The Dragon Rises (3)
"Uh... we lost another Team Leader..." Yahiko groaned as Konan and Nagato sat next to him. While Yahiko stuffed his cheeks with braised pork cooked in one of the stalls of the compound, easily competing with an Akimichi youngster when it came to appetite. Nagato patted his friend's back. Out of the trio, Yahiko and Nagato graduated.
Nagato apprenticed himself to Konoha Hospital, training in basic Iryo Nin to help the village, or more precisely, the people whom he once felt complicated about. Konan decided to stay in the academy. Others didn't know this, more like, she made Nagato and Yahiko keep silent about the fact that she was called 'Paper Freak' in the academy. Nothing new in the eyes of those who knew about the situation. Extraordinary beings often attract all sorts of attention and Konan's talent in chakra mixed with the paper was the same as Orochi with snakes, Tsunade with Iryo Nin, Jiraiya with breasts, and Kai's talent with everything.
Uncanny.
As such, Konan wished to keep herself from graduating and getting lost in a world of missions. Since she was on a route that needed her to focus on her unique talents, she stayed in the academy and threw herself at various chakra theories and training that surpassed the level of academy students long ago.
Yahiko had passed the test of his sensei with his team and was a full-fledged genin in a three-men cell... but that's when the trouble came. That's when... 'he' grew troublesome.
As if summoned with just a thought, 'he' drawled out lazily.
"Hey, you're wasting time. We should meet with Anya-san and train until someone proficient takes our responsibility..."
The cheeky fucker, Yahiko growled and looked back at the half-masked spiky white-haired son of a literal bitch given that he was part Inuzuka from his mother's side. Acting all 'loner' type but being the clingiest...
Still, turning around, Yahiko grumbled with his face stuffed, cheeks inflated, and lips smeared, "Fugh youbh!"
Blinking, the youth wiped away the stray, chewed-out piece of meat that landed close to the corner of his eyes and nodded, "By the way... did he return?"
This made Yahiko even more disgruntled.
Swallowing everything despite the threat of having it all lodged in his throat, fortunately, that didn't happen, Yahiko shouted, "You still want to meet Boss Kai?! What the hell?! No Jonin wants to take on our team and those who do after Hokage's order dump our sorry asses after a single mission because of YOU!"
The white-haired boy innocently rubbed the back of his head, "And? I told you. The only one who should teach me is either my dad or Kai-san. Did you know that he became Chunin at the age of 5 and Jonin by 10?"
Yahiko gritted his teeth and seethed, "He won't teach us, dumbass! He is always hard on training himself! Even now. Just... leave me alone... my career is dead..."
Yahiko grew depressed and threw himself at pork since alcohol was still far given his age.
"Alright...?" As if oblivious to the entirety of the mess Yahiko's emotional spectrum was, Kakashi Hatake, Sakumo Hatake's son, nodded. Before Kakashi could leave, or before Nagato and Konan could offer words of comfort, an extremely loud and boisterous call of challenge shook that region of Senju Compound.
"FIGHT ME!!"
The man came as quickly as his challenge, leaving a dark-green trail behind given the sheer speed his tiny body contained.
Wearing a red scarf over his dark green jumpsuit and his glossy black hair combed down, the extremely 'square-jawed youth grinned. Yet, when he stood in front of a wide-eyed Kakashi, the boy hummed, "What? Too dazzled by my challenge, Kakashi?!"
"Um..." Growing 'wry' and utterly 'weak', the resident calmer redhead offered, "Guy-kun... Kakashi isn't here... that's a simple clone he left and used body flicker to get away."
"What?" The youth named Guy tackled Kakashi but fazed through him and stumbled.
Clicking his teeth, Guy looked at Nagato.
"Fight me!"
"I'm sorry, but I am an apprentice medic and a nurse. I cannot fight you..." Nagato smiled and gently let the boy down since he knew the youth even before entering the academy. Guy and his father are one of the rarer exceptions allowed into the Senju Compound for a reason unknown to most.
Groaning, Guy looked at Yahiko, "Fight me!"
"Go away... can't you see? I am eating my depression away..." Yahiko grumbled.
With his shoulders noticeably slumping since Yahiko rarely ever turned down a challenge since their time in the academy, Guy looked at a curious Konan.
Blushing, Guy stuttered, "F-Fight me..."
"Ew, no."
And his father said rejection ISN'T damaging. Not even having the heart to run and let his youth blaze forward, Guy walked away.
"Sorry, anything we can do to help? If Kai-san wasn't training... we could have asked him to teach us something new this time." Nagato offered while patting Yahiko's back while Konan chimed.
"I don't know... I think Kakashi may have a point. A Jonin must have nerves of steel if not being super strong. A Jonin that cannot handle a Kakashi constantly having them 'train' him in Bukijutsu only to fail miserably... isn't upto the task... besides, have you ever seen his face?" The bluenette wondered.
"No? And how is that a point?" Yahiko heaved, "Oh, god, you've become like the rest of the girls... right? Are you going to whine over Kakashi, too?"
Konan scoffed with a blush creeping her cheeks, "No! I was just wondering how he looks like... hmph, if anything, I like... someone else."
"Wow, even more, ew," Yahiko snorted, "Boss should be off the limits!"
"Shut it," Crossing her arms, Konan pouted, "Nono-san taught me that Kunoichi is someone who gets what she wants. That's the kind of Kunoichi I want to become!"
