Chapter 22: The Winning Gambit

Chapter 22: The Winning Gambit

A/N: 10 more advanced chaps pumped today, 5 remaining to complete the total 15 additional advance chap for the next tier~!

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Kushina, Mikoto, and Kai stood in front of their individual benches and looked at a large fish placed on a parchment covered in seal marks. Seals that are meant to attune their chakra to their most primal aspect Yin and Yang. His thoughts were pulled out when Tsunade started the explanation

"As taught from the very beginning, Chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energy. Thus, chakra can affect the metaphysical and the physical. Aside from nurturing the body, chakra can be molded into elemental ninjutsu, genjutsu, and things like Fuinjutsu, too. But, Genjutsu largely does not require any hand seals because it has no form. Genjutsu takes control of enemy chakra with our own and induces illusions, that is the work of the yin side of our chakra or more specifically, the spiritually charged chakra."

"Iryo Ninjutsu's base is similar in that regard. It does not need hand seals but a certain charge and proportion of chakra that can induce growth in our patient's body. The seal under the almost dead fish is formed in a way that will charge your chakra needed to induce this growth. With this, you will learn how to use your chakra for the Mystical Palm Technique. You may think that it would be easy but far from it, without hand seals that are more of a crutch for chakra manipulation, you will be using your own body's reaction to add this charge and then maintain it. The level of control needed is mind-boggling for civilians and even clan nins but... if you three don't get it done, prepare for trouble and I'll damn sure make it double!"

Seeing the intimidated look on the kids' faces, Tsunade nodded and smirked, "Begin. You will be provided with the materials, good for you, huh. All the other clans must pay an exorbitant amount of money to train and figure out their own geniuses."

The trio quickly manipulated the chakra in their body and sent it outwards from both their palms. The moment they did so, the seal lit up briefly before their extremely light bluish chakra gained a hint of turquoise before fading as Tsunade snapped, "Are you trying to kill the fishes with THAT much chakra? Again. Control and feel the flow of the seal! The box fishes have a long lifespan even without water but you three have 30 minutes to save them... or eat them after!"

Meanwhile, Kai looked at the skill with a hint of almost uncontained glee!

[Mystical Palm Technique (1/15): Allows the user to charge the chakra with yin and yang in a specific ratio to induce growth in the target. Reduce chakra wastage by 0.6 for every level. Reduces chakra consumption by 3.3 at every level. Chakra Consumption: 1100/min.

Next Level: Use this technique for 7 hours or 5 SP.]

'A C-level technique, huh,' Kai then looked at the title he had for some time.

[Tsunade's Apprentice: Increase Tsunade's favor and reduce the requirements of learning any Iryo Ninjutsu by 30.]

And equipped it. Honestly, the Basic Iryo Ninjutsu skill tree only had this technique and a chakra scalpel technique. Both of them should be C-rank thus their cost. But with increased proficiency, they will reduce the unnecessary chakra they waste unconsciously and even reduce the chakra needed for the skill to some extent. While the formation of skills made sure that Kai was more efficient in growth, that didn't mean these effects didn't apply to others who master a technique to a certain extent.

When they started again, Tsunade almost stood up and slapped Kai.

What the hell?!

No, WHY the hell?!

The second time, Kai's chakra seemed to have accustomed slightly more to it but she could see that his chakra wasn't nearly enough to fully heal the fish given his currently low efficiency and as expected, while Kai got the charge and the chakra quantity right, he was found lacking in chakra supply.

Mikoto had yet to get the first step right but she was improving at a breakneck pace given that her Sharingan was rotating crazily but... she also lost chakra even quicker than Kai! Awakening Sharingan had boosted her chakra as a form of a growth spurt when they were studying for their exams so right now, all her students had basic chunin level chakra.

Finally... Kushina tried and continued for the entire half-hour until the fish finally flopped down lifelessly as she groaned before looking at Tsunade as her words made the recovering Mikoto and Kai grit their teeth, "Another fish! Oh, I'll pack this one to eat later dattebane!" Her violet eyes flickered with furious determination.

