The first thing Tsunade did after isolating his divine stress relief form was to exhale a deep, tired sigh before sitting cross-legged with an idle expression. She, of course, shook her head in a lonesome while muttering, "Kai... now you see why I didn't want you to ever enter the war despite your talents? Talents... life gets consumed in war."

Kai was stunned for a second. Well, he already knew that. He's the one reaping many, many lives in this war, after all. It would be weird if he didn't consider the same thing happening to himself or someone he doesn't want dead, to be blunt. Life should be lived by one's desire to the point that even his gamer mind found that logical enough to give him a chance to aim at a new life.

Again... fuck the gamer's mind!

"The negotiations didn't go well, huh, Sensei?" Kai mused as he sat down and took out a jar of sake from the storage scroll. This... pleasantly surprised Tsunade as she looked at Kai, "Where did you get this?"

"Well... I stole more than just some fruits when scouting the town," Kai smiled as he presented the offering to his master in hopes she won't wear his ears out, too, like Orochimaru.

Taking a sip directly from the jar, Tsunade let out a somewhat satisfied huff and then chuckled suddenly, "You can notice what happened to me, right? Your eyes aren't that hard to track."

"Well, now you see, I don't know if I should be blunt or sensible because a sad Sensei is way out of my league," Kai chuckled. He didn't exactly fear the consequences of his words but... Tsunade had cared for him well to the point that she hid the fact about his affinities from the Third Hokage. Even a man of his caliber who used to steal lollipops and balloons from children just to give them a lesson in trolling would feel like a jackass by passing some crass remark about the situation.

"When did you wimp out? Is it the war? Did it suck the joy out of you already?" Tsunade chuckled, taking another filling sip from the jar as her amber haze grew hazy.

"If you want to know what I noticed," Kai groaned, "I would say you aged well... yeah, that's about it."

Tsunade snorted a chuckle at that. She didn't have to hide her complicated expression because Kai could feel it ooze from her chakra itself. It's just the kind of situation that no matter compliment or an insult, the other party would feel the same way, and in times like these... the strongest of will is required for the hardest decisions.

"Sensei... I'm sorry. You know what, it sucks. You aged so much in a day... if this happened to me, Kushina, Mikoto, or Nono, we'd all feel like shit, too."

His words made Tsunade frown for a second and then she whispered, "It was... from a part of Jutsu I intended to teach you alongside the Strength of a Hundred Seals that I learned from Grandma." She pointed at her forehead protector, allowing Kai to realize she meant the violet diamond mark in the center of her forehead.

"Basically, I had no way to create an antidote against Hanzo's poison. He is a bioweapon whose formula and blends change every day. So, I had to force constantly consume my own chakra to heal them. But healing wasn't everything that could trump the poison. I still needed the antidote to make Hanzo ineffective for the day... and I finally did it. But for that, I needed to make my own body develop the antibodies... and for that, I had to fight the poison instead of avoiding it."

Taking another sip from the jar, Tsunade sniffed softly and continued, "That jutsu of mine... doesn't create cells constantly. This is a jutsu that mimics my grandfather's natural kekkei genkai. The jutsu forces the cells of my body to divide, obliterate the dead ones, and rejuvenate the divided ones again and again. It made my body resistant to Hanzo's poison and forming an antidote was just a syringe away. But in turn, this Jutsu sucks away the lifespan of the user..."

Kai nodded as he accepted everything his teacher had to offer. It would be a lie if he himself wasn't bummed out after hearing all this.

"Maybe... she has a way... after all... she did grow younger from the sound of her voice and it was no transformation jutsu," Kai's words made Tsunade recall a particular red-bunned maiden as she blinked and shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. But one thing my granduncle taught me is to never... hope."

"He sounds like he got cheated on by everyone around him," Kai replied bluntly. If he himself didn't have any hope... he would have stayed in that dull life of his.

Tsunade, momentarily surprised, looked at Kai and humored him, "He wasn't the kind to easily fall into relationships... and died alone. You know, I'm talking about the Second Hokage."

"Still, since you asked me to be blunt Sensei, he sounded like a hurt dog. No hope? Come on, that's stupid. Every shinobi entered the war with their hopes. To stop the war, or conquer the enemies, or maybe get down with some villagers. Kushina would be a mess if she didn't have hope to catch up to me in skills. Mikoto would not be as great of a kunoichi as she is now if she didn't hope to defeat me—"

"Done tooting your horn?" Tsunade scoffed.

Kai smirked and shrugged.

"It may not look like it... but this helped," Tsunade sighed softly as Kai chuckled, "Of course, it did. You got alcohol and your apprentice's wise words. It's hard to counter that!"

Tsunade stared at him for a bit and then blinked, "Almost forgot. What's your deal with the kids?"

Kai briefly wondered if he should confide in Tsunade about Nagato. But everything Tsunade had done till this point in these two years since his apprenticeship gave him no reason to doubt her. Again, trust is a fickle bitch but even someone like Kai had kept it with many around him.

"Sensei... do you remember that myth? About a third dojutsu as great as Sharingan and Byakugan?"

"Hmph, you mean the Rinnegan? Screw the myths. My clan archives have actual phrases that suggest that the sage's eye was beyond Sharingan and Byakugan combined!"

"Ah..." Kai muttered, "Do you know what it looks like? The Rinnegan, I mean."

"Hmm... freaky purple eyes. Way weirder than Sharingan and Byakugan. Like concentric circles and stuff." Tsunade wasn't too keen on myths and pulled back on the topic, "Still, tell me how did you find the Uzumaki brat? Aside from being a bit pale, he has somewhat higher chakra than the two civilians."

