Chapter Four
Early the next morning.
In a wooded area of Konoha Village—
"One thousand nine hundred and ninety-five..."
Beneath the trunk of a large tree, a white-haired boy was upside down, doing sit-ups against the tree bark.
Back in his youth, Jiraiya had long been accustomed to this kind of training. The benefit of it was not only physical conditioning—it also required him to continuously release a precise amount of chakra to maintain his position upside down on the trunk. This was not only good for building chakra but also excellent training in fine chakra control.
Compared to the new generation of genin during Naruto's era decades later, the standard of graduates at this time was significantly higher. Basic chakra control skills like tree-climbing and water-walking were required before graduating from the Ninja Academy.
This was because Konoha, during this era, wasn't exactly peaceful. Though the First Great Ninja War had just ended, tensions between Konoha and the Cloud Village remained extremely high due to the death of the Second Hokage.
Another war could break out at any moment.
Even freshly graduated genin could be dispatched to the battlefield.
Jiraiya understood this reality better than anyone. Naturally, he wanted to quickly strengthen himself. Even though he had high-level combat experience and knowledge of countless advanced jutsu, his current six-year-old body was far too weak—experience and jutsu alone weren't enough to make up for it.
"Two thousand."
As he finished the final repetition, Jiraiya released the chakra from his feet and dropped down from the tree. With a mid-air twist, he landed smoothly on the ground.
"That should do it."
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jiraiya pulled out a piece of rations from his pouch and began eating.
Last night, he made a lot of decisions.
Since he had been reborn into this era, he intended to use his knowledge of the future to change the fate of Konoha—and perhaps the entire ninja world.
Not to mention the distant threat of the Ōtsutsuki clan—for now, the ninja world was merely held together by a fragile balance.
There was a lot he could do.
The site of today's test was Training Ground 7 in Konoha. Upon arriving, Jiraiya didn't immediately step in because he knew Tsunade's temper well. She wouldn't let last night's incident go so easily.
So he hid in a tree nearby. From there, he could observe most of the training field.
Inside, Tsunade and Orochimaru had already arrived.
Tsunade stood with her hands on her hips, clearly furious. Jiraiya, expecting this, decided to wait until Sarutobi-sensei arrived before showing himself.
That way, he could insist that last night's incident had been Sarutobi's doing, and Tsunade wouldn't be able to touch him.
Pleased with his foolproof plan, Jiraiya lowered his eyelids and couldn't help but grin, flashing a set of white teeth with a mischievous look on his face.
"What's got you so happy? Let me hear it," a soft voice suddenly whispered in his ear.
"Nothing much," Jiraiya replied casually.
"Oh," the voice responded again.
And then, before Jiraiya could react, he suddenly felt... weightless.
It felt like he was flying.
"Wait, no…"
Realizing something was wrong, he quickly turned his head—only to see Sarutobi Hiruzen standing right beside him, holding him up by the collar with a sly smile on his face.
"Pretty clever, aren't you?" Sarutobi said. Then, without warning, he swung Jiraiya and threw him toward the center of the training ground, right where Tsunade and Orochimaru were standing.
"Damn it!"
Jiraiya panicked inside. But it was already too late.
He flipped several times midair to disperse the force from Sarutobi's throw, landing and rolling before finally coming to a stop.
When he looked up, the first thing he saw was a pair of pale, slender feet in ninja sandals.
Sarutobi had done it on purpose—he'd thrown Jiraiya to land right in front of her.
"Crap."
Jiraiya could feel an overwhelming aura looming above his head.
He looked up and saw Tsunade's furious face.
"Jiraiya, you bastard."
Tsunade grabbed him by the collar. Her other hand was already clenched into a fist.
"Tsunade, let me explain…"
Jiraiya felt a chill down his spine. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"AAAAAHHHHH—!!"
A pig-slaughtering scream echoed across the entire training ground, lasting for quite a while.
Eventually, Orochimaru stepped forward and caught Tsunade's wrist to stop her from continuing.
"We might still need him for today's test. Let's stop here."
Tsunade had already cooled off a bit, and hearing Orochimaru's words, she finally let go of Jiraiya, now beaten into a swollen mess.
At that moment, a figure stepped out before the three of them.
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and said, "Looks like everyone's quite energetic today."
Jiraiya crawled up from the ground, glaring viciously at Sarutobi. This was payback for getting tricked by Jiraiya last night.
But since Sarutobi had used Tsunade's hand to do it, Jiraiya had no way to retaliate.
Tsunade, meanwhile, still glared at Sarutobi. She had recognized his face from the night before.
She had known Sarutobi Hiruzen since she was a child—after all, he had been the student of both the First and Second Hokage—her grandfather and granduncle.
"I'm going to tell Granny Mito about what happened last night!" Tsunade shouted angrily.
Sarutobi's forehead immediately began sweating just like Jiraiya's had earlier.
Jiraiya, now with a face like a pig's, managed to force out a smile—one that looked more like crying.
It was a look that said, You're not getting away either.
But Sarutobi didn't forget the main purpose of the day. His expression turned serious as he addressed the three of them.
"You've all completed your graduation exams at the Ninja Academy. But that doesn't mean the three of you are qualified to become real ninjas."
As he spoke, he reached to his waist and pulled out two small bells.
"Today's final test is to take these two bells from me."
"In other words, only two of you can pass this test and become genin. The one who fails will be sent back to the Academy for further training."
While Sarutobi explained, Jiraiya remained calm. Though Orochimaru had anticipated some of this, the idea of being sent back to the Academy was quite threatening.
Even if Orochimaru had learned from Jiraiya that today's real test was about teamwork, that part still sounded serious.
"And if none of you can get the bells by sundown, then all three of you will be sent back. Even if you graduate in the future, you'll never be anything more than genin—there will be no chance of promotion for the rest of your lives."
"…What?"
Jiraiya noticed that Sarutobi's gaze was fixed on him and Orochimaru. His tone was dead serious—it didn't sound like he was joking at all.
This gave Jiraiya pause.
That's not right…
Why was this extra rule added all of a sudden?
(End of Chapter)