Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Tsunade!
1,000 ryō for a single tag, and such a small one at that.
Shūichi Hoshita recalled that explosive tags could come in larger sizes, which likely meant they were even more expensive.
As expected of military-grade equipment!
Suddenly, Shūichi thought of Konan and her billions of explosive tags. Where did they come from?
Did she buy them?
"It's probably related to Konan's secret technique," Shūichi speculated. "The money Kakuzu earned was probably used by Konan to purchase paper or the materials to make it."
The paper that could carry ninjutsu and chakra clearly wasn't ordinary paper.
Just like the unique chakra-conductive metals in the ninja world.
"It seems I'll need to adjust my summer plans…"
Shūichi had already made up his mind.
A reward of 200 ryō per tag—this was definitely money he could earn.
And when he said earlier that he had fire and wind nature chakra, he wasn't lying; he had tested it with chakra paper before.
Taking the explosive tag in his hand, Shūichi immediately got serious, focusing on the tag.
In the center of the paper was the kanji for "explosion" surrounded by a complex array of seals.
To the untrained eye, these seals would look like random scribbles without much pattern.
But for Shūichi, who had self-studied all the basic sealing scripts and memorized them, it was different.
These seals were full of elegance and had a unique order.
However, what seemed like simple seals actually contained a lot of information.
"The base of the sealing script seems straightforward, but it's actually a condensed version," Shūichi mused, slightly furrowing his brows.
Reverse-engineering the completed explosive tag to deduce the full, non-simplified formula was challenging.
But it wasn't impossible.
The process mainly involved two aspects: sealing and fire release.
Although Shūichi hadn't formally learned sealing techniques, their foundation was essentially the sealing scripts.
The academy's textbooks listed the nine most common basic sealing scripts.
Likewise, examples of fire-release seals were also provided.
Moreover, activating an explosive tag was simple—the hand sign required was the right half of the "Ram" sign.
Shūichi knew this well from watching Uchiha Obito. The Fireball Jutsu involved six hand signs, and the second one was the "Ram" sign.
Additionally, the first hand sign for his father's Fire Release: Flame Bullet technique was also the "Ram" sign.
Fully focused, Shūichi analyzed the tag, retrieving a wealth of knowledge from his memory palace.
After a moment, Shūichi reached into his backpack, pulled out some paper and a pen, and quickly began sketching seals under Tenka's astonished gaze.
"Amazing… truly amazing!" Tenka covered her mouth to stifle a gasp of surprise.
However, as Shūichi neared completion, she let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it wasn't perfect.
But it was still incredibly impressive!
This little boy wasn't lying—he was a remarkable genius.
Konoha might produce many geniuses, but he was still astonishing!
At that moment, Shūichi tore off the sheet filled with seals and began forming hand signs at lightning speed.
"Wait…"
Tenka cried out, but it was too late to stop him.
Shūichi completed the hand signs and pressed his right palm onto the paper covered in seals, which he had placed on the floor.
The next moment, as chakra flowed into the paper, the tadpole-like seals seemed to come to life. They quickly moved and gathered, centering around Shūichi Hoshita's palm, arranging themselves in a circular pattern.
"Careful!" Tenka shouted, grabbing Shūichi and pulling him into her arms as she swiftly leaped onto the counter.
In the following instant, the paper seal emitted a soft "hiss" and spontaneously ignited without any external fire.
Holding Shūichi on the counter, Tenka had already prepared a ninjutsu scroll in her left hand, which turned out to be a Water Release scroll.
Seeing the paper ignite naturally without an explosion, she refrained from activating the Water Release sealed within the scroll and let out a long breath of relief.
If it had exploded, that would have been trouble.
After storing the ninjutsu scroll away, Tenka set Shūichi down from her embrace.
Shūichi was panting heavily, but more from being squeezed too tightly than from exertion.
Before Tenka could speak, he quickly said, "Sister, I didn't inject too much chakra—it wouldn't have exploded."
Even if it had, the explosion would have been no more dangerous than a firecracker.
He wasn't about to risk his life over something like this.
Tenka blushed slightly and flicked Shūichi's forehead, retorting, "Still, you shouldn't do that! It's very dangerous."
She set him down from the counter, and as she watched him rub his forehead, she chuckled. "Well, even though your seals had some mistakes, they were still very impressive. So, I've decided to hire you!"
Shūichi was overjoyed, immediately bowing, "Thank you, Sis! I won't let you down!"
Tenka smiled warmly, then asked, "By the way, little boy, shouldn't you tell me your name?"
Shūichi quickly replied, "Hoshita Shūichi! You can just call me Shūichi!"
---
Half an hour later, Shūichi walked out of the shop, muttering to himself, "Tenka... Could she be related to Tenten?"
Just earlier, he had received the full explosive tag seals and the sealing formulas from Tenka, along with an agreement to visit every afternoon to learn how to make explosive tags. The shop, Tenka's shop, would cover the cost of materials.
Yes, the shop was called Tenka's Shop.
Glancing back at the shop's sign, Shūichi quickened his pace to head home.
Upon arriving home, after freshening up, Shūichi didn't immediately prepare dinner. Instead, he went to his study to revise his summer plans.
According to his original plan, he intended to complete water walking, tree climbing, and cliff climbing training during the summer.
But that was only part of the chakra control training, with the ultimate goal being the medical ninjutsu left to him by Nonō Yakushi.
Additionally, he planned to master the Clone and Substitution techniques.
Next, he intended to familiarize himself with the layout of the entire Konoha Village, embedding it into his memory palace as the primary structure.
Finally, he aimed to learn at least one medical ninjutsu.
However, due to the explosive tags, Shūichi now felt it was necessary to first master a Fire Release ninjutsu. This would allow him to better utilize the fire-nature chakra transformation.
In fact, after today's experiment with the explosive tag, Shūichi was already somewhat confident about the Fire Release: Flame Bullet jutsu.
But learning and becoming proficient in a technique were two different things.
---
The next day, at 9 a.m., Shūichi, Guy, Kakashi, and Shizune gathered with their backpacks and set off towards the village's training grounds.
Their destination was a location beside a mountain with a river running through it.
Tree climbing, water walking, cliff climbing—this place was perfect for all these training activities.
And during breaks, they could even catch fish to grill.
After reaching the spot and resting briefly, the four of them began their training.
Shūichi, Guy, and Shizune all started with water walking, while Kakashi went straight to cliff climbing.
It was clear that Kakashi had already completed his tree climbing and water walking training.
However, not far away, in the nearby forest, a figure was observing them.
Tsunade stood with her arms crossed, scrutinizing Shūichi Hoshita, then scoffed, "This brat doesn't seem all that special."
Shizune had mentioned Shūichi's name multiple times, and now that they were training together, even though Kakashi, the son of the White Fang, was present, Tsunade still decided to take a look.
Seeing Shūichi and the others quietly focused on their training, Tsunade was about to leave, but just as she moved, she paused, frowning slightly as she looked toward a certain part of the forest.
"Anbu… Root!"
Tsunade turned back to the group training by the river, her thoughts becoming clear: "Danzo, that bastard… hmph!"
With a cold snort, Tsunade's figure vanished from the spot.
(End of Chapter)
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