Naruto: The Medical Ninja

Chapter 242: Chapter 239: Strange Kenjutsu

Raikage looked at Kaminari and signalled him to continue where he left off.

Kaminari nodded, a flicker of residual humiliation crossing his features before he spoke, ”Apparently, the kid was super mad that we messed with his secretary. We actually laughed, thinking, ’Oh, an academy brat challenging a full squad of Cloud ninja?’ You can imagine the hubris.”

He paused, a grim, distant look in his eyes. ”That was our first mistake: to underestimate the kid. For some, it was last.”

”When he attacked with those cards, our laughter turned into screams. I mean, actual screams, not just exaggerated yelps. My team dodged the first ones, thinking we were clever, but those cards... they weren’t like anything we’d ever seen. They followed us. Like that annoying little brother who always tags along, constantly underfoot, they just wouldn’t let go!”

A vivid, visceral memory flashed across Kaminari’s eyes. The echoes of the chaos from the battle still reverberated in his mind.

”He also used the cards to create a smoke screen,” Kaminari went on, his voice tight, the memory clearly a fresh wound. ”And in that swirling chaos, he took out a few more in the smoke. He was like a phantom, hiding, silently finishing off the weaker ones, using the smoke for cover, and buying precious time for Konoha’s backup to arrive. I’m almost certain he’s a sensor type too, ’cause he knew exactly where my team was in that thick haze. When I finally got a chance, a clear shot, I lunged, attacking him directly, my full weight behind it. But the brat, he just... He put a condensed barrier around his arms, like those ridiculously oversized boxing gloves, and punched me back. He was physically strong too. He actually blocked my 40% force punch with disconcerting ease, sending me stumbling backward. He even followed up, punching me again, pushing me further back, totally messing up my stance.”

Kaminari’s voice dropped to a near whisper, raw humiliation colouring his words, a confession he was practically forced to make because of how utterly unbelievable it all was. ”I managed to grab his wrist, my grip like a vise, and hit him back hard, aiming for a finishing blow, a decisive strike, but he... he slapped me. An open-handed slap, mind you, and he sent me flying.”

A heavy, profound silence descended upon the room once more. Every single person present—the Raikage, the ever-composed Mabui, the veteran Onnen, and even the stoic guards—was completely and utterly shocked. It defied their common sense. ”How could a little kid send someone as formidable as Kaminari flying with just a slap?”

Kaminari, a man known throughout the Cloud Village for his incredible strength and devastating lightning powers. He even killed a man accidentally once just using his hands.

Drawing upon his experience from an older generation, when the Senju were more prevalent and their legendary feats still resonated, Onnen suddenly understood. A sudden realisation hit him hard, and a name, spoken like a chilling secret, confirmed the unbelievable truth they had witnessed. ”Senju style taijutsu.”

The quiet in the room was so profound you could almost feel its oppressive weight. Shock, disbelief, and a profound sense of awe were etched onto every face. For generations, the Hidden Cloud Village, known for its relentless, almost obsessive pursuit of physical strength and lightning-infused combat, had tirelessly sought to unravel the elusive secrets of Senju-style taijutsu.

No matter the effort or the innumerable resources poured into it, they were never able to truly acquire the Senju Clan’s unparalleled mastery of raw chakra control and their unique ability to produce potent chakra impulses. Yet, in their persistent failures, they gained invaluable insight and unexpected inspiration, which, in a strange twist of fate, allowed them to innovate in entirely new ways.

Indeed, it was these very setbacks, these repeated failures, that ultimately led to the creation of their signature lightning-based bodily enhancement jutsus.

Lightning Armour and Black Lightning, two of the characteristic, defining techniques of the Second and Third Raikage, were not born from direct replication but from the Second and Third Raikage’s ingenious experiments with the results of their unsuccessful attempts to reproduce the Senju taijutsu. The Fourth Raikage, not one to rest on past laurels, pushed these modifications even further, rigorously reworking the physical enhancements to prioritise sheer speed above all else.

Onnen turned to the Raikage, a new, deeply unsettling thought beginning to coalesce in his mind. ”Raikage-sama,” he began, his voice grim, burdened by the implications, ”the boy is Tsunade Senju’s student. She has been observed with him multiple times. She must have taught the boy that formidable Senju-taijutsu.”

