Chapter 19: Medical Ninjutsu and Days of Training

Time passed day by day.

During this period, Yuto had already adapted to his current identity. As a disciple of the one of the Three Sannin, he received much more attention than before.

Except for returning to the Hyuga compound at night, he spent most of his days in the Senju compound, either practicing the medical ninjutsu and Chakra Enhanced Strength taught by Tsunade or studying medical books.

Due to the need to teach Yuto, Tsunade temporarily ended her wandering lifestyle and moved to the Senju compound with Shizune. She also ignored Konoha's political affairs, focusing solely on teaching Yuto.

Shizune was a year younger than Yuto, the same age as Kakashi, and was still an eleven-year-old little girl, far from the gentle and virtuous demeanor she had in the manga's main storyline.

At first, the little girl was quite hostile to Yuto, likely out of childish jealousy, feeling that this guy without pupils had stolen Tsunade-sensei's attention.

However, this small hostility lasted less than a day. Having been bombarded by short videos from another world, Yuto was a master at coaxing girls. With a little effort, he made the little girl smile, calling him "my kohai" happily, and went to buy fish.

—For beginners of medical ninjutsu, experiments were often conducted on various small animals, and fish were the most commonly chosen. These ancient vertebrates had relatively simple structures, making them suitable for practice. More importantly, even if the medical ninjutsu failed and the fish's body was messed up, it could still be used to make fish soup, avoiding waste.

Medical ninjutsu might not sound "cool," but only those who practiced it truly understood how it tested chakra control. When infusing chakra, even a slight excess would cause the recipient's nerves and muscles to necrotize.

This was quite similar to the training of Chakra Enhanced Strength. The same ninjutsu, in some people's hands, could only break bricks and logs, but in the hands of a strong person like Tsunade, it could split mountains and rocks.

Both required extremely high precision in chakra control, and the training of Chakra Enhanced Strength and medical ninjutsu complemented each other.

In the morning, Yuto practiced medical ninjutsu, and in the afternoon, he honed his Chakra Enhanced Strength. Tsunade often came to impart medical knowledge, and everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

The only thing that stalled was the development of "Lion's Fang Bite."

The idea behind this technique was very high. When Yuto first conceived it, he aimed to "combine Gentle Fist techniques with the chakra emission technique of the Rasengan to create a solid chakra shell around his hand, compensating for his lack of offensive power."

In simple terms, it was a miniaturized and trimmed-down version of "Susanoo," covering his hand, designed to complement the Byakugan.

However, it was much harder to implement than it sounded.

Fixing the "shape" of the chakra, increasing its "hardness" without losing flexibility, maintaining offensive capability without harming oneself...

Each problem was a hurdle, but fortunately, Yuto made a good start by first creating the shape.

By the second month of apprenticing under Tsunade, Yuto could already extract and reinsert the spine of a fish. After being released, the fish swam energetically, and the soup made from it was particularly delicious.

In terms of Chakra Enhanced Strength, due to his childhood practice of Gentle Fist, Yuto adapted to this ninjutsu quickly and progressed rapidly. He could already shatter rocks the size of an adult with a single punch. When combined with Gentle Fist, the alternating bursts of hard and soft power significantly increased his combat strength.

However, the progress on "Lion's Fang Bite" was minimal.

Tsunade was also quite frustrated with this issue. Although she was an expert in medical ninjutsu, she didn't understand much about the field of chakra. Turning energy into incredibly hard armor was almost beyond her capability.

Helpless, Tsunade had to take Yuto to find Minato Namikaze.

To some extent, the Rasengan could be considered "flowing armor." Minato's greatest talents lay in his "reflexes" and "spatial awareness," and he also had profound insights into the transformation of chakra nature.

Of course, Minato did not refuse. Publicly, Tsunade-hime was one of the Three Sannin, holding a higher status than him. Privately, she was a comrade-in-arms who had shared life and death with his master. Minato had no reason not to help.

The Yellow Flash was indeed an excellent shinobi, and he was also a good person. He set aside some time to study with Yuto in depth.

"Yuto-kun, let me be blunt, I think you might be overthinking this."

"I don't know where you got this idea, but... why turn chakra into armor?"

"Chakra is energy, it is wind, lightning, water... it flows."

"If you look at it microscopically, everything, including time, is active. Turning chakra into armor is like killing it. Yuto-kun, I think you should..."

Minato's words gave Yuto great inspiration, and he immediately realized that he was indeed overthinking.

—Reading the manga and watching TV in his previous life, Susanoo had left too deep an impression on him, influencing his thinking.

With Minato's guidance, the development of "Lion's Fang Bite" took a new direction.

Medical ninjutsu and medical knowledge, Chakra Enhanced Strength, and new ninjutsu development all went smoothly. Yuto spent more and more time in the Senju compound, often not returning home and sleeping directly in the room next to Tsunade's.

Thus, three months passed after apprenticing under Tsunade.

The shinobi world entered winter.

The cold wind howled, and the world was covered in silver.

While Yuto was immersed in training, many things happened outside.

The friction between the Five Great Nations intensified, and everyone could smell the scent of war. After a fierce battle with the A and B brothers from Kumogakure, Minato retreated unscathed, gaining great fame. The wife of the Uchiha clan head, Mikoto Uchiha, gave birth to a healthy boy over a month ago, named Itachi Uchiha...

The era was quietly changing, though no one knew it yet—except for Yuto.

One day, Yuto emerged from three months of intense training and found Tsunade, preparing to leave for a while.

The reason was simple, so simple that Tsunade couldn't refuse.

"Sensei, as a Konoha's shinobi, I've been cooped up in the village for three months. Today, I realized the year is almost over. I should take on some missions and get some fresh air... No one can become strong by just training."

Bidding farewell to Tsunade, Yuto left the Senju compound.

It was very cold outside, and the snow was thick.

Yuto looked at the village decorated with snowflakes, then looked at himself, feeling that many things had changed, but some things hadn't changed at all.

—The caged bird seal was still carved on his head.

Becoming Tsunade's disciple didn't bring him true joy.

The branch family boy glanced indifferently at the distant Hyuga compound and turned away.

It was time to take care of some serious business, he thought.

(End of Chapter)