Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: I thought so too. Training ninja isn't simple, and the investment isn't small either. Having them directly do these low-level jobs is such a waste.
Hashirama Senju: So what's the current scale of your Kirigakure like?
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: It's terrible. After the war and the Fourth Mizukage's bloody rule, the total number of ninja is fewer than five hundred.
Hashirama Senju: Isn't that even worse than the era when I was still around?
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Yes. After your death, the Five Great Ninja Villages immediately went to war. I wasn't in that era, so I couldn't make any choices, but now that I'm the Mizukage, I won't consider war again.
Honestly, if we fight again, Kirigakure will be finished.
Minato Namikaze: That's pretty tragic. But that's what happens after a war. Every major ninja village suffers devastating losses.
Hashirama Senju: Ah... my dream.
Hashirama Senju once again realized that the path he had chosen seemed to have... been wrong.
Because... it wasn't just the Hidden Leaf Village. Even the other ninja villages hadn't lived well either.
Amid everyone's sighs, they noticed that Kitahara Kaede's team had already set off.
According to Kitahara Kaede, since the Land of Waves had no ninja, the fact that Tazuna had specifically hired ninja as guards meant that he had definitely run into trouble.
Kakashi agreed with that reasoning, but they continued the mission anyway.
Because...
If all the missions were garbage, there really would be no way for the students to grow. Then what would be the point of practical training?
So everyone set off.
Then... they were swiftly attacked.
Two Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure attacked their team.
"Wood Release: Three Rooms and a Hall Jutsu."
Kitahara Kaede used his first ninjutsu as well.
He formed hand seals, and a wooden house instantly rose from the ground, trapping the two Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure inside.
Kitahara Kaede stood at the entrance of the house.
"Then let's begin," he said. "Anyone who wants to temper themselves can sign up and go inside to challenge them."
Kitahara Kaede Observation (^_-) Group
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: This training method is really trendy.
Hashirama Senju: Yes, it's very interesting. Wood Release can be used like this too? Very interesting. Instead of protecting yourself, it binds up the enemy. That's a very interesting way to use it.
Tobirama Senju: ...
Minato Namikaze: Second Hokage-sama?
Minato watched his precious son enter first to take on the challenge and make some progress, then noticed that the usually analytical Second Hokage had fallen silent.
Tobirama Senju: That kid... he was just randomly waving his hands through those seals, wasn't he?
Tobirama Senju explained.
Tobirama Senju: I watched his hands carefully. He was only putting on a show. He wasn't forming seals at all.
Hashirama Senju: Huh? Don't you not need hand seals to use Wood Release?
Tobirama Senju: That's because you're a freak, big brother. Normal ninja need hand seals. For Water Dragon Bullet, I need four seals.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Huh? Isn't Water Dragon Bullet just something you spit out?
Tobirama Senju: ...?
P.S. There'll be another power outage today. I don't know when it'll happen, so I'll write until the power cuts out.
Also, please send data, flowers, rating votes, and monthly tickets. I need them all.
Forty-Four Hand Seals—Kakashi Was So Embarrassing! (Please Send Data)
When Tobirama Senju heard Mei Terumi say that Water Dragon Bullet was something you spat out, he froze for a moment.
Tobirama Senju: You don't form hand seals when using Water Dragon Bullet?
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Well, I do form hand seals.
Mei Terumi hurriedly replied.
Actually, she felt a little excited inside... So even Tobirama Senju, the master of Water Release, needed hand seals for Water Dragon Bullet?
Oh, oh, oh.
That meant that as the Fifth Mizukage, she truly deserved her title for being able to use it without hand seals.
At least when it came to Water Release, she was pretty impressive.
Tobirama Senju: Normally, it requires twelve hand seals, but I simplified it to four.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: That's amazing.
Hashirama Senju: Hmm... I don't understand what you're talking about. I don't know how to form hand seals.
Tobirama Senju: Big brother, shut up. You're just like this Kitahara Kaede—both of you are frauds.
Tobirama Senju: You clearly don't form hand seals, yet you pretend to. You frauds.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Cough, cough... Lord Senju, please calm down. You're already incredible.
Minato Namikaze: Yes, Second Hokage-sama. You're already very strong.
Tobirama Senju: Stop flattering me. Minato, do you form hand seals?
Minato Namikaze: Mm, I still do, but I have considered simplifying them as well. For example, one-handed seals.
Tobirama Senju: That's better. It shows that you've all made progress in the decades after my time.
