Chapter – 15 Jiraiya’s Enlightenment (Patreon)

[Translator’s Note: Tatsumi’s Number is changed to ‘4’ from ‘8’]

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How far can a shinobi with a Commoner background go? What is the upper limit of a Commoner?

To answer these questions, shinobi like Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Might Guy are very good examples. All three of them came from Commoner backgrounds and went on to become legends in the Shinobi World. Jiraiya and Orochimaru are the legendary Sannin, while Might Guy becomes the absolute Chad and attempts to kick the Uchiha Madara to death.

Of course, Namikaze Minato standing in front of Tatsumi is also a very good example.

Minato’s parents were shinobi from a civilian background, and they died on a mission as nobodies. Since their death, Minato had lived in the Konoha Orphanage.

For some reason, Minato admired Hokage and decided to enter the Ninja Academy, which he succeeded and even managed to become part of the best class. Be that as it may, he didn’t really have any knowledge of Jutsu and other Ninja Arts. All he did was watch a few grownups (shinobi) doing some basic physical exercise and tried to copy them when he was alone. No matter how hard he worked, these basic exercises were not enough for someone like Minato to become a great shinobi.

That’s where the Ninja Academy comes in. It is responsible for teaching young trainees all sorts of important things such as the three basic Jutsu, theoretical knowledge about tracking, retreating, information gathering, blending in, Shurikenjutsu, Taijutsu, and so on that a trainee requires to become a shinobi.

The knowledge taught at the Ninja Academy is supposed to be what a trainee needs to become an excellent shinobi and Minato put his heart and soul into mastering the school curriculum hoping that he would become the best. At least that’s what Minato had in mind back when he started at the academy, and this was also what most of the shinobi of a civilian background had told him.

However, encounters with several people in his class completely changed his perception. The reality that the trainees from different ‘noble clans’ were far superior to the likes of him made him understand that his initial assumptions were wrong, and that he needed to accept the new reality.

People like Uchiha Tatsumi, Senju Nawaki, Uchiha Mikoto, the Uchiha trio of Ryota, Kazama, and Hiroshi, the Ino-Shika-Cho, were definitely better than him in terms of strength.

It’s not that Minato was concerned about his talent, from what folks have told him he is very talented, however, the lack of opportunity to learn from his seniors, and the lack of proper guidance apart from what he received at the Ninja Academy made him realize that he had to change his approach if he wanted to become anything great.

For one, Minato understood that he needed to work hard, and if that was not enough, he had to work extra hard, but of course, that’s not the only thing he needed to do, he needed to be smart as well as opportunistic. At the same time, he knew that needed to increase his knowledge base about everything and everyone around him.

And that’s where this Practical Training Organized by the disciples of Hokage comes into play.

‘First battle of the day, and everyone is focusing on this battle… I can’t cut any corners!’ thought Minato as he looked at the boy in front of him who is a member of the Sarutobi Clan.

As Minato and the Sarutobi boy made a seal of confrontation, the referee signaled to begin the duel, “Begin!”

As soon as the signal to start the duel was given, Minato dashed toward the Sarutobi boy, and in the midst of his run, he quickly took out Shuriken from the Shinobi Bag tied around his waist and threw them at his opponent. He tried to cover as many retreat points of the Sarutobi-boy as possible.

The Sarutobi boy had taken out a Kunai from his Shinobi bag, and after deflecting all the Shuriken that came directly at him, he met the incoming Minato’s attack. The moment two collided, the Sarutobi-boy turned into a wooden log with a poof of white smoke.

Noting that his opponent had turned into a wooden log, Minato didn’t panic, he kicked the wooden log, and using it as a stepping he quickly turned around and deflected the Shuriken that was shot at him using his Kunai. There were five Shuriken, and by the time his Kunai had touched the fifth Shuriken, the Sarutobi boy was already upon him.

However, Minato didn’t panic, he seemed to have expected this; in response, he turned his body slightly, then clenched his fist and punched the gut of the Sarutobi boy.

But the Sarutobi boy seemed to have seen through Minato’s attack too as he shifted his weight in midair and kicked away Minato’s fist, which seemed to be a mistake as there was another Kunai hidden beneath Minato’s sleeve which he quickly took out.

