The winter morning sun slowly climbed over the bare treetops in the distance.
Its light wasn’t scorching—just a thin layer of gold, lightly draping the frost-covered rooftops and withered branches.
In the Hokage’s office, the Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was already seated steadily.
A pipe held between his fingers, he was methodically handling the village’s affairs.
Yesterday, the ANBU had spread word that Genshin had become Tsunade’s personal disciple; the goal of putting Danzo in check had already been achieved.
The undercurrents within the village had settled for now, and everything was back on track.
“Lord Hokage.”
Having completed his covert patrol and surveillance duties within the village, Uchiha Shisui appeared soundlessly in the office, his posture respectful and his expression composed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi lifted his gaze, set down the document in his hand, and smiled gently.
“Ah, Shisui…
anything unusual on the early-morning patrol?”
“Nothing unusual.
It’s just that during the morning patrol, I came across something worth reporting.” Shisui bowed slightly and recounted everything that had happened on the street just now, in full detail.
From the three children ganging up to bully Naruto, to Genshin stepping in furiously and using a special technique to make the three punish one another, and then making them run laps along the street to admit their fault—every detail was clear and precise.
Finally, he emphasized Genshin’s remark about comrades and discrimination.
After hearing Shisui’s full report, Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled softly.
“Hahaha, he’s a child after all—he has some sense of proportion…
but still, he was impulsive.”
He slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, which curled and drifted apart.
“After all, Genshin is still young, so naturally he sees things from a different angle.
Children act on whatever’s in their hearts.”
At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi paused.
“But much of the time, for the village, stability is what matters most.
Shisui, do you understand?”
Shisui was inwardly startled.
Just now he had indeed, whether consciously or not, leaned toward Genshin—he had even developed some thought of confronting discrimination using the very same methods as Genshin.
“Yes!
Lord Hokage!” Shisui hastily affirmed.
Though he said this, there was no reproach in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s tone—rather, it carried a knowing smile.
Whether it was Genshin or Shisui, the more forthright and impulsive they were, the more it showed their hearts were clean, free of hidden, sordid schemes.
As the Hokage, that actually put him more at ease.
“Still, what he said was right.” Hiruzen Sarutobi paused, sighing softly.
“Konoha was always meant to be the home of all shinobi…”
He was probably truly getting old.
He could never bring himself to make up his mind to change these things, always thinking that as long as it didn’t affect stability, he’d just let it slide.
This matter was like that, and so was the matter of the Uchiha.
…
Meanwhile, on the west side of Konoha, at the Senju Clan’s grounds below and to the left of the Hokage Rock.
After Genshin had seen Naruto back to his residence, he headed to today’s training ground—officially beginning the first day of his systematic training.
By the time he arrived, Tsunade was already waiting.
Her blonde ponytail was tied up neatly, her bosom as ample as ever.
Gone was yesterday’s drunken, carefree look; she was entirely the picture of an elite shinobi.
Standing at her side was a woman with short black hair and a gentle demeanor—none other than Shizune.
Shizune, twelve years older than Genshin, was already an excellent medical ninja.
She had always stayed by Tsunade’s side, handling odds and ends and studying Ninjutsu, with an extremely solid foundation.
“I’m late, Master Tsunade, Sister Shizune.” Genshin bowed obediently in greeting, a sweet-talking, well-behaved look on his handsome face.
“Eh?
Sister?
Me?” Shizune grew flustered, the tips of her ears tinging faintly pink as her fingers tucked back the loose strands at her temples.
“Um!
N-no need to be so formal, little Genshin!”
“Heh heh…
so from now on I’m a big sister…
is that so…
guh heh heh.”
Though the latter part was lowered in volume, it sounded rather like a creep.
Ugh…
shotacons are so gross.
“Idiot, snap out of it!” Tsunade smacked the back of Shizune’s head, then arched a brow as she sized up her little disciple, her tone crisp and decisive.
“From yesterday’s spar, I’ve got a rough grasp of your situation.
Your Nature Type is special and your control precision is very high, but you lack a systematic Ninjutsu foundation, so starting today you’ll train according to the plan I’ve tailored for you.”
“In the mornings, you’ll solidify your Ninjutsu foundation—Shizune will teach you that part.
Once you can freely fine-tune the output volume, flow speed, and focal points of your Chakra, I’ll teach you the next step.
For now, let’s first complete the Nature Type test.”
With just a few simple words, she settled the pace of Genshin’s training for the coming period, without the slightest dawdling.
Genshin’s expression was composed as he nodded solemnly.
“Yes, I’ll follow Master’s arrangements.”
“Mn.” Tsunade turned aside, signaling Shizune to come forward.
Shizune fished a white piece of Chakra Induction Paper from her ninja tool pouch and held it out before Genshin.
“Little Genshin, just channel your Chakra into the paper steadily and evenly.
