Chapter 5 — Allow Me to Speak Frankly
"School? What school?"
Night had fallen. Inside the yakiniku restaurant, Shunsuke Ryouta had his cheeks stuffed full of grilled meat, his eyes wide with confusion as he spoke through a mouthful.
"The Ninja Academy?" he asked.
"Yes. The Ninja Academy." Tsunade nodded.
"I don't sense any chakra fluctuations inside your body," she explained patiently. "So I suggest you learn some ninjutsu. Even if you have that strange technique of yours that makes it hard for others to hurt you, there's no guarantee you'll never encounter someone who can. And if you master ninjutsu, your overall strength should undergo a qualitative transformation."
Shunsuke swallowed the meat in his mouth.
"I don't need that. I have my own cultivation system. As for ninjutsu…"
He reached into his coat and pulled out three scrolls.
"The Academy only teaches the Three Basic Techniques, right? I already have them."
Tsunade's eyes widened. "You can summon even those?"
If he could manifest scrolls for the Three Techniques, didn't that imply other ninjutsu scrolls could be summoned as well?
Bringing Shunsuke back had absolutely been the right decision.
"Yeah." Shunsuke dabbed at the grease on his lips with a napkin. "So school and all that… let's just forget it."
I've already had more than enough school for one lifetime.
He didn't say that part out loud.
From a timeline perspective, most of the so-called Konoha Twelve were still attending classes. He was curious, admittedly.
But actually sitting in a classroom again?
Hard pass.
As for training, for Shunsuke, helping others and gathering faith was sufficient.
Faith…
Carve a few statues and toss them into a country with a massive population—faith would come pouring in endlessly.
At the thought, he mentally gave himself a thumbs-up.
Sure, he could summon cultivation methods from other planes—something like the Eight-Nine Profound Art or other body-refining scriptures governed by higher laws—but according to his divinity, growth through traditional cultivation was painfully slow compared to harvesting faith.
So he'd abandoned that idea.
Finishing another bite of meat, Shunsuke looked up at Tsunade.
"I want to open a shop. I'll call it… the Yorozuya."
As he spoke, the image of a certain dead-fish-eyed, silver-haired man flashed across his mind.
Would this count as the ninja world's branch store?
"Yorozuya?" Tsunade echoed, puzzled.
"Basically, a place that helps people solve all kinds of problems and troubles they can't handle themselves."
Tsunade's eyelid twitched.
So this brat planned to openly steal missions from Konoha's ninja system? In broad daylight? He might be the first person in decades bold enough to try.
Still… after everything she had witnessed—pigs flying and divine light flooding the battlefield—what was impossible anymore?
"You'd better be prepared for ninjas picking fights with you," Tsunade said with a faint smirk, then left it at that.
Shunsuke had made his decision. She wouldn't press further.
"Oh, and one more thing." Tsunade seemed to recall something. "Even if you don't attend the Academy, I'm still finding you a taijutsu instructor. Starting tomorrow, you're training. I refuse to watch you keep kicking people in the crotch with that smug look on your face."
"A taijutsu instructor?" Shunsuke's eyes lit up.
"The Hyūga clan is known as Konoha's strongest clan. Their Gentle Fist is famous throughout the ninja world. What do you think?"
"Tch… I'll pass." Shunsuke clicked his tongue.
Gentle Fist?
If he wanted something like that, wouldn't practicing Tai Chi be more appealing?
He had seen genuine masters before—not the kind you saw on television. Real traditional martial artists, even those who practiced Tai Chi, were solid muscle beneath their robes. Their punching speed rivaled professional boxers in the ring.
And their hand speed? Sometimes even faster.
As the old saying went: train martial skill without cultivating the body, and it's all for nothing in old age. Without physical conditioning, even the most refined techniques were just empty forms.
As far as Shunsuke was concerned, Gentle Fist didn't impress him.
"Pretty arrogant, aren't you?" Tsunade's lips curved upward. "Then what do you want to learn?"
"I want to study the Strong Fist under Might Guy."
His eyes gleamed.
Forget whether Strong Fist was optimal or not.
It looked cool.
Bold. Explosive. Overwhelming.
A real man threw punches like that.
The moment the words left his mouth, a cold snort sounded from nearby.
"I was wondering who was speaking so arrogantly. A frog at the bottom of a well…" a voice sneered. "From the sound of it, you seem to look down on the Gentle Fist of the Hyūga clan?"
Shunsuke blinked and turned.
A black-haired boy around his current age—eleven or twelve—was staring at him with visible hostility. Long dark hair, pale Byakugan eyes, and an unmistakable air of pride.
"You misunderstand." Shunsuke laughed lightly. "Don't get me wrong—I'm not targeting your Gentle Fist specifically."
The boy's expression eased slightly.
Then Shunsuke continued.
"To be frank, aside from Might Guy, every other taijutsu in the ninja world is trash."
The veins at the corner of the boy's eyes bulged instantly.
Before he could respond, a flash of green leapt forward from behind him.
"Hahaha! You flatter me too much, young man!" the newcomer boomed energetically. "However, Konoha widely acknowledges the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist as the strongest taijutsu at present. You misspoke just now!"
Bowl-cut hair. Thick eyebrows.
Might Guy.
Behind him stood a thick-browed boy and a girl with twin buns.
Shunsuke's eyes brightened in realization.
So the hostile boy really was Neji Hyūga. The thick-browed one—Rock Lee. And the girl—Tenten.
Lee didn't have the bowl cut yet, which meant Guy's team had only recently formed.
Interesting.
"Why do you say that?" Tsunade asked curiously. Unlike Neji, she knew Shunsuke wouldn't speak without reason.
"Not convinced?" Shunsuke grinned. "Let me break down the ninja power tiers for you."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small blackboard, swiftly writing several lines.
"Genin. Chūnin. Special Jōnin. Jōnin. Elite Jōnin. Kage. And above that—Super Kage."
He casually produced a pointer and tapped the board.
"Genin: roughly the Three Basic Techniques and enough chakra for two Great Fireballs that probably won't hit anyone."
A few people twitched.
"Chūnin aren't that much stronger. Let's use the thick-browed kid as an example." He pointed at Rock Lee. "Right now, knowing nothing else, he barely qualifies as a Genin-level fighter. But once he learns the Eight Gates and opens up to the Third Gate, he'll possess Chūnin-level combat power."
"Special Jōnin refers to those with exceptional specialization in one field. If he opens the Fifth Gate, he'll roughly reach that tier."
"…That's about right." Might Guy nodded. When it came to the Eight Gates, he felt those differences most clearly.
"Beyond the Fifth Gate, the Eight Gates' combat power increases exponentially," Shunsuke continued. "The Sixth Gate approximates Jōnin-level strength. The Seventh Gate—depending on talent—can reach Elite Jōnin or even Kage-level power. Teacher Guy should be in this range. Opening the Seventh Gate shouldn't be a problem for you, though the consumption is immense. That's the drawback of the Eight Gates."
"Ah—yes, that's accurate. Though I can't say I've used the Seventh Gate often enough to measure its full potential," Guy admitted honestly.
Rock Lee's eyes sparkled.
"Guy-sensei… you're that strong?!"
"Hahaha! Not bad, not bad!" Guy laughed heartily, basking in Lee's admiration like it was the glow of youth itself.
Tsunade leaned forward slightly.
"And the Eighth Gate?"
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