6 The Start of the Pack

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Guild of Gamers: The Warlord

Chapter 06: The Start of the Pack

— Tsume Inuzuka —

With the strange but seemingly beneficial changes to her body, she really shouldn't be going on missions until it was settled, but she'd never been good at sitting around and waiting.

Plus, as a clan head she had some leeway to do as she pleased, and the Hokage had permitted her to go on a simple patrol to see if she could notice any other changes while in action.

With her increased sense of smell, beyond that of even her partner, Kuromaru, she'd noticed a very faint scent while patrolling beyond the walls, breaking off to follow it.

She wasn't particularly supposed to be out, this was an impromptu patrol caused by her restlessness, which explained the spy's surprise as she caught up with him, eyes widening in shock as he turned to her.

She wasn't as simple as some people thought, looking down on her clan for their recklessness and battle-hungry nature, she knew exactly what she was looking at.

If she hadn't decided to go on an impromptu patrol, this man, no, this boy, as he was clearly far younger than she first expected, would have slipped between the planned patrols and gone unnoticed, with the scrolls he was carrying.

Despite his surprise, he reacted quickly as he lunged towards her, choosing to fight instead of flee, as he pulled out a… scalpel?

It wasn't surprising he chose to fight, he knew she had his scent at this point, and he didn't want to risk her getting reinforcements and hunting him down, especially if he was from Konoha, she'd be able to find him no matter where he hid inside the village.

If he wanted to keep his cover, he had one choice, to fight her to the death.

Unfortunately, as he slipped under her guard and slashed at her hamstring with a chakra infused scalpel, it seemed he was unnaturally talented for his age.

— Kabuto Yakushi —

He had planned it perfectly, memorising the patrol routes so that he could slip out to meet with one of his master's men and deliver the copied plans for the Chunin exams to them.

Nobody should have been around to notice him leaving, and he'd used a medical jutsu to practically neutralise his scent to avoid the Inuzuka patrols, it was flawlessly planned and he'd done it a dozen times before.

Which was why he was so surprised when Tsume Inuzuka showed up, but thankfully Orochimaru had taught him very well.

Tsume was good, very good actually, but he'd studied the fighting style of the Inuzuka clan, they were predictable despite their almost feral fighting style, and simply put… he was better.

He couldn't say it was a flawless fight, several cuts and bruises covering his body that he'd have to heal later, but as he watched Tsume fall, glaring at him as the dozens of cuts finally pushed her to the limit, he smirked down at her.

It was a shame, her death would undoubtedly start an investigation, but he couldn't let his cover be blown until Orochimaru's plans for the Chunin exams had been fulfilled.

Dodging back as the snarling maw of her mutt snapped at his throat, he calmly slashed at the massive wolf-like dog, he didn't know the anatomy of canines as well as he did humans so it was harder to cripple them, but when in doubt he just needed to keep slashing until it fell just like its master.

It made a pained whine as it hit the ground with a thud, barely moving as blood pooled which made his smug smile grow as he turned back to Tsume, before it slipped.

He'd placed a large cut across her forehead, so the blood would get into her eyes, and as she glared at him with true hatred seeing her 'partner's' pain, some steam left the wound as it closed up.

Tsume had no such self-healing capabilities on her record, but before he could wonder about that he went to finish her off only to barely dodge as she burst forwards, thick brown fur growing over her skin as she grew in size, her lower face elongating into a snout.

Her wounds were rapidly healing as her clothes were shredded from her rapid growth, all the crippling cuts he'd placed on her body vanishing as she let out a fearsome howl.

He was injured himself from fighting a powerful Jounin, nothing he couldn't heal, but enough to slow him down, and with her unexpected transformation he now had only one goal, survival, as she lunged forwards withincredible speed, claws slashing at him.

He wasn't fast enough to avoid her feral attack, the sharp claws slashing into his side as he desperately dodged.

She hadn't seen his face thanks to his mask, but she undoubtedly had his scent at this point which meant she'd be able to track him down if he came back to Konoha, but he wasn't planning to die, or worse, be captured and dragged to the T&I division.

So, he needed to escape and inform his master of this failure. He'd be punished for it, but he'd survive, and Orochimaru had other agents in Konoha.

