Superhuman Strength Fist, the Senju Clan's Special Talent

Kurenai Yuhi, Ino, and Tenten watched him go.

He left through the Konoha Gate and caught up with Tsunade and Shizune.

The three figures, two adults and one child, headed into the distance.

"Finished saying goodbye to your two little girlfriends?" Tsunade asked teasingly.

"Not two little girlfriends. Three..."

Rikuto made his case without blushing or missing a beat. "Sister Kurenai too!"

"You little..."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

Beside her, Shizune looked at him, lost for words. "Junior brother, boys shouldn't be too fickle in love!"

"Oink~~~ oink~~~"

The little red pig in her arms chimed in.

"That's because they don't have what it takes. I'm a man destined to become the Fifth Hokage... Oh, no, I mean the king of the forest!" Rikuto declared, folding his arms.

When it came to his women, the more the better, naturally.

As a tentacle monster, he had no need to pick whom to spend the night with every day and make the others wait in line.

He wouldn't be afraid even if a hundred or so came at him all at once.

"Hokage? Then you'll have to work hard, junior brother!"

Shizune was somewhat surprised, but then she spoke with a soft laugh.

She knew just how extraordinary her junior brother's talent was. It was every bit as great as that of the former Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

And just like the Fourth Hokage, he was a disciple of one of the Sannin.

Becoming the Fifth Hokage might not be impossible.

"Hokage?"

Tsunade froze.

She stopped in her tracks.

She stared blankly at that handsome, youthful face.

A faint image appeared: an equally young boy wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector, shouting confidently, "Sister, I'm going to become Hokage like Grandpa and protect everyone!"

"You've still got a long way to go, kid!"

She came back to her senses.

Looking at Rikuto, who was only eight, she seemed a little lost in thought.

But she quickly suppressed that strange feeling and turned her head away, unwilling to let anyone see the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

At the same time, she flicked Rikuto on the head in exasperation.

Though she showed no mercy as she put her disciple down,

Tsunade looked back at the Konoha Gate, which was almost out of sight, and thought to herself, If it were you, maybe Konoha really would become different, wouldn't it?

But she had no idea.

That certain someone, whose thoughts were less than pure and who was determined to become a rebellious disciple who slept with his master, meant that he would become the Fifth Hokage's man.

Not that he would become the Fifth Hokage.

Otherwise, she might well have been angry enough to grab him and give him a beating on the spot.

"Little bugs?"

Rikuto glanced into the depths of the forest, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

His arms were folded across his chest, and his right hand, resting on his left arm, discreetly formed a seal.

"Hehe~, stay there and walk around in circles for a while!"

Before long, the master and her two disciples walked farther and farther away, chatting and laughing.

Their figures disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile, the two Root shinobi who had been secretly following and monitoring them

went around several times, back and forth,

before their expressions changed drastically as they realized

that they had been going around in circles all along.

The three figures up ahead, who had kept walking without ever stopping, were plainly fake.

They couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Release!"

The scene before their eyes changed.

The three figures ahead vanished.

One Root member's expression darkened. "Damn it, it's Genjutsu..."

"When did it happen?"

The other Root member was equally startled and uncertain.

He had no idea when the two of them had fallen for it.

"They noticed us a long time ago... What a terrifying little brat!"

According to Root's earlier intelligence,

Chiya Rikuto was not only skilled in Medical Ninjutsu but also proficient in Genjutsu. He had once used it to easily take down the Root member Lord Danzo had sent to test him.

"Should we continue?"

"Since we've been discovered, there's no need..."

After hesitating for a moment,

the leader made his decision and said gravely, "Otherwise, it won't go well if that legendary Sannin loses her temper!"

"Let's go back and report to Lord Danzo first!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two figures

vanished into the forest.

But they had no idea that after the two of them left,

a somewhat blurry face, its outline faintly resembling Rikuto's, appeared eerily on a tree trunk close beside where they had stood.

It watched them leave impassively.

Chapter 42: Superhuman Strength Fist, the Senju Clan's Special Talent

"Danzo?"

Several miles away,

wearing a small backpack and holding his hands behind his head,

Rikuto followed Tsunade and Shizune at an unhurried pace, looking relaxed. His eyes flickered.

The corners of his mouth rose in amusement. "Then I'll play with you!"

If it had been him in the past,

even with someone like Tsunade backing him up,

he would still inevitably have been somewhat wary of Danzo, the "root" buried beneath the great tree that was Konoha, hidden in the depths of darkness.

But now, having awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, he had nothing to fear.

Even if his current Chakra reserves were still somewhat lacking, leaving him unable to directly activate Perfect Susanoo,

his unstoppable Dōjutsu alone

already put him in an invincible position.

"Did you get rid of them?"

Tsunade, walking in front, asked calmly.

She had just noticed Rikuto using One-Handed Hand Seals and had already realized something.

After all, her disciple had powerful sensory abilities.

If anyone tried to follow them,

they would simply be asking for trouble.

"Yeah, just two little bugs. It couldn't have been easier..."

Rikuto nodded and spread his hands. "If they weren't from Konoha, they'd have gotten more than a warning!"

"Huh? Someone was following us?"

Shizune, who had been completely unaware, was a little bewildered.

She couldn't help looking at Rikuto and Tsunade. "What happened?"

"If anyone else comes looking for death, you don't have to hold back!"

Tsunade said bluntly.

She had no fondness whatsoever for Root.

She especially loathed Danzo, that thoroughly sinister fellow.

"But your skill in Genjutsu has really impressed me..." She looked at Rikuto in surprise and smiled. "It looks like Nao left you quite a few good things!"

Rikuto hid nothing and spoke frankly. "Yes, she gave me all the Genjutsu scrolls my great-grandmother left to my grandmother!"

"Great-grandmother?"

Shizune's pupils shrank sharply, and she could hardly believe it. "Wasn't that Lady Senju Toka, the Senju Clan's greatest Genjutsu expert back then?"

She hadn't expected that the legendary Genjutsu master had left behind Genjutsu scrolls.

"Yeah, I've mastered pretty much all of those Genjutsu..." Rikuto shrugged and chuckled. "Unfortunately, the highest were only A-rank. There weren't any S-rank ones!"

"Those Genjutsu... You mastered all of them?"

Shizune froze.

She stared at Rikuto in shock. "Even the A-rank ones?"

From what he was saying,

the scrolls Senju Toka had left behind most likely contained quite a few advanced Genjutsu.

Yet Rikuto had mastered them all.

It was simply unbelievable.

"..."

Tsunade was also somewhat lost for words.

She stopped in her tracks and looked at her monstrous disciple, Rikuto.

She said ruefully, "I'd say that in two or three years at most, you'll have learned everything I've spent decades accumulating!"

With talent that extraordinary,

if the medical field weren't somewhat special,

and if truly mastering it didn't require not only proficiency in those Medical Ninjutsu, but also extensive medical knowledge and clinical practice to gradually accumulate experience,

she probably wouldn't have much left to teach him very soon.

"Sister Tsunade, I still have a long way to go!"