Tsunade's Resolve to Become a Medical Ninja

Senju Clan Compound

Little Tsunade held a thick book in her hands, reading tirelessly. Its cover bore a diagram of the human body, and it was one of the Senju Clan's treasured medical texts.

In present-day Konoha, the great Bloodline Families monopolized Konoha's knowledge. After ordinary civilian ninjas graduated from the Ninja Academy, they only had the three basic ninja techniques.

Transformation Jutsu, Clone Technique, and Substitution Technique.

If civilians wanted to learn other ninjutsu, there were only a few ways.

Sell themselves to a Bloodline Family, or earn merits on the battlefield and exchange them for ninjutsu.

If they were luckier, their jonin instructor might teach them a move or two. Of course, such cases were few and far between.

Konoha's jonin now almost all came from Ninja Clans. Their clans had rules forbidding them from casually passing down clan ninjutsu to outsiders. Self-created ninjutsu, however, could be taught freely.

Knowledge involving Medical Ninjutsu was naturally incomparably precious, and only major ninja clans were qualified to possess it.

Mito Uzumaki sat by the doorway, basking in the sun. The sunlight warmed her comfortably. When people grew old, they liked basking in the sun. She was nearly fifty now, which was already considered a long life in a world where ninjas were generally short-lived.

Seeing Tsunade emerge from her grief so quickly made Mito Uzumaki happy from the bottom of her heart. As expected of her granddaughter.

Though she did not know why Tsunade had suddenly begun studying Medical Ninjutsu. She had clearly shown no interest in it before.

The Senju Clan and the Uzumaki clan were born with immense Chakra. Legend said they had inherited the Sage of Six Paths' Yang Release, making them naturally suited to learning Medical Ninjutsu. As such, those two clans possessed the most books on Medical Ninjutsu.

Mito Uzumaki was naturally well versed in this. When Tsunade was young, she had planned to teach her a few things, but Tsunade had not been interested and preferred learning powerful ninjutsu.

Now, however, she had changed completely and begun studying knowledge related to Medical Ninjutsu. Mito Uzumaki could not be bothered to concern herself with the reason. As long as her precious granddaughter was happy, that was enough.

As long as Tsunade studied seriously, Mito Uzumaki was confident she could train her into the Ninja World's strongest Medical Ninja.

Tsunade stared at the densely packed words in the book. Quite a few of the obscure technical terms left her utterly lost, making her want to tear apart the exceptionally precious book before her.

It seemed she had run into trouble.

Mito Uzumaki sat there basking in the sun while observing Tsunade's expression.

Tsunade was practically boiling with frustration. Mito Uzumaki could not keep sitting there in the sun any longer.

"Little Tsunade, you've run into trouble, haven't you?"

Mito Uzumaki rose and walked to Tsunade's side, looking down at the page. It discussed Yang Release and even involved the structure of the human body. It was beyond Tsunade's current level of knowledge.

"Grandma, there are so many terms here that I've never seen before. And why does Chakra here..."

Asking when one did not understand was a good habit.

Tsunade understood that well. Her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, was highly skilled in Medical Ninjutsu. With an expert nearby, she naturally had to ask until she understood.

"As for Yang Release..."

"..."

Mito Uzumaki carefully taught Tsunade, guiding her patiently. Whenever she reached an important point, she would deliberately pause to see whether Tsunade could figure out the crux of the matter from her hints.

The future Tsunade would become the Ninja World's foremost Medical Ninja, so her talent for Medical Ninjutsu was beyond doubt. She did not disappoint Mito Uzumaki's expectations, answering naturally and even drawing inferences from it.

This greatly gratified Mito Uzumaki. Her Medical Ninjutsu finally had an heir.

"I'm definitely going to become Konoha's strongest Medical Ninja."

Having just fully understood the lesson, Tsunade immediately regained her confidence and began making bold declarations. This made Mito Uzumaki a little curious. Tsunade's original goal had been to become Konoha's first female Hokage.

"Little Tsunade, tell Grandma, why did you suddenly become interested in Medical Ninjutsu?"

The smile on Tsunade's face stiffened slightly, and a trace of sorrow flashed through her eyes, but she still forced a smile.

"Grandma, when I was doing missions at Konoha's hospital, I saw many wounded people who had come back from the front lines. Every one of them looked so miserable, and some even died because their injuries were too severe."

"If I were an outstanding Medical Ninja, I could definitely save them."

"Maybe if I had been better at Medical Ninjutsu and followed Second Grandpa, then when he got hurt, I could have treated him. Maybe he wouldn't have died."

Tsunade's innocent words broke Mito Uzumaki's heart. Tsunade had never been to war and did not understand the cruelty of the battlefield. An opponent capable of stopping Tobirama was not someone an outstanding Medical Ninja could overcome.

Tsunade's words suddenly made the atmosphere sorrowful. Mito Uzumaki quickly changed the subject and continued explaining medical knowledge to Tsunade.

Outside the gates of the Senju Clan Compound, Senju Touma hurried home to see Mito Uzumaki as soon as he returned to Konoha.

The gates, which were usually left open, were tightly shut today. This unusual sight added another shadow to Senju Touma's already uneasy heart.

"Open up!"

Senju Touma pounded on the gates. A head peeked out through the crack, and upon recognizing Senju Touma, immediately opened them.

"The Young Clan Head has returned."

"What's going on? Why are the gates shut in broad daylight?"

The gates had naturally been closed to avoid the clans who had come to probe for information.

The Young Clan Head probably still did not know that Clan Head Tobirama Senju had died in battle. Better not to say too much. Mito-sama should tell him herself.

The Senju clansman guarding the gate said,

"This was Mito-sama's order. Mito-sama is waiting for you inside."

With those words, he managed to brush Senju Touma off.

Senju Touma nodded and hurried toward Mito Uzumaki's room, soon finding her.

"Mother, I'm back."

Hearing his voice, Mito Uzumaki looked toward Senju Touma outside the room and hurried out.

"Good child, you've grown stronger. And darker, too."

Mito Uzumaki looked Senju Touma over. The once somewhat immature Senju Touma had grown into a man capable of standing on his own after being tempered on the battlefield.

"Tsunade's here too. Have you been causing trouble in the village lately? You haven't been secretly gambling behind Grandma's back again, have you?"

"Of course not!"

Tsunade threw herself into Senju Touma's arms. She had not seen her father in a long time either.

"Mother, you called me back so urgently. Did something happen in the village?"

"Come with me."

A look of sorrow flashed across Mito Uzumaki's face as she prepared to take Senju Touma to another room to discuss matters.

"Uncle, where's Tobirama? I haven't seen him in ages. Is he still in the Hokage Office?"

Senju Touma asked casually. The Tsunade in his arms heard it, and her emotions, already agitated, immediately broke loose again. Tears streamed down her face.

"Second Grandpa, he... he died!!"

"Waaah!!!"

Mito Uzumaki looked at her son with resentful eyes. She had specifically planned to change rooms because she did not want Tsunade to remember something so sad.

And now, she had to comfort her all over again.