"I see... so Sakumo advised us to stay hidden until someone fetches us," Orochimaru leaned against the rocky wall while taking a bite out of his dried rations as Kai nodded. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, however, looked at the new trio curiously. It was mostly Yahiko and Konan as Nagato barely talked and had been quiet for the day. But he wasn't the only one quiet.

As Jiraiya silently meditated, Tsunade still remained quiet. Eating barely. But by now, everyone except Yahiko and others knew something was wrong with Tsunade. She... looked more mature. Her face looked a little bit more angular and her eyes grew a bit dull. Her lips were a tad bit thicker and even her body, despite her curling the entire time... just had gotten more curvaceous. This wasn't Kai being a pervert but a stunned observer who came to the same conclusion as Orochimaru and Jiraiya...

She had grown older, by years, in a matter of a day.

If Kai had to estimate her current age then it would be above 32 easily. This meant that she had grown 8 years older!

But... Kai didn't intrude. Team Hiruzen was licking its scars and wounds in their own ways. Not the bodily ones but mental traumas that a single battle with Hanzo filled them with.

Orochimaru, despite the calm expression, had his emotions in turmoil. But it was nothing compared to the deep conflict that Jiraiya, and ironically, Nagato shared while Tsunade had just zoned off, stopped her mind, and let herself recover slowly. Kai could feel that surprisingly, Tsunade took the loss the best. She also felt conflicted, but it was nothing compared to Jiraiya, and just remaining quiet and mulling matters gave her time to recuperate.

But this left Kai in an awkward state even if he didn't let it affect him. Awkwardness is just a state of confusion and he knew he wanted none of the emotional burdens team Hiruzen, especially the Smutty Mascot of the team was going through.

But Nagato was different. It was only a matter of 'When' and not 'how' that his dojutsu will be revealed and even if Kai had ascertained not to implant such burden in his own eye sockets, that didn't mean he wasn't the slightest bit curious about its abilities.

"Nagato, want to help me practice something?" Kai smiled and approached the boy who silently nibbled on the smoked pork they stole from the meat shop. He, Yahiko, and Kona wore remarkably better clothes, too— the fruits of their labors.

"Kai-san..." Nagato muttered before a faint smile touched his cheek, "Of course. But I don't know anything about shinobi stuff..."

"Don't worry about that—"

"Hey!" Yahiko interjected, "We want to learn cool things, too!" And Konan was next to him, looking intently at Kai with her amber orbs lit up in curiosity.

By now, Jiraiya had opened his eyes as he looked at the only source of cheeriness in the damp, stale cave, credit to the ruined food while Orochimaru looked at the only redhead curiously. It was a universally known fact that redheads had an 80℅ chance of being an Uzumaki and why such a lineage was present here, piqued his interest. Of all, Tsunade gave the group a passing glance before staring at the wall once again.

"Hmm, Orochimaru-san, mind if I go in a bit deeper with them. I did dig a few rooms before you guys arrived to train just for this scenario." Since Tsunade would likely not respond, Kai looked towards Orochimaru who shrugged and warned, "Just make sure to not go over the limits of what your seals can conceal. Jiraiya and I will add to them in a few hours to solidify our defenses."

"Hmm, got it, make sure not to ruin my efforts with paltry seals." Flashing a grin and throwing shade at the trio who had faced a disastrous loss recently, Kai entered one of the rooms after pressing his hands against the sealed entrance. The seal just made the rocky entrance shift open with triggers Kai installed this morning itself.

His words made Jiraiya scoff while Orochimaru shook his head and chuckled, "That certainly cheered me up. I suppose, instead of wasting our time on whatever we did yesterday, how about we actually fortify this location before it is discovered?"

Jiraiya groaned and sighed, "Fuck me... everything would have been simpler if I had a space-time ninjutsu to every brothel on the continent."

