After they returned to the old Senju residence, Tsunade told Nobuhiko to go train on his own, then turned and went into another room.
Seeing this, Nobuhiko guessed what Tsunade was going to do.
Then I'll wait. Nobuhiko sat cross-legged on the sofa and began reviewing that morning's fight.
After reviewing it for quite a while, Nobuhiko realized there didn't seem to be much point. This hadn't been a real fight at all.
Aside from taking the initiative to scare him at the very beginning, Tsunade hadn't initiated another attack.
After that, she had simply watched Nobuhiko demonstrate his abilities.
The fight's only purpose had been to show Nobuhiko the gap between himself and a top-tier powerhouse. After all, he had used every ability available to him except his Sharingan.
Then what the hell am I reviewing it for? I'd be better off remembering what heaven felt like!
So Nobuhiko lay down. Then Nobuhiko fell asleep.
Carrying a pile of books and scrolls into the living room, Tsunade found Nobuhiko sprawled on the sofa, fast asleep. Whatever sweet dream he was having had him so happy that a snot bubble was puffing from his nose.
Her temper flared at once.
I worked my ass off rummaging around for ages, finding all these notes Great-Uncle left from practicing and developing Water Release, along with several ninjutsu scrolls. Who did I do all that for? You, of course!
With that thought, Tsunade slammed the books and scrolls in her arms onto the floor.
Bang! A tremendous crash rang out.
Nobuhiko, who had been dreaming of bullying Tsunade, shot upright from his sleep as though startled back from death's door.
He woke groggily and opened his eyes, only to find Tsunade glaring at him furiously. I'm done for. She found out I was bullying her in my dream.
He soon came fully awake.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Tsunade couldn't possibly know what I dreamed.
Then he felt a little guilty again. It seemed he had said quite a few things to Tsunade in his dream that he shouldn't have.
I'm screwed. Was I so happy that I started talking in my sleep?
"All right, stop sitting there half-asleep. Come look at these books and scrolls."
Nobuhiko sighed in relief at her words.
"These notes were all written by Great-Uncle when he was researching Water Release Ninjutsu. As for the ninjutsu scrolls, there's the C-rank Water Shockwave, and the B-rank Water Dragon Bullet, Water Fang Bullet, Water Formation Wall, and Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
Nobuhiko was stunned by the sheer number of Ninjutsu.
His dad was a powerful ninja too, but he had never shown him this many high-level Ninjutsu. Today had really opened his eyes.
"That's all for now. I'm holding on to the A-rank ones for you. You're still too young, and practicing them could easily hurt your body."
"As for the S-rank Ninjutsu, the old man thought they were too dangerous, and ordinary people would only hurt themselves practicing them on their own, so he put them all in the Scroll of Seals. Once you can cast those A-rank Ninjutsu, I'll personally go ask him for them so you can take a look."
"Thank you so much, Sister Tsunade. I'm already more than happy to be able to learn these Ninjutsu, let alone have Lord Second's research notes." This time, Nobuhiko bowed in truly heartfelt gratitude.
Tsunade had already done more than enough by digging all these things out for him. She had certainly lived up to the trust his dad had placed in her.
But his sincere thanks seemed to leave Tsunade a little uncomfortable. Her gaze wandered, and she bit her lip before speaking.
"All right, all right, stand up. You don't need to thank me like that. Just get on my nerves less often."
Her words left Nobuhiko feeling a little guilty. He had made Tsunade angry twice today, both times for the same reason.
He wanted to change, but the problem was that he couldn't!
"Come here. I'll explain these Ninjutsu to you. I have to return to the battlefield in a few days."
"So before I leave for the battlefield, you need to understand and memorize how these Ninjutsu work and what precautions to take. That way, it'll be much safer when you practice at home after I'm gone."
Tsunade sat on the sofa and leaned against its back, resting her left elbow on the armrest and propping her face on her left hand. It inadvertently squashed her little mouth into a pout. Then she crossed her left leg over her right and spoke comfortably.
Seeing her pose like that, Nobuhiko actually felt not the slightest stir in his heart.
There was no other reason: he could never repay this kindness from Tsunade!
The moment any little thought arose, it was drowned in boundless guilt.
After all these years across his previous life and this one, Nobuhiko discovered for the first time that he was actually an honest man!
So this time, Nobuhiko chose to sit obediently beside Tsunade.
Nobuhiko first opened the Water Shockwave scroll and began reading.
Water Shockwave. Even in a place without water, the user could instantly summon water out of thin air, enveloping themselves in a rapidly rising, spinning tornado of water. During this time, it could serve as a defense. Afterward, the water could spread out like a waterfall and crash down on the opponent, ultimately forming a large river.
There were four hand seals-ox, monkey, hare, rat. With sufficient proficiency, it could be cast simply by pressing both hands together. Its advanced version was Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
It could be used for both offense and defense, but the insufficient volume of summoned water left its attacks lacking in impact; when defending, the water was too dispersed to provide strong protection.
"Sister Tsunade, the scroll says Water Shockwave is a C-rank Ninjutsu because it doesn't summon enough water. Then if I use a lot of chakra to summon a lot of water, wouldn't it become B-rank or A-rank? Why invent Exploding Water Colliding Wave, then?"
"Not bad, kid. You thought of a question like that on your first read," Tsunade said, looking slightly surprised.
"The same Ninjutsu has different power in different people's hands. That depends on each person's chakra control, the amount of chakra they use, and their proficiency with hand seals."
"The C-rank listed on the scroll refers to how difficult it is to learn. Of course, a Ninjutsu's learning difficulty also reflects its power to some extent. But if you use more chakra than the scroll specifies, its power will naturally increase."
With that, Tsunade picked up the Exploding Water Colliding Wave scroll as well and handed it to Nobuhiko. "Now take a look at Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
Exploding Water Colliding Wave. Chakra gathered in the throat, then the user spat enough water from their mouth toward the ground to form a lake, creating a tsunami that surged toward the enemy and engulfed them.
At the same time, moving at high speed atop the waves allowed the user to launch one-sided attacks on enemies forced upward by the waves. There were nine hand seals-ox, monkey, hare, rat, boar, bird, ox, horse, bird.
"Finished?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think?"
"It's different from what I imagined. Before I read the scroll, I thought Exploding Water Colliding Wave was just a more powerful Water Shockwave. I didn't expect so many differences," Nobuhiko said with feeling.
"Not only that, but the baseline amount of chakra Exploding Water Colliding Wave requires is far greater than Water Shockwave's."
"If genin and chunin with less chakra, or beginners like you, want to use this kind of Ninjutsu, they'll naturally use Water Shockwave. It was designed for ninja without much chakra in the first place, so its minimum requirements are very low."
"If you wanted to expand it to the same scale as Exploding Water Colliding Wave, it would definitely take far more chakra than Exploding Water Colliding Wave, because it also needs a great deal of chakra to keep it spinning and maintain its shape."
"I understand. Thank you, Sister Tsunade."