"Between Ice Release and this kind of unique hand-seal-less Ninjutsu, you've been pretty busy lately..."
"Forget it. I don't want to talk to you about talent."
"But you've been busy developing new techniques. Have you mastered the Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique I taught you?"
"Don't tell me you still haven't mastered it!"
In a training ground on the outskirts of the Forest of Death, Tsunade and Seiryū had just finished a sparring match. Against the current Seiryū, even when Tsunade went all out with Wood Release, she still fell behind. She was completely suppressed and barely had the strength to resist.
This left Tsunade feeling very frustrated. This brat was growing too fast.
However, what concerned Tsunade was that this brat had been busy developing new techniques lately. Did he even have time to practice her Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique?
Seiryū already possessed the highly effective healing art, Kaidō. With the addition of the S-rank Medical Ninjutsu, Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique, as long as his head was not blown off, it would be very difficult for Seiryū to die. This would reduce the danger Seiryū faced in war.
Therefore, Tsunade naturally cared a great deal about whether Seiryū had mastered the Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique.
"I squeezed in some time to practice, and with my talent, I naturally mastered it long ago!" Regarding this question, Seiryū flashed a smug smile.
After learning Senjutsu, Tsunade had also taught him the S-rank Medical Ninjutsu, the Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique. While Seiryū was researching new techniques, he had also taken time to practice it.
It was true that the Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique was an S-rank Medical Ninjutsu. However, the difficulty lay mainly in accumulating chakra inside the Yin Seal. But Seiryū had Dragon Vein chakra, so he skipped the process of accumulating chakra entirely. He mastered the technique in less than ten days.
"Fine. I should have known. You're just a freak..." Tsunade wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Seiryū glanced sideways at Tsunade. Too lazy to argue, he continued, "Your Wood Release power has also increased quite a bit recently. Have you mastered any other Wood Release Ninjutsu? Like the Wood Human Technique or the Wood Dragon Technique."
"Oh, and the True Several Thousand Hands. That should be Great-Grandfather's strongest Wood Release Ninjutsu, right?"
Through this sparring match, Seiryū could see that Tsunade had worked hard on Wood Release. She was much stronger than when she had first started. He just did not know how her training with stronger Wood Release, or Wood Release infused with Senjutsu chakra, was going.
"It's not that easy..." Tsunade glared at Seiryū. Was "Great-Grandfather" something he could just casually call him now? She then said, "I'm not a freak with ridiculous talent like you. I can only take it one step at a time. For now, I'm barely satisfied."
Even though she had awakened Wood Release, and even though she had practiced Wood Release diligently, Seiryū had still caught up to her. There was a gap in talent.
As for her current Wood Release, she could only say she was barely satisfied. As for rivaling her own grandfather, she estimated that she would not be able to do that in this lifetime.
"Is that so?" Seiryū nodded slightly. Then he thought of a question. "Right, after you release the Yin Seal, can you enter Sage Mode?"
Could the Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique be stacked with Sage Mode? Logically, it should be feasible. After all, stacking states to unleash stronger power was something Naruto had done more than once in the original work. Things like Sage Fox Mode, Ashura Kurama Mode, Six Paths Sage Mode, or Majestic Attire: Susanoo.
Even Seiryū himself could stack the Eight Gates with his intangible state. There would be no conflict.
But Tsunade's situation seemed a bit different. The Yin Seal was about releasing stored chakra. But Sage Mode required maintaining a balance between three types of energy.
Tsunade thought for a moment before shaking her head. "The chakra for the Yin Seal requires long-term storage, and I don't have a supply of Dragon Vein chakra."
"Every time I use the Yin Seal, I need a longer period of time to accumulate chakra again."
"Under these circumstances, I won't attempt it lightly."
Seiryū's hypothesis did indeed have some possibility.
But she had not attempted it, mainly because the Yin Seal required a long period of chakra accumulation. Every use consumed what had been stored. The accumulation speed of the Yin Seal was not fast to begin with. Now that war was about to break out, how could she casually attempt such a thing?
The chakra stored in the Yin Seal needed to be used at critical moments. It could not be wasted casually.
Seiryū nodded. "That's true..."
He then thought of another possibility. "Since my Dragon Vein chakra can be stored in the Yin Seal, then logically, Senjutsu chakra should be able to as well."
