A shell of his former self and unable to even die by triggering the seals on his body for the one in front of him, the founder of Medical Nin, had come prepared— Danzo wasn't even given the courtesy of getting 'tied' onto something. His bandages that once covered the right portion of his body now was tied onto the stump of his right shoulder. His right eye revealed a pale grey glassy pupil— half of his vision long lost.

His body was now deprived of all his motor connections through her Chakra Scalpel and his body was marked with a chakra seal that made it impossible to weave any chakra.

For all intents and purposes, after enduring 57 hours of torture, Danzo was indeed that— a shell.

Still, in one of his bases where he was betrayed by the snake, and in front of him, THEY discussed openly what to do with him.

"Hmm, this is quite primitive but a bold thing to do," Orochimaru held a terribly mangled arm that had trunk-like textured curves under the skin that formed muscles and other tissues, "Danzo HAD to inject himself with First Hokage's cells... it's no wonder that he was in such a horrible and ill-prepared condition." Turning to face the man, Orochimaru was eager to 'tutor' him and claimed, "Oh, Danzo, you just don't inject things. Your researchers failed you..."

Snatching the arm with a pair of bloodied hands, Tsunade narrowed her eyes. Danzo lost his ability to speak after going to shock multiple times but he never did reveal anything. But they will have their answers in time. So what if Danzo's seals extended to his brain and consciousness? Uzumaki Clan had a drive in screwing with such metaphysical aspects including the Shinigami as such Kai believed he would get what Tsunade wanted in no time since he mastered quite a bit of fuinjutsu by now.

But they couldn't just camp here and Tsunade narrowed her eyes and barked at Orochimaru impatiently, "You got what you wanted. I need to clean up. I'll get you your other equipment later."

Not even giving Danzo's right eye which should have been a sharingan according to Orochimaru, a single glance, Tsunade stared at Kai while gripping the wooden arm in her hand.

Shrugging, he inquired once again, "Sure you don't want some researchers, too, Sensei?"

"For this thing?" Tsunade waved the wooden arm, "I can do better. Take Danzo and let's leave."

Orochimaru couldn't help but chuckle at Tsunade's words. It was the truth, after all.

As such, Kai released his sage transformation, the speed of which caught Orochimaru's attention for a second as he continued to bring Danzo and Tsunade close. Holding each of them, albeit way too differently— with clutching Danzo's head casually... and coiling his hand around the middle of Tsunade's back since he knew that she WILL try to make an example out of him like Jiraiya and Dan back then... after all, he had brushed past this situation with his Flying Thunder God Technique more than a dozen time in the past month itself, Kai and the remaining duo disappeared, leaving Orochimaru to her own devices.

This was a highly 'grey' situation. Shinobi, by their very job description, committed 'crimes' when ordered. For Tsunade to go out of her way to do this was only because of how personal things were with Danzo and by now, she was somewhat like Orochimaru in her thoughts about Hokage.

While Orochimaru did not trust Hiruzen, she respected the man despite his obvious flaws. After all, despite the creaks of corruption that they themselves were filling and controlling, Hiruzen ran Konoha well enough.

Tsunade... did not trust Hiruzen at this point. Not his credibility, no. She wholeheartedly believed that Hiruzen was not behind Danzo's actions but obliviousness was never an excuse for irresponsibility. Tsunade no longer trusted Hiruzen's views when it came to Danzo whether positive or negative. And as such, if she could find ready assistance in Kai, then she would...

With her new 'providers' gone and feeling a little... well, envious, at the obvious benefits and convenience of Kai's 'new' Jutsu he gained from Tsunade, the Snake Sage wondered if she could gain similar things if she persuaded Tsunade to get appointed as a Legacy Guardian, too. But, two things made Orochi hesitant.

Tsunade, for all her potential, was limited by her nature in Orochi's point of view. As such, Orochi felt that she would not be able to go 'all out' with her desires... but then again, she had seen that some individuals, or in this case, that individual just may not need to do such extreme things to achieve the goal of mastering everything. This fact was a major breach in Orochi's original point of view about herself and the path she MUST take to achieve her goals but she didn't let show any of it.

And the second obstruction was... the fact that each leader can only appoint one Legacy Guardian with Tsunade being the most recent leader to adopt this archaic tradition. Then again, Orochi felt it was the correct decision how Kai turned out.

So, at this moment, Orochimaru felt torn with her previously untangled path now forking into two options.

Should she continue to stay in the muck of the world for her desires, adopt the most efficient but highly ostracized practices, and risk her reestablished professional camaraderie with someone like Tsunade whom Orochimaru ironically both trusted and respected...

