The sun dipped behind the mountains, and the heat in the air gradually faded.
Tsunade lay limp and exhausted on the wooden corridor, her entire body sore and grimy. Her once-beautiful ponytail had unraveled into a tangled mess.
At this moment, the chakra within her was almost depleted. She didn't even have the strength to move.
She had spent the entire afternoon repeatedly practicing the Summoning Technique, draining her chakra again and again.
Fortunately, hard work pays off, under Arima's guidance, she had managed to master the technique in just one afternoon.
To Arima, Tsunade's rapid mastery of the Summoning Technique was due to both her innate talent and the determination she possessed despite her young age.
Watching her small, exhausted form, Arima couldn't help but feel a pang of tenderness.
He returned to his room, fetched a small wooden comb, and walked over to her. Sitting gently beside her, he leaned down and picked her up into his arms.
Tsunade, completely out of strength, noticed the comb in Arima's hand and immediately understood his intention.
He wanted to help tidy up her tangled hair. She obediently rested quietly in his embrace, unmoving and silent.
With great care, Arima loosened her hair tie and began to gently work through the knots, using the comb slowly and patiently to untangle each stubborn clump.
Tsunade deeply enjoyed being pampered like this. From his movements, she could feel how much her brother cherished and cared for her.
Halfway through the process, drowsiness began to overtake her. But then, Arima's voice reached her ears.
"Tsunade," he said softly, "tomorrow, I'm leaving the village to train in Sage Mode at Shikkotsu Forest. I'll be gone for about three months."
The moment she heard that her beloved brother was leaving, she turned her head in a panic, without even hearing what he was leaving for.
But her still-tangled hair caught on the comb, yanking painfully at her scalp. Her lips trembled as she cried out.
"Ow…."
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Feeling guilty, Arima quickly let go of the comb and gently massaged the spot that had been pulled, scolding her lightly.
When he saw the mist rising in her eyes, it was as if she were silently saying, 'You better explain yourself, or I'll cry for real.'
Her expression was so adorably pitiful that Arima's heart softened entirely.
As he continued combing her hair with gentle strokes, he explained, "I'm heading to Shikkotsu Forest to train in Sage Arts.
You know as well as I do, war is coming to the village. If I can grow stronger, I can do more to help. I want to protect our family and carry on grandfather's will."
Tsunade no longer had the heart to stay upset.
But as she thought about how Arima had never been away from her for more than a week since they were little, she was overwhelmed with a deep reluctance to part.
Even though she told herself that he was doing it for the village, to protect their peace, the thought of being apart from him still made her heart ache.
She tried to convince herself to support Arima's decision, but an inexplicable sense of grievance lingered.
She feared others would say she was immature if she acted out, but the truth was, she really didn't want to let him go.
Then Arima added, "While I'm training at Shikkotsu Forest, if you miss me, you can use Reverse Summoning to come find me anytime."
Those words lit her up like a flash of sunlight breaking through dark clouds. Her frown melted into a teary smile, and all the emotions she'd been trying to hold back came pouring out.
It was as if a little kitten that had been abandoned was suddenly scooped back into its master's arms.
Tears streaked down her face, and her smile through the tears made Arima chuckle.
"Crying and laughing at the same time. Poor thing... it's not like your Arima-nii's abandoning you."
Tsunade, indignant at his teasing, immediately lunged to tickle him.
But since Arima was still combing her hair, he didn't dare dodge and quickly begged for mercy, promising all sorts of things to calm her down.
After coaxing Tsunade to settle, Arima felt he had resolved the most difficult part of preparing to leave.
That night, he planned to pack his things and head out early in the morning after breakfast, he wouldn't even stop by to say goodbye to Tobirama.
That night, after Tsunade had bathed, she stepped out of the bathroom and didn't see Arima in the living room.
She went to his room and found him packing. Just seeing that made her heart ache again, she really couldn't bear to be apart from him, even for a few days.
Arima looked up when he sensed her behind him and saw that same pitiful expression on her face.
He sighed inwardly, 'My poor little Tsunade... what would you do if your Arima-nii died on the battlefield one day?'
He put his things down, turned to her, and gently ruffled her hair. "Alright, alright. It's not like we won't see each other again. Come help me pack."
Tsunade hurried back to her room, dried off, changed into her pajamas, and quickly returned to help him.
They mostly packed clothes for daily use. As for food, he would survive on fruits and other items in the forest.
That night, no matter what, Tsunade refused to sleep alone. She insisted that Arima stay with her and sing her to sleep.
