Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha is not motivated.

In the days that followed, the group of students, young and old, would diligently train at the location designated by Uchiha Gin every day after get off work or school.

They lined up and practiced against training dummies who wouldn't fight back or retaliate when hit or insulted.

Although it was supposed to be a training exercise, it was really just one-sided attacks. But for some reason, ever since they got this training dummy with its maximum taunting effect, their mastery of the new skills skyrocketed.

Leaving aside the younger generation of Konoha seedlings, Jiraiya and his group of newly-adult elders felt their own increase in strength most directly.
In the training ground,

With a serious expression, Jiraiya stared directly at the motionless training dummy before him. After numerous training sessions with this strange dummy, he felt certain he would succeed today.
After identifying the dummy as an imaginary enemy, he suddenly struck an exaggerated Kabuki pose, uttering incomprehensible chants.
"Yo yo ee!"

"I am the Toad Spirit Immortal of Mount Myōboku—the Toad Immortal!"

The exaggerated performance left the onlookers and the two toads sighing in dismay.
"Is he like this here too?"

Fukasaku turned his head away with a look of disgust and asked Orochimaru, whom he was somewhat familiar with.

"His condition has remained stable."

Orochimaru nodded expressionlessly, but the slight twitching at the corner of his mouth revealed that his inner world was not as calm as it appeared.
"That's right! That's right!"

The others immediately echoed in agreement.

"Huh? What is Jiraiya doing?"

However, with Tsunade's surprised voice, everyone's attention turned back to Jiraiya, the person involved.
Seeing him suddenly bite his finger and smear the blood on his fingertip, everyone expressed their confusion about this action.
"Why is it different from last time?"

When Jiraiya used Sage Mode last time, there was no strange chanting or biting his finger.

The curious crowd held their breath, waiting for Jiraiya's next move.

It turned out that he had begun using blood as ink to draw simple facial makeup on his cheeks, as if preparing for some kind of ritual.

Seeing this, Shima the Hermit knew it was time for the couple to perform their ritual, so he patted Fukasaku the Hermit beside him.

"Get ready to work, old man."

Others might not know, but the two toad sages were perfectly aware that Jiraiya was preparing for his upcoming Two Lives Technique.

Those painted faces are the Blood Contract that Jiraiya developed, which allows them to combine and transform into two frogs.
I just don't know if it will succeed this time. I hope it won't be like the previous failed attempt at communication, leaving those two old guys tumbling and crawling in the spatial turbulence.
The two frogs exchanged a glance, then tacitly clasped their hands together. Jiraiya, having finished his preparations, also clapped his hands with a serious expression, and the natural energy existing between heaven and earth began to gather at a visible speed.

"Oh?"

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. Having also learned Sage Mode, he could clearly sense the Sage Chakra rapidly gathering on Jiraiya's body, its speed almost matching his own.

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

Two plumes of white smoke rose, and the two frogs that had just been beside the group vanished without a trace.
When they reappeared, everyone present found that they were standing on Jiraiya's shoulders.
No, to be precise, it grew onto the shoulder, the kind that's fused with the flesh.

"boom!"

A terrifying aura unique to immortals enveloped the entire area, and everyone around clearly felt a heavy pressure bearing down on them.

"I did it!"

Feeling the surging power of Sage Art within him, Jiraiya, who had successfully merged with the two Toad Sages for the first time, trembled with excitement.

"It actually worked."

Fukasaku was also surprised. This Sage Mode, enhanced by the Two Lives Technique, hadn't even worked on Mount Myōboku, where natural energy was abundant.

How come he mastered it after just a month or two of trying it out in this ordinary training ground?

but
Turning his head to look at Jiraiya's somewhat abstract, large-nosed frog-like face, Fukasaku sighed inwardly.

Is the frog transformation still inevitable?
This unconventional approach to the immortal mode ultimately falls short of perfection.

"Ugh, so ugly!"

Suddenly, a voice from outside the arena interrupted Jiraiya's joyful mood. He turned his head in confusion, only to find Tsunade and Mikoto looking at him with disgust.

"It is indeed a bit ugly to me."

Orochimaru nodded with a slight frown, subtly taking a half-step back.
"You stinky snake, what do you mean? Are you jealous of my good looks?"

Jiraiya was completely unaware of the changes to his appearance after entering Sage Mode. Seeing the various expressions on everyone's faces, a complex mix of disdain and sympathy, he immediately became somewhat displeased.

