At five in the evening, Mugetsu set down the Sealing Technique scroll he had been reading, organized everything neatly, and headed out to the market.
If he went to Lady Tsunade's house, she would be happy.
If he went to Lady Tsunade's house with groceries, she would be extrely happy.
As expected, Mugetsu skillfully made his way to the front yard of Tsunade's house, where Shizune was practicing taijutsu in the yard. The mont she saw him arrive, her face lit up, and she imdiately ran over to greet him.
"Mugetsu-sensei, you're back."
"Mm. How has your dical Ninjutsu been going lately?" Mugetsu asked as he used the hand not carrying groceries to pat Shizune on the head.
Shizune could be considered half his disciple, so it was only natural for him to show a bit of concern.
"Let's talk inside. I'll help you carry those." Shizune reached out, wanting to take the groceries from him.
Mugetsu casually lifted the bag higher, just enough that Shizune would have to jump to reach it.
"Eh?" Shizune looked at him in confusion.
Using two fingers together, Mugetsu lightly tapped her forehead.
"Your Mugetsu-sensei isn't that lazy. I've already carried them this far. A few more steps to the kitchen won't make a difference."
After hearing that, Shizune could not help but think of Tsunade.
They were both adults, and Tsunade was even older, yet Mugetsu was far more reliable and reassuring in every regard.
"Lady Tsunade, Mugetsu-sensei is here!"
Shizune obediently gave up on helping with the groceries and hurried back inside to inform Tsunade while also preparing tea.
"Oh, he's here." Tsunade was still sprawled across the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
It was not that she had just woken up. Even though she had been hungover last night, she had already gotten up at eleven in the morning.
But around three in the afternoon, she had gotten bored and felt a little sleepy, so she had taken another nap and only just woken up again.
"Mugetsu-sensei brought a lot of groceries!" Shizune called out.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind swept past, and in the next instant, a fully dressed Tsunade appeared in front of Shizune.
"So fast!" Shizune said with wide eyes, staring at Tsunade as if she had teleported.
"Where is he? Let see what he bought. If anything's missing, Shizune can still go out and buy it while it's early," Tsunade said quickly as she looked around.
Before Shizune could even complain, Tsunade had already hurried over to Mugetsu, opened the grocery bag without the slightest hesitation, and began rummaging through it.
"Mm, not bad. No need to buy anything extra." Tsunade nodded in satisfaction.
"You've got so sense, kid. You haven't even been back in Konoha for long, yet you still rembered ."
"I only got back today. I didn't expect Lady Tsunade to think of like that. Now I feel like not coming here anymore," Mugetsu said with a sigh.
A vein twitched on Tsunade's forehead.
What kind of threat was that? Why did it sound so strange coming from him?
"If you don't co, then fine. I'll just go to your place and freeload. It's the sa thing," Tsunade replied without a care.
She actually thought that arrangent sounded pretty good. If she went to soone else's house to eat, then she would not have to wash dishes or clear the table afterward.
"Lady Tsunade, you're one of the Sannin. Isn't it a little much to bully a junior like this?" Shizune could not hold herself back any longer and finally spoke up for Mugetsu.
"What's so great about being one of the Sannin? Can that title be eaten?" Tsunade replied indifferently.
She did not even want to be a ninja anymore, so why would she care about the prestige of the Sannin?
"Enough joking. You two can go out now. I'm starting to cook," Mugetsu said, deciding it was ti to end the discussion and begin driving them away.
Tsunade might argue about other things, but when it ca to Mugetsu cooking, she was absolutely cooperative. She imdiately turned around and returned to the living room without protest.
Since one of the dishes needed to simr for a while, Mugetsu also took the chance to rest for a bit in the living room.
"Mugetsu, is there any ninjutsu you want to develop lately?" Tsunade suddenly asked.
Back then, their relationship had been sowhat transactional. Mugetsu brought her the happiness of good food, and in return, she taught him dical Ninjutsu and helped him with his Sealing Techniques.
Now that the Yang Seal had been completed, Tsunade had started to feel like she was freeloading.
Even though freeloading was very enjoyable, she knew it was not a long term solution.
After all, Mugetsu could not possibly be so good natured that he would cook for her forever without expecting anything in return.
"Yes," Mugetsu answered with a nod.