He didn't know how she was doing this, but what he did know was how to deal with Inuzukas.

Tossing one of his scalpels, he felt a momentary burst of triumph as her confused look turned to anger and concern, seeing the blade fly towards her downed partner, readable even on her wolven face.

His triumph at her concern turned to shock as the shadows beneath the mutt rose up, another equally wolven figure leaping from them with jet black fur as it swiped at the scalpel, knocking it away.

— Hei Nara —

Looking over Tsume's large werewolf form as she pounces towards the masked man, it appears that taking her as my mate had quite the effect

I sensed that she was in danger, and despite it being beyond my usual range I was able to immediately come to her side. My powers worked together for this I suppose.

I didn't have to use my own Alpha Werewolf form, but I could feel it inside me, snarling in anger at the knowledge that someone had threatened my mate, a member of my pack.

It was going to come out eventually, and now seemed as good a time as ever.

Tsume seems to instinctively know it's me, or at least that I'm an ally, exposing her back to me to fight the masked figure. He is getting increasingly panicked, I can taste his desperation.

Kuromaru is badly injured, cuts all over his large body, but while I'm no medic-nin, I think he shouldn't bleed out anytime soon. Ninken are tough, and Kuromaru gives me a look, telling me to leave him.

Looking at Tsume as she knocks the man to the ground, biting into his shoulder as he lets out a scream of pain, slashing at her even still, I give Kuromaru a nod and make my decision.

Turning back to Tsume, my eyes widen as I see her slashing at the man in a rage, she didn't just gain my powers but my drawback as well, and she's in a blood fury.

She won't stop until he's dead, but with my own mind clear I know we should take him alive, so I rush forward and grab her, tearing her off him as he whimpers, his chest shredded by her claws.

Tsume goes to rush him again, but I place myself between them and let out a low warning growl, making her pause mid-charge as she growls back.

"Back down," I snarl, my voice deeper and more feral than usual as her eyes widen. "Control yourself, or I'll do it for you."

It's a bold statement considering I'm a Genin and she's a Jounin and a clan head, though I suppose I'm a clan head as well now given the whole Hayabusa thing, but the power difference between us is rather clear.

Despite that, she does take a step back, her posture becoming slightly more submissive as she starts to shrink, retaking her human form, wearing just a stretched Jounin flak-jacket, the rest of her clothes didn't survive the transformation.

Despite her angry look, I can both see and smell her arousal, leaking down her leg as she looks over my muscular, bestial form.

Seeing a chance, the fool on the ground rises to his feet and tries to make a break for it, but I barely even glance his way as a scream and a bone-crunching snap fills the area. Kuromaru didn't plan to let him leave after this, injured as he might be.

Turning around, I give Kuromaru a nod as the massive beast lets go of the man's ruined leg, walking up to the masked man and tearing his mask away as I glower down at him, snarling slightly. The gray haired teen stares back at me in hatred, but I ignore his anger.

"Hei?" Tsume asks, making me nod to her as she approaches, my shadows binding our captive.

"Who is this guy?" I ask, watching as she walks up to him and relieves him of his weapons and a scroll.

"A spy, I think. I caught him carrying this out of the village, he attacked me the moment he saw me. Why are you here?" Tsume asks, still angry but none of her rage is directed at me as she glances at the injured Kuromaru.

"I… sensed you were in danger, but we can talk about that after we hand this piece of shit over to the village. I'm sure Ibiki and the Lord Hokage have some questions for him. Besides, we should get Kuromaru some aid," I say, making her nod.

"I'll live," the Ninken snorts gruffly, making Tsume roll her eyes slightly.

The last thing our captive sees is her fist flying towards his face, unable to free himself as she knocks him out. I don't know who he is, but he smells of snake and I don't like it.

We aren't alone for long before one of the patrols shows up, three Inuzuka riding their partners arriving and looking at me in shock and suspicion before Tsume waves them off. If they're surprised by her functionally nude form, they don't show it as I slowly shift back to my human form, my own clothes torn.

Before long we're back in the village, barely taking a moment to regain our modesty before we're reporting to my father and the Hokage.

