One could see the level of inner peace of this shadow clone by the large number of small birds resting on its body, legs, arms, and shoulders. There was even a small bluebird sleeping on its head.
Suddenly…
¡Puff!
The shadow clone disappeared, leaving a cloud of smoke and surprising all the birds.
As the small birds flew away in fright, Natsuo in his room received the memories of this shadow clone.
Shortly before, Natsuo had already prepared himself and received the entire meditation experience without any problems.
Inhale* Exhale*
Inhale* Exhale*
Inhale* Exhale*
As he breathed at a slow pace, Natsuo felt all the natural energy around him.
This experience was very different from what I had on a normal day, as I unconsciously ignored the natural energy around me, and it took a lot of meditation time to reach the current stage.
Inhale* Exhale*
Inhale* Exhale*
Inhale* Exhale*
As he breathed and felt the natural energy around him, Natsuo did not try to absorb the natural energy and only spent a few minutes before falling asleep.
.
.
.
The next day, Natsuo woke up early with his body refreshed and began his morning training.
After an hour, Natsuo took a bath and ate before heading to the academy.
During the following days, Natsuo attended the academy to take the final exams and soon the day of graduation arrived.
.
.
.
"Congratulations son, you're a ninja now!"
Outside the academy, the parents gathered with their children, congratulating them on passing the exams and becoming ninjas.
As he left the academy, Natsuo glanced at the orphans watching the children with their parents and could only sigh for them.
It was because he didn't have the mind of a child that he was able to support himself these years, very different from these children.
Whether they were civilian or orphans or clan orphans, they all wanted to feel the warmth of a family.
"Natsuo, let's go!"
"Mrs. Mito said we'll have barbecue!"
Next to Natsuo, Kushina arrived with Minato, and she pointed towards the distance where Mito Uzumaki was waiting.
Seeing Kushina pointing at her, Mito smiled at the children.
"Let's go," said Natsuo, and the three of them approached Mrs. Mito.
"Congratulations," Mito congratulated the three children, and the four of them walked to an Akimichi clan restaurant and ordered various meats.
And just as they were serving the food, Tsunade arrived.
"I'm sorry, I'm late."
"I had to sign some papers," Tsunade said.
"Congratulations on graduating," the blonde said to the 3 children as she sat down next to Mito.
"Thank you, Sister Tsunade"
"Thank you, Miss Tsunade"
"Thank you, teacher"
The three children responded with a smile.
While they ate, the group began to talk about the latest gossip in town.
Well, it was mainly Kushina and Mito who recounted what they had heard, since Minato and Natsuo weren't very sociable.
As for Tsunade, the young Senju had progressed in her Medical Ninjutsu skills and many speculate that she will be the next director of the hospital.
Seeing how busy she is now proved that it was true.
"I wanted us to be on a team together," Kushina said, sighing a little sadly as she glanced sideways at Natsuo.
Mito and Tsunade smiled when they realized this but said nothing.
Typically, students are placed in a team of 3 with their peers after graduation, and a higher-ranking ninja would be their teacher.
But this will not be the case for the 3 children.
Minato was Jiraiya's disciple, Natsuo was Tsunade's disciple, and Kushina was already Mito's disciple.
Of course, Kushina and Natsuo were lucky to have their teachers available in the village, while Minato would not have that privilege because his teacher Jiraiya spends a lot of time traveling.
For the time being, the blond boy will rotate through several teams that are not yet complete.
"Miss Tsunade," Kushina said.
"Tell me," Tsunade replied, looking at the girl.
"What's it like being a ninja?" Kushina asked, and Tsunade smiled before recounting her experiences as a ninja, with Mito adding comments from time to time.
Throughout lunch, the 3 children listened attentively to Tsunade and Mito's stories.
After lunch, the group returned to the Senju compound where they spent the afternoon.
At Kushina's insistence, Natsuo agreed to visit the Senju compound for the entire following week.
Since the teams were being formed next week, the three of them will take Minato's days off to play.
Since some rest was good, Natsuo agreed.
During the following week, Natsuo visited the Senju compound and spent time with Kushina and Minato without training.
Mito even stopped teaching them fuinjutsu so they could rest this week.
What none of them expected was that months after the start of the new year, the drums of war sounded from the land of rain.
.
.
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During the days following the announcement of the war, Natsuo saw the movement of the village's resources.
As he was heading to the hospital, he reviewed what he knew so far.
According to what he heard, Hanzo the salamander, leader of the rain village, declared war on 3 of the main villages.
The sand, the rock, and the leaf.
Since the Land of Rain was among the 3 great countries, all their conflicts were faced in the Land of Rain, severely affecting the country, and this was Hanzo's official reason for starting the war.
And as a consequence of this war, many things have gone up in price.
This is why you see a greater number of police officers on alert to maintain control.
Of course, the civilian population was not as disturbed because a war had never directly affected the Leaf Village.
All the conflicts have been far from the village and they had no reason to think that the Leaf Village would lose this war.
After all, it was just the land of rain, wasn't it?
After entering the hospital, Natsuo was quickly called to help in an operating room.
While a doctor performed the operation, Natsuo just watched and helped like a simple assistant.
Natsuo was not the only assistant, as there were 5 apprentice medical ninjas by his side listening to the lead medical ninja's guidance while he operated.
And after the operation, Natsuo walked around the hospital seeing where he could help.
After all, Tsunade had only recently become famous, and Natsuo was only 10 years old despite his height, so the others didn't expect much from him.
Natsuo took advantage of the fact that others underestimated him so he didn't have to show his skills... until now.
Of course, that could not last long now that the war suddenly intensified months after Hanzo declared war on the 3 countries.
At first, the civilian population thought the war was only against the Rain Village, and only a few noticed the small conflicts in recent years and took into account the years since the first ninja world war.
And as many expected, the second ninja world war was soon officially announced.
In this world war, the main fighters were the village of Rock, Sand, Leaf, and Rain.
Although many thought Hanzo was crazy for declaring war on 3 of the great villages at the same time, everyone knew of his power.
At first the battlefield was the land of rain, a fact that the land of rain had been used to for several years due to the conflicts between those 3 countries.
But soon, that changed.
Hanzo stood up and appeared alongside his summoning beast, a giant salamander, at the camps of the 3 villages in the land of rain and forced them to retreat while suffering heavy losses.
Hanzo was very strong, an S-Rank ninja and as strong as any Kage from the 5 great nations, and she defeated the commanders of all 3 armies in one battle.
Although those commanders did not die, they had to retreat under Hanzo's assault.
Of course, the armies of the three great villages weren't just commanders; they also had hundreds, even over a thousand, of ninja. But that was no use against the combined techniques of Hanzo and his summoned beast.
To begin with, the salamander's poison was lethal and, together with Hanzo's water techniques, could wipe out large numbers of ninjas in wide-range attacks.
And since the environment of the land of rain was abundant in water, Hanzo's strength increased in his territory.
Here was born Hanzo of the Salamander, who forced the 3 great nations back out of the land of rain.