Chương 178: Karin’s Birthday and Training

At present, if Tsunade still cared deeply about anyone besides the niece of her late lover who stayed by her side, then the only person left was probably Kushina—the girl she had practically watched grow up. As for her old teammates? One barely counted as half a person. Orochimaru had long since stopped acting human, and Jiraiya barely qualified as one in her eyes. After returning to Konoha last time, Tsunade had left Kushina a method of contact to avoid any further accidents.

The two could reach each other whenever necessary. Naturally, Tsunade had no objection to Mito's clansmen moving into her house. If anything, it saved her the trouble of hiring cleaners every time she came back. And so, from that day onward, Kari and her daughter officially settled down in Konoha. A little over ten days later, when Karin celebrated her first birthday, Kushina used the occasion as an excuse to throw a massive party, inviting nearly all her friends in Konoha.

She loved lively gatherings to begin with, and this was also the perfect chance to help Kari meet more people, build connections, and develop a sense of belonging in the village—so she could gradually leave behind the miserable memories of Kusagakure. Despite rarely appearing in public during her years as Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Kushina's social circle was absurdly wide. No one realized it until the guests actually arrived.

Then everyone suddenly discovered that the attendees practically represented half the influential forces in Konoha. Uchiha Mikoto had always been Kushina's closest friend—and she was also the wife of the Uchiha Clan Head. The young leaders of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans and the Aburame Clan had all fought alongside Minato during the war, while their wives frequently visited one another. And now there were the newly rising Moonlight, Uzuki, and Dongye families as well...

Fortunately, Kushina had only invited the women and children. The gathering was meant to introduce Kari to her childhood friend and help her integrate into Konoha's circle of clan wives. The men naturally stayed away. Fugaku had actually wanted to come and use the opportunity to speak privately with Minato, but considering the current tension between the Uchiha Clan and the village, he wisely abandoned the idea.

If he approached the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki right now, the village elders would probably explode on the spot. He didn't even bring the already-enrolled Uchiha Itachi. Only Mikoto and little Sasuke attended the party. The wives from the other clans behaved similarly, each bringing their young children along. Before long, Karin's birthday party transformed into a massive parenting exchange meeting. And just like that, Kari successfully entered one of the most important women's social circles in Konoha.

As for Dongye zhen... He discovered that, on this single day, he had managed to meet six of the future Konoha Twelve from the original timeline. And every last one of them received his cheek-pinching service. Among them, only "Sunny Boy" Sasuke resisted the hardest, glaring at him with utter disgust while trying to fight back. Dongye zhen, being extremely petty, silently wrote the kid's name into a mental notebook. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

If this brat ever landed in his hands in the future, he'd break both his legs. Hyuga Hinata: Is our clan too isolated? Inuzuka Kiba: I feel targeted. Haruno Sakura: Does anyone even know who I am? The fact that the clan heads' wives attended at all meant they had received permission from their husbands. That alone conveyed a clear political stance—something the Third Hokage's faction absolutely could not fail to understand. Minato's foundation within Konoha was actually extremely solid.

He represented the civilian ninja, yet still enjoyed broad support from both large and small clans alike. The only problem in the original timeline... Was that he died far too early, catching everyone off guard. ——— Most of the ninja who had graduated early because of the war, including Dongye zhen, were still very young. Now that the ninja world had entered a relatively peaceful period, Konoha wasn't assigning them overly grueling missions. The dirty work naturally fell to the exhausted adult workhorses instead.

Between missions and training, more than three months passed in the blink of an eye. Little Naruto was already close to turning one year old. During this time, Karin and her mother finally experienced what peaceful living felt like. No one burst into their home with vicious expressions anymore to drag Kari away. Nor did her mother stagger home half-dead after every "treatment session."

To little Karin, this village filled with ninja wearing different forehead protectors from the ones she remembered was undoubtedly the best place in the entire world. One afternoon in late September, at a spacious training ground inside the village— After finishing their training, Kushina and Kari sat off to the side resting. Even without being a Jinchūriki anymore, Kushina herself remained monstrously powerful.

She didn't even need ninjutsu—once the Adamantine Sealing Chains appeared, they could tie up the overwhelming majority of ninja and Tailed Beasts alike into helpless bundles. Kari, on the other hand, had only ever been a half-trained pseudo-ninja. After several months of recovery, Kushina had not only begun teaching her Uzumaki sealing techniques, but also started improving her combat abilities. Kari didn't need to become a frontline combat ninja. But at the very least, she needed the ability to protect herself.

The Uzumaki Clan possessed terrifying vitality and natural gifts. So why had they been destroyed? Because too many clan members obsessed over researching sealing techniques while neglecting to strengthen their actual combat power. Kushina had learned from that tragedy. She would never repeat the same mistake. Meanwhile, Naruto and Karin had already become close friends.

The two little troublemakers were currently beside the small river running through the training ground, trying to haul ashore the fish that had apparently offended them. Not far away, Minato kept one eye on the children's safety while simultaneously instructing his Shadow Guard Team in training. By now, other than Dongye zhen, he had fully accepted reality. The remaining members simply could not learn Flying Thunder God. This S-Rank space-time ninjutsu demanded absurd levels of talent.

If you lacked the aptitude, then no amount of effort would bridge the gap. So Minato had taken another approach. Using Flying Thunder God as a foundation, he simplified and modified the technique, creating the Flying Thunder Formation Technique—a cooperative version requiring multiple users. The minimum requirement was three people. Eventually, he even developed a six-person version specifically tailored for Hayate's six-man squad. Using it in direct combat was unrealistic.

But for emergency transportation—moving critical supplies or personnel instantly—it held immense strategic value. At the moment, under Minato's guidance, Hayate Squad and Genma Squad stood in a circle with their arms extended, linking together through a specialized hand seal. The chakra of all six ninja connected as one. When ninja linked their chakra, it was theoretically possible to sense each other's thoughts. But that didn't happen casually.

It required both immense strength and mutual willingness to open one's heart. What these six were doing now was merely synchronizing chakra to cast a shared technique together. Otherwise, if simply linking chakra allowed someone to read another's thoughts, why would ninja bother learning interrogation techniques? Why would the Yamanaka Clan still painstakingly invade prisoners' minds? Need intelligence? Just connect chakra to the enemy, read everything, then kill them afterward. Wouldn't that solve everything?

Under Minato's unified coordination, the six maintained synchronized chakra flow and activated the Flying Thunder Formation Technique simultaneously. And unsurprisingly— They failed. They tried several more times. Every attempt ended exactly the same. Minato scratched his head in frustration. I already simplified it this much. How are you people still incapable of learning it? Watching nearby, Dongye zhen suddenly spoke up.

"Senior Minato... don't you think six people might simply be too many?" Minato blinked.

"Really? I thought more people would improve the success rate since everyone could focus on separate tasks."

"That part's true," Dongye zhen admitted.

"But the more people involved, the harder it becomes to perfectly synchronize the activation rhythm of the technique. If even one person falls out of step, the entire jutsu collapses." He paused before continuing:"In other words, having too many people actually lowers the success rate dramatically." Minato's eyes sharpened.

"So, Zhen... your suggestion is?"

"The Flying Thunder Formation only requires a minimum of three people, right?" Dongye zhen replied.

"Then split them into two groups and have each squad train separately first. Once both teams succeed consistently, you can recombine them later for larger-scale coordination practice."