After a long while, their lips finally parted.
Kitazawa caught his breath and looked at Tsunade.
Her red lips were slightly open as she drew in fresh air. A faint blush spread across her snow-white skin, and her eyes were hazy.
Kitazawa couldn't help leaning in toward her again.
Tsunade froze for a second, but didn't push him away. Instead, she quietly savored the feeling.
Her heart, which hadn't raced like this in a long time, suddenly started pounding.
Now that things had come to this, she already understood what she wanted.
She knew she shouldn't, but in the end, she just couldn't control herself.
"Y-You… did you need something else?"
Tsunade turned her head away, her mouth feeling dry. "If not, then don't bother me while I'm working."
"I'm free this afternoon. I can help you with your paperwork," Kitazawa said, still staring at her beautiful face, clearly not satisfied yet.
"No need."
Tsunade refused on reflex.
"If there's not much work, we could always go to the casino instead."
Kitazawa suddenly changed the topic, blinking at her as he spoke.
Tsunade's hand paused mid-motion, and hesitation flashed through her heart.
She knew perfectly well he was trying to tempt her, but between continuing to work and going to the casino, the choice was… pretty obvious.
"You're paying?"
Tsunade looked over at Kitazawa and asked.
"I'm paying."
Kitazawa nodded and grinned. "If I'm not paying, are you? You don't have any money."
"Quit whining!"
Tsunade stood up and stepped on his foot. "Let's go!"
Kitazawa watched her back as she walked away, and his gaze instinctively dropped to her swaying hips.
Round and full, like a perfectly ripe peach.
"What are you standing there for?"
Tsunade had stopped at the door. She turned her head and looked at him. "Well?"
Kitazawa walked up to her, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "I'll go ask Shizune-senpai for some time off first."
Then he gave her earlobe a quick nip before heading toward the Hokage's secretary office.
Tsunade's body went rigid; it felt like a jolt of electricity shot through her.
She touched her ear, stared at Kitazawa's back, and couldn't help zoning out a little.
It wasn't long before Kitazawa came back.
"All set. Let's go," he said with a bright smile.
Tsunade nodded, and the two of them left the Hokage building together.
As soon as they arrived at the casino, Tsunade returned to her usual self—just like always, she was a one-woman natural disaster at the tables, wiping everyone out.
Kitazawa was long used to it. He casually rested his hand on her thigh, gently kneading, while multitasking and cultivating his Yang Release Chakra Mode at the same time.
Tsunade smacked his hand hard, but when she saw he didn't budge at all, she could only let him be.
The afternoon flew by.
Unsurprisingly, Tsunade lost everything.
She left the casino with a dark look on her face, but once the evening wind hit her, her expression eased a bit.
"You were working on Yang Release Chakra Mode just now?"
Tsunade glanced at Kitazawa and asked.
She had already heard him mention Yang Release Chakra Mode before. And back in the casino, she had rarely taken a moment to actually pay attention to him.
"Yeah," Kitazawa replied. "I figure I'll have it down by next month. When I do, I'll teach you."
"Thanks," Tsunade said after two seconds of silence.
Even though Yang Release Chakra Mode was only ranked B-class, in terms of effect it was comparable to Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which could easily be considered S-class.
"With our relationship, you still need to say thank you?"
Kitazawa chuckled.
Tsunade opened her mouth, then stopped.
What exactly was their relationship now?
Teacher and student… but it didn't quite feel like just that anymore.
"What does Yang Release Chakra Mode actually do?"
Tsunade changed the subject.
"It greatly boosts the body—mainly your chakra, speed, stamina, and healing," Kitazawa thought for a moment, then answered.
"Sounds a lot like Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth – Strength of a Hundred," Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"It is similar, but much more controllable and without side effects," Kitazawa emphasized. "Most importantly, it increases your chakra reserves, even if only temporarily."
Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth – Strength of a Hundred uses chakra stored in the Yin Seal over time.
Yang Release Chakra Mode is different. It activates the entire body, forcing the user's chakra to react and generate much faster.
After all, Yang Release Chakra Mode originates from Shinnō's forbidden medical jutsu: Body Revival.
