Therefore, stimulating Mikoto's enthusiasm for training was an essential step.
In the face of the clearly goal-oriented Nawaki and Rin, she could afford not to be strong, but she had to let them see her effort.
Otherwise...
"Sensei, I will work hard."
It could only be said that she was, after all, a child who had received six years of ninja education.
Although she was afraid, she quickly recovered.
This was Konoha, after all.
Sensei Li was also a ninja of Konoha.
Although the Uchiha clan's reputation in the village was not very good, with the merit of having independently held off the Sand Village at the cost of nearly a third of their clansmen, their reputation had greatly improved.
If, before the First Great Ninja War, the many ninja clans of Konoha had viewed the Uchiha as an unstable factor, one that might launch a rebellion at any time, then after the war, although they were still very wary of them, they also recognized their contributions to the village and no longer saw them as an unstable factor that would betray them at any moment.
Under these circumstances, it was impossible for Konoha to act against the Uchiha.
And although she did not know him very well, she knew that he had been invited by Lady Tsunade to teach Nawaki.
To have been recognized by Lady Tsunade, then Sensei Li could not possibly do anything to harm Konoha.
After figuring this out, she relaxed.
Come to think of it, he was probably just trying to scare me, right?
"Heh, you're a clever one."
Seeing her recover so quickly, and with only a look of relief in her eyes, not one of resolve, he knew that she had seen through his intimidation.
He was indeed quite surprised by this.
However, thinking that she was the mother of Itachi Uchiha, he then felt that it was not incomprehensible.
Itachi had been too clever, had thought too much, but had lacked the means and the power to save his family and the village. In the end, he had become more and more paranoid and had destroyed everything he had, just to give his younger brother the strength to live.
That's right. In his opinion, what Itachi had left for Sasuke was not the will to protect Konoha, but the strength for him to survive in the ninja world.
As long as Sasuke awakened the Mangekyo, and then obtained his, he would be able to unlock the highest form of the Sharingan—the Eternal Mangekyo.
In the records of the Uchiha clan, there was only one person who had ever reached this stage.
And that was the only one who could contend with the God of Shinobi, the Asura of the Ninja World—Madara Uchiha!
In Itachi's mind, as long as Sasuke possessed the same power as their ancestor, Madara, then there would be no existence in the entire ninja world that could pose a threat to him.
At that time, no matter what Sasuke wanted to do, whether it was to become Hokage or to destroy Konoha, it would be his freedom.
To have given birth to a child like Itachi, Mikoto was naturally no fool.
"However, Mikoto."
"I hope that in these two years, you will put all your cleverness into training."
"Otherwise, if you fail on a mission, I will at most only save Nawaki."
"As for you and Rin, you'll have to fend for yourselves."
"I imagine that if your deaths could lead to Nawaki's greater growth, even Lady Tsunade couldn't be dissatisfied with my actions, right?"
A chill ran down her spine.
For a ninja's growth, a life-and-death battle was the most effective.
Besides one's own mortal danger, the deaths of family and friends would also greatly stimulate a ninja's potential, causing some to undergo a transformation and enter a stage of rapid power growth.
Although she really didn't want to think of a fellow Konoha ninja in such a dark way, she didn't dare to gamble on such a possibility.
After all, this was the man who had dared to tell the Hokage he would kill a Konoha elder, and had scared that elder so much that for all these years, he had not dared to appear within a hundred meters of him.
"I understand, Sensei."
"Very good."
"Then, next, let's begin practicing the Rasengan!"
"First, you will fill the balloons you bought with water..."
"Then, hold the water-filled balloon in your palm and control your chakra to rotate inside it."
"When the speed of your chakra's rotation is enough to burst the balloon, that will mean you have completed the first stage of training."
…
The next day, Li Anshi did not bother with the three of them.
He had already taught them both the Little Li's Flying Dagger and the Rasengan.
He had also told them directly that before they completed their respective first stages of training, he would not bother them again.
Of course, if they had any questions during their training, they could still come directly to the shop to ask him.
As their supervising Jonin, he would still clear up their confusion.
"What are you doing here?"
At noon, just as he had finished carving a piece, Tsunade's voice reached his ears.
"It's Lady Tsunade."
He looked up and saw her standing in front of the shop, with three team members with special markings, whose families could be recognized at a glance, behind her.
Pineapple head, blondie, and a chubby one.
The standard Ino-Shika-Chō.
"Are you on a mission?"
He glanced at the backpacks on the backs of the three youngsters and asked curiously, "From the looks of it, are you leaving the village?"
"Lady Tsunade, they just graduated yesterday, and you're already taking them out of the village today. Isn't that a bit too early?"
Normally, for students who had just graduated, the squad leader needed to take them on a few D-rank missions within the village to let the team get used to each other. Only after they had determined that their cooperation was satisfactory would they take the team out of the village on a mission.
After all, most missions outside the village were C-rank, which involved combat.
In fact, many missions would even involve ninjas, and the rank would immediately jump to B.
If the team's cooperation was not good when they encountered an enemy, then they would just be serving themselves up on a platter, giving the enemy a free merit.
"Ha, is it early?"
Tsunade glanced at the three behind her and shook her head.
"It's fine. The three of them have known each other since they were young, have been together in the Academy for six years, and have also received training from their clans."
"In terms of cooperation, there probably isn't a team in this year's graduating class that is more in sync than them."
