"So you're here to get me to return, huh?"
Tsunade's expression immediately turned impatient, and she waved her hand dismissively:
"I get it. Once I've had enough time to relax, I'll return naturally."
"Besides, even if I go back now, I won't be of any help."
"And tell the teacher to stop sending people to find me all the time. It only worsens my mood."
Saying that, she turned around, ready to leave.
Then, she heard Natsuhiko say:
"This time, it's not an order from Lord Hokage but from Lady Mito."
"Lady Mito?"
Tsunade subconsciously repeated Natsuhiko's words, stopping in her tracks and turning around:
"So, you must be that genius disciple my grandmother recently took in, something Natsuhiko, right?"
"Yes, Amou Natsuhiko."
She looked Natsuhiko up and down and said:
"You do seem pretty smart, but too bad… you've got white hair…"
Does white hair eat your rice at home?
Natsuhiko silently cursed to himself, but then he heard Tsunade continue:
"How's Grandma doing these days?"
Natsuhiko hesitated briefly and decided not to use the secret technique his teacher had taught him. He answered truthfully:
"Not great, but she can hold on for a while longer."
"Grandma…"
A hint of struggle flashed across Tsunade's face, but she quickly shrugged it off as if nothing had happened:
"Is that so… I'll go back and check on her in a while."
After saying that, she deliberately changed the subject, looking at Kakashi:
"By the way, is this little guy your son? You two sure look alike."
Cough, cough, cough!
Natsuhiko almost couldn't hold it in and started coughing.
Even Kakashi wiped some sweat from his brow.
"Tsunade-sama, you're quite the joker. I'm only seventeen—how could I have a five-year-old son?"
"This is my student, Hatake Kakashi. He just graduated and became a Genin, so I thought I'd take him out to see the world."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, suddenly understanding:
"Hatake Kakashi? I remember that name—he's Sakumo's son, right?"
After saying that, she seemed to remember that the White Fang had already passed away, and she added with some regret:
"What a pity about Sakumo… In my opinion, he didn't do anything wrong."
Upon hearing this, Kakashi's body trembled slightly. He was about to ask something, but Tsunade changed the topic again.
She roughly ruffled Kakashi's hair and smiled:
"Graduating from the Ninja Academy at five, huh? You must be quite the genius—too bad you've got white hair too…"
What's going on here?
Did Jiraiya single-handedly ruin the reputation of white-haired people?
Then Tsunade glanced down at the ninja dog Ben and said:
"I remember you were Sakumo's summoning beast, right?"
Pakkun nodded respectfully:
"No, Tsunade-sama, I'm now Kakashi's summoning beast...just related to Pakkun"
"So, you used him to find me? Pretty clever..."
Tsunade praised.
No, no, no. We were about to do that when you showed up on your own.
Natsuhiko mentally complained, suddenly feeling like he'd forgotten something important. A sense of foreboding crept in.
That sense of doom quickly materialised as Tsunade seemed to realise something, her expression freezing.
She stammered:
"Um… Since you used the ninja dog to find me, then that thing you were holding just now… could it be…"
At that moment, Natsuhiko also remembered what he had forgotten. His face turned pale as he hurriedly denied it:
"It's absolutely not Tsunade-sama's lace-trimmed bear underwear!"
"I didn't even say what it was! And why did you have to describe it so specifically?!"
Tsunade's face turned red in embarrassment and rage. She swung her fist toward Natsuhiko's chest!
From the sound of her fist cutting through the air, it was clear that if it connected, a few ribs would be broken at the very least.
"Wait, Tsunade-sama, let me explain…"
Natsuhiko, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Jiraiya, quickly dodged Tsunade's punch and stepped back.
"Tsunade-sama, calm down! This is all a misunderstanding! Lady Mito gave that to me!"
"My grandma gave it to you, and you dared to take it?!"
Tsunade lightly tapped the ground with her foot, propelling herself toward Natsuhiko with a raised fist. She swung down hard!
Natsuhiko dodged again, saying:
"I didn't know at first!"
"Who cares! Take my punch, and we'll call it even!"
"Tsunade-sama, your punches aren't something to joke about!"
"What's there to worry about? Did you forget I'm a medical ninja? No matter how many bones you break, I can heal them!"
"That makes me even more reluctant to let you hit me!"
As they spoke, they had already exchanged over ten rounds.
