First Injury?

Early in the morning, the lingering chill of Konoha had not yet dissipated, wrapping the passing pedestrians in wisps of coolness that made them tighten their coats and hurry along as a new day began.

As an old-established Konoha ramen shop, the soup pot in front of the stove at Ichiraku Ramen was bubbling away at this moment, its milky-white pork bone broth shimmering with fine bubbles. Teuchi used a long-handled ladle to gently scoop up a portion, pouring it over the thin noodles nearby while sprinkling on chopped scallions and shredded nori, adding a few slices of chashu and a soft-boiled egg before smilingly serving it to the customer who was waiting.

"Senba, come and try today's pork bone ramen. According to your suggestion, I made improvements overnight. Have a taste."

After thanking Uncle Teuchi, Senba picked up his chopsticks, first lifting a mouthful of noodles into his mouth, and after savoring the chewy noodles, followed it up with a sip of the rich, savory broth, then tasting the chashu and the egg with its flowing yolk. Senba felt the chill in his body disperse quite a bit.

"The noodles are chewy, and the broth is immensely rich. Uncle Teuchi's craftsmanship is improving."

Watching Senba wolfing down his food after finishing his evaluation, Teuchi returned to the stove with a smile all over his face, continuing to make ramen for the next customer.

The warmth in his stomach spread along his limbs, completely dispelling the chill on his body, and only then did Senba slow down his eating speed, beginning to take advantage of this rare leisure time to review his recent training progress.

Over these past ten days, "Super Strength Fist" and "Needle Jizo" had already been practiced to the initial mastery stage, and today he would just happen to test the power of the Super Strength Fist.

As for the remaining two ninjutsu, Wind Release: Gale Palm and Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet, the wind release was fine, but that Water Dragon Bullet with its forty-four hand seals genuinely gave Senba a headache. Each seal combined differently with the circulation of chakra, and Senba still found it a bit taxing.

As for the Second Hokage's streamlined version of the Water Dragon Bullet, well, he had better finish practicing the original forty-four-seal version first before talking about that.

Aside from this, what puzzled Senba the most was where their guiding instructor had gone. The new guiding instructor still hadn't appeared, whereas many other Genin squads from their same period had already begun taking on missions.

As Senba's thoughts drifted, the eighth bowl of pork bone ramen in his hands had also hit the bottom. Senba's appetite alone was enough to make the neighboring customers feel full just by looking at it.

Senba patted his belly, left behind the remark, "My appetite isn't good today, seven-tenths full is enough," and then placed the meal money on the table, departing in a dashing manner.

He left behind a crowd of people whispering in astonishment due to shock.

In fact, regarding his current appetite, Senba was also very surprised. He remembered the night of his first training session in the "Super Strength Fist" technique, when Senba finished training in the Chakra Flame space, he woke up directly from starvation.

With glowing green eyes, he rummaged through cabinets at home, and after eating everything edible, he was still hungry and wandered the streets in the middle of the night.

Finally, he encountered Ichiraku Ramen, which was about to close. Upon seeing his appearance with eyes glowing green from hunger, Uncle Teuchi immediately served up an extra-large bowl of hot noodles to relieve the hunger in Senba's belly.

Afterward, Senba basically solved his breakfasts at Ichiraku Ramen, not only because Uncle Teuchi's ramen was delicious, but more importantly because of the man's decent character. Otherwise, even if the ramen were made to taste like shark fin, Senba absolutely would not go.

A dozen minutes later, Senba arrived at the training ground, and after glancing around, he frowned slightly upon finding that neither Iruka nor Uchiha Yue had arrived.

Yue would arrive late because she needed to take care of her younger sister Uchiha Izumi, but it was rare indeed for a guy like Iruka to be late as well.

Thinking of this, Senba pondered for a moment, then turned his back to the trees behind him and began to slowly stretch his body, doing a simple warm-up before practicing ninjutsu.

Afterward, Senba raised his right hand, closed his eyes slightly to calm his mind, and guided the chakra within his body. As the chakra flame on the surface of his right hand grew increasingly intense, it signified that it had been compressed to its current limit.

Senba clearly felt that in the palm of his right hand, a scorching "energy ball" seemed to have condensed, his meridians stretching slightly tight as if they were about to burst apart in the next second.

"Channel power into the fist edge, and then in one go, get out of here!"

Senba's angry voice, accompanied by the sound of the fist edge tearing through the air, fiercely smashed toward the ground. A visible shockwave centered on the fist print spread toward the surroundings, the ground cracking and gravel flying as a black figure flew out from underground and landed to the side, looking at him in astonishment.

Not Danzo's men? Senba was also startled as he looked at the young ninja before him with a toothpick in his mouth and a jounin vest on his body. Originally, when he sensed someone lurking underground, he thought Iruka had fallen victim to foul play because of him, so he had struck with bitter hatred, only to find that he seemed to have used too much force.

Senba recognized that the other party was Genma Shiranui, but at the time, the man had been following right behind the spirited Fourth Hokage, and he hadn't expected that he would actually be their team-leading instructor.

Meanwhile, Genma Shiranui, standing opposite Senba, felt a lingering fear in his heart as he felt his fractured right arm.

He had originally wanted to test the strength of the three of them by relying on the Earth Release: Headhunter Technique, but he hadn't expected to capsize in the gutter. If he hadn't been guided by the Fourth Hokage, causing his Body Flicker Technique to make great progress, he probably would have been injured to the point of vomiting blood while caught off guard, which would have been utterly humiliating.

At this moment, Genma Shiranui noticed the wariness in Senba's eyes dissipate quite a bit, so he stood up and was just about to open his mouth to introduce himself when he suddenly felt a sense of danger in his heart.

The next second, his body was bound by specially crafted steel wire that suddenly appeared behind him, making it impossible for him to break free at all. With a helpless expression on his face, he already knew what he was about to face.

"Yue, don't..."

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

Amidst Senba's shout, several lines of fire followed the steel wire to blanket Genma Shiranui, igniting a raging blaze.

"Bang!" After a burst of white smoke, a severed log replaced Genma Shiranui on the ground, while in the distance Uchiha Yue had been knocked unconscious at some point.

Genma Shiranui placed the unconscious Iruka and Uchiha Yue in front of Senba, then massaged his right arm and said, "I am your temporary team-leading jounin, Genma Shiranui."

"Aoki Senba, right? Your performance really doesn't match the intelligence reports at all. Where did that strength secret technique you used just now come from?"

Senba, upon hearing the other party's inquiry, did not answer directly, but instead reached out and began forming hand seals.

"Ninjutsu, Summoning Technique!"

Amidst Genma Shiranui's shocked expression, he held a small slug in his hands as he looked at the other party, speaking gently, "Genma-sensei, you'd better let Lady Slug help heal your injuries first, and then we can talk in detail."

If immense physical strength had other secret techniques in the shinobi world, then the existence of the slug was definitely unique. This was the most favorable evidence of Senba's orthodox identity.

The Lord Third is truly getting old, sending me over to lead the team without even verifying the intelligence, Genma Shiranui couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart when he saw this.