The Hokage's Washboard

After taking off his heavy armor, Shimura Kentei stretched his limbs, then walked into the river and stared at the waterfall ahead as he took a deep breath.

He bent down into a sprinter's starting stance. After building up momentum for a moment, he suddenly shot forward, running across the water straight toward the waterfall. He then raced up the rapidly falling torrent and quickly reached the top, standing on the swift current at the waterfall's edge as he looked down at Tsunade and the other two women, whose faces were full of shock.

After recovering from their shock, the three women leaped to the bank at the top of the waterfall. They watched Shimura Kentei stand on the rapidly flowing water at the edge, his body still perfectly steady.

Because it was near the waterfall, the current here was much faster than elsewhere and far harder to stand on.

Moreover, he was standing still now, relying entirely on chakra to maintain his balance. That level of control was truly beyond ordinary imagination.

Who knew how the Shimura Clan had come up with such a method for training control?

"What do the chakra streams spreading through the water beneath my feet look like to you two?"

Without rushing ashore, Shimura Kentei asked Hyuga Suzune and Uchiha Mikoto, the two mature little girls.

"Two fish!"

Her Byakugan fixed on his feet, she saw the shape of the chakra beneath them and answered in sudden realization.

"That's right, they're shaped like swimming fish. I don't know whether you've seen it before, but some fish swim upstream during certain seasons. This chakra control technique was inspired by that.

"Of course, that running start wasn't originally part of it. It's only because my own chakra reserves are too low, and the fish I form aren't large enough to carry me up.

"Otherwise, even without moving my body, I could climb the waterfall against the current using those two chakra fish beneath my feet."

After explaining, Shimura Kentei leaped onto the shore and withdrew the fish-shaped chakra beneath his feet back into his body.

He wasn't one of those Chadunla or Chajinla types. He couldn't afford to waste chakra.

"Swimming upstream through a waterfall is the ultimate goal for this stage. You can start by standing firm in the rapids, condensing your chakra into fish forms, and walking upstream.

"Once you've become proficient, find slopes of suitable steepness and slowly adapt. When you can climb upstream against a waterfall while carrying a certain amount of weight, you'll have mastered it."

After a brief explanation, his gaze fell on the little hippo Tsunade was holding in her arms.

The little fellow had already woken up and was sticking out his tongue to lick everywhere. It had entered a horrifying dark abyss, and the sight filled Shimura Kentei with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

As expected of the number one deadly weapon in the ninja world. His fiancée could at most be called Summoner's Rift, while this one was an abyss capable of giving birth to demons in a man's heart. They weren't even on the same level.

"You two really are a pair of little perverts!"

Feeling the strange sensation on her chest, Tsunade's shadow clone's pretty face darkened. She casually flung the little hippo clinging to her chest away.

However, those words left the two little girls beside her dumbfounded. They seemed to vaguely understand something, and the flames of gossip gradually blazed within them.

"So that's why Teacher Tsunade always calls that guy a little pervert. There really is something going on between them!"

With an expression of I knew it, Uchiha Mikoto felt that she had caught hold of leverage against her teacher and that guy.

The moment the words left her mouth, Tsunade knew she had misspoken. Especially after seeing the expressions on her two female disciples' faces, her pretty face darkened even further.

She shot a hateful glare at someone, raised her hands to form seals, and finally slammed her palm hard against the ground.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow City Wall!"

A slope suddenly rose beneath the waterfall, extending hundreds of meters outward in a downward-curving arc.

The waterfall's rushing current flowed and surged swiftly through the broad groove at the center of the slope, creating a training ground specifically for practicing water-walking techniques.

"Sigh! If you want to train, then train. Why ruin such a scenic spot?"

Holding his little hippo, Shimura Kentei sighed at the sight of the beautiful waterfall being destroyed.

Ninjas really had chosen a narrow path. They only knew how to destroy and had no understanding of construction.

Too lazy to pay attention to him, Tsunade's shadow clone leaped to the lowest end of the slope and began trying out this new water-walking technique.

The two mature little girls also understood the convenience of such a training ground and hurriedly followed her down.

"Stop licking. I'll feed you milk right now!"

Glancing at the little hippo licking wildly in his palm, Shimura Kentei went to where his armor had been. He first put it back on, then picked up the milk bottle.

"Big Mouth, open wide! Time for milk!"

Smiling, he brought the bottle's nipple close. Watching the little fellow gulp down the milk, Shimura Kentei held great hopes for it and even named it Shimura Dazui.

"There's no rush for the C-Rank Body Strengthening Secret Technique. Besides, that thing will probably require a huge amount of chakra to assist with training. Even if I create it immediately, with my tiny chakra reserves, I probably won't be able to train it.

"I can focus on developing Absolute Rationality Mode first."

As he fed the little fellow, Shimura Dazui, Shimura Kentei considered his next training plan.

He had previously read the scrolls on the first floor of the Senju Secret Archives, especially the training notes left behind by past Senju members. Although most of them only contained scattered remarks regarding the Senju Clan's body cultivation secret techniques, they had still given him considerable inspiration.

Besides that, quite a few of the inherited secret techniques traded from those ninja clans in exchange for the complete Body Strengthening Secret Technique were useful as well. In particular, the batch his old man had acquired was full of practical material.

As long as he thoroughly comprehended all of them, he could create a C-Rank Body Strengthening Secret Technique through repeated experimentation.

However, his chakra reserves were a major weakness. Even if he created it, he would have difficulty training it, so it wouldn't mean much.

By comparison, first cultivating the Sage Mode of Sage Talent would be more reliable and effective.

