Hinata Residence.
Since it was Saturday, Hinata and Neji were practicing Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms in the courtyard.
Not far away, Hyuga Hiashi watched them, growing increasingly satisfied. Both were learning quickly, and he felt it wouldn't be long before they mastered the Thirty-Two Palms.
If Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms was divided into two stages, then Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms counted as the first.
Although the Thirty-Two Palms was an incomplete version of the Sixty-Four Palms, it could already form a decent fighting force.
Up until now, Hinata and Neji's current form of the Sixty-Four Palms was essentially 'disassembled.'
Just then, a young ninja rushed into the courtyard.
Hiashi subconsciously looked at him. It was Hyuga Kamon.
Among the younger generation of the Hyuga Clan, he was considered an outstanding talent and was already a Jonin.
"Kamon, what happened?" Hiashi asked calmly.
"Clan Leader," Kamon spoke in a deep voice. "Hokage-sama just issued a notice announcing the disbandment of Root."
"What did you say?" Hiashi's expression changed rapidly.
How was this possible? Given the relationship between Hiruzen and Danzo, would he actually disband Root?
"It's absolutely true." Kamon took a deep breath. "I've already seen the announcement posted by Anbu."
"Did you find out the specific reason?" Hiashi asked with a solemn expression.
The disbandment of Root was a major event capable of shaking the entire Konoha Village. He worried it would have an adverse effect on the Hyuga Clan.
"It's because of Lady Tsunade," Kamon replied. "The announcement stated that Lady Tsunade discovered Root's non-compliant experiments."
"Just that reason?" Hiashi was stunned and subconsciously asked, "What kind of experiment was it?"
"The announcement didn't say." Kamon shook his head.
"This doesn't make sense." Hiashi began pacing in thought.
In his opinion, one non-compliant experiment wouldn't be enough to disband Root—unless Tsunade had applied pressure and Hiruzen had no choice but to deliver a result that satisfied her.
"It seems Tsunade becoming the next Hokage is already a foregone conclusion." Hiashi subconsciously looked at Hinata.
Fortunately, their Hyuga Clan had established a connection with Kitazawa early on. The ten-million-ryō Chakra Blade, even if it didn't drastically increase their clan's status, could at least maintain the status quo.
For a ninja clan that had existed for a thousand years, maintaining the status quo was already a victory.
"I understand. You may go." Hiashi waved his hand.
The disbandment of Root indicated that Hiruzen Sarutobi had made up his mind to let Tsunade become the next Hokage.
The Hyuga Clan's next step was simple: support Tsunade at the appropriate time.
Not just the Hyuga Clan, but the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Aburame, and other clans all had the same idea. If they couldn't be loyal subjects from the beginning, they still had to add to the splendor.
After all, a new Hokage taking office meant a change in Konoha Village's power structure. If they could seize this opportunity to gain benefits, it would be a huge profit.
---
Night fell.
Sasuke noticed the atmosphere at home was a bit strange. It wasn't exactly solemn, but Uchiha Fugaku seemed restless, occasionally getting up to pace back and forth.
"Dad, what happened?" Sasuke couldn't hold back and asked.
"Nothing." Uchiha Fugaku shook his head.
He was actually waiting for Itachi, wanting to learn the details of Root's disbandment from him.
"Really nothing?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.
"You child, if your dad says it's nothing, then it's nothing." Mikoto pulled him closer, patted his head, and smiled.
"Alright then." Sasuke felt reassured when he saw Mikoto's familiar smile.
"Has Kitazawa taught you any new ninjutsu recently?" Fugaku suddenly asked.
"No," Sasuke replied. "I've been learning with Kosuke-sensei and Kakashi-sensei during this time."
"Is that so?" Fugaku frowned slightly.
His original plan had been to send one or two more ninjutsu to Kitazawa through Sasuke. But since Kitazawa hadn't taught Sasuke new ninjutsu, there was no suitable excuse.
Just then, the sound of a door opening echoed.
"Brother!" Sasuke immediately let go of Mikoto and ran to the door.
