School break

After giving the injured patient a few more reminders, Qingyun saw Hiruzen Sarutobi arrive and finally turned to leave the ward.

Once he reached the Laboratory, Qingyun resumed his research on the toxin.

After three straight days without sleep or rest, Qingyun finally developed the Serum. When he injected it, the black, poisoned blood rapidly turned red. He examined it under a microscope and confirmed that all the toxins in the blood had been eliminated without damaging its vitality. Only then did he leave the Laboratory, exhaustion written across his face. He handed the female ninja the instructions for making the Serum, gave her a few reminders, and headed toward his home in the Forest of Death, yawning as he went.

When he got home, Qingyun fell into bed and went straight to sleep.

"Kushina, you can't do this. Qingyun has to teach me how to train. He doesn't have time to go out and play with you."

"No! Once Qingyun hears my suggestion, he'll definitely agree. We finally have a school break. Shouldn't we relax a little? Don't you think so, Minato?"

"Minato, tell her. Shouldn't training come first?"

Qingyun had no idea how long he had slept before the arguing outside woke him. Irritated, he scratched his tangled hair and opened the door, his eyes still heavy with sleep.

"What are you arguing about? You're so loud."

Delighted to see Qingyun come out, Kushina rushed over to him, then pinched her nose. "Qingyun, what have you been doing? You stink!"

Qingyun paused, then sniffed himself. Sure enough, he smelled strongly of disinfectant mixed with sweat. It was awful.

"I was treating the wounded at the Ninja Hospital, then researching a Serum for the toxin. I haven't bathed in three days. Of course I smell!"

Yawning, Qingyun glanced at the sky and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, don't you have school? Why are you still here at this hour?"

"Idiot, we're on break! What kind of student doesn't even know when school's out?"

Kushina tapped Qingyun on the forehead as she chided him.

Qingyun froze at her words. School was out? That meant they would be third-year students next term.

And next year, Nawaki would graduate early and become Orochimaru's student. Afterward, ninja from Sunagakure would kill him with Explosive Tags, and someone would remove his internal organs, leaving Tsunade utterly devastated.

Then Dan Katō would die, and Tsunade would develop hemophobia. She would insist on staying on the battlefield, causing her condition to worsen until it left irreversible consequences. Finally, she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru would fight the Demigod, Hanzo of the Salamander, together, only to receive the humiliating title of Sannin from Hanzō.

Qingyun shook his head, clearing away those stray thoughts. Time passed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, five years had gone by since he had arrived in the Naruto World.

"All right! What were you arguing about?"

Qingyun stopped dwelling on it and merely gave Nawaki a long look. There was nothing strange about Nawaki being killed by Explosive Tags. Plenty of people died in all sorts of unexpected ways on the battlefield. Nawaki was simply one of them.

The strangest part was this: who had removed Nawaki's internal organs after his death?

Qingyun had his suspicions, and Danzo was his first suspect. Danzo had always been researching Wood Release and the Sharingan. As one of the Senju Clan's last two direct descendants, Nawaki lacked both Tsunade's formidable strength and her sense.

He would be the easiest target to set up. If Danzo wanted to research Wood Release, arranging Nawaki's death and taking his internal organs would explain everything.

"Qingyun, can we go out and have fun?"

Kushina looked at Qingyun expectantly, hoping to hear the answer she wanted.

But before Qingyun could speak, Nawaki said loudly, "No! Qingyun, you promised to teach me how to train that day, but when I came back after getting permission to take time off, you were gone. You have to train with me."

Hearing that, Kushina planted her hands on her hips and fiercely argued with Nawaki.

Not to be outdone, Nawaki snapped right back at her.

Their bickering made a vein bulge on Qingyun's forehead. "Stop!" he shouted.

Both of them immediately fell silent and looked at him.

Qingyun regarded the two helplessly, then sighed. "Can't we have fun and train at the same time? Why argue?

"Come on, let's go to the River. I need a bath first."

Without waiting for their replies, Qingyun used Lingbo Micro-Step and raced toward the River.

Seeing his graceful footwork, Minato Namikaze and Kushina's eyes lit up. They exchanged a glance and spoke in unison. "Did Qingyun come up with another movement technique?" "Did Big Brother come up with another movement technique?"

They paused at each other's words, then spoke again. "It's so graceful! I want to learn it."

Ignoring Nawaki, they hurried after Qingyun.

Nawaki snapped out of his daze and shouted, "Wait for me!"

When the three reached the River, all they saw was a pile of clothes on the ground. Qingyun was nowhere in sight. Just as they were about to look for him, he leaped out of the River with several fish in his hands.

