Slugs don’t have distinct human features—no brows or eyes—only soft, extended feelers and an opening-and-closing mouthpart, yet Tsunade and Genshin could tell all the same.
It was reminiscing.
“Fallen Star Pool…”
“It’s been so long since I’ve heard that name—so long that I had almost come to believe those years would remain sealed away forever in memories of the past.”
“I can sense it.
The child beside little Tsunade has formed a contract with the Fallen Star Pool.”
Its enormous feeler slowly stretched forward, hovering gently before Genshin.
“Little one, the Great Panda Sage has awakened, hasn’t he?”
Hearing this, Tsunade let out a breath of relief.
The concern Genshin had spoken of earlier had lingered quietly in her heart, and now, with the Great Slug Sage confirming it in its own words, the weight that had been hanging over her finally settled.
“Yes, Lord Slug.
Recently the Great Panda Sage did indeed awaken.
It sent its clansmen out into the Shinobi World to find a contractor, and seeing that my aptitude was passable, it formed a contract with me.”
As he spoke, Genshin lifted the round, chubby A-Bao the way one would hold up Simba, giving it a little shake toward the Great Slug Sage.
“You cunning little thing.
The contractor the Great Sage chose is hardly of merely ‘passable’ aptitude.
In all my memory, across a thousand years, you are the first.”
The Great Slug Sage teased Genshin in a soft, lilting voice.
Tsunade turned her head to look at Genshin, a faint touch of sulkiness in her eyes.
Her original plan had been to wait until Genshin’s training reached a certain level and then bring him to Shikkotsu Forest to form a contract—who would have thought this little troublemaker would go and find himself a powerful backer all on his own.
She reached out and patted Genshin on the head.
“You really are a lucky little brat.
I was actually planning to let you train a while longer before bringing you here to make a contract with Lord Slug!”
“This way, someday you might be able to learn Shikkotsu Forest’s Senjutsu, just like your grandfather.”
The slug slowly shifted its massive body, the mist among the trees swirling gently with its movements.
“With this little one’s aptitude, the Senjutsu of the Fallen Star Pool suits him better.
Anyone who can learn the Senjutsu of the Fallen Star Pool will surely be able to master the Senjutsu of any other holy land.”
“He need only wait until he’s a little older.
As his body develops and the Chakra within him grows to a certain magnitude, he’ll be able to begin.”
“That is also why the Great Sage had you pause your training—your physical body and Chakra reserves are not yet enough to bear Senjutsu.”
At this point, the mist around the slug sank a little heavier, and a trace of gravity crept into its gentle, pleasant voice.
“Come to think of it, even the Great Panda Sage—who has always kept himself apart from worldly affairs—has chosen a contractor.
It seems that before long, an earth-shattering upheaval will sweep across the Shinobi World.”
“Grow strong quickly, interesting little one.”
As the words fell, the Great Slug Sage spoke no more.
All four of its feelers withdrew into its massive body, and it appeared to sink into a deep slumber, no longer responding to any question.
Seeing this, Tsunade did not disturb it further.
She raised her hand and grasped Genshin’s wrist, and a pale white mist enveloped the two of them and the one panda.
In an instant they left Shikkotsu Forest and returned to the training field of the Senju clan grounds.
The moment her feet landed on the stone floor of the training field, Tsunade turned and instructed Genshin, “Keep training today according to the plan from before.
I’m going to report the matter of the Fallen Star Pool and A-Bao to the Third Hokage.”
With that, Tsunade strode off briskly toward the Hokage’s building, leaving on the training field only Genshin, who had begun his training; A-Bao, who was hiding from Shizune; and Shizune, who was drooling over both A-Bao and Genshin.
Mm—it looked perfectly harmonious.
A morning of training passed in the blink of an eye.
After bidding Shizune farewell, Genshin left the Senju clan grounds.
Following a short rest, Genshin took A-Bao to the Konoha training ground, planning to use the afternoon to keep honing his Taijutsu foundation—and, if luck had it, to run into those two handsome young Uchiha for some real combat practice.
The noon sunlight filtered through Konoha’s towering canopy, carving out dappled patches of light and shadow.
Scattered across the ground of the training field were plenty of practice shuriken target boards.
Genshin settled A-Bao on a stone bench in the shade of a tree, pulled out a bag of nuts, and let it gnaw away to grind its teeth.
Then he strapped on his weighted wrist guards, stretched his limbs, walked to the center of the training field, and began doing round after round of physical conditioning—one-armed push-ups, single-leg squats, and the like.