— Hiruzen Sarutobi —

Watching as the increasingly interesting Hei bowed before leaving the office, he frowned to himself in thought over what this meant.

"This is not what I expected when I said you could go on a simple patrol of the walls," Hiruzen said simply, making Tsume scoff.

"We're ninja, when does anything go as we expect?" Tsume replied, it might seem disrespectful and from another ninja it might have been, but he'd long understood that the Inuzuka simply didn't do polite or respectful when it came to their words.

They were incredibly loyal, but they showed it through action, not words.

"Indeed. Your son seems to be the source of a great deal of mystery lately, Shikaku," Hiruzen pointed out, seeing a momentary sign of the fathers concern before he nodded.

"Hei has always been special, but this is getting ridiculous. I wonder, did Hei give you the ability to turn into this bestial form, or did you give it to him?" Shikaku asked, rubbing his chin as Tsume shrugged.

"I've never heard of an Inuzuka doing something like this before, we don't have any technique like that, but it is a technique you'd expect from us and not a Nara," Tsume said, clearly in deep thought.

"And he could sense you were in danger, perhaps whatever has happened formed some kind of link between the two of you?" Hiruzen theorised, making Tsume frown slightly. "Can you transform into this wolf-form again?" Hiruzen asked, making Tsume nod.

"I think so, I can feel it inside me. There's no jutsu for it, I don't know how to describe it, it just feels like a part of me," Tsume admitted.

"Do it."

As Tsume closed her eyes, he and Shikaku watched as she quickly grew, gaining a couple of feet and a considerable amount of mass as thick fur grew across her body.

The clothes she'd dressed in were once again torn apart, unable to restrain her larger form, but neither of them mentioned or even really paid attention to that.

He knew Shikaku and his ANBU were ready to restrain her if she lost control, given that she said that Hei had to force her to back down so they could take Kabuto, as he'd been identified, alive.

"Tsume?" Hiruzen asked, making her nod.

"I'm here, and still in control," Tsume said, her voice deeper and rougher with her words slightly warped by her canine snout.

"Can you change back?" Hiruzen asked, watching her body shrink again as the fur retracted. "Interesting."

Hei truly was a mystery, but he was a mystery that was loyal to Konoha, once again Hei had reported to him and his father immediately when something had happened, and he seemed open and honest.

He wasn't a prideful man, but he was certain he'd know if a Genin, even an extremely talented one, was lying to him.

Perhaps Hei has awoken something in the Inuzuka bloodline, and in the process gained the ability to use the newly awakened power? He didn't know, but he knew they'd have to test things.

Tsume certainly didn't seem displeased with her new form, even as she stood before them utterly naked amidst her torn clothes.

It was annoying that three ninjas had seen Hei transform back, but they were all Inuzukas and he could work with that.

"Tsume, you may reveal your new ability to your clan if you desire, but for now I want the fact that Hei can do the same to remain a secret," Hiruzen ordered, making Tsume's brow furrow before she nodded.

"I've already told the patrol to keep their mouths shut, but I'll make sure they know it's coming from me and you," Tsume agreed, and he could already tell she planned to show her new form to her clan.

He didn't blame her, as the clan head she couldn't let an opportunity to strengthen her clan like this pass her by, he wouldn't be surprised to see female Inuzuka sniffing around Hei a lot more in the future. It wouldn't happen just yet, but nothing stayed secret forever

"When is Tsunade arriving? It appears there's going to be more for her to check than expected," Shikaku said, making Hiruzen chuckle.

"Soon, likely while Hei is escorting princess Azula, as Shizune has already replied to inform me that Tsunade has agreed to at least hear me out," Hiruzen said calmly.

Tsunade would perform the examination, one way or the other. He gave his old student a lot of leeway, but that didn't mean he couldn't rein her back in if he had to.

The carrot was him paying off her gambling debts, the stick was him declaring her a missing-nin and sending people to drag her back whether she liked it or not.

The freedom he gave her could be taken away just as easily, and she knew it all too well. Favouritism would only let her get away with so much.

As for Hei? The Hayabusa shrine maiden, Momiji's mother, had already informed him of their decision to continue with Ryu's plan and make him the next head of the Hayabusa clan, so it seemed like the young ninja would be at the center of a great deal moving forwards.

