The Second Shinobi World War

"It seems I added too much sugar."

After finishing a whole cake, Watanabe found it a bit too sweet, feeling like he hadn't made it well.

"I think it's just right."

Tsunade was eating with relish, but suddenly caught a glimpse of something unusual on Watanabe's face.

"Don't move."

Watanabe froze, looking confused as Tsunade reached out and wiped a bit of cream from the corner of his mouth.

Watanabe chuckled, "It's easy to get cake on your mouth..."

His words stopped abruptly.

Because he saw Tsunade bring the cream she'd wiped from his mouth into her own, her soft pink tongue even licking her finger.

Watanabe was stunned, then an unprecedented flutter surged in his heart.

"Tsunade, what is this?"

An unnatural blush appeared on Tsunade's pretty face. Realizing her action had been too forward, she said with no room for argument, "I'm preventing waste, what's the problem?"

Watanabe stammered, "N-no problem."

Perhaps he was overthinking it. When he'd invited Tsunade over for meals before, he'd eaten her leftovers plenty of times. A little intimacy between friends was normal.

Even so, he felt strange. If he had wiped cream from Tsunade's mouth and eaten it, would she have kicked him with the Heavenly Guardian Kick?

"Alright, we've eaten cake. If you want to go home, hurry up and go!"

The blush hadn't faded from Tsunade's face as she unceremoniously kicked him out. She turned and parted ways with Watanabe.

Watanabe gazed at her graceful figure in her formal dress until she disappeared from his sight. Only then did he rub his cheeks, suppressing the strange feeling in his heart.

For no reason, he suddenly remembered his previous conversation with Nawaki. If he were to pursue Tsunade, would his success rate be even a tiny bit higher than Dan Katō's?

Tsunade was his most important friend. No matter what, their friendship had to be maintained. That kind of cliché plot where they could neither be lovers nor friends absolutely could not happen to him.

Back home, Watanabe washed up and lay on his bed to practice the Spirit Transformation Technique. He was used to staying up late. For him, staying up late occasionally was fun, and staying up late all the time was always fun.

[Staying up late: Kidney function +4, Health +3, Fatigue -5...]

[Soul damage: Soul Strength (Spirit) +2, +3, +2...]

Of the three scrolls Tsunade gave him, he had only mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique and the Mutual Multiplication Paper Bomb Technique so far. He still couldn't get the hang of the Flying Thunder God.

It couldn't be helped. The Flying Thunder God relied too much on space-time talent. Even with Watanabe's Karma Reversal trait, it didn't help. He even considered giving up on learning the Flying Thunder God.

The next morning, the weekend holiday ended, and Watanabe left for school on time.

Nowadays, he only went to school to graduate and get the title of Genin, and to spar with Tsunade. The courses at the Ninja Academy were meaningless to him.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed since Tsunade's birthday.

Since that birthday banquet, Watanabe and Tsunade's relationship had become noticeably closer.

Tsunade knew Watanabe didn't have the habit of eating breakfast, so she'd bring him a portion every day before school. As soon as school ended, she'd accompany Watanabe to the small woods to spar. She visited Watanabe's house more often than her own, sometimes falling asleep directly on Watanabe's bed for a nap when she was tired, showing no reservations with him.

The class had seen their intimate relationship with their own eyes and had long since recognized them as a couple. Many boys were driven mad with jealousy towards Watanabe, especially Jiraiya, who couldn't for the life of him figure out what he lacked compared to Watanabe.

With Tsunade's help, Watanabe's strength had improved considerably. First, his Blood Essence stat reached 32002, his Chakra stat reached 21552, and even his Defense reached 9998.

Tsunade had long stopped holding back against Watanabe. Every spar was a full-power effort, but no matter how fierce her attacks were, she couldn't inflict any damage on Watanabe, making her inwardly exclaim how monstrous he was.

She had never heard of anyone whose strength had progressed so rapidly in three months. Clearly, three months ago, Watanabe was the dead last in class, spitting blood after taking two punches from her. Yet now, he could withstand her full-power attacks without a scratch. It was unbelievable no matter how she thought about it.

Tsunade had asked Watanabe why he was improving so quickly. Watanabe replied that he had a special physique that could withstand injuries that ordinary people couldn't bear, and his rapid progress was largely due to Tsunade's sparring.

Tsunade accepted this explanation. After all, the ninja world was vast and full of wonders, with all sorts of bizarre Kekkei Genkai. It was plausible for Watanabe to awaken a "Body Release" Kekkei Genkai that specialized in taking hits.

Watanabe had privately tried to injure himself with Kunai multiple times, but even the sharp Kunai could only leave white marks on his skin's surface, unable to break through.

This left Watanabe with lingering fear. Fortunately, he wasn't a woman, otherwise, as his Defense increased later, wouldn't he be unable to pierce himself?

After multiple attempts, Watanabe himself couldn't figure out his Defense limit. In short, he was very tough. Ordinary attacks no longer threatened him.

The only drawback was that Watanabe's attack power and speed had not improved. During their usual spars, Tsunade couldn't break his defense, and his slow Taijutsu also couldn't inflict damage on Tsunade. Every time, he would wear her down by sheer time, until Tsunade was panting and sweating profusely.

Tsunade had tried to special-train Watanabe's Taijutsu, but the effect was not good. Speed had become Watanabe's Achilles' heel. Any Chunin could easily crush Watanabe in terms of speed, unless Watanabe used the Spirit Transformation Technique, as the speed of his spirit form was several times faster than his physical body.

At first, Watanabe was anxious, desperately wanting to improve his Taijutsu. But later, he gradually came to terms with it. There was no use being anxious, as Taijutsu was destined to be his weakness. He could only try to compensate with Ninjutsu.

Anyway, the ninja world had been peaceful in recent years, with no wars or turmoil. What was the harm in having a weakness? Could it threaten his life?

Watanabe never expected that he would be proven wrong so suddenly.

In March of Konoha year 16, news of the war between Amegakure and the Land of Iron spread throughout Konoha's streets and alleys. Overnight, Konoha was in a panic. The situation was tense, with villagers everywhere discussing the war.

"Amegakure and the Land of Iron?"

Watanabe received the news, his heart sinking.

The Ninja Academy had cultural courses. He knew that although Amegakure and the Land of Iron were not as powerful as the Five Great Nations, they were not ordinary small countries. Especially the leader of Amegakure, Hanzō of the Salamander, whom the Ninja Academy teachers described as an ambitious politician. Under his leadership, Amegakure had always been restless, attempting to invade and expand into neighboring countries several times.

"A war between these two sides is not a good sign."

Watanabe had a bad premonition. The current situation in the ninja world was a chain reaction, with various forces intertwined. Any local disturbance could escalate into a fuse that ignited the Second Great Ninja War.