Root's Surveillance!

Land of Fire.

On the streets of a bustling town.

A massive chase was unfolding.

"Stop! Don't run!"

"You woman in green, stop right there!"

"If you don't pay back the money today, I'll sell you to a brothel!"

"Get them! Even if we have to turn the Land of Fire upside down, we're getting that money back!"

"..."

Their furious roars echoed through the streets.

More than a dozen gleaming machetes flashed blindingly beneath the sun.

Tsunade took the lead, running at the very front.

Her long golden hair flew in the wind, her wooden sandals pounding rapidly against the ground.

Shizune followed closely behind.

She clutched the pink pig, Tonton, tightly in her arms, running until she was completely out of breath.

"Lady Tsunade!"

"Why are we running?!"

Shizune was practically on the verge of tears.

"Stupid question!"

"If you don't have money, of course you run!"

"Were you planning to stay behind and wash dishes for them?"

Without looking back, Tsunade shouted with perfect justification.

Behind the two of them.

Chiba was sprinting across the rooftops.

His face darkened, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

What the hell was this supposed to be?

He!

Senju Qianye!

A man blessed with the Primary Sage Body and Wood Style.

A man destined to change the balance of the Ninja World.

And yet now, he was being chased down by a group of casino thugs?

This was fucking humiliating!

If he had not wanted to avoid causing too much of a commotion.

Chiba truly wanted to form a hand seal and wipe out those bastards with Water Wave.

Most importantly.

This was already the third time this month.

Ever since that day at Tanzaku Street.

Tsunade had taken him and Shizune on a completely aimless wandering life.

Casinos.

Taverns.

Hot springs.

Wherever there was fun to be had, that was where they went.

Chiba's ten million ryo had lasted only five days before Tsunade gambled away every last bit of it.

For the remaining half of the month.

They had been endlessly cycling through borrowing money, gambling, losing it all, and running away.

The wind howled past his ears.

Chiba glanced at Tsunade running ahead of him.

What exactly was this woman thinking?

Hadn't she said he was the last hope of the Senju Clan?

Was this how she planned to cultivate that hope?

Could it be that she wanted him to become an outstanding veteran deadbeat?

After running for two whole streets.

The curses behind them gradually faded away at last.

Those ordinary thugs had no hope of keeping up with a ninja.

"Whew..."

In a secluded dead-end alley.

Tsunade stopped and leaned against the wall, catching her breath.

Shizune collapsed directly onto the ground.

Tonton wriggled free from her arms and gave two dissatisfied snorts.

"Lady Tsunade, what exactly are we..."

Chiba leaped down from the wall and landed steadily.

He stared at Tsunade, his heart full of confusion.

But before he could finish speaking.

Tsunade suddenly turned her head.

A chilling gleam of overwhelming pressure burst from her light brown eyes.

It was the terrifying might of a battle-hardened Kage Level expert, forged among mountains of corpses.

That pressure felt almost tangible as it slammed viciously into Chiba's chest.

Chiba forcibly swallowed the rest of his words.

Tsunade stared coldly at him.

Then.

She cast an almost imperceptible glance toward the rooftops outside the alley.

It lasted only an instant.

But Chiba caught it.

He was a smart man.

He immediately understood that someone was secretly watching them!

Chiba immediately shut his mouth tight.

He put on a furious expression and began complaining loudly.

"Lady Tsunade!"

"You gambled away all my money!"

"I can't live like this anymore!"

"We don't even have enough money for a bowl of ramen!"

Tsunade withdrew her gaze and put on an utterly shameless expression.

"What are you yelling for?!"

"Isn't it just a few million ryo?"

"Once my luck turns around tomorrow, I'll win it all back with interest!"

She roughly ruffled Chiba's hair.

"Come on!"

"Let's go catch wild rabbits outside the city!"

Two hundred meters away from the dead-end alley.

On the roof of a fabric shop.

Two figures who seemed to have completely blended into the shadows lay silently in wait.

They wore ghastly white animal masks and gray bodysuits without any markings.

They were Root ninjas sent to monitor them.

