86 That you were just like me

"I bet that I can drink all of that Sake without even getting tipsy" Tsunade declares, full of smugness.

Giving her a deadpan stare, I speak slowly, enunciating my words carefully.

"Have you ever heard the term, a suckers bet? Because that's what this is."

Tsunade pouts slightly at my reluctance to accept such a fools bet and after spending a moment thinking, smiles as she comes up with a compromise.

"How about this then, we split the Sake in half and I bet I can drink it all faster." She levies a challenging look my way as she says that.

Well now, surely I can't let a challenge like that pass now can I? Not that I'm much of an alcoholic, but it shouldn't be too hard to just down it, and I am good enough with medical Jutsu that I don't really have to worry about being drunk if I don't want to be.

"Alright, though I do hope all of your challenges don't involve Sake. What are the stakes?"

At my inquiry, Tsunade hums thoughtfully for a moment.

"I don't know, 10k Ryo I guess but something tells me I already know what you want if you win though."

"Well, you're probably right, I want the same as last time, only I'm going to wait for verbal agreement before we get started."

At Tsunade's exasperated sigh I just smile sweetly until she relents.

"Fine, if you win, you get a kiss, only on the cheek though. You know, I do know what you're doing right?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes at my deflective answer, and despite the content of her words, there is surprisingly no heat behind them.

"You're manipulating me, you're hardly subtle about it." Her voice is surprisingly calm for what she's saying.

"What makes you think that, then?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"I'm not stupid, a man of your reputation asking for a kiss on the cheek? Really? It's obvious that the real reason is that you want to build up closeness between us, make me more comfortable with physical displays of affection. The only thing I am unsure of is if you are doing it specifically in order to sleep with me, or if this is simply the only way you know how to act."

I consider Tsunade's thoughtful words for a moment as I reconsider what I know of the woman.

I knew she wasn't stupid, it would be hard to be who she is while being stupid, but I didn't think she'd call me out on this, especially not so calmly.

I guess she's simply willing to give me a chance anyway, which is pretty cool of her.

I just shrug.

"I guess it's just who I am, but I did mean it when I said I'm not doing this just to sleep with you. Anyway, enough of this, let's get to drinking yeah?"

With that said, we put the serious talk behind us and move on with the games.

Naturally, Tsunade demolishes me in the drinking contest, much to her own satisfaction.

A few bets later, some won and some lost, I am down a decent amount of Ryo and up a few kisses, even a chaste kiss on the lips.

Now however, it is getting late, which means it's time for dinner, but unlike Yoshino, Tsunade is rich, being directly related to Hashirama and Mito, so I can't impress her by taking her somewhere fancy, which is why I am taking her to my home.

Tsunade had been smiling up until this point, but is back to glaring suspiciously at me, which is fair enough, there is generally only one reason I'd be taking a woman to my suite after all.

I just roll my eyes at the look she's giving me as we enter my building.

"I'm not going to push for anything."

"Says the playboy taking me home?"

Sighing at her reticence, I explain before this misunderstanding grows any worse.

"I figured we could end this date with something a little bit more personal than a fancy dinner, so I'm going to cook for you. Can't do that in some restaurant now can I?"

"You're going to cook for me? You can cook?" She blurts in minor shock.

Once again I roll my eyes, only this time with a smirk as I unlock and open my front door.

"Wow, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 Tsunade Senju expects people to conform to gender stereotypes? I'm shocked." I theatrically bemoan, with a hand draped over my heart in shock.

She just punches me for that one, which, fair enough. At least it was only a light punch, so I don't have to buy a new wall.

I guide her towards the kitchen, where she takes a seat at one of the stalls around the island counter as I start preparing the ingredients for a recipe I learned in the Before, for a creamy garlic chicken breast, only with more spice.

"Want a drink?" I ask, but the look I get in response asks me if I'm stupid.

Truly, what was I thinking, asking such a silly question? Of course she wants a drink.

I grab two overly priced, fancy glasses and a bottle of high class imported Sake. What? I'm rich, I may as well enjoy the luxuries that come with that.

It's as she's watching me prepare our meal that Tsunade makes conversation, over the sound of sizzling food.

"How did you do that anyway?" She asks.

"Do what?"

"In the fight against Kiri's Jinchurriki I mean, I have my own technique that is similar, so I was wondering how you did it?" She clarifies.

I give her a glance before returning my focus to the food even as I respond.

"Asking me about my secret Jutsu so soon? My, if I didn't know any better, I'd think it was you who was manipulating me."

"Are you admitting to manipulating me?"

Ignoring her words as if they were never spoken, I continue what I was saying, causing Tsunade to huff.

"How about this? You show me yours and I'll show you mine?" I say with a wink and a flirtatious voice that makes Tsunade groan and put her face in her hands.

"You are the worst. Did you have to phrase it like that?"

"It was imperative that I phrase it like that." I say, full of seriousness.

