During the days his girlfriend was away, Senju Wakama went to his younger sister's courtyard to train.
The autumn rain began to fall once more.
After the start of autumn, each rainfall brought a deeper chill.
At this moment.
Senju Wakama sat on the narrow veranda.
"Here..." Tsukuyo presented a large stack of scrolls before Senju Wakama. "These are scrolls I borrowed from Second Brother."
Wakama didn't stand on ceremony, casually picking one up and unrolling it.
The first scroll, first line:
「I, Senju Akira, declare this Water Release ninjutsu to be my unique, self-mastered ultimate technique...」
Senju Wakama: "..."
Looking closely, the scroll seemed quite old, giving Wakama the distinct impression of reading a secret sauce recipe.
And then...
The content below started to become surreal.
The next line on the scroll was heavily blacked out, with a small line inserted beside it:
「I, Senju Tobirama, state that the jutsu created by Senior Akira is useless. The chakra circulation method should be changed like this for a much stronger effect! Everyone, train with confidence!」
Senju Wakama: "..."
Huh?
Huh?!
Wakama discreetly glanced at Tsukuyo, who was sitting before him preparing tea, seemingly oblivious to the issue.
In this scroll, because Second Brother Tobirama felt the senior's writing was inadequate, he had written a better version himself.
...There was a feeling... of hesitation, a reluctance to practice this.
No, it was more like a sense of foreboding.
Senju Wakama quickly read down to the third line.
Again, the content below was blacked out, with another small annotation beside it: 「I, Senju Tsukuyo, state that the person above misleads students. An average ninja learning this chakra circulation method could easily injure themselves with the slightest mistake – paralysis at best, a tragic death at worst. I have already revised it. Everyone, train with confidence!」
Senju Wakama: "..."
Without thinking further, Wakama hastily unrolled the entire scroll.
A glance swept over it.
Good grief, there was a whole row of annotated versions for this single Water Release jutsu.
Starting from Tsukuyo's first comment, the section below turned into a silent, written 'battle' between Tsukuyo and Tobirama.
The usually compatible siblings had clashed fiercely over this Water Release scroll, arguing through ninjutsu theory and text for over twenty annotations.
The final comment was Tsukuyo's, essentially meaning Senju Tobirama had been KO'd by her.
The upper portion of the entire scroll was almost completely blacked out.
Senju Wakama ignored the messy process of redactions, ignored the written battle between his brother and sister, and looked straight at the last corrected section.
Tsukuyo's final annotation: 「Trash Tobirama, don't fucking change it again! Clumsy yet insistent on meddling, that's you! This is the final version. Even a child can practice it safely with no side effects. Don't fucking change it again!」
It was clear Tsukuyo must have lost her temper, perhaps even physically 'correcting' Tobirama outside the scroll, because afterwards, Tobirama hadn't... fucking changed it again.
However, Wakama wondered if Senju Tobirama's fingerprints were on other scrolls.
Wakama remembered that as his sister Tsukuyo's administrative talents became increasingly prominent, their father, Butsuma, had specifically allowed her to study with her brothers in the study room.
As a result, Tsukuyo, finding herself bored, had pulled out all the ninjutsu scrolls to 'revise' them.
When their father saw the results, he hadn't said a damn thing...
Presumably, Tsukuyo wasn't just randomly altering them?
Senju Wakama continued reading downwards. What followed was Tsukuyo's elegant script, finally without further alterations.
Wakama didn't recognize some of the complex, square-shaped characters.
He recalled the difficulty when learning about 'Scopolamine' from Tsukuyo earlier. He barely recognized those characters and writing them had been agonizing. He only memorized them after writing them countless times.
Because of this, Senju Wakama had been forced to learn many 'complex characters' just to take notes.
Later, when Tsukuyo wasn't around, Wakama could only ask Brother Zetsu for help.
Brother Zetsu mentioned that while he could understand many characters at a glance, he wasn't always certain how to write some of them. He had specifically studied them but didn't write them often. Due to lack of practice, Zetsu recognized many characters but hesitated when writing, unsure if it was one way or another.
Still, after two years of relentless effort, Senju Wakama had finally escaped the realm of illiteracy.
Honestly, even if Tsukuyo had modified these ninjutsu into peerless secret techniques...
Understanding them was no simple task.
This inherently filtered potential successors right from the start.
Of course, this excluded those freaks of nature who could master techniques just by looking at diagrams, without needing to read the text.
Senju Wakama began to study seriously. Reading on, he found that... indeed, the ninjutsu revised by Tsukuyo was truly different from those he had seen before.
Colorful inks were used to strike out all the superfluous text.
Just looking at the colors made Wakama feel a bit dizzy.
All explanations were concise and to the point; as long as one could understand the characters, learning the jutsu was practically guaranteed.
Suddenly, a flock of birds flew over from the distance.
Most found temporary perches in Tsukuyo's courtyard. One particular silver-throated long-tailed tit flew to Tsukuyo's hand, nuzzled against her fingers, then opened its beak. Its small, round chest heaved as it emitted strange syllables.
"Cheep~ Cheep cheep..."
"Is that so..." Tsukuyo listened intently to the little bird's account, smiled, and stroked its head. She took out a wooden box from nearby and opened it.
Senju Wakama couldn't help but glance over.
He saw Tsukuyo place the lid upside down on the table. Inverted, the lid resembled a shallow dish.
Then, she poured the contents of the box onto the lid.
A large pile of wriggling, small, white, fleshy grubs appeared on the lid.
The long-tailed tit turned and chirped at its kin, and the entire flock descended in a rush.
They swept the dish clean of the small grubs in moments, then scattered just as quickly.
Tsukuyo's expression remained unchanged. As the birds flew away, she even waved with a smile, murmuring, "Come again next time~"
Senju Wakama's brow twitched violently.
Honestly, those white, fleshy grubs were utterly disgusting.
He couldn't resist asking, "Tsukuyo, I thought you were friends with all animals. Don't these grubs deserve sentience?"
Tsukuyo replied nonchalantly, "All things have spirit, except perhaps mosquitoes and flies. Besides, not every animal is worthy of being my friend. Those at the bottom of the food chain are ultimately meant to be eaten, aren't they? That's the law of nature."
A corner of Senju Wakama's lip twitched. "How did you even collect these white grubs? They look like..."
"Like maggots... right?" A charming smile appeared on Tsukuyo's face. "They are maggots. I specifically taught the chefs in the clan's main dining hall how to make roasted meat. During the summer..."
Senju Wakama listened quietly.
Good heavens...
During the hottest part of the year, Tsukuyo taught the clan members in the main kitchen how to roast meat. Each time after roasting, she would select some unspecified cuts of meat, leave them outside, and flies would flock to lay eggs.
Once the eggs were laid, Tsukuyo had the chefs keep the meat until the maggots hatched and emerged.
Then, they collected these maggots.