Chapter – 16 Collect Materials? (Patreon)

Mikoto stood at the arena with an extremely serious expression as her long ponytail and turtleneck t-shirt fluttered with the wind, giving her a heroic and charming look.

Although Mikoto is generally gentle, kind, and virtuous, in truth, she is the kind of person who is soft on the outside, but extremely strong on the inside. In fact, Mikoto’s mental fortitude is even better than Tatsumi's, the things she believes in and the principles she adheres to won’t change no matter what, and other than her Obaa san and Tatsumi, no one can convince her otherwise.

Naturally, Mikoto’s talent need not be emphasized, she is undoubtedly a genius, and despite being only seven years old she has already become extremely strong, in the entire second year at the Konoha Ninja Academy, there is no Kunoichi better than her, this is exactly how she has maintained her status as the only girl who can stand beside Uchiha Tatsumi.

And of course, Mikoto is extremely hard-working, so much so that even Tatsumi can’t compare to her. On a daily basis, she wakes up earlier than Tatsumi and sleeps later than him. Other than the time she spends taking care of her Obaa san, the rest of the time is spent on training various skills all for the sake of becoming better and improving herself.

Therefore, Mikoto’s strength is very high.

It’s just that she usually doesn’t show off her sharp edges and full strength unless absolutely necessary. However, when facing opponents, she doesn’t participate with half-baked intentions, all her moves are performed with extreme concentration without releasing any water to show respect to her opponents.

This is in stark contrast to the person standing opposite her who has a lazy and tired expression, as if he just woke up and didn’t even want to be here. He would much rather lay down under the shade of a tree and watch clouds than be here on the stage fighting against Uchiha Mikoto.

“Get ready boy, you are now at the battlefield!” Jiraiya reminded the boy whose temperament directly signaled his origins as a certain Nara who is afraid of trouble.

“Such a troublesome situation… I really wanted to sleep a little longer,” muttered the Nara boy as he surpassed another yawn.

“Nara Shikaku-san let’s do your best,” said Mikoto as she weaved the sign of Confrontation. Although the other party looked extremely lazy and seemed to be afraid of trouble, Mikoto did not look down on him nor did she drop her guard, this is because his IQ is as high as ‘190’ and he cannot be underestimated.

“Haah…” Nara Shikaku sighed as he looked at Uchiha Mikoto who seemed extremely serious, and couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Why did it have to be me facing her?’ he thought for a moment, and muttered to himself, “This fight might become troublesome!” after that he turned to Jiraiya and asked, “Jonin-sama, I am not feeling well, can I admit defeat, and withdraw from the fight?”

He who is afraid of trouble chose to directly withdraw.

Jiraiya was stunned, “Not feeling well?!”

He looked at the kid with a pineapple-shaped hairstyle and noticed that he looked extremely fine, ruddy, and strong. There was no sign of discomfort at all, it’s just that he wanted to avoid working too hard. But thinking of the other party’s background, he also understood the real reason.

The Naras have a certain tendency to avoid troublesome situations, it’s in their genes, and no matter what others say or do, this characteristic of their clan won’t change at all.

Understanding this, Jiraiya nodded, “Alright, it’s fine to withdraw if you want and the winner of this match will be Uchiha Mikoto, however, I will make sure to inform the leader of your clan that you did not even put any effort.”

“Uh… if it’s Tou-san, then there is no problem…” muttered Shikaku as he pocketed his hand, and after apologizing to Mikoto for accepting defeat without even a fight, he decided to walk away.

“You are mistaken, why would I inform your Chichiue? Isn’t the person who is really in charge of the Nara Clan the wife of the Nara Patriarch?!” said Jiraiya in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Hahahahaha….” Suddenly, the audience burst into laughter.

“…” Shikaku’s lips twitched, and he couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Tou-san, it seems that word about how much you fear Kaa-san has spread through the Jonin circle of Konoha.’ At the same time, cold sweat covered his back as he thought of his mother’s angry expression, ‘Can’t go home tonight… Kaa-san will kill me…!’

