounds.

He noticed that many teams were indeed training together, but his gaze was soon drawn to Shinji, who was supervising Mion's training instead of training himself.

Seeing Shinji waste time supervising others instead of training himself made Sasuke furious.

What frustrated him even more was that despite Shinji's apparent laziness, he had still topped the academy exams twice, leaving Sasuke with no room to argue.

Thus, he glanced at Naruto and Sakura, "If you can withstand three of my moves, then you can train with me."

"Just three moves!?"

Naruto was thrilled, rolling up his sleeves.

Sakura was also secretly pleased. If they only had to withstand three moves together, it meant each of them only needed to barely survive one and a half moves.

But just then, Sakura suddenly felt dizzy, then collapsed to the ground.

Naruto was shocked, "Sakura, what's wrong!?"

Whoosh!

Sasuke, who had already activated his Sharingan, appeared behind Naruto in a flash and kicked him away.

"If you can't even withstand three moves, you have no right to train with me!" Sasuke snorted, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Get lost. Don't bother me!"

In the distance.

On the rooftop of the academy building.

Watching this scene, Kakashi shook his head helplessly, "Sasuke really doesn't know how to hold back. How could he use genjutsu on his teammates with his Sharingan?"

Beside him, Jiraiya's gaze was fixed on Naruto. Watching the boy, who was now lying on the ground in a sorry state, Jiraiya fell into deep thought.

After a while, he asked, "How's Naruto's performance at the academy?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Not great. He's been at the bottom of the class for a long time. After the exam reforms, his ranking improved slightly because of Sasuke."

Jiraiya chuckled.

This was exactly like his own performance back in his academy days—a dead-last. And Sasuke, Naruto's teammate, bore some resemblance to Orochimaru in his youth.

Then, Jiraiya asked, "Who are the top performers?"

Kakashi pointed to the training grounds, "Currently, the top-ranked student is Uchiha Shinji, followed by Kimimaro in second place, Neji Hyuga in third, and Sasuke Uchiha in fourth. All of them are far beyond the level of ordinary academy students."

Jiraiya smiled, "An Uchiha without an activated Sharingan is stronger than an Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan?"

Kakashi replied, "Uchiha Shinji is undoubtedly a genius. If he can awaken his Sharingan in the future, his potential won't be inferior to Sasuke's."

"For you to give such high praise, this kid must truly be exceptional."

With that, Jiraiya's gaze returned to Naruto, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Naruto was not only the child of his beloved student but also the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki of the village. With the Akatsuki clearly targeting Jinchūriki, it was now an urgent matter to improve Naruto's strength as quickly as possible...