"Making them do missions in the village is a waste of their time."
"I've heard that things are not very peaceful in the Land of Rain recently. Master Hiruzen has already sent many people to gather intelligence, and there will probably be more friction in the future."
"If we don't take this opportunity to let them experience more, I'm afraid they won't have the chance to on the battlefield."
As she said this, she fell silent for a moment.
During the First Great Ninja War, she had only been seven, and she had already been brought to the battlefield by Hiruzen.
At that time, because Konoha was at a disadvantage, he had even mobilized the students from the third year and above, letting them graduate early to join the war.
And it was in that war that she had seen too much death.
If the Uchiha had not gained the upper hand in the battle with the Sand, allowing them to send troops to support the other two battlefields, and if Li Anshi had not happened to be assigned to the Cloud battlefield, the number of dead Konoha ninjas would have been much higher.
If Konoha had been dragged into the quagmire of war, and could only wear each other down with the other three great villages, then she didn't dare to imagine if the first-year students, who had just learned to refine their chakra, would also have been sent to the battlefield with a ninja headband.
In order not to let the children go to the battlefield, they, the adult ninjas, should bear more of the responsibility.
In her opinion, her disciples were destined to be the elite who would charge into battle. What's more, the Ino-Shika-Chō was already recognized as the best team combination in the ninja world.
Although they had just graduated, their strength was in no way inferior to an ordinary Genin.
In fact, in a three-on-one fight, even a Chunin would not likely gain any advantage against them.
Letting them see blood early would be good for their growth.
"Alright, you have a point."
"And what about you?"
Although his compliment made the corners of her mouth curl up slightly, she immediately composed herself.
"I entrusted my younger brother to you, and this is how you lead him?"
"If I remember correctly, you don't know the Shadow Clone Jutsu, so the one here must be your real self."
"Tell me, how exactly are you leading the team?"
"Don't make me beat you up here."
Nawaki could be said to be her reverse scale.
Even for Li Anshi, if he didn't give her a good explanation, she would really lose her temper here.
"Er, this..."
Seeing her like this, he quickly waved his hands.
"Tsunade, you've misunderstood."
"I just gave the three of them a small test yesterday and felt their strength was too weak."
"So, I taught them some things and was planning to take them on missions after they had finished their training and their strength had improved."
"Nawaki's strength is too weak?"
Behind her, Yūya Nara, Yuriko Yamanaka, and Ichirō Akimichi exchanged glances, a look of surprise in their eyes.
It was important to remember that although in their year there were Fugaku Uchiha, Hiashi Hyuga, and some children from the Uzumaki and Sarutobi clans, Nawaki's strength was firmly in the number one spot.
Even Fugaku and Hiashi were a considerable distance from him in terms of strength.
And a strength like his, in the mouth of this woodcarving shop owner, was still "too weak."
Then what were they, who were only in the middle of the class?
Trash?
"Oh? What did you teach them?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
She had personally beaten him up as he grew. How could she not know his strength?
Although, compared to herself at the same age, he was indeed much weaker, in her opinion, that was because he had not yet experienced a life-and-death battle.
Once he had seen blood and gained more combat experience, he would surely enter a period of explosive growth.
And with Li Anshi's strength, to say that Nawaki was too weak was not a problem.
Well, even if he had said she was too weak, she wouldn't have retorted.
It was just a fact.
In her opinion, in his eyes, perhaps only Grandma Mito's strength was considered impressive.
As for the others, including Master Hiruzen and Sakumo Hatake, they would probably all be classified as "too weak."
In any case, in his eyes, anyone who could not survive his daggers was weak.
However, what made her curious was what he had taught Nawaki that would make him think he had reached a "decent" level of strength after learning it.
"The little girl from the Hyuga family, I'm teaching her to throw daggers."
"As for Nawaki and the Uchiha girl, I taught them the Rasengan."
"Daggers? You're teaching daggers again?"
Hearing his words, she was extremely surprised.
She and he had known each other for a long time.
Similarly, she did not think he was a selfish person.
If someone wanted to learn his secret technique, and he approved of them, he would not be stingy in passing it on.
This could be seen from his three former subordinates.
They had originally been ordinary commoner ninjas.
If nothing unexpected had happened, they would have soon been used as cannon fodder on the battlefield and died somewhere in a battle with the Cloud.
However, their luck had been very good, and he had become their squad-leading Chunin.
Because their strength was too weak, he had even taught them the first stage of training for the Little Li's Flying Dagger.
Unfortunately, in the end, they had not been able to protect its secret, and Danzo had stolen the first stage of the training method.
As far as she knew, the three of them were now qualified Anbu, serving under Sakumo, and their main task was "assassination."
For so many years, he hadn't even been a ninja, so naturally, no one had come to learn from him.
She had never expected that just by asking him to become Nawaki's squad leader, he would pass on his secret technique again.
"Mm, I feel it's a good fit for the Hyuga girl."
He nodded.
"The Hyuga... then there's no need to worry about it being coveted."
Her words made a cold light flash in his eyes.
"Heh, some things only need to happen once."
"Last time, I already gave one chance."
"This time, if someone still wants to do something to my subordinates, my daggers will not be so polite."
Tsunade let out a sigh.
It was a pity about Sagawa and the others.
If they hadn't run into that person, they might have already started training in the second stage of the dagger technique.