Little Trouble!

Character Card

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Character: One Piece Marine Admiral Kizaru

Fusion Rate: 45%

Thanks to his spectacular performance in the graduation examination and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's announcement that he would take on another apprentice, Kizaru's fusion rate progress bar had advanced from 20% to 45% over the past two years.

This increase in fusion allowed Kizaru to integrate two more of Admiral Kizaru's abilities: the Admiral's youth-era taijutsu (including swordsmanship) and his youth-era Haki cultivation.

The fusion of these two abilities, combined with the ninjutsu and Genjutsu he learned from Hiruzen Sarutobi over the last two years, as well as the Sealing Technique pointers from Grandma Tsunade and Grandma Mito, made his strength even more formidable.

At the same time, Kizaru spent these two years developing ways to combine his ninjutsu with his Devil Fruit powers.

The combination of Genjutsu and fruit powers led to the birth of the invisibility technique.

The combination of Sealing Technique and fruit powers led to the creation of Flash Bombs, which could exist stably for a short time and be detonated via remote control.

These were all impressive achievements Kizaru had developed over the past two years.

At the gates of Konoha, Danzo stood with a Root subordinate, his expression calm as he gazed into the distance, waiting for Kizaru's return.

High in the sky, a streak of golden light flashed, descended in front of Danzo, and transformed into human form.

Seeing Kizaru return safely, Danzo—who understood his nephew's strength but had still been slightly worried—let out a long sigh of relief.

As a master of facial expression management, Danzo did not let his inner emotions show.

Looking up at Kizaru, who was much taller than him, Danzo asked calmly, "Have you dealt with all the enemies?"

"Arah-rah! Those enemies were truly terrifying; each one was as strong as a monster!" Kizaru replied with a smile.

Who is the real monster here?

Everyone present looked at the smiling Kizaru and couldn't help but think to themselves.

"Any survivors?" Danzo continued to ask.

Kizaru didn't speak; instead, he raised his hand and made a V-shaped "Yeah" sign.

Nodding, Danzo didn't press to ask if that meant he had survivors or if there were two of them—as long as there were survivors, it was enough!

"Go back. Leave the rest to me."

"You've really worked hard, Uncle!" After waving his hand with a smile, Kizaru stuffed his hands into his pockets and prepared to leave in a dashing manner.

Watching Kizaru's retreating back, Danzo suddenly chuckled and called out as a reminder: "Tsunade has returned with Jiraiya, and she's looking for you right now."

Kizaru's forward pace faltered noticeably; he stopped and turned his head toward Danzo behind him with a look of resignation.

"Why would you save such terrifying news for last? That's really cruel, Uncle!"

"Solve the trouble you caused yourself!" Seeming to rarely see Kizaru flustered, Danzo curled his lips into a smile.

"What a drag!" Complaining under his breath, Kizaru turned back around and continued walking into the village.

The trouble Danzo mentioned was indeed a problem!

It wasn't some melodramatic romantic entanglement, but a minor headache.

This minor headache was Tsunade's younger brother, Orochimaru's first disciple, and Kizaru's little junior nephew: Nawaki Senju!

A week ago, under the guise of a "guidance evaluation," Kizaru had beaten him into the hospital.

Optimistically, it would take three months before he could be discharged.

To be fair, there was no hatred between Kizaru and Nawaki Senju.

He had beaten this little junior nephew, who was four years his senior, into the hospital for two reasons.

First, he remembered that this guy was the one who would be blown to pieces by an Explosive Tag during a mission just before the outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War!

Second, his uncle's Root organization had recently obtained intelligence showing that Nawaki Senju was already on the assassination lists of various hidden villages.

For the sake of the life of this chuunibyou teenager—who had no talent as a ninja other than a decent physique, but kept shouting that he wanted to be Hokage—Kizaru chose the simplest and most brutal way to solve the problem.

That was to put the person who would cause trouble into the hospital ahead of time.

