Of course, at fifteen years old, Li Anshi's body had entered a phase of rapid development. Strengthened relentlessly by his internal chakra, his physical prowess was now by no means inferior to that of Might Duy without the use of the Eight Gates.
Tsunade, though possessing the blood of the Senju clan, which granted her chakra and a physical constitution far exceeding others, still had a considerable gap to bridge when compared to the current Li Anshi.
"Feeling better now?"
Seeing Tsunade smile, Li Anshi felt it was safe to approach her. He drew closer and asked softly.
"Hmph!"
At his question, Tsunade's smile vanished. She let out a cold snort and crossed her arms. "Anshi, don't think a few nice words will make me forgive you."
"Forgive you?"
Li Anshi looked at her, genuinely surprised. "Lady Tsunade, what are you talking about? I don't believe I've done anything to make you angry."
"Oh, really? Lord Anshi has been quite the celebrity these past few days."
"Even someone like me, stuck in the medical corps, has heard of the legend of 'Little Li's Flying Dagger'."
"Facing an ambush of over three thousand Cloud ninja, you killed more than a thousand of them, even their Eight-Tails Jinchuriki fell, ultimately forcing the Third Raikage to sign a truce with Konoha…"
"Hahaha, well, it was nothing special."
In front of the Third Hokage, he naturally had to be modest. But this was Tsunade praising him! To say he wasn't happy to earn Tsunade's admiration would be a lie.
"You idiot!"
Seeing his arrogant expression, a surge of anger rose in Tsunade. Her chakra flared, and she closed the distance in an instant, lunging at him with a powerful headbutt.
"Not good!"
BAM!
"Hiss…" Li Anshi sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
The moment Tsunade charged, his instincts screamed at him to use Revolving Heaven for defense. But fearing he would injure her, he forced himself to halt the flow of his chakra. Tsunade's attack, fueled by her fury, was far more powerful than her previous punches and kicks.
The immense force sent Li Anshi crashing to the ground, with Tsunade collapsing on top of him. Despite his formidable physique, a dull ache throbbed in his ribs.
"Tsunade, you—"
Li Anshi started to question her, but as he looked down, he saw her face was streaked with tears, her hands clutching his collar tightly.
"Three years ago, Grandpa went out alone, and not long after he returned, he passed away."
"Two years ago, Great-Uncle went alone to hold back the Cloud ninja, buying time for Master Hiruzen and the others to retreat…"
"A week ago, you went to the Cloud Village… alone."
"Anshi, I was so scared. I was afraid that, just like Grandpa and Great-Uncle, I would never see you again…"
"Wuuu…"
Hearing her cries, Li Anshi fell silent.
He had always thought he was alone in this ninja world, with nothing to care for and no one who cared for him.
That was why he had been so brazen—whether it was pointing out Hiruzen Sarutobi's shortcomings to Tsunade, wanting to groom her to be the next Hokage, or directly telling Hiruzen he hadn't inherited the Will of Fire from the first two Hokage. None of it mattered, because nothing in this world truly affected him.
He did as he pleased.
But now, Tsunade's words made him feel that perhaps he wasn't without someone in this world who worried about him.
He had never imagined that in her heart, he had reached a level comparable to her two grandfathers. He could only guess the anxiety she must have endured during the days he was gone, waiting for news of his fate.
No wonder the Third Hokage had said her mood had been foul these past few days. From her perspective, the Third Hokage, who had sent him to the Cloud Village, might as well have been the one who had condemned him to death. Caught between her good friend and her teacher, Tsunade must not have known who to blame.
Blame her teacher for sending Anshi alone? Or blame Anshi for not refusing the mission?
In the end, Tsunade could only blame her own weakness. If she had been stronger, she could have gone with him to the Cloud Village, and they could have watched each other's backs.
Because of this, she had been training like a madwoman, not giving Hiruzen Sarutobi so much as a pleasant glance. Seeing Li Anshi again, it was impossible for her not to be happy. But more than that, she wanted to remind him never to undertake such a dangerous mission alone again.
