Chapter 89: Black Rock Attempts to Overthrow Monkey King

After recovering from her momentary stupor, Kurotsuchi asked, "You want to fight? Me...?" in an incredulous tone. She usually wouldn't hesitate to accept the challenge of someone around her age, but none of them were going toe-to-toe with her Grandfather and coming out on top...

Maintaining his relaxed posture, Wu nodded his head and replied, "Relax. I've been training others since I was eight. I'm not going to accidentally injure or kill you, even if you attempt to do the same."

Though she was still a little hesitant, Kurotsuchi got into a stance with her right fist near her hip and her left hand held out in front as she lowered her center of gravity. She was more of a Ninjutsu and Genjutsu specialist, but she was no slouch when it came to physicality. She even took dance classes to improve her agility and the limberness of her body, so she was prone to surprising people who underestimated her.

Without the need for a starting bell or buzzer, Kurotsuchi launched herself toward Wu at the speed of an upper-level Chunin. Her movements were in slow motion from Wu's perspective, but he still gave a slight nod as stone 'materialized' from the air, condensing around her fist as she punched him in the face.

"It's good that you didn't attempt to punch me directly. You may have hurt your hand."

Hearing Wu's words, the cheeky smile on Kurotsuchi's face promptly faded. She hadn't expected to land a hit, so she couldn't help smiling when he allowed her to smash his face in. Retracting her fist and seeing him unscathed left her feeling confused.

Since Kurotsuchi was wearing her forehead protector, Wu extended his right hand to give her a flick on the head. The action appeared simple at a glance, but the force behind it was enough to send her flipping backward in an attempt to shave off the momentum. Considering most people would suffer from whiplash or be sent flying, it was fair to say she had good instincts.

Waiting until Kurotsuchi had recovered, Wu extended his hand and made a grasping motion. From the perspective of the raven-haired Kunoichi, the air around her seemed to solidify before she was drawn toward him by an invisible force.

Extending his index and middle fingers, Wu stopped Kurotsuchi's forward momentum with ease, revealing, "This is one of the 'basic' techniques I'll be teaching you. Beyond that, my main focus will be to ensure you have a proper foundation and adequate Chakra control. Right now, most of-"

Before Wu could finish speaking, Kurotsuchi struck him with the palm of her hands, not to deal damage but to push herself away from him. Then, after a series of fight hand signs, she exhaled a tremendous volume of white powder from her mouth, its aroma tart and reminiscent of calcium.

While the white powder was still flowing from her mouth, Kurotsuchi did something even most Jonin couldn't do; weaving hand signs with another Jutsu still active. As a result, she was able to turn the powder stream into a pressurized jet of water powerful enough to cut through stone.

Besides raising his right forearm to protect his eyes, Wu permitted the combination attack to hit him. The white powder gave him mild chemical burns, but his regeneration was more than enough to counteract it. What caught him by surprise was how it hardened and expanded rapidly when mixed with water, enveloping his body and hardening like concrete...

Despite the success of her attack, Kurotsuchi began weaving together a series of hand signs that caused her Chakra to plummet. She doubted she would be able to kill or defeat Wu, but if he kept 'letting' her hit him, there were plenty of Jutsu she had that could get the job done.

After stringing together a total of twenty-three hand signs, Kurotsuchi clapped her hands together and shouted, "This is what you get for looking down on me, you damned monkey! Mountain Core Sealing...!"

From the moment Kurotsuchi clapped her hands together, a large spiked pylon formed of highly condensed Earth Chakra appeared in the air above the still-expanding white mass. Then, as she slammed her hands against the ground, shouting the name of the Jutsu, it produced a shockwave as it accelerated at supersonic speeds, seemingly intending to pierce both Wu and the building beneath them.

Sensing a moderate amount of threat from the peculiar black pylon, Wu burst out of the expanding white mass, red and gold staff in hand, as he met Kurotsuchi's attack with a vicious smile. It was some form of earth-based Sealing Jutsu, but that didn't stop him from shattering it to pieces with his tremendous strength and incomparably durable staff.

Seeing her strongest Jutsu reduced to rubble, an indignant look marred Kurotsuchi's face as she erected a hemispherical stone barrier to shield against the falling debris and shrapnel. She knew Wu was strong, but, as far as she could tell, he was even younger than her. All of Iwa praised her as a prodigy that had inherited the aptitude of her Great Grandfather, the original Tsuchikage. Now, in the face of Wu's ridiculous might, she felt like she was barely above average...

Landing next to Kurotsuchi's hemispherical barrier, Wu gave it a gentle rap with the tip of his staff, musing, "It's safe to come out now." with a cheeky smile on his face. Kurotsuchi responded by punching the barrier, sending a fist-shaped rock flying into his face, but he just closed his eyes to avoid getting dust in them as the stone projectile shattered like weak ceramic.

Collapsing her barrier, Kurotsuchi had an annoyed look on her face as she asked, "Just how did you get this strong? I noticed your eyes glowing, but this can't be the result of a Dojutsu, right?"