Even if he suspected Hei was hiding something, he was the son of the Jounin commander, the godson of the head of their analysis team and now the head of the clan that kept them safe from threats most ninjas didn't even realise were real, so dealing with him would be problematic.

Fortunately, Hei seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and a solid belief in the will of fire, loyal to the village.

Perhaps Hei would even one day sit in his chair, or perhaps he'd take his fathers position. Only the future would tell.

For now, he was headed to the T&I division to speak to their new guest. He believed Danzo was already there.

Why was Kabuto trying to steal the plans of the Chunin exams?

— Hei Nara —

I think the Hokage is getting rather perturbed at the weirdness surrounding me, but like a true ninja, he sees the potential and how he can use it to his own ends, in this case the security of the village.

Things are going to get complicated, but that's fine. Konoha is my home, and I'll make it as powerful as I possibly can.

Still, I'm going to be busy when I get back, I have a meeting with Momiji's family about my new duties as the Dragon Ninja and now the Inuzuka clan has a very big reason to want my attention.

I'm no fool, Tsume will try and get this ability for as many members of her clan as she can, to strengthen the Inuzuka clan even further. I don't blame her, she's a clan head and she has to make decisions for what's best for her clan.

Speaking of, now that I've revealed my bestial form I believe it's time for me to further my Alpha Beast class.

Class Quest Added

[Alpha Beast Class Quest]

Objective: Get three mates (1/3)

Objective: Grow your pack to five members (1/5)

Objective: Feast on five foes (0/5)

That last one is a bit… Well, I suppose I knew what I was getting myself in for. You know, I could probably use Tsume's scheming to get a bunch of Inuzuka pack members.

But that's all for when I get back, I'm supposed to meet with Mai Shiranui at 6:30am tomorrow to set off to the capital to meet with Princess Azula, who I have already heard horror stories about.

She's extremely talented with fire jutsu herself, as well as arrogant as she doesn't believe she needs a bodyguard for her trip. She has a bad habit of burning her bodyguards when they annoy her, not fatally but enough for some people to still have the scars.

Princess Duty is apparently something of a joke amongst ninjas, a rite of passage that's usually reserved for Chunin, similar to Tora-duty for Genin teams.

It's why sending a relatively inexperienced ninja like me won't attract any real attention, I'm just the latest fool to have to babysit a spoiled, temperamental princess with a love of fire.

Still, it's not quite night time yet and I've found that as my power has grown, I've required less and less sleep so with some time to kill I decide to wander the village.

Konoha is a nice village (though I'd say it's more of a town or even a city in size), and despite it being a military dictatorship, it's a pretty good place to live.

I know it's partially propaganda but I doubt the civilians and the ninjas are so close in any other ninja village, like Kumo or Iwa. Despite me being very clearly a ninja, the civilians aren't afraid of me and they tend to be respectful despite my young age.

I'm sure the 'Will of Fire' plays a large part in it, the idea that this entire village is one big happy family, and while I don't entirely buy into it, I can't deny it makes Konoha a pleasant place to live.

I'm sure it's all part of his master plan to have me grow so attached to my new life, my new family, but it's not a plan I can really resist.

Sure, I could spend all my time being overly edgy and brooding, refusing to accept the Naras as my family but that would just attract unwanted attention onto me and it'd leave me miserable.

Walking through the village, I frown briefly before I shrug. I'm stuck in this world for the foreseeable future, I might as well make the most of it.

Lost in my thoughts as I may be, I'm still a ninja and I know when I'm being followed, they don't have hostile intentions because if they did they'd trigger my ability to sense such things, but I'm still very clearly being followed.

Glancing at the window of a store, I spot my tail and sigh slightly as I see her following a distance behind. I've never met her before, but I've certainly heard of her.

Still, she's not as sneaky as she thinks and perhaps I should teach her a lesson before she makes a fool of herself on a mission.

Suddenly speeding up, I smile to myself as I see her trying to keep up while trying to not look suspicious, before I duck into an alleyway and immediately sink into the shadows of the dark alley.

The sun has almost set, so there's plenty of places for me to hide as she enters the alleyway, blinking in shock at the clearly empty passageway.

