The Land of Gold, located southeast of the Land of Iron and northwest of the Land of Hot Water, was a hilly region famous for its mineral deposits.
After ten days of sailing, the merchant ship docked at the Land of Iron for a stopover of about half a month.
So Tsunade and her group switched to overland travel, crossing the Land of Iron’s border and entering this land covered in slag and smelting smoke.
They now stopped in an open valley far from the mining areas.
Low hills surrounded them, covered in drought-resistant shrubs.
The ground was reddish-brown sandy soil that left deep footprints when stepped on.
In the distance, the squeaking of ore carts gliding along tracks and the low rumble of smelters could be faintly heard.
The afternoon sun poured down without obstruction, making their skin grow hot.
Tsunade stood in the center of the clearing; her blonde hair loosely tied behind her head.
The sleeves of her loose dark-purple kimono were fastened up with thin cords, revealing the smooth lines of her forearms.
She stood with her hands on her hips, looking at her two students.
Shizune wore a serious expression, while Souji stood quietly three paces away, blindfolded, his posture straight.
“Chakra Enhanced Strength.” Tsunade spoke in the same stern tone she had used years ago when teaching Shizune.
“The name isn’t exactly great, but the core principle is simple.” “It’s about concentrating chakra into a specific part of your body at extremely high density, then releasing it explosively at the instant of attack or movement, producing physical destructive power far beyond normal limits.” She raised her right hand, fingers spread, signaling the two to watch her palm.
“There are two key points.” “First: concentration.
Chakra cannot be dispersed.
It must be twisted into a single rope, then force every bit of it into the point where you need to exert force.” “Second: timing.
Not too early, not too late.
You have to detonate the compressed chakra all at once the instant you make contact with the target.” As soon as she finished speaking, Tsunade gently pressed her right palm against a boulder about half a person’s height beside her.
The motion was so light, it was almost like a caress.
The next instant… Boom!
The boulder exploded apart.
Fragments shot outward like shrapnel, with the largest pieces flying over ten meters before crashing into the nearby shrubs and kicking up clouds of dust.
Tsunade withdrew her hand, brushed off nonexistent dust, and remained expressionless.
“That’s how it’s done.
Shizune, you’re up first.” “Alright!” Shizune took a deep breath and walked over to another boulder.
Dropping into a horse stance, she clenched her right fist as chakra began gathering toward her fist.
Beneath the black cloth covering his eyes, Souji’s Six Eyes stirred slightly, allowing him to observe the flow of chakra inside Shizune’s body.
That mass of energy flowed from her lower abdomen, surged through her meridians toward her right arm, then faltered just before reaching her fist.
It was like water suddenly forced through a narrowed river channel.
The flow slowed abruptly, and its density decreased.
Shizune gritted her teeth and slammed her fist into the boulder.
Thump!
A thin crack appeared across the rock.
Her fist sank about two inches into the surface, stone chips flying everywhere, yet the boulder itself didn’t move in the slightest.
Shizune withdrew her hand.
Her fist had turned slightly red as she looked toward Tsunade with a disappointed expression.
“Your concentration isn’t good enough.” Tsunade frowned, offering her critique without the slightest mercy.
“Your chakra started dispersing halfway through.
By the time it reached your fist, only about sixty percent of it was left.
Try again.” Shizune nodded, adjusted her breathing, and gathered her chakra once more.
The second time, some of her chakra dispersed again before reaching her forearm.
Her fist struck the boulder, creating a larger crack, but it still refused to shatter.
The third time.
The fourth.
The fifth…
Half an hour passed.
Sweat beaded on Shizune’s forehead, and her fist had turned bright red.
The boulder had only lost a corner from her repeated blows.
She was still far from achieving the effect of Tsunade’s single palm strike.
“Alright, take a break.” Tsunade waved her hand, a hint of helplessness in her voice.
“Shizune, you’re not lacking talent.
