Time flowed like a river.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
Inside the rundown training ground—
Uchiha Gin was hanging upside down from a tree, casually munching on an apple, when Namikaze Minato suddenly appeared, jabbing a finger at him.
In the next moment—
The spot on the tree where Uchiha Gin had been hanging was punctured clean through by Minato's finger thrust.
But at the same time, a real sense of contact came from behind — Uchiha Gin had shifted behind Minato, taking another hearty bite of his apple while leaning lazily against his back.
"You're still too slow, little Minato," Gin teased.
Both of them disappeared at the same time using Shave (Soru), leaving the spot empty.
Their fast-moving figures clashed all over the training ground.
Standing under a distant tree, Kushina Uzumaki flicked a stone with her finger. It struck a branch — and instantly, a rain of shuriken and kunai poured down.
Her body weaved and swayed like paper, yet not a single weapon touched her.
Watching this scene, Hyuga Kiyoshi gritted his teeth hard.
He couldn't compare — he really couldn't.
Within just three months, Minato had fully mastered all four techniques and was even using them with ease.
Kushina had also mastered Paper Drawing (Kami-e) and Shave (Soru).
And him? He had only managed to grasp Iron Body (Tekkai) and was still struggling with Shave.
The Four Styles had a high threshold, especially in terms of chakra control.
He could hardly believe it — Minato was so much of a genius it hurt to admit.
But compared to these two—
Uchiha Gin was an outright monster.
Kiyoshi had no idea where Gin had even gotten the Four Styles techniques from, but his combat strength was absolutely not something someone of this age should be able to achieve.
That agility, that insane reflexes, the effortless mastery of the Four Styles...
Even someone as talented as Minato could only be toyed with.
Even without ninjutsu, Kiyoshi thought that Uchiha Gin could probably defeat an ordinary Chūnin — maybe even a Jōnin.
He wasn't unfamiliar with sparring against Chūnin or Jōnin — but Gin felt like a full-fledged elite Jōnin.
"This guy's basically a monster wearing human skin," Kiyoshi muttered to himself, staring hard at the chaotic battle where Minato kept chasing after Gin.
Gin was the one truly worth chasing.
But unfortunately—
He couldn't even catch up to Minato.
Gin cast a sidelong glance at Kiyoshi, who was still secretly observing. Kiyoshi had no idea about the existence of Basic Internal Energy (Neigong).
Mainly because Gin wore a cloth strip across his forehead to block the Caged Bird Seal — a symbol of the Hyuga branch family's oppression.
Naturally, Gin didn't trust him.
Effortlessly tilting his head to dodge Minato's Finger Gun (Shigan), Gin let it stab through a tree trunk with a sharp "whoosh."
Then spinning around for a sweeping kick, Minato reacted absurdly fast — pressing his hand against Gin's incoming leg in an attempt to lift himself away.
But Gin suddenly exploded with strength — his leg moving even faster — and landed a solid kick to Minato's stomach, sending him flying.
Minato twisted midair, landing lightly sideways on a tree trunk.
"You still have a long way to go, Minato," Gin said encouragingly as he finished off his apple.
Minato jumped down from the tree and plopped onto the ground with a groan.
"Why are you so strong, Gin?" he whined.
He could feel himself improving at an incredible rate — but Gin's depth was still completely unfathomable, like climbing halfway up a mountain only to realize the summit hadn't gotten any closer.
He had already reached the fourth layer of Basic Internal Energy and mastered all four techniques, but compared to Gin, he was still a child fighting an adult.
"Hard work, Minato. Hard work," Gin said, shaking his head with a smirk.
Truthfully, in the past three months, Gin's improvements had been relatively minor — his growing body had begun to limit him.
However, his solid foundation, plus learning from Minato, Might Duy, Kushina, and Orochimaru's understanding of Basic Internal Energy, fueled his growth.
Also, studying the Four Styles alongside Minato and the others made it even easier for him to suppress Minato completely.
Even with his crazy talent, Minato at this stage was only about Chūnin level.
Speaking of which, Orochimaru had gone the farthest in mastering Basic Internal Energy — he was already approaching the final stage.
The last stage wasn't even designed for ninja originally — Gin had created it as a way to pursue immortality. It was extremely complicated and required an enormous amount of chakra.
"Oh yeah — Teacher Inoue said you have to come to school tomorrow. There's a big announcement," Minato suddenly remembered.
Over the past three months...
Inoue Satoru basically hadn't seen a shadow of Uchiha Gin!
"Got it," Gin replied lazily.
But if he used that technique, Gin figured he could already threaten — or even match — a Jōnin.
Even if he could only use it once.
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Orochimaru stared expressionlessly at a test subject inside a glass container, writhing in agony as their body slowly transformed into wood.