”What exactly is Senju-style taijutsu, Raikage-sama?” Mabui asked, her intellect always driving her to seek answers, to fill in the blanks. Her gaze shifted back and forth between the intimidating figure of the Raikage and the clearly battered Kaminari, her mind racing to reconcile Kaminari’s almost fantastical description of Ryu’s raw power with the typical, limited image of a shinobi at the academy level.

The Raikage replied, ”It is an ancient form of taijutsu, practised exclusively by the Senju clan, that subtly weaves elements of ninjutsu into its core. It bestowed upon them a terrifying raw power and an unnatural, almost monstrous strength, enabling them to perform physically destructive feats and gain incredible resilience. The consistent practice of this technique is also thought to have steadily raised the vitality and chakra reserves of the user over the course of many years, essentially making them stronger with each passing year.”

The Raikage looked at Mabui, distilling the complex explanation into a stark truth. ”Basically, a Senju becomes more powerful with age.”

Onnen acknowledged the seriousness of the situation with a slow, deliberate nod. ”Indeed, the power of a Senju grows exponentially as they age,” he whispered, his voice icy and severe, laced with a chilling historical context. ”To prevent them from becoming too powerful in the future, their enemies traditionally hunted them down and killed them when they were young due to this trait.”

Onnen paused, a flicker of new insight crossing his face before he spoke again. ”Even if the boy used that taijutsu to defeat Kaminari, that level of power is still, frankly, beyond his age. Either an unexpected variable, a true anomaly, is at play here, or it appears our earlier theory was correct: they possess a method to accelerate learning, or perhaps even skip it entirely, by inheriting jutsus using a forbidden jutsu.”

”What happened next, Kaminari?” The Raikage demanded, his voice a low growl, hoping for any further piece of information, any detail that could possibly explain this growing anomaly.

Continuing his grim report, Kaminari recounted the next phase of the brutal encounter. ”At the same time, three of the remaining swordsmen on the team launched a simultaneous assault on him. However, he wasn’t just fending them off; he was able to fight them incredibly well even when outnumbered, subduing them, disarming them, and then, inexplicably, he took their swords. All three of them.”

Mabui gasped softly, her eyes widening in genuine astonishment. ”Three swords?!”

”Yes,” Kaminari affirmed, his gaze momentarily flicking towards the Raikage, a subtle acknowledgement of Killer Bee’s equally unusual kenjutsu style. ”He utilised the swords in the same way as your... well, your idiotbrother did. There were two swords held firmly in his hands, and he had one of them clenched tightly in his mouth.”

The Raikage blinked, a flicker of an almost imperceptible smile touching his lips. ”What a strange kenjutsu,” he murmured, a ghost of a memory of his own brother, Killer B, passing through his formidable mind.

”It was strange, absolutely, but incredibly effective,” Kaminari admitted, a grudging respect in his tone. ”He was keeping up with three seasoned swordsmen simultaneously. He also electrified his swords, similar to our Cloud swordsmen, to increase their cutting effectiveness. It was like watching a perfectly synchronised, deadly dance.”

The Raikage sighed, a profound weariness settling over him. ”Medical ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, Senju taijutsu, and now kenjutsu... This boy exhibits an all-rounder proficiency, a truly formidable and noteworthy combination of skills for someone of his age. It’s almost unheard of.”

”Such a terrifying range of skills in one so young,” Mabui thought, her gaze hardening, the implications of such raw, unfettered talent becoming clear. Everyone in the room was undeniably thinking along the same lines: ”This boy is not merely a threat; he is a force to be reckoned with.”

”I then activated the [Jisatsu Seal], as provided by Onnen,” Kaminari continued, his voice strained, the memory of that desperate act almost physically painful. ”To detonate three ninjas in lethal proximity to the boy. This was a last resort, a desperate, final measure, intended to ensure his absolute elimination. However, the boy... he survived the resultant explosion.”

”He survived that?!” Onnen’s internal monologue conveyed a new wave of profound shock, the sheer impossibility of the feat causing a prickling sensation on his skin, a shiver running down his spine. ”That, by all means, should have been a guaranteed kill in close range.”

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