"Actually, Danzo just has different ideals from Uncle Sarutobi. His strength is still top-notch—you can rest assured about that."
Tsunade thought Akaba looked disappointed or fearful, so she spoke up to comfort him.
Actually, that's exactly why she came—though she had no idea Akaba wasn't even worried about being assigned a teacher.
If he'd gotten an average teacher who wasn't too strict during training, that would've been perfect.
But his instructor turned out to be none other than Danzo Shimura. Akaba already foresaw what kind of miserable future awaited him.
"Well, whatever. Guess it's Danzo then—it's not like I have a say anyway."
Akaba sighed before speaking to Tsunade.
After all, Danzo Shimura wasn't always this twisted—he was still somewhat normal back in his youth. He didn't have so many eyes everywhere yet and at least acted normal for now.
"Just make sure you're mentally prepared. Anyway, we can't change the teacher assignments."
Tsunade lay sprawled on the floor as if she owned the place, completely indifferent to how it looked.
Akaba focused on drawing without much objection. However, after about half a minute, the door suddenly slid open.
"Eh, Akaba? This is..."
Sakuma Saiki entered pushing open the door. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Akaba drawing while another girl was lying on the ground flipping through sketches with total lack of decorum.
Tsunade's face flushed bright red. She quickly sat upright, tossed aside the 'drawings', and politely bowed. "Good afternoon, Auntie! I'm Akaba's classmate Tsunade."
"Wonderful, wonderful. Since he has a classmate visiting, there must be nothing serious going on."
My son truly is a genius... so even Tsunade came here... Saiki closed the door while her face burst into wild joy the moment she turned around.
Akaba had no idea what his mother was thinking, but judging from their past half-month together, it probably wasn't anything remotely appropriate.
As for Tsunade, she now collapsed onto the floor in defeat, mimicking the orz pose of utter shame.
"Still regret sneaking in through the window?"
Akaba almost laughed aloud. Don't get him wrong—even though Tsunade was mischievous, girls still cared deeply about appearances.
Climbing over walls into the Sakuma clan compound, sneaking through windows into Akaba's room, then lounging barefoot on the floor... no matter how she thought about it...
"Next time your manga shop opens, I'll come find you again. Right now, I should go train first."
Humiliated, Tsunade immediately grabbed her sketches and scrambled out the window, leaving Akaba's room.
Just halfway out the window, Tsunade heard Akaba shout from behind, "By the way, I've compiled the first three chapters for Lady Mito. You can take them along."
"Really?! Where is it?!"
Tsunade had barely climbed out when Akaba's words made her instantly retreat back inside, her eyes sparkling as she searched excitedly for the book.
"It's by my bedhead. I couldn't make it too fancy under short notice, but it's still way better quality than regular sketches."
Akaba pointed the direction with his hand, guiding her gaze toward that spot.
A ninja's sharp eyes didn't lie. Tsunade immediately spotted the manga volume at a single glance.
It was a tiny book, only slightly bigger than a palm—really quite miniature. But the moment Tsunade saw the cover, she fell in love with this hand-bound manga.
The cover wasn't made of stiff paper but featured an elegant painted illustration. The artwork showed none other than the main character, Naruto Uzumaki, running off like crazy after tagging the Hokage Monument with paint.
"Aaaaah such an awesome manga! Do you have more? Any more?"
Tsunade clung to the book, filled with excitement and regret.
She couldn't believe how amazing it felt to hold this gorgeous comic in her hands—but it also hurt a little, knowing it wasn't hers to keep. It was actually meant as a present for her grandma, Mito Uzumaki.
"Nope, there's only this one."
Akaba immediately shut down Tsunade's hopeful attempts at wheedling another copy from him. It had taken him ages just to finish that single color painting.
"Only one copy, huh?"
Tsunade carefully tucked the manga into her arms, then began scanning Akaba's room with eyes like those of a treasure hunter, hoping to find something else worth collecting.
But given how lazy Akaba was by nature, there was no way he'd make a second useless copy for his own collection. In the end, Tsunade just stood there, feeling totally let down.
"If you really like it, come visit my manga shop when it opens next time. If enough people ask, I might even give you an exclusive limited edition."
Akaba's eyes flickered with scheming. He had started plotting to make use of Tsunade's influence.
Besides members of the Uchiha clan, Tsunade still carried considerable influence among the children.
"Really? Promise me, don't trick me, or else—"
Tsunade cut herself off mid-sentence, swinging her hand violently with a fierce, childish look on her face.
"Don't worry, why would I ever lie to you?"
Akaba truly intended to give Tsunade a grand gift. After all, she'd been following his stuff since day one—basically his first real fan.
Hearing this, Tsunade beamed joyfully before squeezing herself out the window.
"Kids are so easy to please, and young Tsunade is actually pretty cute."
Akaba sighed softly with sentimentality. As she grew older, he wouldn't get to see this adorable version of Tsunade anymore; the future her was definitely top-tier in terms of power.
However, he quickly shook away these dangerous thoughts—after all, cute little girls don't stay that way for long. They're still kids who need taking care of. Mature women, on the other hand, were gentle, understanding—and knew how to take care of others themselves.
As he watched Tsunade leave, Akaba remained lost in thought until his clone finally spoke up, "She's already gone, aren't you going to focus again soon? How long can you take on a single drawing, seriously!"
"What's the rush? I'm done already."
Interrupted from his thoughts, Akaba could only bring his mind back fully to concentrate on his art.
He'd almost completed the concept design for the manga shop, although being a hand-drawn illustration, it couldn't compare with computer-generated renderings and appeared abstract and hard to grasp in many places.
He gave it a good long look, tweaked a few things here and there, then gave a satisfied nod.
Just after standing up and opening the door, he hadn't walked far when Sakuma Saiki casually emerged from the adjacent room.
Sighing lightly, Akaba ignored her previous behavior and asked casually, "Did Mother need something earlier?"
"Not really anything serious. She just wanted to remind you—you're starting your break tomorrow, and she plans to begin chakra control training for you." Sakuma Saiki replied.
Genjutsu not only requires mental discipline, but also precise chakra control. Therefore, Chakra Control training is an essential course for them.
"Climbing trees and walking on water? I think we can skip those."
Akaba said immediately.
He needed to make things clear with his parents, or they'd end up planning all sorts of tedious training again.
"Don't underestimate these basics. The more advanced the ninjutsu, the stronger your fundamentals need to be."
Seeing Akaba's dismissive attitude, Sakuma Saiki remarked firmly, somewhat out of character.
Realizing words wouldn't convince her, Akaba hesitated a moment before copying Tsunade's technique—walking straight up the wall and finally standing upside down on the ceiling.
"If you want a demonstration on water walking too, I can head over to the bathroom and show you."
Akaba yawned.
Sakuma Saiki was both surprised and speechless.
Walking on water only in the bathroom?
What a waste of a good kid!
Yet she couldn't fault him—after all, he'd already mastered everything she had to offer. Judging from the other "Akaba" struggling hard in the room, this kid had probably even grasped [Shadow Clone Jutsu].
Well then.
Sakuma Saiki accepted the fact that her genius son didn't need her arranged training, and her thoughts turned toward Tsunade again.
What a wonderful child. A pity they're still so young.
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~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** on the weekend!