Character Card:
Character: Marine Admiral Kizaru from One Piece
Fusion Progress: 45%
Thanks to his impressive performance during the graduation exam and Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's announcement that he had taken another student, the Character Card's fusion progress in Kizaru's mind had advanced from 20% to 45% over the past two years.
As the fusion progressed, Kizaru had gained two more of Admiral Kizaru's abilities.
The young Admiral Kizaru's Taijutsu, including swordsmanship, and his Haki at the time!
Combined with the ninjutsu and Genjutsu Kizaru had learned from Hiruzen Sarutobi over the past two years, as well as the Sealing Techniques Grandma Mito and Tsunade had taught him, these abilities had made him even stronger.
At the same time, Kizaru had spent those two years developing ways to combine ninjutsu with his Devil Fruit powers.
Combining Genjutsu with his Devil Fruit powers had given birth to the invisibility technique.
Combining Sealing Techniques with his Devil Fruit powers had given birth to the Flash Bomb, which could remain stable for a short time and be detonated remotely.
These were all impressive results of Kizaru's work over the past two years!
At the gates of Konoha, Danzo stood with a Root subordinate, gazing into the distance with a calm expression as he waited for Kizaru to return.
A flash of golden light streaked across the sky and landed in front of Danzo, taking human form.
Seeing that Kizaru had returned safely, Danzo finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knew his nephew was strong, but he had still been worried.
A master of keeping his expression in check, Danzo didn't let his inner emotions show.
Looking up at Kizaru, who towered over him, Danzo asked calmly, "Did you deal with all the enemies?"
"Oh my! Those enemies were terrifying. Every last one of them was as strong as a monster!" Kizaru replied with a smile.
Just who was the monster?
Everyone present looked at the smiling Kizaru and couldn't help grumbling inwardly.
"Any survivors?" Danzo continued.
Kizaru didn't answer. Instead, he raised a hand and made a V sign.
Danzo nodded. He didn't press Kizaru to clarify whether that meant there was one survivor or two. As long as someone was alive, that was enough!
"Let's head back. I'll take care of the rest."
"Sorry for the trouble, Uncle!" Kizaru waved cheerfully, then slid his hands into his pockets and strolled off.
Watching Kizaru walk away, Danzo suddenly smiled and called after him, "Tsunade came back with Jiraiya. She's looking for you."
Kizaru's steps faltered. He stopped and turned to look at Danzo behind him, helplessly.
"Why save such terrifying news for last? That's so cruel, Uncle!"
"You made this mess, so you can deal with it yourself!" Danzo's lips curled into a smile. It wasn't often he got to see Kizaru at a loss.
"What a hassle," Kizaru grumbled, turning back and continuing toward the village.
The trouble Danzo had mentioned really was trouble!
Not some messy romantic affair, just a little bit of trouble!
That little trouble was Tsunade's younger brother, Orochimaru's first student, and Kizaru's junior fellow disciple, Nawaki Senju!
A week earlier, Kizaru had put him in the hospital under the pretext of giving him a graduation assessment.
Optimistically speaking, he'd need three months before he could leave.
To be fair, Kizaru and Nawaki had no grudge against each other.
There were two reasons he'd put his junior fellow disciple, who was four years older than him, in the hospital.
First, he remembered the guy as a loser who'd been killed by an Explosive Tag during a mission on the eve of the Second Shinobi World War!
Second, his uncle's Root had recently obtained intelligence showing that Nawaki was already on the assassination lists of several hidden villages.
For the sake of this chuunibyo kid's life—someone with decent physical fitness but no talent for being a ninja, who kept saying he wanted to become Hokage—Kizaru had chosen the simplest, most brutal way to prevent trouble!
He'd put the person who was about to get into trouble in the hospital ahead of time.
While tensions were rising, Tsunade had been ordered to bring Jiraiya back from his travels around the Shinobi World, where he'd been writing books. Kizaru found Nawaki, who had just graduated and was excitedly imagining the start of his glorious ninja career.
When Kizaru challenged him to a sparring assessment, the foolish boy agreed without a second thought.
With his two teammates watching, Nawaki was sent flying by a kick from Kizaru, slamming hard into a tree several meters away.
And so, without even using his Devil Fruit powers or Haki, Kizaru had kicked Nawaki into the hospital and temporarily cut short the ninja career he'd just begun.
That made it easy to imagine how stunned and furious Tsunade had been when she excitedly returned to the village with Jiraiya, ready to celebrate her younger brother becoming a ninja, only to hear the news.
"Where is that bastard?"
Tsunade had just left the hospital after seeing her younger brother, wrapped up like a mummy and still grinning as he told her not to be angry or blame Big Brother Kizaru. She was absolutely furious!
Jiraiya followed meekly beside Tsunade, not daring to say a word for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
"That bastard definitely did it on purpose!" Tsunade rolled up her sleeves, her chest heaving with anger.
Seeing Tsunade on the verge of turning into a raging monster, Jiraiya finally mustered the courage to speak up for his junior fellow disciple's safety. "Calm down, Tsunade! Kizaru probably didn't mean to. Don't be angry."
Tsunade glared furiously at Jiraiya. "If it weren't for you, why would I have left the village? If I hadn't left, Nawaki wouldn't have been hurt and ended up in the hospital. It's all your fault!"
With that, Tsunade raised her right hand high, looking ready to strike.
Jiraiya realized he'd been saddled with the blame again. He smiled bitterly to himself, then hurriedly raised an arm to shield his head and said, "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, then lowered her hand.
"Scary, Tsunade-senpai!"
Just then, Kizaru's teasing voice came from farther away. A vein bulged on Tsunade's forehead, and she turned to look at him like a tiger about to pounce.
Kizaru was standing not far away, his left hand in his pocket and a document envelope in his right, smiling. Tsunade immediately strode toward him.
"You bastard! Why did you—"
"Calm down, Tsunade!" Jiraiya hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed her.
Kizaru held out the document in his hand toward the approaching Tsunade and explained with a smile, "This is intelligence from Root. Someone's already set their sights on Nawaki."
At Kizaru's words, Tsunade's anger instantly gave way to shock. She looked at him, then at the envelope before her.
She snatched it from him, opened it, and read through the contents quickly and carefully.
After finishing, Tsunade looked up sharply at Kizaru and asked gravely, "When did you find out?"
"When you were away on a mission!" Kizaru replied with a smile.
Tsunade's hand clenched around the document. Her heart filled with dread, and she gritted her teeth. "Those bastards!"
"Over the past two years, I've survived five assassination attempts in total, from Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure. You knew about all of them, Tsunade-senpai," Kizaru said.
Tsunade nodded to show that she knew.
Jiraiya, who'd been traveling abroad for nearly two years, had known nothing about it. He looked at Kizaru with shock and concern.
"After all five attempts failed, the three hidden villages turned their attention to Nawaki, who has the First's direct bloodline.
"Konoha has already produced a genius like me, and that's enough to keep them up at night.
"If Nawaki inherited the First's talent, it would be a reality they simply couldn't accept!
"So now that he's just graduated and become a Genin, he's their new target!"