For two straight weeks, Shanks was dragged by Senju Hashirama to the forest at the edge of the village every morning at five.
Hashirama called it combat training.
In reality, it was bullying the weak.
He did not even bother using Wood Release.
Instead, he beat Shanks from every direction possible, without blind spots, using a hundred and eight different methods.
If Shanks’s body had not been so abnormal, an ordinary five-year-old would never have survived Hashirama’s “training.”
“That old bastard is definitely doing this on purpose,” Shanks muttered.
“Why does he always aim for the face?”
Every day, he went to school with a bruised face, swollen eyes, and lumps on his head.
The students in Class A were delighted.
For the past two weeks, seeing Shanks arrive every day beaten black and blue, they had all assumed his arrogance had finally caught up with him and that someone was ambushing him on the road every morning.
Everyone silently reached the same conclusion.
This was the punishment for being too arrogant.
“Shanks, are you really okay?” Haruko asked worriedly when she saw him sprawled across his desk again, his face bruised and his head covered in bumps.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“Ah, I’m fine,” Shanks said weakly.
“I just didn’t sleep well last night and woke up too early this morning.
I’m a little tired.”
He lay across the desk like a man who had lost all hope in life.
“Are you waking up early, or are you being blocked by someone on the road?” Haruko asked, even more worried now.
“Maybe you should tell the teacher.”
“No need.
I’ll be fine after sleeping for a bit.”
Shanks’s mouth twitched.
Tell the teacher?
What use would that be?
Was Sarutobi Hōse going to run over and talk to that old fool Hashirama about life and dreams?
He could only endure it.
Last night, little Tsunade refused to sleep, so Shanks and Hashirama had played with her until past two in the morning.
In truth, it was more accurate to say two shameless adults were using little Tsunade as a toy.
Then, at five in the morning, Hashirama dragged him out of bed and beat him again.
He was exhausted.
Still, over the past two weeks, Shanks could clearly feel his body becoming stronger and tougher.
At first, Hashirama would instantly defeat him, pick him up, and continue beating him in every possible way.
Now, Shanks could last about half an hour before Hashirama picked him up and continued the beating.
Shanks strongly suspected that if he could endure for two hours one day, he might even get Armament Haki beaten out of him.
“Why don’t you ask Lord Mokuma to send you to school every day?” Hatake Sakumo suddenly turned around and said.
“Ugh.”
Shanks sighed.
What use would Brother Mokuma be?
Could a son beat his own father?
The important thing was, even if he tried, he couldn’t win.
Reality had proven that even if your uncle’s health was poor, your uncle was still your uncle.
At present, the only person in Konoha who might be able to fight Hashirama was probably Tobirama.
But with the bond between those two brothers, even Mito might not be able to separate them.
“…”
On the podium, Sarutobi Hōse heard Shanks’s side of the classroom chattering but chose to ignore it.
Inwardly, he even felt a little pleased.
After all, everyone in Konoha knew that whenever Shanks went to the Akimichi barbecue restaurant, he put the bill under Hiruzen Sarutobi’s account.
Tobirama was Hiruzen’s teacher.
Since even Tobirama said nothing, Hiruzen could only accept it.
In any case, it was not that much money.
Just one or two A-rank missions.
But the Sarutobi Clan was not happy.
Although the Sarutobi Clan could not compare to the Uchiha, Senju, or Hyūga, they were still a major clan in Konoha.
Their clan genius had somehow been turned into an ATM by a little brat.
What kind of situation was that?
Unfortunately, since the person involved had not spoken up, the Sarutobi Clan could only silently remember the matter in their hearts.
Sure enough, during this period, the rumor of “Uzumaki Shanks being beaten every day because he is too arrogant” spread all over Konoha.
Many people were delighted.
They could eat two extra pounds of meat every day.
Their backs no longer ached, their legs no longer hurt, and even their sleep felt stronger.
Some of them even felt their wives looking at them with renewed happiness.
When Shanks heard those rumors, he was speechless.
It felt like being a celebrity from his previous life.
Even the smallest little incident could make the headlines.
As the man currently dominating Konoha’s gossip charts, Shanks seemed like a completely different person in Mito’s eyes.
Every day after school, he returned home and sat quietly in his room.
A rope hung from the ceiling beam, and a small ball was tied to the end of it.
With his eyes closed, Shanks would occasionally let the ball swing toward his head.
“Senju Hashirama,” Mito said after watching for a while, “you didn’t beat Shanks stupid, did you?”
Seeing Shanks behave so strangely, she immediately turned to Hashirama for accountability.
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Hashirama said.
“That little brat’s body is abnormal.
In some areas, even I can’t compare to him.
Besides, I didn’t hit him that hard.
Let’s watch a little longer.”
The two of them secretly crouched by the window, watching to see what Shanks was doing.