After finishing his basic training, he moved on to practicing Chakra Enhanced Strength, letting Hamon Chakra flow evenly through his four limbs, controlling the force so it wouldn’t leak out recklessly, balancing power with precision.
Lost in his cultivation, Genshin didn’t notice that A-Bao beside him was imitating his every move, mimicking the stance of Chakra Enhanced Strength and practicing punch after punch.
Suddenly it slammed a fist into a boulder about two meters wide nearby.
Because the cushioning pads of its paws muffled the sound, it wasn’t loud, so Genshin didn’t catch it.
Crack!
A fissure slowly split open the boulder from the bottom up.
…
About an hour later, two figures came strolling along the village’s main road.
Walking in front was Uchiha Shisui, clad in an ANBU uniform, a wakizashi slung diagonally across his back.
Close at his side followed the eight-year-old Uchiha Itachi, the boy’s brows and eyes calm and composed, carrying a bundle of wooden targets used for practicing shuriken.
Genshin stopped mid-punch, raised a hand to smooth down A-Bao—who had somehow slipped up onto his shoulder at some point and bristled its fur in wariness at the approaching strangers—and waved to the two with a smile.
“Senior Shisui, Itachi.”
Shisui slumped down onto a stone bench off to the side and let out a long sigh, the fatigue built up over so many days written all over his face, like an office worker on the verge of dropping dead from overwork.
Seeing A-Bao on Genshin’s shoulder, he managed a strained smile.
“Is this your Summoning Animal, little Genshin?
It looks pretty clever.”
“Thanks.
But you, Senior Shisui—what happened?
You look like…”
Genshin thought it over and, in the end, swallowed the words ‘a stressed-out middle-aged low-level manager.’
“Lately the tensions within the clan have gotten a little hard to keep down.” He rubbed the space between his brows and voiced his troubles, his tone full of helplessness.
“The village has kept the Uchiha residential district isolated on its own for years, with ANBU patrolling and watching around the clock, twenty-four hours a day.
Everyone in the clan knows perfectly well that the higher-ups regard us as potential rebels.”
“Before, I could still mediate, cooling the tempers of the radical clansmen.
But the constant cold stares and suspicion—the resentment keeps piling up, deeper and deeper.
Quite a few of the younger clansmen have banded together in private, and they’ve already begun discussing how to deal with these ANBU.”
“And just yesterday, several of the clan elders stopped me specifically, demanding to know whether my heart lies with the Uchiha, or with Konoha’s ANBU.”
As Shisui said this, a trace of bitterness welled up in his eyes.
Caught between the clan and the village, he was in an impossible position—whichever side he leaned toward, he would betray the other.
This kind of day-after-day torment truly wore down a person’s spirit.
If not for Genshin’s earlier words—’believe in the Uchiha’—which still gave him a sliver of confidence, his composure would have collapsed long ago.
Right now Shisui was truly exhausted in both body and mind, which was why he’d brought Itachi out to clear his head.
He’d happened to spot Genshin here, and although Genshin was only six, his perspective on things was far more penetrating than his own, so he wanted to see whether the boy might have any ideas.
Off to the side, Uchiha Itachi, holding the wooden targets, listened to Shisui’s words.
The pads of his fingers unconsciously tightened around the wooden target handle, pressing several faint marks into the hard wooden shaft.
A double-tomoe Sharingan flashed through his eyes in an instant and vanished; no one noticed the fleeting movement.
“…”
Genshin was in no hurry to pass judgment on either the village or the Uchiha.
He understood clearly that no matter which side he favored, it would be of no help in resolving the current predicament—far better to listen to what the two before him truly thought in their hearts.
And Shisui he understood well enough: a dove among doves, the most moderate of the moderates.
The problem was—Uchiha Itachi.
This was a person whose extremism rivaled that of Pol Pot.
(Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s Communist Party, for years.
After seizing power, he imposed a tyranny that claimed the lives of at least 1.5 million Cambodians.)
Likewise tormented between the village and the clan, after Shisui’s death he would discover he could not realize his ideal of coexistence between clan and village, and in the end, for the sake of the village, he would choose to slaughter the entire clan with his own hands.
Leaving behind only that poor unlucky wretch, Sasuke.
Genshin turned his head toward Uchiha Itachi, who stood in silence clutching the wooden targets, and asked in a calm voice, “Senior Shisui is caught in the middle, torn both ways, and the clan elders are full of resentment toward the village and toward Senior Shisui.”
“Itachi, in your heart, how do you view the current relationship between the Uchiha and the village?” Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: DanMachi: