Naruto: Paws and Whiskers

"Meow?" 'Which secret jutsu is it? Is it super strength? Can I even learn it?' If this had been before Minato's lecture on the essential knowledge required for the Flying Thunder Formation technique, 'and that didn't even take into account the Flying Thunder God itself', Takeshi would have been brimming with confidence. He'd have believed he could learn most jutsu easily.

But now, he had to admit that without the system, even the most basic ninjutsu would be a struggle. Fortunately, his past experience with those techniques had aided him in creating his own variants. But it was the system that had provided the foundation.

He glanced at his system interface, a small wave of reassurance washing over him. 'No matter what it is, there's no jutsu I can't learn. Some just require a little more effort, while others can be acquired immediately.'

"The Senju clan possesses countless secret techniques. Did you see the power of my finger just now? That power is thanks to a unique application of chakra. I haven't seen or heard of anyone else being able to do it. My grandfather passed it down to me, and because I'm feeling generous today, I'll pass it down to you." Tsunade said with a genuine smile.

Having recovered from her earlier panic attack, she had already started chatting with her usual ease.

"Meow, what will you teach me?" Takeshi's tail swished with excitement. He had initially wanted super strength, but it required more than 10,000 points. While he had enough points now, other jutsu's felt more essential for his survival.

'But if I can get it for free, why would I refuse?'

"This was just a test, after all," Tsunade chuckled. "I never expected anyone to learn my Grand Uncle Tobirama's Flying Thunder God someday. And now not only can that brat Minato use it, but a cat can too… Haha, I bet even Uncle Tobirama would've been shocked by this. But whether you can learn this jutsu or not will be up to you." she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Tsunade began to explain the theory and principles behind her Super Strength technique with a smile. While it appeared to be a form of taijutsu, it was, in fact, a ninjutsu. It required extreme precision in chakra control, but that alone wasn't enough. Otherwise, other medical ninjas and even Orochimaru would have been able to use it.

Her Grandfather Hashirama and Granduncle Tobirama hadn't taught this technique to anyone. Tsunade didn't even know if it was something that could be passed down. It could be that this technique also requires Senju blood to properly utilize.

But…Nawaki and Dan were dead, and if she were to die as well, such a secret technique would be lost forever. And Shizune wasn't strong enough to handle backlash from this technique yet.

Though she wouldn't have even considered teaching this technique to Takeshi, if he hadn't already learned Flying Thunder God, which led to her intense interest in him.

This technique required chakra to coat the entire body to reinforce, then utilizing the elemental affinity user with familiar with, like in this case wind release chakra in conjunction with the attack through specific chakra point on the fist. That was what added extra impact and momentum due to pressure damage.

But this required extreme precision. Even the slightest lapse in concentration would result in severe injury to the user. The same wind release that was meant to deal extra damage to enemies, could heavily injure and cripple the user. As multiple Senju clan members who were taught this was crippled.

"Do you understand?"

"Meow!" Takeshi was surprised that he actually understood it. But while he understood the theory, whether he could put it into practice remained to be seen.

"Alright, start practicing. Use it on your hand first, so that… so that even if you make a mistake, you won't die," Tsunade said, patting Takeshi's head, gently squishing his fur.

'If I die, she won't be able to revive me.'

"I have a question, meow. Why not teach this to Minato?" Takeshi asked, voicing a thought that had been nagging him. Since Minato could already use Flying Thunder God, why hadn't she…?

"Firstly, he's Jiraiya's disciple. Secondly, his body isn't right for it. There's a special energy in your body," Tsunade replied, patting him again.

Takeshi was immediately filled with curiosity, 'Natural energy? But would Tobirama use that as well? Do Senju's get a natural boost of natural energy? And from her lecture where would natural energy come into this? Does it coat the body so the jutsu doesn't injure the user? Or does it play another role entirely?'

But Tsunade wasn't usually this charitable, especially with her clan's secret techniques. Takeshi jumped onto Tsunade's shoulder, pondered for a moment, then asked, "Meow, you still haven't told me what the price is."

