Chapter 27

I woke up to an aching body and a ceiling I was still getting used to.

My arms felt like they'd been wrung out and hung to dry. My legs weren't much better. The mental fatigue from the transformation had faded into a dull, persistent headache that sat right behind my eyes.

I sat up slowly, looking around the slightly empty room. I recognised it as home. The Senju Compound. Minato must have teleported me back after I passed out. Tsunade had wanted me to move into the main house with her and Nawaki, but that had felt like too much too fast. I'd taken a house close by instead, a proper house with actual rooms and hallways and space, which Tsunade had insisted on. It was a far cry from the cramped apartment I'd lived in for years. On most days, it felt a bit too large for just one person.

I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, rolling my shoulders to work out the stiffness.

A burst of confetti exploded across my vision.

[Achievement Unlocked: Subdue the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki - Killer Bee] [Rank: HIGH]

I felt a grin pull across my face before I could stop it. That fight had been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life so far. Going toe to toe with a Jinchuriki, matching him blow for blow, forcing the retreat. And now a High-Rank reward on top of all that.

I mentally prompted the roll. The screen flickered and settled.

[Overwhelming Might] [Dragon Ball] (Destruction)

Despite the decent array of unique superpowers in Dragon Ball, pure power often reigns supreme. A common example of this is that some powerful individuals are capable of outright ignoring or otherwise bypassing powers. Like Broly, you are capable of this feat as well. You can essentially brute force your way through anything as long as you are stronger. For example, if you were placed in a spatial or temporal lock you could ignore it. This process becomes easier as you grow stronger.

I stared at the description for a long moment. My first reaction was mild disappointment. Not because I couldn't utilise it, I certainly could, but because on the surface, it wasn't as flashy as [Living Disaster] or [Form Up, Change Up].

Then I stopped. And actually thought about it. I was a brawler at my core. [Martial Arts Prodigy] made me dangerous in close quarters and [Attribute Distribution] already helped increase my physical stats plenty, and combining those with [Form Up, Change Up] pushed my raw physical output to frankly absurd levels. That wasn't even mentioning the possibility of learning Tsunade's chakra-enhanced strength technique. She'd probably teach me if I asked.

If I was strong enough, could I shatter through the Dust Release of the Tsuchikage? That technique atomized everything it touched at a molecular level. Normally, there was no defense against it except to not be there when it hit. But if raw power could simply override it...

Could I flare my chakra hard enough to burst through Tsukuyomi? Or break free of Kotoamatsukami, Shisui's mind control that was supposed to be completely undetectable and absolute?

Could I punch my way out of the Infinite Tsukuyomi? The thought made me snort.

I knew that the Otsutsuki in general had a whole arsenal of reality-bending, cheat-like powers. Limbo, dimensional shifting. If this perk meant that sufficient strength could simply ignore those abilities entirely...

Then this was insurance against the endgame threats that I knew were coming decades down the line, the kind of powers that had no conventional counter. Didn't they have something called Divine Techniques?

I let the screen fade and filed the implications away. That was a problem for the future. Right now, I needed to focus on surviving the present.

I caught the smell of something cooking downstairs. Eggs, rice, grilled fish. Actual food being prepared in my kitchen, which was new, considering I hadn't stocked the pantry with anything beyond instant noodles and soldier pills.

I made my way down the stairs and stopped at the bottom.

There were three people in my house.

Orochimaru-sensei was standing at the stove. He was wearing an apron. A plain, dark blue apron tied neatly around his waist, and he was flipping fish with the practiced ease of someone who had done this before. He looked oddly peaceful like this, content in a way I rarely saw from him. Seeing him like this, the version of him from Boruto didn't feel that far-fetched at all. I was going to make sure this stayed. Whatever it took, this Orochimaru was not going down the path I knew he was supposed to.

Tsunade sat at the dining table, a cup of tea in front of her, looking entirely at ease. She glanced up when she heard my footsteps.

