Chapter 277: I Am the Sun x Tsunade's Shock
Tsunade, reeking of alcohol, appeared brashly with Shizune's support...
Even though it was currently working hours,
Konoha was still at war,
Hundreds of ninjas awaited treatment,
The village's upper echelons were severely lacking in combat power,
Hiruzen Sarutobi still tolerated his beloved disciple's gambling, drinking, and idling all day, completely disregarding the image of the "Sannin," let alone... the face of him, her teacher.
Just like in the original story, when he caught Orochimaru using living humans for experiments, even cornering him right in the lab, he ultimately let him go. This eventually led to the consequence of Orochimaru launching a sneak attack on Konoha and forcing him to his death.
Hiruzen Sarutobi glared at Tsunade, wishing she were better. He forcefully suppressed the rising anger in his heart and asked Shizune to bring Tsunade a cup of tea. The old woman sprawled brashly on the sofa at the corner of the desk, picked up the tea, and chugged it down. At this moment, her rough demeanor didn't seem like a woman's; rather, it was more like a man's.
Perhaps this was the only way she could numb herself and forget the pain of her younger brother and fiancé dying in battle one after another...
Glug, glug, glug... A pot of tea was quickly emptied.
Seeming to have sobered up mostly, Tsunade let out a refreshing groan, stretched her arms, and sprawled completely on the sofa.
She said impatiently, "If you have something to say, say it quickly. I have to catch the next round. I will definitely win big tonight and win back everything I lost over the past two days!" Beside her, Shizune helplessly took the empty pot she casually tossed. She stealthily glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Through the lingering smoke, the Hokage's twitching mouth corner was vaguely visible. Clearly... he was trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart.
Fortunately, business was more important. As the Hokage, he shouldn't show joy or anger easily. Hiruzen Sarutobi still had this bit of composure and endurance. He pulled open the drawer and pushed the [Severed Limb Regeneration Technique], which Fugaku had presented earlier, in front of Tsunade.
"Take a look at this."
"What is it?"
"A ninjutsu."
"What's so great about that?" Tsunade became even more impatient, her eyes widening. "Old man, if there's nothing else, I'm leaving."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
A few veins popping out on his temple were faintly visible, and he was just about to lose his temper. Fortunately,
Shizune, quick-witted and deft-handed, directly snatched the scroll and coughed lightly, saying, "Lady Tsunade, I'll read it to you. It'll be quick and won't delay you catching your next round."
Saying so, she unrolled the scroll. The five large characters clearly written on the title page, [Severed Limb Regeneration Technique], reflected in her quiet eyes. As if possessing some magic, it directly sucked Shizune's gaze in. As her lips trembled, she couldn't utter a single syllable for a moment, leaving Tsunade, who was already waiting impatiently on the sofa, to
Frown,
Turn her head, and glare at her: "Shizune..."
"I... I'm here." Feeling Tsunade's impatient gaze, Shizune, dressed in black pants and wearing high-heeled sandals, was more of a personal butler than a personal bodyguard, responsible for taking care of her daily life and preventing her from ultimately rotting away and disappearing.
The woman, moonlighting as a butler while being a bodyguard, held this thin scroll in her hand and quietly glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi again. Seeing the old man still sitting upright in the smoke, puffing on his pipe intermittently, she sorted out her shocked emotions, took a deep breath, and slowly read: "[Severed Limb Regeneration Technique], as the name suggests, mainly focuses on 'regenerating severed limbs'..."
"The chakra flow path is as follows..."
"The hand seals are..."
"Wait!" Suddenly, a pale, slender hand reached out. Before Shizune could continue reading, it snatched the scroll from her hand... At this moment, Tsunade seemed to have truly sobered up. The two intoxicating blushes on her cheeks faded, replaced by a shocked and serious face!
This face... let alone Hiruzen Sarutobi, even Shizune, who followed her around all day, hadn't seen it for a long time! When did it disappear, and when did it begin... Probably the evening Lord Dan Kato died... The words "serious" and "proper" vanished from Tsunade's life forever...
Swish~ Unrolling the scroll, Tsunade stood up, then sat down upright. Her two beautiful eyes stared straight ahead, concentrating intently on the [Severed Limb Regeneration Technique].
From "a slight conjecture on ninjutsu development" to "principle analysis," "repeated verification of chakra flow paths," and finally "hand seal gestures," she absorbed every single word. Aside from the "path verification" slightly edited by Fugaku Uchiha, which made this ninjutsu seem more realistic, emphasizing that it was researched through "a great deal of effort," mainly highlighting that it was... hard-won.
