"Yesterday, Sensei taught me the technique for one-handed seals. I asked him about it, and he said I could share the method with you. After all, when facing the samurai of the Land of Iron, traditional two-handed seals are far too inflexible."
At the gates of the Hidden Leaf, two boys with heavy dark circles under their eyes stood waiting for their teachers. Minato looked physically drained, his pale face a clear sign that he hadn't just pulled an all-nighter; he had endured a grueling physical workout as well.
Despite his exhaustion, his spirit remained high. He glanced at Tatsuma, who looked utterly listless, lazily cleaning the dirt from under his fingernails with a piece of tissue. Minato wanted to ask something, but he hesitated.
He had just offered to teach Tatsuma what he had learned. If he turned around and asked Tatsuma what he had studied last night, wouldn't it seem like he was fishing for a trade?
Still, Minato was dying to know. When he had asked Jiraiya earlier, his teacher had simply put on a mysterious face and said that Tatsuma's "harvest" would be exceptionally bountiful.
Tatsuma let out a long yawn, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye. "Last night..."
He paused as Minato's gaze grew increasingly curious, then finished with a weak, airy voice: "I spent the entire night taking baths."
Seeing Minato's expression turn weird, Tatsuma sighed. "I'm not kidding. Sensei pulled a prank on me, and it took me all night to get clean enough to be seen in public. As for learning... I have a lot of options, but I didn't have a spare second to actually practice. I did bring the scrolls out, though. One is a collection of notes on simplifying Water Style seals; the other is a treatise on defending against and countering Fire Style."
With that, Tatsuma pulled a scroll from his pouch and tossed it to Minato. "Take a look at this one on the road. I need to focus on the Water Style seals first."
Minato caught the scroll. He was about to take a peek while Jiraiya and the others were finalizing the exit permits, but the moment his hand touched the edge of the parchment, he noticed an odd glint in Tatsuma's eyes.
Having known Tatsuma for years, Minato knew exactly what that look meant. He instantly smelled a trap. Combined with Tatsuma's mention of Tsunade's prank and the "all-night bath," the pieces clicked.
Minato suddenly flashed a warm, radiant smile—one that seemed even brighter than the early spring sun—but his hands performed a deft maneuver. He flipped the scroll around and unrolled it directly toward Tatsuma.
Poof!
"Dammit! You set me up?!"
Tatsuma hadn't expected the "pure and innocent" Minato to have learned his dirty tricks. In an instant, his sleepiness vanished. His brain kicked into high gear, processing the situation at a speed only [Divine Intellect] could provide.
He had only had time to test one simplified seal for a Water Style jutsu before leaving home this morning, and he unleashed it now. His right hand formed a cupped palm, while his left thumb slammed down onto the right—a unique, abbreviated hand sign.
At that moment, the scroll in Minato's hand—primed with a prank seal—erupted. A massive cloud of fluorescent dye sprayed toward Tatsuma, accompanied by a sudden, rolling shockwave of air.
Tatsuma moved with lightning speed, crossing his ten fingers in front of his chest. Instantly, the morning mist that hadn't yet dissipated began to swirl toward him. The first drop of liquid condensed from the fog, followed by dozens more, spiraling around his body.
Guided by that first droplet, the surrounding moisture was rapidly converted and mobilized. In a mere heartbeat, a rotating cylinder of pressurized water manifested around Tatsuma.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
Thwack—!
The air blast and the neon dye slammed into the Water Wall. The thin barrier looked like it might shatter at any second, but it held with miraculous stability, swallowing the dye whole.
Because of the trapped pigment, the water barrier around Tatsuma suddenly began to glow with a brilliant, neon-green light. The display was so bright that the guard at the village gate leaped out of his booth, weapon drawn, thinking an enemy had breached the perimeter.
Splash!
Once he was sure the dye was contained, Tatsuma flicked his hand, sending the glowing water crashing to the side. He turned "furiously" toward Minato, ready to settle the score, but the guard's angry roar beat him to it.
"Hey! You two brats! What do you think you're doing?! It's too early for this! If you want to spar, take it to a training ground!"
"Ah! My deepest apologies!"
The smug, "prank successful" grin on Minato's face vanished instantly. He bowed deeply toward the guard, his face a mask of polite contrition.
Tatsuma didn't dare press his grievance either. He was the one who had tried to prank Minato first; he had simply underestimated Minato's observation skills and nearly played himself.
"Hmph! You've turned the ground into a neon mess! What are you going to do about that?!"
The guard was still fuming. The village gate was the first impression visitors had of the Hidden Leaf; a giant puddle of glowing green mud was a disaster for the village's image.
"Deepest apologies. Since my students caused this, it's only right that I, their teacher, fix it."