And across from her, legs stretched out and arms folded behind his head, sat a large man with long, spiky white hair and red facial markings. He wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for "oil" etched into it, and a red haori draped over his shoulders.

Jiraiya. The Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku. The only Sannin I hadn't met yet.

He was leaning back in his chair with the confidence of someone who owned the place, which he very much did not.

I looked at the three of them, then at Orochimaru's apron, then back at the table.

"I don't remember agreeing to roommates," I remarked dryly.

"You haven't signed the house papers yet. Technically, I still own it," Tsunade snorted, taking a sip of her tea.

"Quite right," Orochimaru added from the stove without turning around. "Sit down and eat, Yuuki-kun. The fish is almost done."

Jiraiya leaned forward, dropping his arms from behind his head. He looked me up and down with open, unashamed curiosity. "So this is the brat that's got every village scrambling. Gotta say, I expected someone taller."

"I'm ten," I replied flatly, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"And already picking fights with Jinchuriki," Jiraiya laughed. It was a big, booming sound that filled the room. "Kid's got guts, I'll give him that. Alright, since we haven't been properly introduced." He stood up from his chair, struck a wide, theatrical pose with one foot on the seat, and thrust his palm forward. "I am the great Jiraiya! The Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, legendary author, and lover of bountiful wo—"

Tsunade's fist connected with the top of his skull before he could finish. The impact drove him back into his chair so hard the legs scraped against the floor.

"Whyyy?" Jiraiya whined, clutching his head. "I was building up to the good part!"

"There is no good part," Tsunade said, settling back into her seat like nothing had happened.

I let out a quiet laugh. Honestly, meeting important figures had lost their novelty by now. Thinking back to when I'd first met the Hokage and Orochimaru-sensei, I cringed internally. I'd been a nervous wreck, barely holding it together. I'd definitely grown since those days in that cramped apartment. But Jiraiya was different. Of the three Sannin, he was the one I knew the most about from my previous life. Watching him in person, the theatrics, the ego, that air of relaxed casualness that he carried everywhere, felt oddly like meeting someone I'd known for years.

"It's good to meet you, Jiraiya-sama," I said, and meant it.

"Sama! See, the kid's got manners," Jiraiya beamed at Tsunade, who rolled her eyes.

Orochimaru set a plate of grilled fish, rice, and pickled vegetables down in front of me. "Eat first. Your report can wait."

"I should probably go see the Hokage before—"

"Minato has already given his account of the engagement," Orochimaru cut in, untying his apron and folding it neatly over the back of a chair. "He covered the relevant details. Your perspective can be added later. For now, eat."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "You collapsed the moment you dropped that transformation. You've been out for almost a full day. Food first, reports after."

I decided not to argue with two Sannin and picked up my chopsticks.

The food was genuinely good. Orochimaru-sensei could cook. That was going into the vault of things I never expected to learn.

I ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes while the three of them talked around me, falling into an easy rhythm that spoke to decades of shared history. Tsunade ribbed Jiraiya about his spending habits. Jiraiya deflected by complimenting Orochimaru's cooking, which Orochimaru accepted with a thin, satisfied smile. It felt normal. Almost like a family.

I set my chopsticks down and looked at Jiraiya.

"Sage," I said. "Does that mean you can use Nature Energy?"

Jiraiya blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift. "Well, yeah. That's kind of what the title implies, kid."

I chose my next words carefully. "My bloodline, the Wood Release. Part of it lets me absorb energy from nature, from plants specifically. I can feel that capacity sitting inside me, but I've never actually tried to use it. I can't sense the energy on its own. Is that odd?"

All three of them looked at me. Tsunade set her tea down. Orochimaru, who had been about to sit, paused with his hand on the back of his chair.

"From sensei's stories of the First," Orochimaru said slowly, lowering himself into the seat, "he did possess his own Sage Mode, did he not?"

