Since it was already late, Kitazawa didn't go looking for Tsunade. Besides, he still needed to cook up a suitable reason.
The next day—Friday—came.
As usual, Kitazawa split off two shadow clones to coach the Advanced Class, while he himself headed to the school's artificial lake.
After learning Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall, Kitazawa kept going with Water Release. He was one technique away from clearing his Water Release "task," but the two he hadn't learned yet were both A-rank.
Between Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique and Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Kitazawa chose the former, because it costs relatively less chakra.
In form, Great Waterfall is a bit like Fire Release: Great Fireball—one spits a huge sphere of water, the other a huge sphere of fire. But Great Waterfall is at lethal volume; the water sphere it blasts out is practically a waterfall.
After about half an hour of practice he stopped, because he'd noticed Maruboshi Kosuke.
"Kitazawa, I didn't expect you to use Water Release," Maruboshi Kosuke said as he walked up, surprised. "And at that level."
If Kitazawa was already tackling an A-rank Water Release, that meant he'd mastered a good number of lower-ranked ones. In Water Release, he was at least chūnin level. If he learned an A-rank technique on top of that, he'd be jōnin.
"You flatter me, senpai," Kitazawa smiled. "What brings you here—trouble with teaching?"
"It's about scouting students. After almost two weeks of observation, I've picked two promising ones," Maruboshi Kosuke explained. "They've got the talent to inherit my Water Release and kenjutsu."
"Which two?" Kitazawa asked, curious.
"Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."
Kitazawa couldn't help raising a brow. Unexpected, yet it made perfect sense.
Sakura has earth and water affinity, and her chakra control ranks top-tier even among the Konoha Twelve. Meeting both the water-nature and high control requirements gives her a clear ticket to study Water Release. One of the original heroines for a reason—call it luck if you want, but really it's mostly her ability.
As for Uchiha Sasuke—no explanation needed. In the original story, after defecting from Konoha, his iconic look included the Kusanagi at his hip. Aside from Fire Release and Sharingan, kenjutsu is one of his go-to attack styles. And he later learned swordsmanship from Orochimaru, which is harder than Leaf-style kenjutsu.
"Senpai," Kitazawa said after a beat of thought, "if you want to formally take them as students, that might be tough. Sakura might agree, but Sasuke almost certainly won't."
"That's fine," Maruboshi Kosuke waved it off. "I'm not a squad leader and I don't need titles. If they're willing to learn, that's enough."
"In that case," Kitazawa nodded, "I'll bring them over now."
He had no reason to refuse—and neither would Sakura or Sasuke. For Sakura, this was a windfall. She was already studying medical ninjutsu; add Water Release, and her ceiling wouldn't be far off her canon self. For Sasuke, he never misses a chance to power up.
"Kakashi." Kitazawa found Hatake Kakashi and quietly mentioned that Maruboshi Kosuke wanted to teach Sasuke kenjutsu.
"Sasuke," Kakashi called after listening.
"Kakashi-sensei. Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke said, finishing his Lightning Release nature transformation drills.
Kakashi had planned to teach him some low-level Lightning Release this week, but his talk with Kitazawa changed his mind. Since Sasuke wanted a lightning technique to stand up to the Rasengan, Kakashi intended to jump straight to Chidori—but for that, Sasuke's nature transformation still needed to improve.
"Maruboshi-senpai wants to teach you Leaf-style kenjutsu," Kitazawa said. "Interested?"
"But I'm training Lightning Release," Sasuke frowned. Compared to Leaf-style, he wanted a lightning jutsu that could rival the Rasengan sooner.
"Don't underestimate Leaf-style," Kitazawa said with a grin. "Maruboshi-senpai created an S-rank technique called Leaf-style: Willow."
Leaf-style: Willow blends swordsmanship and genjutsu—right up Sasuke's alley. Besides Fire Release, the Uchiha's specialties are Sharingan and genjutsu.
"S-rank?" Sasuke's eyes lit up. "I'll learn it."
"You really are an opportunist," Kitazawa laughed, rapping him lightly on the head.
Sasuke scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. Kakashi glanced over—so the kid did have expressions like that. His vibe had always been the quintessential Uchiha: arrogant, like Obito but steadier.
Kitazawa then fetched Haruno Sakura.
"I want to learn!" Sakura agreed without hesitation. In several monthly practicals she'd grumbled that they didn't test medical ninjutsu, so she had nowhere to shine. If she learned Water Release, she could finally show something in combat exams—especially to go toe-to-toe with Yamanaka Ino again.
"Good. Come with me," Kitazawa said.
"Sasuke-kun, are you learning Water Release too?" Sakura crowded in front of him, eager.
"No. Kenjutsu," Sasuke replied.
"With who?"
"Same as you," Sasuke said offhandedly.
"Great! Then we'll be fellow students—senpai and kouhai!" Sakura beamed.
