"Sister, this is something precious to you, I cannot accept it."
Kirito was suddenly kissed on the forehead by Tsunade, and his face immediately turned red. Then he saw Tsunade take off Hashirama's necklace from her chest and put it around his neck. He declined with a surprised expression.
"Take it, it's a relic my grandfather gave me, and now I'm passing it on to you. I hadn't decided on a birthday present for you before, but now I've decided it's this. I hope it can bless you with a safe return."
Tsunade gave Kirito's forehead a gentle flick with her finger and revealed a smile of kindness.
Kirito saw this and had to accept it with a slight blush.
Tsunade saw Kirito holding the necklace she gave him, nodded with satisfaction, stood up again, crossed her arms, straightened her body, and then said to Kirito with a smile, "Let's call it a day for today's training. If we continue to fight here, we'll destroy it. There are still some things to take care of at the hospital, so I'll go first."
After she finished speaking, she left without any further ado.
Kirito looked at the dashing back of Tsunade as she left, and he tightened his grip on the necklace around his chest. A strange light flashed in his eyes.
On the other side, not far away in the woods, Chizuru used the Three-Tomoe Sharingan to stare at Tsunade's departing back.
Nawaki suddenly felt a little cold, and subconsciously wanted to stay away from Chizuru. He decisively went to find Kirito, replacing Tsunade as Kirito's new seal puppet performance tester.
Kirito gladly accepted Nawaki as a free laborer.
In no time, Nawaki, who had opened the fourth gate, collapsed due to the side effects of the Eight Gates of Death Technique. In front of him were Kirito, who was unscathed, and the Black Tortoise puppet.
After half a year of hard work and the expenditure of a large amount of physical resources, Nawaki has now successfully opened the fourth gate.
Once the fourth gate was opened, Nawaki immediately had the strength of an elite jōnin, and his movement speed reached the level of Shunshin, allowing him to continuously attack his enemies fiercely. Coupled with the Leaf Dragon God, the ultimate Konoha body technique, his explosive power was not inferior to the Monstrous Strength Fist just used by Tsunade.
"You're done so quickly? The duration of your burst was also too short. My puppet's skin is still intact,"
Kirito looked at Nawaki, who had collapsed to the ground at this time, and teased,
"Wait, just give me a few minutes, and I'll be able to recover,"
Nawaki said weakly, his face showing a strong sense of unwillingness.
Although he understood that Kirito's strength was terrifying, and he had never won a fight before, it had now become too abnormal. He could not even defeat one of Kirito's puppets, and it was truly unjust.
"Okay, go back and practice some more. Do you know how much my Black Tortoise puppet cost? 500 million. Not to mention you, even Tsunade-neechan might not be able to break through its defenses."
Kirito saw that Nawaki was not convinced and continued to beat him down.
He knew Nawaki's personality too well. He was a one-track minded optimist with extremely strong stress resistance. The more he was beaten down, the stronger his motivation became.
"500 million! Where did you get that kind of money?"
Nawaki heard the cost of the Black Tortoise puppet and immediately looked up, shocked, at Kirito.
His monthly allowance was 100,000, and 500 million was such a large sum that Nawaki's tiny brain could hardly imagine what a fortune it would be. Anyway, it would be enough to eat his favorite ramen for the rest of his life.
For a moment, the image of himself being swallowed by countless ramen noodles appeared in Nawaki's mind, and his gaze on the Black Tortoise puppet became feverish.
"Of course I earned it, you little brat just enjoy it. With it, our safety on the battlefield will be greatly enhanced. In the future, when you use the Eight Gates of Death Technique and the side effects appear, it will be your closest companion."
Kirito saw the surprised expression on Nawaki's face, crouched down, and touched the turtle shell of the Black Tortoise puppet beneath him, smiling contentedly.
The Eight Gates of Death Technique was powerful, but the duration of its amplification ability was too short.
With Nawaki's current strength, if he opened four gates, he would be lucky to last half a minute. Once the time was up, Nawaki would immediately become a useless person who could hardly even move.
