[Name: Higashino Shinichi]
[Rank: Chūnin / Sword Master]
[Talents: Blue Quality (Genius, Clone, Unceasing Vitality, Ninjutsu Proficiency, Taijutsu Proficiency.)
Green Quality (Auspicious Sign, Ominous Sign, Spirit Sense, Charisma, Big Eater, Quick-Witted, Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Innate Divine Strength, Thick Skin and Tough Flesh, Swift as a Rabbit, Bloodied Battle, Fire Release Proficiency, Swordsmanship Proficiency, Firearms Proficiency, Polearm Proficiency.)
White Quality (Calm, Genjutsu Basics, Wind Release Basics, Medical Basics.)]
...
After returning home, Shinichi opened his personal panel. Compared to before, the information on the panel had once again undergone significant changes.
First was the matter of upgrades. The original White Entry [Fire Release Basics] had already disappeared, replaced by the Green [Fire Release Proficiency].
[Fire Release Proficiency (Green): Your Affinity with Fire-attribute chakra has surpassed the ordinary. Your understanding of its characteristics and your refined control have reached a new level. The efficiency with which you learn and perform Fire Release ninjutsu has been significantly improved.]
The promotion of this Entry was clearly due to his successful development of the Great Flame Rasengan and Dark Swirl, which left those in the know with a deep impression of his extraordinary attainments in Fire Release.
Although the number of people was not large, the weight they carried was high enough.
Next was the evolution of the White Entry [Fighting Spirit].
[Bloodied Battle (Green): Pain and adversity instead ignite your fighting spirit. In battle, your combat will and physical explosiveness will be enhanced, thereby reducing your consumption.]
The origin of this Entry was owed to the Clone Isshin far away in the Land of Iron.
Over the past few months, under the identity of Isshin, he had challenged opponents across the southeastern region, stirring up trouble everywhere. His image as fierce and combative had long since taken root in people's hearts. Even though the effect was discounted by the [Clone] Entry, the wide scope and sufficiently deep impression meant that the gathered cognition still elevated [Fighting Spirit] to Green Quality.
Then there was the newly added White Entry:
[Genjutsu Basics (White): Your mental strength is relatively focused and delicate. You are more sensitive to the structure of genjutsu. Your ability to learn basic genjutsu and resist low-level genjutsu has been slightly enhanced.]
This was formed gradually after, in the few months of missions following last year's Chūnin Exams, he consciously used genjutsu multiple times to handle problems—leaving the local clients and crowds with the impression that this Konoha shinobi was quite good at genjutsu.
Although the increase was slight, by this point, in the three major categories—ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu—he possessed the corresponding basic Entries.
Finally, there were two new Green Entries that were unexpected, yet also perfectly reasonable—[Firearms Proficiency (Green)] and [Polearm Proficiency (Green)].
[Firearms Proficiency (Green): You possess an unusually keen intuition for weapons that rely on mechanical ignition to carry out long-range attacks. Not only do you master their structure, maintenance, and modification far faster than ordinary people, you can also, in real combat, rely on intuition to quickly anticipate a bullet's trajectory and grasp the best timing and angle to fire—significantly enhancing power, accuracy, and deterrent effect.]
[Polearm Proficiency (Green): You have deeply understood the mechanical advantages and combat logic of polearms. Your speed in learning and mastering the techniques of long weapons such as spears, halberds, and staves is significantly increased, and you can more effectively bring their range and control advantages to bear in actual combat, creating and exploiting openings.]
These two Entries likewise came from the reputation Clone Isshin had carved out in the Land of Iron.
His image—blade in hand, halberd on his shoulder, sweeping all before him—was unquestionably vivid, so the birth of [Polearm Proficiency] was only natural.
But this Firearms Proficiency…
Shinichi found it a little amusing. In all kinds of matches and sparring bouts, he had very rarely used that modified firelock gun—if you counted them all up, only a handful of times, few enough to count on both hands.
Yet the rate at which [Firearms Proficiency] was generated and promoted was actually a bit faster than [Polearm Proficiency]!
All one could say was that the impression "Ashina swordsmanship" left on the people of the Land of Iron was simply too shocking.
That single act of drawing the gun and firing during one match—the overturning impact and shock it produced—was likely far greater than him simply using blade and halberd to smash down ten dōjō.
And that also led to President Yagyū wearing a dark expression as he cleaned up after him from behind.
In addition, he had a premonition that the other two Green Entries on the panel—[Innate Divine Strength] and [Swordsmanship Proficiency]—might also be about to upgrade.
Those two Entries had reached Green long ago. Now, after a long period of accumulation and fermentation from multiple angles—especially from Clone Isshin's months of continuous, high-intensity real combat in the southeastern region of the Land of Iron—they had also garnered a considerable amount of cognition.
Perhaps it would only take one or two sufficiently weighty opportunities, or the addition of the final few bricks of cognition, to break through Green and step into the realm of Blue.
…
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Tsunade rose unusually early. Without disturbing Shizune in the next room, she left the house soundlessly.
The early-morning streets of Konoha were quiet and cool, the air filled with the scent of grass and dew.
She headed toward Training Ground Nine on the edge of the village, her steps neither hurried nor slow.
As she passed an open area, her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the Hokage Rock on the distant cliff.
The First, the Second, the Third… those familiar faces appeared solemn and distant in the morning light.
Once upon a time, she too had struggled with the goal of standing at that height; her younger brother Nawaki and Dan had been even more so.
The brutality of the Second Shinobi World War, and the successive deaths of those closest and dearest to her, had struck like heavy hammers, shattering her former ideals and passion.
Fear coiled around her heart like a venomous snake—fear of blood, fear of loss, fear of helplessness.
She chose to flee, numbing herself with alcohol, distancing herself from anything that might once again stir up the pain—including the responsibilities of being a shinobi.
Even when she realized that Shizune might graduate early and step onto the dangerous path of a ninja, her first reaction had still been evasive obstruction.
She tried to make Shizune give up, rather than face and change anything herself.
She was afraid of once again experiencing that despair—watching someone important leave before her eyes while she was powerless to stop it.
Until that black-haired boy, in the yakiniku restaurant, looked at her with those clear yet resolute eyes and spoke those words about protection and inheritance; until he, gravely injured by a strange backlash, still calmly stated his reason for becoming stronger; until she personally treated him and felt that vigorous vitality and the will that refused to turn back.
Something pried open a crack in the defenses of her heart, rusted by alcohol and despondency, and light seeped in.
If she feared losing someone, then she would protect them with all her strength!
If she could not change the fact that Shizune would become a shinobi, then she would personally become her shield and spear, tempering her until she was strong enough!
She had fled for too long. It was time to step forward again—not for any dream of becoming Hokage, but simply to protect those who could still be protected before her eyes.
Her chaotic thoughts gradually settled, condensing into a clear and firm resolve.
Before she knew it, the outline of Training Ground Nine had already appeared before her.
"Tsunade-senpai?"
A gentle voice tinged with unmistakable surprise came from behind her.
"Minato?"
Tsunade came back to her senses and looked up. A head of dazzling golden hair stood out strikingly in the morning light; the newcomer had handsome features and a mild temperament. It was Namikaze Minato.
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