Still, the alley only leads onto the next street so there's only one way I could have gone, right? That's what she clearly thinks as she heads through it.

Seeing my chance, I slip out of the shadows, right behind her, moving right up to her as I place my kunai at her throat, making her freeze for a moment before she tries to sweep my legs from under me, making me chuckle and back away as she turns and freezes once more as she sees just who got behind her.

"It's not wise to try and tail a ninja, Uchiha," I say simply, putting my kunai away as I put my hands in my pocket. "Wanna explain why you're following me?"

Sasuki Uchiha scowls at me, clearly embarrassed at getting caught by surprise as the tips of her ears turn red. It's a common mistake for people tailing someone, they get too focused on who they are following to pay attention to their own surroundings.

Master Ryu taught us that. He'd have us tail someone (often another member of our team to see if we'd notice the tail) and then send another person to tail us, we'd get so focused on our mission that we wouldn't notice that we were being followed the entire time.

"You're Hei Nara, aren't you?" Sasuki asks, making me nod.

"I am," I respond simply, waiting for her to answer my question.

"You can do sealless jutsus, teach me" Sasuki demands, making my eyebrow rise at her tone.

It takes me all of a split second to work out why. My ability is an accidental counter to the Sharingans ability to copy and predict jutsus. It's not a hard counter to the Uchiha, but it takes away one of their advantages that their eyes grant them, and everyone knows what Sasuki wants.

Sasuki wants to avenge her clan, which means fighting someone who is possibly the most dangerous Uchiha since Madara himself.

"No," I say simply, turning and walking away from her and back into the streets. We're both Genin so there's no real need for respect between us, but I don't particularly like her tone.

She's coming to me for help, and instead of requesting I help her she's demanding it. As someone who spent a long time plotting my own vengeance, I would have probably helped her if she'd asked instead of making demands of me, but we're both clan heirs and I won't let her boss me around.

I'm the heir of a powerful and influential clan, and the head of a small but also influential clan, if Momiji is to be believed, while Sasuki is the heiress of a clan of exactly one.

I know the village places a lot of faith in bloodlines, and I can't deny the Sharingan is an impressive one, but she's in no position to make demands of me, and I'd make the Nara clan seem weak by folding to her orders.

"H-hey, wait!" Sasuki shouts as she watches me just walk away without a care. Really, she's one of Shikamaru's classmates, so she should have expected this.

I'm not as lazy as my brother, nobody is, but that doesn't mean I want additional work. Admittedly that's because I can spend the time training unlike the rest of my clan who'd use the free time for napping.

"I'm not interested, go bother your sensei if you want more training," I say as I continue walking away. "You're a part of Kakashi's team, I'm sure the famous copy ninja is a better teacher than me."

She scoffs in response to my words, still following me as I pause to get some dango from one of the stands.

"Kakashi barely teaches us anything, wasting my time with d-rank missions," Sasuki says, making me laugh.

"Congratulations, you've just made the same complaint every Genin has made since d-rank missions were invented. I'm sure you think you're so special, the amazing rookie of the year who shouldn't have to waste her time with such menial tasks, but welcome to reality," I say bluntly, making her scowl deepen. "We all had to do the same, and we all complained."

"Even if Kakashi was training us, he can't do jutsus without seals like you can. You could do them when you were in the academy, I need to learn how to do them," Sasuki continues.

"And I've not managed to teach anyone else how to do them, including my father who is a genius and the Jounin-Commander, what makes you think you could even learn them?" I ask, making her stare at me with equal parts stubbornness and determination.

It's funny, stubbornness is seen negatively while being determined is seen as a virtue, but they're just the same thing with slight differences.

"Because I need to, I'm more motivated than your father," Sasuki says, making me chuckle.

"My father is a Nara, it isn't hard to be more motivated than him," I admit. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not sure it can be taught."

Outsider Perk gained

[Forbidden Teachings - Rank 1]

As an Outsider, passing on forbidden and otherworldly knowledge comes naturally to you, allowing you to tutor your disciples in skills they should not be able to learn, as long as you yourself possess them.

Very funny.

The Outsider class is supposed to level up over time, without any quests and as I use the abilities it grants me, but I highly doubt that was a coincidence.