At that moment, Shanks’s mind was unusually calm.
He had entered a strange state.
He could feel the movement of air around the objects in the room.
Then, all of a sudden, it was as if he had gained a third-person view of the entire space.
The room seemed to unfold before him like a map.
The positions of every object inside were clear.
He sensed the small ball swinging in front of him.
With his eyes still closed, Shanks raised a hand and tapped it lightly.
He felt the path of the air around the ball and sensed its movement.
Then his head tilted slightly backward.
The ball swung past without touching him.
This had happened several times before, but only by accident.
Now, however, Shanks could actively sense the ball’s path through the movement of the air and predict its direction before it arrived.
Holy crap.
This really was Observation Haki.
The ability to predict the direction of an opponent’s attack.
It was exactly like the description in One Piece.
Although the range was currently limited to his room, Shanks was still extremely excited.
In his mind, he could already picture tens of thousands of shinobi being knocked unconscious by his Haki.
The scene was so beautiful he almost did not dare look.
A moment later, Shanks struck Hashirama’s signature pose, planted his hands on his hips, and laughed toward the sky.
Mito and Hashirama had been watching him play with the ball with his eyes closed and had vaguely noticed something unusual.
Then they heard that familiar laugh and saw that familiar pose.
Mito glared at Hashirama.
Look at what you’ve turned the child into.
Hashirama: “…”
“Shanks, what happened?”
The two entered the room, and Mito looked at him worriedly.
“Auntie!
I awakened an ability!”
Shanks looked extremely pleased with himself.
“What ability?” Hashirama asked, still determined to court death.
“The Sharingan?”
“I’m serious!”
Shanks glared at Hashirama, who was pretending to be an innocent curious baby.
“Does it have something to do with what we saw just now?” Mito asked.
“You were playing with the ball with your eyes closed.”
“Yeah.” Shanks nodded.
“In the past, I would occasionally sense the next movement of an object or animal.
But it barely happened, and I couldn’t control it.
Recently, because Uncle keeps beating me, I’ve slowly been able to sense the path of his attacks more often.
Today, I wanted to test it, and it actually worked.”
“Oh?”
Hashirama’s expression became thoughtful.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of something like that.
All right, I’ll go find Tobirama.
He might know what’s going on.”
Hashirama also felt a little embarrassed.
Still, he believed Tobirama would definitely be able to analyze something.
After all, Tobirama could develop all sorts of strange ninjutsu.
If this ability could be learned, Konoha’s combat power might rise.
As for Hashirama himself, fighting and using Wood Release were one thing.
Analyzing things?
What use was that?
Could analysis bring peace to the world?
Shanks curled his lips.
Observation Haki wasn’t even part of this world’s power system.
He had only awakened it because he carried the One Piece system with him.
What could Tobirama possibly analyze?
Still, he did not stop Hashirama.
After all, Tobirama was a famous scientist.
Who knew?
Maybe he really could develop some ninjutsu similar to Observation Haki.
Before long, Tobirama arrived.
But he was not alone.
With him came a small group of young men: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, and Uchiha Kagami.
A proper traditional Konoha love triangle.
Shanks repeated everything he had just told Hashirama and Mito.
Following Shanks’s explanation, Tobirama closed his eyes and tried the same method himself.
Half an hour later, Tobirama opened his eyes.
“This ability of yours is somewhat similar to the Sharingan and the Byakugan,” Tobirama said.
“But it’s also different.”
“The Sharingan can copy and clearly read an opponent’s movements.
The Byakugan can see the flow of chakra inside the body.
Your ability, however, predicts the opponent’s next movement.
That is completely different.”
“For now, I can’t fully explain it.
Most sensory-type shinobi have some degree of perception, but what you described is closer to a person’s sixth sense.”
“When a person encounters life-threatening danger, they may sometimes experience that kind of instinctive warning.
But that sixth sense cannot normally be controlled.”
He looked at Shanks with a serious expression.
“You, on the other hand, can actively grasp and enter that state.
I tried the method you described just now, but I couldn’t reproduce it.”
“So for now, it may be a talent unique to you.
If I want to analyze it properly, I’ll need more time.”
You even want to analyze this?
Then if I awaken Armament Haki and Conqueror’s Haki later, are you going to slice me open?
Shanks knew very well that the great scientist Senju Tobirama had no bottom line when it came to research.
Even his own elder brother’s body had been studied after death.
What was Shanks compared to that?
Suddenly, Shanks felt that the old fool Hashirama was rather pitiful.
Even after death, he would still be researched by his own younger brother.
No wonder the Senju Clan nearly lost its descendants in the future.
They were willing to dig up even their own ancestral grave.
After all, Senju Hashirama was the reincarnation of Asura, and the Senju Clan were Asura’s descendants.
Hashirama noticed Shanks looking at him with pity and was immediately confused.
What is with that look?