A tired Itachi smiled when he saw him.
As a member of Anbu, he had been busy at Root all day. Whether shutting down experiments, organizing data, or counting items, he was swamped.
There was no other way—Root had existed for too long and accumulated too much.
Itachi estimated that Anbu would be busy for half a month before completely clearing it out. But for him, it was a labor of love.
The unfortunate thing was that Danzo had moved too quickly, still managing to transfer some things beforehand. For example, he hadn't found any documents related to the Uchiha Clan.
Itachi walked into the living room and found Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto waiting for him.
He knew without thinking that it was because of Tsunade's forceful entry into the Root base and Hiruzen Sarutobi's disbandment of Root.
After all, he was one of the people involved.
"Sasuke." Mikoto stood up proactively. "Come back to the room with me; I have something to discuss with you."
"Huh?" Sasuke couldn't help but be stunned.
"Go on, Sasuke." Itachi let go of his hand.
After Mikoto and Sasuke left, Itachi began explaining the cause and effect of Root's disbandment.
"So it involved the First Hokage-sama's cells?" Fugaku's face showed enlightenment. "No wonder the punishment this time is so severe."
Although he didn't know about the Wood Release experiments, taking cells from Senju Hashirama's corpse was already highly disrespectful.
Moreover, it had been discovered by Senju Hashirama's granddaughter, Tsunade.
"But I think it's mainly because of Lady Tsunade," Itachi analyzed. "If it were someone else, Hokage-sama probably wouldn't have disbanded Root."
"Indeed." Fugaku agreed.
Tsunade's status was undeniable. Although Sarutobi Hiruzen was her teacher, he couldn't simply brush it off by relying on his seniority.
After all, the Senju Clan's influence in Konoha was too great. Once this matter was exposed, the village would fall into chaos.
This was the power left behind by two Hokage.
Fugaku sighed inwardly, wondering when their Uchiha Clan would produce a Hokage. Fortunately, there was hope now. If Sasuke worked hard enough, he might even become Hokage.
"Kitazawa played a very significant role in this matter," Fugaku said after a moment of thought. "Coincidentally, he is also Sasuke's teacher, so it won't be difficult for us to get closer to him."
How to describe Tsunade's personality? She was easy to approach, yet also difficult to approach. At the very least, getting closer to her was troublesome.
"You mean…?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't Sasuke give him ninjutsu before?" Fugaku replied. "We can find an opportunity to give him some more ninjutsu."
For the Uchiha Clan, who possessed the Sharingan, ninjutsu was actually not that valuable. After all, having the Sharingan was already enough for them.
"Mm." Itachi nodded.
He had a very good impression of Kitazawa.
Firstly, because Kitazawa genuinely taught Sasuke. With his help, Sasuke's strength had progressed by leaps and bounds.
Secondly, because Kitazawa was Tsunade's student and also the vice-principal of the Ninja Academy, he could be considered a Konoha high-ranking official.
There were very few such officials who were close to the Uchiha Clan to begin with. And Kitazawa's attitude toward their clan was refreshingly normal.
After Tsunade became Hokage, Kitazawa would also become a Hokage candidate. Barring any accidents, the two of them could at least ensure the stability of the Uchiha Clan for several decades.
---
The next day, Sunday.
Kitazawa was not affected by Root's disbandment and continued to practice ninjutsu with Kurenai.
Under his guidance, Kurenai quickly mastered Ninja Art: Hundred Flowers Chaos and Ninja Art: Moonlight Beauty.
After all, these two techniques were quite similar: both first used genjutsu and flower petals to confuse the enemy, then took the opportunity to ambush.
The only difference was that the former was a four-sided assault, while the latter was an ambush from above.
Time moved to Monday.
The students of the Genius Class had already started lessons, but they were theoretical classes.
Kitazawa didn't have to go to the Ninja Academy, but he also had a lesson today: teaching Kurenai Chakra Enhanced Strength.
The two of them arrived at an open space behind the house.
