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Prince of Tennis: Ninja of Tennis
The sun had fully risen above the horizon, flooding the world with light.
The sky was bright, yet Taiichi still sat on the sand. Seawater had risen past his knees and was now lapping at his stomach—the morning tide was coming in.
He kept trying to drag his scattered spirit back in, refusing to lose even a single fragment. It was harder than he expected. The farther out the pieces had gone, the more difficult they were to reclaim.
By the time the water reached his waist, he finally opened his eyes. The usual sharpness in his gaze was gone, replaced by deep exhaustion.
"Too close… I almost died on this empty beach today."
Taiichi pressed a hand over his heart, breathing slowly to steady himself.
He had assumed that since he wasn't actively training Sage Mode yet, there wouldn't be any real danger. He had been wrong. The risk had snuck up on him the moment he let his guard down.
Even now, the memory made his skin crawl.
He pulled up his panel. The records were detailed, just as he expected.
[Sense Nature, Understand Nature — Initial mastery of natural energy achieved.]
[Skill: Sage Mode Lv0 (0/100)]
[Controlling natural energy — Sage Mode experience +1]
Focusing on the new entry brought a flood of information. It confirmed what he already suspected: the moment his spirit had begun guiding the natural energy to move, that was when he had truly started interacting with it.
[Sense Nature — Spiritual Assimilation in progress.]
The same notification repeated several times. Every time it appeared, his Sage Mode experience ticked up faster.
But when he read the actual meaning behind "Spiritual Assimilation," any excitement vanished.
If his will wasn't strong enough, the more he tried to sense and control natural energy, the more his spirit would spread on its own. Once it reached a certain distance, it would be completely absorbed by nature. He would become a living corpse with a dissolved soul.
Scanning the rest of his panel, Taiichi saw the price he had already paid.
[Spirit: 32 (33)]
One full point of Spirit had been lost. Those were the fragments that had drifted too far for him to pull back.
The panel made it clear this wasn't permanent. With proper rest, the lost point would return. Still, the relief that washed over him was real.
Sage Mode training was no joke. Even his accidental, half-understood version had nearly killed him. If he hadn't felt that sudden warning at the last second, he really would have died on this beach.
He looked up at the sun. It was already high. Almost nine in the morning.
Taiichi stood up. Golden flames wrapped around his body, instantly drying his soaked clothes.
He closed his eyes, sensed the location of his shadow clone, and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was high above the open ocean.
His clone gave him a strange look. Taiichi didn't even need to ask what it meant.
You're late. What the hell took you so long?
If they had been standing on solid ground, Taiichi would have wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
He laughed awkwardly and dispelled the clone. The memories flowed in.
The Mist fleet had continued sailing south, staying roughly fifty kilometers off the coast. No change in direction. At their current speed, they would enter the waters of the Land of Wind around noon.
Taiichi created a fresh shadow clone to keep watching, then teleported away to report to Jiraiya.
Southern camp — main command tent.
Jiraiya stared at Taiichi with a very odd expression.
Dark circles under his eyes. Dull, tired gaze. His usual sharp presence felt noticeably weaker, like something vital had been drained out of him.
Jiraiya's mind immediately went to places that were definitely not appropriate for a teacher-student conversation.
"Taiichi… you're still young. Even if you're curious, there's no need to go that hard. The Three Shinobi Prohibitions exist for a reason, you know."
He spoke with the heavy tone of someone who had lived through it.
Taiichi blinked, confused at first. Then the words "Three Shinobi Prohibitions" registered and his face darkened.
This idiot.
"Sensei, I didn't break any prohibitions. I had an accident during training."
Jiraiya's playful expression vanished instantly. If training had left Taiichi looking like this, then something had gone seriously wrong.
"Tell me what happened. I'm still your teacher."
Taiichi hesitated for a second, then decided to be honest.
"Sensei… do you know about Sage Mode?"
Jiraiya's right eyebrow shot up. He looked Taiichi over from head to toe with sudden intensity.
"You learned the Sage Art from Shikkotsu Forest?"
"Not exactly. This morning I accidentally entered a special state and saw natural energy. Then I lost control for a bit and almost scattered my spirit across the ocean."
Taiichi gave him the short version. Jiraiya's eyebrow kept twitching the entire time.
This kid…
Jiraiya had gone through hell to learn Sage Mode. Bugs. Pain. Near-death experiences. And Taiichi had just stumbled into it on a beach?
He forced his face back into something resembling calm.
"Sage Art training always carries heavy risks. The three great summoning realms all have different conditions and dangers. Who knows what other methods exist in the world."
He spoke with the weight of experience, even though his own Sage Mode was still shaky at best. He wasn't in any position to properly teach Taiichi, but he wasn't about to admit that.
