I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 43 The Jonin Leading the Team and the Teacher

If Jiraiya said he "wanted to take them both as disciples," it would mean he hadn't made up his mind to take them as disciples yet. But if Jiraiya "wanted to take both of them as disciples," it means he couldn't take them as disciples.

There was no way to take them both as disciples, but Jiraiya did want to. This explains why Jiraiya couldn't do it.

According to Tatsuma's understanding, Minato would become Jiraiya's disciple, but Tatsuma himself was an "accident". If there was only one genius, it would be perfectly normal for Hiruzen Sarutobi to be assigned to Jiraiya, who was more willing to take on disciples.

However, if two of them appear at the same time, Hiruzen Sarutobi will have to consider the issue of unequal distribution rather than scarcity, and it is very likely that the distribution will be among his three disciples.

Orochimaru already has disciples, and he has made it very clear to Tatsuma that he will not accept either of them as disciples. Jiraiya also cannot accept both of them as disciples because he needs to make room for Tsunade.

This made Tatsuma conflicted. What benefits would it bring him to become Tsunade's disciple?

This world also places great importance on mentorship relationships. Just because you join a Jonin squad doesn't mean you become a Jonin's disciple. Generally, the Jonin captain and the Genin members are in a superior-subordinate relationship, or at most, a mentor and student.

Just like the main characters of Team 7 in the future, Kakashi is the Jonin who leads Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. At the same time, the three of them call Kakashi "teacher", but Kakashi does not take them as his disciples.

The true teachers, or masters, of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade—this is what we call the master-disciple relationship.

The master-disciple relationship is not just a symbol of status, but also means the transmission of ninja way and unique skills. Of course, Orochimaru is an exception because he has a father.

If Tatsuma becomes Tsunade's disciple, his status will be absolutely secure, even more so than Minato Namikaze, who originally became Jiraiya's disciple. However...

Tsunade's strengths are not suitable for Tatsuma. Superhuman strength and medical skills are what Tsunade excels at, but they are also what Tatsuma is least good at, because he doesn't have any special physique and doesn't want to follow the medical ninja path.

So all Tsunade could give him was a layer of identity endorsement. Thinking of this, Tatsuma glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi and seemed to understand why Hiruzen Sarutobi had Jiraiya lead the two Jonin teams.

Regardless of which of the two becomes Tsunade's apprentice in the future, they will not need to inherit Tsunade's ninja way and skills. Jiraiya will also plan out their future paths for them, and Tsunade will not need to spare any attention to teach her disciples.

It doesn't matter who becomes Tsunade's disciple. What both master and disciple need and can give each other is only the title. Tsunade's reputation can protect her disciple's growth, and after the disciple grows up, he can also carry on his master's reputation.

However, one person will suffer a loss, and that is Jiraiya. But given the relationship between Jiraiya and Tsunade, Tsunade might not want him to be the one to suffer a loss.

Having figured this out, Tatsuma smiled. Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been observing the two of them, couldn't help but recall Mito Uzumaki's praise that Tatsuma resembled Tobirama-sensei when he saw Tatsuma's reaction.

If Mito Uzumaki was referring to Tatsuma's decisiveness in battle, then Tatsuma's current display of thoughtful consideration and insightful understanding undoubtedly resembles that of the Second Hokage.

"Alright, your team should get to know each other better now. Jiraiya, you can take these two kids and leave. If you have any problems, just come find me."

Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand, and Jiraiya nodded, looking at the two of them, and said, "Come with me, kids."

As he spoke, Jiraiya rushed toward the window. As Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression suddenly turned from joy to anger, Jiraiya once again accidentally broke the window and fled the scene.

Tatsuma and Minato glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose expression was incredibly complex, then carefully climbed over the window and escaped with Jiraiya.

After traversing most of the core area, Jiraiya finally stopped on the rooftop of a building. He turned back to look at the two who had followed without any apparent difficulty and said, "Not bad. I thought you were lucky to even have the level of a genin."

Jiraiya was certainly not using his full strength. In fact, he was moving rather slowly, but it was not something that just any genin could keep up with. Even some newly promoted chunin would find it difficult.

But Tatsuma and Minato caught up without even breaking a sweat. Minato scratched his head with a slightly embarrassed smile, while Tatsuma said, "If you use the Body Flicker Technique, with our skill level, we definitely can't catch up."

Jiraiya didn't respond to Tatsuma's flattery. Instead, he leaned against the low wall and said, "Although I'm already quite familiar with the two of you, we still need to go through the proper formalities. Let me introduce myself."

Let's start with me, the Jonin leading the team. My name is Jiraiya, a Jonin of Konoha. I'm skilled in ninjutsu except for Lightning Release. My hobbies are literary creation and finding inspiration. I hate...

Or perhaps what they dislike is that stinky snake Orochimaru, whose dream is to change the ninja world, or to guide others to change it; now it's your turn.

Minato nodded and spoke first: "My name is Namikaze Minato, a Konoha genin. I am skilled in ninja tool throwing and taijutsu, although I am not as good as Tatsuma-kun. My hobby is reading."

"I can't think of anything I hate right now. My dream is to become a ninja that everyone recognizes and trusts, just like the Hokage."

"Naruto? It really is a common dream at this age."

Jiraiya sighed and looked at Tatsuma. Tatsuma nodded and said, "My name is Sakamoto Tatsuma, a Konoha genin. I specialize in the same things as Minato, and in fact, my skill level is about the same as Minato's. My hobby is defeating people I respect."

I do have something I hate, and that's my naturally curly hair. My dream is to find everyone I can challenge and beat them, and ideally, to find a way to straighten and smooth my hair.

"Your competitive spirit is indeed very strong. I understand your basic information, but you didn't mention me at all. How come you still haven't mastered the ninjutsu I taught you?"

Jiraiya's somewhat playful "questioning" stopped Minato from explaining as Jiraiya reached out and ruffled his hair. Jiraiya then continued:

"From now on, just call me Jiraiya-sensei, or just 'sensei'. Although this temporary team will disband, no matter who among you becomes Tsunade's disciple, it won't change the fact that you are all my students, understand?"

Minato nodded, then realized something was wrong. Tatsuma looked at Jiraiya speechlessly. Jiraiya also realized what was happening, scratched his head, and said, "Hahaha~ I accidentally let it slip."

Well, you'll all have to go through this eventually anyway, so you'll know what it's like. Right now, the most important thing for you is to study, to learn the skills of a ninja, and how to become a real ninja.

Now that you are my students, I will not hesitate to teach you, unless you only possess lightning-style chakra.

Jiraiya spoke with great confidence, and Minato nodded. He had heard Tatsuma say that every ninja has their own chakra attribute, one or more, but neither of them was very clear about their own chakra attribute.

Because chakra test strips were too expensive and beyond their budget, Jiraiya seemed to have come prepared, pulling out a few pieces of paper and saying:

"Next, let's test your chakra attributes."

(End of this chapter)