Tenten puffed her cheeks, clearly furious.
Lee had been locked in a fierce showdown with his plate of barbecue, but when he heard those words, he looked up.
"Tenten, this is the youth training Master Guy taught me! It's training that makes us stronger. So I won't allow you to speak ill of it!"
Tenten slammed the table violently, and a murderous aura instantly surged from her body.
Then…
Lee dove back into his meal, ignoring everything around him and refusing to look up ever again.
Swallowing hard, Shiki felt his throat tighten.
With Lee, the warrior, now gone, Shiki felt utterly incapable of facing Tenten's pressure alone.
Perhaps every man inevitably experiences an unexplainable fear of a certain girl at some point.
Actually, the reason is often very simple: because that girl deeply cares about you.
"Shiki."
"Tenten, it was really just a misunderstanding. We merely came out for a walk and happened to run into Lee. That's why we ended up eating together."
Before Tenten could even respond, Shiki quickly jumped in to explain.
After hearing Shiki's explanation, Tenten shifted her gaze toward Lee. "Lee, is what Shiki said true?"
At this moment, Shiki had already begun to relax slightly. After all, Lee was his brother-in-arms, someone who shared hardships with him.
In such circumstances, he would absolutely help cover things up.
But then Shiki saw Lee suddenly raise his head and seriously say, "Tenten, I must turn state witness. I'm reporting that Shiki Uzumaki completely ignored his injuries and engaged in extremely intense training. While it was for the sake of youth, this behavior remains truly despicable. Especially since he actually dared to deceive you—wahhh!"
Before Lee could finish speaking, Shiki had already covered his mouth.
Shiki inwardly sighed, frustrated that Lee stuck so rigidly to honesty without any room for compromise.
Helplessly, he could only defend himself by saying, "Tenten, listen to me—this was entirely a malicious frame-up by Lee. In fact, I've never deceived you at all."
However, under these circumstances, even the guy at the barbecue stand gave him a pitiful glance.
As expected, Tenten shot Shiki an angry glare and said, "I go out of my way every day to bring you lunch and make sure you're okay — how could you keep lying to me? Shiki! How do you think you should handle this?"
Faced with such a difficult question, Shiki was completely stumped, unsure how to respond.
For ordinary girls, maybe a small gift would fix everything.
If she were just your average pretty girl, maybe a surprise would've worked.
The issue was Tenten—a strong-willed girl who yielded to neither soft nor hard approaches. This left Shiki completely frustrated.
Yet, looking at her cute expression right before him—the concern visible in her eyes—he couldn't help but feel a bit remorseful.
P.S. It's been a while, but I'd really appreciate your support — hope you'll leave a recommendation!
Chapter 63 - Further Improvements
It had been three days since Shiki and Tenten once again promised to properly rest and recover from injuries—but Shiki was still sweating profusely through his training.
Actually, within this forest, there were three distinct versions of Shiki striving in different ways—Shiki Kinoto studying medical ninjutsu among books, Shadow Clone B meditating motionlessly, and the real Shiki training his body relentlessly.
Shiki Kinoto was immersed in a sea of books. Occasionally frowning, occasionally showing delight on his face—it was as if he were a typical bookworm. Green chakra light flickered from his hands now and then, giving him a subtle distinction.
Meanwhile, Shadow Clone B sat motionless at the spot, seemingly sensing something or perhaps even dozing off. His expression remained serene, like an ancient Buddha statue.
In reality, he was trying to sense natural chakra. Originally, Shiki had assigned this shadow clone for ninjutsu training. However, since the shadow clone was an exact copy of himself, using any ninjutsu would overwhelm its chakra pathways, causing it to immediately dissipate.
Thus, this particular clone was left with what seemed an impossible task—sensing natural chakra.
As for the real Shiki, he continuously threw punches at rocks, wearing nothing but bandages wrapped around his fists.
With each "thump, thump, thump," blood gradually seeped through the bandages.
Indeed, this had become a frequent occurrence for Shiki. He'd long since gotten used to that kind of pain.
So much so that he'd developed another way to measure his training: stop punching only when the bandages were completely soaked with blood.
Bang!
With one final punch, the large boulder shattered. Looking down at his now devastated hands, Shiki mused, "Thank goodness I'm from the Uzumaki clan; otherwise, my medical ninjutsu alone probably wouldn't be enough to handle injuries like these."
Saying so, green light emerged from his right hand, applying it onto the back of his left. The wounds were only superficial cuts and bruises, yet under the effect of the medical ninjutsu, they started healing at a significantly faster pace.
He repeated the same treatment on his right hand.
After finishing, Shiki released the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The clone who studied medical ninjutsu provided him with a wealth of foundational knowledge.
However, curing severe conditions like paralysis quickly? That was absolutely impossible—especially not with just standard medical techniques.
This wasn't just about medical ninjutsu anymore—it had turned into a quest to develop entirely new jutsu-based healing methods.
Otherwise, couldn't he just go straight to Konoha Hospital and consult their top healing experts?
Moreover, Shiki also had a vague sense that Sena-chan was studying treatments for leg paralysis as well. She was making her own efforts to heal his right leg.
Of course, following their current approach—daily massages and auxiliary recovery—his paralyzed leg might naturally recover within about half a year. But Shiki couldn't bear wasting that much time.
As for the shadow clone attempting to sense natural chakra, it achieved absolutely nothing.
It was almost like he'd been sitting still all morning. For someone as time-conscious as Shiki, it already felt painful.
With mission duties set to resume soon, Shiki increasingly felt helpless.
His leg injury showed no sign of improvement, and without the advantage of taijutsu, he couldn't even use high-chakra-consuming techniques.
If this continues, Shiki felt he might actually lose to Hyuga Ao.
"No way. I must develop a new jutsu."
Shiki clenched his fist — it felt like this was already his only path forward.
Even if his injuries hadn't fully healed, as long as he could create a new jutsu that worked in his current state, victory was still within reach.
And with his past experience in creating new jutsu, this path might be a bit easier for him.
But what kind of new jutsu should he develop?
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