"And even if I could, why exactly would I want to? Ninjas should hold their trump cards close to their chest, and a secret weapon loses its edge when it's shared," I say.

Master Ryu taught us that every battle should be viewed as a matter of life and death, and in such battles you should take any edge you can get. If the knowledge of how to use sealless jutsus spreads, that's one less advantage I'd have over my enemies.

On the other hand, I could spread that advantage to Konoha and increase our military power, but then the risk comes of it spreading beyond the village.

Can those I teach spread the ability further? It's something that definitely needs to be tested for future notice but I'd rather test it in a more controlled environment than just with a brooding avenger.

I remember her, or her male counterpart, he betrayed the village in pursuit of power. Could I stop that and keep her loyal? I don't remember enough about Naruto to know what that would affect in the long run. On the other hand, it wouldn't make my meta-knowledge useless because I barely have any.

"I need this to help me avenge-" Sasuki starts, making me hold up a hand.

"I know why you want to learn this, what I don't know is why I should spend my time even just attempting to teach you," I say bluntly.

She's clearly used to getting what she wants. I know from experience that the best rookie in the class tends to get a little spoiled since I was the rookie of the year for my class.

Rookie of the year means a grand total of fuck all in the real world, it's just a fancy title that the students are encouraged to aim for. It's motivation for brats, with no real meaning.

I've looked into who the rookie of the year was for each year and where they are now. Most of them are in the same place, the village cemetery.

It was a fairly humbling discovery.

"What do you want?" Sasuki finally asks, making me chuckle.

"I'll tell you what, I have a mission that starts in about… ten hours, if you can work out the real reason I don't want to teach you and what I want from you by the time I get back, I'll do my best to teach you," I offer, making her frown in thought. "But until then, I have preparations to make, my missions are a bit more complex than yours," I say with a slight teasing grin, making her scowl once more as I head back towards the Nara compound. "Think hard, Uchiha, I'm sure a genius like you can work it out."

The mockery makes her glower at me, but it just looks fairly cute on her instead of being as intimidating as she probably thinks it is.

Before she can respond, I fall into my own shadow and vanish.

The answer? I don't want to teach her because she demanded my help, and I want her to apologise and ask me for my help instead.

The Hokage preaches the Will of Fire, and even if I don't quite buy into what he's selling I should at least put in an effort to follow the ideals of our esteemed leader. If she truly asks for my help, I'll give it to her as a fellow member of Konoha.

But somehow, I doubt she'll work that out. Who knows, I might be surprised.

— Next Morning —

Reaching the meeting point, Mai gives me a smile and a wave as she sees me approaching. I'm almost ten minutes early, but she's already waiting for me.

"Hey, Hei!" Mai says, making me roll my eyes. I am cursed to forever hear that particular joke, and as she giggles at my mildly annoyed expression, her barely covered body does some rather interesting things.

Her red dress is very low cut, revealing most of her cleavage and exposing her lack of a bra, and it doesn't cover her legs either leaving most of her body on full display as she covers the bare minimum.

She definitely noticed my gaze lingering on her large breasts as she jiggled, even flashing a hint of nipple, but she just gives me a sultry smile.

"Good morning, Miss Shiranui," I say, not commenting on either her joke or her body.

"Please, call me Mai, we're going to be keeping each other company for the next week or two after all," Mai says, straightening up. "Ready to head out?"

"I am, Mai," I say, making her smile.

"Have you ever been to the Fire Capital before?" Mai asks, starting to walk out of the gates as I follow behind.

"No, this will be my first time visiting," I answer, making her giggle.

"Then we'll have to make sure your first time is a memorable one, won't we?" Mai asks, her voice becoming sultry again as I roll my eyes slightly.

This is going to be a long trip, but the mission should be simple enough.

Mission Started

Fire and Water

Primary Objective: Protect Princess Azula

Primary Objective: Escort Princess Yue to the Fire Lord

Secondary Objective: Impress Princess Azula

Hidden Objective: Defeat ???

Hidden Objective: ???

Rewards: ???

…yup, a nice, simple mission.

— Bonus Scene — Tsunade Senju

Coming back to Konoha was not something she'd ever wanted to do, she'd lost too much here to want to see this village ever again, but she was no fool.

