[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 36.
...

...

On the southern coast of the Land of Fire, everything was naturally calm, waves crashing against the beach and the cliffs as the sun covered the entire place, but a sound caught attention in the middle of the sea at that moment.

"MINATO!!! HELP ME!!!!" In the middle of the sea, a carp leaped out of the water with a look of desperation, screaming towards the beach, Minato, who was training, looked towards the cry of despair and saw the blue cloak emerging from the water.

"What is he doing..." Minato murmured, looking at the carp's desperation, as it was trapped with a weight belt.

A moment later, a second explosion occurred, and a huge octopus emerged from the water behind it, hunting the poor fish. "MINATO, SAVE ME!!!" Guren yelled still in the air as he looked back thinking it would be his end.

A kunai passed by him at that moment, and as it approached the octopus, Minato appeared using his Raijin, in his hand as he flew towards the octopus, a rasengan grew and continued expanding.

Minato had made a rasengan much larger than him when he launched it at the aquatic animal. "OODAMA RASENGAN!" He announced before hitting the animal, killing it immediately with that amount of chakra.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!* The explosion lifted all the water while Guren finally managed to breathe.

"I'm saved!" Guren shouted joyfully.

"You have to be careful..." Minato commented, looking at the fish as he landed in the water.

"I can usually escape these creatures, but a human put hundreds of kilos on me!!" Guren grimaced as he complained.

"It was you who asked for the training, don't blame me…" Minato shrugged and turned to the octopus. "At least we have a different lunch today..." Minato commented while creating clones.

"We have to cook now for the original..."

"As always..."

The clones complained while Minato and Guren returned to the beach. "You're getting good, at least you don't have to just try not sinking anymore, I should start putting predators behind you." Minato commented amusingly to the fish.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Guren growled.

Another week had passed, Guren was getting used to the weights, and Minato had increased them even more, Minato also progressed, he didn't even need to make hand seals to perform the raijin anymore. This made him much faster in executing the technique, which had become instantaneous.

He was almost completing his jutsu with the rasenshuriken and had learned all the jutsu that the Hokage passed along with those he learned in the academy.

"There's almost nothing left that I need to learn in the academy... even I want to become a ninja now." Minato murmured to himself, and Guren heard.

"Are you going to the humans' war as you mentioned?" The fish asked.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to gaining experience on the battlefield." Minato commented.

"I understand..." Guren spoke a bit reluctantly, if he says he didn't like this human as a friend lately, he would be lying.

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to die... Besides, you'll have your own training here, I'll come by from time to time to see your progress, so I want to see you getting strong." Minato commented, also creating a certain bond with the animal, at least he had more affection than most of his classmates.

They continued training the rest of the day, until Minato returned to Konoha and went to rest, he went to class, and when he was going to class, he met someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Little Minato!" Jiraiya looked at him on the street and waved at him with a small smile.

"Jiraiya?" Minato was surprised by the presence of the elite jonin.

"Are you missing your sensei?" He commented, looking at Minato with the same smile.

"Well, I'm surprised at you, you came back from the war?" He asked.

"Yes, I came back because the Hokage called me. Looks like we'll be seeing each other soon, kid." He said, winking his eye.

"Don't tell me that..." Minato murmured.

"Yes, I hope to see you in the next few days, I want to see how you've grown since the last time I saw your progress." He said with a small smile again.

"I understand... See you soon then," Minato said and continued on his way to school. 

'It seems my time has finally stopped, which is good since I have almost nothing left to learn...' He mused, already in the middle of the year, so it's likely that the war is getting tough and they need to send a new batch of ninjas, that includes the children. 

He walked to the entrance of the academy and entered along with the other children, walking into the classroom and sitting in his usual spot. 

"Hello, Hanabi, Mikoto," Minato announced and turned to another table. "Kushina, Tsuna." 

"Hello, Minato," all the girls greeted him, each in their own way. 

"You seem different..." Tsuna commented while Hanabi and Mikoto activated their doujutsu. 

"This time it's the original and not a clone..." They declared. 

"What's that... It's not so bad sending a clone," Minato commented with a shrug. 

"You hardly ever come to class," Kushina immediately complained. 

"He's been missing lately, I wonder if he's up to something," Tsuna murmured. 

"Hey, I'm just training, we have one last chance to get strong before going to the battlefield," Minato simply said, not looking at them while waiting for the teacher. 

Some time later, Professor Fuuma entered the room. "Good morning, students!" He announced and waited for all the students to finish their chatter. 

"Today will be different from the others, we'll review all the subjects before I make an announcement at the end of the class," he said, and despite many curious children wondering what it was about, he continued with the lesson. 

Minato had to review all the subjects from the first year with their main points, but it was something he had already memorized, so it wasn't a problem. But that couldn't be said for his classmates, they continued with this for the rest of the day. 

After lunch and some more practical classes on the training field, he finally called the class. "I'm here to inform you that we will be closing this class..." He announced. 