And it was precisely thanks to Body Revival that Shinnō could use the Eight Gates.
As for opening the Eighth Gate without dying, that was due to another forbidden medical jutsu: Body Revival.
"How much can Yang Release Chakra Mode increase chakra?"
Tsunade asked curiously.
The importance of chakra to a shinobi went without saying.
The simplest way to power up ninjutsu is to increase chakra output.
But actually increasing one's chakra reserves is insanely difficult.
In the entire ninja world, even temporary methods to boost chakra are extremely rare, let alone permanent ones.
Just the fact that Yang Release Chakra Mode can temporarily raise chakra makes it enough to be considered one of Konoha's village-guarding secret arts.
Even if not many shinobi can learn it.
"It's different for everyone," Kitazawa shook his head. "It depends on how far you can push the activation and how strong your body is."
"I see."
Tsunade smiled confidently. "Then my chakra increase should be pretty good."
"I'd guess yours could double," Kitazawa paused, then added, "Mine might go up a bit more."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Tsunade glared at him. "Are you saying you're already stronger than me?"
"A student surpassing the teacher is only a matter of time," Kitazawa said with a smile. "And that's just my estimate. For all we know, my chakra boost could end up being less than yours."
Tsunade curled her lip.
She obviously didn't believe that last part.
But in a way, it was fine. If his strength surpassed her own, she could retire early.
"If Yang Release Chakra Mode is really as good as you say, won't your Wood Release reach Grandpa's level?"
Something suddenly occurred to Tsunade, and she couldn't help asking.
As Hokage and Hashirama's granddaughter, she was without a doubt one of the people who most wanted to see Wood Release return to the world.
At the moment, Kitazawa's Wood Release was indeed stronger than Yamato's, but compared to the Wood Release in her mind, it was still far behind.
And the Wood Release in her mind, of course, came from Hashirama.
"I'll get closer, but reaching the First Hokage's level will still take work," Kitazawa answered honestly.
Even if his chakra doubled, he'd only have about thirty "cards."
Hashirama's chakra was not thirty cards—it wasn't even three thousand. He was flat-out inhuman.
Tsunade clearly had no real grasp of just how ridiculous her grandfather's chakra was.
She'd been young at the time, after all.
And you couldn't really blame her. Nobody would think Hashirama's chakra was on par with the Nine-Tails—or even more.
"But it'll be more than enough to protect Konoha," Kitazawa added.
"Yeah."
Tsunade nodded.
As long as Konoha had a powerful Wood Release, that was enough. There was no need to demand that Kitazawa be a second Hashirama.
The two of them kept talking as they walked, and before long they arrived home.
"I'm heading in. See you tomorrow."
Tsunade waved, opened her door, and went inside.
Kitazawa pulled his gaze back and walked to the house next door.
The next day arrived—it was also the first day of vacation.
On the Academy Training Ground…
Kitazawa looked over the members of the Advanced Class, deep in thought.
He knew that even during break, some students would still come to train. But seeing this many people show up was beyond his expectations.
There were only thirty-four people in the Advanced Class. Today, twenty-six had come; only a few were missing.
In other words, besides top-ranked students like Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata in the top eighteen, quite a few lower-ranked students had shown up too.
Kitazawa stroked his chin.
Birds of a feather flock together, and things group by kind.
Sasuke, Naruto, and the others had put tremendous pressure on the rest of the class, to the point that everyone had started "grinding" harder.
Kitazawa suddenly thought of his college dorm in his previous life.
When all your roommates are studying, it really feels awkward to just sit there playing games.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
Hyuga Hinata ran up to him, holding the Moonchaser Bow.
"Good morning, Hinata."
Kitazawa reached out and patted her head.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Hyuga Neji followed right behind, greeting him.
Kitazawa nodded.
He could already guess why Neji had come to him.
"Your Spiral Arrow is pretty much mastered. I'll teach you a new archery secret technique today," Kitazawa said, casually taking his bow.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Neji said immediately.
"Your Fatefeather Bow has the Zero-Tails sealed inside," Kitazawa said as he walked. "The Zero-Tails has a lot of tentacles, and each tentacle can use chakra."
Neji frowned slightly.