Hiruzen had made it clear that while he was offering her a lot to perform this check-up, it was not optional, not unless she wanted to find herself a missing-nin, probably with Jiraya sent to hunt her down and drag her home.

If she wanted to keep the freedom she enjoyed, she had to play along.

Which was why she found herself standing over Tsume Inuzuka, her eyes widening as she examined the bored woman.

Hiruzen was watching the examination, as was the stuffy head of the Hyuuga clan. She'd never gotten along with Hiashi, or the Hyuuga in general for that matter.

He'd been brought in to watch the strange chakra that was flowing through Tsume's body, not that he could really help.

In addition, the head of the Nara clan was leaning against the wall, but she didn't understand why he was here. Sure, Tsume was a Jounin under his command but he didn't need to be here.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Tsunade finally asked, moving away from Tsume.

"What do you mean, Tsunade?" Hiruzen asked, making her stare at him.

"What I mean is, how the fuck did this happen? Was it some kind of experiment, following Orochimaru's footsteps?" Tsunade asked, making Tsume give her a confused look. "You realise that this is going to cause utter chaos if, no when, this gets out?"

"What do you mean, sure I'm stronger and the healing is nice but-" Tsume started, making Tsunade scoff.

"You have no idea what that chakra is doing to you, do you?" Tsunade asked, staring at the other woman as she sat up. "It's not just healing you, as far as I can tell the chakra is constantly moving you to a 'perfect' state, healing any wounds and removing any imperfections, such as old age, you're getting younger," Tsunade said, making everyone in the room freeze.

"Wait, what? Sure, I've felt fucking great lately but you can't be serious," Tsume said, her eyes widening as Hiruzen stroked his chin.

"I'm very serious. Your body is slowly but steadily getting younger, if I'm reading what this chakra is doing right, it'll return you to your 'prime' age, likely somewhere in your twenties, and then keep you there," Tsunade said, with no small amount of jealousy. "Plus, I doubt you'll ever get sick as long as this chakra is in your body."

Her technique, Creation Rebirth, rapidly healed her of any wounds but at the cost of ageing her, making her look even older than she actually was under her transformation jutsu, meaning she had to be extremely careful about using it.

If she had the same ability Tsume had, she could use Creation Rebirth far more freely and not even bother with the transformation because she'd be eternally young.

"This would start a war, every village would want to know how you did this, every missing-nin would hunt you down to try and learn your secrets, the daimyos would order you grant the same immortality to them, and Orochimaru would stop at nothing to get you and learn your secrets," Tsunade pointed out, making Tsume's face grow stony.

"Which is why it will not be leaving this room," Hiruzen said, giving everyone an extremely stern look. "I'm marking this as an S-rank village secret, punishable by death if it leaked."

"And when she starts to visibly get younger? At the rate it's going I'd give it a month or two before she's at her 'prime'," Tsunade pointed out, very few could pull off the transformation jutsu as well as she could so Tsume couldn't just hide her youth forever. "Not to mention, any Hyuuga could look at her and see the strange chakra in her system. No, this won't stay a secret forever, you know that."

How did Tsume do this, she wasn't a medical-nin and what was with the strange chakra?

Despite being the one to examine it, she didn't have a clue how the strange chakra was doing this miraculous act, and she was the best medic-nin in the world.

No, it didn't make sense that Tsume did this, she wasn't the type for this kind of thing, plus the chakra was obviously foreign to her body (but not fighting against Tsume's own chakra, in fact the two seemed to blend together flawlessly), so who did this?

Was she captured and experimented on by Orochimaru? No, that didn't make sense to her either, Orochimaru would absolutely perform experiments to seek immortality but he wouldn't do them on a Konoha ninja and then let them slip between his fingers.

Who did this, and more importantly could it be replicated?

Could she be eternally young, freed from the aged body she was stuck with due to her abuse of Creation Rebirth when she was younger?

"I do, and I will prepare for the eventuality of it being discovered, but it won't be leaked by anyone in this room, is that clear?" Hiruzen said, calm despite the seriousness of the situation.

Suddenly Hiruzen's demand of Shizune not taking part made more sense, he wanted as few people here as possible for whatever the result was.