"What?!" 

"What do you mean by that, Fuuma sensei?" 

"It's no wonder my mother came back and she didn't say the exact reason for her presence," Tsuna murmured. 

Minato was silent, having already talked with Jiraiya before coming to class. "It seems we'll be parting ways soon..." He couldn't help but comment, knowing well that he might not end up in the team with any of them. 

Professor Fuuma continued speaking. "I know you're surprised by this, but this program will close with all of you graduating, it will be next week. I want you to dedicate yourselves to reviewing all the subjects we've studied over these years, depending on the results, this will be the door to your careers as shinobis of this village, I'm counting on all of you for this," he spoke more seriously than usual and everyone understood. 

"One week..." Mikoto said. 

"We have to train... then," Hanabi said next to Minato. 

"You are now dismissed, your parents will be informed and I'll be looking forward to everyone's progress," he said, ending the class. 

"I will review my training, goodbye," Minato announced and disappeared before the girls could react, no one else in the room had seen it. 

"He disappeared?" Mikoto looked alarmed, as did Hanabi by her side. 

"How did he do that, Dattebane?!" Kushina exclaimed. 

"He doesn't even need to make seals anymore...?" Tsuna commented. Unlike the other three girls, Tsuna was the only one who knew that Minato could do the Second Hokage's jutsu. 

"Minato always trains... even in the last days..." Kushina murmured. 

"Maybe we should do something..." Tsuna proposed. 

"..." Mikoto and Hanabi remained silent. 

"Yes, let's surprise him, make him cook for us, Dattebane!" Kushina exclaimed. 

"You always make him cook for you, shouldn't it be any different?" Mikoto commented in a neutral tone. 

"I think Uchiha is right, but I don't cook that well..." Tsuna said. 

"Neither do I... not as well as Minato..." Kushina also complained and looked at Mikoto. 

"Don't look at me..." Mikoto stepped aside. 

"Hm?" Hanabi was surprised when all three girls looked at her. 

"What?" She asked cautiously. 

"Do you know how to cook, Hanabi?" Tsuna asked with a mischievous smile. 

"Of course not, I mean not as well as Minato... Why are you dragging me into this?" Hanabi asked warily, since she didn't consider the other girls friends.

"You are friends with Minato, and he seems to like you, so you should join too, Dattebane!" Kushina said. 

While the girls were arguing, Minato decided to visit Guren on the south coast to continue his training. Upon arriving there, he found Guren practicing alone, trying to improve his skills with the added weights. 

"Guren, hello!" Minato announced his presence. 

"Minato, you're back!" Guren exclaimed, jumping out of the water. 

"Yes, it seems I was right, the academy is closing our classes, and we will all be assigned to new teams to help in the war," Minato began, observing the fish. 

"Does that mean you're leaving already?" Guren asked. 

"It looks like it. But don't worry, as I said a few days ago, we will keep in touch, and I'll see your progress when I come here to train," Minato spoke to reassure the fish. 

"I promise, Minato. I'll become the strongest fish you've ever seen!" Guren responded, motivated by his friend's faith. 

"I have something else to talk about," Guren changed the subject, and Minato looked at him curiously. 

"I saw other humans not too far from here; they were quite strange, so I didn't approach while training on that side," Guren said, and Minato raised an eyebrow. 

"Can you show me where?" He asked, and Guren took off his weight belt before swimming at high speed to that side. Minato followed him, running through the water. 

As soon as they arrived at the place 3 kilometers from there, it didn't take long to see a camp on the beach, and Minato entered the sea not to be detected while he was pulled by Guren to get closer to them. 

The ninjas were walking around the camp doing basic things and watching the place; their outfits were quite obvious to Minato. "Ninjas from the Wind Country... So they used the sea to enter the Fire Country..." Minato saw that besides their characteristic clothes, they didn't even hide their headbands that boasted the symbol of Sunagakure, the hidden village among the dunes of the neighboring country. 

While Minato's head was transformed into a blue object to camouflage with the blue of the sea, Guren came to his side. "Are these humans enemies?" 

"Yes," Minato replied, but still pondered the presence of these ninjas. "I wonder why they invaded the Fire Country from this southern side, the war is happening on the borders and in the Rain Country," he murmured. But still thought, 'They might be trying to invade the country to cause terrorist attacks like that group from Kiri I faced...' Minato thought logically. A group of these ninjas wouldn't cause much damage in a direct battle, there should only be 20 to 30 of them, but to infiltrate the country, it's a good number to gather information and cause panic with internal attacks in the nation. 

After thinking for a bit, Minato cracked a small smile. "This might be good training for me too..." Minato murmured to himself. 

"What do you plan, Minato?" Guren asked, looking cautiously at Minato. 

"I was thinking, let's deal with them, since I need to see how your progress in physical training is going," Minato spoke calmly, and Guren knew something bad was going to happen to them in the next minutes.

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