"What type of ninjutsu?"
"Wood Release."
"You brat!" Tsunade imdiately grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him.
She did not use much force, and Mugetsu easily caught it.
"I'm asking seriously," Tsunade said, rolling her eyes.
She obviously thought he was joking.
"I'm answering seriously too." Mugetsu placed the cushion behind his back and leaned against it as he replied calmly.
Using the excuse of developnt to reveal Wood Release was not a whim. Mugetsu had already thought it through thoroughly.
The current Mugetsu was no longer that insignificant Root mber or the unknown academy teacher from before.
His title as the number one of the new generation was not empty praise. He had earned it bit by bit on the battlefield. Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Minato had all personally witnessed his rise.
Now he had both the necessary connections and a genius reputation that was already recognized.
It was true that no one in Konoha had ever successfully developed Wood Release before.
But then again, no one in Konoha had ever developed Ice Release before either, nor sothing like the Breathing Techniques or Kenbunshoku Haki.
A once-in-a-century genius appearing and sohow unlocking Wood Release sounded outrageous, but it was not entirely impossible.
Tsunade stared at Mugetsu's face for a long mont. Seeing that there was not the slightest hint of a joke, she could not help but say, "That really does sound like the kind of idea you'd co up with."
Mugetsu's impression on her had always been that of soone who refused to stay within common sense. Otherwise, he would never have thought of developing sothing like the Yang Seal.
"After all, there's already the precedent of Ice Release, so I think it's worth trying. In the end, Wood Release is just a new Nature Transformation born from combining Water Release and Earth Release chakra. It's not inherently more special than other Bloodline Limits," Mugetsu said with a faint smile as he picked up the hot tea Shizune had prepared.
"You understand the theory very well, but saying it is easier than doing it." Tsunade folded her arms.
That was indeed the theory, but Wood Release had always felt different from other Bloodline Limits. It appeared far too rarely.
"Then how about this? I'll help you search for the things my grandfather left behind. They might be useful to you."
If Mugetsu truly wanted to develop Wood Release, Tsunade could not really help him directly. At most, she could help him gather useful information.
She had absolutely no experience in developing a Bloodline Limit. If she tried to guide him personally, she would probably only make things worse.
"Then I'll thank Lady Tsunade in advance." Mugetsu accepted imdiately without pretending to be polite.
Although Hiruzen had already agreed to provide information, if Tsunade also helped, it would make the whole matter more legitimate.
After all, Tsunade was Senju Hashirama's biological granddaughter.
After dinner, at Tsunade's insistence, Mugetsu did not leave right away. Instead, he stayed and played Ninja Kill with Tsunade for two hours.
Since there were only three of them, they played a one against two landlord mode.
In essence, it was simply one Lord against two Rebels.
Tsunade had already been playing Ninja Kill for so ti, but compared to Mugetsu, who had played tens of thousands of matches in his previous life, she was still far too inexperienced.
In the first round, Mugetsu took the Lord identity and beca the landlord. The ninja he chose was Akimichi Torifu.
That ninja's skill was Multi-Size Technique. Whenever activated, he could reveal the top three cards of the deck and choose only basic cards, weapon cards, or Duel cards from them. For a short ti after that, the damage dealt by Attack and Duel would increase by one.
During the first turn, Mugetsu did not activate his skill. He simply drew normally and then attacked Tsunade.
By the second turn, since he still had an Attack card in hand, he activated his skill without hesitation.
However, instead of attacking Tsunade directly, he first used Borrowed Sword to Kill on Shizune, forcing her to attack Tsunade with her weapon.
Shizune's weapon was the Kusanagi Sword, which allowed its user to make another Attack if the target dodged the first one.
Tsunade naturally did not want that weapon to fall into Mugetsu's hands. Once Multi-Size Technique's damage boost was added on top of a weapon like that, it would beco disgusting.
So she let Shizune's attack hit her directly. Losing one health point was still better than letting Mugetsu take the Kusanagi Sword.
Besides, there had not been any Attack card among the three cards Mugetsu revealed that round, so he might not even have enough offense to continue.
Of course, Tsunade had also considered the worst case, that Mugetsu had already been holding two or more Attack cards from the previous round.
But she still was not panicking. Even though Tsunade herself was only a three health ninja, Shizune had healing skills. As long as Shizune was there, Tsunade would not die so easily.