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose. He scratched his chin, his expression shifting into something genuinely thoughtful. "Yeah, that tracks. The old man mentioned it a few times." He looked back at me. "As for not being able to sense it, that's not as strange as you'd think. I could only start feeling Nature Energy truly after I took some into myself for the first time. Of course, I nearly turned myself to stone doing it, so Ma and Pa, those are the Toad Elders, had to use an artifact to smack the Nature Energy out of me before I petrified." He chuckled at the memory. "Sensing it and actually learning to use it are two entirely different things. But if you can already absorb it through your plants, that's a hell of a head start."

"I never tried it because Hiruzen-sensei warned me off it," I said. I'd told him about it near the beginning of our training after I'd graduated. He'd firmly warned me not to touch it until I had full control over my normal Nature Release. And I already knew that absorbing too much without the ability to balance it would petrify me, which I wasn't eager to experience firsthand.

Jiraiya frowned slightly. "Why didn't you ask Minato about this? He could've helped you with the basics."

"He's a Sage?" I questioned, completely taken aback.

Jiraiya stared at me. "You didn't know? I thought sensei would have told you."

I sat with that for a second. Minato Namikaze was a Sage. Was that in the anime? I must have just forgotten about it. I grimaced slightly, picking at a piece of fish. I wondered what else I'd forgotten. Small details, background information, things that hadn't seemed important when I was watching a show for entertainment but could mean life or death here.

It didn't really matter though. Events wouldn't play out the same way regardless. I'd make sure of that.

"I had a lot of other things to work on," I said, which was true enough. "You were here, so I figured I'd ask."

Jiraiya pushed back from the table, patting his stomach with a satisfied sigh. "Well, that was excellent. Nothing like a full belly." He stretched his arms above his head, cracking his back loudly. "How about a spar to wash everything down?"

I looked up from my plate. "You're serious?"

"Why not?" He grinned. "I've heard plenty about you but haven't seen it for myself. Least you can do is entertain me for a bit."

I was already standing up before he finished talking. The chance to trade hands with a Sannin whose fighting style I actually wanted to study was not something I was going to pass on. The more styles I saw and learned from, the stronger my own Unified Martial Style would become. I had already integrated Killer B's Acrobatic Taijutsu into it, and picking up a few moves from Jiraiya wouldn't hurt either. "Yeah, I'm in."

"Hold it," Tsunade cut in. She was already on her feet, her hands glowing faintly green. "Sit back down for thirty seconds."

I opened my mouth to protest, but the look on her face shut that down immediately. I sat. Her hands moved across my shoulders, my arms, my ribs, the green glow pulsing gently as she checked me over. She pressed two fingers against my wrist, then against my sternum, feeling the flow of chakra through my coils.

"Minor residual strain in your pathways from the bijuu chakra, but nothing that rest hasn't already started fixing," she reported, stepping back. "No transformation for the next few days. I'll be requesting some rest days for you through the Hokage."

The way she said requesting made it very clear she meant ordering. I nodded. Arguing with Tsunade about medical decisions was a fight nobody won.

Jiraiya was already heading for the door.

We walked out to the nearest open training ground within the compound. It was a wide, flat clearing bordered by tall oaks, the grass still damp with morning dew. Tsunade and Orochimaru followed, taking a seat on the wooden veranda of the nearest building to watch.

Jiraiya rolled his shoulders and settled into a loose stance about twenty meters away. No guard up, no tension in his frame. Just easy confidence. "Whenever you're ready, kid. And don't hold back on my account. I can take it."

I shifted some of my points into Swift, keeping my other attributes mostly balanced since this was just a spar, and moved first.

I closed the gap fast, throwing a straight jab at his chest to test his reaction time. Jiraiya didn't even shift his feet. He turned his torso just enough that my fist slid past his ribs, then swatted me on the back of the head with an open palm as I passed.

"Good speed," he said casually.