In short,
Looking at it... looking at it... Tsunade started biting her nails...
It was exactly the obsessed look she had during her student days when immersed in studying medical ninjutsu.
Entering Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, the old man smiled imperceptibly at the corner of his mouth, receiving an immediate reassurance... It's in the bag!
Amazing. It seems this ninjutsu truly has operability... Jin, such an outstanding child like you, how should this old man arrange things for you?
Some people cause worry because they are too mediocre or even stupid,
While others cause worry because they are too outstanding, even outstanding beyond control.
That boy with black hair and sharp eyes was clearly the latter!
Puff~ Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth, blowing out a melancholic smoke ring... The smoke ring drifted, gradually expanding and fading, finally rushing to Tsunade with only a faint wisp of smoke left...
The woman, with her blonde hair cascading behind her head, finally finished reading all the contents on the scroll.
She took a deep breath, pulled her head away from the scroll, stared straight at Hiruzen Sarutobi, and asked, "Who? Who developed this ninjutsu?"
As her words fell, Shizune followed Tsunade's gaze toward Hiruzen Sarutobi. Needless to think, to have passed Lady Tsunade's in-depth examination, this ninjutsu was probably... real, and far beyond that.
Puff~
Silence filled the Hokage's office at this moment.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't answer immediately.
He deflected the question, saying, "Do you think this ninjutsu has the value of being widely promoted?"
Tsunade frowned and pondered, even trying to execute and verify it according to the casting method summarized by Roy. After a good while, she nodded decisively: "Yes."
"The technique itself isn't complex, but the angle is very novel. What's even more surprising is... the author's understanding of [Yang Release] is simply like..." "Like who?"
"Like my grandfather."
Grandfather... The Hokage's office suddenly fell silent again!
Shizune abruptly widened her eyes, looking at Tsunade in disbelief... Her grandfather, wouldn't that be... the First Hokage, Lord Hashirama Senju?!
Outside the window, the sun was shining brightly,
The massive Hokage Monument was visible at a glance across the commercial district.
The one occupying the first position on the far left looked down upon Konoha from high above, just as he looked down upon her, Shizune, and him, Hiruzen Sarutobi, causing the two to fall silent once more...
Puff Another drag on the pipe,
Feeling the smoke enter his lungs through his trachea, the burning sensation stimulating him to forcefully perk up, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked deeply at Tsunade through the smoke. For the first time in his life, and from his own disciple's mouth, he heard such a high evaluation as "similar to the First Hokage"... However, could that kid from Fugaku's family truly live up to such praise?
The old man narrowed his eyes, recalling the [Wood Release] he had just seen from the boy a few days ago. He put down his pipe and let out a long sigh, saying, "The technique must be promoted eventually. Even if this old man doesn't tell you, with your personality, you would investigate it privately anyway."
Tsunade didn't refute this point.
She might be rotting away, she might be heartbroken, but once it concerned her "family," especially an in-depth understanding of [Yang Release]—the representative [Nature Transformation] of the Senju clan's "family"—Tsunade would instantly perk up, disregard everything, and investigate to the very end. After all,
Who made Tsunade the last descendant of the "Senju"?
Gripping the scroll, the woman glared fiercely at Hiruzen Sarutobi: "So who exactly is it?"
With a dry, almost trembling voice, she asked again, "Is it a Senju?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook out the ash from his pipe and slowly shook his head: "He is not a Senju; rather, he is the Senju's... mortal enemy."
"The Senju's mortal enemy..." Shizune silently chewed on this sentence beside them. Suddenly opening her mouth wide, she blurted out, "An Uchiha?!"
"That's impossible!" Tsunade flatly denied it without a second thought!
"The inherently evil Uchiha" was not just a baseless rumor. In the current Konoha, even if no one knew that the "Senju" and the "Uchiha" were the reincarnations of "Asura" and "Indra," inheriting [Yang Release] and [Yin Release] respectively, but...
[Yin] and [Yang] are incompatible, just like [Water] and [Fire] don't mix. This had already become a tacitly accepted absolute truth in the ninja world, deeply rooted in the heart of every ninja. The Uchiha, as [Darkness], inherently couldn't stand [Sunlight].
No matter how hard Tsunade racked her brain, she would rather believe the [Severed Limb Regeneration Technique] was developed by some civilian ninja than believe it was an Uchiha! Moreover, in Tsunade's cognition, anything involving [Yang Release] was highly likely related to the Senju or the bloodline the Senju left in the world. This was the right reasoning, the correct answer!