"The Chakra Enhanced Strength, strictly speaking, is a technique for exerting force," Kitazawa said unhurriedly. "Concentrating a large amount of chakra in a certain part of the body and releasing it is what causes Chakra Enhanced Strength."
Kurenai was actually quite suitable for learning it because her chakra control was good.
After all, she could learn genjutsu. Of course, Chakra Enhanced Strength was more difficult than genjutsu and required higher proficiency.
Kitazawa wasn't sure if Kurenai could learn it, but there was no harm in trying.
"Although every part of the body can exert force, the most commonly used are the hands and feet," Kitazawa said, raising his hand and clenching his fist. "I'll teach you how to exert force with your hands first. You can call it Cherry Blossom Impact."
Cherry Blossom Impact comes from Sakura's naming in the original work. Tsunade's hand-based Chakra Enhanced Strength didn't have a corresponding name; only her foot-based kick was called Heavenly Foot of Pain.
"Mm." Kurenai nodded.
"The advantage of Chakra Enhanced Strength is that it doesn't require hand seals, and its power is immense."
Kitazawa punched down, and in an instant, the ground cracked, creating a crater two to three meters deep. This was still the result of him holding back; if he had used his full power, he could have caused even greater destruction.
Although Kurenai had seen it many times, the thought that she could learn it still made her feel very excited.
If she could master Chakra Enhanced Strength, her strength would, as Kitazawa said, advance by leaps and bounds.
In future battles, after her genjutsu failed, she could let her enemies experience her fists and kicks.
"The only problem is that it consumes a lot of chakra," Kitazawa said, shaking his hand.
"It can be used as a trump card," Kurenai pondered for a moment and replied. Under normal circumstances, she would definitely still fight using genjutsu.
"Then let's begin." Kitazawa walked in front of her and grabbed her wrist.
Considering Kurenai's talent, he decided to adopt a teaching method completely different from Tsunade's. That was micro-level teaching—for example, making Kurenai forcibly memorize the flow of chakra.
Kitazawa had the Byakugan and could do this.
Last night, while Kurenai was asleep, he had used his Byakugan to examine the situation within her body thoroughly.
Time slowly passed.
Although Kitazawa's teaching method was already considered semi-cheating, the difficulty of Chakra Enhanced Strength was still too great.
A day passed, and Kurenai made no progress. But that was normal; even Shizune in the original work never learned Chakra Enhanced Strength.
---
Tuesday
After breakfast, Kitazawa arrived at the Ninja Academy.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Ino immediately ran up to him. Without a word, she hugged Kitazawa's leg, looked up, and blinked her pretty eyes at him.
Hinata had been preempted by her and could only stop silently.
"It's only been three days. Why are you so eager?" Kitazawa raised his hand, tapped her forehead, and asked.
"I'm just impatient to learn new ninjutsu," Ino let go of him, showing great desire to improve.
"I'll teach you later," Kitazawa smiled and said.
In these three days, besides teaching Kurenai, he had also taken the time to decide which ninjutsu Ino would learn. This new technique still came from a game and was called Ninja Art: Myriad Flowers Chaos.
The name sounded very similar to Ninja Art: Hundred Flowers Chaos, but in reality, the effects were completely different.
Ninja Art: Myriad Flowers Chaos was more like the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique. Its effect was to leap into the air and throw a large number of flower shuriken from above to suppress the enemy.
Flower shuriken were flowers infused with chakra; in terms of lethality, they weren't much worse than real shuriken, but they consumed more chakra.
The reason Kitazawa chose to teach her this ninjutsu was because it could form a combo with Ninja Art: Hundred Flowers Chaos and Ninja Art: Moonlight Beauty.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Naruto, Kiba, and the others greeted him.
"It's almost time. Follow me." Kitazawa led them to the training ground where they usually trained.
Of course, he only brought his three study groups. There was nothing special about the training; everything proceeded as usual. Kitazawa only called Naruto and Ino out separately.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Ino skipped excitedly.
