After eating their fill,
Tsunade didn't rush to depart.
Instead, she had Shizune continue teaching Karin outside,
while she brought Ren back into the wooden house to personally instruct him in the Strength of a Hundred Technique.
She first had him carefully read through the scrolls on the Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred Technique.
"The Strength of a Hundred Technique requires accumulating a certain amount of chakra over three years?"
After reading the explanation on the scroll, Ren looked at Tsunade in surprise.
"That requirement applies to people with smaller chakra reserves. Even when I perfected the technique and officially began training it back then, I couldn't skip that step."
Tsunade nodded.
But looking at Ren in front of her, she sighed with mixed emotions.
"However, your chakra reserves are at least five times greater than mine right now. It won't affect you at all."
Even among the Senju or Uzumaki clans, who were famous for their massive chakra reserves,
someone at Ren's age who could rival him might only be the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki of past generations.
Even the First Hokage at the same age wouldn't measure up.
Ten-year-old Ren's chakra had increased more than threefold compared to two years ago.
By Tsunade's estimation,
his chakra reserves were now at least five times her own.
Of course, that calculation didn't include the chakra she had stored in the Yin Seal.
He was simply a monstrous anomaly.
"That's good to hear."
Ren smiled.
Sitting cross-legged, under Tsunade's guidance,
he began practicing the Yin Seal.
His hands constantly formed seals.
His expression was completely serious as he immersed himself in the training.
Within his consciousness—
Flowing… flowing…
The stream of chakra within his body circulated endlessly through his chakra network.
As Ren formed hand seals and focused all his attention,
a pool resembling a bottomless reservoir gradually opened up.
Part of the flowing chakra was diverted out of his chakra network,
continuously pouring into that mysterious pool.
"—"
Less than half an hour later,
a diamond-shaped mark appeared directly on Ren's forehead.
Seeing this, Tsunade's eyes twitched.
She felt somewhat speechless.
Once again, she had been dealt a blow.
Back when she first learned the Yin Seal,
she had spent a great deal of time and effort mastering it.
Yet Ren had grasped it so easily.
"No good, Tsunade-nee. The Yin Seal can store too little chakra…"
Ren opened his eyes and said helplessly.
"At this rate, it won't be long before I completely fill it up."
The Yin Seal was indeed extremely useful.
At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of chakra in the future.
Although his chakra reserves were already astonishing—enough to overwhelm ordinary Kage-level fighters—
his future opponents were far beyond the level of the Five Kage.
They were basically human-shaped tailed beasts.
And very likely something on the level of the Ten-Tails.
So a Yin Seal that was perfectly sufficient for other people
felt slightly inadequate for him.
"There's nothing we can do about that. Your chakra reserves are just too large."
Tsunade shrugged helplessly.
"But I think this is already more than enough for you."
"Next, stay here and practice the Yin Seal and Strength of a Hundred Technique."
"If there's anything you don't understand, come ask me."
With that said,
Tsunade stood up and walked outside.
She planned to guide Karin's training for a while.
She understood very clearly how great Ren's potential was.
Someone like him was destined not to focus solely on medical ninjutsu.
He would inevitably walk a path of all-round development.
And Tsunade didn't want her teaching to limit his boundless future.
Especially since—
Uchiha Madara might still be alive somewhere in the shadows, lurking like a venomous snake while plotting some unknown scheme.
If Ren's speculation was correct,
and Madara had truly been influenced by the mysterious stone tablet in the Uchiha clan shrine—supposedly left by the legendary Sage of Six Paths—and was trying to collect all the tailed beasts to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi upon the world…
Then the only person capable of stopping him
would be Ren.
Because of that,
Tsunade had already decided to train Karin—who possessed excellent talent and Uzumaki blood—as the true successor of her medical lineage.
"Alright."
Ren nodded with a smile.
He remembered that in the original timeline,
when Haruno Sakura trained the Strength of a Hundred Technique,
she had felt her chakra reserves were insufficient.