Sarutobi-boy’s expression changed, he once again tried to shift his weight, but it seemed a little too late for him because despite his effort Minato’s Kunai had left its mark on him, Slash!

There was a long cut on his legs and blood dripped. Looking at the opponent’s injury, Minato–while remaining vigilant–asked, “Want to give up?”

The Sarutobi-boy did not reply immediately, but feeling the pain in his leg, and thinking of all the matches that were left, he nodded, “Hmm,” and accepted his defeat.

Immediately, the referee announced, “The winner is Namikaze Minato of the Class 1 – A!”

Jiraiya was impressed with Minato’s performance. As Minato walked back, he patted Minato on the shoulder, “Not bad, keep working hard, you will become a fine shinobi!” He was optimistic about Minato’s future.

Minato smiled as he accepted the praise, “Thank you Jiraiya-sama!”

Jiraiya then said, “Now go to Tsunade and make sure that you do not have any injuries for the next match.”

Minato nodded, “Yes!”

With that, the first duel concluded. For the next two duels, there wasn’t anything interesting, until finally, it was time for the participants with number four to duel, which means it was Uchiha Tatsumi’s turn.

“Tatsumi-kun, all the best!” Mikoto wished him good luck. Although she had absolute confidence that Tatsumi would win effortlessly, she still felt somewhat nervous as if the one fighting was her, not Tatsumi.

“I know!” nodded Tatsumi with a smile, then made his way to the platform.

As Tatsumi walked to the platform, suddenly there were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the crowd as girls squealed with excited faces and fascinated eyes.

“Aaah…. It’s Tatsumi-sama… he looked so handsome!”

“Tatsumi-sama is so cool; I wish he would become my boyfriend!”

“Tatsumi-sama, please go out with me, I really like you!”

Listening to the excited cheers of almost ninety percent young Kunoichi, Jiraiya was taken aback, “Isn’t this kid a bit too popular with the girls?!” and recalled his days at the academy where no one showed any interest in him.

Unaware of Jiraiya’s thoughts, Tatsumi climbed the platform and stood opposite his opponent, a young Inuzuka, who was already sweating, fully aware of Uchiha Tatsumi’s undefeatable strength.

The young Inuzuka still gritted his teeth and made the sign of confrontation to which Tatsumi responded as the referee signaled the start of the battle, begin!

SNAP! The moment the duel started, Tatsumi snapped his fingers and then there was nothing to do. The young Inuzuka’s body froze and collapsed head-first on the ground as he fell asleep.

For a moment, there was silence, but as the referee confirmed that the young Inuzuka had been subjected to a Genjutsu, and lost consciousness he declared, “The winner is Uchiha Tatsumi of the Class 1 – A!”

Immediately, cheers erupted! Most of them were obviously little girls who were already devoted fans of Tatsumi.

Once again, Jiraiya’s eyes widened, however, this team it wasn’t because of Tatsumi's popularity with the girls, but rather the means Tatsumi used to defeat the young Inuzuka child, “This child of the Uchiha Clan… he is good!”

Genjutsu is not something you would expect a trainee in his second year to use in a duel, not to mention the Genjutsu used by Uchiha Tatsumi seems to be a bit too effective.

There are multiple reasons behind such a thought. Genjutsu is the most difficult shinobi art to master among the three main branches of Jutsu which include Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. This is because Genjutsu requires very high Chakra Control from the user, not something a child as young as five or six years old can display.

In fact, even the fifth and sixth years hardly know a thing or two about Genjutsu and don’t have much knowledge of how to deal with Genjutsu in a fight. Therefore, when Jiraiya realized how easily Uchiha Tatsumi used a Genjutsu, he was really impressed by the boy’s performance. Compared to Minato, Tatsumi’s method of dealing with his opponent was much more fast, effective, and effortless.

Unaware of Jiraiya’s thoughts, Tatsumi formed the seal of reconciliation and returned back to his place.

As soon as he returned, Mikoto arrived by his side and asked, “Tatsumi-kun, are you okay?”

“Of course, that didn’t even take any effort,” nodded Tatsumi with a confident smile.