"I'll teach you first. This ninjutsu is called Ninja Art: Myriad Flowers Chaos."
Kitazawa leaped into the air, flicked his hands, and a sky full of petals appeared. The edges of the petals, after being infused with chakra, became very sharp, cutting into the ground like blades.
"Do you know about explosive tags?" Kitazawa landed and asked with a smile.
"I do," Ino snapped back to attention and replied.
Explosive tags, a product of sealing technique, were essentially Fire Release sealed within a charm. Not only were they immensely powerful, but they also didn't require hand seals or chakra consumption.
However, precisely because of this, explosive tags were very expensive, and ordinary ninja couldn't afford them. But as the young lady of the Yamanaka Clan, it was easy for Ino to use some explosive tags.
"You can find someone to custom-make petal-shaped explosive tags to mix in with the flower shuriken," Kitazawa paused and added. "But don't use them at the Academy."
Ino's eyes immediately lit up at his words.
With the addition of explosive tags, the power of Ninja Art: Myriad Flowers Chaos would increase without limit.
Moreover, enemies would surely not expect explosive tags hidden within the flower shuriken, making it easy to achieve surprising effects.
"Practice on your own, and ask me if you don't understand anything." Kitazawa patted her head and then went to Naruto.
"Kitazawa-sensei, what new ninjutsu are we learning?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"Not for now." Kitazawa shook his head. "We're going to do special combat training—or rather, special thought training."
In the original work, Naruto was known as the most unpredictable ninja. But perhaps because he listened to him too much, he hadn't shown this characteristic yet.
However, it didn't matter; it could be trained. As for new ninjutsu, Kitazawa planned to teach him Wind Release: Rasengan after a while.
"You'll go with my shadow clone for special training." Kitazawa created a clone and said, "Combat special training in the morning, and Wind Release chakra nature transformation practice in the afternoon."
Naruto scratched his head. Although not learning new ninjutsu made him a bit disappointed, he didn't say much.
Kitazawa's main body went to the artificial lake. He was going to continue practicing his A-Rank ninjutsu, Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique.
The reason he chose the artificial lake was that using Water Release ninjutsu in a watery environment could save a lot of chakra.
Besides him, there were also Kiba, Sasuke, and Sakura.
Kiba was still practicing Three-Headed Hellhound. Although he had already learned it, he wasn't proficient enough and needed to practice for a while longer.
Sasuke was learning Konoha Style Swordsmanship. Sakura was practicing Water Release: Water Formation Wall.
After greeting Kosuke, Kitazawa began practicing Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique. But as he practiced, he was also contemplating the system's mission for creating ninjutsu.
Currently, the S-Rank ninjutsu he had set as a safeguard was Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
However, it was a forbidden technique, and it might be difficult to find a second person in the entire Konoha Village to master it.
Kitazawa was wondering if there was a more influential and useful S-Rank ninjutsu. That way, he could get the highest reward for the system mission.
A morning passed.
Kitazawa's proficiency in Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique increased a bit more.
"Kitazawa." Kosuke walked towards him. His left leg was a prosthetic, so his walking posture was a bit strange.
"Ko…" Kitazawa suddenly froze. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he had an idea for a new ninjutsu.
There were many medical ninjutsu in the ninja world, but there was no medical ninjutsu for limb regeneration.
However, Kitazawa happened to have a similar medical technique, the S-Rank Medical Forbidden Technique: Body Revival Technique.
The effect of Body Revival Technique was that even if the body was torn into pieces, it could be reorganized and regenerated—but it could only be used on oneself.
Kitazawa's idea was to modify the technique. First, to reduce its effect, making it only capable of limb regeneration, which would also reduce side effects. Second, to make it usable for others.
If Kitazawa could truly succeed, then with this medical ninjutsu, he would be enough to leave his name in Konoha and even gain fame throughout the ninja world.
After all, ninja battles were extremely dangerous, and losing limbs was a common occurrence.
Kitazawa felt it was worth a try.
--
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P@atreon/Arvinstorm (45+ Advanced Chapters)