"Sure it was, well, it's only fair-"

"You'll really show me yours?" I eagerly interrupt her.

"Shut up! As I was saying, my technique is called Creation Rebirth and it basically enhances my cell division speed so as to be fast enough that I can heal from anything almost instantaneously."

I can hear the pride in her voice as she talks about her original technique, and she has all the right to be proud, her technique is veritably temporary immortality.

Still, it works on the principles of cell division, unlike my technique, since I didn't want to make myself an old man so I made sure to find a workaround, one I don't mind sharing either, at least, not to Tsunade.

Putting as much worry into my voice as I can, I reach across the counter to take her hands in mine.

"If it works on cell division, then doesn't that mean that every time you use it you are shaving time off of your lifespan?"

Her smiling face sobers up at my words as she becomes more serious.

"Yeah, it does, that's why I only use it in emergencies, that's another reason I wanted to talk to you about your technique since it so closely resembles mine, maybe there is something we can learn from each other, and you don't look any older despite how much you must have healed."

No longer am I talking to Tsunade Senju, the woman, now I seem to be talking to Tsunade Senju, the doctor, but that's fine, I do know what I'm talking about here, and a partner that can understand your work that you're passionate about is desirable.

"Well, that's because my technique, while similar, doesn't have the same issue when it comes to cell division."

"What is your technique exactly, if it doesn't rely on cell division?" Her eyes gleam as scientific curiosity overwhelms her.

"Oh, you misunderstand, my technique still relies on cell division, since all I do is make a cloak of medical chakra to constantly heal me, and we both know all medical chakra does is enhance cell division." I explain calmly, as I start adding spices to the meat.

"If that's the case, then what is different? How is aging not a concern?" Her curiosity is still there, but there is a hint of desperation too, which is understandable really, she doesn't want to end up an old hag after all.

"Simple, stem cells." I say offendedly as I a still focused on the food.

Only I look up a moment later as a sudden, tense silence fills the room.

When I look to Tsunade I see her giving me an ice cold look, like I just told her I enjoy killing baby-

Oh.

Right, stems cells are only found in bone marrow, and new born babies have the most stem cells, so she probably has come to the conclusion that I am killing babies.

Best nip this misunderstanding in the bud before I become a red stain on the wall.

Not that I think she could kill me, but it's the intent that matters here.

"Now, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation here, if you'll allow me to explain?"

"The fact that I'm still sitting here is only because I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, for your sake, you'd better be right about that 'perfectly reasonable explanation.'"

Yeowch, talk about cold.

"It's actually quite interesting, something I'm sure you will agree on, see, through the use of four specific genes, named Myc, Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4, collectively I call them Haruno factors, because why not name my discovery after myself right? anyway, through the introduction of the Haruno factors, encoding transcription factors could convert somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells, and thus, the need for bone marrow harvesting abates."

It is actually very interesting, in the Before, it was discovered in 2006, by one guy called Yamanaka, ironically enough, considering where I am, I don't know what happened to the research but I assume some pharmaceutical companies stopped him from ever doing anything with it.

Tsunade's look of ice cold anger slowly transforms into confusion, then shock, then contemplative confusion again, before once again returning to shock and a decent amount of disbelief.

"A-are you telling me, you discovered a method to generate stem cells, basically indefinitely? Why haven't you told anyone about this? This is revolutionary? Do you have any idea how many lives can be saved with this kind of technology?"

"That's the thing though, I don't have the technology to do this, I can only do it with medical chakra, since it's the basis for my cloak. I could probably help you add it to your Creation Rebirth technique, and would be happy to do so, but I don't know how I would teach anybody else to do it in a way that can be widely used."

I explain the problems with a shake of my head and it makes Tsunade deflate, even if I can see that she's excited to improve her technique.

That's something that I'm excited about too, see, the main differences between our techniques is that mine doesn't age me, while hers is far, far more effective.

For example, I doubt I would be able to regenerate a limb if it was cut off, the only reason I could survive Kasumi's acid was because I was healing fast enough that the damage was never more severe than regenerating flesh, none of my bones got melted.

If I was simply cut in half, I wouldn't die but I also wouldn't be able to simply get back up and keep fighting, unlike Tsunade, who would just shrug and ask who's next.

"But enough science talk, dinners ready."

I speak as I serve up two plates full of food that has Tsunade's mouth watering as soon as she takes in the smell.

It's like they say, the way to a woman's heart is the stomach, or through the rib with a kunai, but eh, potato, potahto, as they say.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Be grateful, I did research into stuff, even though I'm a high school dropout, my brain hurts, I had to read so many long words.

Also, sorry for the late upload, I was on a train, had to get up at 7 and only just arrived at half 3.

It was cool tho, I spoke with an attractive woman for 2 hours of it, then she got of and a crazy old man took her place and told me about how he is a mystic and how he has spoken with God. Also his brother is rocky.

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