Satori's ability was emotional sensing, but the Zero-Tails' ability was… tentacles?
He couldn't immediately see what tentacles had to do with an archery technique.
Would the arrow sprout a bunch of wriggling tentacles mid-flight?
He pictured it in his mind. It looked pretty creepy.
"The new archery secret is called Multiple Arrow," Kitazawa said, stopping.
They had arrived at the usual training area for throwing weapons.
Not far away, rows of targets and wooden posts stood neatly in place.
Realization dawned on Neji's face.
Multiple Arrow—just from the name alone, he could guess: firing multiple arrows at once.
"Let me show you once."
Kitazawa pinched the bowstring and slowly drew it back.
An arrow of Yin Release chakra formed visibly on the outside.
When Kitazawa released the string, the arrow shot out, trembled mid-air, and split into nine.
In an instant, nine arrows pierced through nine separate wooden posts.
"Amazing!"
Hinata gasped in awe.
"Nine arrows isn't the limit," Kitazawa said, handing the bow back to Neji. "In theory, as long as you've got enough chakra, you can split it into countless arrows."
There was no doubt that Multiple Arrow's inspiration and mechanics came from the A-rank technique Hiruzen created: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Neji would probably need a long time to learn it.
After all, even now Tenten still hadn't mastered Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Though in her case, the main problem was lack of chakra.
To keep Neji from falling into the same trap, Kitazawa had broken Multiple Arrow into stages.
Using three as the base, starting from Triple Arrow.
"Neji, I'll have my Shadow Clone teach you," Kitazawa said.
After creating a Shadow Clone, he turned to Hinata. "You won't be learning Multiple Arrow. You're learning Burst Arrow."
Satori didn't have the Zero-Tails' tentacles, so learning Multiple Arrow would be slower for her.
But she could still learn it.
Kitazawa just planned to teach her Burst Arrow first, then Multiple Arrow later.
As for Neji, it would be the opposite.
"An arrow that explodes?"
Hinata blinked in surprise.
"Your arrows are created from Yin Release chakra," Kitazawa smiled. "What do you think happens when a Yin Release arrow explodes?"
Hinata thought it over for a moment.
She suddenly remembered Satori's emotional sensing and asked, "Does it cause emotional chaos?"
"Smart girl," Kitazawa said, giving her cheek a little pinch. "Exactly—emotional chaos."
Hinata laughed shyly.
The essence of Yin Release is spiritual power.
Burst Arrow was somewhat similar to the Ninja Art: Mind Butterfly technique Kitazawa had taught Yamanaka Ino, except one caused confusion and the other caused vertigo.
"Confusion" meant that, for a brief moment, every emotion flared up at once.
Most shinobi hit by Burst Arrow would find it very hard to calm their hearts again quickly.
And in a fight, a sudden tidal wave of emotion would obviously affect one's combat performance.
In a sense, it synergized perfectly with Satori's emotional sensing.
Satori's emotional sensing was weak against shinobi with completely calm minds.
But Burst Arrow made it impossible for a shinobi to maintain a clear mind for a short window.
Thinking about it that way, Hinata's strength had indeed skyrocketed after receiving the Moonchaser Bow.
Unless the opponent overwhelmingly outclassed her in raw stats, even jōnin would find her troublesome.
Which was only natural.
The Moonchaser Bow had the Yin Release monster Satori sealed inside, a being only a step below tailed beasts—and even Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, didn't have any good solutions against Satori.
The same logic applied to Neji and his Fatefeather Bow as well.
After explaining for half an hour, Kitazawa let Hinata start practicing.
He turned and looked off into the distance.
A streak of red caught his eye.
A few seconds later, Tayuya cautiously poked her head out.
The moment her eyes met Kitazawa's, she flinched like a startled bird and quickly ducked back.
"Aren't you usually pretty bold?"
Kitazawa called out.
Tayuya clenched her teeth and walked over to him.
"What do you need from me?"
Kitazawa had already noticed her a while ago.
"I… I want to learn a new jutsu," Tayuya said quietly, head down.
"If you want to learn jutsu, just say so. Why are you sneaking around like a thief?"
Kitazawa asked with a grin.
