Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 233 Unbanned

"Now."

Aokiji thought to himself, letting the phantom behind him solidify into a body. He touched the Five-Tails, which was frozen into an ice sculpture, and extracted blue chakra from its body. As long as the "tug-of-war" went smoothly, he should be officially defeated by the Five-Tails.

Well……

Aokiji frowned.

Chakra can connect with people on a spiritual level. Aokiji, who extracted the Five-Tails' chakra, unknowingly sensed the Five-Tails' inner voice.

so painful...

I'm so cruel.

It's so painful.

I'm going to kill you all...

The deep voice echoed and lingered in my mind, layer upon layer.

The image flashed, and then something distorted, bizarre, and indescribable appeared in my mind.

What the hell is this thing?

Aokiji was startled.

Just then, a lot of white smoke billowed from the ice sculpture in front of me, followed by a crack as the ice shattered and disintegrated...

Aokiji, his face grim, uttered two words: "Boiling Release."

Judging from the steam emanating from the Five-Tails, it seems that it used the steam to slowly melt away its ice.

The Five-Tails countered Aokiji's attack, but instead of mocking him, it spoke with a hint of admiration:

"This is the first time I've encountered such powerful freezing air. This technique might have worked on some other tailed beasts, but using it on me just means you've chosen the wrong opponent."

The Five-Tails' Boil Release technique, to a certain extent, countered Aokiji's Ice Release.

Aokiji smiled wryly, as if he had the opportunity to choose his opponent.

The Five-Tails gave Aokiji a meaningful look, then suddenly said, "Fine, I'll admit it."

Happiness came too quickly, and Aokiji was stunned.

The Five-Tails admitted, "As far as I'm concerned about my qualifications as a Jinchūriki, I think it will be very difficult to find a Jinchūriki more suitable for me in the future."

"That……"

Before Aokiji could even raise his lips in a smile, the Five-Tails' next move completely stunned him.

The Five-Tails raised its neck, and blue and black chakra balls kept gathering near its mouth.

Aokiji's lips twitched violently. What kind of admission was this...?

The Five-Tails swallowed the chakra ball whole, ready to unleash its power.

Aokiji quickly raised his arm to indicate that he was "conceding defeat," without any hesitation.

That move just now was too taxing. Although we could still try to fight back, it wouldn't make much sense to continue.

The Five-Tails was surprised that Aokiji would admit defeat so decisively. With a hint of displeasure in its eyes, it unleashed a Tailed Beast Ball, which exploded instantly, creating waves and venting its frustration.

Aokiji glanced back at the spot where the explosion had occurred, his expression still showing lingering fear. Fortunately, despite his displeasure, the Five-Tails was still somewhat reasonable.

The five-tailed beast lay down on the ground again.

Aokiji asked, "Didn't you just say you acknowledged me? Why are you still fighting me?"

Go-Tails replied, "These are two different things."

Aokiji didn't press the issue, shrugged, and reluctantly accepted the current situation.

But oh well, this battle wasn't entirely fruitless. His relationship with the Five-Tails has grown closer, and perhaps all he needs now is a trigger to become the perfect Jinchūriki.

…………

Aokiji opened his eyes and returned to the real world. He had just used a powerful move and was a little weak, so he decided to go back inside and lie down for a while.

Lying in bed, Aokiji stared at the ceiling, pondering how he could continue to grow stronger.

Although I really want to obtain the power of the Five-Tails, I'll put that aside for now, for the time being.

The Five-Tails' abilities are relatively effective against Aokiji's Ice Release.

If it were just a simple matter of restraint, that would be fine. The key issue is that the Five-Tails' chakra is not on the same level as Aokiji's, which is causing Aokiji a great headache.

"Sigh, I still don't have enough chakra..."

Aokiji sighed. The Ice Release: Ice Age he had just used wasn't perfect. It even required the help of the Ice Chains to activate. If it had been perfect, the Five-Tails wouldn't have been broken so easily.

The reason for this is that this technique consumed far too much chakra when it was developed.

Chakra is a combination of mental and physical abilities. Using too much of it will make a person very tired, and may even be life-threatening.

So when Aokiji used this move, he was as tired as if he had just been on 007, which made the development process very difficult.

After all this trouble, Aokiji finally understood why there were so few offensive S-rank ninjutsu.

Besides the sheer difficulty of development, another reason might be that it's not practical. It sounds a bit funny, but it's true.

There's a saying, "Using a cannon to kill a mosquito."

Most ninjas are fragile; a single kunai is enough to kill them instantly. Even S-rank ninjutsu with extremely high damage is practically overflowing with damage.

Moreover, putting that aside, this kind of S-rank ninjutsu is extremely chakra-intensive, and ordinary ninjas, even at full strength, simply cannot unleash it.

Even ninjas with a lot of chakra, like Aokiji, would deplete their chakra with a single shot at full power. If it missed, they would be in a very passive situation afterward.