At this time, Nawaki must be protected, otherwise it will definitely be easily killed by the enemy.
On the battlefield, if the four-person ninja squad temporarily loses an important combat force in order to protect Nawaki, the danger will definitely increase greatly.
Therefore, with this in mind, Kirito took the lead in creating the defensive puppet Black Tortoise puppet, which has super defensive capabilities, and the highly mobile flying puppet Vermillion Bird puppet.
As long as Nawaki falls due to the side effects of the Eight Gates of Death Technique, the Black Tortoise puppet can become a temporary shelter for Nawaki, supporting him until he recovers his fighting strength.
At the same time, Nawaki's huge amount of chakra also has a place to be used. The chakra in his body will become the backup hidden energy source for the Black Tortoise puppet to activate the Puppet Technique: Mechanical Light Shield Block.
On this Black Tortoise puppet, Kirito specially designed a seal technique that can absorb the ninja's inner chakra.
The reference for this seal technique is Earth Release · Earth Dome Prison, and Kirito named this seal technique Seal Technique ·Earth Dome Prison.
In fact, when they go to the battlefield in the future, Nawaki will be the power bank for the chakra of his two sacred beast puppets.
"Pfft, I don't need this to protect me. I'm a jōnin now, and if any of those idiots get any ideas, I'll just smash them all to pieces with my fists,"
Nawaki said stubbornly.
But even as he said that, his eyes were fixed on the Black Tortoise puppet.
He had just experienced first-hand the defensive power of this Black Tortoise puppet, and it was terrifying.
After opening the four gates, no matter how hard he tried to dodge the Chakra shield opened by the Black Tortoise puppet and attack with his Steel Fist technique, and even used the Konoha Dragon God, the ultimate Konoha body technique that Master Chen taught him, he still couldn't break through this shell.
This kind of terrifying defensive power, if it was an enemy, would definitely give him a headache, but if it was a teammate, it would make him feel very at ease.
He is of course aware of the side effects of the Eight Gates of Death Technique. Once the side effects kick in, he is nothing but useless.
He is very worried about this, and is afraid that he will become a burden to Kirito and the others as a result. That is why he has been working hard to overcome this weakness.
For example, he has secretly studied the Mystical Palm Technique, a medical ninjutsu, in the hope that after the side effects kick in, his shadow clones can use the Mystical Palm Technique to speed up the elimination of the side effects in his body. Unfortunately, he has never been able to master it, but he has somewhat improved his control over his chakra.
Now that Kirito has such a powerful defensive puppet in his hands, he doesn't seem to have to worry about the side effects of the Eight Gates of Death Technique in the future.
"Bullshit, when we go into battle, you have to listen to me and don't go charging in and fighting the enemy head-on. Tsunade-nee-san is still hoping that the two of us will come back alive from the battlefield. In the future, after you activate the Eight Gates of Death Technique and feel like you can't hold on any longer, hurry back here to the Black Tortoise puppet, clear?"
Kirito saw that Nawaki was being stubborn, so he immediately said with a stern face:
"Got it."
Nawaki saw this and nodded seriously.
"Okay, have you guys had enough fun? It's my turn."
Suddenly, an icy voice appeared, making both Kirito and Nawaki feel a chill.
"Chizuru, are you also going to help me test the performance of the puppet?"
Kirito had long since noticed Chizuru, but he didn't know what was keeping her. Now that she had finally come over, he immediately welcomed her with a smile.
"What? Just because that woman can help you, I can't?"
Chizuru glared at Kirito with her Sharingan and said coldly.
Kirito was a little confused by Chizuru's glare, but he realized that Chizuru was angry now, so he had to go along with her, and quickly replied, "How could that be? I welcome it with all my heart. Come on, attack with all your strength."
The next moment, a large number of crimson runes immediately appeared on Chizuru's body, covering her entire body. Then her physical form rapidly changed as well, her skin became paler, her hair grew longer and turned silvery white in color, and two small horns appeared on her forehead.
At the same time, a powerful chakra that was very similar to Sage Chakra also burst out from her body.