As Shikaku stepped down the arena, he suddenly noticed Chōza munching on a pack of potato chips, and suddenly his eyes brightened. He trotted all the way to where Chōza stood, and asked, “Chōza, can I stay at your place tonight for a sleepover? I really don’t feel like going home tonight.”

Chōza smiled and nodded, “Sure, Kaa-san and Tou-san will be happy to have you for a sleepover.”

Shikaku breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you…”

On the other side, after Mikoto stepped off the stage, she trotted all to way to Tatsumi’s side and said, “Tatsumi-kun, I am back.”

“Hmm… Mikoto-chan is so good, even Shikaku-kun was scared and directly accepted defeat.” Said Tatsumi while patting Mikoto’s head.

Although she didn’t show it on her face, Tatsumi knew she was disappointed, she wanted to fight and win the match, it’s a pity that her opponent was a Nara who was afraid of trouble, and directly gave up.

“It would have been fun if Nara Shikaku-san didn’t give up. If he fought seriously with me, perhaps I might have been the one to be defeated,” said Mikoto with a sigh.

“It’s fine… it’s fine… if you want to fight, then you can fight me… I am definitely stronger than him, if you defeat me, then you will be able to defeat him as well,” said Tatsumi with a smile.

“But I am completely helpless against you Tatsumi-kun,” said Mikoto with a pout, then she lowered her face and added with a blush, “And… and I don’t want to fight against you Tatsumi-kun, rather, I want to fight alongside you in the future…”

“I see, in that case, I will leave my back to you Mikoto-chan,” nodded Tatsumi with a gentle smile that made Mikoto’s heart skip a beat.

“Hai!” she nodded shyly.

…

He only wanted to learn the method of picking up girls from Uchiha Tatsumi but did not expect that he would be forced to watch such a thing.

"Yamero… Yamero… YAMERO!" Watching Tatsumi and Mikoto flirt, Jiraiya couldn’t stop himself anymore and wanted to stop them with all his willpower, he felt that he would be blinded if he continued to watch them flirt.

“Is this what they called legendary flirting and display of affection between lovers…? Uchiha Tatsumi is already so strong… his power is legendary, and it’s about to catch up with the SSS-Rank ninjutsu.” Jiraiya even felt that it might take him two lifetimes to learn all the techniques.

“Ahahaha… Tatsumi-kun and Mikoto-chan have always been like this…” spoke little sun Minato with a smile as he appeared beside Jiraiya.

“Why? Why? I am so good… I am the strongest, I am the most handsome, I am already a Jonin, but I don’t have a single girlfriend… but that kid is only six years old and hadn’t even graduated yet, despite that not only does he have a girlfriend to flirt with, but there are also so many girls looking at him with hearts in their eyes… why can’t it be me? Why? Why would Tsunade-chan choose Orochimaru over me? Why? Am I not better than Orochimaru?” Jiraiya cried bitter tears of envy.

Hearing Jiraiya’s cry, Minato was a little helpless, and tried to find words of reassurance, “Well, Jiraiya-sama is certainly strong and amazing, and I believe that you will definitely find someone amazing in the future… Being rejected right now must mean that there is someone better waiting for you in the future, right?”

“Right… someone better is waiting for me in the future…” nodded Jiraiya wiping away his tears of envy. Only then did he pay close attention to the boy who reassured him, and said, “Your words really moved me, boy, what is your name?”

“I am Namikaze Minato, currently, I am in the class 2-A of the Konoha Ninja Academy.” Minato introduced himself with a polite smile.

“Namikaze Minato from class 2-A… I see… Minato-kun, you are a very good boy… and I also watched your fight earlier, you are also talented. If you perform well today, then I promise that I will personally mentor you in the future.” Said Jiraiya, patting Minato’s back.

Among the three disciples of Sandaime Hokage, only Tsunade has a noble background, belonging to the Senju Clan of Konoha, while the other two, Orochimaru and Jiraiya are from the commoner background.

So maybe because of his competition with Orochimaru–who made that promise to personally mentor someone if they caught his eye–or because of his commoner connection with Minato, Jiraiya also made such a promise to Minato.

