Perfect Sage Body!

A few days later.

Deep beneath Konoha.

"Bang!"

The dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed through the cavernous secret chamber.

Kinoto, the Root ninja who had fled, knelt directly before Danzo.

"Lord Danzo..."

"Your subordinate has failed!"

Before Danzo could question him.

Kinoto recounted the surveillance of the past month in complete detail.

From the wild gambling at the casino.

To the drunken stupors at the tavern.

To Tsunade occasionally being in a good mood and casually teaching that Chiba brat a little medical ninjutsu.

And finally, the completely unforeseen eruption in the forest.

"Tsunade said..."

"If you dare send anyone after her again, she'll return to the village herself and uproot Root completely."

The report ended.

The entire chamber sank into deathly silence.

Danzo sat upright upon his high stone throne.

His lone remaining eye narrowed as his fingers lightly tapped the armrest.

"Tap."

"Tap."

"Tap."

To the ninja below, that monotonous sound was like a death knell.

Danzo did not lose his temper.

Or rather, he simply did not care whether the useless fool on the floor lived or died.

He was thinking.

His aged face, clouded with gloom, was filled with calculation.

"So she snapped?"

Danzo snorted.

His voice seemed to drift from the depths of hell, cold enough to pierce the bone.

"In the end, she's still that spoiled princess."

In Danzo's eyes, Tsunade's outburst proved precisely how weak she was beneath her bluster.

If she had truly discovered some core secret.

If that brat named Chiba truly had some unspeakable secret.

Tsunade would never have made such a grand display. She would only have hidden him away in secret.

"A worthless woman with hemophobia."

"Dragging along two useless burdens."

"Hmph! She's nothing more than a pitiful wretch drowning in the past."

Danzo stopped tapping the armrest.

So what if she was the First Hokage's granddaughter?

Today's Konoha had long been the domain of Sarutobi Hiruzen and himself.

The Senju Clan?

It was nothing more than a yellowed term in history books.

And that civilian Chunin named Chiba?

An orphan whose parents had both been cannon fodder—what waves could he possibly stir up?

Since Tsunade wanted to take a disciple, then let her.

It would at least give her something to do and keep her from disgracing Konoha all day.

"Drag him away."

Danzo waved a hand casually.

Two ninjas wearing animal masks immediately emerged from the darkness and dragged the kneeling Kinoto away.

Before long.

The secret chamber returned to its deathly silence.

Danzo slowly rose and walked to a massive map on the wall.

His lone eye fixed intently upon an area at its center.

It was the Uchiha Grounds.

"Compared to that stray dog..."

"These red-eyed lunatics who fancy themselves noble are the true threat!"

Over the past few months.

The atmosphere within the Uchiha Clan had grown increasingly strange.

The clan meetings were being held more and more frequently.

Those people with cursed blood flowing through their veins were definitely plotting something!

"Pass down the order."

"Recall everyone monitoring Tsunade."

"Deploy them all to the outskirts of the Uchiha Grounds!"

"I want the Uchiha Grounds sealed so tightly that not even a fly can get out!"

"..."

The sun rose and the moon set.

The seasons changed.

In the blink of an eye, more than a year had passed.

The final day of Konoha's fifty-third year.

At the border of the Land of Fire, in a remote primeval forest.

The night was black as ink.

Gales drove heavy snow through the woods with howling force.

A campfire flickered deep within a cave.

Tsunade hugged a sake bottle, already fast asleep.

Shizune was wrapped in a thick blanket, clutching the pink pig Tonton in her arms as she let out soft snores.

Outside the cave.

Chiba sat atop a towering boulder.

He wore no winter clothes.

Beneath his thin black ninja outfit, his muscles were sleek and well-defined.

The gale tousled his black hair.

Chiba slowly opened his eyes, the endless wind and snow reflected in his pupils.

"System."

He murmured inwardly.

A translucent screen visible only to him instantly unfolded before his eyes.

[Name: Senju Qianye]

[Chakra Reserves: Late Super Kage]

[Physical Strength: Peak Kage Level]

[Chakra Attributes: Water, Earth, Yang]

[Kekkei Genkai: Perfect Sage Body, Wood Style]

[Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique (A-Rank), Water Dragon Bullet (B-Rank), Water Wall (B-Rank)...]

[Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld (A-Rank), Earth Dragon Bullet (B-Rank), Earth Style Wall (B-Rank)...]

[Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence (S-Rank), Wood Human Technique (S-Rank), Wood Dragon Technique (A-Rank)...]

[Special Ninjutsu: Summoning Technique, Strength of a Hundred, Mystical Palm Technique...]

[Overall Evaluation: You are the new God of Shinobi!]

Looking at the information on the screen.

Chiba's lips curled slightly into a satisfied smile.

More than a year had passed.

A hellish year!

Only he himself knew what he had truly gone through.

Ever since he had dealt with Root's rats that day.

Tsunade had completely torn off her disguise.

She became the coldest and most ruthless demon of an instructor.

There was no more joking around at gambling tables, no more getting dead drunk in taverns.

There was only endless fighting and merciless pressure!

During the first three months.

Tsunade completely sealed Chiba's ninjutsu.

She allowed him to fight her using only taijutsu.

Each time the monstrous force of a Kage Level expert brushed past his scalp, it carried a deadly gust of wind.

Chiba had suffered broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Once, Tsunade nearly punched straight through his lung.

But so what?

Whenever he approached the brink of death.

Chiba's Primary Sage Body would operate madly.

Its immense vitality forcibly repaired his damaged body.

Combined with Tsunade's miraculous medical ninjutsu.

By dawn the next day.

Chiba would often appear completely unscathed, standing before Tsunade once more.

During that inhuman torment.

Shizune often secretly wiped away tears behind Tsunade's back.

More than once, she had tearfully begged Tsunade to stop, terrified that Chiba would be beaten to death.

But Tsunade merely kept a cold face.

She looked at Chiba as though he were an unrivaled piece of raw jade awaiting countless refinements.

Because she had discovered, to her horror.

That boy's rate of growth was simply beyond the bounds of humanity!

Every beating made him evolve.

Those clumsy taijutsu movements became simpler, deadlier, and more flawless at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Tsunade attributed all of it.

To the terrifying talent of the Senju Clan.

However.

It was actually Chiba's God-Level Comprehension at work.

Any complex combat technique.

Any intricate method of circulating chakra.

Would instantly be broken down into the most basic code in Chiba's mind.

Three months later.

The taijutsu training ended.

Chiba entered his special ninjutsu training.

That day, Chiba stood before a waterfall.

After hearing Tsunade explain the principles only once.

Chiba formed hand seals and unleashed a completely new ninjutsu.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A brilliant blue water dragon dozens of meters long surged from the ground and severed the entire waterfall at its waist!

At that moment.

The way Tsunade looked at Chiba changed completely.

From looking at a promising talent to looking at a monster!

Later came the most essential Wood Style training.

When Chiba first caused a forest vast enough to blot out the sky to grow before Tsunade.

The legendary Sannin, who had witnessed countless deaths, trembled all over.

On the spot, she drained three whole bottles of sake.

She cried and laughed like a madwoman.

The Senju Clan really had hope!

She gave Chiba every Wood Style ninjutsu she remembered, holding nothing back.

Deep Forest Emergence!

Wood Dragon Technique!

Even the Wood Human Technique, powerful enough to clash head-on with a Tailed Beast!

Chiba was like a dried-up sponge, frantically absorbing this knowledge of Wood Style.

Of course.

What truly brought about Chiba's qualitative transformation was the sign-in at the beginning of this year.

System reward—[Perfect Sage Body]!

It was an ultimate physique even purer and more domineering than Hashirama Senju's.

On the night he fused with the Perfect Sage Body.

Chiba hurt so badly that he rolled around in the mud, blood seeping from every pore.

His old cells were torn apart.

New cells frantically reorganized.

His bone density skyrocketed, and his muscle fibers became tougher than steel wire.

Most terrifying of all was his chakra.

His chakra, already vast as a lake, underwent a complete transformation under the enhancement of the Perfect Sage Body, becoming a boundless ocean!

Boundless!

Inexhaustible!

The chakra reserves of the Late Super Kage Level.

Paired with the terrifying physique of the Peak Kage Level.

This allowed him to use S-Rank Wood Style without the slightest sense of hindrance.

There was no need for complicated hand seals.

Often, all it took was a clap of his hands, and whatever he wanted appeared!