"Oh... I found him alright... Sensei, will you teach me shadow clones if I brought you a pair of Rinnegan?"

Scoffing, Tsunade sneered, "She removed those seals because she trusts you, right? I'll do you better. If you bring me those legendary Rinnegan, I'll make you the Senju Clan's Legacy Guardian. To be clear, there is only one Legacy Guardian for one leader and you'll be mine in this case with your authority lower only to me and everything in the clan open for you. Of course, until I'm the matriarch, that is."

Seeing Kai's dumbstruck expression, Tsunade smirked proudly. It's always hard making this guy speechless.

[Legacy Quest: Eye Digger

Summary: As her way of fair trade, the Senju Matriarch offers anything her coffers can provide until she remains in power to come into possession of a pair of eyes named Rinnegan.

Rewards: New Title, New Skill Tree.

Failure: Tsunade Senju's mockery.]

Kai blinked and his gaze, despite all his previous sensibility grew invasive, "Everything in the clan will be open for me?"

Scoffing at the ludicrous 'dreams' of the boy, Tsunade jeered while drinking, "You really should stop hanging out with Jiraiya but you know what? It's hard to find gems you trust not to break. Give it a few years and we'll see. Now, can we put this to rest?

"Just you wait for a second," Kai grinned and hurried out of the room before pulling Nagato into the room the next second and sealing it.

"Nagato, one thing I forgot to mention, my Sensei here is a distant cousin of your actual clan and lineage. Go on, show her your eyes, I promise she is aware of them."

Tsunade blinked and felt a little ominous before recalling how she'd lost all her gambles except the one that involved her team against Team Orochi and Jiraiya...

Nagato, meanwhile, slowly brushed his hair up and as the jar of wine fell from the hand of the stupefied Tsunade, Kai grinned massively, "I hope you keep your words matriarch. I'll be directly under you from now on~!" His chortle only earned him a confused glare from Tsunade while Nagato blinked innocuously.

---

"Did something happen?" Orochimaru inquired the poker-faced Tsunade who walked out with Nagato and Kai. The man instantly noticed a change. First, Nagato's hair was somewhat ruffled. Two, Kai had a strange pep to his steps. Three, Tsunade was drunk.

Now... Orochimaru didn't consider himself sinful by shinobi standards but—

"What the hell did the three of you do?" Jiraiya exclaimed with a flushed expression and stated further in a sour tone, "Why... Tsunade? Could have just asked me. I would have transformed into my younger—"

"Oh, shove it!" Tsunade growled... confused and still pissed. Everything happened too fast... really too fast!

She saw a pair of Rinnegan. Kai spun a tale to Nagato that she could make her eyes feel better so that he doesn't feel drained constantly... this remark itself made Tsunade feel a little strange. Others may not know but she knew the fact after consulting the Uchiha and Hyuga during her studies under her grandmother's suggestion that transplanting a dojutsu that is not one's own is the only reason why a Dojutsu will suck chakra.

Nagato's case was worse. The pair of rinnegan sucked... everything. It was only because the boy was Uzumaki and the eyes weren't used that he was still so lively. But this made Tsunade question her world views... who the hell would transplant the mythical dojutsu on a child?

But... things took a quick turn. Tsunade administered a short bout of unconsciousness to Nagato and then transplanted the eyes out with perfect vision eyes that Tsunade kept in her storage scroll in case of an emergency that she or her own teammate may lose an eye and need it.

Again... everything happened fast. And she purposely kept herself drunk to numb herself a bit.

Here she was, feeling pity to lose about 9 years of age... and now she suddenly swapped away a pair of Rinnegan from a child who was none the wiser.

Rinnegan!

Tsunade couldn't help but slump on the ground as Nagato was told that if he spoke of his eyes to others, she would turn them back. It was a lie, of course, but an efficient one.

And Nagato... well, he felt great. Too great!

Kai, on the other hand, slept. The grind will only grow better for him so he needed to prepare, right? He was wholly unbothered by the sheer confusion Tsunade felt on what to do now?

Should she use the Rinnegan?

Should she give it to her Sensei?

Maybe run tests on it with Orochimaru?

All these ideas had... risks. But the safest option was also clear to her.

And that was...

To run tests on the Rinnegan by herself while raising her first and only Legacy Guardian to the same level as her and have his input on the matter because she may trust Orochimaru but the man had political ambitions. Meanwhile Kai... she trusted his talents and loyalty if not his motivations. Truly, she regretted the day she left Kai alone with Jiraiya but then again... she wasn't a fool to not know that Kai himself was a perverted brat.

***

A/N: Black Zetsu still cannot come out of Madara since he was only produced once Madara died to make the whole play as the will of Madara which will be until after the Obito incident...

Honestly, I still don't know what Madara was thinking? Again, I made it clear that the eyes couldn't be sensed even if staring at them but Nagato was one bad haircut away from being discovered! Sure, many may not know about Rinnegan but it's a running legend really.

Well, either way, we are getting ever so close to a major time skip and a reaaalllllly long list of stats update that comes with the time skip. But this will at least make Kai... a tiny bit older, getting closer and closer to the age of tasting delicious lemons~!

Again, I hope I didn't put off anyone with this turn of events but given how I have created Kai and Tsunade... this was. natural turn of events. Rinnegan was more harmful to current Nagato and it worked just well with Kai to gain the benefit of being directly under Tsunade, lol.

And any theories of what might happen if Tsunade, or let's Mikoto or Kushina do pop in one of these bad boys? (Rinnegan.)

***

Shout out to Ishy391.!!

Read 30 advance chapters here—

Patreon.com/Fanharem

Join the discord for well... uh, dead chat room~

https://discord.gg/egdFUe5