Wait!
What if we negotiate? Everything has been a misunderstanding.
Seeing the belonging in Suijin's hand, Dama-sensei's eye narrowed at it, the belonging of the client he had to escort. He had searched for it in the castle but didn't find it, so Suijin was keeping it on himself all along.
Seeing he got their attention, he strengthened his grip on it and then, with a twisted smile, launched it back toward the jounin.
Before he started to complete hand signs. By the time Dama-sensei caught it, a huge storm was already heading his way.
Water Style – Surging Waves Storm. With this move, he caused a huge amount of water to explode outward.
He then reappeared near Shintoki, taking advantage of the chaos.
He shot forward trying to kill Shintoki, his face full of rage when he launched his kunai at him, piercing his heart, but Shintoki turned out to be just a water clone.
The real one having left the battlefield the moment the jounin arrived, his cautious nature having predicted such a cowardly attempt from an enemy.
The clone exploded, causing Suijin to be pushed back.
That is when Gatsuga hit him and he went flying.
A large boulder shattered, having been destroyed by the strike.
His fate unknown, but he should be dead.
Once they recuperated the belonging of the client, they moved toward the gathering villagers. There they found the head of the village alongside Himuta and Eimu, who were there to thank them.
The village head then told them to rest before departing. They agreed, since they wasted a lot of chakra against Suijin, so leaving directly was not an option. After all, if they ran into another enemy, they would be in trouble.
So they rested for 3 days. In that meantime, they were introduced to Eimu, the daughter of the samurai from the Land of Iron. She had been kept secret until now.
The day Shintoki was finally ready to depart, Eimu finally convinced herself, as thanks for their contribution, to give him something: the very sword that once belonged to their hero. Her father had wanted it to find a suited swordsman. After seeing how Shintoki already knew some high-level sword techniques, she decided to give it to him.
Shintoki happily thanked her and promised to visit in the future. Dama-sensei also saw the girl who had looked after him when he was injured and bid his farewell. Having liberated her home, she was visibly happy. He also gave her some money he found in the mercenary's property so she wouldn't be living poorly anymore.
They shook hands, and then both teams departed.
After another 2 days, they reached the destination where the client was being escorted to. Since they had ended up in big trouble for him, the client decided to pay a price comparable to an A-rank mission.
After visiting the town, they left to return.
Dashing toward the direction of the Land of Fire.
…
Several days later.
After making it back to Konoha and finishing the report, the Hokage thanked them for their hard work and gave them their reward.
Before dismissing them.
While walking in Konoha's streets with Ebisu, Shintoki started to hear someone.
"Young, I will complete 5000 circles around Konoha!"
It's Guy again, he remarked.
Guy was running on one hand, wearing his chuunin vest and green costume.
He was standing on one hand doing push-ups while speeding forward. It was really some insane exercise.
The sheer pressure of the exercise was enough to make Ebisu and Shintoki wince.
Guy is always going over the top.
Shintoki, as a transmigrant, knew this endless training is what would allow Guy to be an unstoppable monster in the future.
Shintoki once tried to copy Guy by running around Konoha while doing the same exercise, but by the end of the day all his body was hurting as if he was carrying mountains on top of him.
Thinking about it again, it was really unpleasant.
Ever since then, he never tried to copy the same method again.
As for physical training, Shintoki had his own idea in mind. He would go toward the enhancement method by eating food that possessed high iron to directly boost his growth and also use chakra to reinforce his body directly.
Shintoki could enhance his body.
Still, Shintoki never missed a chance to train with Guy, a brilliant chuunin of their time who possessed very strong taijutsu.
So Guy is a good partner for Shintoki to develop his taijutsu, which would work well with his swordsmanship.
"Do you mind if we tag with you?"
And so Shintoki and Ebisu followed Guy, but they weren't doing the same exercise, which they thought was too much. Only Guy was doing all the exercises.
Guy had run past them so many times they lost count of having run around the village again and again.
But after some rounds, Ebisu was already tired.
Guy guided them to his training spot.
Guy proposed a challenge but lost because of another condition Shintoki added to it, aka weapons.
With a weapon, Shintoki was confident he could fight Guy without being completely overwhelmed.
…
While in the office of the Hokage, he got curious about the book the Fire Shadow was reading.
Shintoki already had a good idea of what kind of book it was but still couldn't help but read it aloud.
"Paradise and Love?"
The title was different from what Shintoki had known as a transmigrant.
Apparently, this was the precursor of all books ever written by Jiraiya.
So that pervert was already writing this prior to even the start of the Third War?
Seeing Shintoki innocently reading the title aloud, the Hokage was almost in panic.
This little brat almost caused trouble for the Hokage by reading aloud the front page of the book he was reading.
"What are you even doing here, brat?"
"Heh, nothing. I was going to leave."
"Fine, now get out."
Damn it, the old man almost kicked me out of his office. Was he so careful that he didn't want anyone seeing him read that stuff?
Outside the office, Tetsu was waiting.
"Hahaha, Tetsu. You were waiting for me?"
"Shintoki aniki, you are back."
"I want to know if you could show me some technique that could help me with my mud manipulation."
"Well, I don't know any Earth Release, but I can still show you something. Just watch this.
If you understand how I manipulate water, you could use it as an inspiration source for your mud manipulation."
Shintoki was feeling very good today.
He puffed his chest.
"Art is beautiful, and ninjutsu is art."
Shintoki waved through his hand signs at a fast pace, and water suddenly shot from a nearby source, taking the shape of a frightening dragon before it dispersed back into the river streams so it wouldn't accidentally strike the rooftop of the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen, having stopped for a moment to watch the amazing signs and mastery over water, was very proud. This new generation is something. I knew it was no coincidence they survived that exam and did so brilliantly. That child is very talented. If only Asuma was like this—at that, he released a sigh.
"Amazing, neesan."
"Hehehe, happy that you appreciate it, Tetsu. Now let's go."
The next day.
Binding Fish Puncture Technique.
Shintoki closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the waves and used his fishing tool to pierce a specific point in the fish, paralyzing them before using chakra to draw them out.
This is Shintoki's special fishing technique.
Through this method, no one could rival Shintoki in a contest of fishing.
At least from his perspective.
Shintoki's ability to fish is second to none.
After the container was full of fish, Shintoki moved them from the water and took them straight to the selling place.
There is an old man to whom Shintoki sells them.
Shintoki's fishing habit had nothing to do with lack of money, but for Shintoki, it's a good way to train his sensing and intuition. After all, fishing necessitates calmness and sharp senses.
Shintoki fishing and selling to an old woman for money.
Later.
Once Shintoki was content, he left for the hot spring to enjoy a good rest.
Once he joined Guy's side, he found Ebisu there.
He greeted Shintoki and calmly slipped into the hot water to relax.
His nerves fully relaxed.
Many dozens of minutes passed.
Shintoki suddenly opened his eyes, his face full of disdain, and launched a stone to a place near the women's area.
"Haaaagh!"
The voice of a man around the same age as Orochimaru.
The women in the area started to get angry.
"Damn it, a pervert!"
"We will hunt him down!"
"He won't escape!"