That single sentence showed how open-minded Tobirama was.
Everyone continued staring at the screen.
Just then, Kitahara Kaede opened the door and let Naruto into the Three Rooms and a Hall.
There were two Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure inside.
But Kitahara Kaede entered the house too.
It was like giving Naruto insurance.
Everyone also noticed the scene inside. The house covered roughly one hundred and fifty square meters, with three rooms and a hall of nearly sixty square meters.
The two Chunin were in the hall.
Then Naruto got wrecked.
"Ow, ow, ow—"
"So this is what a real fight feels like!"
There was another Naruto outside the house.
The one he had sent in was merely his clone, one of the clones created by the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"Naruto, your basic Taijutsu isn't strong enough. And Taijutsu is something that can only gain experience through life-and-death combat."
"And at times like this, the experience you gain may be several times greater."
Kitahara Kaede explained.
The training plan he had given Naruto was to use Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and let the clones gain experience. Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was a good technique.
An ordinary clone would disappear as soon as someone touched it, but Multiple Shadow Clones were copied from the original body. They could withstand a certain amount of attacks, and even if they were destroyed, they would bring back what happened along with the experience gained.
It was an essential skill for cheating.
Naruto's rapid improvement naturally could not be separated from this cheat.
"Then can I learn Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu too?" Sasuke Uchiha asked.
He had noticed that Naruto's Taijutsu level was improving at an incredible pace.
So he could not help feeling a little envious.
After all... he needed power right now. He needed to become stronger.
"Probably not." Kitahara Kaede glanced at Sasuke Uchiha before refusing.
Hashirama Senju: Why not?
Hashirama had Bonds with Madara, so seeing that only Sasuke Uchiha remained of the Uchiha clan, he wanted to pay some attention to him.
And yet... he couldn't learn Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu?
Tobirama Senju: Big brother, do you think everyone has Chakra comparable to a Tailed Beast like you do?
Tobirama Senju: The principle of Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu is to evenly divide your Chakra among the Shadow Clones.
And those Shadow Clones have to be high-quality ones, requiring a complete copy of the original body.
So those clones can not only use Taijutsu and withstand other people's attacks, but they can use ninjutsu too.
That makes it very difficult.
The first thing required is a huge amount of Chakra.
And that Uchiha brat has very little Chakra. How could he possibly use the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu I invented?
Minato Namikaze: I see. No wonder I can only make five or six of them.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: But since these are Rogue Ninja from my Kirigakure... based on the information we've already obtained, the outstanding Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure usually operate alone, while the weaker ones generally attach themselves to other Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure.
So... these two Rogue Ninja being used as sparring partners are only Chunin-level. Where is their leader, then?
Tobirama Senju: Don't tell me you're thinking of recruiting them?
As the brains of the group, Tobirama immediately saw through the new member's thoughts.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: You saw through me. Kirigakure has had a difficult history, and it wasn't just me. Before this, many people tried to save Kirigakure by assassinating the Fourth Mizukage, but they failed, so they could only become Rogue Ninja.
So I want to bring them back to Kirigakure too.
Those were Mei Terumi's sincere thoughts.
Or rather... she had hit the jackpot.
The people who could defect from Kirigakure were basically all experts. The largest group was the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. If she could gather them back, her position as Mizukage would be much more secure.
Otherwise... apart from her, Kirigakure did not have a single person who could really fight.
It was like playing Landlord with only one rocket, while every other card in her hand dragged her down.
She was desperate too.
So if she could reclaim the Rogue Ninja now, it would truly be an enormous gain for Kirigakure.
And now, was there really a powerful Rogue Ninja here?
Just as she thought that, she saw a massive sword fly in from the distance and slam straight into a corner of the five-meter-tall Three Rooms and a Hall that Kitahara Kaede had created.
The broad, beheading sword was lodged in the roof without moving, but a figure had already appeared atop it.
He was tall but somewhat thin.
He wore the slashed forehead protector of a Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure. He had short black hair, his forehead protector tilted toward the left, bandages wrapped around his lower face and neck, and sharp teeth.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: We really hit the jackpot!
Mei Terumi cheered.
Minato Namikaze: ???
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Well, that person is Zabuza, the wielder of Kirigakure's Executioner's Blade.
He once attempted to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage, but failed.
After that, his whereabouts became unknown. I never expected to encounter him here.
Unmarriageable Older Single Woman: Please hold him off for a while. I'll immediately set out from Kirigakure and head there.
Before you continue