"The price… is to work for me. As you can see, I can no longer go on the battlefield. But Jiraiya pissed me off so much, that I came back. It's not easy for me to leave again, so you will have to kill enemies for me in the name of the Senju Clan."

Takeshi's ears twitched, tilting his head in confusion, "Meow?"

'Are you asking me to carry the name of the Senju clan?... Hopefully, their curse doesn't pass on to me.'

"The Senju clan has more than one jutsu. I can teach you more, then you'll be considered my student," Tsunade smiled slightly. While the idea of taking a cat as a student might seem absurd, if he could learn and use the jutsu, then why not?

Of course, she hadn't forgotten her promise to discipline this cat for lying to her. She had planned on teaching him this jutsu after beating him, but her hemophobia had been exposed sooner than expected. She sighed softly, patted Takeshi's body, and asked, "How about it, do you want to be my disciple?"

"Meow~ I'll need some time to think about it."

'Why is her grip on me getting tighter?'

'Sure enough, I will need to discipline this cat.' Tsunade thought, her expression blank. She secretly decided that once her hemophobia was cured, she would definitely beat this cat with her own hands. At least once. Though she didn't know if her hemophobia could be cured, there was always hope.

"But I like being with Rin, meow~" Takeshi said after thinking it over. It wasn't that he didn't want to be Tsunade's disciple, but he had come to consider Rin as part of his family, his pack.

Most of his ninjutsu were system-given. It wasn't like he could spend years learning medical ninjutsu from her. And if he used the mystical paw technique (Mystical Palm Technique) incorrectly, he could kill his patients. 'While, people wouldn't be more accepting of my bullying, hmm... But they would also get desensitized to it, reducing how many points I get.' Even the medical ninjutsu's available in the system were expensive.

"Hehe, alright," Tsunade replied, rubbing Takeshi's head. She motioned for him to use the Flying Thunder God to return them to camp, there was no point in remaining in the training grounds.

After returning, Takeshi didn't immediately try to practice Super Strength. Instead, he checked how many points the technique now required in the Shop.

When he had first seen it months ago, it had been 13,000 points, but now, thanks to his understanding of natural energy and Tsunade teaching him the theoretical aspect of it, it had dropped to 9,000 points.

(E/N: The point calculation for jutsu's is based on the likelihood of Takeshi being able to learn it on his own. If Takeshi had spent 90 months, he would have been able to learn this technique on his own.

But those are for general techniques that don't have many requirements. Kekkei Genkai's require body modification and some techniques require increasing his affinity with various aspects. For example, Flying Thunder God required increasing Takeshi's affinity with space, which indirectly increased his affinity with time to a minor extent.)

Takeshi's eyes lit up. He thought about asking Tsunade for the Yin Seal and her Creation Rebirth Jutsu. Wouldn't that save him a lot of points? 'No, that's not how it works. I need to comprehend and understand the theory behind it for the points to reduce.'

'Let's focus on this for now. Though I need to practice it, to see if I can learn it for free. If I can learn it on my own, why buy it with points?'

After returning to camp, he thought about it for a while and then went to sleep. On the other side, Tsunade was in the medical corps headquarters, asking about personnel, about the new batch of recruits, and how her acquaintances were doing.

She went through their files one by one. It wasn't difficult for her to assess their potential. Her main focus was on the new batch, as those children represented the future of Konoha.

"Kabuto Yakushi?" Tsunade held up the document with the picture of a young child with white hair. The child was very young, but he had reached the minimum standard to enter the medical corps and was currently studying in Konoha Hospital.

What caught her attention was that his file was marked as "Special recommendation by Orochimaru" and noted that he was an orphan from the Land of Wind who had been left behind after the Battle of Kikyo Castle.

"Hmm…" She set aside Kabuto's profile separately and continued going through the remaining files. Although she no longer desired to be a ninja, Konoha was in a precarious situation.

Since she was here, she wouldn't mind training a few medical talents for the village. 'That would also be worthy of Dan and Nawaki's ideals…' When she thought about them, she couldn't help but sigh in sorrow, as the voices returned once more.

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