The mesmerizing dance moves, paired with the mountain scenery, were specially created to prevent the dance from becoming monotonous—this was the essence of the D-rank technique Demonic BGM.
Minato's two dance performances received unanimous praise from the audience at the venue. After a brief moment of joking around, Guy, Kakashi, and the others resumed their grueling training. Only Obito hesitated before approaching Kei to ask if he could teach him the two songs and their corresponding dance routines.
He just thought the teacher's dance was amazing, and it would be a shame if no one else learned it. Unsurprisingly, in the afternoon, Obito ended up receiving special attention from Minato. Because during lunch, he ate his rice before picking up his vegetables, he was forced to do extra training for over an hour.
In the afternoon, Minato and Kei did not spar again but instead focused on organizing and reflecting on their battle experiences.
They analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of Crow Flying Thunder God and Flying Thunder God kunai in real combat.
The former was agile and swift, significantly increasing attack height.
It eliminated the need to re-throw kunai after every attack and spared the user the trouble of calculating every single landing point for Flying Thunder God. In high-speed battles, it allowed the user of the technique to exhibit even greater speed. However, its flaw was also obvious—many times, a crow's flight trajectory was somewhat predictable. And if it got too close to the target, it was susceptible to being taken down.
As for the latter, continuously throwing Flying Thunder God kunai ensured that each attack could achieve the intended effect, making it even deadlier. The unpredictable spatial landing points made it difficult for enemies to effectively counter.
However, against large numbers of enemies or extremely fast opponents, it required more throws and more precise landing point calculations, drastically increasing the number of spatial transfers needed. Additionally, while each throw didn't take much time, repeating the process too often could allow opponents with faster jutsu activation to exploit timing gaps.
This was a troubling issue for Minato.
In the previous battle, he had used Flying Thunder God three to four times more frequently than his close friend! The reasons boiled down to three key points:
When his friend enhanced his strength with the Great Water Arm Technique, Minato was at a disadvantage in raw power. This forced him to rely on spatial transfers to reposition, unload force, and increase speed—essentially trading speed for power.
The summoned crows were genuinely troublesome! He was starting to consider whether he should also raise some summoning crows.
In Konoha, most of the crow summoning beasts had been bred for generations. With the help of secret medicine during their juvenile stage and proper summoning beast training, they could become reliable battle assets in as little as three months.
Although their chakra reserves were nowhere near as abundant as the toads of Mount Myōboku, their short-burst speed, combined with the unpredictable attacks of their summoner, was enough to give even him a headache.
The most important point! He absolutely needed to add anti-theft measures to his Flying Thunder God marks!
At the very least, the kunai he used while sparring with Kei had to be modified! His Flying Thunder God kunai were meant for his use, okay?!
Kei had the audacity to preemptively teleport using his technique, then throw the kunai far away and make him retrieve it. Was that even fair?! Was he treating him like a ninja dog playing fetch?!
Not to mention, several times, he thought he had caught an opening, only for Kei to use his space-time coordinates to escape—worse yet, even using it to force him into an even worse position.
He understood very clearly. If he continued fighting under this rhythm, his disadvantage would only grow.
That was why he made the risky decision to try inscribing the Flying Thunder God mark directly onto Kei's body.
But what he didn't expect that Kei had anticipated this move long beforehand and used it as a trap, successfully taking him down.
It looks like I've been slacking a bit... Minato glanced at his friend, who was sitting cross-legged on the rooftop in deep thought.
He secretly resolved to train even harder from now on.
Dancing wasn't something he particularly rejected, but if his best friend were the one dancing instead... well, that would be way more entertaining.
Hmm... I remember Mount Myōboku has a technique called Toad Flatness — Shadow Manipulation Technique, right?
Minato rubbed his chin. He had just found the perfect alternative to the Body Flicker Technique.
Next time! Yes! Next time, he would definitely make Kei dance properly for him!
Kei suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his itchy nose and instinctively glanced at the lakeside pavilion, where Minato was writing and sketching on a scroll.
This guy… he was no longer the simple and naive little sunshine he once was. Lately, his attacks had been getting darker and more ruthless. What kind of "good guy" aimed straight for the lower body in close combat?!
Luckily, his proficiency in the Hydrification Technique was high enough—otherwise, his fate would have been too tragic to imagine...
"Chakra, ah, chakra~" Kei sighed, growing even more eager to obtain an ability that could increase his chakra reserves.
If only he had as much chakra as Minato… Would he have needed to be so stingy in that last fight, hesitating to even use Flying Thunder God a few extra times?
And if he had chakra on the level of Hashirama?
"This afternoon, I need to tell Shikaku to pick a mission in the Land of Iron," Kei mumbled to himself.
He had already prepared everything he could.
All he needed now was the right mission—one that would allow him to legitimately leave Konoha and head to the Land of Iron to find Madara!
Time flowed quickly in this peaceful and stable life. The tranquility of the Training Cave made it hard to feel the tension of the approaching Third Great Ninja War.
Mornings were spent sparring with Minato, afternoons dedicated to solo training or occasionally guiding the three young ones. And at night—holding a soft, fragrant Kushina in his arms, enjoying the rare moments of leisure together.
Before he knew it, mid-November had arrived.
Just as he was wondering whether Shikaku was reliable or not, because the guy hadn't completed either of the two tasks he had asked him to do, the Third Hokage summoned him once again.
The large office was filled with swirling smoke.
Hiruzen held his pipe between his lips, standing with his back to the sunset, exhaling clouds of smoke. The golden sunlight failed to illuminate his figure; instead, it cast a shadow over his face, making him look even more solemn and heavy-hearted.
Recently, there had been frequent disturbances along the borders of the Land of Fire, with various ninja encampments experiencing sporadic harassment.
Certain ninja villages could no longer hold back their impatience to test Konoha's defenses. But these weren't just random provocations encountered during missions, nor were they deliberate ambushes outside the village targeting specific individuals.
These were border outposts.
They represented Konoha's dignity and the territorial sovereignty of the Land of Fire! If they couldn't retaliate harshly enough or successfully redirect their enemies' attention...
"Kei, I need you to go to Kumo and carry out a classified mission. There, you will make contact with our undercover intelligence agent who will assist and provide you with intelligence support."
Hiruzen's voice was unusually serious and heavy.
He tossed a scroll over. It bore no ranking classification, but every single word written inside was enough to make any timid ninja's heart stop beating.
Kei pressed his lips together, cursing internally as he flipped off Shikaku in his mind.
What the hell... He had waited over ten days. And now, the mission destination wasn't the Land of Iron—it was the Land of Lightning?!
And... This mission difficulty… was this for real?!