Seiryū was curious. "Do you want to try storing Senjutsu chakra in the Yin Seal and see? This might allow you to activate Sage Mode instantly."
Instant activation of Sage Mode.
The First Hokage in the original work could do it.
Seiryū had also mentioned this to his senpai, Minato. It might be related to proficiency.
However, even with talent as great as Minato's, after a considerable amount of exploration, he still could not activate Sage Mode instantly. It would take at least ten seconds or so.
As for Tsunade, in places where natural energy was not abundant, it would take at least around a minute.
This was the drawback of Sage Mode.
Of course, other methods could be used to speed it up, achieving an effect similar to instant activation.
For example, having a shadow clone accumulate Senjutsu chakra in advance, then dispelling the shadow clone and using the connection between the clone and the original body to transfer the Senjutsu chakra back to the original body.
This was what Naruto did in the original work. It could indeed work.
But do not forget, Tsunade had one advantage.
That was the Yin Seal.
Seiryū's Yin Seal could store Dragon Vein chakra. So could Tsunade's Yin Seal store Senjutsu chakra?
If Senjutsu chakra were stored in the Yin Seal, would releasing the Yin Seal not be equivalent to instantly activating Sage Mode?
And the duration would be linked to the amount of Senjutsu chakra stored in the Yin Seal.
The effect would be significant.
"..."
Hearing this, Tsunade fell into brief thought. Two seconds later, she said, "It has a certain feasibility. As long as natural energy is stored in the Yin Seal, and the chakra stored inside the Yin Seal reaches a balance with the natural energy, it could give birth to Senjutsu chakra..."
It was indeed possible.
A large amount of Tsunade's chakra was already stored inside the Yin Seal. She only needed to attempt to store natural energy inside as well.
And if a balance were achieved, it would directly give birth to Senjutsu chakra.
But soon, Tsunade realized a problem and shook her head. "However, there is a problem. I don't know how much chakra is stored in the Yin Seal, or how much natural energy would be needed to achieve a balance."
"Most importantly, without releasing the Yin Seal, I can't control the chakra stored inside it..."
This was a problem that could not be ignored.
Senjutsu chakra required controlling, balancing, and stabilizing three types of energy to be generated.
If the three energies could not be balanced, one would suffer the backlash of natural energy and turn into a puddle of sludge.
Tsunade could not judge how much chakra was stored in the Yin Seal. Without releasing the Yin Seal, she could not control the stored chakra either.
Because of this, there would be great risk.
Seiryū also realized this and said helplessly, "In other words, to test whether Senjutsu chakra can be stored in the Yin Seal, you would need to exhaust all the chakra stored inside the Yin Seal first, then start storing it from scratch?"
Tsunade nodded. "That's right."
Hearing the affirmative answer, Seiryū was also a bit speechless. "Then forget it. Storing that much chakra isn't easy, and it should at least be used in a critical situation."
Storing such a large amount of chakra was not easy, and Tsunade would not use it unless it was a critical moment.
After all, it was only a hypothesis.
Whether Tsunade could do it was another matter. Even if she could, it might take a long time to accumulate the Yin Seal again.
Honestly, it was a bit more loss than gain.
The main issue was that the current situation in the Ninja World was turbulent, and war would break out sooner or later.
The chakra stored in the Yin Seal could be considered Tsunade's trump card.
The difference between Tsunade with the Yin Seal released and Tsunade without it released could be said to be worlds apart.
Tsunade let out a breath. "If you had brought this up earlier, I could have tried it, but in the current situation, it's not possible."
Seiryū shrugged. "I only just thought of it too. There have been too many things to deal with lately, and it won't be any more relaxed afterward either."
"Let's see in the future if we can use Dragon Vein chakra..."
'Swish!'
As Seiryū spoke, an Anbu ninja suddenly flashed into appearance, causing his voice to stop.
As soon as this Anbu appeared, he bowed respectfully toward Tsunade.
He said seriously, "Tsunade-sama, Hokage-sama requests your presence at the Hokage Office!"
Tsunade's brows furrowed slightly. She had already anticipated something, but she only said calmly, "I understand."
After the Anbu ninja left, Tsunade said to Seiryū, "You come along too."
As time passed, the situation in the Ninja World became increasingly turbulent.
