Tsunade was indeed an exception. As the strongest medical ninja in the Naruto world, attacks like poison were greatly reduced against her, or even completely ineffective.

If it had been an unknown poison, it might have had some effect, but after suffering a loss against Ethan, Orochimaru still went to find Tsunade, hoping that this strongest medical ninja could help him detoxify.

Tsunade had indirectly learned about Ethan’s Wood Style, and combined with some information from the Third Hokage, she had long been prepared.

Although it appeared she caught the rose thrown by Ethan with her bare hands, in reality, her hands were covered in a layer of chakra, separating herself from the rose.

To prevent the poison from entering her body through breathing or skin pores, she had set up a comprehensive defense.

However, Tsunade was more concerned that Ethan seemed to have used Wood Style without hand seals.

She knew Ethan had the talent for single-handed hand seals, but in that instant, both of his hands were visible. (One reason Itachi’s jutsus were so sudden was because his hands were hidden by his wide sleeves, so enemies couldn’t see if he was making hand seals.) She was certain Ethan didn’t make any hand seals just now.

"Jutsu without hand seals?"

Not only Tsunade but also Jiraiya noticed this point. If Ethan’s Wood Style could be activated without hand seals, its threat level would increase by another notch.

Just as the two were surprised by this, Ethan, who had already landed, suddenly vanished.

"This is... the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

Tsunade had researched the jutsus Ethan knew. When she heard that the Third Hokage had even taught Ethan the Flying Thunder God Technique, she was surprised and also a bit speechless: Is the old man perhaps valuing this young man too much?

However, the talent Ethan displayed was indeed astonishing. Had he only just acquired it and could already use it so freely?

This astonishing talent reminded her of Orochimaru...

Also, when did this kid lay down the Flying Thunder God formula? Did he make preparations before the battle even started?

Not only Tsunade thought this, but Jiraiya on the sidelines also guessed the same thing, but Ethan himself provided the answer.

"It’s best not to carelessly catch anything I throw out!"

Ethan appeared behind Tsunade. The thoughts in Tsunade’s mind didn’t affect her combat; she easily dodged Ethan’s continuous attacks. It was at this moment that she heard what Ethan said and understood how he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"You mean this rose?"

"Leaving the Flying Thunder God formula on the rose?"

The conversation between the two wasn’t deliberately lowered, and Jiraiya’s hearing allowed him to catch it. He was once again amazed by Ethan’s combat talent. He hadn’t even thought that Ethan’s Flying Thunder God Technique could be used in such a way... And thinking about Ethan’s future growth, he could easily create large fields of roses, and in such a home field that would poison enemies, he could move instantaneously at will...

"What a terrifying young man..."

As one of the Sannin who had seen countless major events, this was the first time Jiraiya felt fear because of a kid. Even when he saw the legendary Rinnegan back then, he didn’t have this feeling.

Perhaps he should be thankful that Ethan’s chakra wasn’t abundant yet? Otherwise, Tsunade would have been embarrassed.

Jiraiya’s relief on the sidelines was something Tsunade didn’t agree with at all. While speaking, Ethan had another rose in his hand.

"Blue?"

Tsunade immediately noticed the beautiful shade of blue. She only knew that Ethan had another type of black rose that could pulverize objects. Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn’t told her what the effect of blue roses was!

Because she didn’t know, she didn’t dare to touch it carelessly. When Ethan swung the rose in his hand to attack, Tsunade immediately stepped back to avoid the blow.

"?"

Perhaps because certain parts were too remarkable, Tsunade’s retreat didn’t completely avoid it. Her collar was slightly grazed... or rather, it almost brushed past without actually touching?

However, the sharp opening on her collar and the wound that looked like it had been cut by a sharp blade seemed to remind her that she had indeed failed to dodge Ethan’s attack.

"Wood Style – Dagger Rose!"

Tsunade didn’t remain confused for long; Ethan quickly stated the name of the move. This simple and direct name also made Tsunade understand the effect of this blue rose.

"Dagger, huh?"

She suddenly felt that Ethan’s roses were probably not just about ’poison.’ Leaving aside the red rose, although the black rose had a very overbearing effect, it wasn’t without such overbearing poisons, but how to explain this blue rose? Its sharpness made her wonder if Ethan was using Wood Style or Wind Style?

Ethan, holding the Dagger Rose in his hand, was equivalent to holding a short blade. Sasuke seemed to see the Ethan he usually saw, fully displaying his swordsmanship skills—although they were all basic movements, when Ethan used them, these basic movements were perfectly connected and all were chosen based on the situation at the time.