"…" Sasuke's mouth twitched. He wanted to refute her, but couldn't find a reason.
They soon arrived at the artificial lake.
"Address him as Maruboshi-sensei," Kitazawa prompted.
"Maruboshi-sensei," Sasuke and Sakura said in unison.
"Very good!" Maruboshi Kosuke laughed heartily, clearly pleased.
Kitazawa didn't leave—he planned to take the chance to learn some Leaf-style himself.
[As a genius, you should possess exceptional learning ability.]
[Current Mission: Learn Leaf-style kenjutsu without receiving instruction from Maruboshi Kosuke.]
[Reward: Dance of the Crescent Moon.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa blinked in surprise. Why was the reward Dance of the Crescent Moon instead of Leaf-style: Willow?
Looked like "learn Leaf-style" implicitly included Willow. Normally Leaf-style doesn't include Willow—because Willow is Maruboshi Kosuke's own original technique. And the system had specifically added "without Maruboshi Kosuke's instruction."
Dance of the Crescent Moon is somewhat similar to Willow—also a Leaf-style secret, A-rank. In the original, only Hayate Gekkō and Yugao Uzuki used it. Given that Yugao created a secret technique called Hazy Moon Night, maybe Dance of the Crescent Moon was Hayate's creation.
Either way, a system quest had popped—of course he'd accept.
When Kitazawa came back to himself, Maruboshi Kosuke had already begun. He formed seals and produced a shadow clone—clone to teach Sasuke, the original to teach Sakura.
Thanks to Kitazawa's special training, both Sakura and Sasuke had solid fundamentals. Maruboshi Kosuke skipped the preamble and put them straight onto Water Release and Leaf-style.
For Water Release, he started with Water Release: Wild Water Wave—C-rank, the entry-level suiton.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin. Maruboshi Kosuke had studied Water Release under Senju Tobirama, but he hadn't learned the whole catalogue; canon explicitly mentions only two Tobirama-taught jutsu: Water Formation Wall and Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
Kitazawa figured that after Maruboshi Kosuke finished with Sakura, he could continue the instruction—maybe that would trigger another system quest.
He didn't interrupt. He split off another shadow clone to learn Leaf-style while he himself practiced Great Waterfall again. Maruboshi Kosuke didn't mind Kitazawa "learning on the side." Given Kitazawa was Tsunade's student, getting formal Leaf-style instruction would be as simple as asking Tsunade or Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Time slipped by, and soon it was time for dismissal.
"If you're free this weekend, you can come find me," Maruboshi Kosuke said. After taking a job at the Academy, he wasn't going out on missions and had time.
"Got it, Maruboshi-sensei!" Sakura answered, then immediately looked at Sasuke—if he went too, they'd get a little two-person world.
"I'll see," Sasuke said noncommittally.
Sakura wanted the extra sessions because she felt pressed for time—she also had the tougher medical ninjutsu to learn. Sasuke was different; Leaf-style came easily to him, so he didn't feel he needed extra cram time.
More importantly, he wanted to spend his weekend with Uchiha Itachi, practicing Sharingan and genjutsu.
On the training field, after Kitazawa said "See you next week," the Advanced Class kids whooped and bolted—two glorious days off were coming.
What a pity, Kitazawa thought. There are computers in the shinobi world, but no internet yet; otherwise he could unwind with some games.
He checked the time and headed for the casino. He already had an idea for how to set up Shimura Danzō, so he planned to find Tsunade. It was only five; she'd definitely be gambling.
Konoha doesn't have many casinos—just a few. Kitazawa quickly found Tsunade and Shizune. Tsunade sat at the table, scowling; she might as well have "I lost" stamped on her forehead.
"Tsunade-sama," Kitazawa stepped up.
"Kitazawa? What are you doing here?" Tsunade glanced at him, her tone softening. Shizune, cuddling Tonton, looked surprised. By her reckoning, that wasn't Tsunade's usual reaction—normally Tsunade would ask to borrow money to keep gambling. Something must have happened between these two?
"I do have something to ask you," Kitazawa said with a smile. "But it's not urgent—you can keep playing."
"No need. I've already lost it all," Tsunade stood. "Let's talk at home."
Shizune's eyes went wide. Tsunade was being…too straightforward today. Normally, even broke, she'd wheedle for cash and they'd go back and forth forever. A scene like this almost never happened.
The three went home—not Kurenai's place, but Tsunade and Shizune's temporary quarters.
As soon as she got in, Tsunade kicked off her sandals and flopped onto the sofa. The thick, soft "cushions" on her chest compressed and shifted with the motion—so spectacular that Kitazawa's eyelid twitched. Let's just say Tsunade ranks biggest whether lying on her back or on her front.
Uzumaki Rina stepped up, picked up Tsunade's heeled sandals, and put them on the rack.
"Go ahead," Tsunade said, rolling onto her side and cutting Kitazawa a sidelong glance.
