Chapter 165: Sending You a Few Tailed Beast Balls
Minato Namikaze's hand, currently hovering over a half-written order menu, froze in mid-air. A heartbeat later, a brilliant, overwhelming joy erupted within his deep blue eyes, completely shattering his usual calm.
He shot up from his seat, the wooden chair scraping loudly against the floor. His voice trembled, thick with disbelief. "Is... is Hokage-sama truly going to take me as a disciple? I never expected someone of your stature to choose a civilian like me..."
Just like his legendary future self, the young Minato remained fundamentally humble and impossibly polite. Even at this tender age, he possessed a steady, reserved core, quietly brimming with self-assurance. After that initial, breathless surge of shock, he quickly reined in his racing heart.
Stepping back, he bowed toward Stelle—a solemn, perfect ninety-degree angle. "Master. I will train with everything I have. I swear I will not let you down."
Naturally, Minato wouldn't let anyone down. He was a prodigy among prodigies.
However, there was a slight logistical issue. The current alias Stelle operated under relied heavily on Flame Release, which severely bottlenecked the actual ninjutsu she could personally teach him. She would have to pull some strings behind the scenes and use her extensive connections. Not that it mattered much; any glaring inconsistencies in her teaching methods could easily be blamed on the late Second Hokage, Tobirama.
As for his ultimate development, she planned to corner Jiraiya later. She'd strong-arm the Toad Sage into handing over the Mount Myoboku summoning contract, paving the way for Minato's Sage Mode. Given her current prestige as the Fourth Hokage, securing that signature would be a walk in the park.
Stelle raised a single brow, a mischievous, highly suspicious glint dancing in her golden eyes.
"Then, starting tomorrow, your tutelage under me begins," she declared smoothly. "This is my first time taking on a student, so I'm a bit light on conventional experience. Therefore, I will train you exactly how the Second Hokage trained me."
She reached out, gently patting the top of the blond boy's head. Her tone dropped an octave, carrying a grave weight. "Minato, you must hold on. Don't die."
A sudden, violent chill rocketed down Minato's spine. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Why did he suddenly feel like he had just signed his own death warrant?
Wait. Taking a disciple...
Stelle's eyes suddenly widened, practically glowing in the dim light. It finally clicked. This was exactly what Uchiha Kagami had meant when he casually suggested she host a grand Disciple-taking Banquet!
Wasn't this just a socially acceptable excuse to extort the entire village and amass a mountain of wealth?
"Minato, go pack your things and get ready," Stelle commanded, her posture straightening. "The day after tomorrow, I am hosting a super-luxurious Disciple-taking Banquet. I'm inviting every single major Ninja Clan in Konoha. I will introduce you to the upper crust of society, ensuring every clan head knows that I, the Fourth Hokage, have officially taken an heir."
"Th-that really won't be necessary, Master," Minato stammered, a rare flush of embarrassment coloring his cheeks.
"Nonsense! How can it not be necessary?" Stelle leaned in, her eyes practically morphing into glowing ryo symbols as her shameless, money-grubbing nature clawed its way to the surface. She rubbed her thumb and index finger together in a universal gesture of greed. "Minato, don't you understand the politics of this village? By hosting this banquet, I have a perfectly legitimate, unassailable reason to collect monetary gifts! Every clan will be forced to pay tribute, and then our financial woes will be a thing of the past."
She grinned, flashing her teeth. "Once we secure the bag, the three of us can go out and splurge on whatever we want."
Hearing the magic word 'splurge', the miniature Nine-Tails resting nearby instantly perked up, its enthusiasm completely eclipsing even Stelle's.
"Is that true?!" Kurama barked, his tails swishing frantically. "Let's hurry up and prepare! Hey, blondie! You better be sharp when the time comes. I want you actively asking for thicker red envelopes. Whether I, Lord Kurama, get to eat the limited-edition deluxe dango sets every single day depends entirely on your performance!"
Minato: "..."