I spun and threw a low kick at his knee. He checked it with his shin, barely moving, and countered with a lazy backhand that I ducked under. His reach was deceptive. He was a big man, taller and broader than me by a wide margin, and his arms covered more distance than they looked like they should.

I sent three roots up from the ground behind him. He heard them coming, hopped sideways without looking, and the roots caught nothing but air.

"Gonna have to be sneakier than that," he chuckled.

I came in again, feinting high and driving a knee toward his midsection. He caught my knee on his forearm, absorbed the impact without flinching, and shoved me back. The man was built like a boulder. Even in Swift, my strikes, that were usually still rather strong, felt like they were hitting a wall.

I switched tactics and sent a wave of roots from both sides while closing from the front. He let them come, then formed a single hand sign. His hair moved. It surged outward, thickening and hardening instantly into a rigid shell of white spikes that covered his back and sides. Needle Jizo. The roots slammed into the hardened hair and stopped dead, unable to find purchase on the smooth, rigid surface.

He dropped the technique and threw a fast right hook while I was still directing the roots. I pulled my head back just in time, feeling the wind off his knuckles brush my chin, and retaliated with a palm strike aimed at his ribs. He took it clean, grunted once, and grabbed my wrist.

His grip was iron. Before I could pull free, he yanked me forward and drove a knee into my stomach. The air left my lungs in a rush. I curled around the impact, gasping, but managed to plant a root beneath his back foot before he could follow up. It caught his ankle and he stumbled half a step.

That was all I needed. I ripped my wrist free and put distance between us.

Jiraiya looked down at the root around his ankle, then back at me. "Not bad. You're good at multitasking."

He bit his thumb and slapped his palm to the ground. A puff of smoke erupted, and when it cleared, a small orange toad about the size of a dog sat on the grass beside him, wearing a tiny blue vest.

"Yo, Jiraiya," the toad croaked. "What's the deal? I was napping."

"Just a quick spar, Gamatetsu. Help me out."

The toad looked at me, then back at Jiraiya. "That's a kid."

"A kid who just went toe to toe with a Jinchuriki. Get moving."

The toad sighed but hopped into position. Two opponents now, one high and one low. [Martial Arts Prodigy] was already reading them both, tracking the angles, calculating how they'd coordinate.

They came together. Jiraiya advanced from the front while Gamatetsu flanked wide, circling to my left. I sent roots to cut the toad's path, but the small summon was faster than it looked, hopping over each one with irritating agility. I could have sprouted spikes from the roots to catch him mid-jump, but this was a spar, and I wasn't about to skewer someone's summon over a friendly match. Jiraiya threw a combination, a jab, cross, then a looping overhead that I sidestepped. As I moved, Gamatetsu spat a small glob of water at my feet.

The ground beneath me turned slick. My footing slipped for a fraction of a second.

Jiraiya was already there, driving a solid kick into my side. I took it on my forearm but the force still lifted me off the wet grass and sent me sliding back several meters. Before I could reset, his hair shot outward again, this time as a single thick tendril, Wild Lion's Mane, whipping toward me like a massive arm.

I ducked it, rolled forward under the sweep, and came up on my feet five meters away.

Jiraiya puffed his cheeks and spat. A thick glob of viscous oil splattered across the grass between us, spreading fast into a wide, sticky patch that coated everything it touched.

My front foot hit the edge of it and stuck. The oil was dense and adhesive, clinging to my sandal like glue. My momentum died instantly.

I didn't bother trying to pull free. I drove a root up from beneath me and stepped onto it, using it as a platform to vault over the oil slick and land on clean grass on the other side.

Jiraiya was already closing the distance. He came in with a sharp left jab aimed at my jaw. I slipped it, countering with a right cross to his cheek. He took it, barely turning his head, and fired back with a heavy body shot to my liver. I caught it on my elbow but the force still rattled through my side.

