Chapter 70: One Step at a Time (2)
Chapter 70: One Step at a Time (2)
"Ow..." Mikoto and Kushina groaned. Not far from them was an absolutely thrashed Tsume, Nawaki, and Minato. Beyond them, Nono and Konan spectated the duel as for Yahiko and Nagato? They were put into their place the moment they were spurred by the rewards Tsunade had to offer.
Only Nono, who had many things better to do than getting beat up by her genjutsu and kenjutsu training partner, and Konan, who was quick to rationalize that nothing was worth getting herself broken by her leader.
An entire year had passed since the war, bringing Kai to the massive age of 8. Why massive? Because he is! Sure, he may not be as buff as many adults or teens. Heck, his physique may not be comparable to Hizashi in terms of looks and he was one of the leaner ones... but amongst the fallen who dared challenge his stell nuts... he was absolutely massive. At an impressive height of 5 feet, Kai already looked forward to puberty. While it may have gotten quite a pickle to train his body since he was young and he was already peaking things with chakra, that did not stop Kai from throwing himself into the grind to harden his physique further to hit harder.
And silently, he stood in front of the last boss Tsunade of Twin Peaks.
A wave of wind passed through the space between them as Nono began to heal others. Well... even she felt they deserved every bit of it. Especially Kushina who was so cheeky that she quickly located Nawaki, Tsume, and Minato and brought them here, too. After all, what Tsunade offered was indeed lucrative. Even the usually collected Mikoto was moved.
"Hmm... you have mastered most of it..." Tsunade narrowed her eyes, inwardly a little stunned at his speed of progress. She was sure she hadn't taught him the Shadow Clone Jutsu but... still, he managed to surprise her.
It was an open secret that before the founding of Konoha, the Senju and the Uchiha were cutthroat enemies. But the Uchiha possessed the ability to copy jutsus and skills at sight. This made the Senju produce almost useless variants of various jutsu just to confuse the Uchiha. And it worked. The side effect was that the Senju were called the Clan that knew a thousand skills.
Yet... amongst them, one wholeheartedly worked against their enemies turned ally and that was none other than the Second Hokage. He was also the individual who left the most legacy skills to his name. Among them were the completed Taijutsu and Bukijutsu Art that mixed every Taijutsu and Bukijutsu skill that the Senju Clan had ever created.
Kai smirked silently as he looked at Tsunade and didn't reveal the truth.
Most of it?
[Water Chakra Enhancement (20/20)]
[Tobirama Style: Water Fists (10/10)]
[Tobirama Style: Vacuum Palms (10/10)]
[Chakra Enhanced Impacts (15/15)]
[The Uchiha Intercepting Style (30/30)]
[The Uchiha Intercepting Art (30/30)] (Ken)
There was a reason why Kai managed to learn the two finalized skills so quickly... he made an investment that now made him almost... unstoppable.
Tsunade's major strength came from her chakra control and Chakra Enhanced Impacts that let her mimic [Chakra Focus Blast] but with even greater precision.
But now... Kai had it all.
And he wasn't afraid to use it.
The most interesting of these skills was the Water Chakra Enhancement. It wasn't like the Lightning Chakra Cloak that made him strong temporarily. The Water Chakra Enhancement simply worked to 'cool' the body. Its major effect was to almost come out of fire jutsu unscathed... Kai wondered why.
Seeing that Kai didn't reply, somewhat surprising Tsunade since he always had a cheeky comeback, she questioned again, "Why? So pissed that you can't even reply?"
She smirked. Kai... had gotten unruly over this year. He was getting out of her hand and not in a bad way as if she wanted to control him, no. He went out of his way to test her patience constantly and today, as a celebration of the new year, Tsunade decided to 'punish' the boy. Truly... this was mostly because of Kai having his own place. Although Nono didn't comment on it, Tsunade had it on good redheaded authority that Nono had started to share the bed with Kai, too. This was also affecting her paperwork.
"Who would get pissed at the thought of YOU all wearing nothing but the clothes I wish for the day? Truly, Sensei... what were you thinking betting against me? Haven't you lost enough?" Kai smirked.
That was it. This is what made others so excited. If anyone of the participants managed to defeat him... EVERYONE gets to dress him as they wish for a day including Nono and Konan who did not take part in the battle. But Kai did not even question the unfairness of it all and demanded the same in return. He already had the perfect costumes in mind, too.