More importantly, Ethan’s Dagger Rose also had an advantage that short blades didn’t have. When Tsunade pulled back a little distance, Ethan could directly throw the blue rose in his hand—from this perspective, the Dagger Rose was more like a kunai, and Ethan didn’t have to worry about not having a weapon after throwing it out, as the amount of chakra needed to create a rose wasn’t very much.

"So it was specifically developed for close combat?" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With insufficient chakra now, unable to bury enemies in a sea of flowers, this type of rose that could be ’used repeatedly for a long time’ was indeed more useful. Tsunade was no longer surprised why Ethan would develop this blue rose when there was a more powerful black rose.

"I’ve seen enough... If that’s all you’ve got..."

Tsunade and Ethan fought for a while, feeling she had seen enough. She immediately stomped her foot, and the previously intact ground suddenly cracked open with a huge fissure that extended directly to where Ethan was standing.

With his footing destroyed, Ethan had no other choice and used the Flying Thunder God to move to another location.

However, before Ethan could even stand firm, Tsunade lunged at him again.

"This is the end, kid!"

During the previous battle, Tsunade had always kept an eye on the roses Ethan threw out, and intentionally or unintentionally, she destroyed those roses—by adjusting her positioning a few times, Tsunade’s destructive power could easily destroy those ’fragile beautiful flowers.’

She deliberately left this one to force Ethan to use the Flying Thunder God Technique—although using roses for Flying Thunder God movement was a good idea, having only one landing point made it too easy to be targeted.

But would Ethan not think of something Tsunade could think of?

If Tsunade thought she had him cornered, Ethan would give her a surprise.

Since the beginning of the battle, Ethan, who had never made hand seals, suddenly made a hand seal motion. This action slightly surprised Tsunade, but she had already reached Ethan. No matter what jutsu he used, she could just punch through it.

She threw a heavy punch, and the terrifying heavy punch directly hit the... cherry blossom tree that suddenly appeared in front of her.

"A tree..."

Tsunade’s monstrous strength was terrifying. A large tree naturally couldn’t withstand her heavy punch, so the moment it was hit, this cherry blossom tree directly exploded into pieces, and the petals on the tree scattered, filling the entire area.

"Did you know?"

Ethan remained in the hand seal posture, standing quietly in front of Tsunade.

"Cherry blossoms fall at a speed of... five centimeters per second!"

"Huh?"

Tsunade originally thought Ethan’s Wood Style was just various flowers. Although she heard he could also turn roses into weapons like whips, she didn’t think ’this kind of Wood Style’ could threaten her.

She didn’t expect Ethan also knew ’traditional Wood Style,’ but why a cherry blossom tree?

"These flowers are problematic?"

Tsunade glanced around briefly and found herself almost completely surrounded by large amounts of falling cherry blossoms. At this point, it was clearly too late to escape this area. The most correct method should be to quickly defeat the enemy right in front of her.

The cherry blossom tree blocking her had already been shattered by a single punch. There was nothing left to stop her.

"Scatter... Senbonzakura!"

Tsunade guessed that these petals would be strange. She habitually thought that such a large area of petals probably contained some strange poison, but she didn’t expect that this time there was no poison at all, only pure physical damage.

The slowly falling cherry blossom rain suddenly came alive, surging towards her. Large masses of cherry blossoms gathered and rushed at her, forcing her to deal with these cherry blossom attacks first.

"What kind of five centimeters per second... It’s more like five meters per second!"

The large masses of gathered cherry blossoms moved very quickly. What made Tsunade even more of a headache was that even if she scattered a mass of cherry blossoms with a heavy punch, it was meaningless, because these cherry blossoms, after being scattered, were still cherry blossom petals. They could regather and launch the next round of attacks.

Moreover, these petals were similar to the Dagger Roses seen earlier; they looked like fragile, beautiful petals, but were actually sharp blades. Even just a few petals were very dangerous, let alone such a massive quantity?

As the cherry blossoms attacked frantically, Tsunade found that the distance to Ethan was not closing, but getting further and further.

"Damn it!"

When Ethan launched this attack, Tsunade suddenly realized: she wasn’t the only one holding back earlier; the kid opposite her hadn’t used his true strength either.

As a member of the Sannin, to be played around by a kid like this made her furious.

Looking at the large areas of cherry blossoms around her, Tsunade gritted her teeth and prepared to release the Strength of a Hundred Seal. She was going to activate her immortality and force her way through this cherry blossom field.

(To be continued.)

◇◇◇

◇ One bonus Chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead Chapter on Pat if you’re interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)