The Hokage's office.
"Bring him in!"
Tsunade sat in the Hokage's seat, radiating menace.
She waved for someone to bring Kimura Takuya in.
"Kid, you were pretty cocky before, huh? Hahaha! What happened to you? Wahahaha!"
Looking at Kimura Takuya, Tsunade couldn't help bursting into laughter.
The humiliation of being shown up by him earlier had instantly turned into an absolutely delightful feeling.
She could eat two extra bowls of rice at lunch!
Slapping the desk, she pointed at Kimura Takuya.
"Hey, kid, why aren't you saying anything?"
"Neither dirty tricks nor power can make me submit. Unless..."
"Oh? You've got some backbone. Unless what?"
"Unless you pay me more!"
Thump!
Tsunade nearly fell off her chair. She quickly scrambled back up and sat down again.
"Baka! You dare extort the Hokage?"
"Don't have any money? You can pay me in valuables instead."
"Wait, you almost talked me into it. When did I ever owe you money?
"You lost to me. I wasn't cheating—I was using the rules!
"Now hurry up and make me your master!"
"No!"
Kimura Takuya looked utterly disdainful.
The Anbu present were all shocked. The Hokage was practically forcing someone to become her student, and he was actually refusing?
Was he an idiot?
He had to be an idiot, right?
Who would refuse such a great opportunity? Anyone else would have agreed immediately without a second thought!
But Kimura Takuya had actually refused!
Just as the Anbu all thought Kimura Takuya was an idiot,
Tsunade rose from her seat and walked up to him. Then she said something that shocked the Anbu even more.
"I'm out of money, and I sold all my other antiques and jewelry long ago.
"All I have left is this necklace.
"I'll give it to you as your student's gift.
"So, will you accept?"
"Lady Tsunade, that's your most beloved—"
Shizune couldn't help speaking up, but Tsunade stopped her with a raised hand.
Looking at the necklace Tsunade had taken from her chest, Kimura Takuya found himself coveting its Wood Release power.
"It looks pretty valuable. Deal!"
Kimura Takuya reached out to take it, but Tsunade snatched the necklace back.
She held up one finger and wagged it, shaking her head.
"You're becoming my student first. Then I'll give it to you."
"Fine! Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"
"It's 'master,' not 'teacher.' Kid, don't try to pull a fast one on me."
Bang!
Tsunade rapped Kimura Takuya on the head with her fist and only let him go once he corrected himself.
"Hand it over."
"No. You'll get it when you graduate."
"Huh? Liar, liar!"
"You're only figuring that out now? This treasure could buy three whole mountains. Did you think I'd hand it over that easily?"
"Then what do I have to do to graduate?"
"Oh, that'll be difficult. Hahaha! You have to learn all my ninjutsu and defeat me before you can graduate. Ahahaha! You fell for it, kid!"
Tsunade laughed triumphantly and turned back to her desk.
She tossed out a large scroll.
Kimura Takuya caught it. It weighed heavily in his hands—probably ten or twenty kilograms.
It was as thick as an adult's thigh and about seventy or eighty centimeters long.
Four large characters were written on it.
Scroll of Seals!
Seriously, this master was really going to do that?
Did she think I'd never watched Naruto?
Wasn't this the full collection of Konoha's forbidden techniques?
The techniques in it were all difficult to learn and extremely dangerous.
Looks like Tsunade doesn't intend to let me graduate. Of course—how could that necklace have been so easy to get?
It was the First Hokage's necklace, and it even held the power of Wood Release.
Tsunade had given it to the two people she loved most.
Her younger brother, Nawaki Senju, and her lover, Dan Katō.
But both of them died not long after receiving the necklace.
One was blown up the very next day, and the other died right in front of Tsunade. After that, the necklace was believed to bring death to anyone it didn't accept as its owner.
Tsunade had also developed hemophobia because of it.
There was no way she'd give the necklace away so easily again.
She'd probably only brought it out to tempt me.
