Having successfully found a new excuse to slack off, Jie was filled with joy.
He dispatched an Anbu to inform the three kids to gather in three days, and then he and Izumi Uchiha returned to the Uchiha clan compound.
Upon arriving home, Jie couldn't wait to get back to his room.
'System, extract the reward,' Jie thought silently.
A vial of pale blue liquid materialized in his hand. The moment the potion appeared, information regarding its properties flooded his mind.
[Evolution Potion: Can purify the bloodline of a human or animal without any side effects, achieving an atavistic effect.]
The effect was simple, straightforward, and incredibly potent, but it was completely useless to Jie.
After all, he had never heard of anything like 'bloodline purity' mattering within the Uchiha clan. As long as one possessed Uchiha blood, there was a chance to awaken the Sharingan.
The subsequent development and evolution of the Sharingan depended entirely on a person's individual talent, having basically nothing to do with the concentration of their bloodline.
'What a pity,' Jie thought, shaking his head as he reviewed the system's description.
Seeing the word 'Evolution' in the potion's name, he initially thought it would be his opportunity to break through to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He hadn't expected it to be something like this.
'It seems this thing can only be used by Hinata,' he concluded.
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had any use for it. For Hinata, however, this Evolution Potion was a rare and priceless treasure.
After all, the Otsutsuki clan on the moon definitively measured the purity of the Byakugan. And the purity of the Byakugan should be directly linked to the purity of one's bloodline.
Perhaps after consuming the potion, Hinata would be able to awaken the Tenseigan on her own.
Thinking of this, Jie tucked the vial away, planning to give it to Hinata in three days as a genin graduation gift.
As for Sasuke and Naruto...
Jie firmly believed in the old saying... raise boys in poverty, and raise girls in wealth.
Having a master like him as their Jonin instructor was already the greatest gift those two brats could ask for. If they wanted anything more, he'd probably just give them a good smack upside the head.
Three days passed in a flash. Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata gathered on top of the Hokage Monument, where Jie had instructed them to meet.
"Sasuke, did Hokage-nii tell you who our instructor is?" Naruto asked, looking curiously at his friend while standing directly on top of Jie's stone face.
"No. These past few days, he's been going to and from work with Big Sis Izumi," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "He hasn't mentioned a word about our instructor at home."
Hearing Sasuke's words, a sudden guess formed in Hinata's mind, a glimmer of hope rising in her pale eyes.
'If that's the case, that would be wonderful,' she thought happily.
As time ticked by, the designated meeting hour quickly arrived. The trio immediately perked up. Hinata looked around expectantly, eager to see who their instructor would be.
"Good morning, everyone."
Without any warning, Jie's figure suddenly materialized in front of the three genin. He wore a faint, easygoing smile as he looked them over.
"Brother?"
"Hokage-nii?"
"Brother Jie!"
Seeing Jie appear, Sasuke and Naruto looked slightly confused, while Hinata's face bloomed with pleasant surprise.
"Hokage-nii, are you our Jonin instructor?" Naruto, as boisterous as ever, couldn't hold back his curiosity and blurted out the question.
Meanwhile, Sasuke, finally catching on, joined Hinata in looking at Jie with sheer anticipation.
"That's right! I am your instructor," Jie didn't try to hide it, nodding and answering them straightforwardly...
"From today onward, you three are my subordinates. Let me get the ugly truth out of the way first... my training is extremely harsh. But no matter what, you must push through it."
Jie channeled his best impression of a strict, orthodox teacher as he addressed the trio.
Hearing his warning, Sasuke and Hinata nodded in immediate agreement, but Naruto fell completely silent.
'Hokage-nii became our instructor... so should I call him Hokage-nii or Sensei from now on?' Naruto thought to himself, his face scrunching up. 'This is so conflicting!'
However, Jie was already prepared for this exact dilemma. The titles wouldn't change.
After all, even though Jie had taken Hinata in as his disciple a long time ago and had nurtured her as his student from the very beginning, the truth was that Hinata had never once called him "Sensei."
For one, she wasn't very willing to do so. Secondly, Jie felt that being called "Sensei" simply made him sound far too old.
"I am already well aware of your capabilities, so there's no need for a bell test or any pre-gathering assessment," Jie said calmly...
"Starting today, you will begin executing missions. We will start with D-Rank tasks. Once you are familiar with the rules and regulations of how a ninja operates in the field, we will try higher-ranked missions."
It wasn't that the three of them lacked the strength to handle higher-level tasks... Jie simply felt it was unnecessary to rush.
With him as their instructor, he naturally wouldn't stand by and do nothing in a critical moment. And the moment he intervened, even a B-Rank mission would become as trivial as a D-Rank chore.
If that happened, the whole point of training the kids would be lost.
Besides, the ninja world was currently at peace. There weren't that many high-level missions to go around anyway. Just having D-Rank missions to practice on was good enough.
The trio nodded in agreement. Whether it was a D-Rank or an S-Rank mission, it was all equally unfamiliar territory to them. As long as it wasn't as utterly boring as sitting in the Ninja Academy, they really didn't mind.
"Before we officially begin taking missions, I have a gift for you as your instructor," Jie announced.
He reached into his ninja pouch, pulled out three Flying Thunder God kunai, and handed them to Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata.
They would be leaving the village for missions in the future, and there was only one of him. He couldn't keep a shadow clone around to monitor their every move twenty-four hours a day.
Therefore, the Flying Thunder God kunai, which allowed for instantaneous support, were highly necessary.
Furthermore, right before arriving, Jie had realized that giving a gift only to Hinata and completely ignoring the two boys would be in poor taste.
While he never bothered to hide his blatant favoritism towards girls over boys, he couldn't let his bias look too obvious on the surface.
Handing out the specialized kunai as a token gesture worked perfectly well as a graduation present.
After the three kids accepted the heavy, three-pronged blades, Jie reached into his pouch again. He pulled out the pale blue vial of Evolution Potion and handed it directly to Hinata.
"This is Orochimaru's latest research achievement. It might be of some help to your Byakugan," Jie told her smoothly.
"Later, when we go out for our task, we'll let Naruto and Sasuke handle the heavy lifting. Hinata, you will stay by my side and consume this potion so we can see how effective Orochimaru's work really is."
It was Jie's first time obtaining the Evolution Potion, so he was a bit uncertain about its exact effects. Because of this, he decided to have Hinata drink it right under his watchful eye.
This way, it would be much easier for him to assess the results and determine their next course of action.
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