"You misunderstood." Shin shook his head and didn't take offense. "I appreciate your good intentions, but I won't use it."
"You know that the Sharingan can copy other people's jutsu. There are a few I know, but I won't practice and use them. So, all of these techniques are useless to me."
"Since I'm giving you this technique, of course I have a way for you to train it!" Tsunade said, pulling out another scroll and handing it to him.
"This is… a contract scroll?" Shin almost burst into tears, not because he was touched, but because she had finally come around.
Guilt truly was a powerful thing.
He actually didn't want to manipulate her into feeling so guilty. He didn't hate her, but to survive, he had no choice.
In the entire village, among the influential people, she was the only one he could approach and use. Now, everything was falling into place. He was about to rise for real.
Shin's voice even started to choke up a bit. "You… you really don't need to go this far for me."
"This is what the village owes you." Tsunade shook her head sadly and said solemnly, "We all owe you a lot."
Placing the two scrolls side by side, Shin suddenly said to Tsunade, "I'm suddenly a bit scared."
"You idiot, this is a good thing! What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid that without power, I won't survive… but I'm also afraid that once I have power, I might do something terrible with it."
Hearing such a sincere confession from him, the last bit of worry in Tsunade's heart vanished completely. After being reminded by Mito, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Though she was determined to help him, she still had her doubts deep down. But now, with him being so honest, what was there left to worry about?
As long as the two of them kept communicating openly, everything would keep moving in a good direction.
"You really don't need to be afraid. I'll always be by your side," Tsunade promised. "And I won't act impulsively anymore. From now on, I'll talk things over with you more."
Shin nodded heavily, but inside, he was overjoyed.
Sincerity is the ultimate weapon. I never lie, except this one time.
Seeing that he no longer refused, Tsunade dragged him in front of the scroll. Using a chakra scalpel, she sliced his finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the scroll, sealing the blood contract.
"Follow my hand signs." Tsunade began forming the hand seals slowly, while Shin mimicked her.
Once the summoning jutsu was completed, Shin slapped his hand onto the ground, with a poof, a tiny slug, only the size of a thumb, appeared.
"It worked?!" Seeing the summoned slug, Tsunade was overjoyed.
She had thought that Shin, who lacked a foundation, would struggle to learn the Summoning Technique. To her surprise, he succeeded on the first try. Though currently limited by his chakra and only able to summon a small slug, as he became more skilled and gained more chakra, he would fully master the technique.
"As for the Chakra Enhanced Strength, it was originally an idea my granduncle had, based on my grandfather's innate monstrous strength, but he didn't have time to fully develop it."
She opened the scroll and began explaining the key points to Shin.
Not long after, someone knocked on the office door, signaling more work ahead. But the two had already agreed to meet tonight in Shikkotsu Forest.
Tsunade would go there first, then ask the Katsuyu to use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to bring Shin over. With that agreement in place, he was energized for the entire afternoon.
Not because they'd be alone together, but because he could finally start training the Flying Thunder God Technique. Once that happened, all threats to him would vanish.
This was the Flying Thunder God, after all.
Even a mere genin, once mastering this technique, could instantly possess threatening power against elite ninja. However, the user's reaction speed remained a critical limitation, if slower than their opponent, even this legendary technique would prove useless. While it offered incredible tactical advantage, a Kage-level powerhouse would rarely fall victim unless truly caught in a perfect ambush, as their battle experience and heightened senses would typically allow them to counter even instantaneous attacks.
But some techniques were just... cheats.
Just like Obito, once he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and could use Kamui, he immediately gained Kage-level strength.
Some jutsu were just that overpowered, they defied logic.
Around 10 PM, after telling Minato a story to lull him to sleep, Shin lay down on the bed next door, waiting for Tsunade to summon him.
He focused all his attention on the moment of summoning, aiming to sense the spatial fluctuations caused by the space-time ninjutsu. Naturally, this was all preparation for learning the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Before long, he suddenly felt something, and then disappeared from the bed. Because he had kept his sensory perception fully active, he clearly felt the intense spatial ripple at the moment of teleportation.
That one experience alone gave him valuable insight.
But as soon as he felt countless soft, squishy, sticky sensations around him, Shin's whole scalp went numb, and goosebumps broke out all over his body.
As expected, humans had a natural aversion to slimy, sticky textures.
He stood up and looked around, it was as if he were inside a green dome, with towering, thick trees blotting out the sky. Layers of interwoven leaves formed an airtight canopy.
The crisscrossing branches and tightly packed foliage completely blocked out the sky. Only occasionally would faint rays of sunlight filter through the gaps. Countless slugs were scattered throughout the forest, curiously staring at Shin.
Feeling the heavy dampness clinging to his body, the subtle stinging of his skin, and the burning sensation in his lungs with every breath, he felt a strong sense of discomfort.
"So this is Shikkotsu Forest? I didn't expect the air to be filled with corrosive gas."
No wonder it was called Damp Bone Forest. In this environment, ordinary creatures would turn into damp bones in no time, and if they stayed longer, even the bones might dissolve.
"Over here!" Not far away, Tsunade was waving to him.
Shin quickly hurried over, and then followed her deeper into the forest.
"Is the entire Shikkotsu Forest like this?" Shin asked with a frown.
Even though he was the best medical-nin in the shinobi world, his body wasn't like Tsunade's, which had an incredibly strong natural recovery ability and the Yin Seal that could instantly heal injuries with minimal chakra.
In this kind of environment, he could hold out for a little while, but not for long. He simply wouldn't last.
"Not the whole forest," Tsunade shook her head and explained. "In theory, the Reverse Summoning Jutsu should've brought you directly to Katsuyu."
"But her body is too massive. She split herself into countless little slugs. That makes it hard for her Reverse Summoning to be precise."
"Because everywhere is technically near her?" Shin asked, exasperated.
Tsunade nodded helplessly.
At that moment, both of them saw the same word in each other's eyes: "Unreliable."
But this was Katsuyu's domain, after all. Even though she had a good temper and wouldn't angry easily, they still held back from speaking their minds, because basic courtesy was the least they could show.