Since he had last infused the curse mark within Chizuru's body with Sage Chakra, allowing it to grow and upgrade, and completely integrate with Chizuru's body, Chizuru had finally succeeded in perceiving natural energy with the help of the curse mark, and used the curse mark as a transducer to create a special type of chakra.
This type of chakra was also made up of a mixture of chakra and natural energy, but it was not Sage Chakra.
In terms of power level, it is above Chakra and natural energy, but below Sage Chakra.
Kirito calls this special Chakra the Curse Mark Chakra.
After repeated verification, the Curse Mark Chakra can enhance ninjutsu in the same way as Sage Chakra, but the enhancement is lower than that of Sage Chakra.
Chizuru completed the seal in less than half a second, and vomited a huge black high-temperature fire wave from her mouth.
Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!
"This fire is a bit too strong."
Kirito used his chakra thread to pull Nawaki to the Black Tortoise puppet, then activated the Mechanical Light Shield Block on the Black Tortoise puppet and used his chakra shield to block the incoming black flames.
The Great Fire Destruction released with the power of the Curse Mark Chakra amplification was truly astonishing.
In less than a moment, cracks appeared all over the chakra shield.
As a last resort, Kirito had to activate another Mechanical Light Shield Block on the Black Tortoise puppet, and the two Chakra Shields were superimposed, instantly repairing the cracks and firmly blocking the Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction released by Chizuru.
"It's not over yet,"
Chizuru said coldly as she saw that her strongest Fire Release Jutsu could not break the shell of the Black Tortoise puppet.
With that, she immediately drew her famous sword, Lightning Strike, from her waist.
As soon as she drew it, a Lightning Release chakra covered the sword, with a large amount of black electricity winding around it.
Suddenly, a deafening thunderclap appeared.
A flash of lightning appeared in front of Kirito's eyes, and Chizuru suddenly appeared in front of him. The Lightning Strike in her hand, wrapped in black lightning, pierced the Chakra Shield and successfully pierced it, but it finally stopped in front of Kirito's forehead.
The reason was that the black snake on the tail of the Black Tortoise puppet bit tightly onto the sword, preventing the Lightning Strike in Chizuru's hand from advancing another half inch.
"Hmph,"
Chizuru snorted again upon seeing this.
The black lightning on the sword body once again soared, and a black current immediately shot out from the tip of the sword, landing on Kirito's forehead, electrocuting a small area of skin.
Chizuru saw this and let go of the hilt of the sword, then quickly lifted the curse mark on her body.
"After activating the curse mark, the power of your Lightning Flash has become much stronger, especially after being covered in that black lightning, the penetration has greatly increased."
Seeing that Chizuru had stopped fighting, Kirito also controlled Black Snake to release Lightning Strike, then caught it and returned it to Chizuru, praising her.
"Go back and wipe your forehead clean, don't leave any marks, I'm going back now."
Chizuru looked at the scorched black area on Kirito's forehead, and her expression of coldness loosened a little.
As soon as she finished speaking, she used the Lightning Stimulation Secret Technique and quickly disappeared in front of Kirito.
"What's wrong with this girl?"
Kirito watched as Chizuru fled, sighing, then touched his forehead with his hand and skillfully used the Mystical Palm Technique to remove the charred skin from his forehead.
"This woman is truly terrifying..."
Nawaki, who had witnessed the entire battle, muttered.
...
The next day, at 8:00 a.m., an open space in the mountains behind the Hidden Village of Konoha.
Kirito was looking down at the gemstone necklace hanging around his neck, and then recalled the beautiful figure of Tsunade with her curvaceous body, muttering, "I've been blessed with death by Tsunade, haven't I?"
In the original plot, it was Nawaki's treatment, but now it had been switched to him.
Although Kirito didn't believe in fate, a trace of nervousness couldn't help but arise in his heart.
He was not a reincarnated Asura like Naruto, who had the aura of the protagonist, and it was hard to say what fatal threats he might encounter on the battlefield.
