The Spirit Transformation Technique is difficult to master and highly lethal, but it's only suitable for surprise attacks.
Situations like the Chunin Exams, or her previous fight against Yugito, absolutely cannot use the Spirit Transformation Technique. If the opponent just raises a hand and throws a Kunai, destroying her body, she's finished.
This technique must be used under absolutely safe conditions.
With Ino's spiritual body now fully formed, she can change her shape at will within Tsunade's body. She is in a solidified state, whereas the souls of ordinary Ninja are uniformly dispersed throughout their bodies.
Just look at how the Third Hokage sealed Orochimaru's hands in the original timeline; once the soul of a hand is severed, the hand is crippled. There's no concept of redistributing soul from other parts of the body.
If Tsunade were to resist with all her might now, Ino could engage in guerrilla warfare, taking advantage of openings to completely crush Tsunade's hands within her soul, or simply sever a portion of her soul, and the opponent would be finished.
This is the terrifying aspect of the Spirit Transformation Technique.
The Six Paths Sage is beyond discussion; purely speaking of souls, ordinary people's souls are actually quite similar. But the reason the Spirit Transformation Technique is so hated is that its application feels like a dimensionality reduction attack. It's like a Martial Artist of the same physique fighting an ordinary person. Both have two hands, two feet, and one head, so why can't the ordinary person defeat the Martial Artist? Because their application of power is simply not on the same level.
Ino would not harm Tsunade, and Tsunade had no intention of guarding against her.
The duration of this Spirit Transformation Technique was very short; after demonstrating a few minor abilities, she quickly withdrew.
Ino's successful completion of the Spirit Transformation does not mean the technique is fully perfected; on the contrary, this is just the beginning.
Now, when returning to the body, she used the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique. They now need to work backward from the result to the process, figuring out how to complete the entire Spirit Transformation Technique without relying on the Yamanaka Clan's Secret Technique.
Only then will it be considered truly complete.
Ino successfully completed the Spirit Transformation Technique. Although her Yin Release level hasn't reached Lv5, she feels it's on the verge.
Perhaps it's due to the Spirit Transformation, or the True Waterfall trial, or simply the clash between Indra Chakra and Asura Chakra.
Ino's 'Illusion' attribute increased slightly; it was 4 before, and now automatically increased to 5, strengthening her ability to cast and resist genjutsu.
The three people and one pig walked and rested, returning to land to continue their 'gold acquisition' mission.
The Chunin Exams were on July 1st, followed by Orochimaru's Konoha Crush on August 1st, a month later. Ten days after that, the Third Hokage died, and Jiraiya became the Fifth Hokage. It was now mid-September, and they didn't have much time left for the mission.
September 22nd, drinking.
September 23rd, gambling.
September 24th, drinking.
September 25th, gambling.
The three people and one pig idled about, wandering through the eastern region of the Land of Fire, eventually arriving in the Land of Tea.
They found the soft touch Tsunade knew, Mr. Jirocho, the president of a vibrant social organization.
Tsunade used the name of Konoha Village as collateral, writing an IOU, and borrowed thirty million ryo in startup capital from him.
Shizune, the honest one, spread rumors among several small countries like the Land of Tea, the Land of Vegetables, and the Land of Rice, saying that the Land of Fire had a great harvest this year and grain prices would fall. Several rice merchants frantically sold off their stored grain, which Ino bought all of. Then, she took the southern sea route to transport and sell it in the Land of Water.
The Land of Water is isolated overseas, has little farmland, and high grain prices. All the stored grain Ino transported was sold at a high price. Afterward, she bought a large quantity of ambergris, coral, agate, and other goods locally to transport back to the Land of Tea.
Such large-scale transactions are bound to attract covetous eyes, and countless people want to take a gamble and turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, but they truly aren't afraid of that!
They were amateurs at business, but professionals at fighting!
Want to rob Ino at sea? Even Kisame Hoshigaki would have trouble.
All kinds of mountain bandits, road tyrants, and pirates were eliminated. Valuables were exchanged for bounties, and the worthless were sent to be reborn.
Pirate ships, weapons, and ammunition were all sold off.
They killed their way through their journey.
After all this, by the time they returned to the Land of Tea, the 'gold acquisition' team had a hundred million ryo in funds, including principal and interest.
After returning the thirty million ryo principal to Mr. Jirocho, and overlooking some unmentionable 'losses,' they prepared to return to the Village with the remaining thirty million ryo.
Then Tsunade gambled away ten million ryo in one night, losing it all as expected.
Ino, Shizune, and Tonton stood silently weeping at the casino entrance, feeling it wasn't worth it for the pirates and mountain bandits they encountered along the way. Look at your fellow casino operators, earning money just by sitting at the gambling table. Can you imagine this scene? Why did you risk your lives to rob us? If you also opened casinos, wouldn't you have made money?
Seeing that only twenty million ryo remained to bring back to the Village, and worried about how to explain it to Jiraiya, Ino and Shizune took turns trying to persuade Tsunade.
Please, old lady, stop losing money! Have pity on the thieves who tried to rob us along the way. If you keep losing, they'll surely rise from their graves.
"No... I, *hiccup*... I can definitely win it back, really, you believe me, this time my premonition is absolutely accurate! What? Go back to the Village? I'm not going back to the Village!"
Ino and Shizune exchanged glances. What happened to this person? Wasn't she quite happy drinking with Jiraiya in the Village those few days?
When they repeatedly pressed her on why she didn't want to return to the Village, Tsunade drunkenly gave a reason.
"They must all be laughing behind my back... laughing at me, a descendant of the Senju Clan..."
Tsunade still had some unresolved issues. The brilliance of her ancestors was too dazzling, making her seem somewhat ordinary, plus she had hemophobia. Behind her usual carefree demeanor was a lot of sadness.
"What should we do?" Ino and Shizune discussed privately.
Tsunade and Shizune were like mother and daughter, and Tsunade was also good to Ino, secretly and openly taking the blame for her many times. Both emotionally and logically, they should help this teacher resolve her inner turmoil.
Shizune asked, "Do you think Lady Tsunade can learn Wood Release? If she learns Wood Release, perhaps she can regain some fighting spirit?"
"This..." Ino thought seriously for a moment: "To be honest, I only learned it by chance, and what I have can't even be considered Wood Release; at most, it's Flower Release. It would probably be very difficult for Sensei to replicate my experience."
Shizune lowered her head for a few seconds, then said firmly, "Wood Release can be passed down through bloodline, but I think it should also be achievable through training, right? I don't have the Senju Clan's bloodline, but I think I can be used as an experiment to see if this experience can be replicated? Even if there's only a one-in-ten-thousand chance?"
The beautiful senior's expression was sincere. Ino gestured for her to calm down, and Tonton also made two 'pu-yo pu-yo' sounds from the side.
Ino said, "Let's not alarm Sensei. Let's research it ourselves first. First question, Shizune, do you currently have Water, Earth, and Yang-attribute Chakra?"
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