We traded in close quarters. His left hook came around at my temple. I ducked it, drove an uppercut into his chin, and he rocked back half a step. He came back immediately with a straight right that I parried with my forearm, then pivoted into a spinning back fist. I leaned away from it, feeling it whistle past my nose, and snapped a front kick into his sternum.

He slid back two meters but stayed on his feet. The man's durability was absurd. I was landing clean shots and he was eating them like they were taps.

Gamatetsu came in from my blind side, spitting another glob of water. I sidestepped it and sent a root at the toad, forcing it to hop back. In that split second of divided attention, Jiraiya closed in and threw a brutal overhand right.

I caught his fist in my palm. My arm buckled under the weight of it, my feet sliding back in the grass, but I held.

"Not bad at all," Jiraiya grinned, his fist still locked against my palm.

I grinned back and ran through one-handed seals with my free hand. "Earth Release: Mud Wall."

A slab of compacted earth erupted from the ground between us, forcing him to disengage and jump back. Before he could land, I ran through another set.

"Water Release: Water Bullet."

The compressed sphere of water shot from my mouth and caught him mid-air. He crossed his arms and took it on his guard, the impact pushing him back another few meters as water sprayed outward. He landed in a skid, shaking water off his sleeves.

"Oh, you've got some variety," he said, sounding genuinely pleased. He formed a hand sign and his hair hardened again, but this time it didn't form a shell. Instead, dozens of individual strands shot outward like a barrage of blunted senbon, fanning out across the clearing in a wide spread.

I threw up a root wall to catch the volley. The hardened hair punched into the wood with a series of heavy thunks. If those had been sharpened to their full extent, they would have gone clean through unless I actively reinforced them.

The root wall blocked my vision for a second. I heard Jiraiya's footsteps circling left. I abandoned the wall and moved right, sending two roots low along the ground to track his position.

He hopped over the first and stomped the second flat, then came at me with renewed intensity. A sharp jab, a cross, a rising knee aimed at my chest. I blocked the jab, parried the cross, and caught his knee on both forearms. The impact drove me down an inch into the dirt.

I shoved his knee aside and went for his legs, sweeping low. He jumped over the sweep and came down with a hammering axe kick. I rolled sideways, the kick cratering the earth where my head had been, and came up throwing.

We separated for a breath. Both of us were warmed up properly now, a light sheen of sweat on his face, my breathing faster than I'd like.

Then I pushed some more of my points into Swift. Not all of them, just enough to close the gap.

The speed difference was immediate. I crossed the distance between us in a blur and threw a jab at his jaw. He moved to slip it the same way he'd been slipping my punches all spar, casual, just enough to let it pass.

It was already there before he finished turning his head. My fist caught him on the cheek, snapping his head sideways. His eyes widened.

I followed with a left hook to his body, then a straight right that he barely got his guard up for. For three full seconds I pushed the pace, landing shots he'd been reading comfortably before, exploiting the tempo he'd gotten used to.

He adapted fast, of course he did. He read the new speed within those few seconds and adjusted his guard. But the surprise had done its job. I'd proven I had another gear.

Jiraiya wiped his cheek where my first clean shot had landed and let out a low whistle. "You were holding out on me."

"It’s a spar," I reminded him.

"Fair enough," he laughed.

He came at me again, more seriously now, matching my increased pace. His jab, cross, hook combination came faster and tighter. I weaved through the first two and caught the hook on my forearm, firing back with a straight palm to his chest that he absorbed with a grunt.

His hair shot outward again, Wild Lion's Mane, the thick tendril whipping toward me from his right. I ducked under it and rolled forward, coming up inside his guard. He threw a straight right. I read the rotation of his shoulder, stepped inside the arc, and did something he wasn't expecting.

Might.

My muscles swelled with density. I grabbed the front of his vest with both hands, dropped my hips low, and pivoted hard. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second as his feet left the ground. I used his own forward momentum, fed it back into the rotation, and hurled him over my hip in a wide, spinning arc.