Just like when she made a bet with Naruto, challenging him to learn the Rasengan in three days and promising him the necklace if he won.
But why did she give me a whole Scroll of Seals instead?!
Was it because I looked too clever?
That had to be it, right?
Still, it suited me perfectly!
Kimura Takuya was secretly delighted, but he pretended to stare at the scroll in a daze.
Seeing him fixated on the Scroll of Seals, Tsunade chuckled to herself.
Haha, this silly kid didn't look very bright. He was greedy and arrogant, and he really thought he could learn everything in the Scroll of Seals?
I already knew he was only talented at Medical Ninjutsu. He wasn't particularly good at other ninjutsu.
Any random forbidden technique in the Scroll of Seals would take him years to learn!
Even Teacher Sarutobi, who was known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, hadn't mastered many of the forbidden techniques in it.
Hmph, you want my necklace, kid? In your next life!
"Hey, you can only read it here. You can't copy it or take it away. These are all forbidden techniques—uh, I mean, they're forbidden techniques I've mastered. There are some other ninjutsu here that you can take home and learn. Also, come over and sign this."
Tsunade tossed out another scroll, about the size of her palm, then summoned a large scroll.
She had Kimura Takuya write his name in blood on the large scroll she had summoned.
"What's this?"
Kimura Takuya asked despite already knowing. It was obviously a Summoning Scroll.
"The Summoning Scroll of Shikkotsu Forest. Once you sign it, you can summon the creatures from Shikkotsu Forest after you learn the Summoning Technique."
"Oh."
"Oh? Kid, don't you want to ask what Shikkotsu Forest is?"
"No."
"Damn it! You brat, Shikkotsu Forest is one of the Three Great Sage Regions. One of the Three Great Sages, the Slug Sage, lives there. It has only one summoning creature, and what we summon is merely one of its clones."
Tsunade explained everything about Shikkotsu Forest in one breath. She also instructed him to show respect whenever he summoned the Slug Sage's clone in the future.
Kimura Takuya readily agreed, then opened the small scroll and looked inside.
There were the Yin Seal, the Strength of a Hundred Technique, Creation Rebirth, Strength of a Hundred Fist, and various Medical Ninjutsu.
What was this? These were the real techniques Tsunade used, weren't they?
The Yin Seal stored excess chakra. A ninja's chakra was like a mana pool, and the amount they could store in their body was limited.
But the mind and body recovered every day, allowing them to refine new chakra. Since their chakra capacity had a limit, the chakra they could have refined beyond that was usually wasted.
With the Yin Seal, they could store it instead.
The Strength of a Hundred Technique worked in conjunction with the Yin Seal, helping release the chakra stored within it.
It was worth noting that the Strength of a Hundred Technique also kept its user young.
Creation Rebirth was a Medical Ninjutsu that consumed a huge amount of chakra to stimulate rapid cell division, instantly healing the user's wounds. It was a higher-level Medical Ninjutsu than the Mystical Palm Technique.
Strength of a Hundred Fist was an interesting technique. It was called a technique, but it was actually a method of chakra control.
It even had something in common with Konoha-Style Nintaijutsu.
No, maybe Strength of a Hundred Fist was one of the Konoha-Style Nintaijutsu techniques.
It made use of chakra's change in form, too.
It was a kind of shape transformation Kimura Takuya had never thought of before.
It involved rapidly and precisely layering chakra at a single point to create tremendous force.
It was like the attacks in many novels that struck the same point repeatedly at high speed to deal massive damage.
So that was it! That was Strength of a Hundred Fist!
Smack!
Kimura Takuya unleashed Strength of a Hundred Fist, creating a sonic boom in the air.
The Anbu around him were so startled that they thought he couldn't learn all these techniques and, in his rage at losing the necklace, had decided to attack the Hokage and seize it by force.
The Anbu instantly appeared and moved to subdue Kimura Takuya.
"Hold it. Everyone, stand down. Tuoye, did you just use Strength of a Hundred Fist?"
Before you continue