Or build on this relationship, use her manipulative means above the table rather than under and take upon a path she considered fallacy once in her earlier years now that this very belief was shaken to the core after the appearance of the Legacy Guardian.

Brought back to her surroundings as she felt the scared 'child' shift, Orochimaru turned to look at the earlier product and found her earlier thoughts of either taming or... eradicating the potential threat utterly useless.

'What's after mastering everything that is and was?' Orochimaru wondered, her lips curling to a sick and twisted smirk as she let out a soft hiss, "Making sure the future has even more interesting things in store~ Right?"

Her eyelids narrowed and almost closed as her grin grew broader while the boy flailed and sobbed out loud.

---

Kai had his work cut out for him. After entering into the manor's underground prison cell, once built by the Second Hokage, and having her frustration mediated through her fists and administered to Danzo, it was Kai's job to heal the man which turned out great. With a newfound thirst for staying transformed, as he explained to Orochi, to find solutions to make this form as versatile as his base one, the thing Kai managed to adapt to, aside from grinding the Shikkotsu Rock Sage Art...

Was Iryo Nin stuffed with Senjutsu...

He hadn't mastered it yet in a matter of days since Tsunade only beat the man... for what? 1 hour? No, to grind the skill without administering torture on local rodents found in the training ground, Kai redirected the pain AND the medicine on Danzo itself.

And, Kai didn't sleep.

As such, Danzo never did either.

Sure, there was the fact that... Kai was spending more time with Danzo than Mikoto but loyal as ever, and to ease Mikoto... Kushina, and Nono that he may never fall on the grips of the other side... until the other side came to his biologically similar to the resident Snake Sage, Kai had Danzo's lips sewed shut.

Tsunade wasn't a fan of this but was pleased nonetheless once Kai put it in a way that he was only making sure that he never got any way to persuade him in any manner and slept like a baby that night.

"Uh," enduring the scent since he had yet to devise a wind nature sage art, Kai simply tiptoed towards Danzo laying in his own filth and blood, his shoulder no longer a stump as it was growing 'out'. Musing with interest internally, Kai took out his journal and noted the effects of his skill.

Not speaking any further, however, Kai cut off the left index finger of Danzo once again as the man let out not a single whimper and that was NOT because of his mouth being sewed shut.

For research reasons as to why a sharingan would lose its sight, Kai had taken out Danzo's right eye but he had yet to make any theories about the matter. He needed to study Mikoto in great 'detail' for that matter.

Still, Kai paused after the initial act and stretched his arm from the distance instead of getting too close as his scaled claws were covered in a bright, intense green glow of visible chakra that extended from his palms in a show of great shape transformation and covered Danzo's left palm as his finger began to stop bleeding. While Kai's focus was on the palm, the effects showed all over around Danzo and NOT because of his lack of control. While Senjutsu Chakra is hard to manipulate, Kai had a solid foundation of the most intense but basic discipline of the grind.

In his unsurprised and calm gaze, Danzo's finger began to regenerate.

His right arm grew out a centimeter further.

Not stopping there, Kai controlled scalpels with chakra strings and sliced open Danzo's stomach from the distance, and 'opened' the man to make a few more observations that checked out with his theory.

Danzo's 'ability' to regenerate was neither because of Kai's skill nor Senjutsu. Well, the latter was responsible but it was only the 'cause' that triggered a reaction from within Danzo.

Taking a blood sample, Kai didn't leave the prison but unsealed a tester compound and took note of changes in the blood sample if any.

Opening his journal, Kai jotted down anything notable in scribble.

And then, Kai continued to cut Danzo up, heal him, cut him up again to mark any changes, and then heal him again before testing his blood and other factors that Orochimaru dubbed as the 'origin' of Kekkei Genkai present in others, and Kai now.

'So... the more I use Senjutsu Chakra, the more the First Hokage's cells remaining and unextractable in his system are activated. The researchers from before never thought of using that snake boy to use his senjutsu to have better and holistic tests or maybe Danzo did not want a child to wield Senjutsu on him... anyway, Senjutsu has a highly positive reaction on Danzo...

This also explains why Sensei said that her Grandfather had an extraordinary constitution even amongst the Senjus. It's as if his cells are made to do good with ANYTHING nature energy-related... Danzo may not have gotten younger but the cells did everything aside from that. His organs are healed largely, all the broken teeth reverted better than ever under his sewed mouth... and his left eye regenerated... But his mind is still in shock. That's unlikely to remain like that.'

As he thought so, Kai looked at his two current notable grinds.

[Shikkotsu Rock Egg Sage Art (27/75): Allows the user to master a set of Sage Arts and wielding of Senjutsu Chakra consciously to enter Sage Mode. Reduces the cost of Senjutsu Consumption by 0.67% at every level.

