CHAPTER 4

Chapter Summary: Suzuki Hiroshi is given a go at trying out more Water Release Ninjutsu. He picks up hobbies. He discovers the wonders of fuinjutsu with the help of Minato. He creates plans to improve medical ninjutsu to help Rin.

The following days were quite fruitful. I mastered the Tree Climbing and Water Walking Exercises to its fullest, allowing me to smoothly travel between land, tree, and water smoothly and without delay. It only took two days.

Rin learned the Water Walking after three days while Obito learned Tree Climbing in a day and Water Walking in five days. It was honestly quite fast for genins. I guess we were just that talented?

Meanwhile, Minato-sensei gave me the go for Water Chakra Manipulation Training. It was quite hard, considering that it was a very advanced skill that even Jonins take months to learn. I did it in 2 hours though. I swear, Minato-sensei was about to cry because he's running out of things to teach me. I love how dedicated he is.

After making almost a hundred leaves wet, Minato-sensei thought it wise to learn other Water Release Ninjutsus. And so, it brought us to the office of the Hokage once more.

HOKAGE's OFFICE

"I hear you've been speeding through your training, Hiroshi-kun?", the Hokage started.

"It does seem that way, Hokage-sama.", I replied and my awkward laugh ran throughout the room.

Despite the very inhuman and speedy progress, Hokage-sama seemed pleased regardless. "I think it's also time for you to learn some Water Release Ninjutsu. I'll be providing you with three scrolls. There will be a versatile technique – something that could be used in almost any situation, a defensive technique, and a powerful offensive technique. I don't expect you to immediately learn them so, you can take your time unlike usual. After you are done with them, burn the scolls."

My eyes sparkled at the sight of the scrolls. Yum yum! Come to Daddy!

I regained my rationality and bowed down to the Hokage. "Thank you for trusting me, Hokage-sama. I promise to not disappoint you."

The Hokage only smiled mysteriously.

After leaving the Hokage Tower, I sprint-walked to Training Ground 3 where the rest of Team Minato was. Kakashi was once again glaring at the scrolls I was carrying. Obito and Rin seemed excited to see me and quickly loomed around me as they knew they contained Ninjutsu.

Rin excitedly squealed. "Are those really from the Hokage? Like, did he really hand them to you himself? That's amazing!"

Obito's eyes shined at what I was holding. "Are those really Ninjutsu scrolls? What kind are they? Are they cool? Powerful?"

I laughed at their reactions. "I still don't know yet. Want to see me try and find out?"

I got enthusiastic bobbing of heads as a reply.

I was standing in the water at the small river that was located at the edge of Training Grounds 3. Minato-sensei offered to not only observe but also help explain to me some parts that I would have problems with.

"What will you be trying first?", Minato-sensei asked.

"I think I want to try the versatile one first. The [Water Release: Water Bullet] was it?"

The [Water Release: Water Bullet] was truly a versatile technique depending on how knead the chakra, it could be used for all types of situations.

I first tried out how it would come out if I compressed it. I molded and kneaded the chakra as my hands weaved the signs. I compressed it into as little as half a finger and released the pressure from my mouth while aiming at a tree a few good meters away.

"That was it? It was so small! It wasn't even cool!", Obito complained.

Kakashi was quick to reprimand him. "Idiot, it's not about how cool it is. A ninjutsu that small could be useful for assassinations. It's all about how you use it."

"Kakashi's right, Obi-", Rin wasn't able to complete what she was saying as the sound of my water bullet hitting the tree resounded throughout the riverside.

We went near to the targeted tree and a hole about the size of a fist and a depth of a few centimeters was seen.

Obito freaked out, "Wouldn't that be able to kill an enemy immediately?"

"Probably not immediately. Enemy shinobi wear armor so any hit would have been lessened by it, not to mention that they would be unconsciously enhancing their bodies with chakra. You also have to take into consideration the fact that any enemy would try to block something meant to harm them to the best of their ability.", Minato was quick to explain.

"I don't think I could make it much more powerful than that. I mean I could but I'd be risking stealth for power since I can't endlessly compress chakra into a small bullet and it would have to become bigger.", I thought out loud.

"So, depending on the amount of chakra, you could make it bigger and powerful. Hmm… Well, we could think about its further uses later. Here's another scroll. It's [Water Release: Water Formation Wall].", Minato-sensei handed me another scroll.

The jutsu's creation varied on terrain. On land, you'd have to hit the ground with water released from the mouth to create a wall that rises upward and circles around the user. Since I was on water, I just weaved through the hand signs and let the around me rise and circle around me, forming a wall. And in order to satisfy dissatisfied audiences – well, Obito – I used a generous amount of chakra to create a bigger and sturdier wall.

As the jutsu came to life, I gaped at how big it was. The wall I conjured up could easily cover at most fifteen people. It was bigger than I expected it to be considering that the chakra I used wasn't too much. Thank Kami for my talents. I love my affinity with water.

With the wall still rising up, Obito was exclaimed, "Now that's cool! A big wall of water that would protect allies from enemies! Though, it's not as cool as my Great Fireball, I guess."

