Chapter 7 - The First Year (2)

Anko opened the door of her house and helped Tetsuya to get in.

"Sorry for the trouble..."

"Don't worry. It's my fault, after all, Hahaha!" Anko laughed heartily even though Tetsuya was wincing in pain.

'This girl...'

"Here, sit down and wait a minute while I go grab some gauze and antiseptic solution."

Dropping him on the chair, she turned to the side and walked towards the stairs leading up to the first floor.

Sitting there in her dining room, Tetsuya couldn't help but frown as he touched the right side of his face. He wasn't really troubled by the pain after the fight, but it was only afterward when he tried to stand up that he realized just how powerful Arata's punch really was.

His head was still spinning right now, and there was also this cut on his cheek that opened with the result of that attack. Tetsuya sighed while feeling a little down. It's true that he is very strong, the Hokage's attention already proved that. He wouldn't lose to anyone in his class, even if his fights with Kakashi would mostly end in draws.

Initially, he thought that he and the white-haired boy were the only ones that were good among kids as their prowess was seemingly much higher than they should have been.

Tetsuya's ability came from his previous life experience, but Kakashi was both talented and probably had the assistance of a very good teacher. That Arata must be what happened when people with similar levels of talent but one of them having a much higher level of training fight, the one with more time training would inevitably win.

Shaking his head, he looked back and smiled slightly seeing Anko approaching. She had a bandaid in one hand and a small wooden pot with a strong smell of medicinal herbs.

Sitting on a nearby chair in front of Tetsuya, she pulled herself closer to him. Seeing his injury dirty with the dust of the ground, Anko frowned and stood up to grab some water and a clean towel.

Tetsuya accepted her help and let her clean the small cut. Seeing her using then the medicinal gel of the pot on the wound before putting a band-aid there, he was reminded of his time in the military.

'Every time I came out of a battle injured and was sent to the Healing Center, there was that kind sister that would come and help me, it was first a coincidence that we met so often, then, she started applying to help me personally whenever I was sent there. I really liked her... but she died before I could even confess my feelings, a victim of a bombing squad that managed to breach the anti-aircraft battery that surrounded the borders.'

"Thank you, Anko."

She looked up at him and beamed like the sun, her startling smile shocking Tetsuya. With a cheeky grin, she patted him on the shoulder. "Hehe, you took quite a beating, I bet everyone would laugh if they knew that one of the Invincibles got spanked."

'Eh!?' Hearing her words, Tetsuya laughed helplessly. Did she think that he would never lose? Shaking his head he stood up. "Well, I hope I'll be there to listen when you spread the news."

"Wha-" Before Anko could answer, Tetsuya left with a smile on his face, not even bothering in the slightest with her prank. Seeing him leaving like that, she pouted with a frown. "What a cold dude... Tsk, how will I have fun if you can't even be teased?" With a shake of her head, she went back inside.

Back home, Tetsuya ate his dinner silently on the dining table. His mother and his father talked happily about the increase in clients and how his salary got raised, but he was more worried about other things. After his fight with Arata, he realized that the distance between him and those people from great clans was far higher than what it seemed to be on the surface.

With just the addition of a high-speed technique and a Taijutsu technique, he was rendered completely incapable of fighting in a matter of seconds, there wasn't even time to use the Body Replacement Technique!

Besides, Tetsuya could tell by the look on Arata's face, that despite his rage, he was calm all the time, like the kid wasn't even fazed by Tetsuya's strength. This could only mean one of two things. Either Arata had a lot more cards up his sleeve, or, he was very arrogant.

And if he discovered something about that Uchiha kid today, it was that he wasn't arrogant, he was prideful, there was a difference in being overly confident and self-aware, for him to be so confident in himself, it probably meant that he had indeed a much larger advantage than Tetsuya could predict.

Smiling helplessly, the Hokage's words passed through his mind again. The Slug Princess of the Sannin, Senju Tsunade, the woman who fought against demi-god Hanzo and survived together with her friends... The history book had a whole chapter about her due to her connection with Uzumaki Mito and Senju Hashirama.

Since young, Tsunade had shown great talent in Chakra Control and quantity of Chakra, two attributes that seemed to have been shared by her dual-bloodline of Senju and Uzumaki. With her training and talent, she eventually came to be known as the second greatest medical-nin in the history of Ninjas.

The only other person said to have been better than her, was Senju Hashirama, who created the Mystical Palm Technique.

If he learned this technique, he would be given Tsunade's location, and something which she couldn't "refuse", whatever that means... but if it was true, then, there was a chance for him to get accepted as her disciple! To become the disciple of the last Senju as well as someone so powerful to have received the title of Sannin...

Tetsuya sighed at the table and put down his pair of sticks, making his mother look at him worriedly.

"My dear, what's going on? You seem a little down today..."

"Ah? Oh... sorry, mom. I was just thinking about something..."

Hearing this, his father became worried as well. "Tetsuya, don't worry too much, it's not healthy for someone of your age to become so stressed, you can always share your troubles with us, you know?"

Hearing this, Tetsuya felt his eyes getting a little bit warmer, but he took a deep breath and controlled his emotions. Looking at his parents, he described his troubles, talking about his weaknesses, the problem of learning new techniques, and the offer of Lord Third about learning a certain technique.

After hearing all that, his father gave an apologetic smile and lowered his head a little ashamed. He had to admit that from what Tetsuya said, he only understood about twenty percent and it was basically that he was feeling troubled.

Chuckling at her husband's lack of knowledge about ninjas, Naomi turned to Tetsuya, and after hesitating for a moment she said. "Well, as far as I know, there are only two ways of getting that technique... The first is to become a Jonin to get access to this level of techniques and then buy it directly from the village. Since it's an A-rank technique, the price should be between 1 to 100 million Ryo..."

"But..." Tetsuya sighed and looked at her, he didn't have to finish that sentence for his mother to understand the issue with this.

"I know... that's why you should try the second way."

"There is a second way?" Tetsuya asked surprised, why didn't he hear about it?

"Um. You should not have heard about it because you have yet to become a Genin, but the medical-nin are taught this technique you asked about for free. The problem is that to become a medical-nin you need a very high level of knowledge on biology, herbology, medicine, and even poisons... Originally I wanted to become one myself, but I gave up after meeting your father and falling in love."

Hearing this, Tetsuya's father lowered his head even more and blushed.

"Cough..." With a blush, Naomi also lowered her head but she quickly recovered and turned to look at Tetsuya again. "If you want, I can give you my books on herbs, it has every known herb on the Land of Fire, as well as some of the most known throughout the five great lands."

After hearing her words, Tetsuya smiled gratefully. So long as he could learn about the herbs of this world, he should be able to use his previous life knowledge to fill the gaps. Clenching his fist, he made up his mind and said. "Please! Lend me your books, mom! I promise to you, I'll be able to become a medical-nin even if the world turns upside down!"

Smiling at her son, she nodded and stood up. "Wait a moment, I'll go and take it for you!"

Sucking a mouthful of air, Tetsuya leaned his back on the chair and remembered something important. It seemed that Tsunade had left the Hidden Leaf Village, if he wanted to leave the village he would have to graduate early and become a Genin as soon as possible. With that in mind, he frowned for a moment but shook his head, no matter what, he had to meet Tsunade!