Chapter 108: The Rules of Head-Patting Village
Samui's expression was grim as she watched Hoshikawa. It was a long-standing tradition for the five great ninja villages to gather intel on each other's up-and-coming talents.
In the current generation of Cloud Village ninja, Hoshikawa's name was widely known. He was a student of Tsunade, consistently ranked first in the Ninja Academy, and had even defeated the son of the White Fang of the Leaf.
If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. Every village had similar stories of talented prodigies that you could take with a grain of salt until you saw them for yourself. But then they discovered Hoshikawa's true identity, that he was a ninja of the Cloud Village.
"They," in this case, referred to Yugito Nii and Mabui, as well as herself. In the current generation of Cloud Village, Yugito was considered number one, followed by Samui, and then Mabui.
Yugito Nii, in particular, was the jinchuriki of the Two-Tails. She was a proud and competitive person by nature. The Third Raikage only added fuel to the fire by saying he regretted sending Hoshikawa to the Hidden Leaf, stating that with his talent, he should have stayed in the Cloud Village to become a future pillar of their village.
Yugito naturally felt insulted, but as the Two-Tails' jinchuriki, she couldn't leave the village. So when Dodai came to meet Hoshikawa, she insisted that Samui be brought along, even though it was meant to be a solo mission. The goal was to test Hoshikawa's strength.
"Be careful," Samui warned, her body flashing forward at an incredible speed toward Hoshikawa.
Hoshikawa met her gaze with his green eyes and formed a hand sign.
Heart Disturbance Illusion!
Samui felt a sudden disorientation, and her short sword struck empty air. She froze, realizing what had happened.
Release!
Her vision returned to normal, but a katana was already resting against her neck.
"You said you wanted a quick fight," Hoshikawa said, blinking.
"That doesn't count! Again!" Samui's face flushed red, refusing to accept the loss.
"Alright," Hoshikawa said, putting his sword away. He kindly warned her, "I won't use a genjutsu this time."
Samui felt a deep sense of disrespect. She took a deep breath and tightened her grip on her short sword.
Swoosh!
In an instant, she was in front of Hoshikawa, moving even faster than before. However, the next moment, her expression changed drastically.
A flash of steel.
Hoshikawa's katana blocked her short sword, and an unimaginable force was transferred back to her. She felt her right arm go numb and instinctively let go of the sword, which clattered to the floor. At the same time, her body was pushed back, only coming to a stop after she hit the wall.
"Want to go again?" Hoshikawa asked, standing his ground without pursuing her.
Samui shook her arm and picked up her short sword. She looked at the calm and collected Hoshikawa and couldn't resist launching another attack.
Lightning flashed. Her short sword was instantly enveloped in electricity. Samui leaped into the air, swinging her sword rapidly, creating a flurry of slashes.
Body Flicker Jutsu!
Hoshikawa jumped back, evading her attack.
Crescent Moon Dance!
His body blurred, and two Shadow Clones appeared. The three Hoshikawas, each wielding a katana, attacked Samui's vital points from three different directions: above, left, and right.
"What, what?!" Samui fumbled, managing to block only the central Hoshikawa.
Two katanas were now resting on either side of her neck.
"How was that?" Hoshikawa asked after dispelling his two clones.
"I, I lost..." Samui's body trembled. Her calm demeanor was gone, replaced by a deep sense of disappointment. She could accept losing, but this was the first time she had been so thoroughly defeated.
In every aspect, including her specialty of kenjutsu, she was completely defenseless against Hoshikawa. The gap in their strength could only be described as the difference between heaven and earth; there was no comparison.
"You're very skilled. You're already stronger than most genin," Hoshikawa said with a smile. "You're just a little young. You'll get stronger."
"You don't have to comfort me," Samui said, biting her lip and turning her head away.
"It's the truth," Hoshikawa said, reaching out his hand. Samui instinctively tried to dodge but stopped herself.
"There are a few things you can improve on in your sword techniques," Hoshikawa said, patting her head. "I'll teach you while we have time."
Losing means getting a head pat. That's the rule of the Village Hidden in the Pats.
Samui looked up at him, a confused expression on her face.
"We're both ninjas from the Cloud Village, aren't we?" Hoshikawa asked with a smile.
Samui's heart skipped a beat. In that moment, she finally accepted Hoshikawa as one of them. While the Cloud Village had a poor reputation in the ninja world for things like stealing other villages' secret techniques, the atmosphere within the village was very good.
