Chapter 14 - Training ground and chakra nature test

{As a reminder, here's how it works:

"Normal talk"

'Thought'

*Tailed-beasts and the like talk*

~Tailed-beasts and the like thought~

}

Soon after Hiruzen came over, Jiraiya and Sakumo soon followed.

'Surely, they passed the test, my cute little disciple really did some work… He thought outside the box and prepared an ambush on Minato-kun, even when his opponent pulled out a surprising technique, he was still calm enough to react in time'

Sakumo was looking at him with a stern gaze, analyzing him in his mind, while thinking about how to teach him.

'sigh, I can't plan fully yet, as I don't know all his chakra natures, but because magnet style is the combination of wind release and earth release, it should be safe too ȧssume he can use those… earth release is definitely a yes, as proved by the earth release: hiding like a mole technique, but I have no idea how proficient he is with either of them, I should test him as soon as possible'

Although his soon to be pupil lost, Jiraiya was no less impressed with Minato, than Sakumo was with Yoshio. You could almost smell the anticipation from the teachers, but they were soon interrupted by Hiruzen clearing his throat, snapping them out of their daze.

"Minato-kun, Yoshio-kun, you both have passed this test splendidly, exceeding not only the requirements to become genin, but also broke my ȧssessment of your abilities, which are clearly beyond genin… you have therefore passed the test, and will from now on be considered ȧduŀts and ninja of Konohagakure…"

"Thank you hokage-sama!"

Both Minato and I shouted at Hiruzen, and while we might have expected it and looked forward to it with anticipation for six months, it was still something else to actually achieve it.

"While I have already accepted you, it is not me who makes the decision, if Jiraiya-san and Sakumo-san wants to take you on as their disciples, but guessing from their expressions, they will probably accept you"

Hiruzen chuckled after the last sentence, probably because of Jiraiya and Sakumo still being deep in thought, only realizing shortly after, that it was their turn to speak.

"You bet, how could I, the legendary toad sage of mount Myoboku, let such talent go to waste… he might not be a cute girl, but I'll take him!"

"sigh, Jiraiya-san, you never stop thinking about girls huh, how is it going with Tsunade by the way, I heard she got a boyfriend… what was his name again? Dan Kato, right?"

"Urgh"

"Haha, you are so easy Jiraiya… anyway, back on topic, of course I will also accept Yoshio-kun as my apprentice, if he is willing that is"

"Of course, I'm willing, Sakumo-sensei"

I quickly answered back, even though I was still surprised by their interaction earlier.

'I never knew Jiraiya and Sakumo were familiar with each other to this point, though, it is good to know Dan isn't dead yet, since Tsunade might be valuable later, if she doesn't develop hemophobia… Dan should be the main cause of it, but she only got mentally broken after Nawaki's death, and since I have become friends with him, I don't want to just let him die'

"Good, you both accepted"

Hiruzen took a deep breath and puffed his pipe.

"Although I would like if you had more time, we are still at war and you two are some of the most important jonin in the village, so I can give you a month in the village to train you apprentices at most, before you are expected to be back on the frontlines"

"Hai! That is understandable hokage-sama, since time is scarce, I would like to begin as soon as possible"

Sakumo turned his head towards me, before he continued speaking.

"Yoshio-kun, you look like you aren't too exhausted, as such, we will begin training in one hour at training ground five, I have to get some stuff first, so use this time to relax a bit, ja ne"

As soon as he was done talking, Sakumo left the training field in a spiral of leaves.

'I have heard many things from the villagers about him, but he behaves an awful lot like Kakashi did… minus being lazy and late…'

"Minato! I can't let you fall behind your brother, so we too will start our training in an hour, just meet me at the hot springs"

After my quick meal, I was of towards training ground five, to meet with Sakumo for my first lesson.

'This place looks… shady at best, why would Sakumo pick this place as our meeting place?'

Training ground five was one of the larger training grounds, only being smaller than the infamous training ground 44, known as the forest of death, as well as some of the clan owned ones…

"Yo!"

'HOLY MOTHER OF BULLSHIT!'

I quickly turned around towards the sound, while I simultaneously released all the dust in my seal.

'He managed to sneak up on me, one of the best sensors in the village after Mito… that proves his strength. I don't recognize his chakra signature, so I better get ready for an all-out fight, if this goes south, I should find a way to contact Hiruzen, informing him of the breach, someone at this level is out of my league! Huh…'

"Chill, my cute apprentice, no need to go all defensive on me, but I guess this is good, I wanted to test what you would do, in the case of a surprise ambush by a stronger opponent, and your reaction was pretty quick, even though I managed to sneak up on you…"

'So, it was just Sakumo… damn, I hope this surprise thing continues, or I might have a heart attack'

"You seriously scared me Sakumo-sensei, by the way, what happened to this place?"

I began to retract my dust back into the seal, as I looked around.

'This place looks like it just experienced a forest fire, an earthquake and possibly a flood… at the same time'

The trees around me were black, burned to a crisp and turned into charcoal, the earth was cracked multiple places, with many of the black trees knocked to the ground, furthermore, the cracks in the ground were filled with water, also creating many small lakes in the surroundings.

"It certainly is a new look, huh. Well it's fine anyway, we weren't going to do any hardcore training anyway, the main purpose was this"

He pulled out what was obviously a chakra nature testing paper…

"Do you know what this is?"

"Hai sensei, that is chakra nature testing paper, which is used to test the elemental affinity of one's chakra. When said person channels some chakra into it, it will react by either; crumbling if it's earth, wrinkle if it's lightning, split in half if it's wind, burn if it's fire or get soggy if it's water…"

"Good, anything else?"

"It can do multiple at once, with the size of the sections affected, showing which has the higher affinity, and will sometime react differently if an elemental kekkei genkai is involved, such as my magnet release"

"Good, very good, now take this and channel some chakra into it, I don't have any idea what your magnet release will do, but let's try, so we can find out"

I took the piece of paper from Sakumo's hand, and channeled some chakra into it, which lead to a reaction shortly after. Out of surprise from the intense and spontaneous reaction, I let got of the paper, only to be even more shocked…

'???'

Both of us was looking at the paper, unable to fully comprehend the papers reaction…

"Is it supposed to do that sensei?"

"Probably not, I have never seen something like this before"

We both kept our eyes on the paper, our brains having short-circuited, and when I finally overcame the shock, I only had one thought on my mind…

'This is going to be a mess'