I am the new Hokage of Konoha.

Chapter Fifteen Tsunade

Shikulin Forest.

After informing the outside world of his itinerary, Yun Ting would set aside time each day to come here and learn immortal arts from Huo Yu.

The so-called Sage Techniques refer to the power created by absorbing external natural energy into the body and balancing it with one's own physical and mental energy. This power is then used to unleash ninjutsu and genjutsu that far surpass the capabilities of ordinary chakra.

The key to cultivating immortal arts, besides balancing the three energies within the body, lies in absorbing external natural energy.

The cultivation of sage arts at Mount Myōboku, one of the three sacred sites, initially involved applying toad oil to the body to sense and absorb natural energy.

The Shikub Forest is different; the transparent mucus secreted from the mouthparts of the small slugs that differentiate into live slugs contains abundant natural energy.

Yun Ting's cultivation of immortal arts began with applying these transparent viscous substances to his body and directly absorbing the natural energy within them.

In terms of efficiency and speed, it is much faster than Mount Myoboku.

However, this method of cultivation also has very serious drawbacks.

That is, the slug's transparent mucus itself is highly corrosive.

Once applied to the skin, practitioners must endure physical corrosion and damage while absorbing natural energy.

Unless one possesses medical ninjutsu or has exceptional self-healing abilities, it is difficult to persevere.

However, the former will increase chakra consumption, which is also the time to absorb natural energy. This back and forth will further test the cultivator's ability to balance the three energies in the body.

Even for the Senju or Uzumaki clans, known for their physical prowess and possessing excellent self-healing abilities, the latter is still insufficient against the corrosive slime from slugs.

Therefore, in terms of danger, the cultivation of sage techniques in Shikkotsu Forest is much more dangerous than that in Mount Myōboku.

Even a genius like Tsunade gave up after several attempts.

The only exception was Hashirama Senju.

His success stemmed from the fact that Wood Release itself contains abundant life force, which, combined with the Senju clan's physique, resulted in a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts. His self-healing and recovery abilities reached an extremely terrifying level, allowing him to remain unaffected by the corrosive effects of slime.

Now, Yunting, who also possesses Wood Release, has naturally inherited this trait.

Therefore, he had great confidence in his ability to cultivate the Immortal Techniques of the Wet Bone Forest.

Unfortunately, my Hokage reputation points have been accumulating slowly during this period.

Not only because he had become familiar with many people in Konoha Village, but also because his respected VIP, Might Guy, had been away on a mission and hadn't returned to the village for quite some time.

Unless you can do something earth-shattering, your reputation points will only increase at a snail's pace in the short term.

This is why he has been patiently and methodically cultivating immortal arts during this period.

Three words aren't enough.

Fortunately, if the completion rate of the immortal technique is calculated as a percentage, if he completes 10%, he only needs to pay 90% to redeem it in the system, which is quite humane.

......

The pale, bare trees stretched straight into the sky.

Inside, in a specially prepared open space, Yun Ting, shirtless, sat cross-legged on the ground, with small blue and white slugs coiling on it, spitting out mucus brimming with natural energy.

Every now and then, wisps of white smoke carrying a corrosive smell rose from his skin, but before long, green life force surged out of his body, rapidly healing the wounds.

This process repeated itself repeatedly. Although Yun Ting appeared unharmed, the skin on his upper body had been repaired several times, and the corrosive pain was not shielded, causing him to frown frequently.

"I now strongly suspect that part of the reason Tsunade didn't persevere was because she didn't want to see her body being ravaged like this," Yun Ting murmured.

After all, she's a woman who's in her seventies or eighties and still tries to act young.

Which woman who loves beauty would want to see her skin ravaged like it's been devoured by a demon, especially when her self-healing ability isn't as good as his?

Even if the opponent is a great medical ninja, and medical ninjutsu can quickly restore health, this will only exacerbate chakra consumption and make the balance of the three energies in the body more unstable, thus increasing the possibility of failure in Sage Mode training.

"Lord Yunting, today's cultivation task is complete."

After a while, the gentle voice of the live slug rang in Yun Ting's ears.

The cultivation of immortal arts is not something that can be achieved overnight, but rather a gradual process.

Under the guidance of the good teacher, Live Slug, Yun Ting could stop once he had completed the corresponding daily targets.

After all, there is a limit to how much natural energy the body can absorb each day.

The tiny slugs that had been clinging to Yun Ting's body all crawled down and wriggled towards the nearby bone forest.

As Yun Ting got up to put on his clothes, a cheerful female voice suddenly rang out from behind him:

"Yo~~ Isn't this the famous Fourth Hokage? Why is he naked here? It's really indecent!"

Yun Ting paused slightly with both hands, then continued dressing without a care, calmly saying, "First, I'm not naked. To be more concise, you should replace 'body' with 'upper body'; second, this is Shikkotsu Forest. There was no one else here before, and now there's just one more person. Tsunade, you're not some little girl anymore, so there's really no question of you being indecent; third, Tsunade, a Konoha ninja, has been away from the village for so long, and you should at least show some respect to me, the Hokage."

After speaking, Yun Ting turned around and saw Tsunade, with her light golden twin ponytails tied behind her head, still wearing that familiar tea-green long robe and gray sleeveless top, standing with her arms crossed, making her chest look exceptionally majestic, looking at him with a teasing smile.

Their eyes met, and Tsunade raised her short, light yellow eyebrows, saying, "As expected, becoming Hokage has really made you more temperamental. Hey Yun Ting, do you remember how hard my fists are?"

Yun Ting was stunned. The image of the original owner being chased and beaten by Tsunade when he was young instantly flashed into his mind. He couldn't help but twitch his lips and retorted, "Then do you remember the IOUs for the money I borrowed from you that I still have on the table?"

