"Tsunade? Which Tsunade are you talking about?"
"Seriously? How many Tsunades are there in Konoha? Obviously that Tsunade—the one from the Legendary Sannin!"
"Wait, what?! Tsunade-sama came here to see Kitazawa-senpai?!"
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the first-year teachers all had the same shocked reaction on their faces.
"Tsunade-sama," A young teacher quickly stood up. "Kitazawa-senpai's office is the first one on the second floor."
Tsunade nodded, closed the door behind her, and headed upstairs.
She was about to push the door open when she suddenly paused—then politely knocked.
"Come in."
Kitazawa looked up from his desk.
He had just finished a lesson with Class 2-A and was now working on organizing the final exams. Compared to monthly tests, finals were a whole other level. This was his first time managing them, so he couldn't afford any mistakes—it had to be flawless.
"Tsunade-sama?"
He blinked in surprise as she stepped in.
"Got time?"
Tsunade got straight to the point. "We're going to see the old man."
"Sure."
Kitazawa nodded without hesitation.
A trip to the Hokage's office didn't take long.
And more importantly—there'd be money and a jutsu reward waiting.
As the two of them walked out, Tsunade hesitated for a moment and said, "Thanks for last night, Kitazawa."
"No problem. Really."
He shook his head casually. "Wasn't a big deal."
Tsunade bit her lip but didn't say anything else.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Hokage's office.
BANG!
Tsunade kicked the door open like she owned the place.
"One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen glared at her from behind his desk.
"Relax," Tsunade grinned. "If that happens, I'll treat you myself."
Hiruzen coughed hard—he nearly choked from sheer frustration.
"Try smoking less and you might actually live longer," Tsunade added, snatching his pipe right out of his hand.
"I'd live longer if you stopped pissing me off."
Hiruzen sighed and waved them in. "So what brings you two here?"
"Here."
Tsunade tossed a scroll onto his desk.
"Memory Sealing Technique?"
Hiruzen studied it, then frowned. "How's this different from the usual memory-seal jutsu?"
"Three things," Tsunade raised three fingers.
"First, it doesn't damage the mind. Second, the memory is sealed permanently. Third, the person knows their memory was sealed."
"Hmm… definitely more humane than the usual stuff."
Hiruzen nodded.
Standard memory-sealing was mainly used on enemies—brutal and messy, with lots of side effects.
"Anyway, swing by Anbu later and pick up a million ryō," he said, rolling up the scroll.
"A million? That's not enough," Tsunade immediately shot back. "This is a B-rank sealing jutsu."
"Fine, 1.5 million," Hiruzen sighed. "And Kitazawa can pick one B-rank jutsu."
Ever since Kitazawa mastered the Rasengan, Hiruzen considered him a solid upper-tier. With his clean background and excellent teaching record, Hiruzen didn't mind giving him a little power boost.
"Now we're talking."
Tsunade turned to leave. "Come on, Kitazawa."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Kitazawa gave a quick bow and followed her out.
"I'm taking 700,000."
Just like last time, Tsunade took nearly half.
Kitazawa didn't object. She was the one who did most of the heavy lifting anyway.
"Tonight, let's talk about a new jutsu," Tsunade said with a smirk. "But for now… I'm heading to the casino."
Kitazawa split off and followed Anbu operative Haru to the Ninjutsu Vault.
He already had something in mind from the night before, so he didn't hesitate—he chose Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere, a B-rank technique.
It was an upgraded version of the Vacuum Sphere.
If the original was like a wind bullet, this one was more like a wind-powered rocket.
Stronger punch, but slower speed—still classified as B-rank.
After that, Kitazawa headed back to the ninja academy to finish final exam prep.
By the afternoon, everything was nearly done—just needed the teachers to submit their questions.
[Current Mission: Help Yamanaka Ino master the Mind Body Switch Technique.]
[Reward: Mind Body Switch Technique.]
[Mission Complete — Reward Delivered.]
"It's finally done?"
Kitazawa wasn't surprised. Ino had been working on it for a while now.
He received the reward and shook his head.
The technique had too many limitations to use on its own.
For someone Ino's age, just learning it was already impressive.
Training wouldn't change too much—she would keep working on Yin Release chakra transformation.
Same for Shikamaru.
If he wanted to learn a second clan jutsu, he'd need time to build his foundation.
Kitazawa opened his task list.