"Minato, clean these fish. We're having fish for lunch."

Qingyun looked at Minato Namikaze as he spoke.

"Ah! Qingyun, put your clothes on!"

Kushina's face turned bright red as she shrieked at the sight of Qingyun wearing nothing but a pair of loose underpants. She covered her eyes with both hands while sneaking peeks at his well-proportioned figure.

Qingyun glanced at Kushina, who had her hands against her face but her fingers spread wide apart. He rolled his eyes at her, then turned and jumped back into the River to scrub himself clean.

Before long, Qingyun returned to shore feeling refreshed after a thorough bath. He circulated his internal force to evaporate the water on his skin, then got dressed.

By then, Minato Namikaze had finished cleaning the fish and was grilling them.

Qingyun took over from Minato Namikaze, coated the fish with sauce, then sent him to fetch a pot.

As he grilled the fish, he looked at Nawaki. "Do you know Tree Climbing?"

Nawaki paused, then went over to a tree and began hauling himself up with his hands!

Seeing Nawaki move toward the tree, Qingyun had assumed he already knew Tree Climbing and was considering what to teach him next. He had never expected Nawaki to do this.

Qingyun pressed a hand to his forehead helplessly. Nawaki really was a reckless fool!

He handed the grilled fish to Kushina, then pulled Nawaki down from the tree. "Watch carefully. That's not how you do Tree Climbing. Gather chakra in the soles of your feet, then walk up the tree."

As he spoke, he walked up the trunk step by step, then hung upside down from a branch and looked at Nawaki.

"Wow, Qingyun, you're amazing!"

Kushina clapped her hands, gazing excitedly at Qingyun as he hung upside down in the tree.

Nawaki watched him enviously, then copied him, gathering chakra in the soles of his feet and slowly walking up the trunk.

But after barely two steps, he fell to the ground with a thud.

Qingyun jumped down from the tree and helped Nawaki up. "Don't rush. Feel the friction against the air after you gather chakra in your soles. Control the amount of chakra in your feet and slowly walk up the trunk."

After teaching Nawaki the trick to Tree Climbing, Qingyun went over to Kushina to wait for Minato Namikaze to bring the pot.

Before long, Minato Namikaze returned with a large pot. Qingyun stir-fried the vegetables he had already prepared, placed several grilled fish on top, then poured hot oil over them. The fragrant grilled fish was ready to serve.

Seeing Nawaki's bruised and swollen face from all his falls, Qingyun stood up helplessly. After treating him, he said, "Don't rush. You've never trained your chakra control before, so it's bound to be difficult at first. It'll get easier."

"Thanks, Qingyun. How long did it take you to learn Tree Climbing?"

Feeling much better after Qingyun's treatment, Nawaki thanked him, then asked curiously.

Qingyun held up two fingers.

Seeing those two fingers, Nawaki assumed Qingyun had taken two days. Fired up, he raised his hand. "All right! I'm going to learn Tree Climbing faster than you did!"

Qingyun looked at the enthusiastic Nawaki and opened his mouth, but in the end, he did not tell him that he had mastered Tree Climbing in just two attempts.

"All right, go eat!"

Qingyun sighed as he watched the fired-up Nawaki. Nawaki really is like Naruto in the show I watched. No wonder Naruto could cure Tsunade's hemophobia. So this was the root of it.

The three happily ate their meal. Afterward, Nawaki continued practicing Tree Climbing, while Minato Namikaze and Kushina pestered Qingyun to teach them Lingbo Micro-Step.

Qingyun held nothing back. First, he taught them the prerequisite for learning Lingbo Micro-Step—the I Ching and Eight Trigrams—and had them memorize its routes.

Then he marked out the sequence of Lingbo Micro-Step's footwork on the ground with numbers and let the two practice on their own.

Qingyun, meanwhile, sank into his mind to claim his system reward.

Blood Bodhi. Qingyun remembered that it was a natural treasure from the Fengyun World, nurtured by Qilin Blood in the Lingyun Grotto. Not only could it increase internal force, but it could also heal injuries.

Qingyun gazed at the Blood Bodhi in the System Space, his eyes flickering. After a long deliberation, he finally resisted the temptation. Taking the Blood Bodhi now would be far too wasteful. If he were injured in battle someday, taking it then would both heal his wounds and give him a burst of greater strength to turn the tables and kill his opponent. Two benefits at once.

Forcing down the urge to take the Blood Bodhi immediately, Qingyun began practicing Six Meridian Divine Sword.