Jiraiya looked at Ino with complex eyes; she first created two Shadow Clones, then immediately unleashed a Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, followed by a series of Water Dragon Bullet, Water Formation Wall, and Wild Water Wave. Most surprisingly, she even used the Second Hokage's unique Ninjutsu, Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
Interspersed were high-level Ninjutsu like Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere and Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall.
Jiraiya had originally thought Ino's limit would be a C-Ranked Water Release, but he never expected to see such a string of high-level Ninjutsu!
The last person to unleash so many Ninjutsu at 13 years old was Orochimaru.
"I think your Water Release..." Jiraiya racked his brain. He had already spoken, and said too much, so he had to give some guidance. But after thinking for a long time, he didn't know how to guide her. Her Water Release was already at this level; how could he guide her?
Should he tell Ino to seek guidance from Tsunade? It must be said, Jiraiya truly loved Tsunade. He understood Tsunade's skill level and didn't want her to be embarrassed.
When Tsunade was young, she did know a few Five Nature Transformation Techniques. After all, she possessed Fire, Lightning, Earth, and Water attributes, and her talent was strong. However, as her Chakra control became more refined and her power grew, the destructive power of Ninjutsu was often less than that of her fists. The effort of forming hand signs was less effective than simply rushing over and punching the enemy.
In terms of Five Nature Transformation Techniques, Orochimaru was stronger than Jiraiya, and Jiraiya was stronger than Tsunade.
He didn't want Tsunade to lose face, so he could only try to appease Ino himself.
He cleared his throat and thought seriously: "Ahem, well, I must say, your Water Release is very well-practiced. But! Your Chakra transformations are too few. This is a step you need to improve to become a Chunin, ahem, that is, a step you need to improve."
Jiraiya didn't believe that this content was an area a Genin or Chunin needed to delve into, so his opening remarks were quite dry.
Mount Myōboku's oil-based Ninjutsu involves specific techniques, such as the C-Ranked Ninjutsu, Toad Oil Bullet, which he couldn't teach Ino.
Judging by Ino's talent, Tsunade taking her as a disciple wouldn't be an issue. Jiraiya observed that her Chakra was also sufficiently abundant. There was a high probability that the girl in front of him would enter Shikkotsu Forest, so he couldn't teach Mount Myōboku's Ninjutsu at this time, but he could teach some theoretical knowledge.
Having taught Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, and also Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya's teaching experience was very rich.
He liked teaching prodigies, and Ino, at her current age, was just that—a prodigy.
Three days later, Jiraiya left the town.
Ino gained a lot of advanced knowledge about Chakra nature transformation, which included content about Chakra oil transformation.
Jiraiya's idea was simple: I teach you the theory; how much you comprehend is your own business and has nothing to do with me.
Ino had no intention of learning things like the Toad Oil Bullet. After supplementing her basic knowledge of oil transformation from Jiraiya, all obstacles to her mastery of Steam Impurities Explosion were cleared. The next step was simply to master it through practice.
She watched Jiraiya sprint towards the northwest.
To repay Jiraiya's guidance, Ino used the Transformation Technique to turn into Jiraiya and spied on the women's bathhouse for two days.
Of course, she could have walked in openly and watched, but to frame Jiraiya, she reluctantly persisted and watched for two days.
And surprisingly, this sneaking around felt quite exciting. Sometimes, seeing some exceptional figures made her mood particularly joyful.
"Their figures are all quite average, clearly not enough nutrition. Hmm? This one seems pretty good, quite prominent and shapely! Oh no, I've been discovered!"
Ino was discovered four times by young women and wives over two days, and each time she was chased for two blocks.
On the evening of the fifth day of her arrival in this small town, she canceled her Transformation Technique, letting a group of women wrapped in bath towels run past her.
She found a small street-side shop, ate her meal, and watched the energy in her status panel. Hidden Mist Village gave her two 'trouble points,' she inexplicably gained one 'trouble point' on the road earlier, and after two days of peeping, plus her previous accumulation, she gathered another 'trouble point.'
The four 'trouble points' transformed into a torrent, directly input into the panel, and the 'Ninjutsu' attribute began to flash rapidly, quickly changing from 9 to 10!
Ino's current stats were Ninjutsu 10, Body 4, Illusion 4, Wisdom 7, Strength 3, Speed 6, Stamina 8, Hand Signs 6, for a total of 48 attributes.
She finally had one maxed-out attribute.
Her understanding, learning ability, proficiency, mastery, and the power of her Ninjutsu had all received a significant boost.
Now, in the realm of Ninjutsu, she was on the same level as Kage-level experts.
Ino effortlessly released a C-Ranked Wild Water Wave. The Ninjutsu was released with great ease, and the manipulation of Chakra within her body was like breathing or closing her eyes, having become a physical instinct.
She took out a C-Ranked Earth Release Ninjutsu, the Earth Release: Hidden in Stone Technique learning scroll. She read it from beginning to end, and after just one read-through and some thought, she formed the hand signs according to the method on the scroll. Immediately, her figure was hidden among a cluster of rocks. From the opposite side, one could only see rocks of various shapes, but not her.
Her current learning speed was comparable to Uchiha Itachi's when he learned the Great Fireball Technique. She didn't need a Sharingan to copy; she could learn a C-Ranked Ninjutsu by simply reading it once completely.
Four 'trouble points' for one attribute was indeed expensive. If she had spread the points out, adding to Body or Strength, her shortcomings could have been significantly compensated, but she believed it was worth it.
Jiraiya had left, oil transformation was fully mastered, the 'trouble' was shifted, and attribute points were added. Ino had completed all the necessary tasks, and now only one remained: becoming Tsunade's disciple.
Whether it was Medical Ninjutsu, Sage Mode, powerful close-combat abilities, or the potentially existing Spirit Transformation Technique, all required her to become Tsunade's disciple.
She left the town and headed to another small town in the northeast. She heard there was a casino there.
Ino arrived at the small town using her own appearance and inquired around the casino, learning that Tsunade had just lost all her money and should have returned to the inn.
She then went to the inn.
As soon as she entered, before she could even speak, she saw three fierce-looking men holding Tsunade's photo and asking the owner: "Have you seen this blonde woman? Big chest, about this tall!"
The leading strong man gestured a height.
Knowing that the three men were there to collect a debt, the inn owner dared not speak and merely pointed upstairs.
The three men stormed upstairs, and Ino followed them.
Soon, on the second floor, the three men found a little loli with light yellow long hair, wearing a tea-green long coat, a black cloth belt around her waist, and dark blue capri pants.
The little loli looked up and smiled, asking the three men: "Uncles, who are you looking for?"
The three men subconsciously picked up the photo in their hands and asked: "Little girl, have you seen this auntie?"
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