"It's alright, Jiraiya. Actually, this is kind of cool, isn't it, Sakumo?"

The straightforward Might Guy made a decision that went against his ancestors' wishes, and in order to comfort Jiraiya, he said something that was unusually against his conscience.

"All I can say is that he's handsome in a very distinctive way."

Sakumo Hatake hesitated for a moment, then nodded with difficulty.
Just as everyone was pondering how to tell Jiraiya this cruel reality, Uchiha Gin, who was lying at home like a corpse, heard the news that the dummy's points had increased and rushed over in his Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Hey~ Everyone's here. Whose turn is it to master this divine skill today?"

He appeared before the crowd in a flash, greeting them with a smile and a face full of curiosity.
"It's me! Grandpa Yin! It's me!"

Hearing the familiar cheerful voice, Uchiha Gin was genuinely happy for Jiraiya. After all that effort, he had finally mastered Sage Mode.
"Oh~ So it's Jiraiya! What kind of demon dares to impersonate Jiraiya!"

However, when he saw a three-headed, humanoid toad waving at him, Uchiha Gin was so startled that he almost threw Nawaki, who was waiting to watch the show, at it to exorcise the demon.
"Quaa?"

Jiraiya cried out in surprise, and upon hearing the croaking sound coming from his own mouth, he belatedly looked down at his hands and realized that his palms had somehow turned into the shape of a frog's webbed feet.

"Quack! What's wrong with me?"

"Don't get excited, Jiraiya. This is just a tiny side effect of Sage Mode."

Seeing his exaggerated reaction, the hermit Fukasaku calmly raised his hand and conjured a smooth, clear water mirror.
"What the hell! It's a ghost!"

Jiraiya instinctively turned his head away, and the ugly frog face that came into view almost made him spit out a water slash.
"What nonsense are you talking about, little Jiraiya? You're practically every frog in the Myoboku Mountains' dream frog right now. If I were a hundred years younger, I would definitely choose you over this old geezer."

The hermit Shima, positioned on Jiraiya's left shoulder, adopted a shy posture, gazing at Jiraiya's pockmarked face with a look of utter infatuation.

How could there be such a handsome face in the world?
"Quack! Quack! Quack!"

As time passed, Jiraiya's Sage Mode began to undergo terrifying changes. Not only did the toad features on his face become more pronounced, but the webbed hands and feet also grew larger and larger, as if he were about to transform into a humanoid toad demon.

"Not good!" Fukasaku knew this was a sign that the natural energy was about to go berserk, so he immediately clasped his hands together and released the two-life technique with Jiraiya.
As the rich natural energy slowly dissipated, Jiraiya, now back in human form, slumped to the ground, panting heavily with his tongue lolling out.

"Huhu. Huh."

The Sage Mode he had just used had almost completely drained his chakra, but based on his immediate experience after transforming, Jiraiya felt that his strength had definitely undergone a qualitative leap.
Unfortunately, this powerful strength came at the cost of his unparalleled good looks.

With a conflicted expression, Jiraiya got up and turned to look at Uchiha Gin, asking with his last glimmer of hope,
"Grandpa Yin, is there any way?"

"There's nothing I can do to help."

Knowing what Jiraiya wanted to ask, Gin Uchiha raised his hand first, shaking his head with a regretful expression.

"You need to know that good looks and talent can never coexist."

"Okay then."

Jiraiya's expression tightened upon hearing this. He was just about to remark that Uchiha Gin was an example of someone who possessed both good looks and strength when his gaze inadvertently lingered on the purplish-black Yin Seal on Gin's forehead. Jiraiya's head drooped like a deflated balloon.
"Alright, since you Root members always wear masks when you do things, no one will pay attention to your appearance, right?"

"But this is a covert mission, we need to make an appearance!"

Although he grumbled in dissatisfaction, Jiraiya's tense expression eased considerably.
On the other hand, this infiltration mission is extremely arduous. With the Sage Mode as their trump card, their success rate will definitely increase several times over.

"Are you leaving?"

Hearing Jiraiya's low voice, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow. Judging by the time, they had been training here for about a month; it was time to begin their mission abroad.

"Ah."

Jiraiya nodded slightly, while Orochimaru and the others beside him also wore solemn expressions. After these past few months of investigation, they had gained a preliminary understanding of the mission they were about to undertake and were well aware of its dangers.

