The Great Pillar

After the battle, Senju Zhenyang evaluated the fight between the two, generally approving of Tobirama's fighting style and pointing out Hiugo's shortcomings: he could have ended the fight most safely with long-range ninjutsu, but insisted on a taijutsu duel first.

It wasn't that it was impossible, but at Hiugo's age, his body hadn't fully developed, and even as a member of the Senju Clan, an immature body would be at a disadvantage in a taijutsu duel.

Hiugo perfunctorily nodded. He knew that overwhelming the opponent with ninjutsu was the best approach, but the hunger still drove him to "close combat."

Having absorbed the blood of the two, his body was now full of strength.

Compared to the generic character B who had activated his Sharingan, generic character A tasted mediocre, like eating compressed biscuits.

The black branches extracted the essence of the blood, rather than draining the person dry. In addition to that, there was their remaining chakra. This foreign chakra didn't burden Hiugo and could be controlled at will, but it was a one-time consumable. It diminished with use and would dissipate on its own without sealing jutsu...

At this moment, Tobirama patted Hiugo's shoulder and whispered:

"What are you spacing out about?"

Hiugo snapped back to attention and saw Senju Zhenyang looking at him with a hint of helplessness.

He'd been caught daydreaming...

Hiugo gave an awkward smile.

Senju Zhenyang didn't say much more, but ordered two clan members to handle the bodies before taking the two back to the clan grounds, arriving at the Senju Clan's mission hall.

Every clan in the Warring States period had a dedicated place for mission requests.

After all, war cost money, training cost money, and daily life cost money. This money couldn't all come from self-production and sales; clan ninjas needed to earn it from outside.

This was actually a form of warfare in the Warring States period. One side paid for protection, the other paid for assassination. Many clan ninjas died not in war, but on missions.

The Senju Clan had a good reputation in the Warring States period. Not only were they powerful, but they were also gentle, and many people requested their protection.

In contrast, the Uchiha, the Senju Clan's sworn enemy, primarily focused on assassination missions. It could be said that the two clans opposed each other in everything.

Senju Zhenyang explained as they walked:

"Missions here are divided into White, Black, and Red ranks, corresponding to Genin, Chunin, and Jonin. Your strength has reached Chunin level, so you can accept Black-rank missions."

"Regarding ninjutsu and taijutsu, one of you is the clan leader's son, and the other is the second elder's son. I can't teach you much, I can only help you become true ninjas in other aspects."

Hiugo and Tobirama nodded in understanding. As "second-generation elites," they had access to the best training resources, so there wouldn't be many problems.

"You two go back and rest today. Meet at Tobirama's doorstep tomorrow morning. Don't be late."

After selecting the missions, Senju Zhenyang told the two and turned to leave. He didn't immediately take them on missions but let them go home to rest and prepare.

Since their houses were located in the central area, it was on the way.

Passing by Tobirama's house, Hiugo's gaze caught a reflective watermelon head, and he couldn't help but shout loudly, "Big Pillar!"

The watermelon-headed youth froze, turned, and saw a smile on his brother's face. Then, realizing something, he quickly approached Tobirama and checked him up and down:

"Tobirama, I heard you were injured. How is it? Is it serious..."

Tobirama took a step back and said:

"Big brother, I'm fine."

"That's good..."

The watermelon-headed youth breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Hiugo:

"Who are you?"

It wasn't that he didn't remember; children of the Senju Clan usually trained at home and rarely went out, so there were significant changes.

Plus, they had only met twice in total, the last time being two years ago.

"Hashirama, I'm Hiugo, Senju Genma's son. Don't you recognize me?"

Hiugo "sadly" wiped away nonexistent tears.

"I-I'm sorry,"

Seeing this, Hashirama quickly apologized.

Tobirama covered his face and reminded him:

"Big brother, can't you tell he's faking it?"

As soon as he said this, a dark cloud appeared over Hashirama's head, and he immediately sat on the ground hugging his knees, looking dejected: "As expected, I'm not a good big brother. I couldn't even tell..."

"No, no, you're a good big brother, we just haven't seen each other in a long time."

Hiugo hadn't expected the future God of Shinobi to be silenced by two sentences and felt a little apologetic.

To his surprise, Hashirama immediately got up and laughed: "Hehe, you were fooled too, right?"

"..."

Was this the dark side of the God of Shinobi?

"Big Pillar, I didn't see you around last time I was here. What were you doing?"

Facing Hiugo's question, Hashirama's face turned slightly red, and he stammered for a long time without answering.

Tobirama thought for a moment. It wasn't a secret, so he answered for Hashirama:

"Big brother went to the Uzumaki Clan for an arranged marriage."

Marriage? Mito Uzumaki?

Hiugo blinked. Anyone who watched the anime knew she was Hashirama's wife, but he hadn't expected Hashirama and Mito to have a childhood engagement.

The Uzumaki Clan had always been distant relatives of the Senju Clan, and Hashirama was being groomed as the successor. Marriage alliances weren't strange, but there weren't many such unions, as the focus was on inheriting the bloodline.

Hashirama wanted to invite Hiugo in for a meal, but the latter politely refused, remembering that there was a chance of encountering the clan head, Senju Butsuma, there.

Honestly, he'd rather take three lashes from the old man than meet Butsuma. Meeting the clan head never boded well; he'd probably get assigned some mission.

Hiugo returned home and, upon opening the door, saw a miniature green armor and a katana hanging on it.

"Did they know I was leaving the clan grounds for a mission?"

Hiugo tried on the armor and found it fit perfectly, as if tailor-made.

The katana was about 1.2 meters long, taller than Hiugo himself. It would be difficult for a child to wield it flexibly.

However, this was clearly prepared for the future. He guessed it was some spoils of war his dad had casually snatched and given to him.

Hiugo sheathed the sword, first refined his chakra, and then infused the newly refined chakra into a chakra nature paper.

The paper showed three changes: one area became damp, one area wrinkled, and one area ignited.

Indeed, after absorbing the blood of two Uchiha clan members, he now possessed the Fire release nature in addition to Water and Lightning.

"I could feel my chakra control had slightly improved while traveling earlier. If that's the case, I can try single-handed hand seals now."

Hiugo had attempted this long ago but failed due to insufficient control. Now that his abilities had improved, it was the perfect time to try again.

"I envy Big Pillar's ability to clap his hands and summon whatever he wants. I can't do that, so I'll have to focus on hand seals for now."

Hiugo pondered. Since he was just starting to practice single-handed hand seals, he chose the basic Substitution Technique for his training. Compared to other offensive ninjutsu, Substitution Technique had a wider range of practical applications, especially with its element of surprise.