No need to deliberately control it—keep it in its most natural state.”
The Nature Type test was a training step every shinobi had to go through.
Chakra paper could precisely measure a shinobi’s innate Chakra nature, which determined the direction of their subsequent Ninjutsu training.
Generally speaking, everyone had one nature that was relatively easy to learn.
Genshin did as told, steadily circulating the Hamon Chakra within his body.
A wisp of vibrant, life-filled Chakra slowly flowed into the white paper.
One side of the paper suddenly bulged and curled, forming the fine crinkles characteristic of Lightning-natured Chakra; then the wrinkled paper crumbled apart, and as the fragments fell to the ground, one could see that moisture had already soaked through the paper—these were the traits of Earth-natured and Water-natured Chakra, respectively.
A flicker of surprise crossed Shizune’s eyes as she spoke softly.
“It’s three natures—Lightning, Earth, and Water.”
The vast majority of people manifest only one innate affinity, and so specialize in only a single Release technique.
Shinobi able to master non-affinity Release techniques mostly achieved it through arduous acquired training—like Kakashi Hatake, who was naturally affiliated only with Lightning and mastered all five Releases through Sharingan copying and years of hard practice.
Therefore, Genshin, born with three Chakra affinities, was without a doubt a genuine genius.
Beside him, Tsunade’s expression brightened at once.
“A fine talent.
It’ll save quite a bit of effort in cultivating Ninjutsu later.”
Having three basic affinities at once meant an extremely wide range of Release-technique choices, flexible tactical combinations, and far broader room for future growth than an ordinary shinobi.
Ruffling Genshin’s red hair, Tsunade suppressed the approval in her heart, her tone turning serious.
“You possess Earth, Water, and Lightning natures all at once, so training in Ninjutsu of these natures will yield twice the result for half the effort.
That’ll also free up more time later to study Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation.”
“But I don’t intend to teach you Ninjutsu of these natures anytime soon.
What you need to focus on right now is solidifying your foundation and mastering that special Chakra of yours.
To maintain that Chakra mode, your breathing rhythm can’t be interrupted, can it?”
So she noticed after all?
Genshin wasn’t surprised.
Tsunade was one of the top powerhouses of the current era—it was no exaggeration to say she’d fought more battles than Genshin had eaten meals—and she was well-versed in human anatomy.
It was no wonder that after a single exchange she could detect the weakness that maintaining Hamon Chakra required keeping up the Breathing Method.
“Yes, Lady Tsunade.
I’ve named it Hamon Chakra.
To extract this more active bodily energy, I need to maintain a specific Breathing Method; and when using Hamon Chakra, my physical abilities are enhanced.”
As he spoke, Genshin extracted the Hamon alone.
When the Hamon energy concentrated in his hand, even his fingertips gave off a golden halo.
“It’s this bodily energy.”
Enhancing physical ability…
in that respect, it was somewhat like the Strength of a Hundred Technique.
No—being able to fight her with a six-year-old body, the magnitude of this enhancement was even close to Senjutsu.
Placing her hand over Genshin’s, Tsunade carefully sensed the Hamon energy.
“Warm, full of vitality, vibrating…
just like…
the sun.”
Tsunade then walked behind Genshin and pressed her hand to his back to sense his breathing rhythm.
Genshin keenly noticed that her way of breathing had already grown close to his own Breathing Method, and with each adjustment it grew more and more alike.
Frowning, Tsunade lowered her hand.
“This Hamon…
it’s a Kekkei Genkai, isn’t it?
I’ve adjusted my breathing to be exactly like yours, yet there’s no way at all to activate my bodily energy to this degree.”
“It should be, Lady Tsunade.
I taught this Breathing Method to Naruto as well, and he couldn’t produce Hamon either.”
This was probably an exclusive cheat.
“Mn.
For now, go through the morning’s basic training.
Shizune will guide you the whole way.” Tsunade didn’t dwell on it, arranging things in a deep voice.
“Tree-climbing, water-walking, fine Chakra control, the basic Three Bodies Technique—all of it polished from scratch.
No slacking.
The firmer your foundation, the higher your future ceiling.”
“Talent isn’t a privilege—it’s just your ticket in.
If you want to become strong, you still have to put in more effort than others.
As for the problem of Hamon Chakra requiring continuous breathing, I roughly have a solution, but it’ll require you to train to a level I approve of.”
Genshin immediately responded, “Understood!”
Having assigned the training tasks, Tsunade left for Konoha Hospital.
Yes—even Tsunade had to go to work now that she was back in the village.
But Konoha Hospital’s pay was indeed high, and high-difficulty surgeries even came with “subsidies” from patients’ families.
In order to save up the “startup funds” for gallivanting outside the village in the future, Tsunade was actually quite happy to be on the job.
For the entire morning that followed, the training ground was filled with the small, scattered sounds of practice.
____
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