The Second Sweetener: A Forbidden Technique!

The dust settled, but the morning light remained completely blocked out.

Huge.

Unreasonably huge.

A blue-and-white slug rose like a mountain of stacked flesh.

A crimson toad held an enormous pipe in its mouth.

And a giant brown snake flicked its scarlet tongue.

Three vast, violent waves of chakra pressed down with almost tangible force.

The twelve children below froze where they stood.

Their breathing stopped.

Cold sweat dripped from their chins.

But no one screamed. No one turned to run.

Faced with monsters that could crush an entire street, they only gritted their teeth.

Eyes wide, they fought to keep their legs from giving way.

Tsunade stood before the three giant beasts, arms folded, and surveyed their pale little faces.

A pleased smile flickered in her eyes.

"As expected of Konoha's future golden generation. You handle pressure far better than ordinary Genin."

Tsunade nodded slightly.

Her reason for summoning the beasts was simple.

Physical punishment and high-pressure training alone would only produce cold-blooded weapons.

Or perhaps enemies who hated her to the bone.

What she wanted was a team loyal to her through thick and thin.

She had wielded the stick.

Now it was time to put a sickeningly sweet reward in their mouths.

The first reward was a summon!

"Take a good look."

Tsunade clapped, her voice echoing beneath the beasts' shadows.

"These are our summons."

"Jiraiya's toads excel at fire release, water release, and the Toad Short Blade Technique. They're suited to frontal assaults."

"Orochimaru's snakes specialize in stealth, assassination, poison, and wind release."

"My slugs possess the strongest medical abilities in the Shinobi World, and they can split apart to avoid damage."

"Of course, these are simply the ones best suited to us. The Three Great Sacred Grounds have far more kinds of summons."

Tsunade paused, watching the dozen or so pairs of eyes below grow brighter.

"The rules in the Special Training Class are simple."

"Whoever performs well, progresses quickly, and has the most compatible chakra nature..."

A tempting smile curved Tsunade's lips.

"Gets a Summoning Contract scroll thrown straight into their face!"

The moment she finished speaking, the once-silent clearing erupted.

Even the steadiest children from the great clans could not calm their racing hearts.

Summons were nothing new to them; every clan had its own means of summoning.

But what level were these three?

Bodies as large as mountains—they could destroy an outpost just by falling on it!

They were ultimate strategic weapons!

And they came from the Three Great Sacred Grounds!

Hyuga Hiashi clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

Kushina Uzumaki flushed with excitement, her eyes fixed on the enormous slug.

Even Choza Akimichi, still savoring the taste of potato chips, could not help swallowing.

He looked at the toad as though it were a mountain of gold.

They were offering top-tier summons outright?

No years of clan assessments? No tedious loyalty tests from the elders?

All they had to do was perform well?!

What a bargain!

Jiraiya and Orochimaru stood to one side, their eyes twitching as they watched Tsunade whip the children into a frenzy with a few words.

Using their summons to win favors?

That woman really knew how to profit from someone else's investment.

"All right. Focus."

Tsunade snapped her fingers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three enormous clouds of white smoke burst out, and the beasts blotting out the sky vanished as their summons ended.

Morning light spilled across the clearing again, but it did nothing to calm the children's pounding hearts.

"Now, training begins."

Tsunade wasted no time assigning tasks.

"Shikaku, Chōza, Inoichi! Twenty weighted laps around the Back Mountain! No lunch if you don't finish!"

"Mikoto, Hiashi, Hizashi! Water-Walking Training beneath the waterfall!"

"Everyone else, basic conditioning and fine chakra control!"

The children shouted with unprecedented enthusiasm and turned to charge off.

"Wait." Tsunade stopped two of them. "Minato, Nawaki, you two stay."

Minato Namikaze and Nawaki stopped and ran back to Tsunade.

"Your assignment is different."

Tsunade waved a hand toward the trees.

"Go under that tallest tree over there and keep practicing the Flying Thunder God Technique."

The air fell silent.

The clan heirs, who had barely taken two steps, stopped dead.

All twelve whipped around as if they had heard something impossible.