We all just sighed at his antics and the wall finally let down.

"Can you still go on? That was a big one. I could understand if it dried you out chakra reserves.", Minato-sensei said with concern.

"Yup. I could still go on. Believe it or not, until now, the jutsus I used only cost me a quarter of my reserves. I could still go on, Minato-sensei.", I said which made him think.

"Wow. I would have thought that it would drain your chakra by half. Your affinity towards water must be so high to forego and reduce chakra cost for something so big.", He pondered then handed me the last scroll. "Well, if you're so sure, then fine. Just don't push yourself too hard, okay? This last one is quite powerful."

The last scroll was a familiar one, the [Water Realease: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu]. Future Kakashi was supposed to use it against Momochi Zabuza in the Land of Waves Arc during his Genin Team's C-rank mission that went wrong.

Looking back at my past life's memories, I always thought that Kakashi became so weak than he was supposed to be because of the constant draining of chakra due to the implanted Sharingan. He was so weak that a single use of the [Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu] drained a lot out of him. But looking at the technique now, the amount of chakra used wasn't something to laugh at.

It was annoying to see a lot of hand signs but I still weaved through them, taking a minute to complete. Once completed though, it alarmed me as my chakra instantly surged around my stomach. I expelled the chakra out of my mouth and a large dragon came out. My biggest mistake was not having a clear target beforehand and so, the dragon thrashed around aimlessly for a few seconds. I had to manually control the dragon with my hands as a guide to let it hit the water.

The dragon did as it was controlled to do and hit the water but it also created a large wave. A slightly mini-tsunami formed and I had to use a [Water Release: Water Formation Wall] in order to protect the training grounds and the team. It had the job done, but consecutive use of both the water dragon and water wall left me drained than ever before.

Minato-sensei was quick to come to my side. "You probably shouldn't do the water dragon just yet."

"Yes. I probably shouldn't."

I'll still be trying though.

Due to the incident, I was barred from any training for a full week. It was the first time that my chakra almost completely drained so I was definitely feeling the effects. I was clearly frustrated since all I did was train until that time. And that was perhaps the problem.

"You need a hobby. One that doesn't involve being a shinobi. That's what you'll be focusing on for the rest of the week.", Minato-sensei said with finality and went back to the team.

The rest of Team Minato were having a three-way spar. Minato-sensei said it would provide training for having multiple enemies. But I think he just does it to subdue Obito's battle-hunger and Kakashi's boredom from all the D-ranks they were going through.

"A hobby, huh?" Maybe I could take up gardening? Or maybe landscaping?

I was coming back from the weapons shop when I decided to walk around the village to find a hobby.

Maybe I could cook? Yeah? There were a lot of unusual recipes in my past life's memories. Maybe I could introduce some more food culture to this world?

I was definitely going for cooking. But it wasn't enough for me. I don't even have a fully equipped and functional kitchen.

It was when I walked by an arts and crafts store that I had an epiphany of sorts. As if on automatic, I remembered past-life me feeling happy as I held a brush and squeezed a tube of paint.

I was going for painting as well. And while I'm at it, origami too.

Maybe I could even create decent jutsus out of them?

"Wow! Drawing, huh? Now that's a hobby! Congratulations!", Minato-sensei said with satisfaction as I showed him a view of the village from the Hokage Mountain that I drew on my sketchbook.

"Actually, it's painting. But I decided to take it slow as to not disappoint myself or something so I'm starting with that."

Rin held my sketchbook and flipped through its pages and seeing drawings of different parts of the village. "Wow. These are beautiful!" She then saw a portrait of herself perfectly drawn on a page. She looked at me bashfully while having a nice red tint on her cheeks. I hope she doesn't mistake it for something romantic. I'd hate to be at the end of Obito's ire. He literally was willing to destroy the world for her and I'm not willing to be at the other end of that.

"Oh, I drew that so you could have it. I think it came out pretty good.", I offered.

Rin was delighted. "Really?! Thank you so much! I'll be sure to cherish it!" She then looked at the drawing with awe written on her face. Was it that good? I just thought it was okay.

Kakashi was looking over Rin's shoulders while she continued to check the sketchbook. "It would be nice to create jutsu out of them.", he said.

"I was planning to.", I mumbled and he seemed to have hear as he nodded. I hope Minato-sensei didn't hear that.

Seeing that everyone was doing their own thing, I took out my origami set and proceeded to fold them into origami figures. Rin saw what I was doing and watched with expectation. I folded her a rose then gave it to her. She was a girl so she must like flowers.

She marveled at the paper rose and mumbled a thank you. I continued on with my folding and created a paper crane.

There was something special about my origami figures. I learned how to make them move as if they were real ones when I infused them with chakra. I may have dedicated a day to study on how to do it. Unintentionally.

I breathed life into my paper crane and made it fly through the air. Rin cutely exclaimed as she looked at how the paper crane glided and flapped its wings.

Minato-sensei saw this and was slightly disappointed. "I thought I told you to find a hobby that didn't involve the shinobi arts?"

"Would you believe it if I claimed that my Jutsu Creation Book mysteriously flew into my hands and forced me to read it?", I said with a hint of naughtiness.

