An hour passed.
The enticing smell of roasted meat had spread throughout the rear courtyard of the Senju residence.
Several rabbits had been roasted over the fire, their surfaces crisp and covered with a layer of spicy seasoning.
Isamu tore a leg from one of them and took a hearty bite.
Sizzle.
The outer layer was wonderfully crisp, while the combination of heat and savory spices spread across his tongue.
“Ah~”
Isamu’s exclamation contained two million and eighty thousand times the emotion of an ordinary sigh.
It had been a long time since he had experienced such a leisurely life.
Crunch, crunch.
Just as Isamu was happily devouring his food, he heard some noise coming from the front courtyard.
“Smells amazing!”
The slightly roguish tone made Isamu’s brow furrow.
Following the increasingly approaching footsteps, Isamu looked up.
Three figures appeared in his field of vision.
It was Tsunade, who had left earlier, along with Orochimaru, who had “captured” him and brought him back to Konoha a few days ago, and a white-haired young man.
This was the first time the white-haired man had met Isamu, yet he approached him as though they were old acquaintances.
He patted Isamu on the shoulder with such force that Isamu could practically feel his enthusiasm.
“Thanks for saving Nawaki!”
The white-haired man’s nose twitched slightly, and the corner of his eye drifted toward the remaining rabbits in front of Isamu.
Isamu knew that if he didn’t say anything, this guy was probably going to help himself.
What was his name again?
Jirai something?
White hair
Isamu searched his memories before suddenly recalling the man’s name.
Jiraiya.
A notorious lecher who spent his time hanging around women’s bathhouses and a famous novelist.
He was one of the few characters from the story that Isamu actually knew.
Cooking was the only one of Isamu’s skills that had reached the Intermediate level, and it came with a special effect called Increased Appetite.
Very few people could resist its temptation.
“Please, Senior.”
With Isamu’s permission, Jiraiya immediately reached out and picked up an entire roasted rabbit from the grill.
He was just about to take a bite when Tsunade snatched it away.
“Huh?”
Jiraiya didn’t understand what Tsunade was doing.
She didn’t explain.
Instead, she carefully sensed the rabbit before finally returning it to him.
There was no trace of that strange chakra.
Orochimaru, who was standing behind them, frowned.
On the journey back to Konoha with Nawaki and Isamu, he had also noticed something unusual.
Tsunade wouldn’t have acted like that for no reason.
The only possible explanation was the rabbit
Perhaps it contained some kind of hidden danger?
Had this little fellow mastered some kind of technique that even Tsunade was wary of?
Jiraiya, however, had no such reservations.
He took a huge bite.
His eyes immediately lit up.
“It’s delicious!
Come on, you two, try some!”
Tsunade ignored him and turned to Isamu.
“I’ve already discussed it with the Third Hokage.
You’ll need to remain in the village for the next few years.
All you have to do is report to the village for questioning at regular intervals.”
“And what is the price?”
“None.”
In truth, the Third Hokage had wanted Isamu to hand over that “stitching secret technique.”
But Tsunade had simply invoked the names and legacy of her two deceased grandfathers
Konoha’s shinobi had always prided themselves on respecting their teachers and elders.
They couldn’t exactly force the descendants of their teacher and predecessors into doing something against their will.
With Tsunade’s guarantee, Isamu obtained permission to reside in Konoha.
Crunch, crunch.
Jiraiya continued biting into the crispy roasted meat.
He turned toward his companions and called out again.
“You really don’t want to try it?”
“Don’t forget why we’re here.”
Orochimaru glanced at Jiraiya, whose mouth was covered in grease, and reminded him coldly.
At Orochimaru’s words, Jiraiya’s excitement over discovering such a delicious meal immediately subsided.
He turned toward Isamu.
Orochimaru and Tsunade did the same.
The gazes of three “experts” whose strength Isamu couldn’t even begin to estimate made him instinctively shiver.
“Don’t be nervous.
They just want to watch.”
Tsunade spoke up.