There were quite a few active quests—but two were directly tied to finals:
1. Help Naruto beat Sasuke.
2. Place first in the final exams.
Two more were planned for summer vacation:
1. Help Hinata defeat Neji.
2. Help Sasuke defeat Neji.
In short: Hinata and Sasuke were getting bonus training.
Kitazawa couldn't help but laugh.
"Why is everything aimed at Neji?"
He could already picture it—Neji losing twice in a row would absolutely shatter his pride.
But hey, that might trigger even more quests.
Then Kitazawa thought of Chōji.
Shikamaru and Ino triggered missions—Chōji should have one too, right?
But the Akimichi clan was different. Overeating was part of their training.
"Huh… overeating?"
He suddenly remembered the Ichiraku Ramen Eating Contest from the original series.
"Maybe I can work with that…"
Kitazawa got up and walked to the academy's training grounds.
Sakura's progress was as fast as always—she'd probably learn the Blood Coagulation Technique by tomorrow.
Once she learned anesthesia, he'd have her shift focus to Yang Release chakra transformation.
The new Yang Release (Proficient) chakra he just unlocked would come in handy here.
Kitazawa looked up and spotted Hinata.
Time to start her training session.
The sun was already setting.
Thursday was almost over.
Kitazawa left the academy right on time.
He arrived at Kurenai's house, but when he opened the door… he froze.
Instead of a hallway or living room, he was staring into a vast, glowing galaxy.
"…Did I open the wrong door?"
He closed it and opened it again—still stars.
After a moment of thinking, he got it.
This was one of Kurama Yakumo's Kekkei Genkai illusions—the Terror Dreamscape.
In the original story, Kurenai had gotten trapped in this same illusion and nearly died—even though she was already Jōnin-level in genjutsu.
Kitazawa stepped inside.
The glowing stars swirled gently like fireflies, giving the space an ethereal dreamlike vibe.
Eventually, he spotted Kurenai and Yakumo sitting by a glowing shoreline, barefoot, their pale feet soaking in the shimmering water.
"Over here, Kitazawa!"
Kurenai waved him over.
He walked up and noticed the water wasn't normal—it shimmered like it was made of glowing gemstones.
He sat next to her and dipped his feet in.
The chill jolted him, but it felt incredible.
"This is Yakumo's latest ability," Kurenai explained. "She can create illusions that are so real, they feel real—no matter how impossible they are."
Kitazawa instantly thought of Itachi's Tsukuyomi.
In that world, the caster controls time, space, and matter.
Yakumo's genjutsu… came pretty close.
He glanced down at the water.
Kurenai's legs shimmered under the surface, smooth and fair like jade.
On impulse, he lightly bumped her leg with his.
Kurenai gave him a sharp look—"Not here, not now" written all over her face. Yakumo was right there.
Kitazawa just grinned back.
Then slowly pressed his leg against hers again—gently sliding it along her soft skin.
Kurenai tensed up, her toes curling instinctively.
Just as she was about to say something—
Footsteps.
"So this is Yakumo's Kekkei Genkai?"
Tsunade looked around in awe. "No wonder Danzo was so obsessed with getting his hands on her."
Shizune was speechless.
She'd never seen an illusion this vivid—and the fact they didn't even notice when they walked into it was chilling.
"You seriously need to stop," Kurenai leaned close and whispered harshly in Kitazawa's ear. Her heart was pounding.
If Tsunade or Shizune saw what he was doing under the water, she'd die of embarrassment.
"Tsunade-sama, Shizune-senpai—come soak your feet with us."
Kitazawa retracted his leg, letting Kurenai breathe.
Tsunade and Shizune came over, took off their shoes, and dipped their feet in the glowing water.
Now five people sat by the shoreline.
Everyone except Yakumo was amazed by how beautiful and real the illusion felt.
"We should base our next jutsu on this illusion,"
Tsunade suddenly said, raising her leg and watching the water drip off it.
"Isn't that… a bit too ambitious?"
Kurenai turned to her.
"There's a shortcut."
Tsunade let her leg drop with a splash. "We only need to recreate ten percent of this effect."
"And it's for healing," Shizune added.
"We don't need a giant scene—just a space that helps the patient relax."
"That's actually a solid idea," Kitazawa nodded.
For once, he could just sit back and watch.
Illusions like this weren't his department anyway.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!