Tsunade shook her head. Not only this, she had another bet on play for Kai... that he would turn a Jonin only after 13 years of age. But it was clear by now that she would lose that one. After all, Kai defeated four chunin-level shinobi and three genins with a strike each.
While Mikoto had Sharingan, yes, Kai's speed and the strength behind his punch barely cared about her cheats.
Tsunade shrugged, "If you're already thinking that you can defeat me... then I'm kind of disappointing squirt. Come on, I'm happy to show you the difference between us."
Unmoving, Kai chimed, "Oh, it's just a taijutsu spar. I think I can defeat an Iryo Nin easily."
This... annoyed Tsunade greater than she would admit. Most of the casualties during the war consisted of Iryo Nins themselves and this... felt like a blemish to her name. Of course, the reforms of Medical Shinobi were to be refined so that their safety can be increased.
Kai took a relaxed stance, one fist closed and the other palm open. This, by itself, made Tsunade suddenly stomp slightly yet the ground around her cracked, and at the very next second, she evaded a forced gust of wind that left behind a short wave of vacuum for a second. Tsunade's pupils contracted when she noticed this.
Not giving her more than a fraction of a second, Kai arrived where Tsunade stood, his fists easily getting deflected as she frowned and questioned, "Just how much did you master it?"
"Hmm, I wonder if I should have you wear one of the latest outfits in the capital. That tube top would look great~" Kai chortled instead as she scoffed and let her fist tear in his direction.
For everything Tsunade is capable of, sadly, she never was blessed with the mentality of the grind. If she trained half as much as she drank and gambled if she wasn't investigating the son of a whore targeting their clan then she would have been much stronger. Instead, she just chose to settle with the Chakra Enhanced Impacts.
Kai suddenly caught her fist and when Tsunade smirked, intending to slam her fist into his body, heal him and call it day... she felt a humongous force travel into her body instead, and... then her vision swirled
*Bang*
For the first time in ever, the air was knocked out of her lungs as her body slammed into the ground with cracks spreading apart. The spectators gaped instantly.
Many of them had a dumb look on their faces as they saw Kai then actually lay over the splayed Tsunade still pressed into the ground as he cozily rested his face in between her cleavage with a wide grin, "So? Sensei? Had enough?"
Tsunade's glare sharpened, and her hands tore out from the ground at a speed that Kai could not register before intending to slap the side of his face at once yet...
*Poof*
The Kai that was hit disappeared and a muted groan rang not from far as one of the nearby ants suddenly burst out in a plume of smoke, revealing Kai cradling his head with his hand that was covered in the healing chakra.
"Ah... would need to have my head splattered a few times to get used to it..." Kai mumbled.
Tsunade sat up with a deep frown and she barked, "I told you not to try shadow clones even if you get it from the clan library. You don't have enough"
Kai interjected with a scowl, "Oh, please, I do!" With that, he pulled up his sleeves to reveal the Basic Chakra Storage Seals.
At first, Kai and Tsunade did actually believe that he would need a chakra reserve equivalent to Jonin to practice the shadow clone technique... but then it hit Kai when he was helping Kushina with a few technical seals.
He was storing his chakra all this time...
For what?
To use it!
Since then, for a month straight, Kai expended all the chakra he stored for over a year, and these clones, in return, trained in various skills. No, they did not have his trait and could not access the system, but they helped in his training highly!
[Shadow Clone Jutsu (20/20): A technique that creates a perfect copy of the user for a flexible amount of chakra, that once disperses, will relay every information and experience gathered alongside the remaining chakra. Reduces chakra consumption by 2.5 at every level. Current Consumption: 30000~???/clone.]
Tsunade was clearly speechless as she realized that she had unknowingly disregarded that seal that had a basic purpose similar to the seal mark on her forehead. Of course, she was brought out of her stupor as Kai stopped cradling his head, realizing that this technique had its own risk, while also touching his chin and muttering, "Soft..."
A scoff escaped Tsunade's lips. Clearly, she wasn't amused and chose to discipline her apprentice, "If only you spent half the time you waste on those perverted magazines on your training!"
"Aha! The pot calling the kettle black!" Kai grinned. At this point, he truly looked as old, if not older than the 13-year-old Minato and 14-year-old Nawaki.
Tsunade rolled her eyes and dusted herself off whilst adjusting her grey kimono top to cover the white bandages holding her breasts from popping out, "Let's call it a day."
