Chapter 43: A Lesson in Power
"Nawaki," Shinra gritted his teeth, a dangerous glint in his pale eyes. "It seems my previous lessons haven't been thorough enough." He made a mental note to give his loudmouthed friend a very memorable "reminder" the next time they met.
Miles away, safely within the Senju compound, Nawaki was diligently refining his chakra when a sudden, violent sneeze shook his entire body. For no reason he could discern, a profound sense of impending doom settled over him.
"Let's not talk about that," Tsunade said, steering the conversation back on track after her teasing. "The reason I asked you here is about those physical techniques you gave me." She glanced meaningfully at Mikoto and Kushina, hinting that the topic might be sensitive.
"Kushina and I have something to discuss. We'll take our leave," Mikoto said politely, taking the hint. She gently took Kushina's hand to lead her away.
"No, it's fine. You can stay," Shinra shook his head. Mikoto would learn these techniques eventually anyway, and he saw no harm in Kushina witnessing this. Her presence didn't bother him.
Tsunade looked momentarily surprised but then shrugged. "Suit yourself."
"So, you encountered a problem with the training? What is it?" Shinra asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Yes. The others are fine, but two of them—Paper Arts and that 'Observation Haki'—I haven't been able to grasp them at all," Tsunade confessed, a hint of frustration in her voice.
Of the Marine Six Styles—Paper Arts, Iron Body, Tempest Kick, etc.—and the two types of Haki, Tsunade had managed to learn almost everything else. She couldn't claim mastery, but she could use them effectively. She saw no need to train in Iron Body, as her own formidable strength provided more than enough defense. But the elusive, perception-based abilities of Paper Arts and Observation Haki continued to evade her.
"To learn Observation Haki, you don't actually need Paper Arts," Shinra explained. "If you want to master Observation Haki quickly, the best method is to put yourself in danger. You need to practice avoiding high-speed moving objects you can't see."
"Then how about we talk with our fists!" Tsunade declared, cracking her knuckles.
Shinra chuckled softly. "Are you sure you're feeling well, Tsunade?"
"Little Shinra, arrogance isn't a good habit," Tsunade retorted, planting her fists on her hips. In her eyes, his confidence was the naivety of a child who didn't know his own limits.
"Really? Let's try, then. Laser!"
He raised his index finger, and a searing beam of golden light shot out faster than the eye could follow, streaking past Tsunade's cheek.
Tsunade's pupils contracted into pinpricks. The attack had been so fast she hadn't even registered it as a threat until it was already over. If they had been real enemies, she would be dead. A cold trickle of sweat ran down her temple. Even if she had been fully focused, dodging something that swift would have been incredibly difficult.
"What kind of ninjutsu was that? It didn't require any hand seals!" Tsunade asked, her professional curiosity overpowering her shock.
"This isn't ninjutsu. Think of it as a bloodline limit, a unique ability," Shinra clarified with a shake of his head. "Sister Tsunade, you just made a ninja's cardinal sin: you underestimated your opponent."
"Tch. Being lectured by a kid is seriously annoying," Tsunade grumbled, her pride stung.
"Then allow me to show you, Sister Tsunade, the strength I've been hiding." Shinra's smile was calm, but his stance shifted into something ready and fluid.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. She clenched her fist, and the ground beneath her feet cracked from the sheer pressure of her chakra. In a burst of speed, she vanished, reappearing behind Shinra in an instant.
"Take this!" Her fist, wrapped in dense chakra, shot toward his back. She held back a significant portion of her legendary strength, worried she might actually seriously hurt him.
Shinra didn't even turn. He simply tilted his head to the side, and Tsunade's powerful punch whistled harmlessly past his ear.
"Don't hold back. Use your full power," Shinra said, his voice eerily calm. "And you should be careful not to get hurt. I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl."
"To look down on me so much... I'll teach you a proper lesson today!" Tsunade roared, her temper flaring.