Kakashi heard my lame excuse and snorted. Minato-sensei just sighed dejectedly and continued training his sensing.

Meanwhile, Obito was mumbling grievances about art while throwing shuriken at a wooden post. "What's so good about a drawing and some paper, anyway?"

Oh dear.

I was growing increasingly curious about Minato-sensei's three-pronged kunai. I get that it helped make his [Flying Thunder God Jutsu] powerful enough to earn him the moniker 'Yellow Flash'. What I didn't get was how it was so hard to create the seal. According to my past life's memories, it took Minato-sensei a very long time before being able to effectively use the [Flying Thunder God Jutsu] in battle. It was also stated that it was only him that was known to have replicated it from the Second Hokage's notes on his version of the technique. Its difficulty was crystal clear since even other seal masters like Jiraiya of the Sannin and Uzumaki Kushina didn't even try to replicate it like Minato-sensei did.

I know that fuinjutsu isn't just scribbling ink on a piece of paper. My questions stemmed on how it was possible to put precise and complex instructions into a medium as simple as paper.

When I asked exactly that, Minato-sensei decided to dedicate the whole day to share the wonders of the Art of Fuinjutsu to his students.

"Oh! You have a lot to learn with fuinjutsu!", Minato-sensei claimed and proceeded to drill into our heads the basics. Basics which didn't feel like basics.

At the start of his lecture, every one of us was attentive to learning. It was undeniable that Namikaze Minato was one of the strongest shinobi within Konoha so if he said that fuinjutsu made him strong, anyone would be willing to at least hear about the art no matter how obscure it is.

We all dreaded at some point of his lecture, though. Obito was the first to give up with his head probably swirling with all kinds of calligraphy figures and mathematical calculations. He then proceeded to glare at me for the rest of the lecture as I was the one who started everything.

Rin persevered but gave up as well when the supposed basics suddenly shifted to heavy theory that was unknown to us until now. Minato-sensei talked about how different seal bases and seal matrices could affect the whole seal and how even the smallest change could alter the whole meaning of the seal. I swear, I think Rin was slightly annoyed as she glared my way from time to time.

Kakashi gave up from the start, he either already got this lecture from when he was still Minato-sensei's only student or he just has no interest. His eyes showed just how lazy and bored he was.

I, on the other hand, pulled through until the end of the lecture. It was quite hard to understand but it was certainly interesting. I just needed to be smart and dedicated to progress through the levels of fuinjutsu.

When dealing with fuinjutsu, Minato-sensei emphasized the importance of creativity. He claimed that a master of fuinjutsu was able to solve numerous problems by thinking out of the box and going beyond the outside of said box. I don't know if I have that but I'll still try.

With the presence of my past life's memories though, I could think up a lot of ideas that I could maybe bring into this world through fuinjutsu.

It'll be just a matter of time.

After the event with the portrait and the paper rose, Rin and I got closer than ever before. Minato-sensei was glad that I was bonding with others while Kakashi didn't care. Obito, though, was very jealous.

Rin and I became close friends and she confided a lot of her problems with me. Most of the rants I heard from her was her chosen specialty, Medical Ninjutsu.

"Ugh! I swear, the current methods we have are too incomplete. There are things that can still be improved but no one tries."

"Then why choose to push through it? If it's so much trouble, it's probably too difficult."

"No! I want to be a kunoichi that is able to heal people no matter the situation. I know it's a little hypocritical seeing that most of our missions require us to kill but there's already too much hate in the world. I'd like to be able to remedy that, no matter how small."

It was quite inspiring, considering that she was a civilian-born. Civilians degrade shinobi's work to just killing and stealing and being demons that could breathe fireballs. It's nice to know that she wasn't influenced by those. Though, it probably helped that his father was a medical ninja before he died.

"So, what exactly is troubling you?", I asked to at least alleviate her frustrations.

"Well, you see, there's parts within the body that just can't be reached through external means, even with the [Mystical Palm Jutsu]. This means that you have to conduct surgery to open up the body and then directly apply healing. But what if you were in battle and surgery isn't an option you could take? I was trying to see if I could circumvent through that. Maybe I could fashion a medical kit for it or design invasive instruments that allow for external maneuvering?"

"You know, I think I could help you with that."

Rin's face brightened considerably. "Really?! How?"

"I was already planning to create a jutsu like that actually.", her face was lighting up with happiness. "I'd need your help with the technical and medical aspects though. Since it's a jutsu that we plan to be mass-used by medics, it needs to be perfect and working."

Rin frantically nodded. "Yes! I'll help in any way I can. Ahh! Thank you for this!"

She then went in for a hug. A bear hug that could squeeze the air out of me. She should probably reevaluate her career choices. She could be a real asset on the frontlines.

"Sure. Anything for you, Rin-chan." I choked out the words as she continued strangling me.

I could feel someone glaring daggers at me. Obito, I'm sorry I had to be such a good friend to your little crush.

He should just grow some balls and ask Rin-chan out.

A/N: Once again, I tell you that this note is useless therefore, you should proceed on to the next chapter.