If the village had nurtured Uchiha Ran's potential from the very beginning—if he had been properly trained since childhood—what terrifying heights of power might he have reached?
Tsunade didn't even want to imagine it.
Even if he never reached the level of her great-grandfather, he certainly would have matched her great-uncle's strength.
And yet, simply because of the name Uchiha, his talent had been squandered for years.
Over time, Uchiha Ran was mastering the Strength of a Hundred Technique more and more, and achieving Superfine Chakra Control was only a matter of time.
His combat experience was inevitably growing as well.
And if one added Sage Mode to that... the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan... and soon, complete mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique...
It was terrifying to even think about the level he could reach.
And this wasn't just idle fantasy—everything was already pointing in that direction.
Yes, on top of all his other training, Uchiha Ran had also been working on developing the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Every time he was teleported back and forth via Reverse Summoning, he would focus all his senses, his entire body attuned to the ripples of spatial displacement.
Once he became fully attuned to the spatial nodes and pathways, all his theories about the Flying Thunder God Technique began to prove true.
Under Tsunade's supervision, Uchiha Ran had essentially grasped the fundamentals of the technique.
It seemed it wouldn't be long before he could use it freely.
At that thought, Tsunade once again felt a pang of frustration: if she'd known this would happen, she would've never taught him the Strength of a Hundred Technique—at least then she could've kept the upper hand a little longer.
Who would've thought that a technique which had taken her two full years to develop, Ran would master in under a month!
Uchiha Ran, however, never told her the truth.
In reality, he'd been studying the theory behind the Strength of a Hundred Technique for years—one could say he'd already mastered it intellectually long ago. All he needed now was practical application.
After all, even Senju Tobirama couldn't have mastered the Strength of a Hundred in just one month. And Ran was no exception.
Fortunately, Tsunade never forgot who she truly was—a medical ninja.
So losing a sparring match wasn't the end of the world for her.
Once Uchiha Ran had caught his breath, Tsunade offered him a hand and helped him up.
"Ran, are you okay?" she asked with mild concern as she looked him over.
Uchiha Ran laughed.
"Why do you always ask that? What could possibly happen to me?"
"Well... it's just that we always go at each other so hard... what if someday—"
"But if we don't go all out," Ran interrupted with a shake of his head, "how are we supposed to grow?"
"And besides, have you forgotten who we are?"
"We're the first and second medical ninjas in the entire shinobi world. As long as we're not dead—we'll fight to the end. No need to worry."
"Fine..." Tsunade relented.
She wanted to say more—especially now that she'd started to notice the faint detachment that kept creeping into Ran's demeanor.
But in the end, she stayed silent.
With that, their training for the day ended, and as usual, they left Shikkotsurin.
The next day, Uchiha Ran yawned as he stepped into the office.
Seeing the empty desk across from him brought a strange heaviness to his chest.
Back when he was always around Tsunade, feeling her burning, almost scalding gaze, he thought a little distance would be a relief.
But now, faced with her unexpected day off, he felt like something was missing.
"What an idiot," Ran muttered to himself, scolding his own thoughts and forcing his attention back to work.
Thankfully, after past mistakes, Tsunade no longer made unilateral decisions about him—she consulted him on everything.
There was no need to worry about new complications.
What he didn't know was that Tsunade's "day off" had nothing to do with urgent matters.
On the contrary—she had deliberately taken a "self-assigned mission."
Her true target was... Namikaze Minato.
Lately, Tsunade had been feeling frustrated.
Even though she and Ran were constantly together, their relationship had made no progress.
So she decided to try a different approach—through Minato, hoping to spark some kind of breakthrough.
In the empty training hall...
Seeing Namikaze Minato sprawled out on the ground, panting hard—just like Uchiha Ran had before—Tsunade was genuinely shocked.
Her plan had originally been very different: since Minato had the day off, she simply wanted to spend some time with him, cheer him up.
She'd even asked around about what kids in Konoha liked, what foods they enjoyed, preparing thoroughly.
But what she hadn't expected... was that Minato turned out to be a strange child.
He said he didn't want to go anywhere—and instead, with hopeful eyes, asked if he could spar with her.
So just a few minutes earlier, they had indeed had a short duel.
"Big Sis Tsunade, you have no idea how hard it's been for me to hold back," Minato finally caught his breath, sat up slowly, and said with satisfaction,
"Brother's always being watched and told me not to show my strength. Everyone at the academy is too weak—I never got the chance to go all out. And I wasn't allowed to stand out... You don't know how long I've waited for a real fight like this!"
"That was amazing!"
What could Tsunade say to that?
Her goal had been to make Minato happy—and if this made him happy, then so be it.
Still, she asked:
"Minato, why are you so strong? At your age, you're already at a chunin level."
"If it were just talent or natural strength, fine. But how do you know so many techniques? It's obvious you were trained by real masters. That's not normal."
"Uhh..." Minato scratched the back of his head, offering no response.
"It's because of Ran, isn't it?" Tsunade asked carefully.
Minato froze for a moment, but then, remembering that his brother had said Tsunade could be trusted, nodded.
"Brother couldn't train himself, but when it comes to ninjutsu, he understands it better than anyone. He started teaching me when I was two."
Better than anyone... she echoed in her mind.
And combining that with what he'd said earlier—"Brother always had to hide his strength..."
Just those few sentences from Minato made Tsunade's fists clench involuntarily.
That bastard—he's been playing the fool this whole time?!
All this time, he's understood everything?!
Since the threat hanging over Uchiha Ran had temporarily subsided, Tsunade had cooled off a bit and started noticing oddities.
More and more doubts crept into her mind.
Things Ran had said or done that once seemed odd now filled her with unease.
How to put it...
Tsunade had started to suspect that Ran had deliberately used her trust from the very beginning—and at times had hidden things from her or subtly nudged her toward certain decisions.
But all this time, she hadn't wanted to believe it.
Hadn't dared to.
And yet...
That splinter-like pain in her heart wouldn't go away.
Today, when she came to Minato, her real goal had been to confirm—or refute—those suspicions.
"Minato, your body..." Tsunade fought to keep her emotions in check. "I've seen your parents. They're just ordinary people. Where did your strength come from? You're like a wild little beast!"
Minato giggled again.
"Since I was two, Brother made special herbal brews for me, gave me medicinal baths with rare ingredients, and taught me how to strengthen my body using chakra."
"What method?" Tsunade's heart skipped a beat. She immediately tensed.
"Uhh..." Minato hesitated, then confessed: "Brother came up with a technique that uses chakra to stimulate the body's cells, strengthening it. Didn't he tell you?"
And just like that, everything fell into place.
Tsunade slammed her fist into a nearby tree—the trunk exploded into splinters.
"That bastard!" she screamed. "He told me it was just 'natural strength'! He's been lying to me this whole time! I'm not letting this slide!"