Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 248 Proposal and Ice Release: Eight-Point Ice Wheel

Aokiji became even more curious: "What restrictions?"

Tsunade disappointed Aokiji again, saying, "I forgot."

Aokiji said disdainfully, "Why is your woman always so forgetful?"

Tsunade retorted indignantly, "That was all a long time ago. I can only remember a few words, which is already a pretty good memory. Fine."

Aokiji said helplessly, "Alright, alright, then try your best to get it for me."

Tsunade asked, "When do you want it?"

Without hesitation, Aokiji replied, "The sooner the better."

Tsunade demonstrated her exceptional resourcefulness: "Then I'll go find Grandma right now and get you this ninjutsu, okay?"

"Oh, then there's no need to rush."

Aokiji suggested they could postpone it for now, asking, "Do you have anything else planned for today?"

"If I had other things to do, I wouldn't have come to see you."

"That's right~ In that case, you can help me develop ninjutsu today."

"Is it another ninjutsu development project?"

"I told you before, developing this Ice Release: Aurora Goddess's Forgiveness requires many steps. What I just told you was one step, and this is another step."

"What stage of development are you at now?"

"Regarding chakra compression," Aokiji said, "Based on my observation, your superhuman strength technique seems to operate on this principle, condensing chakra into a single point for attack."

Tsunade nodded in agreement: "More or less."

"You're an expert in this ninjutsu," Aokiji praised. "So I imagine you're also quite adept at chakra concentration."

"So, you want to ask me to help you with your training?"

Yes.

Aokiji had assumed Tsunade would readily agree to his request, but to his surprise, she resolutely refused: "No."

"What?!" Aokiji's eyes widened, his gaze seeming to say: Hey, aren't you my girlfriend? How could you reject me? How could you reject me?

Tsunade seemed to see through Aokiji's thoughts and smiled slightly: "Aren't you curious why I rejected you?"

Aokiji nodded, completely oblivious to his own feelings: "It was me. Did I do anything to wrong you?"

Now that he said that, Tsunade seized the opportunity and unleashed a torrent of abuse: "Hmph, you really have the nerve to say that! It's all because you always take advantage of my feelings for you and do whatever you want to me, taking advantage of me all the time. So I want you to apologize to me."

Aokiji decisively said, "I apologize."

Tsunade refused to apologize: "No, that's not sincere enough."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Hmm, I haven't decided yet."

Tsunade's words were clearly impromptu, and Aokiji understood, sighing, "There's nothing I can do about it."

Hearing this, Tsunade was still wondering how Aokiji would apologize to her, but she never expected Aokiji's next move to completely dumbfound her.

He immediately knelt down before her, on one knee.

This overreaction completely baffled Tsunade, who quickly said, "You're exaggerating."

Aokiji's black eyes revealed a seriousness: "I think this way can show my sincerity."

"Oh dear, you should get up first."

Tsunade quickly reached out to help him up.

In any era, kneeling is considered a symbol of spinelessness.

Tsunade was at most trying to find some compensation from this man who always took advantage of the tower, but she never expected him to go so far as to do so.

Just as she reached out to help Aokiji up, Aokiji suddenly reached out his hand as well. Their palms pressed together, and then their five fingers squeezed through the gap between their fingertips, interlocking their fingers.

"Tsunade's hands... are so warm," he said.

Tsunade blushed: "What do you want to do?"

"I apologize to you."

As Aokiji spoke, he conjured an ice ring between his left index finger and thumb, and said in an incredibly gentle voice, "I'm sorry, I always couldn't help but bully you, so... I've decided to spend the rest of my life apologizing to you."

At this moment, Tsunade's face was so red it was practically steaming; wasn't this a disguised marriage proposal?

She truly didn't expect Aokiji to do something like that.

Damn it, you should have been prepared!

Just as she was lost in thought, as if unwilling to give her too much time to think, the man spoke, urging her to make a decision: "I don't know if you're willing to accept my apology."

After saying that, he placed the ice ring near Tsunade's ring finger, waiting for her to make a decision before putting it on her.

Time passed second by second. Although it was only a moment, Tsunade suffered greatly during this time. It wasn't that she was unwilling, but rather that it came too suddenly, so much so that she was not prepared at all.

Tsunade closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly, repeating the words over and over again: "I do, I do."

After a long while, she panted heavily and looked at Aokiji as if she had collapsed: "You wretched guy, are you satisfied now? Hmph... You always bully me."

"You're so cute, I can't even bear to look after you enough, how could I possibly bully you?" Aokiji smiled and slowly put the Ice Ring on Tsunade's ring finger.

Tsunade pouted her pink lips: "Try to pick some pretty words."

Aokiji stood up and asked for her opinion: "The ring I made with my abilities looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

"It'll have to do... barely..."

Although Tsunade said that, she couldn't suppress the wildly upturned corners of her mouth.

Aokiji chuckled to himself, thinking that Tsunade was sometimes really not straightforward.

Well, that's exactly what he likes.

Thinking of this, Aokiji became a little too bold: "Speaking of which, now that you've accepted my ring, shouldn't you show some appreciation?"

"What do you want to do?"

Aokiji extended his index finger, touched his cheek, and nodded slightly, smiling without saying a word; the meaning was self-evident.

Come and A me, come and A me now!

"I just can't do anything with you..."

Having received the benefits, Tsunade was no longer so reserved this time. Her lips were sweeter than the blooming flowers in the flower field, and her eyes were clearer than the babbling brook nearby.

"Come closer to me."

Upon hearing this, Aokiji quickly moved closer, and then Tsunade gave him a big red kiss on the face.

On the other side, someone whose single age is equivalent to that of a newly born tailed beast was forcibly fed another wave of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection), grumbling and closing their eyes, out of sight, out of mind.

It originally thought that staying inside the Aokiji's body would be much easier, but it later realized it was wrong, terribly wrong.

Damn it, can you please stop acting like this every day?

Even though tailed beasts are genderless, they can't stand being bombarded with romantic displays of affection every few days.

Even genderless people have feelings!

After this little incident, the two began formal training.

Before formally teaching Aokiji the technique of chakra compression, Tsunade asked him a question: "What do you want to compress your chakra into?"

There's a difference between compressing chakra into a single point and compressing it into a whole area.

Explaining it would be too complicated, so Aokiji extended his right hand, and a deep blue vortex formed above his palm. Soon, it coalesced into a deep blue sphere, and he introduced it as, "This move is Hyōrinmaru, which is equivalent to Ice Release: Rasengan."

"and then?"

Tsunade glanced at Hyōrinmaru.

She wasn't surprised that Aokiji could fuse ice-attribute chakra into the non-attribute Rasengan.

Rather, it would be surprising if Aokiji, with his talent, couldn't integrate into the group.

Aokiji dissipated the Hyōrinmaru in his hand, then gathered ice-attribute chakra in his hand to create a hollow, flat ice wheel with gear-shaped spikes along its edge:

"This technique is called Ice Release: Eight-Part Ice Wheel. It's still incomplete; it's just an empty shell I created using ice-style chakra. My real goal is to compress the Ice Wheel Maru from before into this shape."

(End of this chapter)