Hoshikawa had lived in Konoha his whole life, so Samui had not considered him a true Cloud ninja before. But now, she thought he was a pretty good person. He was strong, good-natured, and if he had grown up in the Cloud Village, he would have undoubtedly been a pillar of their next generation.
Samui now understood why the Third Raikage felt regret.
A knock sounded on the door, and a young man entered. He saw the two of them discussing kenjutsu and was taken aback.
What's going on here?
Didn't I send Samui to check Hoshikawa's seal?
"Hoshikawa," Samui said, getting up to introduce him. "This is Dodai-ojisan."
"Dodai-ojisan," Hoshikawa greeted him proactively.
"Hoshikawa," Dodai said, reaching out and patting his shoulder. "You've done well in the Hidden Leaf. The Raikage asked me to extend his gratitude."
"I was just doing my duty!" Hoshikawa said, his face serious.
"Time is short. To avoid Cat Grandma's suspicion, this is all we can talk about," Dodai said, retracting his hand with a satisfied expression. "If anything comes up, Tsuchihashi will contact you."
Hoshikawa nodded. As he suspected, this meeting was purely to check if his seal was still intact.
Samui looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she remained silent.
"The young guest, Cat Grandma wants to see you, meow," Hina's voice called from outside the room.
"I'll be going now," Hoshikawa said, leaving the room.
"I never thought the Cloud Village could produce such a talent," Dodai said with a sigh of admiration. To be safe, he had just checked again. The seal was still there. As long as the seal was active, Hoshikawa couldn't betray them, or he would die.
Samui stared out the door, lost in thought. Even though their discussion had lasted less than ten minutes, she had felt Hoshikawa's astonishing skill in kenjutsu. Now, her biggest headache was figuring out how to tell Yugito Nii. Given her personality, Yugito would likely not believe that Hoshikawa was so terrifyingly strong.
Hoshikawa followed Hina and soon met Cat Grandma. She was wearing an orange jacket and smoking a pipe, with black cat ears on her head. Around her, numerous ninja cats played, looking no different from ordinary house cats.
"So it's you, Hoshikawa," Cat Grandma said, looking up with a hint of surprise.
"You know me, Grandma?" Hoshikawa asked, sitting down across from her.
"You're quite famous in the Hidden Leaf. Shisui mentioned you," Cat Grandma said, taking a puff from her pipe. "Are you here to commission ninja tools?"
As a ninja tool and information provider to the Uchiha clan, she was very familiar with their ninjas. In the original series, she had watched Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha grow up, and even survived the Uchiha Clan Massacre. The most likely reason was that she lived in the Land of Cats at night and wasn't in the Uchiha district.
"Yes," Hoshikawa said, pulling out his katana and the Lightning Release chakra crystal. "Can you forge these together?"
"No problem." Cat Grandma waved her hand, and a ninja cat walked forward, taking his katana and the crystal.
"Besides that, I'd like to ask you to make a wakizashi for me, out of chakra metal," Hoshikawa said. If Dodai hadn't given him the chakra crystal, this would have been his original goal, or rather, his excuse. A wakizashi was a short Japanese sword, about thirty to sixty centimeters long. In the Way of the Sword, the two blades used in a two-sword style were a normal-length katana and a wakizashi. Hoshikawa didn't plan on using the two-sword style; he just wanted a wakizashi for backup. After all, sometimes in a fight, he might lose his katana.
"I can do that," Cat Grandma smiled. "That's a big order." She wasn't worried about Hoshikawa being able to pay, given his status.
"How long will it take?" Hoshikawa asked.
"Two swords will take a while," Cat Grandma said, thinking for a moment. "Three months."
"That works," Hoshikawa thought, just in time for the fourth-year final exam. With his current strength, he would likely be first even without using his swordsmanship. But with Kakashi Hatake around, it was better to be cautious.
"Grandma, I'll come back in three months," Hoshikawa said, getting up to leave.
"Hina, take him back to the Hidden Leaf," Cat Grandma instructed.
"Follow me, meow." Hina ran out of the room.
Hoshikawa followed closely. They quickly left the Land of Cats and returned to the Hidden Leaf.
"This is as far as I go, meow," Hina said, stopping.
"I have a question," Hoshikawa said, crouching down to look at her. "Can I pet you?"
"No, meow!" Hina said, her face stiffening. "I'm a ninja cat, not a human's pet!"
"How about a thousand ryo?" Hoshikawa's eyes lit up, and he held up a finger.