The very next morning, the moment Stelle kicked open the doors to the Hokage Office, she immediately drafted Nara Kajisuke into her scheme. She dumped a massive stack of premium cardstock on his desk, ordering him to pen formal invitations to every major and minor Ninja Clan within Konoha's borders.
, she completely washed her hands of the actual work, dumping the entire logistical nightmare of catering, seating, and event planning squarely onto Kajisuke's tired shoulders.
Before leaving him to his misery, she specifically leaned over his desk to deliver a grave warning.
"Remember to emphasize that the red envelopes need to be thick. Over the years, I've bled my own wallet dry handing out congratulatory envelopes to these people, almost driving myself to bankruptcy without seeing a single cent in return. Since I'm finally the one hosting a banquet, I am going to make a massive profit. If any clan head dares to gift less than I gave them back in the day, they'd better watch their backs. I will absolutely make their lives a living hell."
Nara Kajisuke's eye twitched. He let out a long, exhausted sigh. "...Yes, Hokage-sama. I will ensure your intentions are clearly communicated."
He secretly suspected that the Hokage's personal funds had already been entirely siphoned off by Tsunade's gambling debts and Orochimaru's endless research budgets. Why else would she be so desperate to host a cash-grab banquet mere hours after accepting a student?
Dutifully, Kajisuke drafted the invitations. Naturally, as a seasoned politician, it was impossible to repeat her crude extortion threats verbatim. Instead, he masterfully spun the narrative, politely emphasizing that since this was the Fourth Hokage's very first time hosting such an auspicious event, the clans should treat it with the utmost importance and appropriate generosity.
On the night of the banquet, the chosen luxury hotel was packed to the brim. Every major Ninja Clan in Konoha, alongside the high-ranking active-duty shinobi and village elders, arrived in full formal attire to celebrate Minato's apprenticeship.
This was the Fourth Hokage's inaugural banquet. Who in their right mind would dare decline? Every single guest arrived clutching agonizingly thick red envelopes and carrying expensive meeting gifts, dutifully handing them over before entering the grand hall.
With the administrative support of Nara Kajisuke and the Hokage's secretarial team, Minato was stationed at the front doors, tasked with the exhausting job of greeting the endless tide of VIPs.
Meanwhile, Stelle sat lazily at the head table, sipping premium sake and casually chatting with Uchiha Kagami and the other elites. Beside her, Kurama was entirely focused on unhinging his jaw and vacuuming up every expensive delicacy within reach.
The guest list was so massive that Minato's facial muscles practically cramped from maintaining a polite, welcoming smile. To make matters worse, every few minutes, Kurama would sneak over, shove a half-eaten pastry into the boy's hand, and violently whisper at him to work harder and squeeze more cash out of the latecomers.
It was a tragic sight. Minato looked exactly like a poor, exploited child dragged out by deadbeat parents to beg on the streets because they were too proud to do it themselves, choosing instead to hide in the alleyway and bark orders.
In that single evening, Minato's majestic, terrifying perception of the legendary Nine-Tailed Demon Fox shattered into a million irrecoverable pieces.
Sitting at the head table, Stelle listened to the continuous, rapid-fire chiming of the system notifications in her head. Minato's mood values were skyrocketing, fluctuating wildly between exhaustion, disbelief, and sheer stress. She swirled her sake cup, genuinely bewildered.
[System, what exactly is going through Minato's head right now? His mood value is spiking by tens of thousands of points at a time. It's way too easy to farm him. He just hands it over! While I have to actively scheme and exploit everyone else in this village, he's basically a daily check-in bonus, throwing points at me every single day.]
[The system didn't quite understand human suffering, but it still pretended to analyze the situation with deep wisdom: He is probably just overjoyed. Human children enjoy receiving red envelopes. It is a biological essential to feel happiness when acquiring currency.]
