Chapter 36: A Monster.

Shizune looked at the scene in astonishment. How long had it been? One minute, maybe less — and the carp in front of her had already been healed.

This… this! His talent was outrageous. She remembered it had taken her a full week of practice just to properly heal a carp.

Even so, Lady Tsunade had once told her she had a good aptitude for medical ninjutsu. But compared to the boy standing before her now, she felt utterly inadequate.

Now, she fully understood why Lady Tsunade had been so determined to take Ayanami Kaito as her disciple.

"Hey! Not bad at all! It seems, Kaito, your chakra control is excellent! You picked up medical ninjutsu so fast — way faster than I ever did." Shizune praised him without hesitation.

"The fact you were able to heal the carp means you've already mastered the basic healing technique! Well done."

With that, Shizune took out a few more carp from a sealing scroll, letting Kaito continue his practice.

---

The sun dipped into the horizon, and night spread its veil over the sky.

At the inn, Shizune sipped tea with a calm expression.

She swore she'd experienced more shock today than she had in years.

In just one afternoon, Kaito had completely mastered two medical ninjutsu: the Healing Technique and the Palm Technique.

Her expression had morphed from shock to disbelief and finally into numb acceptance. She kept telling herself she was human — she couldn't be compared to a monster like him.

Snap!

The door was pushed open.

Tsunade stepped inside, looking dejected.

Kaito and Shizune exchanged glances. It was obvious — Tsunade had lost all her money again.

"How'd it go today?" Tsunade asked wearily.

Shizune explained everything that had happened that afternoon.

"Oh? Not bad." Tsunade's gaze turned sharp, her tired expression vanishing as if she'd stumbled upon some priceless treasure.

The next moment, her words made both Kaito and Shizune frown.

"To celebrate Kaito's quick mastery of medical ninjutsu, let's go find the best restaurant in town!"

And then, "I've been busy all day — I'm starving!"

After dinner, Kaito booked himself another room. He wasn't planning on leaving just yet.

The shadow clones he'd left behind in Konoha would stay intact as long as they didn't encounter combat.

Back in his room, Kaito closed the door carefully, an excited grin on his face. "Jackpot! This is incredible!"

Earlier that afternoon, one of his shadow clones had followed Tsunade to the casino. His starting capital of over one million ryō had ballooned to over twelve million — a tenfold increase.

Later, he left the inn, found a barbecue restaurant to grab a bite, and headed back. The food was decent enough to fill his stomach, even if it didn't compare to what he'd known in his past life. Still, spending 200,000 ryō on a meal stung a little.

Back in his room, Kaito laid down on the tatami mat.

Enter the training space.

He created twenty clones and began his daily practice.

---

The next morning, after finishing breakfast together, Tsunade brought Kaito to a sparsely populated forest.

"From what Shizune told me yesterday, your chakra control must be exceptional," Tsunade said with a grin.

"Today, I'm going to teach you my famous punches and kicks — Super Strength!"

The mastery of Super Strength demanded chakra control even greater than that required for the Palm Technique. Even Shizune, after all her years by Tsunade's side, still hadn't fully grasped it.

"I'll show you how it works."

"The principle is simple: focus chakra into any part of your body, then release it in an instant to create a devastating shockwave."

"This shockwave can split boulders, tear through mountains!"

With those words, Tsunade raised her foot high — and stomped down!

Boom!

From beneath her foot, an invisible shockwave surged forward.

Cracks thick as an arm shot out across the ground like a spiderweb. Chunks of earth erupted, trees toppled in droves, and the area was choked in a cloud of dust as though the end of the world had arrived.

Tsunade looked satisfied with the destruction she caused. "See? That's the power of Super Strength!"

"I call that technique Heavenly Guardian Foot!"

"Don't worry — once you learn it, you'll be able to do this too," Tsunade assured, worried her precious, monstrously gifted disciple might be discouraged.

But hearing her words, Kaito wore an odd expression. It wasn't that the power of the Heavenly Guardian Foot was unimpressive, or that it was difficult to learn — it was just that he had already mastered it ages ago.

Back in his training space, he'd long since mimicked Tsunade's Super Strength technique and even created his own variations: Thunder Fist and Thunder Kick — punches and kicks laced with lightning, capable of wreaking even greater havoc.

"Ah, Lady Tsunade! I already know the Super Strength technique!" Kaito raised his hand with mock innocence.

"Alright! Stay right here and— wait, what did you just say? You already learned it?!"

"Prove it! Right now!" Tsunade demanded, disbelief in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," Kaito responded.

A moment later, Kaito raised his foot, focused chakra into it, and stomped down.

Boom!

The earth split open.

A scene identical to Tsunade's unfolded — only the debris was larger, the cracks deeper, and the devastation more complete.

Tsunade stood frozen, staring in disbelief.

She pinched herself, feeling a sharp jolt of pain. It was real.

At that moment, she finally understood what Shizune meant when she'd called him a monster.

---

Send Powerstones.