Killer B's throw. The same grappling technique I'd ripped from his style during our fight, integrated into my own movement through [Martial Arts Prodigy].

Jiraiya sailed through the air and hit the grass hard, skidding across the clearing in a spray of dirt and torn turf. Gamatetsu stared, mouth hanging open. If I land a move like that in a real-fight, all it would take is a single root to skewer right through the enemy to take them down.

For a moment, the clearing was silent except for the sound of settling dust.

Then Jiraiya sat up, brushed the grass off his shoulders, and let out a deep, hearty laugh that echoed across the compound. "Ha! That was completely unorthodox. Took me off guard completely." He climbed to his feet, still chuckling, shaking dirt out of his hair. "Good stuff, kid. Really good stuff." He clapped Gamatetsu on the head affectionately, and the toad disappeared in a puff of smoke, grumbling about being woken up for nothing.

Jiraiya walked over, his expression settling into something warmer. "You know, I think the toads might actually be willing to help you with the Nature Energy problem." He crossed his arms, tilting his head thoughtfully. "There's an artifact on Mount Myoboku, a baton that the Elders use to smack Nature Energy out of trainees before they petrify. If they agree to lend it, I could help you get a feel for the energy over the next few days I'm in the village. Can't promise you'll master anything, but getting you to the point where you can sense it would be a big step."

I felt a spark of genuine excitement. I could have asked Minato, sure, but the man was stretched thin between his duties, his team, and Kushina. The time he did have free, I'd rather he spent with them instead of babysitting me through Senjutsu lessons, even if I was sure he wouldn’t deny me. And beyond just learning to sense it, I had a theory that had been nagging at me for a while. The reason Hashirama could use those massive, landscape-altering jutsu, the ones that required chakra reserves that bordered on the absurd, was likely because he supplemented his own energy with Nature Energy through Sage techniques. If that was true, then learning to do the same would be the key to unlocking the heavier techniques in his scrolls.

"You'd do that?" I asked, not bothering to hide the eagerness in my voice.

"I'm offering, aren't I?" he replied with a lopsided grin. "Let me talk to the old geezers first. No guarantees they'll say yes, but I've got a good track record of convincing them."

"Thank you, Jiraiya-sama," I said, and I meant every syllable.

He waved a dismissive hand. "Just call me Jiraiya, kid. Say, what do you think about hitting the onsen later? I could teach you the true wonders of the fem—"

He was so lost in what he was saying that he didn't react in time. Tsunade's fist came down on the top of his head with a crack that echoed across the training ground.

I snorted.

AN: Truth be told, I had zero intentions of updating today. I hadn’t been able to write the entire week and I felt very burnt out, but I did want to update. I’ll apologise in advance, if the chapter feels a bit eh — mostly because all of it was written in a single sitting. My search-history is full of Jiraya and the different Jutsu that he can do, lol. Hopefully, the fight is something that you can keep up with and is clear to read, since that is the majority of the chapter. Keep in mind that this was a spar, and both of the parties are fighting on a much lower-scale than they actually can. 

Plot-wise, Yuuki can officially dip his hands into Nature Chakra. I don’t plan on making it easy to learn. He’ll get the Hashirama Sage Mode (not for a while!) or a new one, it really depends on how I feel when it happens, but using Nature Chakra to enhance his techniques will be possible. Living Disaster and Hanami’s Energy Absorption will allow him to use Nature Chakra in a way that other people can not! We meet the perverted-sage at last, since he’s the only other major character we’ve yet to see in the fic.

Next week is a free-write, it’ll likely be an update to Celestial Star - so if you haven’t read that yet, please do! It’s right here on Patreon from the start in the Collections. I’ll try to aim for two updates of that story. As usual, the schedule is pinned. Thankfully, I’ve already got an idea for the next chapter. 

If you enjoyed the chapter, then please go ahead, leave a like and comment, it helps out!