His casual attitude, however, made her feel as though he didn't recognize the danger, which was what had triggered her angry attack.
"I'm sorry. I made you worry."
After a soft sigh, Li Anshi placed a hand on her head and apologized sincerely. "I promise, it won't happen again."
Tsunade remained silent. As a ninja, she knew their fate was to complete one mission after another.
Weaker ninja took on easier tasks, while stronger ninja naturally tackled the difficult ones. To send a weak ninja on a hard mission was not only to guarantee failure but also to sacrifice them needlessly, adding to the village's losses. Li Anshi's words were merely to comfort her.
In truth, she was overthinking it. The battle with the Cloud had made Li Anshi acutely aware of his own weaknesses when facing a large ninja force. Until he had addressed those shortcomings, he had no intention of attempting another solo assault on a hidden village.
"Right…"
Thinking about how his greatest crisis had been his insufficient supply of daggers, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind—a summoning scroll from the Mist Village. It was the scroll that formed a contract with the Seven Ninja Swords. With that scroll, one could summon any of the seven blades that were without a master.
If he lacked the talent for the Flying Thunder God Technique, perhaps he could make a trip to the Mist Village and see if they possessed the technology to create such a scroll. If he could obtain it and form a summoning contract with his flying daggers, he might finally overcome the limitation of their quantity.
However, it would depend on how many daggers the scroll could summon. If it was only seven, like the ninja swords, it would be better than nothing, but barely. After all, using a summoning jutsu also consumed a significant amount of chakra.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Li Anshi focused on comforting Tsunade. No matter how mature she was, she was still only a seven-year-old girl. And in the last few years, she had experienced the loss of several of her closest relatives. It was because of this shared vulnerability that he had been able to become "friends" with her after only a few conversations.
"Cheer up, Tsunade," he said gently. "I brought back the truce agreement from the Cloud. That means, for us in Konoha, the war is over."
Hearing this news, the tension on Tsunade's face finally eased. It was perhaps the best news she had heard in a long time.
While ninjas always faced danger on missions, most of those dangers were manageable. War, however, was uncontrollable. A mission might result in the injury or death of three or four ninja at most. But in war, a single misstep could lead to the loss of dozens, even hundreds.
Getting up from the ground, Li Anshi pulled Tsunade to her feet. "Tsunade, you're still young. Training requires a balance of work and rest. You can't just blindly push your own potential."
"Hah, you say that like you know more than me, a medical ninja," she retorted.
Li Anshi's breath caught. He had indeed assumed Tsunade's recent progress was due to overloaded training.
But as she said, as a medical ninja, she understood the limits of the body far better than he did.
As a member of the Senju clan, her bloodline was among the most elite in the ninja world. Naturally, her potential was beyond that of an ordinary ninja.
While her training these past few days hadn't broken her body's limits, it had pushed right up against them. Otherwise, her improvement wouldn't have been so drastic.
After catching up with Tsunade, Li Anshi left and headed for the camp where the other ninjas were stationed. He was pleased to see that his three subordinates were still training diligently.
In the week he had been gone, their physical conditioning had improved, and their progress in both chakra quantity and bodily reinforcement was palpable.
Furthermore, Sagawa Yui, Kondo Kazuya, and Sakamoto Toshio had all made significant strides in their chakra control.
When Li Anshi approached, they were practicing tree-walking. All three could now stand upright on a tree trunk with ease. If they could manage to stand upside down with their feet stuck to the trunk, they would have mastered this exercise.
Just by looking at the countless shattered footprints of varying sizes on the nearby trees, he could tell how hard they had been working. These marks were the fruit of their ever-improving chakra control.
"Not bad. I can see you've all been working very hard. Everyone has improved a great deal."
"Master!"
"Master Li is here!"
"Master Li!"
Hearing Li Anshi's voice, the three of them were overjoyed.
In their surprise, they nearly lost control of their chakra and fell from the trees.
Fortunately, their training had not only improved their strength but also their composure.
They quickly steadied themselves, regained control of their chakra, and walked slowly down the tree step by step to stand before him.