"That's an idea," Orochimaru smirked as the duo didn't bother disturbing Tsunade themselves. She had been like this when her parents died and made a full recovery, so, they trusted her to do the same and reveal later on what happened to cause such changes... even if they could embarrassingly speculate the cause of all this.

---

"Don't you want to help them?" Konan inquired once they were alone, "You told us that the sad and quiet lady is your Sensei."

Kai blinked before shrugging, "Not really. They are veterans who have probably seen things even worse. My meddling into their established healing processes would be just stupid and we don't wanna be stupid, right?"

Konan pouted, "... right..."

"Damn, if I learn cool shinobi stuff, I will kick Hanzo's ass! I hate him! Everyone says that he's the one who let this war happen!" Yahiko was riled up completely as Nagato blinked and inquires, "Hanzo... did?"

"Indeed," Even if Kai didn't know what got Nagato riled up against Konoha nin, Kai doubted it'd be anything positive, especially in times of war so, at the very least, Kai wasn't averse to... place a good impression on a very impressionable child. Not like other villages including Konoha don't already do it.

"Hanzo let Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Konohagakure into this country. He is also the one constantly sending men to pose as various other villages and harm those in this country who stand against him," Kai spoke without knowing if it was true or not. However, would the trio and a dog in front of him verify his words? Besides... posing as other villages is what Kai and his platoon did last time if they wished to leave a few alive and throw mud at other villages.

Even the 'Kind' and 'Peaceful' Konoha was full of these tactics during the war.

Nagato's emotions visibly fluctuated but Kai gave them enough distraction.

"The technique I wanted to practice is... the Transformation Jutsu. I want you guys to name me anything that comes into your mind and I will transform into it!" Kai grinned and the children had immediate responses.

"Bread!" Yahiko grinned.

"A flower!" Konan chimed, "Blue one, like my hair!"

*Poof*

Under their stunned stares and slacked jaws... a loaf of bread with a blue tulip growing out of its surface appeared.

"A blue rose!" Konan added.

"Ah, no fair! Myself! Turn into me!" Yahiko claimed and the next second, with another short plume of smoke, a grinning Yahiko with a blue rose growing out of his head appeared in front of them, making Konan and Yahiko giggle.

"C-can you turn into... me?" Nagato inquired meekly.

"Of course, anything you want, Nagato," Kai grinned and a Nagato appeared shortly after.

"Now Chibi—"

Kai had noticed early on that the best way to grind [Essence Transformation] was by either transforming into similar items with a tiny shift in its appearance every time or... sapping on other's imagination and the trio in front of him had a lot of untapped excitement and energy that needed such a catalyst to fully explode. A win-win situation if you consider that the trio was completely exhausted but entertained after an hour...

But... Kai continued to grind of [Essence Transformation] first whenever he wasn't on a training schedule for any other technique. He would have practiced [Shape Transformation] if it wasn't such a chakra-intensive grind.

War or not, Grind is a path of life that must be walked upon during every event. In terms of a Shinobi— Grind was his shinobi way!

---

"Do you know of Ryuchi Cave, Kai-kun?" With the kids sleeping, Kai found himself questioned by an idle Orochimaru waiting for their extraction. The Elite-Jonin's words made Jiraiya frown for a moment as a hint of hesitation flashed through his eyes while Tsunade turned a blind eye to it for a good reason.

Kai hummed in response, "One of the three unexplored Sage Regions? I don't know why they're called Sage Regions specifically but Sensei told me it's good stuff to contract a summon from one of these three locations."

Orochimaru nodded, "Indeed. But I won't go into why it's called Sage Regions. It's not worthwhile for me to explain this to the current you and I assume that's why Tsunade left out that part of the explanation. Anyway," Ignoring the deadpan Kai gave him, Orochimaru continued with a smirk as if having had a payback for Kai's earlier insult, "Ryuchi Cave is the domain of snakes. Cinnamon, as you call her, is something I synthesized from years of researching those snakes and have modified my body to a certain extent to resemble a snake. Most of my jutsu that are most chakra efficient, for instance, forming living snakes from the hair on my arms to constrict an enemy is due to these modifications I administered on my body."

