Tsunade brought Yuzuru into a special room filled with all kinds of scrolls.
She casually took down a few scrolls and tossed them to Yuzuru without looking back.
"Take a look. Are these suitable?"
Yuzuru immediately caught them and looked through them.
Water Release: Hard Vortex Water Blade!
Holy shit!
At the sight of it, Yuzuru hardly dared to blink, afraid it was an illusion.
"That idea of yours involves throwing the Rasengan. This is somewhat similar, so it might give you something to refer to."
As Tsunade spoke, she walked to the other side and took out another scroll.
"Take a look at this one too."
Seeing the words "Wind Release" on it, Yuzuru shook his head and handed it back. Honestly, he had no shortage of Wind Release ninjutsu, because the Rasengan was the strongest Wind Release ninjutsu.
"Teacher Tsunade, I have a request. Could you let me take a look at Wood Release?"
At those words, Tsunade's eyes instantly cleared, and her expression turned serious as she looked at Yuzuru.
"What do you want Wood Release for?"
"I just want to see how Wood Release is performed, since it's also a kekkei genkai, and how it differs from Ice Release. Maybe I can draw on the First Hokage's experience to create new Ice Release ninjutsu. After all, as you know, although I'm a Minazuki, I don't have all the Ice Release secret techniques and ninjutsu."
Tsunade fell silent for a moment before asking, "How far have you gotten with your Ice Release?"
Without wasting words, Yuzuru formed hand seals on the spot, and an ice wolf appeared before Tsunade.
"This is a ninjutsu Dad stole from the Land of Snow. But the people there rely on tools and terrain to perform it. I modified it a little and turned it into a proper Ice Release ninjutsu, Ice Release: Wolf Fang."
Looking at the ice wolf radiating cold before her, a trace of surprise flashed through Tsunade's eyes.
"You've already mastered shape transformation with your Ice Release too. Still, an ice wolf is a little weak."
Tsunade thought for a moment, then stopped hesitating and turned to rummage through another chest. After a while, she took out an old scroll and tossed it to Yuzuru.
"Take a look at this. It might help you."
Yuzuru caught the scroll and opened it to take a look.
Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!
"If you really manage to figure out your own ice dragon, I'll give you something even better."
A hint of anticipation flickered in Tsunade's eyes too.
Holding the scroll, Yuzuru chuckled softly. "I won't let you down, Teacher!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Let's go."
"Okay."
Only after leaving the room did Yuzuru sense powerful sealing fluctuations covering the place.
No wonder Tsunade was so at ease. Anyone who dared go after the Senju Clan's legacy would probably make it in alive but never leave that way.
"All right, there's one more thing: the Summoning Technique. As your teacher, I have a contract with Shikkotsu Forest. What about you? Will you join me, or...?"
"I'll join you. Good summoning beasts aren't easy to find, after all."
"Smart."
Tsunade summoned Katsuyu and introduced Yuzuru to her.
"Understood, Lady Tsunade."
With that, a large scroll emerged from Katsuyu's body, and Tsunade unrolled it with practiced ease.
"All right, just write your name and leave your print."
Yuzuru glanced at the names before his. One was Tsunade, while only the final character, "-rama," was visible in the other. Whether it was Tobirama or Hashirama, who knew?
Once he signed his name and left his handprint, the contract was complete.
Katsuyu immediately vanished as well.
"Let's go to the courtyard and try the Summoning Technique first."
The two arrived in the courtyard. Yuzuru recalled the sequence of hand seals for the Summoning Technique, then bit his finger, began forming seals, and slapped his palm against the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
Amid a cloud of smoke, a Katsuyu over ten meters long appeared in the courtyard.
Tsunade was stunned at the sight.
"He summoned a Katsuyu this big on his first try? How big was the one I summoned the first time again? Less than a meter long, I think?"
"Good evening, Lady Tsunade, little Yuzuru."
Katsuyu's gentle voice rang out.
"Good evening."
Yuzuru politely returned her greeting.
"Right, well, I was just having Yuzuru try the Summoning Technique. Nothing else."
Tsunade gave a brief explanation.
"I understand."
"That's all, Katsuyu. You can go back and rest."
"All right. Goodbye."
Katsuyu nodded slightly, then vanished with a poof.
"All right, we're done. You can go home. Just focus on studying ninjutsu for now. If there's anything you don't understand about the Wood Dragon Technique, you can come ask me. I don't have Wood Release, but giving you some guidance won't be a problem."
Tsunade waved a hand, returned inside, and settled back onto the sofa with practiced ease. By now, she was actually hardly drunk anymore.
"Understood, Teacher. I'll be going, then."
"Mm."
Yuzuru had long since grown impatient too. After hurrying home, he began studying the Wood Dragon Technique.
Before he knew it, a year had passed, and the Ninja Academy's second semester was nearing its end.
Ever since Yuzuru and Kurenai Yuhi had acquired shadow clones, they had hardly gone to school. They could mostly leave practical combat classes to their shadow clones too. After all, they weren't aiming for first place; getting a decent score was enough.
During this time, Yuzuru had taught Minato and Jiraiya everything about the Rasengan, Big Ball Rasengan, and the Rasenshuriken extension.
Minato really was an honest, decent man. After receiving all this, he was so moved that he insisted on teaching Yuzuru Flying Thunder God.
Tsunade fully agreed to this. As for the higher-ups, their opinions didn't matter.
Because Yuzuru was now Tsunade's apprentice, and the Hokage Building wasn't the only place with the Flying Thunder God Technique. Her family had it too.
Having Minato teach him served two purposes: first, it saved Tsunade some trouble; second, Minato was currently the only person who had mastered this ninjutsu, so he had more experience.
Besides that, Yuzuru had thoroughly broken down the Wood Dragon Technique, though of course Tsunade's help had been indispensable throughout the process.
Ninjutsu all shared common ground, because their underlying logic consisted of the twelve hand seals and the corresponding ways chakra flowed.
Although the natures differed, the chakra flow controlled by each seal remained unchanged. Only the final process of nature transformation differed.
Ordinary elemental ninjutsu were generally fairly easy to learn, because the hand seals and chakra circulation process were already clearly laid out. For an experienced ninja, learning an ordinary ninjutsu that used hand seals wasn't very difficult, but kekkei genkai ninjutsu were different.
Because a kekkei genkai contained at least two chakra natures, even though chakra flowed the same way when forming hand seals, the different chakra natures, and the presence of at least two of them, led to more complicated circumstances beyond the hand seal process.
Fortunately, he had Tsunade as his teacher to help him.
As the finest medical expert in the Shinobi World, Tsunade's understanding of the human body could only be even more extraordinary than Orochimaru's.
As a result, he had already made considerable progress toward completing Ice Release: Ice Dragon Technique.
However, one particularly troublesome issue remained: the Wood Dragon Technique inherently possessed Wood Release's ability to absorb chakra, which also made the chakra flow more complex. Tsunade currently couldn't precisely isolate this trait, because it was a characteristic of Wood Release.
Yuzuru's Ice Release couldn't absorb chakra, but it could freeze the flow of chakra.
The differences in the underlying logic of the kekkei genkai meant that some crucial fine details still needed improvement. Yuzuru could only rely on himself for this, because he alone possessed Ice Release.