By relying on her extremely precise chakra control,
she had forcibly created another small reservoir outside the mysterious pool of the Strength of a Hundred Technique—
a small "chakra storage" for everyday use.
It was definitely something worth learning from.
Perhaps he could open an even larger and broader "lake."
For others, that might be extremely difficult.
But for Ren,
it might not be impossible.
That confidence came naturally after he had fully digested the vast and priceless knowledge contained in the Uchiha clan's archives.
Three days later.
The Land of Hot Water.
On a scenic hillside,
four people—and a pig—stood looking toward a small town visible in the distance.
"Wow! So this is the Land of Hot Water?"
"Mm."
Tsunade, who had visited before, smiled and said,
"On a single street, at least half the shops are hot spring businesses. Even most inns are hot spring inns."
"The geography here is special. Natural hot springs lie beneath the ground, which is why the place is famous far and wide."
"There's even a saying here—if you dig deep enough almost anywhere, you might hit a steaming hot spring."
"That's amazing!"
Karin's eyes sparkled.
Unable to wait any longer, she ran ahead with her little medicine basket.
"Tonton, let's go!"
"Oink! Oink!"
"Wait, Karin—"
As the "senior sister," Shizune tried to act calm and mature.
But her quickening footsteps immediately betrayed her excitement.
Ren followed behind with a smile.
Even Tsunade didn't bother to scold them.
Before long,
the group entered the small town.
Looking at the rows of shops along the street, each marked with signs for hot spring baths,
they were a little stunned.
However—
more than half of the shops were clearly hanging signs that read Closed.
"But why are there so few people?"
Looking at the quiet street, where only a few pedestrians hurried past,
Karin asked in confusion,
"And everyone looks like they're in a rush, like they're afraid of running into something!"
"When I came here before, it wasn't like this at all. It was very lively."
Tsunade frowned slightly.
"Let's find a place to stay first and ask around."
Ren shrugged.
Soon,
they found a hot spring inn that was still open and looked fairly decent.
"Boss, three rooms with soft beds, and one table of premium food."
Ren knocked on the counter,
waking up the innkeeper who had been dozing off.
"Also arrange a private hot spring. Not the kind where you bathe with strangers."
Since Karin was still young,
and they were traveling outside the village where danger could appear at any time,
she usually slept in the same room as Shizune.
That was why Ren asked for three rooms.
"A room?"
The chubby innkeeper rubbed his sleepy eyes.
Hearing that customers had arrived, he immediately perked up.
Clearly delighted.
"Of course, no problem! I'll have everything prepared right away…"
Then he looked at them and asked,
"You're travelers from outside, right?"
"Yes, we just arrived."
Tsunade nodded and asked directly,
"Why is the town so quiet? When I visited before, it was quite lively. There's no war going on right now, right?"
"These days… things haven't been very peaceful here."
The innkeeper collected the deposit and began registering their stay.
Looking at them, he warned,
"If you go out, it's best not to go alone."
"Huh?"
"What happened?"
Karin and Shizune looked surprised.
Of course, since they were ninja—and with Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, and Ren, who looked harmless but was terrifyingly strong—
they weren't frightened.
"It's all because of the Jashin Cult."
The innkeeper led them upstairs to their rooms.
With a worried expression, he sighed.
"In the past few months, people have been murdered one after another. The way they died was extremely brutal… and all the victims were alone."
"What?"
Karin asked in shock,
"Who did it?"
Tsunade, Ren, and Shizune all frowned as well.
The innkeeper shook his head.
"No one has seen the killer. But a symbol of the Jashin Cult was left at every crime scene."
"It's said the town lord even asked ninja from Yugakure to investigate the matter."
"But not only did they fail to catch the killer—those ninja were killed too."
"The Jashin Cult…?"
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly in surprise.
Could it be… Hidan?
If he remembered correctly,
before joining the Akatsuki, that guy had already become a rogue ninja from Yugakure.
"In any case, this whole situation has made everyone panic."
The innkeeper sighed again.
"Many tourists and travelers have already fled. Business has been terrible lately…"
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