The Shimura Actually Has Ice Release

"Ice Style."

Stretching out his slender fingers, Takeshi began forming hand seals, drawing upon the chakra within him.

As the final seal was completed, several moderately sized ice pillars burst up from the ground.

"So that's how it works… If I use Ice Style in a waterless environment, it consumes significantly more chakra than if there's water present."

Feeling the rapid depletion of chakra in his body, Takeshi finally understood the mechanics of Ice Style.

"On the other hand, if there is water around... Water Style: Water Bullet! Ice Style: Ice Pillars!"

He spat a puddle of water onto the ground like spitting phlegm, then once again unleashed Ice Style...

Wait a minute. Am I doing something totally backwards here?

Staring at the ice pillars created using Water Style as a base, Takeshi felt the remaining chakra in his body and suddenly had a realization.

No, I shouldn't think like that. If I could use techniques like Kisame's, which could transform a dry battlefield into a lake, then for my Ice Style...

Wait, if I had that much chakra to begin with, would I even need to care about how much Ice Style consumes?

For the first time, Takeshi began to worry about his own intelligence.

Seriously, I wasted all that time thinking about something so pointless.

...

Meanwhile, watching Takeshi train diligently in the courtyard right after finishing his meal, Nono nodded with satisfaction, then pulled out a small notebook and began jotting something down.

...

Elsewhere, in the Root base, as Danzō was organizing missions, a puff of smoke suddenly appeared before him.

"A message from Nono?" As the smoke cleared, Aburame Ryōma immediately recognized the summoning beast in front of him.

"Correct." Danzō reached out and took the letter from the summoning beast, opening it to read.

After reading its contents, Danzō's expression remained unchanged. With a slight flick of his fingers, sharp Wind Release chakra shredded the letter into powder, which scattered across the floor.

...

"Things haven't been too calm lately."

At the dango shop, Asuma, seated to Takeshi's left, casually remarked as he glanced at a pair of Konoha shinobi passing by on the street.

"Hm? I think everything's the same as usual." At that, Anko, sitting to Takeshi's right and busy munching on dango, looked up with a puzzled expression.

"Just eat your dango." Takeshi nudged one of his own dango skewers onto Anko's plate and poked her forehead, motioning for her to just enjoy her food.

Seeing a fresh skewer appear on her plate, Anko's eyes lit up with joy. She hurriedly finished the one she was holding so she could devour the new one.

"You know those two shinobi just now?" Takeshi wasn't one for sweets, but he did notice the white flowers in their hands—most likely, they were heading toward the Memorial Stone.

"Sort of. They're fairly well-known chūnin in Konoha." Asuma nodded, confirming Takeshi's guess, then added his own observation.

"There hasn't been any large-scale memorial ceremony, but in recent weeks, a new name's been added to the Memorial Stone."

"I see..." Gazing at the sparsely populated street, Takeshi let out a sigh.

Looks like the Third Great Ninja War is nearing its countdown.

The only question is whether his arrival as a transmigrator would trigger the war earlier than it was originally supposed to.

Actually, if it broke out now, it might not be such a bad thing. At the very least, no matter how desperate the situation got, the higher-ups in Konoha wouldn't send kids like them—just seven or eight years old—to the battlefield. At most, they'd send the older guys who were eleven or twelve.

Yeah, if that's the case, getting the war started sooner wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Hmph, I've got to level up fast. I'll show that old man I've grown into someone capable!" Asuma was fired up, clearly determined to prove himself to the Third Hokage and no longer be treated like a kid.

"Yeah, definitely. Train hard and aim to accomplish it." Takeshi replied offhandedly.

Across the table, Shiranui Genma leaned back lazily with a toothpick in his mouth and said,

"Alright, Asuma, don't think too hard. Takeshi always says weird stuff—why are you taking him seriously?"

"Rather than worry about what Takeshi says, you should think about next week's team combat exercise. That class next door isn't to be taken lightly." Ebisu pushed up his little sunglasses as he echoed Genma's comment.

"I looked into it. The leader of Class Three, that black-haired girl, her name's Shizune. Supposedly from the Katō clan. Her uncle, Katō Dan, was a pretty famous elite jōnin in Konoha. He died during the Second Great Ninja War."

Just thinking of Shizune's cute face made Ebisu blush uncontrollably.

"You perv. Can't move an inch when there's a pretty face around. You're definitely gonna turn into a creepy pervert one day." Takeshi, who had been quiet after teasing Asuma, suddenly stood up and walked over to Ebisu. He patted his shoulder and said that with a serious face.

Ebisu, thinking Takeshi had something important to say, jolted like he'd been stepped on.

"Y-you—you! Takeshi, how can you slander me like that?! I wasn't ogling her! That was just… appreciation! Do you even know the difference?!"

"Click-click-click, oh please. Others might not know, but I do. Just last Saturday, right after you left the bookstore, you were—mmmph!"

Before Takeshi could finish, Ebisu clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him off to the side.

"Bleh, bleh bleh bleh, did you even wash your hands, you bastard?!" Takeshi spat a few times, glaring at Ebisu as he tried to shake off his hand.

Ebisu didn't bother answering something so trivial. He just wanted to shut Takeshi up by any means necessary.

"Y-you jerk! What do you even want from me?!"

Caught off guard by the question, Takeshi blinked. Heaven knows, he'd never planned to blackmail anyone with something out of a typical NTR plot.

But hey, those lines were kinda fun to say.

"Ahem, well then… Ebisu, you wouldn't want people finding out you read those kinds of manga, would you?"

"Takeshi, I'll do anything—just please don't tell anyone… Wait—why does that line sound so familiar?!"

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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