Arima indulged her. After all, it was their last night together. That night, Tsunade slept soundly in her brother's arms.
The next morning, when she woke, she instinctively reached beside her and realized Arima was already gone.
She turned her head toward the spot where his packed bags had been, and found them missing.
Arima had already left.
But on the table, there was a small note that read.
Didn't wake you up, sleepy cat. Arima-nii's gone. Be sure to train hard, okay?
Only then did she notice the shelves filled with scrolls. There were so many that even if she studied diligently, it would take at least six months to learn them all.
Each of those scrolls had been handpicked by Arima, tailored to suit Tsunade's chakra nature.
He had deliberately left her enough material to keep her busy for months, so she wouldn't have time to overthink or dwell on missing him. He had truly thought everything through.
Tsunade pouted and muttered in frustration, "Hmph. Arima-nii. You think this will lock me down here?"
Then, a sly smile spread across her little face.
She whispered to herself, "You don't know I secretly learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from our granduncle, huh?
I can finish all this in a month. Then I'll come find you in Shikkotsu Forest and leave you speechless."
Meanwhile, Arima had already arrived at Shikkotsu Forest. He now sat atop a giant mushroom in front of the Great Slug Sage, discussing the details of his senjutsu training.
His plan was to use the high-quality natural energy available in the forest to enhance his sensory abilities, thereby elevating both his Flying Thunder God Technique and sealing arts.
Most importantly, he aimed to awaken and improve his grandfather's signature Wood Release techniques.
The devastatingly powerful Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands and Top Transformed Buddha.
Mastering those would elevate him to a level beyond even the current Kage.
Tuning into the system embedded deep within his soul, Arima saw that he had over 25,000 virtue points.
Without hesitation, he went to the exchange interface and redeemed the Senjutsu Insight Module for 10,000 points.
And so began his months-long training in senjutsu. The process was repetitive and tedious, trial after trial, Arima steadily practiced, experimented, and meditated.
Elsewhere, less than half a month after Arima left the village, the war erupted.
Kumogakure launched a surprise assault on Konoha's border defenses, resulting in heavy casualties.
Though Konoha had spent years preparing for war, they had underestimated the intensity of Kumogakure's strike, especially since the attack was led personally by the Second Raikage, A.
This man, once the bodyguard of the First Raikage, possessed incredible strength.
He shared a similar temperament with Tobirama, excelling in developing jutsu and pioneering the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and advanced kenjutsu-based taijutsu.
Tobirama immediately responded to the frontline call, mobilized a squad of elite shinobi, and rushed to counter the invasion.
Village affairs were temporarily handed over to Mito to manage in his absence.
Meanwhile, Mito had been observing Tsunade closely. Over the past two weeks, the girl had been training tirelessly, nothing like the playful child she used to be.
She noticed the stacks of scrolls in Tsunade's room and, upon inspection, found densely written notes and annotations. It was clear these were Arima's gifts.
Mito smiled in approval. This mutual drive to improve could help keep their bond strong and prevent complacency from setting in.
They were still young, after all, what came later would come in time.
To prevent Tsunade from overusing the Shadow Clone Jutsu and draining her undeveloped chakra reserves, Mito created a clone to monitor her training sessions.
She did take issue with Tobirama secretly teaching Tsunade such a dangerous jutsu.
The girl was still young and had a weaker constitution compared to Jinchuriki, who naturally recovered chakra much faster. Forcefully extracting chakra would only harm her in the long run.
Still, Mito refrained from blaming Tobirama too harshly. He couldn't have predicted how desperate Tsunade would become to catch up to her brother.
Tsunade had initially wanted to rebel against her grandmother's supervision, until Mito told her that if she continued misusing her chakra this way, she'd never match up to her Arima-nii.
That struck her right in her softest spot. From then on, she obediently followed the rules, never daring to act out again.
Thus, Tsunade settled into serious and structured training, driven by the fear of being left behind by the brother she idolized.
Time passed quickly. Two months slipped by. On the frontlines, the war raged fiercely. Each day brought more casualties.
The fighting had left deep scars on both villages, countless families torn apart.
The dead were gone, but the living pressed on. The shinobi still standing had to continue fighting for their beliefs.
And finally, Arima completed his senjutsu training, fully integrating it into his combat system.
He left Shikkotsu Forest behind, ready to step onto the battlefield.
---------------
Guys do leave some power stones and reviews.
🤞pa treon . com / plotplanner🤞
Remove all the spaces in between and then search.
If you guys enjoy this story, you can support me on Patreon and get access to 30 Advance Chapters, it really helps me to work on new chapters.