"Ugh... Boss works hard every day." Yahiko, as impressionable as ever, retorted, "You should focus on yourself before you are forced to graduate."
"I am!" Konan snapped and then, with her face beet red, whispered, "Focusing on myself..."
"So... you did go to Boss' Pad, right? Was he there?" Nagato interjected. In reality, studying in Iryo Nin meant loads of lessons on Biology so while Yahiko viewed 'mature' stuff as a waste of time and Konan spent more time 'researching' it in her 'own' way, Nagato had a more neutral approach to it. He simply didn't care. He loved his friends, but he hated the idea of seeing them hurt so he greatly admired Tsunade who formed a way to enhance methods of treating others in this world of bloodshed.
"Well..." Konan hummed, "He wasn't there the entire day. In fact, he sends his clone for all the D-ranked missions and has gotten Old man Hokage's permission to train once again... but nobody talks about him. Even Tsume-san is getting more and more frustrated... hmm... but I did hear him last night. He just... somehow appeared in his room and then... and then..."
She blushed harder than ever.
"Oh, god! Just get on with it!" Yahiko blinked.
"Well..." With her voice almost buzzing, Konan whispered, "I heard... giggles and other voices... I was in the room next door..."
"Lame, and you got me interested in all that," Yahiko shrugged and got back to chewing while Nagato offered his two bits to an annoyed Konan who was thinking if she should unleash paper-cut hell on Yahiko's fingers once again or not.
"I don't think you should have intruded on Kai-san's privacy."
Needless to say, Konan added Nagato to that list, too.
---
As Konan revealed, Kai did get permission from Hokage while using the Body Transformation to look like before he was transformed. He didn't intend to hide his 'glory.' If anything, making progress in Sage Transformation and Sage arts while blaming an iryo-nin gone wrong was his plan after he emerges 'older' and better than before.
While Tsunade had quite the 'silent' reaction to his growth with her intent laid out in front of him in all her various appetites that were lit the moment he was in front of her once again, Mikoto, of all, had quite the open reaction.
She felt... complicated. For the first few days, Mikoto blamed herself that Kai sped his growth for her. She felt he just literally wasted years to be with her. And Kai... well got a good 'service' out of that until Tsunade broke that misconception. The Jealous Sensei...
Anyway, aside from the stunning dry spell from an 'annoyed' Mikoto, Kai felt that she was relieved nonetheless. Mikoto now had far fewer inhibitions when it came to him.
On the other hand... Kai was wholly intimidating in his two roomie's eyes. The Bro wondered how to keep up with his 'growth' while the redheaded hoe, wild on the outside but tamer than the Beta Inuzuka utterly collapsed during the first session of lips.
Not that Kai blamed her. Big things intimidated Kushina somewhat and she was working to 'tame' her fears.
Kyubi...
Iryo Nin Encyclopedia...
Kai's Awakened Dragon...
Anyway, Kai spent most of his time under Tsunade...'s laboratory.
The lab was entirely filled with clones. Two clones researched the Rinnegan and worked on Tsunade's theories.
The other two researched what was left of Danzo's notes, including the cells of the First Kage that Danzo had in his coffers. The way these cells reacted to nature energy... was inspiring. Tsunade would not have conducted such research on the remains of her grandfather. It wasn't even known how Danzo got this stuff and when she questioned Orochi, she, too, relayed her uncertainty on the matter.
But Tsunade had far fewer inhibitions in researching the dead than in performing human experiments despite knowing the benefits. Still, Kai's inclusion in the matter to let her research over his spoil of victory... well, it certainly did NOT displease Tsunade, not that her drunken self would ever admit it even to Orochimaru with whom the Legendary Sucker had started to bond again with newfound similarities of their interests, again, except for human experimentation.
But research on First Hokage's cells, like the Rinnegan, was inconclusive and did not form a skill that only relayed info. This meant they were on their own.
One of Kai's clones was with Orochi, helping her with the stuff she wanted to be done as a part of their deal.
Meanwhile, Kai's original body practiced Sage Arts.
He couldn't care about Orochimaru's newfound obsession with developing a method to learn other Kekkei Genkais, it was interesting, yes, but not upto Kai's supreme tastes.
He couldn't care about Tsunade's complicated feelings about Orochi. Despite getting cordial, Tsunade did feel that she had sent Orochi to certain death by denying her requests back then. So, despite their years of camaraderie, Tsunade only got over it once Orochi made it clear that she hardly cared about it. Since when did their ideals need to bend for other's conveniences? To Kai, his own unbendable grind provided the sweet nectar that was the sense of accomplishment.
In a month, Kai mastered Sage Transformation, the violent itch in the back of his head long gone.
In another month, Kai's clone was done with Orochi's deal and brought back with quite the skills that did NOT hurt. Kai's constitution had grown far more resilient... he was like Kushina in this regard. Even Tsunade felt a bit dizzy after dispelling a clone alive for months but not Kai, at least, he hadn't found his limits yet.
The fact that Kai had such expertise made Orochi reconsider many things.
Many.
And as such... Orochi approached Tsunade with a deal that did all but nail their cooperation for years to come.
***
Shoutout to Jeremiah Eleko, Prognastat, John Stinson, Matthew18273645, and Left_Nut_Of_Madara!!!
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