Chapter 10: Training on the IQ Line (Part 1)
Hagoromo and Kushina's first official meeting as student and teacher pretty much ended there.
But becoming Kushina's disciple held a deeper implication—if she were to become his team leader, it meant one very important thing: Hagoromo would likely be kept off the front lines. That was his own assessment.
What's more, he had already noticed that he was her only student. There was no standard four-man team composition, clearly not the setup for combat deployment.
Uzumaki Kushina, after all, was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. While a perfectly synchronized Jinchūriki could be a tremendous force on the battlefield, Konoha's higher-ups would never risk deploying the Nine-Tails to war. For two simple reasons: First, while Kushina was from the Uzumaki clan, her control over the Nine-Tails was far from perfect. And second—and far more critical—Konoha couldn't afford to lose the Nine-Tails.
If Kushina appeared on the battlefield, the enemy would immediately mark her for death. Taking out the opposing village's Jinchūriki was always a top-priority objective.
As Hagoromo had guessed, while other newly formed squads were being assembled and rushed off to the front lines, Kushina remained in the village, without the slightest sign of budging. In fact, Hagoromo wasn't even assigned low-level missions. He only had three tasks:
1. Learn jutsu from Kushina.
2. Watch her conduct all sorts of random research.
3. Form a two-person team with her and stir up minor chaos in Konoha.
Truth be told, by the second day of becoming her student, Kushina couldn't wait to start teaching him jutsu.
She was determined to have Hagoromo surpass Kakashi. If her student could beat Minato's student, didn't that mean she could beat Minato?
From that perspective, Konoha saw Hagoromo as Kushina's plaything—and Kushina, perhaps unknowingly, saw him the same way. And Hagoromo was playing his part well... not realizing he had already become her emotional anchor.
"So, what kind of jutsu should I teach you first?" Kushina muttered, a little troubled.
Four Symbols Seal… Hagoromo silently filled in the answer in his head. Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. Not only was it an S-rank, forbidden sealing technique, but Kushina would instantly demand to know how he even knew of its existence.
How would a freshly graduated genin know the name of a secret Uzumaki clan sealing art?
He had no answer for that. So, he had to play it safe.
Of course, Kushina did know the Four Symbols Seal, but there was no way she'd teach such a dangerous jutsu to someone this early, especially when she had no plans to teach sealing techniques yet. Her current goal was to instruct Hagoromo in regular ninjutsu first.
Learning sealing jutsu was significantly harder than normal techniques. Their complexity demanded deep, almost instinctive understanding. An A-rank sealing jutsu could rival or even surpass an S-rank ninjutsu in difficulty. A technique like the Four Symbols Seal? Without talent, one could study it for a lifetime and never succeed.
"Got it! Let's start with something super practical—Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kushina's eyes lit up as the idea struck her.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was a B-rank technique. Judging by Hagoromo's chakra reserves and control, she figured it would be well within his ability.
After all, he had already created an A-rank jutsu from scratch.
"Okay, Shadow Clone it is! I'll show you the hand seal…" Kushina didn't even wait for Hagoromo's input—she launched straight into teaching mode.
Not that Hagoromo was about to refuse. The Shadow Clone Jutsu was incredibly useful.
It only required the Ram hand seal—one of the twelve basic ones every academy graduate knew. Still, Kushina demonstrated the seal anyway, then explained how to control chakra flow during the process.
She even gave him a live demonstration—two identical red-haired witches instantly appeared before Hagoromo.
He nodded to show he understood and began preparing. Rather than rushing into it, he followed Kushina's instructions to first circulate his chakra along the proper meridians. Once he had familiarized himself with the flow, then he formed the hand seal.
Kushina nodded approvingly. She could tell what he was doing. Starting from chakra circulation instead of mindless repetition—he was a thoughtful learner, not just a fast one.
With a smooth motion, Hagoromo molded his chakra alongside the hand seal, and—
—Success on the first try.
Another him appeared beside him. In that moment, he felt his chakra reserves instantly drop by half—a known drawback of the technique: clones evenly split the user's chakra.
He quickly dispelled the clone, and the unused chakra flowed back into his body.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu—check. Ready for the next one, Kushina-sensei."
"Already? You just learned it. Don't you want to practice a bit first?" Kushina was surprised—not by his success, but by his eagerness to move on.
Sure, she wanted him to surpass Kakashi, but wasn't he being too impatient?
"Practice? I don't need it, Kushina-sensei. I already mastered it the moment I learned it." To prove it, he made the hand seal again—pop—another clone.
Kushina: "…"
This was what raw talent looked like. If we're talking brainpower and learning speed, Hagoromo didn't just outshine everyone in Konoha—he could go toe-to-toe with the most ridiculous OP protagonists out there.
Kushina felt like something wasn't quite right... but there was no denying it. He had completely mastered a B-rank jutsu on the first day.
So, half proud and half in disbelief, she started teaching him the next technique.
She had once dreamed of competing with Minato for the Hokage seat. But now, she had long since abandoned that idea—perhaps even admitted defeat.
Because:
1. Namikaze Minato was simply too exceptional.
2. She was the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki. That fact alone disqualified her more than anything else.
But even so—seeing is believing. Watching Hagoromo's learning pace with her own eyes, Kushina became absolutely certain of one thing:
Her student could absolutely surpass Minato's.