But Chakra Enhanced Strength requires an almost unreasonable degree of concentration.” “You’re too meticulous.
You pay too much attention to the distribution of every strand of chakra, and in doing so, you end up restraining yourself.” Hearing that, Shizune lowered her head in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, Tsunade-sama…” “Sorry for what?
It’s not like I scolded you.” Tsunade scratched her head irritably before shifting her gaze toward the blindfolded boy who had been quietly observing all this time.
“Kid, your turn.” Yamada Souji gave a slight nod and stepped forward, stopping before a fresh boulder.
He didn’t move immediately.
Instead, he quietly observed the rock before him.
Beneath the black cloth, the Six Eyes slowly opened—not at full power, but adjusted into analysis mode.
Within his vision, the boulder’s internal structure unfolded layer by layer.
The arrangement of its mineral particles.
The direction of its internal fractures.
The subtle differences in density throughout its body.
He could also clearly perceive the lingering traces of chakra left behind by Tsunade’s earlier strike.
At the instant her palm had made contact with the boulder, that chakra had displayed a perfectly compressed and explosive waveform, its peak razor-sharp, with not the slightest bit of wasted energy.
He then turned his attention inward.
Chakra flowed quietly through his meridians.
Wind Release.
Water Release.
Earth Release.
The three attributes were mixed together, yet they could still be separated.
He attempted to mobilize a portion of it, directing it toward his right hand.
At the same time, the Six Eyes’ analytical feedback function activated.
Every strand of chakra appeared before him with digital precision.
Everything appeared before him with digital precision, speed, density, path deviation, and concentration level.
The data revealed Shizune’s problem immediately.
Her chakra was simply too orderly.
Every strand sought the smoothest possible path, and the result…
Dispersion.
To reproduce Tsunade’s level of power, concentration alone wasn’t enough.
What she truly relied upon…
Was compression.
Like forcing an entire quilt into a single pillow.
The distance between every chakra particle was squeezed smaller and smaller until they pressed against one another at their absolute limit.
Souji slowly raised his right hand.
His fingers spread apart slightly.
Chakra immediately began gathering toward his palm.
But unlike Shizune’s slow and steady flow, Souji’s chakra moved with an almost bizarre, leaping quality.
Rather than traveling smoothly through the meridians, it seemed to be pulled by an overwhelming force, converging almost instantaneously.
Wave after wave rushed toward his right arm.
Then every bit of it was forcibly compressed into an extremely tiny point in the center of his palm.
“Hm?” Tsunade’s eyes narrowed slightly.
From her perception…
The chakra density inside the kid’s right palm was climbing at an astonishing speed.
A faint, nearly transparent shimmer gradually appeared across the surface of Souji’s palm.
It was an optical distortion caused by the extreme density of chakra.
He felt a slight stinging sensation in his palm.
The compressed energy was pressing against his very cells.
Yet the Six Eyes’ analytical feedback told him…
It was still within the safe threshold.
He could compress it even further.
He compared it against the peak data from Tsunade’s strike that he had just observed.
Using that value as his benchmark…
He continued compressing.
Until…
It reached ninety-seven percent of that value.
That was enough.
His first attempt didn’t need to be a perfect replication.
He only needed to experience that instant of explosive release.
Souji gently pressed his right palm against the boulder.
The movement was identical to Tsunade’s.
Equally gentle.
The instant his palm made contact The compressed chakra burst forth like a floodgate thrown open, erupting from that tiny point in his palm.
BOOM!!
The deafening explosion shook the nearby shrubs, causing them to tremble violently.
The boulder shattered at the point of impact.
But unlike Tsunade’s strike, which broke it into large chunks…
Souji’s completely pulverized it.
The entire boulder exploded as though an Explosive Tag had been planted inside, disintegrating into countless tiny stone fragments that blasted outward in a fan-shaped arc over three meters.
The shockwave carved a shallow crater into the ground.
Dust billowed into the air, blocking out a large swath of sunlight.