Upon hearing this, Tsunade's previously arrogant demeanor instantly deflated. Her eyes darted nervously left and right, and she yawned guiltily to change the subject, saying, "Um...that...haha...right! By the way, Yun Ting, how come you also made a contract with Shikkotsu Forest? When did that happen?"

Seeing Tsunade's stubborn refusal to pay, Yun Ting, who was used to it, could only shrug helplessly and let it go.

Chapter Sixteen: The Bet

"The Shikkotsu Forest Contract Scroll is kept in the clan's archives, so I can make the contract whenever I want. By the way, Tsunade, you didn't know about this, did you?" Yun Ting looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Tsunade glanced at him, coughed twice, and said, "Of course I know!"

The truth is, she had long forgotten where the contract scroll was, but she knew exactly where the wine cellars were in the Thousand Hands Clan's territory.

Yun Ting chuckled as he observed this.

He had long been used to Tsunade's unreliability.

So he joked, "What brings you to Shigu Forest today? Are you being chased by debt collectors and have nowhere to run?"

"Nonsense!" Tsunade retorted loudly, as if her sore spot had been exposed. "I just see that Slug is too lonely all alone in Shikkotsu Forest, so I come over every now and then to chat with it and keep it company. Slug, don't you agree?"

The nearest small slug poked its head out from the tree trunk and said understandingly, "Yes, Lady Tsunade always chats with me for a long time whenever she comes."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ting curled his lip: "What about that little girl who's been following you? Now that you're here, what will happen to her? Don't let those adults kidnap her and sell her."

“They don’t have the guts,” Tsunade replied instinctively.

The next second, she realized she had let something slip, so she glared at Yun Ting fiercely, then, in a fit of pique, she lay down and confessed everything: "If anything happens to Jingyin, I won't talk to them about morality. They're not that stupid; they know where my bottom line is."

Indeed, although Tsunade has been in debt for a long time, she is still one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha. In terms of fighting power alone, she is not someone those casino owners can mess with. Besides, although she has a lot of debt, she still has the ability to repay it. Although this may take much longer than agreed.

This is why she has never been turned away by casinos and is known in the gambling world as the "legendary big fat sheep".

When it comes to drinking etiquette, Tsunade is undoubtedly terrible.

However, in terms of gambling etiquette, although he has been losing all the time, he has never resorted to overturning the table or using force to intimidate others.

Seeing that her true colors had been exposed, Tsunade stopped pretending and shamelessly went to Yun Ting's side, put her arms around his neck, and pulled him in front of her with great generosity, saying with a grin, "Yun Ting, lend me some money!"

"No money!" Yun Ting struggled for a few seconds before finally saying irritably to Tsunade, who was dribbling and charging at him. He felt an unbearable suffocation between his nose and nose.

Huh?

The trick that always worked perfectly failed today.

Unwilling to accept this, Tsunade tightened her grip, persisting relentlessly, "How could there not be? Not only did the elders, showing favoritism, entrust the Senju clan's assets to you for safekeeping, but your monthly salary as Hokage is also considerable. Lend me a little bit! Don't worry, you'll get your share of the interest!"

boom!

White smoke rose from Tsunade's arms.

The next second, Yun Ting's figure appeared from the side.

Although the sensation was excellent, he was about to suffocate if he continued like this, so he had no choice but to resort to this method.

Yun Ting rubbed his red nose and retorted, "Pay back interest? I haven't seen you repay a single penny of the principal in all these years! Do you want me to fall for your tricks again? But then again..."

He paused slightly, then suddenly said meaningfully, "If you really want it, I can give you the Hokage position and the Senju clan's assets. You can spend them however you want. But are you willing?"

Tsunade fell silent.

If she really wanted to, Yun Ting wouldn't have inherited everything in the first place, and she wouldn't still be unwilling to return to Konoha.

Because she knew that all of this meant heavy responsibilities.

She didn't think she had the ability, nor did she want to take on all of this.

"Forget it! You're such a cheapskate!"

Tsunade waved her hand helplessly, giving up the idea of ​​borrowing money.

After a while, looking at the Hokage's robes on Yun Ting, she asked curiously again:

"How was it? How does it feel to become the Fourth Hokage?"

"It's pretty good, but there are too many restrictions. Haven't you seen how I, the Hokage, have nothing to do all day, so I come to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Sage Mode?" Yun Ting answered truthfully.

"Three generations of teachers... sigh!"

Tsunade was not unaware of the affairs of Konoha's upper echelons, and she was also aware of Yun Ting's current situation. However, since he was ultimately her teacher, this was all she could say to comfort him.

"The older the teacher gets, the less energetic he will be. You're still young, don't be discouraged. You'll eventually outlast him."

"Heh, you wouldn't believe it, would you? More than a decade later, that person is still alive and kicking. If it weren't for your fellow disciple's betrayal, who knows how long he would have remained in power."

While thinking this to himself, Yun Ting outwardly agreed with Tsunade.

Anyway, he already had a plan in mind to bring down the Third Hokage, and it wouldn't be long before he implemented it. It wasn't convenient to talk about it with Tsunade right now.

Tsunade then avoided the awkward question and instead asked about something else: "I just heard you say you were practicing Sage Mode?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you can handle it? Don't become the shortest-lived Hokage in Konoha!"

When Tsunade arrived, Yun Ting had just finished his cultivation, so she didn't see his performance during cultivation.

Judging others by one's own standards, she had failed even with herself, so she didn't believe that someone she had previously beaten and run around in would be able to successfully cultivate immortal arts.

“Just because someone can’t do something doesn’t mean others can’t!” Yun Ting retorted.