Chapter 4

Returning to the Senju clan after their meal, Nawaki and Tsunade were surprised to learn that their grandma had a nervous breakdown and fainted.

The two were in Mito's room when she woke up and asked Nawaki to leave.

XX

Alone in the room with her granddaughter, Mito, who sat with her feet inside her bedsheets, expressed anxiously:

"Tsunade, you're not acting like yourself today. Tell me what's going on..."

The situation was already very clear to Mito. When Nawaki was still in the room, she had woken up and asked for confirmation about Koharu's words.

She wanted to know why Tsunade made that decision without consulting her. And why she wanted Nawaki to graduate so early.

It didn't make any sense to Mito. Nawaki still had much to learn about Shinobi's general knowledge and culture. And the academy was the best place to meet and develop long-lasting comradeship with other clans' children.

When Mito recalled how Tsunade had vowed to drink less too, and how weird it was, she heard:

"Grandma, actually, I need to tell you something."

"I wanted to talk about it tonight...But I didn't expect to find you in this state when I returned from Mom's shop with Nawaki."

"What is it?" Mito asked.

Tsunade breathed in for a few seconds before saying with a serious expression:

"Nawaki and I, I think we awakened a bloodline selection. Maybe something even above that in his case…."

"Mmm? What are you saying?" Mito looked at Tsunade strangely and said. She barely chuckled when she did.

"Grandma, that's the truth, and it's much more likely to happen than you think," Tsunade said. "You know how Grandpa's wood release was a bloodline selection of three elements, don't you?"

"Yes?" Mito frowned. She knew her husband best, after all.

"What do you think can happen if a bloodline selection mutates with strange elements such as time and space?"

"... You've never heard of anything like that, have you?"

"Of course not! But wait, Tsunade are you saying…." Mito chuckled before scowling.

"Yes." Tsunade nodded. "I think all of this probably has to do with Nawaki…."

"... He's awakened the wood release. And I think it probably mutated and can affect time and space…."

"...Maybe even me and other people…."

XX

When Tsunade announced this to her grandmother, she hid that she thought she was sent back from the future by Nawaki.

She'd already heard from Naruto and Sasuke about parallel selves from different timelines and universes.

In her opinion, in this parallel timeline, Nawaki had the potential to be an even greater genius than her grandfather Hashirama.

He wouldn't have been the first to get the windows if it wasn't all for him. He wouldn't have learned them so fast either and explained how they worked to her.

When Tsunade was thinking about her theories, Mito said:

"...So you're saying that Nawaki has some type of god-like wood release? One that doesn't just have power over Yang, but time, space, and even other people's blood?"

"..How can that be?"

Mito looked shocked.

".. It's still all theory, grandma. I need to study him closer…But now you know why I can't let him stay at school, don't you?"

"Y-yes…" Mito said…Her face had tremendously changed. Looking pensive, she said, "...But you spoke about yourself too, right? What's your new ability?"

"It's called the Quack release..." Tsunade answered, smiling.

"Quack?" Mito knitted her brows suspiciously. After a few seconds, she said, "...You mean quack as in the charlatans? Those fake doctors?"

"Yes." Tsunade chuckled.

"..." Mito's eyes widened for a moment. Then she laughed loudly and asked, "So you got some charlatan release?! Is that even a power?!"

"Shhh…" Tsunade put her hands on her grandma's mouth.

"Hahaha…" Mito continued to laugh for a good while.

"..." Tsunade, who tried to play jokes on her grandma, now regretted it…Even after 95 years, she wasn't that old woman's opponent. She always had the upper hand in everything.

"Hahaha…WoooO..Ha..Ha…"

"Will you stop laughing, grandma? This isn't funny." Tsunade was annoyed now.

"Haaa…Haaa...OOoo...Let me, let…me...breathe." Hands clasping her hurting stomach, Mito didn't look like somebody who experienced a nervous breakdown moments earlier.

XX

When Mito had a good laugh and was done teasing Tsunade, she said:

"Alright, I'll stop. I'll stop…"

Tsunade looked at her grandma and sighed. Smiling, the next moment, she felt joy.

She had returned to a time when both Mito and Nawaki were alive. She was also her 21-year-old self with stronger potential and greater experience.

The world was their oyster.

XX

After Tsunade explained exactly what she could do with her powers and what the windows were, Mito thought pensively. This time, she was a lot more earnest and serious when she said:

"According to what you said, aren't you basically a witch?"

Mito knew that witchcraft was a real thing. She didn't know exactly how it worked, but she had heard about some freaks and fanatics who used blood to cast dark spells.

Witchcraft itself, magic, Mito didn't believe in it. In her eyes, it was just something that couldn't be cracked or empirically explained like shinobis did with jutsu.

Someone had to actually study it to understand…She just didn't think that that person would be her granddaughter…

"I guess." Tsunade chuckled. "Are you scared, grandma? I might curse you one day if I'm too angry at you for scolding me…."

When Tsunade said, Mito laughed, replying, "Do you dare?" Her laugh, however, was dark.

Just because she didn't understand how witchcraft was made and how it came about, it didn't mean she was scared of it…

Especially with her expertise in fuinjutsu and barrier ninjutsu.

Curses…She could not just ward them off; she could also send some…Even if hers were more empirical…

"I don't," Tsunade replied meekly.

"Good girl." Mito caressed her granddaughter's blonde hair. "At least you still know what's good for you..."

"Hehehe…" Tsunade laughed dumbly.

When she did, Mito told her:

"Call Nawaki inside. I want to understand his abilities in detail too…With those windows, you mentioned…."

"...About that, grandma. You have to promise not to get excited first. If you get another nervous breakdown…." Tsunade was beginning to say something when she paused at the end.

"What is it?" Mito knew that Tsunade hid something.

"... Nawaki's abilities are a little erotic. Perverted, to be quite honest, even…." Tsunade replied, her face blushing.

"Perverted?" Mito creased her eyebrows. But something ripe and lonely astonished her the next moment when she asked, oddly keen, "...H-how so?"

…Mito didn't just find herself stuttering from one mouth; she also found herself twitching, spasming from the other…