"Haha, cheer up, I believe you will all be fine."

Sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere, Uchiha Gin smiled and tried to smooth things over, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces with visible approval.
"After all, everyone is working so hard."

During this period, Uchiha Gin had received several notifications of dummy upgrade points being credited, several times faster than before.
Each increase signifies that someone has acquired a new ability in front of the dummy, or that their ability has been significantly enhanced.

The results of the survey were just as he had expected.
The clever Orochimaru mastered the secret ninjutsu of Body Modification in just one month. As a reward, Uchiha Gin taught him a set of Snake-style ninjutsu, allowing the boy to study it at his own pace.
Tsunade's superhuman strength also underwent a qualitative leap, and she also mastered the more difficult technique of extracting minor ailments in medical ninjutsu. Seeing her smug look, the kind-hearted Uchiha Gin waved his hand and tossed her the even more difficult Yin Healing and Destruction Technique for her to learn.

Kato Dan had already mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique, and Uchiha Gin had personally given him further guidance, from which he benefited greatly.

The path of swordsmanship is only about slashing; Uchiha Gin ordered Hatake Sakumo to practice slashing at training dummies 10,000 times every day.

Over the months, his swordsmanship became increasingly refined, bringing him to within a hair's breadth of becoming a top-tier swordsman. All that remained was the honing of real combat skills to achieve mastery.

What surprised Gin Uchiha the most was Might Guy.
Although I knew he was a hard-working genius, I didn't realize that there are different levels of effort.
Orochimaru's diligence can only be described as hard work, while Might Guy's was simply a matter of sacrificing his life.

He could train continuously in the training ground for three days and three nights without sleep or rest, during which time he neither ate nor drank, and his eyes were only on the training dummies in front of him.

Through this extraordinary, life-risking effort, Might Guy opened the first three gates of the Eight Inner Gates in just one week.

If Uchiha Gin hadn't intervened in time and devised a more robust training plan, this kid might have burned himself out in front of the dummy.
In return, Uchiha Gin finally got rid of the +1 notification sound that kept ringing in his mind in the middle of the night.

"Grandpa Yin, thank you for your guidance during this time. We will definitely return safely!"

Clearly infected by Uchiha Gin's smile, Jiraiya and the others quickly perked up.

"It doesn't matter if you're missing an arm or a leg, I can replace it with a sturdier one."

"really!"

Jiraiya was tempted.

"It's fake. If you replace it, it will only be softer and shorter."

Watching the group's departing figures, a faint sadness suddenly welled up in Uchiha Gin's heart.

"Sigh...they're all gone..."

How can you leave?
The dummy's progress has only increased by 30 points!

Looking at the training dummy's pitiful progress bar, a look of sadness crept onto Uchiha Gin's face.
Without the thriving leeks (sugar farmers), when will his dummy finally level up?

Seeing the forlorn look on Uchiha Gin's face, Nawaki mistakenly assumed that he was feeling lonely because of Jiraiya and the others' departure, and immediately patted his chest in relief.
"Grandpa Yin, don't be sad, we're still here for you."

"Yes, yes~"

"Uncle, don't underestimate us just because we're young. Our Konoha Defense Force is extremely reliable!"

"..."

Looking down at the chattering little ones, Uchiha Gin's melancholy deepened.
Are we really going to rely on these kids?

No, we must cast a wide net and catch as many fish as possible!

“If any of you have reliable friends in the future, you can bring them here to grow together.”

"what?"

Fugaku and the others blinked in confusion upon hearing this. After a few seconds, Nawaki, who looked thoughtful, spoke first.

"Grandpa Yin, can I invite Dingza and the others to come and train together?"

Upon hearing that familiar name, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow in surprise.
The Ino-Shika-Cho trio, a core member of the ninja alliance, actually connected with the declining Senju clan. Was they trying to hedge their bets?

"Of course, I haven't seen them in a long time either."

"Um... Uncle, I recently took on a new subordinate, could you bring him along too?"

Fugaku hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and said,
"You? You take on followers?"

Uchiha Gin's eyes narrowed. He's already acting like a big brother at such a young age. What will he be like in the future?

Feeling the death stare from his uncle, Fugaku scratched his head sheepishly.

"Hmm, he's a new student, not very old, but he's quite loyal. Of course, that's not the main point. The most important thing is his looks; Minato is only slightly inferior to me." (End of Chapter)