Hina's eyes widened. After a few seconds of hesitation, she nodded.
Hoshikawa reached out his hand toward her fluffy head, instinctively using the cat-petting techniques from his past life.
"Not bad, meow." Hina's eyes instinctively closed as she began to purr.
After he was done petting the cat, Hoshikawa paid her the thousand ryo.
"Thanks, meow." Hina waved her paw at him. "You can come find me again next time, meow!"
Hoshikawa's face was a little strange. It felt like something shady had just happened between a human and a cat.
He shook his head, stood up, and walked toward the Konoha Hospital. With the Rasengan, Shadow Clone Jutsu, and Crescent Moon Dance now mastered, he was ready to follow his plan and train.
He'd start by maxing out his proficiency in medical ninjutsu.
Konoha Hospital. An hour later, a surgery ended. Hoshikawa and Nonou Yakushi walked out of the operating room.
"How is he?" a middle-aged man rushed forward to ask.
"Congratulations. The surgery was a success," Hoshikawa said with a smile.
"Thank you, Lord Hoshikawa!" the man said happily, shaking his hand.
"Lord Hoshikawa?"
What a weird title.
Hoshikawa shook his head. "It's what we're here for."
"I am so very grateful!" The man bowed slightly and then rushed into the operating room.
Hoshikawa and Nonou walked toward the office.
"Hoshikawa," Nonou said. "I see your medical ninjutsu is already very proficient. Why haven't you learned the more advanced Mystical Palm Technique?"
Hoshikawa was taken aback. He hadn't learned any A-rank medical jutsu because he was grinding for proficiency to get the B-rank trait Medical Special Jōnin. As for Tsunade, since Hoshikawa hadn't brought it up, she hadn't taught him. Besides, he was still young and didn't have enough chakra to learn A-rank and S-rank medical ninjutsu just yet.
"How about you teach me the Mystical Palm Technique?" Hoshikawa said after thinking about it. The Mystical Palm Technique was an A-rank medical ninjutsu. Although it was difficult, it was the most common and useful medical jutsu.
"Alright," Nonou said, a little surprised, but she didn't refuse. If she didn't teach him, Tsunade would eventually anyway, so she wasn't breaking any Konoha rules. Besides, learning the Mystical Palm Technique would be faster with practical experience.
Hoshikawa rubbed his chin. There weren't many A-rank medical ninjutsu. In the original series, besides the Mystical Palm Technique, there was also Chakra Scalpel, Shattered Bone, and Cellular Activation Technique. Above that were the S-rank medical ninjutsu: the Creation Rebirth and the Strength of a Hundred Seal.
Hoshikawa suddenly remembered Shinnō from the movies, who possessed two S-rank medical ninjutsu: Body Activation and Body Regeneration. He remembered them because they could allow a user to survive after opening the Eighth Inner Gate. But their power was mediocre, and they didn't last very long.
In the movie, Shinnō opened the Eighth Gate and was still defeated by the combined efforts of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. However, a weaker version had its own uses. Shinnō was the leader of the Sky Village, and the Sky Village was defeated by Konoha during the Third Great Ninja War, so Hoshikawa might even run into him.
Time spent grinding proficiency flew by, and soon it was March. The fourth year of the Academy was ending, and Hoshikawa was about to enter his fifth year. Before the final exam, he went to the Land of Cats and got his two swords from Cat Grandma.
He named his katana the Raiken, and the wakizashi, the short sword, he named Zangetsu. Both swords now had corresponding ninja tool traits. The Raiken's trait, which he already had, was upgraded after being reforged.
[B-rank Ninja Tool Trait: Raiken]
[Activation Condition: Forged with a Lightning Release chakra crystal.]
[Original Effect: Chakra conductivity increased by 10%, durability increased by 100%.]
[New Effect: Lightning Release jutsu power increased by 10%, Lightning Release chakra conductivity increased by 100%.]
Based on the new effect, it was a significant upgrade. Both effects were very important. While 10% wasn't a huge amount, a ninja sword didn't require much. As for the Lightning Release chakra conductivity, it would give him the upper hand in a fight.
[C-rank Ninja Tool Trait: Zangetsu]
[Activation Condition: Forged with chakra metal.]
[Original Effect: Chakra conductivity increased by 10%, durability increased by 100%.]
Compared to the Thunderfire Sword, Zangetsu is nothing special; its effects are the same as the unupgraded Thunderfire Sword.
............
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