Kai blinked and smirked, "Pubes included?"

Jiraiya almost choked on his saliva as he imagined the ungodly sight of snakes dangling around Orochimaru's 'snake' as the man in question himself smirked, "I can transform any bodily hair into snakes at my will. Think of them as... basic creatures that follow a set of simple commands that I adjust before using the jutsu. Simple commands like constricting the enemy and stuff like that."

"Oh... and the way you extend your limbs? That's body modification, too?" Kai inquired, quite interested in the subject.

"Again, a mix of body modification and jutsu itself that allows me to mold chakra in my limbs and extend them out while mimicking my limbs as if snakes themselves," Orochimaru nodded, his expression somewhat livening up at the boy's interest.

"Tch... stop filling his head with that kind of nonsense at such a young age," Jiraiya finally rebuked, "Body modification is dangerous stuff that many administer on themselves in hopes to achieve an effect similar to a physical or elemental Kekkei Genkai."

"Knowledge of what's beneath flesh is better than the information that promotes lust for flesh, don't you think so, Kai-kun?" Orochimaru looked at Kai as Jiraiya gazed at the boy, too.

But Kai considered the two as the fools they were and crossed his arms with a smirk so smug that it dripped, "Who cares about choosing? Both are good."

Orochimaru and Jiraiya both looked dissatisfied but the pale youth continued, "Anyway, whatever I said is only for a single reason. Have you considered a summon yet?"

"Excuse me, what?" Kai blinked.

"Hmm? Are you not aware of summoning contracts? You did just say that Tsunade explained things to you, right?" Orochimaru questioned with a strange expression.

"No... I meant, what's with this line of questioning?"

"Pure interest," Orochimaru smiled, "I find myself most relaxed when researching but that is not an option. And I am wound up since yesterday. Given Tsunade's bragging, I find myself attracted to your thoughts on many matters. I do hope you can last all night with me, Kai-kun! Fufufu."

'Hey, phrasing!' Jiraiya and Kai scowled in tandem.

---

"Bored?" Jiraiya grinned as Kai looked listless the next day but before Jiraiya could loosen himself a little by discussing the 'plot' of his work, Tsunade suddenly slapped her cheeks and blinked before exhaling a deep sigh, "I'm hungry! Damn, that technique took a lot out of me," she grumbled at the last bit as she shot glares towards Jiraiya and Orochimaru, "You two better remember the cost of your lives."

Her gaze grew a tad bit dull, "And fuck your smut and body modification. Try to steer my apprentice in your direction when any of your techniques could keep you alive under Hanzo's poison!"

Despite revealing a somewhat casual expression, it was clear to her teammates that Tsunade hadn't gotten over the fact that she'd aged up for a few years but surprising Tsunade was a little bundle of bluenette who looked a little nervous as she revealed what was in her hand the entire time.

"Um... please accept this!" Konan mustered and shoved an origami of a rose towards Tsunade who only raised a brow in confusion.

"Did you make this yourself?" Tsunade questioned and Konan nodded.

"Did anyone ask you to make this for me?"

Konan shook her head and Tsunade picked the flower with a shrug, not even questioning why Konan made this. There was a 99℅ chance that the girl was just too bored to do anything else, after all, before Tsunade's gaze fell on Kai, "Hmm... it's time for the talking phase, my talented apprentice. Don't you tell me you would listen to a sissy harping all night long but won't give me even a few hours..."

Orochimaru scowled rightly but held his tongue. If not anything, he did owe Tsunade a lot with just what she did and sacrificed to save his and Jiraiya's ass against Hanzo. He could... bear this much if it meant Tsunade managing to accept the situation and the weight of her actions.

And with that, a dejected Kai followed a fully developed Tsunade who had her current assets straining against her outfit into one of the training rooms.

***

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