Time passed into the next day.
It was summer break now, so there was no school.
After breakfast, Natsuki headed out with Yakushi Nono and made his way toward Konoha Hospital.
“Did you learn any medical ninjutsu yesterday?” Natsuki asked casually.
“I did.
I learned the E-rank Hemostasis Technique.
It went really smoothly—I got it in one try.
Teacher Chiwa and the others all praised me,” Yakushi Nono replied softly.
She already had a natural gift for medical ninjutsu, and on top of that, she had been practicing tree climbing and water walking for a while now, so she picked up the E-rank Hemostasis Technique almost instantly.
“That’s the kind of talent people can only envy,” Natsuki joked.
“When you become a jonin one day, make sure you support me, okay?”
“Okay.”
Yakushi Nono nodded without hesitation.
Natsuki paused for a moment, then laughed.
He reached out and pinched her cheek.
In the original story, Yakushi Nono had a tragic ending.
He hoped that, under his influence, her fate could be changed.
The two of them soon arrived at Konoha Hospital.
“I’ll go find Teacher Chiwa first.”
Yakushi Nono spoke with a hint of reluctance.
She had always studied and trained together with Natsuki, so now that they were splitting up, it felt strange.
“I’ll come pick you up later.”
Natsuki nodded.
“Okay.”
Yakushi Nono gave him a smile, then turned and left.
Natsuki, meanwhile, headed for Tsunade’s office as hospital director.
He raised a hand and knocked.
“Come in.”
Tsunade’s voice came from inside.
“Lady Tsunade.”
Natsuki walked in and greeted her first.
“Natsuki, your suggestions have already been approved by my teacher.”
The moment she saw him, a smile appeared on Tsunade’s beautiful face.
“I didn’t really do much.
I only made two suggestions.”
Natsuki shook his head.
“You don’t need to be so modest.
Both my teacher and I know exactly how much credit you deserve,” Tsunade said.
After a pause, she asked, “What reward do you want?”
It’s here!
Natsuki’s spirits lifted at once.
“I want the Sword of the Thunder God.”
“The Sword of the Thunder God?”
Tsunade was instantly surprised. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Why?”
“The Second Hokage is my idol,” Natsuki said with complete seriousness.
“I hope that one day I can be like him and create all kinds of useful ninjutsu.”
Obviously, what he was really doing was building a persona.
That way, if his system abilities were exposed later, he could just say they were original jutsu he had created himself.
Of course, the more important reason was that obtaining the Sword of the Thunder God would unlock one of the Zoro template’s abilities.
As for whether Tsunade—or Konoha—would actually give it to him, he felt about seventy percent confident.
Because the Sword of the Thunder God wasn’t all that important.
It was indeed Tobirama Senju’s personal sword, but it had rarely been used.
Tobirama’s specialties were Water Release and forbidden jutsu, not swordsmanship.
And besides, there was the related plotline in the original story that proved the point.
A Konoha chunin named Aoi Rokushō once had his student Morino Idate steal the Sword of the Thunder God.
If even a genin could steal it, that only showed how little Konoha actually cared about the sword.
“Creating your own jutsu?
That’s certainly ambitious,” Tsunade said after a moment of silence.
But she understood very well that inventing original jutsu was incredibly difficult.
Since Konoha was founded, only one person like Tobirama Senju had ever appeared.
To create original jutsu, you not only had to master ninjutsu, but also possess terrifyingly solid fundamentals and genuinely creative thinking.
As far as she was concerned, in all of Konoha, only Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru might be capable of doing something like that now—and even they were nowhere near Tobirama’s level.
“With the contribution you’ve made, I can give you the Sword of the Thunder God,” Tsunade said after thinking it over.
“But only on one condition: your swordsmanship has to earn my approval.”
After all, the Sword of the Thunder God had been Tobirama’s weapon.
And Tobirama was her granduncle.
She didn’t want to see his blade wasted on someone unworthy.
“I’m fairly confident in my swordsmanship,” Natsuki said directly, having already caught her meaning.
He had Zoro’s swordsmanship now, after all.
“Good.”
Tsunade smiled faintly and stood up.
“Come with me.”
The two of them went to a training ground near Konoha Hospital.
“Come at me with everything you’ve got,” Tsunade said, drawing a kunai.
“Yes, Lady Tsunade.”
Natsuki tightened his grip on the ninja blade he had bought.
He leaned slightly forward and rushed at Tsunade as fast as he could.
A silver flash of steel cut in from a blind angle, slashing toward Tsunade’s thigh.
There was no helping it—Natsuki was only six years old.
He just wasn’t tall enough.
Tsunade was a little surprised inwardly, but her expression didn’t change.
With a flick of her wrist, she casually blocked the blade with her kunai.
Clang! Find the original chapter at g.com.
Natsuki immediately changed tactics.
He stepped back half a pace, gripped the blade with both hands, and chopped hard at Tsunade’s waist.
The strike carried real force, and the speed of the blade was impressive too.
But to Tsunade, it still posed no threat at all.
She jumped lightly, landed on top of Natsuki’s blade, and rose into the air.
Then she twisted her body and drove her kunai downward.
Natsuki suddenly felt a huge shadow loom over him.
He hurriedly raised his blade to block.
The force behind the strike shoved him backward.
He immediately pulled back to redirect the impact, and the moment Tsunade landed, his blade shot upward again, slicing toward her knee like lightning.
Tsunade couldn’t help nodding slightly.
Her right hand dropped first, striking before him, her kunai stabbing toward Natsuki’s wrist.
Natsuki quickly shifted direction and blocked her kunai.
The sharp ring of steel clashing against steel echoed over and over.
His attacks were fierce, but they had no effect on Tsunade at all.
In less than ten minutes, he was already panting heavily, exhausted to the bone.
“That’s enough.
We’ll stop here.”
Tsunade put her kunai away.
Even after fighting that long, she looked as spirited as ever, completely unaffected.
She stared at Natsuki, a little distracted.
The level of his swordsmanship was far beyond anything she had expected.
Especially considering he was only six years old.
“You have an extremely high talent for swordsmanship.
If you had the right teacher, you might even become a second White Fang of Konoha,” Tsunade said.
“Thank you for the praise, Lady Tsunade.”
Natsuki wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Looks like I passed.
“The Sword of the Thunder God is in the Hokage Building.
I’ll take you to get it.”
Tsunade had already acknowledged his swordsmanship, so she spoke decisively.
Natsuki couldn’t help letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
The two of them soon arrived at the Hokage Building.
[Congratulations, Host.
Zoro Template Ability Four unlocked: One-Sword Style Iaijutsu: Lion’s Song.]
The moment Natsuki took the Sword of the Thunder God into his hands, a line of text appeared before his eyes.
Since Tsunade was still there, he only glanced at it briefly before turning his attention back to the sword.
The Sword of the Thunder God was not a conventional blade.
It was more like a lightsaber.
It only had a hilt, and the blade would only form once chakra was channeled into it.
That blade was made of highly concentrated Lightning Release chakra.
The Sword of the Thunder God was best suited for Lightning Release users.
But even someone without Lightning Release could still use it as an exceptionally sharp ninja sword.