---

Three well-known figures waved at the two Senju Guards and entered the Senju Compound with a casual expression. It was barely dawn but the compound was active and two of them were quickly held down by a third raven-haired figure and quickly were forced to stop in front of a kindly smiling old lady who was preparing dango, dumplings, and whatnot.

"Ah, Uchiha-chan, here for training again? The usual, hmm?" The woman smiled as Mikoto chortled with a heavenly praising voice that she found such a good spot, "Yes, please~!"

The woman chuckled and began preparing while Kai and Kushina grumbled, "Dangos? Again? I'm tired!" Kushina scowled.

"That's how you'll turn fat, Mikoto-chan, and not in the way you would want..." Kai shrugged and the girl blushed, "Shut it! What do you know about a girl's wants, hmph!"

"I don't know, Jiraiya-san had a lot of things to talk about," Kai shrugged as they met the man outside the sex-ed lessons quite a bit and outside the class, the man had no shame and instead of serious consequences, talked about breasts all day!

Mentioning Jiraiya not only made Mikoto and Kushina scowl but also the old lady who happened to be one of the well-known retired kunoichi after Tsunade's act and Kushina grumbled, "I forbid you to speak with him again!"

"Nice try," Kai snorted, "He's fun to hang out with."

"No, Kushina is right! You don't want to be like that man Kai-chan!" Mikoto scoffed and fiercely bit on her first unfortunate dango.

"What do you know about a boy's wants?" Kai quipped back with another scoff. Heck, Jiraiya was a holy gem... that idea of his novel was just... sublime. So passionate. So... smutty!

"I'll tell Grandma Mito," Kushina growled like a threatened kitty.

"Then I'll tell her who broke the vase in the guest room and hid it," Kai snickered thinking that Mito already knew that while Kushina could only stare at Kai with indignant fury, "You dare!"

"Try me!" Kai smirked.

"Young man, you do NOT want to be like that man when learning from the matriarch... did you know that she once broke six of his ribs, ruptured his organs, and broke his arms just because he tried to have a sneaky touch when she was drunk?" The old kunoichi spoke and the trio's expression froze.

'Say what?' Kai's eyes widened.

"Oi, wait, wait! That's unfair. Besides, we have three members on each side, and making a tournament out of it is a hassle!" Jiraiya frowned and grumbled, "If it's a learning experience... why don't we keep it civil? Let's see. Each team will have a chance to challenge the other two in either tai, gen, or ninjutsu. The other two teams will send their members one after another and the category already used cannot be utilized as a challenge and the members who have competed cannot ah... wait, that's the same thing..." Jiraiya scratched his head and snickered.

Tsunade and Orochimaru knew he was going out of his way not only to annoy them but also their students.

"Whatever. Let's get done with the quickest one, Ninjutsu." Tsunade smiled and looked at Kushina who stepped out. Well, Kushina only knew one Ninjutsu... but the technique depended on chakra expended and she was damn good at it.

Meanwhile, Shinji Aburame walked out from Orochimaru's side and Hiro Mitokado smirked confidently and walked out and completed the triangle.

"Form the seal of confrontation," Orochimaru commanded as everyone stepped away.

Kushina looked at the others with barely veiled aggression and the moment the match started, Shinji jumped back while numerous bugs began to escape his sleeves and Hiro jumped back while performing several hand seals in quick succession when Kushina growled and stretched both of her palms in their direction each.

'Chakra Focus Blast!' This was the only Ninjutsu Tsunade taught Kushina and for a good reason as the skill was concussive in point-blank range but when Kushina exerted almost 8000 points of chakra and went in all in, a massive blast of chakra tore through the bugs and slammed into Shinji while still committing to the grind of hand seals, Hiro didn't even know how he fell back, almost unconscious.

"That's a D-rank technique forcefully made C... Tsunade, tsk tsk," Orochimaru shook his head as he and a sullen Jiraiya picked their teammates while with her nose held high, Kushina returned with her eyes wide and seeking praises.