"I need some time to think about this. Your situation is… unusual."
Taiichi gave him a skeptical look but didn't push. Jiraiya was clearly planning to go ask the toads on Mount Myōboku. That was fine. Even if his teacher didn't have answers, at least someone would be looking into it.
From what the panel had shown him, the core issue was simple: his will wasn't strong enough yet. The moment natural energy responded to him, his spirit had started spreading on its own.
Will was harder to train than anything else. The panel didn't even give it a number. Taiichi knew his will was already above average for his age — years of brutal training had seen to that — but it clearly wasn't enough to resist natural assimilation yet.
Ironically, training Sage Mode itself might be one of the fastest ways to strengthen his will… assuming he didn't die doing it.
Once the personal topic was done, they moved to business.
"Mist is almost at the Land of Wind's waters and still hasn't turned. It doesn't look like they're planning to land in the Land of Rivers."
Taiichi gave a full report on the fleet's movements and shared his own thoughts.
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, thinking.
"You really think they're going after Sand on their own?"
"After everything we did to them, it would make sense if—"
Taiichi stopped mid-sentence.
Jiraiya's question had made him realize something. They had all assumed Mist wanted revenge on Leaf. But Mist and Sand had plenty of bad blood between them too. What if Mist really was just going after Sand for their own reasons?
Jiraiya saw the realization hit and laughed.
"Exactly. We don't actually know their goal. So we stay ready for anything. You keep watching them. As long as they don't catch us by surprise, we can handle whatever comes."
He spoke with complete confidence.
Taiichi felt the same way. Even if Mist and Sand joined forces, it wouldn't matter to him personally. He wasn't worried about numbers — only about traps specifically aimed at him.
After finishing his report with Jiraiya, Taiichi teleported to Tsunade's group and gave the same update.
Tsunade's staff officers immediately began running scenarios. Their conclusions were similar to Jiraiya's: Mist might be targeting Sand independently. The safest move was to strengthen their own position and stay flexible.
Taiichi didn't stay long. Once the report was done, he used Flying Thunder God to reach a hidden cave he had marked earlier.
The moment he appeared, he dropped to the ground and pressed both hands against his temples, letting out a long breath.
Finally, he could rest.
This morning's incident had drained his spirit more than he wanted to admit. He had pushed through the reports on sheer willpower. Now all he wanted was sleep.
Sleep was the fastest way to recover what he had lost.
He set up a small isolation barrier around the cave entrance, then lay down. Within minutes, soft snoring echoed through the small space.
Out at sea, the Mist fleet officially entered the waters of the Land of Wind around noon.
On the flagship's deck, the Third Mizukage and his top jonin stood at the bow, staring toward the distant landmass.
"Is Matsushita Taiichi still watching us?"
The Mizukage's voice was calm, but the name alone made the surrounding jonin tense. These days, saying Taiichi's name in Mist felt like invoking a curse.
One of the sensor jonin stepped forward.
"Yes, Mizukage-sama. He's still three kilometers out, holding position in the sky."
They had been tracking him the entire time. They just couldn't do anything about it.
"Let him watch," the Mizukage said. "It's actually better if Leaf believes we're going after Sand. Prevents any stupid mistakes on their part while we're busy."
One of the lower-ranking jonin spoke without thinking.
"Mizukage-sama, should we contact Leaf directly? We could propose an alliance against Sand—"
Several people turned to stare at him like he had grown a second head.
Admitting they were retreating from Leaf to attack Sand instead? In front of the entire ninja world?
The Mizukage didn't even bother answering. He simply turned to face his jonin.
"We're already inside Land of Wind waters. Our first target is Rinchuan City — the closest major settlement. We hit hard and fast before Sand can react."
His eyes swept across the group.
"This campaign's priority is loot. Anything that can be carried back to the village, we take."
A cruel, hungry smile spread across every face on deck.
That evening, the fleet finally changed course. Instead of continuing south, the ships turned toward the coastline.
High above, Taiichi's shadow clone immediately noticed.
He dropped a marked kunai into the sea and dispelled himself.
Inside the hidden cave, Taiichi's eyes snapped open the moment the memories returned. He sat up, rubbing his temples. The headache had eased, but it was still there.
He checked his panel.
[Spirit: 32 (33)]
Still not fully recovered. He would need more rest.
Shaking his head, he focused on the new information.
Mist had turned toward the Land of Wind coast.
And from the direction they were heading, it didn't look like they were going to meet up with Sand at all.
A slow, amused smile spread across Taiichi's face.
"So they're really just going to raid Sand from behind?"
He stood up and vanished from the cave.