[That makes perfect sense,] Stelle agreed, nodding sagely to herself. [To reward his hard work, I'll help him lay a rock-solid foundation for the Flying Thunder God Technique first thing tomorrow. If he learns the basics now, he can avoid a lot of painful detours later.]
Over the following days, Minato finally, painfully understood why his master always smiled so cheerfully whenever she brought up his training schedule. It was the exact, sadistic smile of a survivor who was finally getting to watch someone else suffer through the exact same hell they had endured.
Because this sheer volume of physical conditioning was fundamentally impossible for a normal human being to survive.
Her entire teaching philosophy boiled down to a single terrifying concept: train him to the absolute brink of death, as long as his heart didn't actually stop beating.
To make matters worse, his master supervised every second of it personally. During his high-speed evasion drills, if his footwork slowed down by even a fraction of a second, a roaring Great Fireball Technique would instantly scorch the earth right behind his heels, serving as a highly lethal reminder to pick up the pace.
If that didn't work, she would unleash a barrage of Uchiha Shuriken jutsu, forcing him to dodge razor-sharp blades ricocheting from every conceivable blind spot.
The hand-to-hand combat classes were even more devastating. His master used brutal Uchiha taijutsu and ninjutsu combinations to beat him into the dirt, showing absolutely zero mercy. She left him entirely black and blue, covered in bruises and singed clothing.
She euphemistically referred to these beatdowns as 'character building', constantly reminding him that she had gone through the exact same crucible back in her day. If she could survive it, he had no excuse.
Lying in the dirt, gasping for air, Minato could only stare at the sky in awe. The Second Hokage's training regime must have been unimaginably strict. No wonder Master is so outstanding.
He clenched his bruised fists, forcing himself back to his feet. He had to endure this. He definitely, absolutely, would not let his master down!
After yet another grueling session that ended with him collapsing face-first into the training grounds, Minato was unceremoniously scooped up by Kurama. The tiny fox, who had spent the entire afternoon having a leisurely picnic while watching the boy get battered, casually tossed Minato onto his back to carry him home.
Minato was so thoroughly exhausted he couldn't even twitch a finger. His lungs burned, and he felt as though he was clinging to his very last breath.
"Kurama... thank you," the boy rasped, his voice barely a whisper. "When I've rested... I'll make you those Braised Beef Noodles I promised."
"You better. I want a massive pot of it," the fox grunted, his tails swishing as he trotted down the street.
"No problem..." Minato took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to soothe his aching ribs. "By the way... what did Master whisper to you just before we left? You kept glancing over at me."
The Nine-Tails let out a dismissive 'oh'.
"Stelle just said she wants me to find a good opportunity to casually toss a few Tailed Beast Balls your way. You know, just to give you some 'training inspiration'."
Minato blinked. Aside from the veteran shinobi currently fighting on the brutal frontlines of the Land of Lightning, absolutely no one in Konoha had ever seen a Tailed Beast Ball in person. Minato had no concrete idea what it actually was, but his finely honed survival instincts were screaming that it was definitely nothing good.
"What... exactly would happen if a Tailed Beast Ball hit me?" he asked cautiously.
"Hit you?"
Kurama scoffed, replying with immense, unearned pride without skipping a beat. "Naturally, you'd be vaporized. There wouldn't even be a speck of dust left of your existence. There aren't many people in the entire Ninja World who can take my Tailed Beast Ball head-on and live to tell the tale. Well, except for that absolute freak you call a master. She swats them away like flies."
Minato: "..."
If not even dust would remain, why on earth would she want to send a few his way?!
A sudden, terrifying realization dawned on the bruised boy. "Does... does Master hope that I can eventually catch Tailed Beast Balls with my bare hands, just like she does? It seems Master's expectations of me are just as astronomically high as the Second Hokage's expectations were of her! I have to work even harder!"
Hearing this deranged leap in logic, the Nine-Tails nearly tripped over his own paws. He looked back at the battered, fiercely determined blond boy in sheer bewilderment.
Were they even participating in the same conversation?
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