"I am not!"
Tayuya instinctively lifted her head to retort. "I… I just saw you were busy teaching Hinata!"
"Your strength mainly comes from your three Doki," Kitazawa said, remembering her techniques from the original story. "Your Demonic Flute: Illusionary Warriors Manipulating Melody controls their actions, but that's all it does."
Tayuya nodded.
"Your next jutsu should focus on letting your three Doki do even more," Kitazawa continued.
"How?"
Tayuya looked at him, eyes full of expectation.
"By releasing their spiritual energy," Kitazawa said.
He was talking about the technique Tayuya used in canon: Revolt of the Demon World.
Revolt of the Demon World was somewhat similar to Spirit Transformation.
Its effect was that the three Doki spat out their spiritual energy, which then attacked the enemy's physical body; once they bit down, they could absorb chakra.
Tayuya froze for a moment.
With Kitazawa's reminder, the pieces fell into place in her mind.
Her three Doki might have physical form, but at their core they were Yin Release constructs. Attacking from the spiritual side made perfect sense.
Tayuya had no choice but to admit Kitazawa's sharpness.
She'd had her three Doki for so long and never thought of this, yet Kitazawa had figured it out just by watching a few times.
"Thanks," Tayuya said once she snapped out of it.
Kitazawa reached out and patted her head.
Tayuya instinctively wanted to dodge, but in the end, she didn't.
"I'm calling this jutsu Revolt of the Demon World," Kitazawa said with a soft laugh. "Let's start experimenting now."
He called it "experimenting" because he didn't actually know about the Revolt of the Demon World.
But thanks to his current mastery of Yin Release chakra nature transformation, and the fact that he already understood the basic principle, and given that the jutsu itself was only B-rank, creating it was really just a matter of time.
And that was exactly how it played out.
A week later, Revolt of the Demon World was successfully created.
Of course, Kitazawa hadn't spent the entire week on just that. Most of his energy had gone into Yang Release Chakra Mode.
He felt he was only a few days away from getting in the door. Once he did, he could start trying to learn more advanced Wood Release.
Even if his chakra still couldn't compare to Hashirama's, having just one-tenth of his effectiveness would be enough to run rampant in the current ninja world.
Aside from a handful of people like Nagato, most shinobi wouldn't be able to withstand his Wood Release.
On the new Monday, Kitazawa summoned Haku.
Haku had already learned two Ice Release jutsu. It was time for a third.
The third, and hardest, Ice Release technique was called Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
Its effect was to form a series of ice mirrors around the enemy, allowing the user to move between them at high speed.
In the original story, Haku had used Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals to trap and suppress Uchiha Sasuke.
After finishing the lesson, Kitazawa moved with a thought and walked over to a nearby tree.
"Kitazawa."
Konan appeared, wearing an Anbu mask. "This is a scroll from Uchiha Itachi."
Kitazawa already had a good idea what the scroll would be about.
He unrolled it and started reading.
Sure enough, it was related to Yomi.
After Mōryō had been sealed, Yomi had started researching so-called Dark Medicine.
Simply put, it was a collection of unconventional forbidden medical techniques with significant costs and side effects.
In the original story, Yomi had used Dark Medicine on his subordinates, granting them a substantial boost for a short time.
His real purpose in researching Dark Medicine, though, was to make his body capable of containing Mōryō's soul without dying.
In that sense, he really was loyal to a fault.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin.
According to Itachi's intel, Yomi's Dark Medicine still wasn't complete.
Which made sense. The current timeline was at least five or six years earlier than the original plot.
But that was also a problem.
If Dark Medicine wasn't finished, Yomi wouldn't go rescue Mōryō.
Kitazawa suddenly let out a quiet "hm."
Speaking of not dying, he happened to have a forbidden medical jutsu from Shinnō: Body Revival.
An idea took shape in his mind.
He could send someone to pose as a survivor of the Land of the Sky and approach Yomi to propose a partnership—the goal being to topple Konoha and avenge Shinnō.
And conveniently, Konoha was one of Yomi's targets as well.
After all, once Mōryō was freed, Yomi's plan was to unify the entire ninja world.
~~~
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