Flying... Flying Thunder God?!

Wasn't that the S-rank Space-Time Forbidden Technique developed by the Second Hokage?!

One of Konoha's most closely guarded secrets!

And here, in this patch of woods, it was a routine training exercise?!

"Tsunade!"

Jiraiya was the first to protest.

He strode forward, his brows knotted tight.

"Have you lost your mind?! The Flying Thunder God is no joke! One touch of Spatial Turbulence, and there won't be a body left to bury!"

"You're letting two little kids practice it?!"

Orochimaru said nothing, but his golden slit pupils contracted as he stared at Tsunade.

Having two six- or seven-year-olds practice the Flying Thunder God.

It was absurd.

Faced with Jiraiya's challenge and everyone else's incredulous stares, Tsunade did not even lift an eyelid.

She kept her hands in her pockets and jerked her chin at Minato and Nawaki.

"Go on. Show these two ignorant assistant instructors."

Minato Namikaze and Nawaki exchanged a glance.

Neither child hesitated.

Minato reached into his Ninja Tool Pouch and pulled out a kunai marked with a special formula.

He snapped his arm forward.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The kunai shot out like a black streak and struck the trunk of a huge tree fifty meters away.

Nawaki followed, throwing his own kunai into the trunk just above Minato's.

The next second, before everyone present, the two six-year-olds formed the same hand seal.

Snake.

Swish!

Swish!

They left not even an afterimage behind.

One moment, the two children stood where they had been.

The next, they vanished into thin air.

By the time everyone's eyes caught up,

Minato and Nawaki were crouched steadily on the tree trunk fifty meters away.

Beneath their feet were their respective kunai, each inscribed with its own formula.

Deathly silence settled over the Back Mountain clearing.

Only the rustle of leaves in the cold morning wind remained.

Jiraiya's mouth fell open so wide his jaw nearly hit his feet. He stared at the two children on the trunk.

They had thrown a kunai, formed a seal, and crossed fifty meters just like that?!

They really could use the Flying Thunder God?!

Even Orochimaru lost his composure.

He unconsciously licked his dry lips, a startling light blazing in his eyes.

It was the purest hunger for the unknown, for a miracle.

But the ones who truly went wild were the ten children watching below.

Might Duy stared, wide-eyed and trembling.

Uchiha Mikoto clutched her hands tightly to her chest.

Even Shikaku Nara, whose half-lidded eyes and face usually said what a pain, looked like a young wolf catching the scent of blood.

He stared at Minato and Nawaki on the trunk, his gaze blazing.

A forbidden technique! A legendary forbidden technique!

Raised in powerful clans, how could they not know the value of a strategic-level jutsu?

Which of them had never dreamed of one day learning the secrets in the Book of Seals?

Yet now, something out of legend was being demonstrated right before them, with nothing held back.

And children their own age had mastered it!

Jealousy?

No!

It was longing taken to the extreme!

Tsunade took in every reaction, her smile spreading.

The first reward had been summons.

This was the second.

And the most potent of all.

Break convention. Ignore the rules.

Use overwhelming power and resources to shatter the limits of what these children thought possible!

"See that?"

Tsunade's voice carried through the morning wind, brazen and proud.

"There's nothing you can't learn from me."

"Taijutsu, genjutsu, all five elemental releases—even the forbidden techniques in the Book of Seals."

She paused, her gaze sharp as a blade.

"As long as you perform well. As long as you survive my training."

"I'm Tsunade. Whatever I want to give you, I'll give you!"

No one dared argue.

The children's eyes had changed completely.

They burned with a fervor that would drive them to risk everything for power.

Tsunade swept an arm out. "Now get your asses to training!"

"Yes!!!"

Their earthshaking shout sent birds bursting from the trees.

The ten children and Might Duy sprinted toward their assigned tasks like wild animals, without needing anyone to urge them on.

Watching them push their bodies to the limit, Tsunade's eyes filled with satisfaction.

Just then,

a cold voice, edged with barely suppressed excitement,

sounded right beside her ear.

Orochimaru had slipped up to her without a sound.

"Hey, Tsunade."

"I want to discuss something with you..."