"Again!" Tsunade shouted.
Chakra coursed through Nagisa's arm, her consciousness refining the threads of chakra to micro precision. From the flow of her chakra pathway, to the chakra flowing through her bones and tendons, and to the muscles tissues.
Before she could utilise the chakra refined in her arm, her control collapsed the moment her senses screamed for her to dodge.
BANG!
Tsunade's punch missed by a hair's breadth, leaving a spiderweb shaped crater on the ground Nagisa just stood.
Tsunade's gaze shifted onto her, scrutinizing her chakra flow. Her control was shaken, but the next second the turbulent chakra was reorganized almost immediately.
Tsunade's movements halted less than a breath at the surprise of her progress. Nagisa saw the opening, her chakra flowing through her limbs, her right arm and soles of her feet.
She dashed forward, her arm swinged back, the chakra condensed and contracted along her muscles fibers, tendons and bones.
"Load…!"
Chakra covered and contracted along the triceps and deltoid; her arm and elbow swung behind her. Muscle fibers filled with chakra retracted the scapula, building tension. Chakra held firm in her lats, her core engaged, chakra flow and set in her quadriceps and glutes; anchored her weight as she stepped on the ground. Her chakra loaded along her limbs and muscles, akin to a coiled spring.
"Accelerate…!"
She threw her punch. Chakra moved instantaneously from her feet, through her hip, to her fist, moving along her arm as she drove her fist forward. The chakra coiled like a spring snap in one single moment!
Tsunade crossed her arms quickly, receiving the fist directly.
BANG!
The ground beneath Tsunade's feet cracked from the force moving across her body, her feet dug into the soil as she was blasted meters away from the sheer force. As the dust settled, Tsunade felt her arms, assessing the damage done to her with surprise in her eyes - followed by acknowledgment.
Her gaze turned from her arms to Nagisa. Nagisa was sensing her own body, too. Something that had become a habit over the weeks of learning medical ninjutsu and the effort to master the technique to Tsunade's strength.
Tsunade went to her without haste, placing her palm over Nagisa's arm and body. Green chakra light spread from her palm as she sensed her tissues.
"You still need to work on redirecting the recoil after you land your hit. The chakra on your extensor lagged behind your biceps. And there's parts you didn't disperse correctly when you landed the hit…" From her perception, she sensed tears and stress on some parts of her muscles. Tsunade arrived at her assessment similar to Nagisa's own.
She pointed at the parts of her body, emphasizing what needed to be improved.
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei." Nagisa stood up straight. Despite the flaws in her technique, she knew her progress still surprised Tsunade.
"Hm. Now show me again."
***
Minato watched from the sideline with a sense of trepidation. He looked at the cracked grounds and felt the tremors from each of their punches. The idea that Nagisa would use that power on him during their spars sent a shiver down his spine.
He looked over at a tree utterly destroyed and broken in half from Nagisa's earlier practice.
"Would that kill me…?" Minato was already simulating their future sparring session in his head, while assessing the drawbacks of the technique he could use to his advantage.
Nawaki, the 11 years old boy with spiky brown hair and bright brown eyes, had a smug expression. "See, my onee-chan is strong! She can beat your little sister easily!"
Minato looked at the energetic boy whose head and face were swollen until he was unrecognisable.
The morning earlier, Tsunade invited them to Training Ground 5 and acquainted them with her little brother Nawaki. A newly graduated Genin. She wanted to assess Nagisa's combat ability and matched her against Nawaki.
***
Now, in Nagisa's calculations, and Minato's own; Nawaki was the little brother of Tsunade. Carried blood of Senju and grew under her tutelage. He smiled, looking down on her with a smug confidence when he saw a girl a head shorter than himself and was only a 7 years old kid.
Nagisa already assumed he was on par with Minato or above given he was 3 years older than Minato and that he was trained by Tsunade himself. His confidence made Nagisa wary of him.
She was calculating how much she should show. If she should lose respectably by showing what a 'good' 2nd year Ninja Academy student should be, or if she needed to show as much as Minato did.
Tsunade had been a good teacher, and even passed her the core technique for her strength. Nagisa had her own calculations. While she could train Minato, but no one trained her properly.
Her close combat ability became stagnant. Even in her last life, she was more of an aerial ranged combatant, the main skills she honed through battles. She was not the best in close quarters, only competent enough.
Competent is not enough in this world. She had no access to her last life equipment or technique equivalent. The optimal solution was to have a Jonin excel in melee training guiding her. And that Jonin was right in front of her.
