After returning to Konoha, Kyoichi thought it over, then took the key and went to Tsunade's residence.
Tsunade's residence was easy to recognize.
It had been the First Hokage's house. It was not large, but it occupied an excellent location. It looked very old-fashioned and was steeped in history, one of the few Senju properties that had survived to the present day.
Kyoichi arrived at the door.
He took out the key and unlocked the door. As a result...
"Who are you? Why do you have the key to this place?"
"Huh?"
Kyoichi turned around and saw a white-haired man wearing a forehead protector marked with the word "oil." He immediately knew who the man was.
One of the Sannin.
Jiraiya!
What a coincidence.
After saluting, Kyoichi said, "Lord Jiraiya, my name is Kanda Kyoichi. As for this key... of course Lady Tsunade gave it to me."
"Tsunade gave it to you?"
Jiraiya froze for a moment.
Although he had come here to take a look as soon as he returned, he actually knew that Tsunade had not returned to the village. Since she had not come back, where had this kid gotten the key?
"Yes. I went to Baiyun Town on a mission and happened to run into her."
Kyoichi nodded.
"Baiyun Town..."
Jiraiya sighed. He had returned directly from Sunagakure to the village without passing through there, and thus missed Tsunade.
Forget it. Seeing her would not have helped anyway.
But...
Who was this kid?
Kanda Kyoichi?
He did not remember anyone by that name among the people Tsunade knew.
"To put it simply, I'm considered Lady Tsunade's cousin."
Just a rather distant one.
Kyoichi thought to himself.
"Cous... cousin? So that's how it is. Hahahaha! Well, let's chat again when we have time. I still have things to do."
Jiraiya suddenly stumbled over his words.
After a few awkward laughs, he abruptly changed the subject. Once he finished speaking, he turned and ran.
Damn it.
He had thought this kid was some thief from who-knows-where.
Who would have thought he was Tsunade's cousin?
He had almost made a fool of himself.
Thinking of this, Jiraiya secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, Tsunade had not returned. Otherwise, if she saw him loitering outside her house after coming back from outside, she would probably beat him to death.
As for whether this "cousin" was genuine...
Jiraiya had no doubts about it.
Kyoichi wore Konoha's forehead protector. In Konoha, no one would dare claim a random family connection like that. Besides, the Senju Clan had intermarried with every other family, and their bloodline was now spread throughout the village.
Having one or two cousins was nothing unusual.
"Jiraiya didn't go to the hot springs and came here instead? How strange."
Kyoichi did not know what to say.
Forget it.
He would go inside and see what Tsunade had actually intended by giving him the key.
He walked in and closed the door.
The courtyard was quite large.
However...
Compared with Hashirama Senju's status, the house he had left behind was already considered small. It was roughly the size of the residence of a small clan head. Judging from the courtyard alone, no one would have guessed that this had once been the First Hokage's home.
The First Hokage and the Second Hokage could be said to have truly followed through on their ideals.
Kyoichi felt genuine admiration.
The doors were covered in dust. No one had been here for many years. After entering and looking around, he found that many things inside had been covered with cloth to keep them from gathering dust.
The rooms were spacious.
Yet the layout was very distinctive. After making a circuit, he basically understood what each place was used for.
The most important place was naturally the study.
The study had its own key, which Tsunade had also given Kyoichi.
There were many books inside.
Some were collected books, but most were the Second Hokage's notes. They were very disorderly, and many were incomplete, merely fragments of ideas that had flashed through the Second Hokage's mind.
Besides those, one of the bookshelves held Tsunade's medical notes.
There were many medical texts on it.
To many medical ninja, these were no less than priceless treasures.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Kyoichi saw a cloth-wrapped cylinder at the very top of the bookshelf representing the First Hokage. He took it down and undid the cloth pouch. When he saw what was inside, he froze.
A scroll.
More precisely, it was the Summoning Contract Scroll for Shikkotsu Forest.
Good grief!
Lady Tsunade was far too careless. Did she just leave a scroll like this lying around?
Was she not afraid someone would take it?
He stood there stunned for a long while. Then, after thinking it over carefully, he realized that she really had nothing to fear.
Shikkotsu Forest was one of the Three Great Sage Lands.
Unlike Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest had no little slugs. The entire Shikkotsu Forest had only one Sage of the Slug, and what Tsunade, Sakura Haruno, and the others summoned were actually parts of Sage of the Slug.
If someone stole the scroll without permission...
The consequences were easy to imagine.
Had Tsunade given him the key and sent him to the study so that he could find this?
He hesitated.
He could not act carelessly with something like this.
Just as Kyoichi was hesitating, the symbols on the scroll suddenly lit up. After a moment, a small slug crawled out. It climbed onto Kyoichi's hand and conveyed a message.
"If you're seeing this, you should have already found the scroll. I've asked Sage of the Slug to deliver this message. This is the Shikkotsu Forest Summoning Scroll contracted by the Senju Clan. If you're interested, you can sign it. If not, then forget it."
Tsunade's voice was casual.
It was as though this were not a Summoning Scroll, but some random, unimportant object.
As for the slug appearing here...
With the symbols on the contract scroll, it was not difficult for her to appear here.
Kyoichi thought about it.
There were very few Summoning Beasts in the entire shinobi world that could compare with Sage of the Slug.
The opportunity was right in front of him...
He signed!
He no longer hesitated. He bit his finger and began signing his name.
In only a moment,
Kyoichi felt a connection form between himself and Sage of the Slug.
"My name is Sage of the Slug."
She spoke gently.
"Lady Sage of the Slug, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Although she was gentle and not very large, Kyoichi remained respectful. He knew that her true body was probably larger than Konoha itself.
She was a sage who had lived from ancient times until now.
"There's no need to be so polite. You possess the power of the Senju Clan. Once you become stronger, you can come visit Shikkotsu Forest... If you ever need me, you can summon me with Summoning Jutsu."
"Yes!"
Kyoichi lowered his head.
The next moment, the clone of Sage of the Slug departed.
He pondered for several seconds.
The meaning behind Sage of the Slug's words...
Could it be that...
Once his body became stronger, he would have a chance to learn Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode?
If that was true, he would have struck it rich!
Kyoichi wrapped the scroll up as it had been, returned it to its original place, and then looked toward the other books—mainly the Second Hokage's books and notes.
Before he realized it,
the light had dimmed. When he looked outside, it was already dusk.
"There are too many books. I can't possibly get through them all. Tomorrow, I'll send a Shadow Clone to read them specifically."
Kyoichi thought to himself.
However,
the harvest had been substantial.
After reading several notes on illusion techniques, combined with the knowledge of light-based illusions he had obtained from the system's reward, the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, Kyoichi already knew how to fuse illusion techniques with Iaido.
Sword light!
At the instant he struck, he could use chakra to amplify the sword light, causing the enemy to be blinded by a burst of intense light. Then he could use that instant to cut down his opponent.
He had the basic idea.
As for Konoha Style: Willow...
It was an illusion technique guided by movement. The movements of the sword could likewise guide it, but that was an entirely different approach.
He could develop both in parallel.
In any case, he had the theory now, and neither experiment would be complicated.
In fact,
Kyoichi had already grasped the basics. All that was missing was the actual effect, and that required someone to practice with.
Before you continue