"Military Ration Pill, then Attack."
Mugetsu smoothly discarded two cards.
The effect of Military Ration Pill was to increase the damage of Attack by one and also allow the user to save themselves from the dying state.
Once combined with his character skill, the Attack dealt three damage at once, leaving Tsunade directly hanging by a thread.
"Shizune, save !" Tsunade imdiately turned to look at her.
This ga had only just begun.
Shizune could only discard two red cards to restore Tsunade to one health.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."
Mugetsu imdiately played another card.
Its effect was simple. Once used, the target had to play a Dodge card or lose one health point.
Tsunade, who had no Dodge in hand, looked at Shizune again.
Shizune could only spread her hands helplessly.
She had only three health and thus could only hold three cards, and she had already spent everything she had. There was nothing left for her to do.
Without a teammate to save her, even Shizune herself could not withstand a landlord Mugetsu with full buff support. Before long, she was also beaten into a negative health state.
"You just got lucky that round. Again!" Tsunade said stubbornly, clearly unwilling to accept it.
"Considering my relationship with Grandpa, one of these ninja cards has to be Grandpa, right?" Tsunade muttered as she slowly picked up the character cards that had just been dealt to her.
Looking at nas like Hyūga Ichizoku and Uchiha Shimada, Tsunade could not help but show a disappointed expression.
These early character cards were not only boring for her to use, their strength was diocre too. They were nowhere near as fun as later characters like Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
"Does playing Ninja Kill count as gambling too?" Shizune suddenly wondered to herself as she watched Tsunade lose again and again.
Whenever Tsunade took the landlord position, Mugetsu won.
Whenever Mugetsu took the landlord position, Mugetsu still won.
Shizune had every reason to suspect that Tsunade's passive ability to lose every gamble in existence had sohow activated again.
...
Uchiha Clan Compound.
After dinner, Shisui first took Zoroark out for a walk around the clan grounds.
Since Zoroark had grown much larger and no longer looked as cute as before, Shisui had it maintain an illusion.
That way, when people saw Zoroark, they would only see an ordinary Uchiha boy, and it would not frighten any children.
After the walk, Shisui had originally planned to go ho and train, but after rembering the promise he had made earlier, he changed direction and headed for Fugaku's compound instead.
Fugaku's family had just finished dinner as well, and everyone was still in the yard.
"Shisui, this is...?" Fugaku asked, looking at Zoroark with a faint sense that sothing was off.
As the clan head, there was no way he would fail to recognize such a tall Uchiha boy if he really existed.
"Zoroark, you don't need to keep the illusion up here anymore," Shisui said.
"So it was the Nin-Beast from that day." Fugaku imdiately recalled the battle during the clan eting.
Back then, Shisui had been the most eye-catching person in the fight, but Zoroark's unusual illusion abilities had also left a very deep impression on the Uchiha.
"Shisui nii."
Itachi stood up and jogged over. He said nothing, but simply looked at Shisui in silence.
"Uncle Fugaku, I ca to see Itachi today," Shisui said with a smile, first nodding at Itachi and then turning to Fugaku.
Itachi had not spoken, but Shisui could already understand what he wanted to say.
His eyes were clearly asking, You didn't forget our promise again, did you?
"Then you young ones can talk."
Fugaku smiled and nodded, then led Mikoto back into the house, leaving the yard for the two of them.
"I didn't forget this ti." Shisui crouched down to et Itachi's eyes and smiled.
"Mm." The corners of Itachi's lips lifted slightly. He was clearly in a good mood.
"Last ti, I think I got as far as becoming an intern ninja."
"Mm."
"Alright, then I'll continue from there." Shisui gave a light cough and began recalling the story he had planned.
"My supervising jonin back then was Mugetsu-sensei, and my two teammates were Anko Mitarashi, whom I told you about before, and another full fledged ninja nad Shizune."
"As a ninja, unless the gap in strength is absolutely overwhelming, teammates are always necessary," Shisui said, taking the chance to remind him.
The Itachi who could one day carry out a clan massacre would definitely be a genius in the future.
Shisui did not want him to develop the habit of relying only on himself just because everyone around him seed weaker.
Even Guy still needed the strength of Obito and Kakashi when carrying out missions.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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