After the little fellow in his arms had eaten its fill, Shimura Kentei found a sunny spot and sat down cross-legged. His consciousness entered the Black Cauldron Space to continue developing brain death... no, Absolute Rationality Mode.

This was an experiment with an enormous workload. Fortunately, through all his attempts, he had gained an increasingly detailed understanding of the functions of the brain's thirty-six acupoints. That allowed him to gradually narrow the range of his experiments, creating a positive cycle.

At most, it would take three months to successfully test and develop the secret method for activating the brain acupoint cycle of Absolute Rationality Mode.

While Shimura Kentei's team trained and improved themselves in the Death Forest, a wave gradually emerged in Konoha—a wave sparked by Shimura Kentei.

Inside a tavern, two drinking buddies spoke in low voices.

"How far have you gotten in Ninpō Sōkyū?"

"I just reached the part where Sarutobi Hi no En stormed the great Shimura Clan, found Shimura Yanran, and fought to fulfill that three-year agreement. That Flame Splitting Wave Staff nintaijutsu was ridiculously cool, and so was Buddha's Wrath Fire Lotus."

"Then you'd better hurry up. The later parts are even better. Sarutobi Hi no En took down the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave. That kind of beautiful snake woman was unbelievably exciting.

"I saw an illustration of the White Snake Sage before. She was cold, gorgeous, and domineering. It made me embarrassingly hard!"

"What? Sarutobi Hi no En didn't even spare the snakes of Ryūchi Cave?"

"You know what kind of style Master Yin Zhong Niao has. His old books were full of interspecies romance plots. What's so surprising about that?

"Besides, the White Snake Sage has three forms: snake form, human body with a Snake Tail, and a completely human form. It doesn't interfere with communication."

"You just said you saw an illustration of the White Snake Sage? Give me one. I'm willing to pay ten thousand ryo!"

"Deal. Oh, and I have an illustration of Shimura Yanran and Shimura Yun too. Want it?"

"Give me one of each!"

The two secretly completed an illicit little transaction. Similar scenes often occurred throughout Konoha's streets and alleys, and even some women took part.

There was no helping it. Master Ichikabe Tōkō Yunzhong Niao's works were just that damn good.

Even some jonin and Kage-level experts bought entire sets to take home and study, such as a certain White Fang.

"This Three Thousand Lightning Movements idea is pretty good. I can use it to deepen my Lightning Body Flicker Technique training. The concept behind Three Thousand Lightning Illusory Body should be applicable to Lightning Release Shadow Clones as well."

Within the Hatake Clan, the current clan head, Hatake Sakumo, seriously studied the book in his hands and gained plenty of inspiration from it.

He was also a fan of Master Yunzhongniao's books, though not that kind of fan. He simply valued some of the techniques and methods in the books and drew inspiration from them.

For example, the Three Thousand Lightning Movements and Three Thousand Lightning Illusory Body from this Ninpō Sōkyū were quite good and had given him considerable inspiration. Those sixty thousand ryo had been well spent!

At the same time, inside the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen finished a day's work, looked around, and formed a series of complex hand seals. He released the seal on his desk drawer and took out a finely bound book with the four gilded words Ninpō Sōkyū on its cover.

The lettering resembled flames, as though it were about to ignite, and looked exceptionally cool.

"I wonder whether I'll end up with that Shimura Yanran. Judging from the current plot, that girl seems to have become interested in me.

"Although there was the humiliation of that broken engagement plot, she's really beautiful judging from the illustration. It wouldn't be a loss!"

As he carefully opened the book in his hands, Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured softly, his heart full of anticipation.

There was no helping it. Although he had bought this first-edition set of Ninpō Sōkyū long ago, he had very little free time as the Hokage. Nor did he dare bring it home to read, or else he would be doomed if his wife, Sarutobi Biwako, found out.

Making him kneel on a washboard would be a minor matter. If she burned this set of Ninpō Sōkyū, he would die of heartache.

So he could only keep it sealed in the Hokage's office, personally adding a layer of protection comparable to the Scroll of Seals.

He eagerly opened the book and began carefully reading from where he had left off last time, studying every word and pondering each sentence. He lingered the longest over the illustrated pages and often wore a lecherous grin.

Thus, he used the wholesome task of reading, which cultivated one's temperament and cleansed one's soul, to replace his former job of using the Telescope Technique to monitor and guard every bathhouse.

"Bang!"

Just as he reached an exciting part, the office door was suddenly kicked open. A young man walked in, and Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately went limp from fright, almost suffering psychological trauma.

"Dad, Mom told you to go home right now. Immediately!"

After leaving those words behind, the young man turned and left, crisp and decisive without the slightest hesitation.

"That brat!"

Cursing under his breath, Sarutobi Hiruzen reluctantly closed the book and put it back into the drawer. After resealing it, he straightened his clothes and headed home.

The Sarutobi Family residence was not far from the Hokage Building, so he returned home in no time and found his wife kneeling properly inside the room.

Not knowing what had happened, Sarutobi Hiruzen was about to kneel in front of her and ask when she suddenly flung a wooden board over. It landed directly beneath his knees.

Looking closely, he saw that it was a washboard, a brand-new one with sharply defined ridges.

"Biwako..."

Seeing that sharply ridged washboard, Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart trembled. He looked at his wife in confusion, unable to understand what was happening, but the moment he spoke, Sarutobi Biwako coldly cut him off.

"Kneel!"

She barked the order coldly. Her icy expression made Sarutobi Hiruzen shudder, and he instinctively bent his knees and knelt. When his knees landed on the sharply ridged washboard, the pain made him bare his teeth, and hatred filled his heart.

Which bastard had invented this new use for washboards?

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