If she wanted to improve, she needed to know where she lacked, Tsunade needed to see so she could guide. If she hid her ability, she wouldn't improve.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. There's a risk of revealing her skill. Tsunade was too connected to Sandaime; so she had to be ready for her skills to be exposed. And she had a feeling some people already had their eyes on her and Minato the past few weeks.
Assuming her secrets were already compromised, either she would be an important asset to cultivate and protect, or an important asset to be sent to the battlefield. Still, if it's the latter, she was medic-specialised, and being a medic far outweighs being a combatant given the current lack of medical ninja. If they even wanted to send her to the battlefield, it was more likely she would be sent as a medic nin.
Though she no longer believed the management would definitely do the most reasonable thing and had to prepare regardless.
Overall, it's more advantageous to show enough skill, enough that Tsunade would guide her. Nagisa made the decision. She no longer looked at Nawaki as an opponent, but as a test for her own advancement.
For someone who had been trained by Tsunade carrying the Senju blood, he would be a difficult opponent. She decided to utilise information asymmetry to her advantage. Nawaki was looking down on her, good. She planned her moves. She only had a second or two to catch him off guard, before he could figure out her skill level.
"Nee-chan, don't blame me if I accidentally hurt her!"
Tsunade smirked. "Don't hold back, both of you. Use any tools at your disposal. And Nawaki, don't let your guard down. She's not as weak as she appeared."
"Onee-chan, just watch me! Heh. Nagisa-chan, I will become the future Hokage! So give it your all if you want to have any chance!" Nawaki taunted.
"Begin!" Tsunade shouted.
Nawaki stretched his arm to grab his kunai. In his mind, he was planning to throw it, create distance, assess her ability, speed, her habits and movements, grab openings to then beat her. But the instant Tsunade's word left her mouth, Nagisa already used body flicker to rush right to him.
His pupils contracted slightly in surprise seeing that Nagisa chose to confront him directly. He smirked, thinking at least she had guts.
He threw his kunai right at her, then threw two shuriken to her left and right to block her dodge route. He immediately moved to engage as the projectiles were still midair.
Nagisa was on high alert. Her blue irises move left and right, assessing the projectile trajectories in a split second before she pulled out her own kunai and threw it.
Clang!
The kunai flying at her was blocked with a clang, she ducked as she rushed forward, dodging the shurikens as she decided to go into melee.
Nawaki saw that she didn't dodge as he expected, he reacted to meet her in direct taijutsu. He exchanged blows with her, observing her punches and kicks, blocking them with seemingly casual ease. But only he knew himself he was trying hard to look nonchalant even though he was putting a lot of effort to block and dodge them.
"You are not bad!" He praised her, trying to look cool while exchanging blows with her even though sweat was breaking out of his back already.
"Why is she so fast! She's just in her second year!"
Nagisa's eyes flashed with a cold calculated glint. As she expected, he didn't know of her true abilities and was treating her casually. That meant her victory would be decided in one single move she would make, using the information asymmetry.
In her mind, once Nawaki knew of her real strength, she wouldn't be able to win if he treated her as a real opponent. Meanwhile,if she won with that moment of chance, even if it's through trickery, she would gain a rival who would want to defend his pride after his loss, becoming her whetstone to hone her combat ability.
She had seen people with pride losing to Minato, coming at him over and over again to beat him day after day. Now, Nagisa needed a real opponent in her daily training. Minato didn't cut it, he was far from being a proper opponent. Nawaki would be perfect since Tsunade wouldn't be available daily due to her status. Second, she wanted to gain Tsunade's approval, and in defeating her brother, Tsunade would be inclined to teach her real high level combat. It would be killing two birds in one stone.
Her eyes turned colder. Nawaki felt a chill run down his spine meeting that gaze. His body tensed as he felt an impending danger. He kept his pace, dodging and blocking her strikes.
She saw a moment. Nawaki swung his kunai at her throat.
She could dodge. She could sidestep. She could counter attack afterwards.
But instead, she chose another option. Her only chance. Her movement sped up, breaking out her pattern, breaking the assumptions Nawaki and Tsunade had.
The speed of her reaction caught him off guard. She grabbed Nawaki's wrist when the kunai was only a hair's breadth away from reaching her throat. Then came the sharp pain as his wrist was twisted, followed by a hard blow to his arm disarming the kunai out of him.
He yelped in pain, and before he knew it, his body felt light, the world spun before a crashing pain hit his head and entire body as he was shoulder thrown to the dirt in one decisive motion.