From the shadows, a man wrapped in bandages emerged.
Under the harsh light, his presence was gloomy and heavy.
Konoha's dark shadow—
Shimura Danzo.
"Any progress?" Danzo asked.
Orochimaru responded coldly, "As you can see — failure."
Danzo's expression darkened.
"This experiment has been going on for a month now — and there's still no progress."
Worse yet, the experiment had already sacrificed a significant number of people, even affecting manpower on the front lines.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the true initiator of this project, was beginning to waver.
"Hashirama's cells only continue to corrode the host — there's no effective way to suppress it," Orochimaru said, shaking his head.
He had tried nearly every method he could think of, but the cells' invasiveness remained unstoppable.
"Continue the experiments. We must get results."
"I am not your subordinate, Danzo-dono," Orochimaru replied coldly, deliberately stressing the "dono."
Even if this man was his teacher's close friend, he had no right to order him.
Danzo stared deeply at Orochimaru.
"Hiruzen is also waiting for results. If there's no progress, this project will be shut down."
So much sacrifice — yet zero success.
That soft-hearted Sarutobi would never allow it to continue.
Danzo turned and disappeared into the shadows.
In all of Konoha, there were only two people capable of researching Hashirama's cells:
One was Orochimaru.
The other — Tsunade — absolutely could not find out.
After all, if you told her, "To strengthen Konoha, we dug up your grand-uncle's grave," not even the strongest brainwashing about the Will of Fire would stop Tsunade from flipping Konoha upside down.
Orochimaru didn't even spare a glance at the experiment anymore.
Instead, his gaze drifted toward an inconspicuous potted plant in the corner — where a tiny sapling was growing.
To him, that sapling was far more intriguing than the test subject.
"Truly unbelievable. That Uchiha boy is a real genius."
At first, he had been suspicious — now, he was convinced.
This plant had no relation to Hashirama's cells. It had been a dead seed. Orochimaru had only sealed the Basic Internal Energy technique into it and watered it with chakra alone — no actual water at all.
Yet somehow, miraculously, it had started to grow.
"If chakra reaches a certain level... could true immortality be possible?"
Orochimaru fell into deep thought.
Basic Internal Energy could extend life slightly.
But true immortality? Impossible — unless...
It all came down to the third stage method:
"Seal the power of nature within your body using chakra."
This world already had a thing called Sage Chakra — but people only ever thought about absorbing it.
No one had ever thought about sealing it inside themselves.
Following the steps laid out, natural energy would slowly modify the user's body until it could permanently withstand Sage Chakra.
"If the human body could harbor Sage Chakra forever — immortality is possible."
The White Snake Sage deep within Ryuchi Cave was a living example.
"This really is the path to immortality."
In that moment, Orochimaru's eyes shone.
A man obsessed with mastering all jutsu — but who had realized life was too short to achieve that dream — had now found a real path to live forever.
Forget Hashirama's cells — those were just chores forced on him by others.
Hashirama's cells were miraculous, yes — but they couldn't grant eternal life.
Only the Basic Internal Energy sealing technique held the true future.
"So... Sealing Techniques are the real future," Orochimaru muttered.
Meanwhile—
Uchiha Gin had no idea that his creation of Basic Internal Energy had completely diverted Orochimaru from his original path.
Perhaps in the original world of Naruto, similar techniques had once existed.
But ninjas — reckless maniacs obsessed with destruction — had only ever sought instant power, never caring about the long journey toward immortality.
Orochimaru had once been the only one to glimpse that path.
Now, there were two:
Orochimaru.
And Uchiha Gin.
…
At the Ninja Academy—
Gin looked around the familiar yet strangely alien surroundings, sighing.
"It's only been a few days, but the classroom feels so different," he said.
You've been gone for three months!!!
Inoue Satoru screamed internally, but he still maintained a gentle, teacherly smile.
"Eww, Inoue-sensei's smile looks so fake," one student said with a grimace as they walked past.
Inoue's smile twisted awkwardly.
"Can't you at least spare me a little dignity...?"
Inoue Satoru: orz.
Once everyone had settled into the classroom—
Inoue finally pulled himself together.
But thinking about what was coming next made his heart sink.
He stepped up to the podium, his body feeling unusually heavy.
Looking at the cute students he had watched over from the start — all except Gin — he choked up.
Originally, the Second Hokage had established the Ninja Academy with the intent for students to graduate at twelve.
When did it become normal to graduate at ten?!
He didn't understand it — and he didn't understand the upcoming decision either.
Feeling all eyes on him, Inoue took three deep breaths, then forced his best smile.
"Everyone — congratulations! Starting tomorrow, you can all take the graduation exam!"
"EH?!!"
Gin slammed his hands on the desk and stood up.
(End of Chapter)