"Yesterday, I assisted Yakushi Nonō-senpai on a surgery at Konoha Hospital," Kitazawa began, sitting across from her and very deliberately keeping his eyes on her face. "The patient's name was… Shinraku Tanuki, a researcher from Root."
If he didn't look at her face, his gaze would inevitably drift to other massive distractions.
"He was badly hurt—some kind of explosion trauma. And before he was sent to the hospital, Root's med-nin had already 'processed' him," Kitazawa went on.
"What kind of processing?" Tsunade asked, cutting to the key point.
"They scrubbed the traces," Kitazawa said. "Shimura Danzō didn't want us to know what caused the blast."
"Root having secrets is normal, but the old man's patience has limits. We can't keep poking the Danzō hornet's nest," Tsunade said, sitting up and folding her arms, the implication clear. With that movement, her clothes strained perilously, as if about to give way.
Kitazawa nodded. He understood the subtext: ordinary secrets aren't worth her stepping in—and Hiruzen would think they were making a mountain out of a molehill.
"Even so, I still found some threads despite their cleanup," Kitazawa said. "I don't know exactly what they point to—that's why I came to you."
"Oh?" Tsunade was interested now. She crossed her legs and idly wiggled her toes.
"The thing that caused the explosion was biological—more precisely, cellular residue," Kitazawa said, voice low.
"You're saying some kind of cells triggered a massive explosion?" Tsunade's first reaction was disbelief. No ordinary cells pack that kind of punch.
"I don't get it either," Kitazawa admitted.
Tsunade frowned, thinking. A moment later, her heart jolted—she thought of her grandfather, Senju Hashirama. Even after death, Hashirama's cells retained frightening vitality.
Because Wood Release was so important to Konoha, the leadership had once run Wood Release experiments—injecting Hashirama's cells into shinobi to create Wood Release users.
Volunteers only. Every single participant died, and Hiruzen called the experiment off.
Tsunade knew about that attempt—Hiruzen had even sought her consent at the time. But given Danzō's nature, he absolutely wouldn't stop; he'd keep running Wood Release experiments in secret. And when Hashirama cells absorb chakra, they proliferate wildly, swell, and—boom.
Tsunade's frown deepened. She should have connected these dots sooner. But with her hemophobia, she'd spent years drifting and avoiding things—and had simply looked away.
Now that she was back in the village, she would never allow Danzō to desecrate Hashirama's remains.
After all, the only source of Hashirama cells…is Hashirama's corpse. He was the First Hokage, founder of Konoha—how could he be treated like that?
"I'm going to the old man to get answers!"
Tsunade stood instinctively. She had no way of knowing what Root was actually studying unless she asked Sarutobi Hiruzen directly—short of storming a Root lab, which would only tip them off and lead to the evidence being destroyed or moved.
"Tsunade-sama, what did you figure out?"
Kitazawa asked, a little tense. Whether she saw him as a confidant depended on whether she'd answer.
"…I can tell you," Tsunade said after a two-second pause. She still hadn't formally acknowledged Kitazawa as her student, but in her heart she already had. Otherwise, he had no right to hear Konoha's deepest secrets about Hashirama cells and Wood Release experiments.
"Shizune," Tsunade waved.
Shizune understood, and left the living room with Uzumaki Rina and Karin.
"This starts with my grandfather, Senju Hashirama," Tsunade sighed. "You know about Wood Release, right?"
"The First Hokage's Wood Release is known across the shinobi world," Kitazawa said gravely.
"Exactly—and that's why Konoha wanted to regain it," Tsunade explained, laying out the backstory.
Kitazawa lifted an eyebrow. She clearly didn't know about the particular Wood Release experiments run by Orochimaru and Danzō—which made sense; she wasn't in Konoha then, and no one publicized that Orochimaru's defection involved Wood Release research. All she knew was he fled after Hiruzen discovered human experimentation.
"This Shinraku Tanuki is one of Root's top researchers," Kitazawa analyzed. "It's highly likely Danzō tasked him with studying the First's cells."
"Mhm," Tsunade nodded. "That's what I think too." Danzō's infamy did its work here—whether or not he did it, he was always Suspect Number One.
"But I don't think going straight to the Hokage is wise. We don't have direct evidence—just conjecture," Kitazawa suggested. "We should investigate Shinraku first."
"As a researcher, he'll be well-protected by Root. We don't even know where his lab is," Tsunade said, rubbing her brow. "Even an elite jōnin would struggle to get to the bottom of it."
"I have someone in mind," Kitazawa said after a moment's thought. "Uchiha Itachi."
"Can he handle it?" Tsunade's tone carried doubt—she didn't know he'd awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
In her eyes he was a super prodigy—an Anbu squad captain at thirteen—but genius or not, thirteen was still too young for this kind of op.
"He can," Kitazawa said firmly.
"…All right," Tsunade looked at him—and suddenly smiled. "I believe you."
~~~
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