Chapter 248: Proposal and Ice Release: Eightfold Ice Wheel

Tōshirō grew even more curious. "What kind of restriction?"

Tsunade once again disappointed him. She said, "I forgot."

Tōshirō said disdainfully, "Why are you women always so scatterbrained?"

Tsunade replied indignantly, "That was a long time ago! The fact that I even remember a few words already shows I have a great memory, okay?"

Tōshirō said helplessly, "Alright, alright. Just do your best to help me get that jutsu."

Tsunade asked, "When do you need it?"

Without hesitation, Tōshirō replied, "The sooner the better."

Tsunade showed off her strong initiative: "Then I'll go find Grandma right now and help you get that jutsu, okay?"

"Oh, no need to rush that much," Tōshirō said, suggesting they take it easy for now. "Do you have anything else planned today?"

"If I had something else to do, I wouldn't be here with you."

"True~ In that case, spend today helping me develop ninjutsu."

"More ninjutsu development?"

"I told you before, developing this Ice Release: Goddess of Dawn's Mercy requires many steps. What I mentioned earlier was just one of them—now we're onto the next."

"What step are you on now?"

"Chakra compression," Tōshirō said. "From my observations, your super-strength technique seems to rely on this principle—concentrating chakra into a single point to attack."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "More or less."

"You're an expert in that technique," Tōshirō praised. "So I figure you must be very knowledgeable when it comes to chakra compression."

"So, you want to ask me to help you train it?"

"Yep!"

Tōshirō thought that with a request like that, Tsunade would happily agree. To his surprise, she flatly refused: "No."

"Nani?" Tōshirō's eyes widened, as if saying, Hey, aren't you my girlfriend? How could you say no? How dare you say no?

Tsunade seemed to pick up on his thoughts and smiled. "You're wondering why I said no, aren't you?"

Tōshirō nodded without a hint of shame. "Did I do something to upset you?"

As soon as he said that, Tsunade pounced on the opportunity to vent: "Hmph! You've got a lot of nerve asking that. You're always taking advantage of the fact that I like you—constantly messing around and getting handsy. So now, I want an apology."

Tōshirō said immediately, "I apologize."

Tsunade wasn't satisfied. "Nope. Not sincere enough."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Hmm, haven't decided yet."

From the way she said it, it was obvious she was just improvising. Tōshirō saw through it and sighed, "Can't be helped~"

Hearing that, Tsunade was still wondering how Tōshirō planned to apologize—when suddenly, what he did next completely shocked her.

He knelt down—on one knee.

His dramatic reaction left Tsunade dumbfounded. She hurriedly said, "Aren't you overdoing it?"

Tōshirō's dark eyes held a serious look. "I think this shows my sincerity."

"Aiya, get up already."

Tsunade quickly reached out, trying to pull him up.

No matter the era, kneeling is often seen as a sign of weakness or lack of pride.

At most, Tsunade had just wanted to get a little payback on the man who always took liberties with her. She never intended for him to go this far.

But just as she reached out to help Tōshirō up, he suddenly extended his hand too. Their palms met, and then their fingers slid between each other's, locking tightly together.

"Tsunade's hand… it's warm," he said.

Tsunade's face turned red. "What are you trying to do?"

"To apologize to you."

Let me know if you'd like the rest of the chapter translated or a summary!

As Tōshirō spoke, he formed an ice ring between his left index finger and thumb. With an incredibly gentle voice, he said,"Sorry, I just can't help bullying you sometimes… so, I've decided to spend the rest of my life apologizing to you."

At that moment, Tsunade's face turned so red it was practically steaming.Wasn't this basically a disguised proposal?

She really hadn't expected Tōshirō to do something like this.

Damn it, can't you at least give me some mental preparation first?

While her thoughts were in chaos, as if not wanting to give her too much time to think, the man opened his mouth and pressed her for a decision:"So… would you be willing to accept my apology?"

With that, he moved the ice ring near Tsunade's ring finger, just waiting for her decision so he could slip it on.

Time ticked by. Though it was only a short moment, to Tsunade, it felt like torture.Not because she didn't want to—rather, it was so sudden that she simply wasn't prepared.

Tsunade closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly—repeating it even:"I do! I do!"

After a while, she panted heavily and looked at Tōshirō with an exhausted expression."You bastard… you happy now? Huff… always bullying me, as expected."

"You're so cute, I can barely bring myself to love you enough. How could I possibly bully you?"Tōshirō smiled as he slowly slid the ice ring onto Tsunade's ring finger.

Tsunade pouted her soft pink lips. "You just know how to say pretty things."

Tōshirō stood up and asked her how it felt:"The ring I made using my ability… not bad, right?"

"Barely passable, I guess…"

Though that's what she said, the smile tugging wildly at the corners of her lips was impossible to hide.

Tōshirō chuckled to himself. Tsunade really is so tsundere sometimes…

Well, that's part of what he loved about her.

Thinking this, Tōshirō got a little bold:"By the way, since you accepted my ring… shouldn't you give me something in return?"

"What do you want to do?"

Tōshirō pointed to his own cheek with his index finger and tapped it lightly, smiling without saying a word.

Come kiss me. Come on, kiss me now.

"Geez… I really can't deal with you."

Having just received such a lovely gift, Tsunade didn't hold back this time.

Her lips were sweeter than the flowers blooming in a spring field, and her gaze was clearer than the sparkling stream nearby.

"Come a little closer."

Upon hearing this, Tōshirō eagerly leaned in.Then, Tsunade gave him a big, loud mua on the cheek, leaving a bright red lipstick mark.

Meanwhile, deep inside Tōshirō's body, a certain tailed beast—single, since birth—was once again force-fed a mouthful of dog food (romantic public affection), and it grumbled and closed its eyes in irritation: Out of sight, out of mind.

At first, it thought that living inside Tōshirō would be peaceful.

Turned out… it was dead wrong.

Damn this host. Could you maybe chill with the romance every single day?

Even though tailed beasts are genderless, that doesn't mean they're immune to feelings, okay!?

Genderless beings have emotions too!!

After this little interlude, the two of them began their actual training.

Before formally teaching Tōshirō how to compress chakra, Tsunade asked a question:"What do you want to compress the chakra into?"

There's a big difference between compressing chakra into a point versus compressing it into a flat plane.

Explaining was too troublesome, so Tōshirō extended his right hand. Above his palm, a deep blue vortex formed, and soon a dark blue sphere gathered at its center.

"This move is Ice Wheel Sphere—it's basically Ice Release: Rasengan."

"And then?" Tsunade asked, glancing at the Ice Wheel Sphere.

She wasn't surprised that Tōshirō was able to infuse ice chakra into the inherently elementless Rasengan.

In fact, given his talent, she would've been more surprised if he couldn't do it.

Tōshirō then dispelled the Ice Wheel Sphere and gathered ice chakra in his hand again.This time, he created a hollow, flattened ice wheel, with sharp gear-like spikes around the edge.

"This move is called Ice Release: Eightfold Ice Wheel.Right now, it's still a prototype. All I've made is an empty shell using ice chakra.My true goal is to compress the Ice Wheel Sphere from earlier into this shape."

(End of Chapter)

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