"Shave! Strange Punch!"
This time, she was serious. Using the high-speed movement of Shave, she closed the distance in a blur, her fists becoming a storm of devastating, chakra-disrupting strikes.
Yet, against the onslaught, Shinra moved with an impossible, weightless grace. He weaved and bent around her attacks like a leaf on the wind, her fists passing through the space he occupied a split-second before. Not a single blow landed.
"Is this... Paper Arts?" Tsunade breathed, her eyes wide with a mixture of frustration and awe. This dodging method was insane! Unless she used a large-scale area attack or possessed speed several times greater than his, landing a clean hit with taijutsu seemed impossible.
"Sister Tsunade, my turn. Be careful! Tempest Kick!"
He didn't need a running start. With a swift, powerful kick through the air, he launched a massive, crescent-shaped vacuum blade straight at her.
"Hah! An attack like that? I can dodge it easily!" Tsunade scoffed, preparing to leap aside.
"Are you sure?" Shinra's lips curled into a faint smile.
Just before the main slash reached her, it suddenly fractured in mid-air, exploding into hundreds of smaller, sharper vacuum blades that spread out like a net, completely enveloping Tsunade. The area of effect was so vast that even the Body Replacement Technique would be useless; there was nowhere safe to replace to.
Tsunade's eyes widened in alarm. She crossed her arms, coating them in a thick layer of chakra, and began frantically batting the projectiles away.
Whap! Whap! Whap!
It took immense effort, but she managed to disperse the first wave. Before she could even catch her breath, another full-powered Tempest Kick slash was already upon her, followed by another fracturing wave of blades.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Tsunade cursed under her breath, forced to dodge and weave, using her Strange Punch to obliterate any blades she couldn't avoid.
Watching the battle from a safe distance, Kushina was utterly mesmerized. In her eyes, this was a battle between gods. The sheer speed and power on display were beyond anything she had ever imagined.
"I didn't expect that... that guy... to be so strong," she whispered, a flicker of newfound respect and something else—admiration—igniting in her eyes. In the shinobi world, strength commanded respect, and Shinra was demonstrating strength on a level that was simply breathtaking.
"You can't keep this up!" Tsunade yelled after shattering another wave of blades. She knew how much stamina the Tempest Kick consumed. For a boy barely over five years old to fire off so many was monstrous. But even she could feel the attacks were gradually losing their initial power and sharpness.
"Having so much trouble with my Shadow Clone... have you gotten rusty, Tsunade?"
The voice came from directly behind her.
The Shinra who had been launching the Tempest Kicks suddenly vanished in a puff of white smoke. It had been a Shadow Clone the entire time!
Before Tsunade could even process this, the real Shinra, who had appeared silently behind her, unleashed a kick. The air itself screamed as his leg tore through it, aimed squarely at her back. The force behind it was lethal.
BOOM!
A burst of smoke erupted where Tsunade stood. Her figure was gone, replaced by a log that was instantly pulverized into sawdust under the force of Shinra's kick.
"You... you were actually merciless with that kick!" Tsunade reappeared a dozen feet away, wiping cold sweat from her brow, her heart hammering against her ribs. "If that had connected, I'd be dead!"
She had only sensed the danger at the very last possible second, her instincts screaming at her to use the Body Replacement Technique. It had been far too close.
Shinra simply smiled. He had perfect control over his body; even if she hadn't dodged, he could have stopped the kick at the critical moment. He would never truly endanger her.
"You see?" he said, his voice calm. "You just subconsciously awakened your Observation Haki in that moment of crisis."
As he said this, Tsunade paused. She focused on her senses and realized he was right. The world around her felt different. She could feel the subtle shift of the air, the minute vibrations in the ground, and the presence of everyone around her with a clarity she had never known before. It was as if a sixth sense had suddenly clicked into place.
She was now confident that within a radius of thirty meters, no movement, no matter how slight, could escape her perception.