First meeting, injury?

In the early morning, the chill of Konohagakure had yet to dissipate, its coolness wrapping around the passing pedestrians, causing them to instinctively tighten their clothes and hurry along. A new day had begun.

At Ichiraku Ramen, a long-standing establishment in Konoha, the soup pot on the stove was bubbling vigorously, its milky white tonkotsu broth frothing with fine bubbles. Hand-baked used a long ladle to scoop up a spoonful, pouring it over the thin noodles beside it. He then sprinkled on chopped scallions and shredded seaweed, added a few slices of chashu and a soft-boiled egg, and smilingly served it to the waiting customer.

"Senba, come, try today's tonkotsu ramen. Based on your suggestion, I made improvements all night. Give it a taste."

After thanking Uncle Hand-baked, Senba picked up his chopsticks and first took a bite of noodles. The springy noodles entered his mouth, followed by a mouthful of the mellow and fragrant soup. After tasting the chashu and the perfectly cooked egg with its runny yolk, Senba felt the chill on his body recede significantly.

"The noodles are incredibly springy, and the soup base is rich and mellow. Uncle Hand-baked's skills have improved so much."

Watching Senba continue to devour the ramen after his review, Hand-baked returned to the stove with a smile, continuing to prepare ramen for the next customer.

The warmth in his stomach spread to his limbs, completely dispelling the chill from his body. Only then did Senba slow down his eating pace, taking advantage of the rare free time to review his recent training progress.

Over the past ten days, "Super Strength" and "Needle Jizo" had reached the initial stage of mastery. Today was the perfect opportunity to test the power of the Super Strength Fist.

Among the remaining two ninjutsu, Wind Release: Gale Palm and Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet, Wind Release was manageable. However, the Water Dragon Bullet, requiring forty-four hand seals, was truly giving Senba a headache. Each hand seal required a different Chakra circulation, and Senba was struggling with it.

As for the Water Dragon Bullet with simplified hand seals by the Second Hokage, well, he would deal with that after mastering the original forty-four hand seals.

What puzzled Senba the most, however, was the whereabouts of their instructors. A new instructor had yet to appear, while many other Genin teams from the same period had already started taking on missions.

As Senba's thoughts wandered, the eighth bowl of tonkotsu ramen in front of him was already empty. Senba's appetite was so immense that the surrounding diners felt full just by looking at him.

Senba patted his stomach, said, "I'm not very hungry today, so I'll just eat until I'm seven-tenths full," then placed the money on the table and left with a flourish.

He left behind a crowd in astonishment, chattering amongst themselves.

In fact, Senba was also surprised by his current appetite. He remembered the first night he practiced the "Super Strength" technique. After finishing his training in the Chakra Flame space, he was so hungry he woke up.

With his eyes glowing green, he rummaged through his house, eating everything he could find. Still hungry, he wandered the streets late at night.

He eventually encountered Ichiraku Ramen, which was about to close. Uncle Hand-baked, seeing Senba's eyes glowing green from hunger, immediately served him an extra-large bowl of hot noodles, alleviating his hunger.

Since then, Senba had basically had his breakfast at Ichiraku Ramen. It wasn't just because Uncle Hand-baked's ramen was delicious, but more importantly, because of his integrity. Otherwise, even if the ramen tasted like shark fin soup, Senba would never have gone.

Ten minutes later, Senba arrived at the training grounds. After glancing around and noticing that neither Iruka nor Uchiha Yue had arrived, he frowned slightly.

Yue would be late because she had to take care of her sister, Uchiha Izumi. But Iruka being late was quite unusual.

Thinking this, Senba pondered for a moment before turning his back to the trees behind him and slowly stretching his body, warming up before practicing ninjutsu.

Afterward, Senba raised his right hand, closed his eyes slightly, and calmly guided the Chakra within his body. As the Chakra flame on his right hand grew more intense, it indicated that it had been compressed to its current limit.

Senba clearly felt a scorching "energy ball" condensing in his palm, his meridians bulging slightly, as if they were about to burst.

"Guide the power to the tip of your fist, and then with one surge, come out!"

Senba's angry shout, accompanied by the sound of his fist tearing through the air, slammed heavily into the ground. A visible shockwave spread outwards from the fist imprint, cracking the ground and sending碎石 flying. A dark figure shot out from underground and landed nearby, looking at him in surprise.

Not one of Danzo's men? Senba, looking at the young ninja in front of him, who was wearing a Jonin vest and chewing on a toothpick, was also taken aback. He had sensed someone lurking underground and thought that Iruka had been harmed because of him, so he had attacked in anger. He realized he might have been too heavy-handed.

Senba recognized him as Genma Shiranui. However, at that time, he was following the spirited Fourth Hokage, so he hadn't expected him to be their team leader.

Genma Shiranui, standing opposite Senba, felt his broken right hand and a wave of fear washed over him.

He had originally intended to test the strength of the three of them using Earth Release: Headhunter Technique, but he hadn't expected to fail so miserably. If he hadn't received guidance from the Fourth Hokage and greatly improved his Body Flicker Technique, he might have been injured and spitting blood under the surprise attack, which would have been a huge embarrassment.

At this moment, Genma Shiranui, noticing that the wariness in Senba's eyes had significantly diminished, stood up and was about to introduce himself when he suddenly felt a sense of danger.

The next second, he was bound by a specially made steel wire that appeared behind him, unable to break free. With a helpless expression, he knew what he was about to face.

"Yue, don't..."

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

As Senba shouted, several streams of fire followed the steel wire, engulfing Genma Shiranui in a blazing inferno.

"Bang!" After a burst of white smoke, a burnt log replaced Genma Shiranui, falling to the ground. Uchiha Yue, who had appeared in the distance, had been knocked unconscious at some point.

Genma Shiranui placed the unconscious Iruka and Uchiha Yue in front of Senba and said, flexing his right arm, "I am your temporary Jonin leader, Genma Shiranui."

"Aoki Senba, right? Your performance is very different from the intelligence reports. Where did the power-based secret technique you just used come from?"

Senba did not answer directly to the question. Instead, he began to form hand seals.

"Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique."

To Genma Shiranui's shocked gaze, Senba held a small slug and said gently, "Teacher Genma, let's use Lady Slug to help heal your injuries first, and then we can talk in detail."

If there were other secret techniques for immense strength in the ninja world, then the existence of the Slug was undoubtedly unique. This was the most convincing proof of Senba's legitimate identity.

The Third Hokage is truly getting old, sending me to lead a team without even verifying the intelligence, Genma Shiranui grumbled inwardly.