A tall figure dropped from the sky, wearing a conciliatory smile. Seeing Jiraiya, the guard's anger cooled slightly, though he still grumbled, "Jiraiya, it's bad enough that you're a walking disaster, but do you have to make your students just as bad? Don't let it happen again!"
"Of course, of course," Jiraiya promised.
The guard gave Jiraiya a nod, looked one last time at the glowing mud, and checked the exit permits Jiraiya had brought. Finally, he turned and headed back to his post.
Jiraiya turned around and promptly bonked both Tatsuma and Minato on the head. "Hmph! The second I turn my back, you two start causing trouble!"
Minato rubbed his head sheepishly. Actually, Jiraiya had hit his forehead protector, so it didn't hurt at all, but he knew enough to look properly scolded.
Tatsuma, however, was wincing in genuine pain. He wore his forehead protector as a bracer on his left arm; Jiraiya's knuckle had landed squarely on his bare skull.
Once the stinging subsided, Tatsuma asked curiously, "Jiraiya-sensei, where are Sensei and Lord Orochimaru?"
The three Sannin had gone to the Hokage building together, but only Jiraiya had shown up at the gate. Jiraiya scratched at his stubble and replied, "Orochimaru went with Sensei to prepare some diplomatic gifts. Tsunade went home to pack her bags."
"Bags? I have all of Sensei's gear right here," Tatsuma said, patting his large backpack.
"The clothes we wear in the field aren't the same as the clothes we need for a diplomatic envoy," Jiraiya explained. "I didn't think of it myself until Sensei mentioned it."
"Oh, right. Formal wear," Tatsuma said, nodding in realization. Then he glanced at Minato. "Minato and I don't have formal attire. Are we supposed to get it made on the fly?"
"Bah! We're commoners; who needs a custom suit? Orochimaru doesn't have one either. As long as Tsunade has hers, it's fine. Besides, her house is full of old clothes; you two can just borrow some of Nawaki's."
Jiraiya said it with an air of total indifference, then added as an afterthought, "I wonder if Tsunade has any uncles or cousins as tall as me. Wearing clothes that are too small is a nightmare."
Hearing that he didn't need to spend his own money, Tatsuma felt a wave of relief. He hated paying out of pocket for work-related expenses; buying those two winter coats yesterday had already been a blow to his wallet. He wasn't about to pay for a dress uniform he'd only wear once or twice.
"By the way, brat," Jiraiya said, looking at Tatsuma. "That Water Wall just now looked a bit... different."
He had seen the jutsu from a distance. He recognized it as the Water Wall, but the seals and the way the water manifested were unlike any version he knew.
"It's a version modified by the Second Lord," Tatsuma answered. "The seals are shorter, but it requires much higher chakra control and nature transformation. I still can't draw enough water or convert enough chakra to make a truly massive one."
"The Second Lord, eh? That explains it."
Jiraiya's curiosity was satisfied. He didn't press for details, knowing those scrolls now belonged to Tatsuma. As a teacher, he had his own bottom line; he wouldn't pry into his student's private inheritance unless the student offered to share.
However, his eyes soon drifted to the scroll in Minato's hand—the one covered in sealing formulas. "And what's that?"
"The Second Lord's notes on defending against and countering Fire Style. I hadn't unsealed it for Minato yet."
Tatsuma took the scroll back, wove a quick set of signs, and released the seal. The glowing ink faded, revealing the actual contents.
Jiraiya had averted his eyes the moment Tatsuma started the unsealing process. He simply gave a nostalgic sigh. "Countering Fire Style... classic Second Lord."
Minato was only now realizing the weight of the gift. These were the personal insights of the Second Hokage. He felt a surge of panic, remembering how carelessly he had just tossed the scroll around in their game of "prank-tag."
He hesitated, unsure if he should take it back. Seeing his hesitation, Tatsuma tossed the scroll to him again. "If I give it to you, study it. Just make sure you don't hold anything back when you teach me those one-handed seals."
Minato fumbled but caught the scroll. He looked at Jiraiya, and seeing his teacher nod, he replied solemnly, "I'll study it with everything I've got. And I'll teach you every secret of the one-handed seals. If you have questions I can't answer, I'll ask Sensei for you."
"Hmph! 'Ask Sensei,' he says. I'm standing right here!" Jiraiya joked.
Tatsuma and Minato both laughed. Just then, Orochimaru and Tsunade appeared, each carrying a large storage scroll.
Tsunade looked at Orochimaru, who gave a slight nod. Then, she turned to the group and gave the order:
"Move out! We need to reach the Land of Iron as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sensei!"
As they set off, Tatsuma glanced at Tsunade. He knew that for this mission, his teacher was the one in command.