An hour earlier, Tsunade had gone to the Hokage Tower and happened to run into Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
When she initially proposed keeping Isamu in Konoha and personally teaching him, the Third Hokage had exploded in anger.
With Tsunade’s current abilities, she was certainly qualified to take on a student.
But if that student wasn’t from Konoha, then it naturally wouldn’t be permitted.
Even though Isamu had saved Nawaki, an outsider saving a single person was not enough reason for Konoha to take such a risk by personally training him.
Villages in this world instinctively distrusted outsiders.
If Isamu truly possessed the potential to grow into a towering tree, who could guarantee that after absorbing Konoha’s resources, he wouldn’t eventually turn around and use his strength elsewhere instead of protecting Konoha?
The growth of a powerful shinobi inevitably required an enormous amount of resources.
Because of this, Tsunade had gotten into a heated argument with her teacher.
If Jiraiya and Orochimaru hadn’t vouched for Tsunade from the side, there was a good chance Isamu’s “training” in the village would never have been approved.
Even so, Tsunade had made several promises to the Third Hokage.
She wasn’t allowed to teach Isamu any secret techniques.
Furthermore, Isamu was to be trained primarily in the direction of medical ninjutsu.
Even if he mastered all of Tsunade’s medical abilities, the potential threat to Konoha would still be far smaller than if she raised him into an independent, elite combatant.
Of course, before Tsunade officially began teaching Isamu, there was one Konoha tradition that had to be carried out.
After hearing Tsunade explain the traditional Bell Test, Isamu’s expression darkened.
“So the two of you are here to watch?”
Jiraiya nodded.
He and Orochimaru sat down cross-legged, both looking forward to the show.
The roasted rabbits sizzling on the grill nearby made Jiraiya think of something.
If only we had something to go with this
He suddenly stood up, went into the kitchen, and returned a short while later with a bottle of rice wine (sake), which he placed beside the grill.
Isamu followed Tsunade to the small training ground in the rear courtyard.
Tsunade tossed him a ninja tool pouch containing several commonly used tools, including smoke bombs and kunai.
“Don’t worry.
This is only a simple test.”
Although Tsunade repeatedly emphasized that it was only a simple test, Isamu couldn’t help thinking about what this test really represented.
If she genuinely intended to teach him, then she obviously needed to assess his talent first.
Tsunade’s specialties were chakra control and taijutsu.
As long as Isamu demonstrated some unusual ability in those two areas, he should be able to meet her “standard” even if he failed to obtain the bells.
The only problem was
There were some things he wasn’t sure whether he should reveal.
Isamu looked at the bell hanging from Tsunade’s waist.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to show some of what he could really do.
[You have used an Action Point.]
At the edge of the courtyard, Jiraiya happily munched on roasted meat, washing down each bite with a mouthful of rice wine.
It was pure bliss.
How can this possibly be so delicious?
Even Orochimaru, with his normally composed temperament, had to make a conscious effort to suppress the urge to take a bite.
Even then, he couldn’t help swallowing.
Such a tiny movement naturally didn’t escape Jiraiya’s notice.
“I told you it was delicious.
Here.”
Jiraiya tore off a rabbit leg and offered it to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was tempted.
But when he remembered Tsunade’s cautious behavior just now, he still declined.
The rabbit had already been roasted to this point, yet Tsunade had still insisted on checking it before allowing Jiraiya to eat it.
If someone told Orochimaru there was nothing wrong with it, he would never believe them.
Orochimaru had always been cautious.
He wasn’t about to let a situation like this go unchecked.
Just then, the situation on the training ground changed.
Poof!
Under the cover of a smoke bomb, Isamu created two clones.
Two versions of Isamu burst out of the smoke from opposite sides.
With the three observers’ level of experience, they immediately recognized that these were merely ordinary Clone Technique clones.
Against shinobi of their caliber, such clones were completely useless.
At most, they would waste chakra.
Seeing the two clones charging toward her, Tsunade couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed.
She had already reminded Isamu that her specialties lay in chakra control and taijutsu.
If he truly possessed the talent to become a shinobi, he should have understood that this test was essentially an examination of those two areas.