"Just like that and you may just get that dream job of yours," Tsunade ruffled the girl's head with a snicker as Kushina pumped her fist.

"Awesome," Kai grinned as Kushina chortled, "Of course, dattebane!"

"Yeah, we both would have been folded too if we were sitting ducks like them," Mikoto smiled mischievously and kept her voice loud enough for others to hear her, instantly making them frown including Minato.

"Ninjutsu, point Team Tsunade only. Sigh, this may just be even shorter than expected. Now, genjutsu."

Orochimaru pointed out as Sen Sato walked out while brushing her short brown locks aside and Noha Utatane who had her dark brown hair done in a similar fashion to Mikoto walked out with a grave look.

"We know about you, Uchiha," Noha sneered and Sen smirked, "Yes. As long as we don't look at your eyes, we win."

But Mikoto only smiled in amusement.

It was at this point Orochimaru spoke again, "Point Team Tsunade only."

"What?" The other two girls looked in his direction when their surroundings seem to flicker for a second and the 'Mikoto' in front of them seemed to be torn from within by several pitch-black nightingales as they chirped loudly before the two girls saw Mikoto still standing beside Kushina and Kai, giggling, "I had my Sharingan activated from before. You just saw it... and forgot it," she winked as the two girls' hearts turned cold.

Lowering their heads in shame, the two returned to their respective team and Jiraiya proudly grinned, "Fine! Taijutsu!"

Minato, Nawaki, and Kai stepped out.

"I'll beat the two of you!" Nawaki rumbled with a confident smirk. Sadly, if this was a pissing contest or if he wasn't Tsunade's brother, he would have gone after the boy's mother, father, sister, and the whole damn generation... alas, Tsunade was fucking fierce.

"Seal of confrontation," Orochimaru called out while looking at his genjutsu disciple with a flicker of disappointment. These words were the hint themselves. Why wouldn't he have said the same thing during the genjutsu battle? Because the battle had already begun! But she would learn... or probably not live long enough to grow.

Kai, Nawaki, and Minato raised their hands in a familiar hand seal and looked at each other cautiously. While Tsunade may have gotten bat shit crazy if he tore Nawaki verbally, the woman did give them a single order Give them hell!

"Start!"

The trio flickered in an instant and appeared in the center with Minato's stance now grounded and his punch similar to a karate kata as Kai blocked it with one arm while his kick dangerously close to Nawaki's neck was stopped by his wrist as the boy grimaced... after all, Kai was still wearing ankle weights and those things are hard as heck!

Their battle instantly raged. It was clear that Taijutsu has been a major focus for them, well, at least, Minato and Nawaki.

"Toad Kata, really?" Tsunade looked at Jiraiya who chuckled, "You two didn't really think I have nothing to pass on, did you?"

"Well, nothing aside from your perversion," Tsunade snorted.

"Hmm, Senju's bodies are the most resilient and Nawaki pushed himself to the limits to learn two of Senju taijutsu styles and my snake-type movement skill. Your boy... a frog stance but his overall development is somewhat stunted because he is too interested in seals and is still tackling the theories of it. Finally, Kai-kun... how he can use academy level Taijutsu to take on Senju and Toad Kata is something I definitely am interested in learning."

It was quite simple, really. Kai had mastered what Nawaki knew and more. His body was quite tough, too even if Nawaki had his kekkei genkai which made him a hard hitter. It was all about knowledge. Knowing how Nawaki will fight, Kai could counter the boy easily while Minato was a slightly more troublesome guy because he never restricted himself to a 'style.' It's a taijutsu contest. You attack, evade, and counter. The last one standing wins. Nobody cares if you have some godly techniques but still lost the match.

But... their match was bound to be short as Kai finally slid into Nawaki's defense, delivering an incapacitating throat strike before throwing the wheezing boy on Minato who jumped back only to find Kai suddenly lunging and grappling down the boy into a brutal grip!

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Shoutout to Dreadix, Stealthkug, Hmmbot, Erumu Akemu, Water Daoist!

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