Mikoto smiled in relief, “That’s good.”

This kind of affectionate interaction between Tatsumi and Mikoto pierced through Jiraiya’s single heart, giving him ten thousand points of damage. Looking at the two children talking and laughing, he roared inside, “Why…? Why? Where did I go wrong on the path of life that Tsunade-chan never treats me like this?”

“Children these days are already in love, meanwhile I am still single! Why am I still single?!” cried Jiraiya as bitter tears of envy flowed through his eyes.

Looking at Jiraiya’s expression, Tatsumi grinned and suddenly had a strong urge to prank the famous Ero Sennin.

Hiding his not-so-good intentions, Tatsumi stepped closer to Jiraiya and whispered lightly, “Jiraiya-sama, do you want to know how to win Tsunade-sama’s heart?”

Jiraiya studied Tatsumi’s expression and found that the boy seemed to be serious. He hesitated a little, and then his desire for knowledge and wisdom in the field of love and women made him give up. In Jiraiya’s view, even if Uchiha Tatsumi is much younger than him, he is already the most popular boy among the girls, on top of that he seems to have a girlfriend too, ‘There must be some trick to it, and for the sake of the future of the Shinobi World, I must learn it!’ With this thought, he nodded, and asked, “Is there really a way to make Tsunade-chan fall in love with me?”

Tatsumi nodded with an extremely serious expression, “Yes… there is!” Internally, he couldn’t stop his evil laugh.

Unaware of the young boy’s bad intention, Jiraiya became excited, and asked, “Quickly… tell me… tell me!”

“Okay!” said Tatsumi and then whispered to Jiraiya’s ear, “So, it’s like this… first you do… then tell her… and after that… and to finally hit the nail…!”

Hearing Tatsumi’s method, Jiraiya looked a little skeptical, “Will this method really work? Won’t she hit me for this?”

Tatsumi nodded, “It worked for me… and based on my personal experience, girls like men who are dominant and take charge! You can’t always be passive, otherwise, you will be well friend-zoned!”

Tatsumi’s words widened his worldview, it was like the light of wisdom had finally shone on him, and he nodded, “I see… I see!”

“Alright then, Jiraiya-sama, I wish you luck, may the goddess of love bless you.” Said Tatsumi as he prepared to take his leave.

Jiraiya thanked Tatsumi, “Thank you boy. If this method really works, then even if you don’t make it to the top three, I will still accept you as my personal disciple!”

Tatsumi smiled, “Then I look forward to it, Jiraiya-sama!” then left.

As Tatsumi walked away, Mikoto couldn’t help but question him, “Tatsumi-kun… how can you give such advice to Jiraiya-sama!”

Tatsumi smiled, “Don’t worry… Mikoto-chan…” Then he held Mikoto’s chin and brought his face closer to her as whispered into her ear in a deep voice, “Besides, don’t you like it this way, my dear Mikoto?!”

“Wha–?” Taken aback, Mikoto’s eyes darted. Her face flushed in embarrassment, and she quickly ran away, “It… it’s my turn… I am going…!”

Tatsumi chuckled, and wished her good luck, “All the best Mikoto-chan!”

“Tha… Thank you Tatsumi-kun!” She replied without looking back. She was a little too embarrassed to directly look at Tatsumi after the previous interaction.

From a little distance, Jiraiya watched the interaction between Tatsumi and Mikoto, and his trust in the wisdom that Tatsumi had imparted him a few moments ago became stronger, “Yes, that’s how you do it… my approach was wrong the entire time, but now that I know the right way, I am sure to succeed!”

Hearing Jiraiya’s words, Tatsumi’s grin widened, ‘He is really going to get a few of his bones broken!’

While Tatsumi was grinning, Minato arrived beside him, and asked with a confused expression, “What are you thinking about Tatsumi-kun?”

Tatsumi answered, “Nothing interesting,” then changed the topic, “So, how is your body, was there anything serious?”

Minato smiled and shook his head, “Tsunade-sama confirmed that there are no problems.”

Tatsumi nodded, “That’s good.”

The two then turned to the platform, and Minato asked, “It's Mikoto-san’s turn, huh?”

Tatsumi nodded, “Yes.”