"Ahh!" Nawaki groaned. And it wasn't over yet. Nagisa immediately pinned his chest with her knee, locking her arm with her grip, pressing a dulled kunai on his throat with her other hand.
Nawaki was bewildered. It happened too fast, he couldn't process what happened.
Tsunade was stunned, processing what she was seeing for a few seconds before her surprise turned into a knowing smile.
"So it's true she was hiding a lot." Tsunade mused.
She could tell Nagisa's sudden sharp increase in her speed caught Nawaki off guard. But only she knew even before that Nawaki was doing his best to keep his image; and it was not easy for him and still took real effort for him.
"She already knows how to catch her opponent off guard. And she hid deep all this time. What a shrewd girl. Orochimaru would like her."
"That's enough." Tsunade spoke.
Nagisa let go of her lock on Nawaki without much emotion in her expression. She knew she merely won through trickery. But in doing so, she would gain a real opponent.
As expected, Nawaki stood up with anger befitting a 11 years old child. "Y-You-! Again! Fight me again! I am not serious yet! You just caught me off guard, that's all!"
Tsunade almost wanted to laugh at the theatrics. This will be a good lesson to her little brother and let them be. She could heal him anyways.
Bang, clash, bang!
After rounds of exchanges against real Nagisa, Nawaki's head was filled with bruises, swollen until it's unrecognisable.
Nagisa looked at him with wariness and now, a begrudging respect.
"He is still trying to catch me off guard by pretending like I did. He is taking that much injury just to trick me into lowering my guard down. He is truly ruthless."
Nawaki looked at her with fear, he took a few shaky steps back.
"Wait! I lost! I lost! Stop!" He cowered, using body flicker to back away and hide behind Tsunade.
Nagisa furrowed her eyebrows. His pretense was taking it too far.
"Nee-chan! What is she! That's not right!" He complained to Tsunade with indignation.
Tsunade couldn't hold it anymore and laughed out loud. She placed her palm over Nawaki's head, soothing his bruises and swellings.
"Nawaki, what did I tell you?"
Nawaki's cheeks turned red from shame and anger. "Nee-chan! You let her beat me! You know she's not right!"
Tsunade ignored him and turned to Nagisa. "Your taijutsu is commendable. But far from enough."
She looked over at Minato for a second.
"You don't have an opponent at your age, is that right?"
Nagisa widened her eyes. Tsunade caught onto her predicament easily, as expected of her.
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei."
"Fine. Then I will be your opponent. No need to hide your real ability in front of me. But I am teaching you how to fight as a medic-nin. You had some habits that aren't suited for a medical ninja. I don't know where you get them, but you need to tone down your aggression and stop using moves that exchange yourself with your opponent."
"Yes!" Nagisa stood proud now that she achieved her goals. Though she had doubts about Nawaki hiding behind Tsunade. Is that really his real abilities…?
"I have 3 rules you must obey if you want to be a medic nin. Rule number 1; A medic ninja must never give up on treatment until their patient takes their last breath. Rule number 2; A medic ninja must never stand on the front lines of battle!"
Nagisa felt her body floating with joy hearing that sentence.
"Never stand on the front lines?" The words almost made her grin from ear to ear. She loved the rule so much she would follow it to the tee.
Tsunade didn't catch onto Nagisa's controlled expression and still continued.
"Rule 3; A medic ninja must be the absolute last person in their squad to die!"
Nagisa felt she could fly right now hearing that. Tsunade-sensei, banzai! Medic-nin banzai!
"Your real training will begin today!" Tsunade's aura grew heavier, deciding to fully train her with all her might.
Instead of fear, Nagisa accepted the pressure head on. "Yes, Tsunade-sensei!"
"And you too!" Tsunade glanced at her little brother. She was too easy on him, now that she saw she felt Nawaki lagged too much.
"E-Eh?? Nee-chan…!" Nawaki was taken aback.
Minato smiled at the side seeing his sister gained her approval. While she decided to train Nagisa, Tsunade threw Nawaki to Minato. Ask him to spar with him.
Nawaki regained his spirit. Nagisa is a monster, that's fine. But Minato can't be a monster too!
"Minato-kun, your little sister is a bit strong. But don't you look down on me! Come at me with everything!" He looked at Nagisa with a grudge. He will beat Minato until he begged him to stop!
He can't beat her, but he can beat her brother!
Minato let out a calm innocent smile, accepting the challenge. His eyes carried no trace of ferociousness like Nagisa had and yet it was as cold as hers.
"Eh…?" Nawaki felt something was wrong, he just didn't know what yet…
***