Tsunade's Defense Shattered

After lunch, hearing that Tsunade intended to begin Minato's training immediately, Jiraiya and Orochimaru took their leave together.

For a ninja, training involves personal intelligence regarding their own capabilities, and since intelligence concerns a ninja's survival, it is a highly private matter.

Unless the relationship is extremely close, interrupting someone else's training is considered an incredibly rude act.

Even seven-year-old Nawaki understood this; after lunch, he greeted Tsunade and went off to play with his friends.

Tsunade brought Minato back to her home, dug out several scrolls as thick as tree trunks, and piled them in front of Minato like she was stocking up for the holidays.

"Are these all Wood Release ninjutsu?"

Minato looked at the stack of scrolls, which stood significantly taller than he did, and the corner of his eye twitched.

"No, they should be called the inherited ninjutsu of the Senju Clan. It's not just Wood Release. I recall you saying you've already tested your chakra nature, so you must have some understanding of the characteristics of chakra, right?"

Tsunade watched Minato, her gaze carrying a hint of examination.

"As for characteristics... chakra possesses uniqueness, heredity, and sociality."

"Uniqueness means that every person's chakra characteristics are different. Heredity refers to bloodline inheritance; children usually inherit the chakra natures of their parents or ancestors."

Minato thought for a moment and continued, "Sociality means that the nature of chakra varies significantly between people from different regions, which may be influenced by social factors or environmental factors."

"Not bad."

Tsunade nodded, satisfied with Minato's solid theoretical foundation. "Just as you said, chakra possesses heredity, which is why the chakra natures of the Senju Clan are mostly Water and Earth."

"And as for Wood Release... how much do you know about Kekkei Genkai?"

"Not much, only that it is the First Hokage's Kekkei Genkai."

Minato shook his head. Chakra characteristics were essential knowledge taught at the beginning of chakra training, and the scrolls his father left behind contained records of them, but Kekkei Genkai were not included—that was not something he was meant to know yet.

"Listen well. Chakra is energy extracted by mixing a person's physical energy and spiritual energy in a one-to-one ratio. Ninjutsu is the effect produced after chakra undergoes different forms of change through hand seals."

Tsunade said, holding up two fingers. "Generally speaking, the forms of chakra change can be divided into two types: shape transformation and nature transformation."

"Training in shape transformation can enhance control over chakra, while training in nature transformation can increase the power of ninjutsu of the corresponding attribute. A Kekkei Genkai is a power born from the fusion of two chakra nature transformations."

"For example, your Wood Release is created by mixing Water-style and Earth-style chakra nature transformations."

Minato raised his hand. "Then, Tsunade-sensei, does this mean I am innately capable of two chakra nature transformations?"

"Yes, but not entirely."

Tsunade shook her head with a laugh. "The real difficulty of a Kekkei Genkai lies in simultaneously manifesting two chakra nature transformations and fusing them—for instance, Water-style nature transformation in your left hand and Earth-style in your right."

"For those born with a Kekkei Genkai, this ability is like a biological instinct. They are born with a foundation for certain nature transformations and the ability to fuse them, but that doesn't mean they don't need to train in chakra nature transformation."

"In fact, because a bloodline is a mixture of two chakra natures, there is actually one more nature transformation that needs to be trained compared to others."

As she spoke, seemingly worried about dampening Minato's enthusiasm, Tsunade added another point.

"Of course, the power of a Kekkei Genkai is definitely much stronger than single-attribute ninjutsu. Besides, even without a bloodline, to become a qualified Jonin, one must at least master two chakra nature transformations."

"If someone with a Kekkei Genkai is born with the ability to release two chakra nature transformations simultaneously..."

Minato thought for a moment. "Then could I use this to synthesize even more Kekkei Genkai?"

"Theoretically, yes, but let's wait until you've mastered one chakra nature transformation first."

Tsunade chuckled and patted the scrolls beside her.

"Among these scrolls, the white ones record the methods for chakra shape and nature transformation training, the yellow ones are Earth Release, the blue ones are Water Release, and the green ones are Wood Release. These are all things you will learn in the future. I intend to start teaching you from the very basics."

Minato tilted his head. "Shape and nature transformation training?"

"It's chakra control!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "In terms of training sequence, shape transformation generally precedes nature transformation, but that is something that usually only concerns Chunin-level ninjas. As for you right now..."

Tsunade paused, leaped into the air, flipped, and landed upside down on the ceiling, a hint of smugness in her smile.

"This is your next training goal. Don't think that just because you've learned the Shadow Clone technique, everything is settled."

Hearing this, Minato looked up at Tsunade. "Actually, I have already learned how to walk on water."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Tsunade's face instantly stiffened. "You learned it?"

"Yes."

Minato nodded. "It was recorded in the training scrolls my father left behind. It wasn't very difficult."

Tsunade silently jumped down from the ceiling. "Well... chakra control isn't exactly an advanced subject, I suppose. How long did it take you to master it?"

"Ten minutes."

"Pfft..."

Tsunade was so frustrated she laughed. "Genius is a truly unreasonable species..."

It had taken her about ten minutes as well, but she had already graduated from the Ninja Academy by then, while Minato hadn't even enrolled yet...

"Since that's the case, let's start with shape transformation training... Shape transformation is an extension of chakra control; there isn't a very specific training method for it."

Tsunade sighed, her tone sounding a bit listless. "Internal training can be done by continuously refining chakra and manipulating it to circulate within the body to increase proficiency. External release involves attaching chakra to the surface of the body and constructing different shapes to increase proficiency."

Minato watched Tsunade silently; he felt like Tsunade was starting to give up on being a serious teacher.

And his intuition was correct; Tsunade had indeed given up on trying to teach him...

Because she suddenly realized that, aside from combat experience, there was nothing left for her to impart to him!

Tree climbing and water walking were things Minato already knew.

As for the nature transformation of chakra that only Jonin could master, he was naturally endowed with the foundation for two—or perhaps even more—types of chakra nature transformations due to his bloodline.

As for chakra shape transformation, judging by the speed at which Minato had learned to walk on water, it likely wouldn't take long for him to reach a fairly impressive level.

Yet, that was the standard configuration for the Jonin in the village!

Some Jonin hadn't even mastered a second chakra nature...

What terrified Tsunade the most was that once Minato completed this training, it would mean he had surpassed her in terms of raw strength!

If she were thirty and Minato were fifteen, she would have found it perfectly acceptable; on the contrary, she might even have felt proud of her genius disciple.

But since she was nineteen and Minato was five, she was truly starting to have a mental breakdown...