Minato who hadn’t expected Jiraiya to suddenly make such a promise was takenaback, “What? Really?”

Jiraiya nodded, “Indeed!”

“I see… then I will work hard and won’t disappoint you Jiraiya-sama!” said Minato excitedly.

“Okay… okay, don’t get excited, it’s your match next… and your opponent is that Uchiha boy,” said Jiraiya, quickly bringing back Minato to reality.

“Oh, it's Tatsumi-kun?” muttered Minato as he became a little nervous.

Noting the change in Minato’s temperament, Jiraiya couldn’t help but question, “Is he that strong?”

So, far, they haven’t really seen Tatsumi’s full strength, therefore, it’s difficult for him to determine just how strong the boy named Uchiha Tatsumi is with the results of just one match.

“Extremely strong, perhaps even the strongest in the academy!” said Minato as he surpassed his nervousness and said with a solemn tone, “I have fought against him hundreds of times, but never once have I managed to defeat him… I don’t even know how strong he is when he is serious because most of the time he only uses Genjutsu to defeat his opponents in a single move.”

“I see…” nodded Jiraiya as he looked at the Uchiha-boy who was being lovey-dovey with the Uchiha girl in a new light, and said, “The Genjutsu of the Uchiha Clan is also feared through the Shinobi World,” and asked Minato curious, “Do you have a plan to counter his Genjutsu?”

Minato’s smile immediately brightened, and he nodded, “Yes, I have indeed thought of something to overcome that flaw, although I don’t know how effective it would be,” then he clenched the Kunai in his hand and started to walk toward the arena after saying bye to Jiraiya, “I am going Jiraiya-sama, wish me luck.”

“Yes… go boy… go work hard and teach that Uchiha boy who is already dating a girl at such a young age the anger of us single dogs!” Jiraiya encouraged Minato.

Hearing Jiraiya’s words of encouragement, Minato almost stumbled to the ground and laughed sheepishly. He didn’t expect Jiraiya would say something like this.

“If you win, I will take you with me to collect materials and introduce you to a new world,” continued Jiraiya with a perverted grin.

…

As Minato walked to the center of the arena, Tatsumi who was standing opposite him, and already waiting for him, couldn’t help but question since he had noticed the little sun chatting with the future perverted sage for so long, “What did Jiraiya-sama say to you so excitedly earlier?”

“Could it be? Is he planning to take you along with him when he peeps at the bathing woman at the hot spring?” asked Tatsumi.

Before Minato could reply, Tatsumi continued, “Let me give you a word of advice Minato-kun, that kind of white-haired uncle is not a good person… look at him, he is already about to become an adult, and yet he doesn’t have a girlfriend… even Tsunade-sama continues to reject him… why do you think that is? It’s because he is a pervert… He will remain a pervert who likes to peep at women, and in the future, he will write ecchi books for perverts like him who are unable to get a girlfriend and have to rely on their right hand.”

“If you follow him to the hot springs, then the trajectory of your life will also be distorted, and, you too will have to rely on your right hand instead of being able to find yourself a girlfriend to take care of you…”

“Ahahaa…” Minato couldn’t help himself as he chuckled helplessly.

From the side, the said pervert couldn’t help but shout in a dissatisfied tone, “Hey brat… who are you accusing of peeping at? That’s how you collect material! What do you know about such things…? It’s an art! You are only a kid who knows nothing about that art!”

“And who are you accusing of writing ecchi books in the future? What I will write is the story of the Shinobi World that will become famous everywhere and transform the world! I will become the sage who transforms this ninja world with his books, not corrupt the minds of young boys with ecchi books!” Although he completely opposed the idea of writing ‘ecchi books’ in the future, internally, Jiraiya felt like the idea wasn’t bad, and he could definitely give it a try, ‘But I will have to use a pen name, can’t let others know that it’s me…!’

Orochimaru who watched everything from the side couldn’t help but curse Jiraiya for his foolishness, “…Idiot.”

Jiraiya roared angrily, “Who are you calling an idiot Orochimaru!”

Humph! Snorted Orochimaru, completely ignoring Jiraiya.