Not long ago, they had learned that the other ninja villages were also becoming restless, and some were even making moves in secret.
Now that Hiruzen was looking for her, the next Hokage, it was clearly related to the war.
Seiryū did not refuse. "Then let's go."
'Swish!'
Seiryū took Tsunade and flashed outside the Hokage Building.
Then they walked straight toward the Hokage Office.
"Come in!"
Hiruzen's voice came from inside the office.
Pushing the door open, Tsunade walked in with Seiryū.
Without wasting words, Tsunade asked Hiruzen, who was smoking, "Sensei, has something happened?"
"Hmm."
Glancing at Seiryū, who had come along, Hiruzen did not mind and simply nodded.
Afterward, he took a deep puff of his pipe, exhaled the smoke, and explained the situation. "Someone attacked our outpost camp located on the border of the Land of Fire, and everyone in the camp was killed."
"I sent Minato to investigate this matter, but during the investigation, Minato's squad encountered the Kumogakure Jinchūriki, Killer Bee, and the squad of A, son of the Third Raikage. This led to a battle, with both sides suffering some casualties."
"And according to the intelligence sent by Minato, the outpost camps of Konoha, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure were attacked one after another on the same day."
"It is not yet known which side the ninja who did this belongs to."
"It could be an act by Sunagakure or Kirigakure to drag us into the war, or it could be a self-inflicted ploy by Iwagakure or Kumogakure."
"But after this incident, the three parties of Konoha, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure will inevitably be dragged into the quagmire of war, and we need to prepare for the arrival of war."
Konoha, which was currently observing the situation, naturally could not have done something like attacking other ninja villages.
It could be said that Konoha was the ninja village that least wanted war to break out.
Occupying the fertile land of the Land of Fire, they lacked nothing.
The previous wars were also mostly provoked by other ninja villages.
In the current situation, perhaps it was a self-inflicted ploy by either Iwagakure or Kumogakure.
Or it could be a tactic by Sunagakure or Kirigakure to drag Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Konoha, who were watching from the sidelines, into the quagmire of war.
But no matter the reason, since Konoha had already clashed with Kumogakure and there were casualties, whether it was Konoha or Kumogakure, they were already involved in this Ninja World War.
'How did senpai end up against the AB Combo again? Historical inevitability?'
After hearing this, Seiryū also complained inwardly.
Historical inevitability?
Actually, it was normal for Minato to encounter the AB Combo.
On the same battlefield, the probability of strong people meeting was not small. In the original work, Minato had also encountered Kumogakure's AB Combo quite often.
It was a coincidence, an accident, and also a kind of inevitability.
"Hoo..."
After hearing Hiruzen's words, Tsunade let out a breath and then asked, "You didn't ask me to come over just to tell me this, right? What do you need me to do?"
Hiruzen said calmly, "When necessary, I want you to display the power of Wood Release..."
Tsunade, who had awakened Wood Release, was undoubtedly a deterrent.
Konoha was founded on Wood Release.
The deterrence of Wood Release was enough to make any ninja village feel wary.
Nowadays, not many people knew that Tsunade had awakened Wood Release.
Only the ninja who had witnessed it at the time knew.
And those ninja were mostly the backbone of Konoha, so it was unlikely that they were spies from other ninja villages.
If a spy were allowed to reach that level, then Konoha would be far too incompetent in that regard.
There was another point.
Although Konoha was not closed off, because of the appearance of "Madara" and the increasingly tense situation in the Ninja World, it had been in a relatively martial-law state.
The Barrier Squad operated twenty-four hours a day.
Unless it was a ninja capable of using Space-Time Ninjutsu, anyone who wanted to leave Konoha needed to undergo strict screening, and Genjutsu would even be used.
This also prevented spies from passing information out.
In other words, the other ninja villages were currently unlikely to know that Tsunade had awakened Wood Release.
This was a trump card, a deterrent.
When necessary, it could play a significant role.
Tsunade was silent for two seconds before saying, "Do you need me to go to the front line now?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "It's not time yet. We still need to see which ninja village will make a move against us first, and then deal them a heavy blow."
As he said this, Hiruzen looked at Seiryū, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
This little guy's strength could not be underestimated either. Just like Tsunade's Wood Release, it was something that could play an unexpected role at a critical moment.
These master and disciple were both Konoha's trump cards!
(To be continued.)