Tsunade continued throwing punches and kicks, trying to land a blow on Natsuhiko, while Natsuhiko evaded and, when necessary, used a barrier shield to deflect her attacks.
"Not bad! You've managed to shrink a barrier down to shield yourself. Now I understand why Grandma took you as her disciple..."
Tsunade complimented him, though she seemed a little impatient.
"But when it comes to being a man, you're too indecisive. What's the harm in letting me hit you once?"
"This is your punishment for tainting a girl's purity!"
"A girl…"
Natsuhiko couldn't help but retort, "Tsunade-sama, I recall you're already thirty…"
It was as if an invisible sword had pierced Tsunade's chest. She suddenly froze.
Ah, I forgot. At this point, Tsunade hasn't learned the Yin Seal yet, so she's still sensitive about her age…
Natsuhiko sensed a murderous aura rising from Tsunade, and he mentally screamed that things were about to get nasty.
Crack, crack!
Tsunade, her eyes flashing with malice, dug her fingers into the ground and lifted a massive chunk of earth. She glared viciously at Natsuhiko:
"A—mou—Natsuhiko!"
"Die!"
With that, she leapt into the air, holding the giant chunk of earth high above her head like she was about to hurl a Spirit Bomb, and threw it at Natsuhiko!
Is this Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling?!
Isn't this a bit too much?
Seeing that the narrow alley left him no space to dodge, Natsuhiko had no choice but to use ninjutsu.
He clapped his hands and pressed them to the ground.
Earth Release: Clear Sky River Earth Flow Wall!
In the next moment, a vast, thick earthen wall suddenly rose in front of Natsuhiko. Most strikingly, the front of the wall was intricately carved with a vivid scene of customs and festivities during the Qingming Festival!
This new version of the Earth Flow Wall was Natsuhiko's latest creation.
Not only did it require no hand seals, but he also abandoned the simple structure of the traditional Earth Flow Wall. Instead, it drew high-hardness materials from the ground, and the design was inspired by tank composite armour from his previous life.
To put it simply, various materials with different physical properties were layered to form a multi-tiered defence, which weakened the impact of an enemy's attack through the differences in physical properties between layers.
Since this technique relied on chakra control, it offered far better defence than a regular Earth Flow Wall with the same chakra expenditure.
As for the Qingming Festival carvings on the front, they had the added effect of dazzling and intimidating the opponent—or perhaps making them reluctant to destroy what could be seen as a work of art… maybe.
At least Tsunade, who had just thrown the giant chunk of earth, was quite shocked by Natsuhiko's Earth Flow Wall.
Is this guy insane? He actually carved a painting into the Earth Flow Wall!?
Well, maybe the artistic effect didn't resonate much with people who lacked artistic appreciation.
However, Kakashi, who had been watching from the sidelines, was quite captivated by the excessively ornate Earth Flow Wall.
After all, he'd once thought about carving dog heads on his own Earth Flow Wall for decoration but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
It turned out his teacher had already thought of this and elevated the idea to an art form!
Especially at the moment when the earth wall and the chunk collided, shattering into fragments of stone that flew everywhere, Kakashi was struck by a sense of broken beauty!
Could it be… that art is an explosion?
Sure enough, he still has a lot to learn from Teacher Natsuhiko.
Kakashi sighed in his heart.
Tsunade, who had thrown the clod of earth, seemed to have lost her temper. After landing, she did not continue to attack. Instead, she looked speechlessly at the earth wall, which had only a few outer layers broken and was still standing.
Why is this earth flow wall so hard?
Tsunade complained helplessly in her heart, feeling that the ninjutsu used by her cheap junior fellow apprentice was always a little strange.
"Since you've shown me some interesting ninjutsu, let's forget about it this time."
Tsunade curled her lips, then continued, "Why didn't you fight back just now?"
Natsuhiko walked over tentatively, spread his hands and said:
"After all, I still have something to talk to you, Tsunade-san, so I naturally cannot destroy you as a shadow clone."
"oh?"
Tsunade finally looked at Natsuhiko seriously this time and said,
"It seems that you are more powerful than I thought. You can actually tell that I am a shadow clone."
Then she smiled slyly and said:
"But unfortunately, my chakra is almost exhausted, so if you have anything to say, go find my real body."
After that, without waiting for Natsuhiko's reply, she waved her hand and disappeared in a puff of white smoke...
(End of this chapter)
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