11 Subtle Bragging

Ino was diligently reading.

Inoichi sat about a meter away, watching her.

Rin Yamanaka appeared and poured a glass of water for her husband and daughter.

She tugged at her husband, seeming to want to provide Ino with a quiet environment for reading. But Inoichi gently shook his head. No, resisting distractions was also part of the training.

Not only did he not leave, but he even pulled his wife over to join in observing.

No matter how long his daughter studied, he would accompany her until then. If she could persist and study for an entire evening through sheer willpower, he would be overjoyed.

Just as Madara Uchiha had a habit of not being able to pee with someone standing behind him, Ino was now quite nervous with two people sitting behind her. The feeling of being watched was very clear.

She had to resist mental distractions, resist physical fatigue, and still read attentively. Additionally, the effects of the medicine had completely worn off.

Ino knew she had to overcome the current difficulties. She focused all her attention on the text, disregarding the discomfort signals from her body and mind, gradually entering a state of relative selflessness.

Inoichi and Rino sat quietly, the only sound in the room being the rustling of pages as Ino flipped through the book.

The next day.

Despite not sleeping at all that night, Inoichi Yamanaka attended the Jonin meeting with great enthusiasm.

Inoichi knew that his daughter's progress outpaced his own, and her willpower stood out among her peers. He was confident that her future achievements would exceed his own, and he found solace in that thought.

Originally, he thought his daughter was lazy and lacked potential, causing worry for her future. He never expected her to actually be a prodigy. His joy was completely unrestrained. While the Third Hokage was speaking at the front, Inoichi appeared to be sitting upright, but his thoughts had already wandered back home.

The jōnin were the pillars of the village. During the weekly jōnin meeting, the Third Hokage always gives a routine summary of the past week's affairs, often adding some personal anecdotes. 

"I know you're all very busy, so I'll keep it brief today. I hope that our Jōnin will strengthen the management of both internal and external personnel in the village. Be diligent in your duties, implement effective vigilance measures, utilize your specialized skills to enhance supervision and inspection of key individuals, prevent crime, boost village morale, deliver tangible results, and highlight our significance and standing within the Land of Fire."

Dressed in his Hokage robe and wearing a conical hat adorned with the character "Fire," the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was often regarded as the current "Strongest Hokage." While whether he truly held that title was debatable, there was no disputing that he held the record for being the longest-serving Hokage. The Hokage was already 69 years old this year, and his physical condition has significantly declined, evident from the age spots covering his face.

The older one gets, the more talkative they become.

He knew these Jōnin didn't want to hear such platitudes, but as the Hokage, he had to repeat them tirelessly.

While reciting the same routine phrases, he observed their reactions.

Might Guy sat ramrod straight, but his eyes were glazed over, clearly daydreaming.

Kakashi sat behind Guy, flipping through a novel.

The Third Hokage's own son, Asuma Sarutobi, was discreetly holding hands with the newly promoted Jōnin, Kurenai Yūhi.

The remaining Jōnin and Tokubetsu Jōnin had varying expressions, some listening attentively while others were indifferent.

Huh? The Third Hokage, while speaking, suddenly noticed Inoichi Yamanaka wearing a joyful expression, causing him to pause for a moment.

What was he so happy about? The usually elegant and mild-mannered head of analysis seemed unusually delighted today. Had he gained some profound insight into life from his speech? The young man was quite perceptive! Good!

Normally, the Third Hokage's speech lasted thirty minutes, but today, feeling pleased, he spoke for forty-five minutes straight, and Kakashi even took out a second novel from his ninja pouch to read.

The Jōnin Commander and head of the Nara clan, the "Genius Strategist" Nara Shikaku, also noticed the elated Inoichi Yamanaka at this point and was somewhat puzzled, wondering what was making his old friend so happy.

Surely he couldn't have truly gained some profound insight from the Third Hokage's long-winded and dull speech? Or was there some important information hidden within that routine drivel that he had missed?

Shikaku Nara, with an IQ of 200, scrutinized his old friend carefully for several moments. No way, right? How did he not pick up on anything?

After the meeting ended, he straightforwardly asked, "Why were you so happy today?"

Inoichi had no intention of hiding it, and there wasn't much to hide anyway, and it was very uncomfortable to keep it bottled up.

While Inoichi and Shikaku were close friends who had been through life and death together, competition still existed between them. They had competed to become Chūnin first, on the battlefield, in getting married, and even in having children—Shikamaru's birthday was September 22nd, while Ino's was September 23rd. They often brought up such things when they drank together. After being suppressed for so long, Inoichi had been wanting to show off for a while now.

He said with distress, "Yesterday, I started teaching Ino the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques. But this child is really... sigh, restless, and lacks firm willpower. You know about our clan's Mind-Body Switch Technique, right?"

"Yeah, I remember it being quite challenging to learn," Shikaku nodded with an odd expression.

"Our Mind-Body Switch Technique requires passing three stages to fully master it. This child's talent is a bit lacking; she took a whole night just to get through the first two stages. Ah, I'm really worried that after I die and meet our clan's ancestors, I won't be able to explain myself! When the ancestors ask about it, what can I say? The conditions now are so good, yet this child doesn't know how to work hard. It's really worrying me to death."

Shikaku was speechless. Trying to provoke him first thing in the morning, huh? It seemed this was the kind of person he was dealing with.

Passing two stages in one night, and her talent is still lacking? When Inochi was learning the Mind-Body Switch Technique back then, didn't it take him two or three months? Shikaku remembered that Inochi's father was so angry that he hung him from the rafters and beat him fiercely.

The three clans knew each other inside out. Although they didn't know the specifics of each other's secret techniques—such as the secret medicine, steps, incantations, etc.—the three clans had a sense of the relative difficulty involved.

The Akimichi clan's secret techniques were the easiest to learn and had the lowest barrier to entry. As long as they were willing to spend money, had a mouth and hands, and ate and drank normally, they could explosively unleash their accumulated fat and chakra in battle.

The Nara clan's secret techniques had a certain learning threshold, requiring intelligence, insight, and perseverance.

The Yamanaka clan's secret techniques were the most difficult to learn, and even the entry stage was extremely dangerous. During the Mind-Body Switch Technique, a slight mistake could leave one in a vegetative state at best.