"It seems you don't believe it either." Noticing Tsunade's expression and knowing his disciple's nature well, Hiruzen Sarutobi pushed back his chair, stood up, turned his back to them, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed into the distance at the Uchiha clan compound through the huge floor-to-ceiling window. He said quietly, "I know what you're thinking... When this old man first received this ninjutsu, I didn't believe it either. But the truth is..."
"It was indeed presented by the Uchiha clan."
"Moreover,"
"I have met the developer myself."
Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, turned his head, and looked deeply at Tsunade, saying, "Trust me, Tsunade. He is far more unbelievable than you think!"
"I want to see him." Tsunade suddenly said, "Unless I see it with my own eyes, otherwise—"
"Don't even think about tricking me!"
Crack A corner of the coffee table in front of the sofa was suddenly snapped off by a monstrous force.
With one hand gripping the scroll and the other clenched into a fist, a pitter-patter sound echoed as wood chips rustled down from Tsunade's palm... Making Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyebrows twitch violently... Damn it!
Recovering his senses, the angry old man pointed at Tsunade.
The woman stiffened her neck, staring back at him stubbornly.
Amidst the invisible standoff, Shizune was caught in the middle, secretly anxious... clasping her hands together, not knowing what to do... Fortunately, Hiruzen Sarutobi was an experienced person, and as the Hokage, even if he lacked magnanimity, he had to put on a show of having it. After a moment, he lowered his hand, glared coldly at Tsunade, and said, "Walk out this door. This old man won't repeat it a second time."
"His name is Jin Uchiha."
"Get out!"
"Jin Uchiha..." Tsunade silently memorized the name, turned around, her two massive snow peaks bouncing, and left with her back to them...
"Lord Hokage, Shizune takes her leave." Seeing this, Shizune hastily bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi, moved her feet, and chased after Tsunade out of the Hokage's office.
In the huge Hokage's office, only Hiruzen Sarutobi remained, along with an overturned pipe resting on the desk, plunging into a long period of deep thought...
After a moment, the old man looked up out the window at the standing Hokage Monument. Looking at the giant head belonging to Hashirama Senju, he murmured softly, "Jin Uchiha, if it's you, can you reignite Tsunade's fighting spirit?"
Whoosh~ A gust of wind blew, making green leaves dance and fly away to an unknown destination... Perhaps they perished in some inconspicuous pile of old papers... Perhaps they crossed the limits of time and space, just like the many green leaves in the Demon Slayer World, fluttering past a certain boy. In the next glance, they were crushed to dust by the flickering, surging Nen aura emanating from the boy...
Demon Slayer World,
In the back mountain of the Kamado family,
In front of the grave where [Uta] and [Ryota] were buried...
With fiery red long hair swaying,
Draped in moonlight, Roy stood alone in the moonlight, carefully savoring the pure [Power of the Sun] brought to him by the Blue Spider Lily. In this instant, it was as if he had been thrown right in front of the sun.
Facing the scorching heat of the sun head-on,
Watching the "sunspots," "solar flares," "prominences," and "solar wind" erupting...
He subsequently immersed and melted into it,
Sometimes becoming a dark spot on the sun's photosphere,
Sometimes diving deep into the chromosphere, becoming a pulsing energy within it that erupted instantly,
Sometimes ejecting particles along with the corona, turning into one of the countless particle streams forming the solar wind...
In the dense forest, the flickering, surging Nen aura enveloping Roy grew larger and larger, more and more intense, more and more scorching, and more and more magnificent... As he sank deeper, it spontaneously radiated outwards...
Gradually,
A sliver of light abruptly pierced the darkness,
Allowing more light to manifest,
Directly lifting Roy up and flying towards the high sky...
In the haze, a brown bear hibernating in a burrow mistakenly thought spring had returned to the earth. Groggily, it poked its head out of the burrow. Taking a look, its two bear eyes, as large as lanterns, suddenly widened. It raised a paw and scratched its head in confusion...
"What's going on?"
"It's clearly still midnight, why is the sun coming out?"
No one answered the brown bear's question.
It simply stood up on its hind legs, looking up blankly at Roy, radiating light and heat all over, heading straight into the high sky.
Surpassing the peaks, flying shoulder to shoulder with the moon...
In the Kamado household, Tanjuro, who had just bid farewell to Roy, sat alone in the wooden corridor, drinking cup after cup of tea as if it were wine to dissolve his prior sorrow. At a certain moment, he suddenly realized his vision had brightened.
Unexpectedly, a ray of sunlight broke through the blockade of the night, pushing aside the moonlight and shining into the small courtyard in front of the corridor.
The man froze for a moment, then threw on his coat and got up. Stepping off the wooden corridor in two steps, he looked up at the sky...
☆☆☆
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