But he is not Nawaki and Kato Dan, and his current strength is much stronger than the two of them in the original plot. Unless there are more than two Kage-Level powerhouses on the enemy side, and unless he is unaware of it, the enemy will never be able to leave him behind.
Also, the Hashirama's Necklace is a very important ninja tool. The gem on the necklace is a super-precious Chakra crystal, which also contains the power of Senju Hashirama, and has the effect of suppressing the tailed beasts.
However, as far as Kirito knows, the only way to activate the power of the Hashirama's Necklace is with Wood Release Chakra.
In the original plot, it was precisely because Yamato had Wood Release Chakra that he was able to successfully activate the power of the Senju Hashirama in the necklace and suppress the five-tailed beast that had grown into Naruto.
"Is it really true that only Wood Release Chakra can activate the power within?"
Kirito frowned as he contemplated, looking at the Hashirama's Necklace in his hands.
The Hashirama's Necklace is undoubtedly a very powerful sealing-type ninja tool. If he can unleash its power, it will definitely greatly enhance his ability to suppress the tailed beasts. He might even be able to suppress the Kyubi without having to use the power sealed within the Yin Seal, using an improved version of the Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chain.
After all, in the original plot, Yamato, a Wood Release ninja with the strength of an elite jōnin, managed to suppress Naruto, who had turned into a five-tailed beast, with the help of the Hashirama's Necklace.
If it were him, he would be perfectly capable of demonstrating Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chain in the form of a sealing formation, and then use the First Generation Necklace as the eye of the formation to strengthen the power of Adamantine Sealing Chain.
The combined effect of these two powers that can suppress the tailed beasts is definitely not as simple as 1+1=2.
The only question remaining now is how to stimulate the power within.
He does have Wood Release Chakra, but he cannot say for the time being where it comes from.
Therefore, he needs to find other ways to stimulate the power within.
"Speaking of which, this thing is quite fragile, I can't experiment on the whole thing. If I break it, Tsunade will definitely be very sad. Let's try to get some debris first,"
Kirito thought to himself, remembering how Naruto, who had turned into a beast, had crushed the necklace in his hands.
Soon, a series of ideas for experiments on the hashirama's necklace appeared in his mind.
"Hmph,"
Suddenly, an icy hmph sound appeared in Kirito's ears, causing Kirito to snap out of his thoughts.
The voice was very familiar, and Kirito immediately knew who it belonged to. He turned his head and looked at Chizuru, who had suddenly appeared not far away, and smiled slightly, "You're here too."
"Hmph,"
Chizuru turned her head away and continued to snort.
"Why is she angry again?"
Kirito saw that Chizuru's mood was a bit grumpy today, and wondered.
"Cough cough~"
Then, a coughing sound appeared behind him.
Kirito heard this voice and decisively turned around and gave a strong kick.
Nawaki, who had just used Earth Release: Hidden Mole Technique to burrow out of the ground, was suddenly kicked away by Kirito. After landing, he immediately loudly complained, "You're treating us differently, you bastard."
"Who told you to sneak up on me from behind?"
Kirito ignored Nawaki's complaints, then came up to Nawaki and reached down to pull him up from the ground.
At this time, Chizuru also came up to the two of them.
Nawaki got up from the ground and looked around. Noticing that there were only the three of them, he said discontently, "Where's the teacher in charge? Didn't he say that we would meet here at eight o'clock on time? Why hasn't he arrived yet?"
"Idiot,"
said Chizuru sarcastically when she heard Nawaki's words.
"Hey, you need to be more clear when you speak. We are now at least companions in the same squad, so don't leave things unsaid. And what's with that attitude? I'm not an idiot."
Nawaki heard this and angrily looked at Chizuru and shouted.
He had long looked down on this female Uchiha, but he had held his breath because he could never beat her.
But now it's different. After opening the Four Gates, he is confident that he can defeat Chizuru.
Although the techniques used by this female Uchiha are a bit powerful, he is no slouch either. He can use the Shadow Clone Technique together with the Rasengan to deal with her, and in a critical moment, use the Eight Gates of Death Technique to decide the outcome.