Normally, a ninja wouldn't use their ultimate move when they're at full strength. Usually, both sides would exchange ninjutsu, and when they ran out of options, they would resort to a higher-level ninjutsu. However, by then, their chakra had already been depleted by the previous rounds, and they simply didn't have enough chakra to use a ninjutsu of this level.

This is one of the main reasons why few people develop offensive S-rank ninjutsu. Only people like Naruto, who are said to have the level of tailed beast chakra, can use this kind of ninjutsu as a regular means of output.

It seems I need to become a perfect Jinchuriki as soon as possible. That way, aside from a huge increase in strength, the more important thing is that the development of ninjutsu won't be too limited by chakra.

However, before that, we should first develop some more practical ninjutsu.

In the past three years, Aokiji has mainly focused on honing his fundamentals and developing Boil Release: Bloodline Limit, spending relatively little time researching ninjutsu.

Aokiji fell asleep while thinking about it.

The next day, Aokiji received the message, left the Forest of Death, entered a circular building, and went straight into the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was looking down at documents in the room when he noticed someone's arrival. He looked up, saw Aokiji, and gave him a friendly smile: "You've come at just the right time."

Aokiji asked, "Hokage-sama, you were looking for me?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't mince words: "You probably already guessed why I asked you to come here."

Aokiji looked expectant: "Can I move around freely now?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed the documents on the table: "To be on the safe side, and to prevent the tailed beast inside you from going berserk, I originally didn't want you to return so soon. But since someone has vouched for you, I've decided to officially lift your restrictions from today onwards."

Is there a guarantor?

Without hesitation, Aokiji asked, "Grandma Mito?"

The different forms of address represent different relationships; he is using this form of address to signal the special relationship between himself and Mito.

I've already married into the family.

You, Hiruzen Sarutobi, if you want to target me in the future, you'd better think twice. Do you even consider whether the powerful figure behind me will allow it?

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't particularly surprised to hear Aokiji's affectionate way of addressing Mito.

During those three years, Tsunade would return from her missions and would often sneak off to see Aokiji. Mito, who was in charge of monitoring Aokiji, couldn't possibly be unaware of their relationship.

Aokiji directly calls Mito "Grandma," which means Mito has already tacitly accepted their special relationship.

"It seems you've gained Lady Mito's approval," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile. "From now on, you'll have to contribute more to the village and not let her down."

Aokiji, touching his conscience, made a guarantee: "Don't worry, Hokage-sama, I will definitely contribute to the construction of Konoha Village and will never slack off."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said gently, "Now that I hear you say that, I'm relieved."

Aokiji casually mentioned, "By the way, when is Tsunade coming back from this mission?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi teased, "It hasn't been that long since we last met, and you're already in such a hurry to see your little girlfriend?"

Aokiji did not deny it and laughed heartily.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and said, "I can't guarantee the exact end time of the mission, but I should be back soon."

Aokiji said "Okay," and then said, "Hokage-sama, may I make a small request for the next mission?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes: "Tell me what you think?"

"If possible, I would like to go on missions with Tsunade as much as possible in the future. Putting aside our special relationship, I think that in terms of both strength and teamwork, she and I are the perfect partners, which can greatly increase the success rate of missions."

"and……"

Aokiji paused, his expression grave, and continued in a deep voice, "Most importantly, I don't want to lose Tsunade."

"War is like a merciless meat grinder, and every day there are new sacrifices wherever it grinds."

"I lost my mother at a young age and have experienced the pain of loss since childhood. I have finally found someone I cherish, and I don't want to lose them again."

He specifically added this sentence in the latter half, playing the emotional card to gamble on the possibility of Hiruzen Sarutobi refusing him.

I'm already in such a miserable state, how can you refuse me?

Why won't you let me team up with Tsunade?

In addition, Aokiji secretly released a message.

Hokage, you wouldn't want me to awaken the Sharingan or the Mangekyou Sharingan because of this, would you?

As a disciple of the Second Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi must have known something about the Sharingan, and even the awakening of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

After careful consideration, Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Yes."

Since Aokiji had said that, he seemed to have no reason to refuse.

Upon hearing this, Aokiji sincerely thanked him, then showered him with praise, showering him with "good guy" cards: "Hokage-sama, you are such a good person."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was pleased to see Aokiji trust him so much and chuckled kindly.

Having said all that needed to be said, Aokiji felt he had no reason to stay any longer and was thinking it was time to slip away: "Hokage-sama, is there anything else? If not, I'll go and train hard, develop powerful ninjutsu, and end the war through my relentless efforts."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, a satisfied look on his face: "That's all for now."

"In that case, I'll be going."

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Aokiji's departing figure, his eyes slightly narrowed, and he murmured softly, "The power of a tailed beast..."

(End of this chapter)