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Chapter 198 - Chapter 198

Shiki reached out and caught it. When it landed in his palm, it didn't seem different from ordinary paper.

He had no idea how it was made, but it somehow created such a strange effect.

Thinking this, Shiki didn't speak further. He channeled his chakra along his meridians and into the testing paper.

The next moment, a small fireball ignited on one side of the paper while the other half was sliced apart.

Shiki gave a satisfied nod. "So it's wind and fire—very good."

After all, possessing all elemental natures only happened in extremely rare cases.

Besides, for ninja, personal strength was more important. Even if someone could use the chakra nature that countered their opponent's, these elements often became irrelevant in battles between top-level shinobi.

In addition to chakra nature, there were also Genjutsu and Taijutsu to contend with.

"Wind and fire, huh?" Hayate Gekko nodded. "These two chakra natures complement each other well—wind fuels the flames."

Just as before, Hayate Gekko briefly explained the characteristics of wind and fire chakra natures.

Cough, cough.

Another cough broke out.

Hayate Gekko covered his mouth with his hand and said, "However, Shiki, you won't be using chakra natures for the foreseeable future. So during our journey to find Tsunade-sama, your focus should remain on sword training."

"I already know that. Although I hold a sword every day now, I still have many shortcomings in basic moves. It's just easier when I use the Dance of the Sword."

Shiki was honest about it—he'd practically spent more time practicing the Dance of the Sword than working on basic sword moves.

Spending this month improving his swordplay flaws sounded like a good idea.

"As for Makoto and Yuuma, the ninjutsu you two will train in during this month are [Water Release: Suiran no Jutsu] and [Lightning Release: Thunder Slash no Jutsu]."

As he spoke, Hayate Gekko handed two scrolls to them.

"Lightning Release is especially suitable for attaching to weapons, much like Wind Release. However, unlike Wind Release, which sharpens a weapon's cutting ability—as exemplified by Konoha's Asuma Sarutobi sensei, particularly when combined with his Flying Swallow blades—Lightning Release relies on its own power to deliver explosive attacks."

Hayate Gekko explained carefully while glancing at his two disciples.

"Imagine both of them having chakra natures that work well with swords."

After Hayate Gekko finished speaking, Shiki stepped forward and asked, "So should we start training right away? Or...?"

Hayate Gekko shook his head slightly, his gaze following the road into the distance. "We'll start training once we get to the next village."

"The next village? Which one?" Shiki instinctively asked.

"A prosperous village, known locally as a gambling hub."

Hayate Gekko snapped out of his distant stare and sighed, "For the next month or so, we'll probably be hopping from one village to another like this."

To Be Continued.

Chapter 170: The Pursuit

"Another village again, yet still no trace of her."

Shiki shook his head with a wry smile, thinking that if only he had paid attention to the details instead of just getting caught up in the exciting action scenes while watching Naruto back then, he probably wouldn't be in this situation now.

After all, according to the original storyline, it wouldn't be long before Naruto and Jiraiya found Tsunade.

The official matches of the Chunin Exams were set to begin in just three days.

Tomorrow was the final deadline. If they still couldn't find Tsunade by then, they'd have no choice but to abandon this mission and return for the Chunin Exams.

Although Yuuma failed to qualify through the preliminaries of this Chunin Exam, at the very least Shiki and Seiji still needed to take part.

Even if he remembered some key plot points from back then, it might at least help them find some clues.

Even knowing about one of Tsunade-sama's gambling debts—enough to make her go into hiding—would help.

At least that way, they wouldn't be searching aimlessly like they were now.

"Alright, that's enough for today."

Hayate Gekko patted Shiki's shoulder. "There's still tomorrow, the last day. I believe Tsunade-sama will appear."

Shiki looked up at Hayate's pale yet still somewhat handsome face.

"Teacher, we've been searching for a whole month without any results. Where exactly is this confidence of yours coming from?"

Though Ito Seiji and Yuuma didn't say anything, they also didn't believe Hayate's clearly comforting words.

Hayate smirked slightly, wondering inwardly why these kids were so hard to fool these days.

Still, though it was meant as comfort, what he'd just said wasn't entirely baseless either.

He looked at Shiki—his bright red hair stood out vividly—wearing a look of frustration on his face.

But it was only frustration—not even a trace of despair or discouragement.

No wonder he's the last descendant of that clan. I wonder what kind of upbringing his mother, Uzumaki Qicao, gave him.

It must have been quite an upbringing to give someone like him such unwavering determination, never giving up even the slightest hope in situations others would consider hopeless.

"The town we're in right now is the last known gambling hotspot in the area. Based on Tsunade-sama's personality, she definitely will show up here!"

"What if she went gambling overseas instead?"

Shiki weakly pointed out a certain fact. While many countries restricted foreign ninjas from entering, unless there was a large influx, security checks weren't usually too strict.

Hayate stared into Shiki's eyes for a long time in silence.

Then, he spoke in a doubtful tone. "Why do I always feel like you're taking this more seriously than me?"

"It's not like that at all. I'm just teasing our teacher a little. Don't overthink it."

Shiki shrugged, clarifying his position.

Though he appeared carefree on the surface, it was actually just a way to lighten the psychological burden on his dear teammates.

Otherwise, if they really couldn't find Tsunade, dragging down his teammates' morale on top of everything else would make things worse.

"He's just trying to mock me," Hayate Gekko thought, a cold sweat dripping from his forehead. He couldn't believe this kid still had the nerve to joke around in a situation like this.

After all, Kakashi had already mentioned beforehand that he planned to use this opportunity to teach Sasuke the Chidori technique.

Yet nearly an entire month had passed, and Shiki Uzumaki's strength had barely improved at all.

At most, in his sparring sessions against his own Shadow Clones, his techniques had become more dazzling—probably because his sword skills were finally taking shape, leaving fewer and fewer openings.

It was only now that sword training began to actually help Shiki Uzumaki.

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