"Afraid, are we?" Kai grinned but Tsunade only wearily waved her hand, "Nah... just going to prepare your documents to file for your promotion. I'd rather have Nono in Team Tsunade than you..."
Kai's, Nono's, and the rest of team Tsunade's lips widened in shock.
"What?!"
---
Just because Tsunade was willingly ready to lose a bet to save herself from possibly losing the more recent one since... she actually felt there was a chance Kai may just defeat her and fit her into some ludicrous outfit, Tsunade was happy to 'file' in his promotion paperwork.
The thing was, her relationship with Hiruzen was still somewhat rocky. It had gotten better. The quick end of the war had cast suspicion on Team Tsunade that they might know what had happened in Uzushiogakure but it was Hiruzen himself who uprooted the voices who 'demanded' the Senju Matriarch, Uzumaki Jinchuriki, Uchiha Heiress, and Senju Legacy Guardian to present and explain themselves.
What a load of bull.
Yet, the end of the war had made the duo remarkably less stressed. With Jiraiya tutoring Minato from a long distance as the man had taken joy in exploring the world outside and Orochimaru busy with his experiments, going as far as only sending shadow clones to teach his team and arriving when his team had a mission, Hiruzen was actually left with only one disciple.
Though he was more than surprised by such an early recommendation, Jonins aren't just 'appointed'. Every Jonin needs to go through a screening process and Hiruzen was willing to suspend while also safeguarding his identity by offering a role of Jonin under a mask. Tsunade wasn't thrilled about the idea, but she relayed the information to Kai when they were alone and the boy also had a meeting with Hiruzen.
Until now, Tsunade was still open about revealing the speed of his progress. It was just one's pace of learning can be attributed to many things but Tsunade had a gut feeling that if she remarked on how Kai had an affinity with all the seven elements and managed to have mastery over five of them... while unaware it was already seven, Kai was also given a choice to 'come out.'
Tsunade was more than sure what would happen if he did and she explained that to him. Not that Kai needed it. He could expect what would happen. First, it would be most definitely be classified as a Kekkei Genkai. Second, the individuals targeting him, especially one bandaged cunt who was just filled with so much envy and bitterness, would take this chance to mow him down in some clan recreation act... it wouldn't be the worst...
But Kai was more eager about his own Clan Recreational Act.
It had all the fun of a recreation act and none of the control of the old weary ballsacks wanting nothing but trying to get a hand on his seed.
This decision, and even the decision of accepting the promotion was shot down to the bottom of his list. If he couldn't be promoted that very instant then he would rather take the time and grind. After all, he wanted to be a Jonin, not a masked shadow of the Hokage.
If his opponents doesn't know who he was, how else would they fear for their lives in what manner they would be getting trolled? Prank bombs? Exploding Senbon? Maybe a slap of Chakra Scalpel Technique?
So, Kai threw himself back to the grind... well, heh, his shadow clones did. Now that he could leave the more basic of grind to a team of ten shadow clones that would dispel themselves after three levels worth of training or losing all chakra itself, Kai was free to... pursue more enjoyable things.
The Path of Grind is a lonely one, yes, but if he could grind AND have some fun, he most definitely would.
So, with the pace of his training getting shot up by 10 times as he made sure not to practice more than 5 skills at any given time, Kai began to spend his time either with Nono, training Genjutsu with her as his skills were bolstered after Yin Nature Transformation and then, at times, training with Minato or Mikoto. Trying to form that jutsu Minato wanted and giving Mikoto's clan members a hefty surprise by beating them to an inch ever since they've been fucking arrogant after the war.
Kushina practiced most of her skills alone, but she did start teaching the basics of fuin to Nagato who had started to feel at home in Konoha. Konan and Yahiko had their own teachers but unlike the former two, Yahiko still hadn't gotten something he would like to specialize in. For instance, Nagato was beginning to grow better in Fuinjutsu and while Kushina made it clear that the inheritance she received wasn't supposed to go to the Uzumaki clan member but to be used as she wished, he would need to find a larger archive of seal in Konoha itself.
Konan had an inordinate amount of love for paper and was already trying to find creating uses for paper filled with her chakra.
Yahiko had yet to have something like this... but what Team Tsunade noted was that the trio was... talented. More than civilians, that is. Aside from the basic education to make them 'civil', the trio quickly mastered what was offered to them. They had also entered the Academy this year with Nagato being the oldest of them.
And just like that, after having some 'fun' with illusions here and there, another year uneventfully passed.
***
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