421 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

Inside the cave altar, the Shinju clone took a kunai from his ninja pouch and lightly cut open his palm.

"Drip."

Dark red blood fell into the blood grooves surrounding the altar.

"Humm—"

In an instant, a dim crimson glow lit up the entire cave altar!

At that moment, Sasuke noticed that the Shinju clone's expression became hazy.

He turned his head—and even Shinju's main body beside him looked as if he'd been caught in a genjutsu!

That expression—confusion mixed with curiosity…

Afraid Shinju had fallen into Jashin's trap, Sasuke tried disrupting chakra to drag Shinju's consciousness out of the illusion, but every attempt failed.

It was as if Shinju were deliberately immersing himself in this state, using it to converse with a formless god!

This state lasted for several minutes.

Soon, Shinju slowly woke up, his eyes clearing as the confusion faded!

"How was it? (‧_‧?)" Sasuke's face was full of curiosity and anticipation.

"No idea." Shinju shook his head, looking dumbfounded.

"That look of rapture just now—weren't you communicating with Jashin?" Sasuke pressed on.

"When the blood first dripped in, my consciousness seemed to establish a connection with Jashin, but it disappeared very quickly…"

Shinju's eyes showed contemplation.

"That feeling was really strange. It was like… my consciousness devoured Jashin's will…"

When he said the last sentence, Shinju sounded a little uncertain.

Sasuke: --003d͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇)

Even without knowing what Jashin actually was, devouring a god sounded more than a little absurd!

"Let's go back and have the lab study whether there are any side effects…" Sasuke accepted the fact that Shinju had slain a god, his tone tinged with a bit of dejection.

Shinju nodded. Before leaving, to prevent Jashin cult from causing trouble again, he directly used Earth Release to completely destroy the entire cave.

On the way back to the hot springs, Shinju seemed to sense something. He pulled out a knife and slashed his arm!

"Shua!"

The blood flashed—and vanished!

Before the blood could even flow out, the wound had already healed!

Sasuke's jaw dropped at the sight: ⊙▽⊙

"T-This— even Naruto, with a tailed beast inside him, doesn't have regeneration this ridiculous, right?!"

Shinju nodded, tacitly acknowledging it.

"Back then, Hidan believed in Jashin and gained a kind of near-immortality—even after getting his head cut off, he could stitch it back on… I devoured Jashin, so in theory I should have that ability too."

As he spoke, Shinju slowly placed the knife against his own neck…

"Calm down! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ" Sasuke hurriedly reached out to stop him. "That's just a hypothesis! What if you're wrong—then you'd really be—"

Thinking it over, Shinju realized that made sense, so he released an Aoki-no-Mikoto clone.

A Rinnegan clone possessed exactly the same abilities as the main body—there was nothing more suitable for testing!

Aoki-no-Mikoto clone: →_→

First he was used to test Jashin, and now he was being asked to get his head chopped off…

Having a main body like this—what a blessing!

A few seconds later.

"Crack!"

Blood sprayed everywhere!

The clone's head fell to the ground!

Sasuke covered his eyes nervously. Even though he knew it was just a clone, that clone was no different from a normal person!

"How is it?" the main body Shinju asked curiously, looking at the clone's head on the ground.

"It hurts a bit…" the clone's head replied. After saying that, even he was stunned. "I'm actually still alive?!"

Just like that, the experiment was complete.

After devouring Jashin, Shinju had obtained nearly monstrous vitality!

His life force even surpassed Hidan's back then!

...

Land of Hot Water, in some dark corner.

A Jashin cultist, in order to obtain the power of immortality, killed his own companion.

Blood stained the altar red.

"Oh great Jashin, forgive me for offering the life of a fellow believer as a sacrifice today. The Land of Hot Water has been under strict investigation lately…"

"Now, please descend with your power… grant me immortality!"

"Jashin?"

"Jashin?! Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"

"Jashin—where did you go?! !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ"

...

A few days later.

Land of Fire, Konoha Village.

After the New Future company's team-building event ended, Shinju used Flying Thunder God to bring all the employees back, saving another chunk of travel expenses…

Upon returning to the village, Shinju immediately parted ways with the employees and headed for the Hokage's office.

Just as he reached the office door, he heard Tsunade-sensei's voice coming from inside:

"Hey, Naruto, what's going on with you? This document can't be handled like this—it'll stir up public resentment… And this one here—anyone asks for funding and you approve it right away. Do you think the village has that much money left?"

"All right, this isn't entirely your fault. You're still young—missing things is normal… If there's anyone to blame, it's Shinju, rushing off to have fun and throwing you into the deep end… Don't defend him. When he comes back, I'll really give him a piece of my mind… Leave these documents here. When he's back, we'll work him to death! Ծ‸ Ծ"

Even through the thick door, Shinju could hear the anger in Tsunade-sensei's voice!

So he decided to wait until Tsunade-sensei left before going back!

Even though Shinju now completely outclassed Tsunade in every ability, whenever he saw his teacher angry, he still felt guilty.

This was probably the bloodline suppression between master and disciple!

That night, after hearing Shinju had returned, Tsunade angrily shoved open the Hokage office door.

The moment she stepped inside, she heard Shinju muttering to himself amid piles of documents:

"This trip to the Land of Hot Water to investigate the missing persons case went pretty well. Not only did we wipe out the cult, we rescued the missing people, and even took the company employees out for some fun."

"While I was gone, Naruto really worked hard handling village affairs."

"And Tsunade-sensei—she's devoted to the village. She must've helped Naruto a lot too. When I see her, I'll be sure to thank her properly and give her the local specialty I brought back for her from the Land of Hot Water… ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"

Then Shinju looked up, pretending he'd just noticed Tsunade:

"Sensei, you're here. This is the Land of Hot Water specialty I brought back for you—great for beauty and skincare…"

Tsunade froze: (๑ʘ̅ д ʘ̅๑)!!!

So Shinju went to the Land of Hot Water to investigate a missing persons case—and even thoughtfully brought back a gift for her…

And she'd actually thought he went there just to dodge responsibility and have fun…

She really was awful! (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

To think she'd suspected her precious disciple like that—she wasn't even human!

Seeing Tsunade's expression change, Shinju subtly curled the corner of his mouth. He yawned theatrically, looking exhausted, and continued:

"Sensei, I still have a pile of documents to deal with, so I won't see you out."

Tsunade couldn't bear it. "Take a break. Look how tired you are."

Shinju shook his head.

"It's fine. I'm the Hokage you chose—carrying the whole village on my shoulders! ୧⍢⃝୨"

"Even if I'm so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open, I'll finish these documents and won't let you down, Sensei!!"

After hearing that, Tsunade slapped herself on the spot!

How could she be this awful?! (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)

Her beloved disciple was forcing himself on despite exhaustion just to live up to her expectations…

And her, in comparison: selfish! Narrow-minded! Petty!

"Shinju, go home. I'll help you handle the rest of the documents!" Tsunade said firmly.

"It's fine—compared to you, Sensei, I'm not tired!"

"You just got back from the Land of Hot Water—you must be exhausted. Take three days off and come back then. Sensei will cover for you!"