1) Drunken Monk-ey's Fist— This allows the user to perform a Taijutsu based on the intoxication of oneself using products brewed by nature energy and the manipulation of Senjutsu Chakra. Current Consumption: 4592 Senjutsu Chakra; 16 Stamina per minute.

2) Monkey Shifts, Staff Sticks— This allows the user to perform Bojutsu that utilizes a special staff able to transmit nature energy. Current Consumption: 3280 Senjutsu Chakra; 16 Stamina per minute.

3) Monkey Steals Bitches, Monkey Eat Peaches— A dance that manipulates nature energy to produce an environment of natural aphrodisia to charm sentient beings. Current Consumption: 4920 Senjutsu Chakra per minute.

Note: Special bodily conditions of the user redact the effects of the sage mode of added gain in raw parameters by 10 times.

Next Level: Perform one of the Sage Arts 6909/7000 times or 60 SP.]

Needless to say, Kai practiced the shit out of Monkey steals bitches... but the moment Tsunade entered the lab after being called under the guise of an emergency, she only glared at Kai with a flushed expression before zipping up to her lab, never to return. This, by itself, was one of those days where Kai teleported away the moment he paused the grind temporarily.

But, the knowledge from the VERY quirky Shikkotsu Rock Egg Sage Art made it clear that the difference between normal jutsus of any kind and Sage Arts was that the latter becomes... a part of nature's action.

No, in essence, Sage Art was the ability to hold the hands of nature and carve it into something specific. Whether ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu-based, Senjutsu can be hardly considered normal which was clear once Kai used his knowledge from Shikkotsu Rock Egg Sage Art to form his personalized Iryo Ninjutsu.

[Mystical Sage Palms (13/15): Allows the user to charge Senjutsu Chakra in a specific ratio of yin and yang nature to induce rapid physical improvement and a veritable boost to the immune system. Decrease consumption by 3.33% at every level. Current Consumption: 6238 Senjutsu Chakra/min.

Next Level: Spend 58009/400000 Senjutsu Chakra or 25 SP]

This skill was extrapolated so Kai, like always, assumed that there COULD be more to the total level of extrapolation to provide for the skill but till now, his trait has been undefeated on the matter. Still, despite the addition of a very high boost to the immune system that did everything in its power to keep the body stay as 'intended', Kai had not unlocked the secret of eternal youth. Yet, that's what Danzo managed through Hashirama's cells.

Tsunade was not happy once she was made aware of this fact. But to be absolutely clear, she was interested in the matter regardless, her bias already showing as she indirectly took part in human experimentation for the first time.

One thing was clear to Kai, however, Hashirama was special. More than most. Maybe, the MOST special until the Dragon came around this world. But... this situation also forced Kai to wonder how Hashirama died and... would Tsunade recover her age spent in the war through her forbidden skill if she manages to master Senjutsu and Sage Mode...

And another thing, the secrets of eternal youth may as well be locked behind nature energy that made anything a force of this world itself, yin transformation that represented the creative strength of chakra, and yang transformation that represented the physical strength of chakra.

As disgusted as she may be at the thought, Kai knew that the greatest recipient of Hashirama's cells to replicate such a phenomenon would only be Tsunade and Nawaki... and despite his natural talents, Nawaki was far from ideal to master Sage Mode given he focused more on his physical gifts using Tai and Bukijutsu. He did learn ninjutsu and genjutsu to be prepared but he lacked the nature transformation training and also the natural patience and deceit of a Genjutsu Master.

So, Tsunade, who possibly mastered chakra to the highest extent of control and wasted not a single percent in her jutsu was the prime 'vessel' for her grandfather. Kai couldn't wait to use the exact words to see her get the jeepers!

Anyway, turning his attention to Danzo, Kai sighed softly. He either needed to develop a way to synthesize Senjutsu Chakra with yin nature to develop a genjutsu to control Danzo and learn all his secrets since the seal on his mind was long dispelled or...

He had two other options.

1) Form a technique similar to Yamanaka Clan's Hiden and develop a Sage Art out of it.

2) Form a Shadow Clone Technique out of Senjutsu Chakra and let it do all the above while he focused on even more research.

***

A/N: The Dragon's Rising while stealing bitches and eating peaches~ Make bets on who's gonna leap with him—

1) Medic (Nagato)

2) Snake (Cinnamon)

3) Weird Eyes (Hizashi)

4) Fart Machine (Kuromaru)

5) Bro (Jiraiya)

XD

***

Shoutout to Matthew18273645, blockernine, Patryk Sikorski, Gabriel Bahia Machado Coelho, Phillip, and Dante Stea!!

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