In the Senju Clan district, little Tsunade held a thick book in her hands and read with tireless focus. On the cover was a diagram of the human body, one of the Senju Clan's treasured medical books.
In Konoha as it existed now, knowledge was monopolized by the great bloodline clans. When ordinary civilian ninja graduated from the Ninja Academy, all they got were the standard three ninja techniques.
Transformation Technique.
Clone Technique.
Substitution Technique.
If civilians wanted to learn any other ninjutsu, there were only a few paths open to them.
Sell themselves to a bloodline clan, or earn enough merit on the battlefield to exchange for techniques.
If they were lucky, their jonin instructor might teach them one or two moves, but cases like that were extremely rare.
Most of Konoha's jonin now came from ninja clans, and every clan had strict rules forbidding their clan techniques from being casually passed on to outsiders. Self-created techniques, of course, were another matter.
Knowledge involving medical ninjutsu was naturally especially precious. Only the major ninja clans were qualified to enjoy it.
Mito sat on the threshold of the room, basking in the sunlight. The sun warmed her pleasantly. When people grew old, they tended to enjoy sitting in the sun. She was already close to fifty now, which counted as a long life in a world where ninja were generally short-lived.
Watching Tsunade pull herself out of her grief so quickly made Mito genuinely happy.
As expected of her granddaughter.
Even though she had no idea why Tsunade had suddenly started studying medical ninjutsu. She had never shown even the slightest interest in it before.
The Senju and the Uzumaki were both born with vast chakra reserves and were said to have inherited the Six Paths Sage's Yang Release, making them naturally suited for learning medical ninjutsu. Because of that, the two clans possessed more medical books than anyone else.
Mito was naturally well-versed in that field.
When Tsunade had been younger, Mito had even planned to teach her a few things, but Tsunade had never been interested and had preferred learning powerful combat ninjutsu instead.
Now she had completely changed her temperament and started seriously studying medical knowledge.
Mito could not be bothered to dig into the reason. As long as her precious granddaughter was happy, that was enough.
And if Tsunade studied seriously, Mito was confident she could train her into the strongest medical ninja in the shinobi world.
Tsunade stared at the densely packed words on the page. There were all kinds of obscure and difficult technical terms that she could not make heads or tails of, to the point where she almost wanted to tear the precious book in front of her apart.
Looks like she's run into trouble.
Mito sat there sunbathing while quietly observing Tsunade's expression.
Tsunade was practically about to overheat from frustration.
At that point, Mito could hardly keep sitting there in the sun.
"Little Tsunade, having trouble?"
Mito stood up and walked over to Tsunade's side, glancing down at the page. This page happened to be talking about Yang Release and also involved the structure of the human body. For Tsunade at her current level of knowledge, it was clearly beyond her.
"Grandma, there are so many terms here I've never seen before. And here, why does the chakra..."
If you don't understand something, ask.
That was a good habit.
Tsunade understood that very well. Since her grandmother Mito was highly skilled in medical ninjutsu, and there was a professional right beside her, of course she should ask until she fully understood.
"So-called Yang Release..."
"..."
Mito patiently taught Tsunade, guiding her step by step. When she reached key points, she deliberately paused to see whether Tsunade could grasp the crucial idea with just a hint from her.
The future Tsunade was destined to become the number one medical ninja in the shinobi world, and her talent in medical ninjutsu was beyond question. She did not disappoint Mito's expectations. She answered naturally and could even draw inferences from one idea to another.
That filled Mito with relief and pride.
Her medical ninjutsu finally had a worthy successor.
"I will definitely become Konoha's strongest medical ninja."
Now that she had just fully understood the topic, Tsunade's confidence surged right back up, and she immediately started making grand declarations again. This made Mito suddenly feel a little curious. Tsunade's old goal had always been to become Konoha's first female Hokage.
"Little Tsunade, tell Grandma. Why did you suddenly become interested in medical ninjutsu?"
The smile on Tsunade's face stiffened slightly, and a trace of sadness flashed through her eyes, but she still forced herself to smile.
"Grandma, when I was doing missions at Konoha Hospital, I saw a lot of wounded ninja who had come back from the front lines. Every one of them looked like they were in terrible pain. Some of them even died because their injuries were too severe."
"If I were an outstanding medical ninja, then I definitely could have saved them."
"And maybe if my medical ninjutsu had been better, if I had gone with Second Grandpa, then when he got hurt I could have treated him. Maybe then he wouldn't have died."
Tsunade's innocent words made Mito's heart ache.
Tsunade had never been on the battlefield. She did not understand how cruel it truly was there. The kind of opponent capable of trapping Tobirama was not something an excellent medical ninja alone could have changed the outcome of.
Tsunade's words suddenly made the atmosphere turn sad.
Mito quickly changed the subject and continued explaining medical knowledge to Tsunade.
...
Outside the gates of the Senju Clan district, Toma had returned to Konoha and was in a hurry to see Mito.
The gates, which were usually always open, were now tightly shut instead, adding another layer of gloom to Toma's already uneasy heart.
"Open the gate!"
Toma pounded on the door. A head peeked out through the crack, and the moment it recognized Toma, it quickly opened the gate.
"The young clan head has returned."
"What's going on? Why is the gate shut in broad daylight?"
Why shut the gate?
Naturally to avoid all those clans who kept coming to probe for information.
The young clan head probably still did not know yet that Tobirama had died. Better not let that slip. It was better to leave that for Mito-sama to tell him personally.
The Senju clansman guarding the gate simply said,
"Those were Mito-sama's orders. Mito-sama is still waiting for you inside."
With those words, he successfully brushed Toma's question aside.
Toma nodded and hurried toward Mito's room, soon arriving before her.
"Mother, I'm back."
Hearing his voice, Mito looked toward the doorway and quickly walked out.
"Good child. You've gotten stronger... and darker too."
Mito looked him over. The Toma who had once still carried traces of youth had now, after the tempering of the battlefield, grown into a man capable of standing on his own.
"Tsunade's here too? You haven't been causing trouble in the village lately, have you? You haven't been secretly gambling behind Grandma's back again, right?"
"I haven't!"
Tsunade threw herself into Toma's arms. She had not seen her father for a very long time either.
"Mother, you called me back so urgently. Did something happen in the village?"
"Come with me."
A trace of sorrow flashed across Mito's face as she prepared to take Toma to another room to talk.
"By the way, where's Uncle Tobirama? I haven't seen him in a while. Is he still in the Hokage's office?"
Toma asked it casually, but the moment Tsunade heard it, the emotions she had been holding back broke all over again. Tears instantly poured out.
"Second Grandpa... he... he's dead!!"
"Waaahhh!!!"
Mito looked at her son with a deeply aggrieved expression.
The whole reason she had wanted to switch rooms was to avoid making Tsunade think of painful things again.
And now this had happened.
Wonderful.
Now she'd have to soothe her all over again.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]