As it didn't matter to him if other people knew the origin of his power, Wu replied, "I have a unique constitution I've taken to calling a Natural Sage Body. It allows me to accumulate and store an ever-increasing amount of Natural Energy within my body. However, without training my ass off, my strength wouldn't be anywhere near this level. I won't deny I possess an inordinate talent, but my power is the result of honest, unrelenting effort."

Setting his staff on its end, Wu added, "Go ahead and give it a lift. And just to put things into perspective, I've been swinging this thing around since I was ten."

Noticing how the staff sank several centimeters into the ground the moment Wu released it from his grasp, Kurotsuchi swallowed nervously before attempting to lift it. She was able to do so, but her legs trembled as she could barely get the damn thing onto her shoulder.

Not expecting the raven-haired Kunoichi to be able to lift his staff, Wu's smile became markedly more genuine as he praised, "Well done. I know of only one other girl around your age that can heft my staff, but she has the power of horny on her side. You've clearly worked very hard to reach your current level."

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Furrowing her brows, Kurotsuchi retorted, "I don't need...your praise..." before dropping Wu's staff, allowing it to fall to the ground. Before it could hit, however, Wu caught it with his foot, casually kicking it back up before grabbing and placing it on his shoulder with the ease of a bamboo rod. If not for his feet sinking noticeably into the ground, Kurotsuchi would have accused him of playing some kind of trick.

In response to the raven-haired girl's words, Wu remarked, "I mete out praise as an expression of my appreciation and approval, similar to a food or art critique. Whether you feel you 'need' it isn't my concern. A person's efforts and accomplishments 'should' be praised. Just as a lack of effort should be admonished."

"..."

As she couldn't fault Wu's argument, Kurotsuchi took a few seconds to regulate her breathing before asking, "So? Now what? My Grandfather gave me his permission to accompany you to Konoha. When do we set out...?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Wu admitted, "I was planning to explore some of the surrounding cave systems and waterfalls, but I don't mind if you want to leave immediately. Just know that once we reach Konoha, you probably won't be able to move around freely for some time. You aren't going to be detained or anything, but getting you permission to walk freely around the village will take a bit of time. Your Grandfather has burned a lot of bridges during his reign as Tsuchikage. I'm hoping you can rebuild a few once you become the Yondaime Tsuchikage."

"Uh-huh..."

As she fully expected Konoha to try and take her as a political hostage, Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes in response to Wu's words. She would have to be an idiot to believe that someone from an enemy village would help her become stronger without asking for something in exchange. If she wasn't willing to submit to whatever schemes Wu had in mind, Kurotsuch had no doubt that she would be imprisoned and prevented from returning home.

With that in mind, Kurotsuchi asked, "Well, if there's no rush, how about making a few detours on the way to Konoha? There are a few places I've wanted to visit since I was a child."

Catching Kurotsuchi a little by surprise, Wu unhesitantly replied, "Sure. I told the people back home I would be away for a few weeks. I can fly us back from pretty much anywhere on the continent within three hours, so we have plenty of time to make a detour or two."

Though she furrowed her brows at the notion that Wu could fly anywhere within three hours, Kurotsuchi decided to focus on the fact he had given himself multiple weeks to 'recruit' her, asking, "What, were you planning to get to know me before taking me home?"

Nodding his head, Wu unhesitantly replied, "If I took you back right now, you would be on guard and stressing yourself out unnecessarily. Konoha will be your home for the next five years, so I'd like it if you were able to relax and make friends during your stay. I'm the lynchpin for making that possible. Besides, getting to know one another will make your 'mission' that much easier. Trying to blend in and gather information when there isn't at least the 'illusion of trust' is difficult..."

"..."

With Wu making continuous references to her mission, Kurotsuchi exhaled an exasperated sigh, massaging her forehead as she said, "You really are shameless, aren't you? If everyone behaved with such wanton disregard, this world would be destroyed in a single generation..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Wu retorted, "The strong and influential have always shaped the world around them. At least I'm trying to 'fix' things so that needless wars are no longer necessary. If I behaved half as wantonly as you accuse me of being, Iwa would be in ruins right now, thousands, if not tens of thousands of people dead."

Snorting through her nose, Kurotsuchi remarked, "Instead, you destroyed my home and are now taking me back like some kind of captive princess. Yeah, you're a real paragon of virtue..."

Nodding his head in approval, Wu left Kurotsuchi a little speechless as he replied, "It's good that you recognize it. Now, where did you want to visit? And do you have everything you need for a journey...?"

Resisting the urge to point out that her bedroom and wardrobe had been buried in the ruins of the Tsuchikage's Tower, Kurotsuchi replied, "I don't have a specific destination in mind. I've never left the Land of Earth, so let's just take our time and travel East until we hit the Land of Hot Water. Most of my clothes originate from there, so I'd like to do some shopping before heading to Konoha."

Since he had already set aside several weeks to scout the raven-haired teen, Wu didn't mind taking things slow for a bit. It worked in Kurotsuchi's favor that the Land of Waterfalls happened to be located to the East. The Village Hidden within Waterfalls, Taikigakure, had come into possession of the Seven Tails near the end of the previous war, so he had been planning to stop by at some point in the future. Now seemed like as good a time as any...

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(A/N: Is it finally time for best girl to appear...?)

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