Codename Kinoe.

Codename Kinoto.

"How are the targets?"

Kinoe's voice was lowered through a special communication ninja tool.

"He's still complaining about losing money."

Kinoto reported his observations while holding a pair of binoculars.

"This guy called Chiba has extremely stable chakra fluctuations."

"His physical exertion is heavy, and his breathing is disordered."

"He completely fits the profile of an average Chunin."

Kinoe sneered.

"Lord Danzo is being far too cautious."

"He's just a lucky piece of cannon fodder who survived the battlefield."

"Tsunade is a useless wreck too."

"One of the Sannin, reduced to running through the streets from loan sharks."

Kinoto lowered the binoculars.

"Record it."

"Year 52 of Konoha, August 7."

"The targets exhausted all funds and fled from debt collectors."

"No unusual teaching behavior observed."

"End report."

The next instant.

The two figures vanished from the rooftop like ghosts.

Night fell.

In a patch of wilderness outside the town.

A campfire blazed brightly.

Shizune was roasting two scrawny wild rabbits.

Drops of oil fell onto the coals, making soft sizzling sounds.

Tsunade sat carelessly atop a rock.

She held a tree branch and poked listlessly at the fire.

"Hey, brat."

Tsunade suddenly spoke.

Chiba slowly raised his head.

"Since we don't have money for the casino anymore."

"I'll teach you something to pass the time."

Tsunade's tone was casual, as though she were discussing something utterly trivial.

Chiba immediately perked up.

After pretending to be a deadbeat for a month, they were finally getting to the point!

"Come here."

Tsunade beckoned him over.

Chiba quickly walked up to her.

"The foundation of Medical Ninjutsu is extreme chakra control."

Tsunade held out one finger.

A faint yet exceptionally pure green glow lit up at her fingertip.

"Like this."

"Gather the chakra at a single point."

"Not too much, and not too little."

"Try to cut this leaf in half without crushing it."

She casually picked up a fallen leaf from the ground and tossed it to Chiba.

Chiba caught the leaf.

He closed his eyes, and chakra surged through his body.

God-Level Comprehension activated!

Inside his mind.

Countless pathways of chakra flow instantly became incomparably clear.

How to guide it.

How to compress it.

How to maintain stability.

Like instinct, it was deeply etched into Chiba's muscle memory.

Just three seconds.

A faint green glow lit up on Chiba's fingers as well.

Though it was not as pure as Tsunade's, it had already taken its initial form.

He pressed two fingers together and lightly drew them across the leaf.

Sssht.

The leaf was perfectly split in two, its cut as smooth as a mirror.

At the sight.

Tsunade, sitting by the campfire, suddenly narrowed her eyes.

How was this possible?

His first attempt!

Without any theoretical groundwork!

He had merely watched once and already grasped the rudiments of the Chakra Scalpel?

Such microscopic control over chakra was simply monstrous!

Tsunade's heart skipped a beat.

Yet her face showed no reaction.

Instead.

She abruptly stood up and smacked Chiba on the head.

Smack!

"Idiot!"

Tsunade cursed.

"I told you to cut it open. Why did you put out so much chakra?"

"What a waste!"

"Do you know that for a medical ninja on the battlefield, even a little chakra can mean a life?"

"Again!"

Chiba staggered from the blow.

He clutched his head, feeling utterly wronged.

But I cut it perfectly!

Even a cheat like me has some pride!

But then he caught the warning that flashed through Tsunade's eyes.

Chiba understood immediately.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade."

Over the next two hours.

Chiba kept cutting leaves.

Meanwhile, Tsunade kept finding fault, yelling at him, and even rapping him on the head.

Tsunade's roars echoed throughout the camp.

On a large tree some distance from the camp.

Kinoe and Kinoto watched everything coldly.

"This kid is pathetically stupid."

"He can't even properly master the most basic chakra control."

"Tsunade has clearly been driven to the end of her rope."

Kinoto rapidly recorded on a scroll.

"Target attempted to learn Medical Ninjutsu."

"Poor aptitude."

"Assessment: No threat whatsoever."