He knows more than just the Eight Gates of Death Technique.
This technique is his trump card. Usually, he uses the Shadow Clone Technique, taking advantage of his large amount of chakra and using a large number of shadow clones created with the Shadow Clone Technique along with various ninjutsu and taijutsu to defeat his enemies.
"What? Are you saying you're not convinced, idiot? It's really strange that a guy who even the team leader hasn't noticed can join this squad."
Chizuru saw Nawaki as an outsider and spoke coldly.
In her opinion, having Nawaki in the squad was simply redundant.
Moreover, from Nawaki's performance just now, it can be seen that Nawaki's perception ability is really very low, and his alertness is not high either. She is more or less dissatisfied in her heart to let such a guy join this elite squad.
A few days ago, like Kirito, she received a recruitment order from the Sandaime Hokage, telling her to form a ninja squad with Kirito and go to war.
She just didn't expect the third person to actually be this guy Nawaki.
Although she had a feeling it would be like this, she was still a little surprised when she saw Nawaki appear here.
She actually thought Nawaki's strength was not bad, but she did not think Nawaki was a reliable companion, at least not in battle.
You have to understand that the team she formed with Kirito was led by the powerful ninja Konoha White Fang.
She learned about this from her grandfather.
This shows that the mission they are about to undertake is definitely very dangerous, and Nawaki, the second generation member of the Senju clan, should not be here in the first place.
"What do you mean, the teacher in charge has already arrived?"
Nawaki said with a difficult expression on his face when he heard Chizuru say this, and then turned his head to look at Kirito, only to see Kirito nod his head, his expression even more difficult to see.
The next moment, he immediately used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to create a large number of shadow clones to search for the teacher in hiding.
However, no matter how hard he looked, he still couldn't find the hidden teacher in charge.
"Nawaki, don't be discouraged. You're not a perception-type ninja, so it's normal that you can't find our teacher in charge,"
Kirito said, patting Nawaki on the shoulder to comfort him when he saw the frustrated expression on his face.
Then, he suddenly turned around and threw a Kunai at a large tree less than ten meters in front of them, exclaiming, "Am I right, Teacher Hatake?
"Ding ~"
The two Kunai collided in mid-air, sending a sparkle of light.
Then, to Nawaki's astonished gaze, Hatake Sakumo emerged from behind the large tree.
"It's actually him,"
Nawaki thought in shock upon seeing Hatake Sakumo.
He had previously heard from his sister that his team leader this time would be a very powerful ninja, but he really didn't expect it to be Hatake Sakumo, a Kage-Level powerhouse known as Konoha's White Fang.
At the same time, the frustration he felt at not being able to discover Hatake Sakumo gradually dissipated.
The other party was Konoha White Fang, the most powerful assassination ninja in Konoha, and his ability to lurk was certainly astonishing. It was understandable that he had not been able to discover him.
But soon, a strong sense of unwillingness arose in his heart again. He looked at Chizuru beside him and wondered, "Kirito was able to discover Konoha White Fang, and it must be thanks to the Spirit Transformation Technique. But how did this female Uchiha discover Konoha White Fang? Damn it, I'm so unwilling."
Chizuru noticed Nawaki's unwilling gaze and directed a contemptuous glance at him.
Over the years, because of Kirito, she had met with Nawaki many times.
But for some reason, she just didn't like the sight of him. He was always so stupid, and it seriously affected her ability to chat and train with Kirito.
Kirito saw the two of them bristling with hostility as soon as they arrived, and he groaned inwardly.
"Kirito, Nawaki, Chizuru, hello. I am Hatake Sakumo. From today onwards, I will be your instructor, Jōnin. We will be working together in the future, so please give me your advice."
Hatake Sakumo arrived in front of the three of them with a technique that allowed him to instantly change his appearance without leaving a single mark, and gave a small smile.
He swept his eyes over the three of them, finally settling on Kirito, and then said to him, "Kirito, from now on, you will be the leader of this squad. During missions, if I am not around, you will be in charge of commanding the squad's actions."