Taking advantage of the tense situation when Tsunade was ordered to recall Jiraiya, who was traveling the Shinobi World writing books, Kizaru had cornered Nawaki Senju, who had just graduated and was excitedly fantasizing about the start of his great ninja career.

Faced with Kizaru's demand for a combat evaluation, the silly kid Nawaki Senju hadn't even thought about it before excitedly agreeing.

Under the witness of two companions, Nawaki Senju was kicked flying by Kizaru, crashing hard into a tree several meters away.

Just like that, without even using his fruit powers or Haki, Kizaru kicked Nawaki Senju into the hospital, temporarily interrupting the ninja career he had just begun.

One could imagine the confusion and rage Tsunade felt when she returned to the village excitedly with Jiraiya, ready to celebrate her brother becoming a ninja, only to receive this news.

"Where is that damn bastard?"

Having just come out of the hospital after seeing her brother, who was wrapped up like a mummy and still grinning while telling his sister not to be angry or blame Brother Kizaru, Tsunade was absolutely livid!

Following obediently beside Tsunade, Jiraiya didn't dare say a word, terrified that he would be implicated.

"That guy definitely did it on purpose!" Tsunade rolled up her sleeves, her chest heaving with anger.

Watching Tsunade on the verge of transforming into a female Tyrannosaurus, Jiraiya, out of concern for his junior brother Kizaru's safety, finally bit the bullet and said, "Calm down, Tsunade! Kizaru must have been careless; don't be angry anymore."

Glaring fiercely at Jiraiya, Tsunade retorted furiously, "If it weren't for you, how would I have left the village? If I hadn't left the village, how would Nawaki have been injured and hospitalized? It's all your fault!"

Having said that, Tsunade raised her right hand high, appearing ready to strike.

Knowing he was the scapegoat yet again, Jiraiya gave a bitter smile internally while hurriedly raising his hands to protect his head, saying urgently, "This is a hospital, calm down, Tsunade!"

Jiraiya's words had some effect. Realizing she was taking her anger out on him, Tsunade glared at him once before lowering her hand.

"How truly terrifying, Senior Sister Tsunade!"

Just then, Kizaru's cheeky voice drifted from afar, causing a vein to pop on Tsunade's forehead as she glared toward him like a tiger stalking its prey.

Seeing Kizaru not far away, left hand in his pocket, right hand holding a file folder, and a smile on his face, Tsunade rushed straight toward him.

"You bastard! Why did you—"

"Calm down, Tsunade!" Jiraiya, standing to the side, hurriedly stepped forward to hold her back.

Thrusting the files in his hand toward the rushing Tsunade, Kizaru smiled and explained, "This is intelligence from Root. Someone is already targeting Nawaki."

Hearing Kizaru's words, the furious Tsunade froze instantly. She glanced at Kizaru, then looked at the file folder in front of her.

Reaching out to snatch it, Tsunade opened the folder and began to read through it quickly and carefully.

After finishing the contents, Tsunade looked up sharply at Kizaru and asked with a solemn expression, "When did you discover this?"

"While you were out on your mission!" Kizaru replied with a smile.

Her grip tightened on the files, and Tsunade, feeling a lingering fear in her heart, gritted her teeth and said, "Those bastards!"

"In the last two years, I have suffered a total of five assassination attempts from Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure! You know all of this, Senior Sister Tsunade!" Kizaru stated.

Tsunade nodded, signaling that she was aware.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya, who had been traveling abroad for nearly two years, was completely oblivious and was looking at Kizaru with a gaze of shock and concern.

"The three great hidden villages, having failed all five assassination attempts, have turned their attention to Nawaki, who possesses the direct bloodline of the First Hokage."

"Konoha producing a genius like me has already left them unable to sleep or eat in peace."

"If Nawaki were to inherit the First's talent, it would be a reality they could never accept and would never allow to happen!"

"Therefore, Nawaki, who has just graduated and become a Genin, has become their new target!"