After everybody agreed, Hiruzen sighed and took a drag of his pipe.

"Tsunade, you will remain in Konoha for now. There is one more person I want you to examine," Hiruzen ordered, sounding even older than he looked.

"And who is that?" Tsunade asked, knowing not to argue despite her distaste for the idea.

"The source of the strange chakra, who unknowingly granted Tsume this boon," Hiruzen said simply, making her eyes widen.

They already knew who did it?

"He's on a mission at the moment, but he should return soon. Actually, I believe I'll send some men to ensure nothing delays his return," Hiruzen said, giving Shikaku a nod.

"Wait, how could anyone unknowingly do this? Does Konoha have a new genius medic-nin, following Orochimaru's footsteps?" Tsunade asked, making Hiruzen pause before he chuckled.

"We suspect we know how it happened, and no, he is not a medic-nin, he's still just a Genin after all," Hiruzen said simply, making her blink as her mind tried to process that statement.

"A Genin did this?"

As the examination came to an end, she sighed. Stuck in Konoha while she waited for some brat to get back from his mission.

The brat was definitely a Nara. She wasn't stupid, it was why Shikaku was in the room with them, but she still had no idea how he'd achieved this.

"Tsunade, a moment?" Hiashi asked, making her sigh. "While you are in the village anyway, I would like you to examine Hitomi once more. The Hyuuga clan will pay you of course."

"You realise that I still won't be able to do anything for her? I imagine her disease has only gotten worse over the past few years since I last examined her, and I couldn't do anything for her then," Tsunade pointed out, making Hiashi frown every so slightly.

Most Hyuuga were hard to read, so that slight hint of sadness said a lot. Hiashi's wife had been extremely sick when she was last in Konoha, completely bedridden as the disease ravaged her body. She doubted it had gotten any better, in honesty she was surprised to hear that Hitomi was even still alive.

"I'd like you to check up on her all the same, if you cannot cure her then simply delaying her disease would be enough," Hiashi said, making her frown.

"Very well, but don't be surprised when I can't do anything. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't pushed to have Hitomi go though the same treatment Tsume has," Tsunade admitted, making Hiashi pause.

"Would that help?" Hiashi asked quietly, a complicated expression on his face.

"If it's replicable, then yes. The unusual chakra would definitely attempt to fight off the disease, whether it would succeed is up for debate but at the very least it would certainly delay things," Tsunade explained, wondering why Hiashi looked so… torn.

— Hiashi Hyuuga —

Excusing himself from Tsunade, Hiashi headed towards Hiruzen and Shikaku, forcing down his misgivings.

The meeting between the three of them went on for a while, with him arguing his point until they finally agreed to permit him to approach Hei with his… request.

He'd argued that it would be good to see if Hei and Hitomi both awakened a new ability related to the Hyuuga clan like Tsume had, it would help them see just how powerful this boon truly was since Hitomi would certainly not survive without it.

But now he was left in a rather bizarre position for a powerful clan head, because he needed to approach the heir of another clan and request that Hei… make love to his wife.

It was very important to him that nobody ever found out about this, his clan got enough jokes about them being voyeurs who liked to watch already without him inviting a teenager to cuckold him.

Was his clan's reputation as voyeurs deserved? More than he'd be willing to admit, because giving teenagers the ability to see through solid objects would always end one way, but he didn't plan to make it worse.

Oh, and he had to tell his incredibly sick wife that he might have a cure for her, which would need to be injected into her in a rather abnormal way.

He'd found it mildly entertaining when Tsume had reported on her dailiance with Hei, given that she needed to go into detail about her time with him, and how she'd taken his loads into all three holes, several times.

If Mai came back with the same boost, it would be proven that it could be repeated, and then he'd have to ask Hei to give Hitomi the exact same treatment.

He and Tsume had never gotten along, but she and Hitomi had been friends. If Hitomi recovered, Tsume would know how such a miraculous recovery had come about…

She might never say anything, but she'd know, and that was almost worse, the silent knowing smirks he'd get from her at meetings.

But between becoming a widower and having Tsume mentally laughing at him for being a cuckold, the choice was fairly obvious.