The next day, Kai didn't return to the Uzumaki seal chambers but to the Shikkotsu Forest itself. He figured that it would do him good to keep on absorbing nature energy and storing it within the Seal on his forehead would only do him good. Creating two clones that now had the task of reforming his other elemental jutsus into Senjutsu Variations, Kai himself began to think deeply about the elemental variants for the [Revolving Heaven] and even [Rasengun].

Both of these were purely based on chakra. One was used for attack and the other one was used for defense. And Kai stubbornly wanted to keep it that way. However... he got inspiration yesterday from Tsunade. Her words were completely different from what he gained.

His mind only focused on two words.

Second Nature.

For Revolving Heaven, the defense was surely its main objective but denying its second nature— offense, was an arrogant mistake from his side. It delayed him for two days now, but Kai was grateful to have caught this mistake of his own so quickly.

Meanwhile, for Rasengan, the defense was its secondary nature. In fact, it was a more pointed defense that could reflect weapons and attacks, too.

But for Kai, the elemental variation proposed a tiny stream of SP. An income that he would not let go of no matter how little. If possible, Kai would squander all the ryo in his wallet for SP but that wasn't possible. SP could only be derived from his own grind.

The answer to the elemental variations, for Kai, remained within this inspiration itself— Second Nature.

This made the water nature transformation for the two jutsu a lot more complicated but instead of putting it off and turning his attention to a different element, Kai took the challenge head on! He wanted it. His gaze revealed a deeply engraved need for something interesting and he started to think over things.

Water. Its main property aside from 'wet' could be buoyancy. But it wasn't useful in these two jutsus. Kai knew of the ice nature transformation found in Kiri but that was an elemental Kekkei Genkai not under his grasp. But that didn't mean Kai couldn't try and gain understanding from it. From ice, Kai understood that he could also include 'cold' and even 'reflection' as the property of water. Thinking for even longer, Kai felt that his answer lay in these four properties.

Now, he must find the one that fits 'defense' and 'offense.'

A chakra-charged kunai can easily pierce a dome of water. It would be effective against fire attacks but Kai knew how to form a spiral of water and thus, he would gain nothing new— and no SP. Similarly, buoyancy was out of the question, too. The 'cold' was not compatible with the nature of these two techniques since adding temperature to a chakra...

Kai paused and backed up.

What happens when you just try to lower or increase the temperature of the chakra alone? No elements, just the temperature?

He had mastered a jutsu named [Freeze Wave] that allowed Kai to push the chakra to a lower temperature and then freeze any liquid element present outside of his body. But what is its effect on a human? It's nature in defense and attack.

Just like 'Cold', 'Reflection' also presented interesting speculations and with a wide grin, Kai got down to business. Now, he wasn't a masochist, but to understand the nature of the jutsus he's creating, he must have untainted raw data and honest feedback.

So, without a second thought, Kai created another shadow clone with the barest of chakra possible. Although Kai had great reserves of it and had even more of it within his seal... he must never forget his roots and keep himself in check with chakra expenditure.

The moment he started the tests using rasengun since constantly creating a larger and 'bigger' range of attacks using Revolving Heaven was less than effective, Kai found the familiar notification of skill forming, and much to his pleasant surprise, this was a skill not formed before. The data would be extrapolated and Kai knew he was on the right track. After all, this data was all the things he DIDN'T know about a technique related to water nature transformation and would further his grind over the element.

---

There were a few techniques like shadow clones, regular clones, body flicker, replacement jutsu, and the kind that were based on chakra alone that did not provide a skill at all. An acceptable result since the only thing that changed was the base chakra and Kai had already mastered the said base through [Sage Transformation] and [Shikkotsu Rock Egg Sage Art.]

However, to his surprise, the skill that Kai didn't expect to give any result based on the noted discoveries provided a skill!

[Sage's Scalpel (2/5): Coats the hands in a controlled amount of senjutsu chakra that can dissect the physical and metaphysical aspects of the body without excessive bloodshed or chakra leakage. Reduce senjutsu chakra wastage by 1% for every level. Reduces senjutsu chakra consumption by 10% at every level. Senjutsu Chakra Consumption: 752/min.

Next Level: Perform this jutsu for 23/13000 minutes or 60 SP.]

From the looks of it... he could operate directly on the chakra pathways using this technique! Talk about being a fatal doctor! What an S-ranked Jutsu!

That wasn't all.

He had three more incomplete sage arts variants of elemental jutsu. The thing was, the lower level of skill but their repetitive nature was not lost on his trait, and to level up these skills with levels under 5 Kai needed to put in the same amount of effort that he would have to do for a dozen of levels.

But clones made life simpler. To the point, Kai was willing to activate the seal on his forehead and create a few more clones that started the grind assigned to them.

Meanwhile, Kai viewed the beauty of his tests.

[Frost Rasengun (1/5): Creates a concentrated spiral of chakra over the tip of the finger while shifting the temperature of the chakra to colder without limits. Increases the mastery of water stat by 2% at every level. Reduces Chakra Consumption by 10% at every level. Chakra Consumption: 14500~??

Next Level: Perform this technique 13/480 times or 60 SP.]

Two S-ranked Jutsus! And it was as the skill described. Kai could lower the temperature to an unimaginable degree. Being chakra, it did not directly affect the surroundings except for a layer of frost mist that would develop directly around the jutsu... and when Kai used it... and his clone dispersed, for the first time in ever, he had to grit his teeth and crumble on the ground as he experiences his skin, muscles, bones, organs, and even his cells 'freeze' layer by layer... or at least, he felt it.

This skill was disastrous. In fact, it was easy to hurt oneself if the Rasengun turned to Rasengan or an even greater sphere of chakra since it would surely interact with the body of this user. Being made from one's own chakra, the effects would be minimized but they surely would be present.

Anyway, Kai couldn't wait to meet with Minato instead of sending a clone.

Why?

Because Jiraiya was back and Kai wanted to see what else he could learn. Of course, with five of his incomplete skill slot filled... after such a long time, Kai was still eager all the same.

He had almost forgotten this sense of progress.

Of course, should others know of his thoughts, they would curse him black and blue.

---

"Damn!" Jiraiya had a wide grin while Kai felt the man's complicated emotions as easily as he would see his own reflection over the surface of a calm pond, "You really struck the big leagues, huh?"

Minato sat not far away, scribbling something, most likely an errand seal he suddenly thought of while Kai knew well to respect the Toad Sage by not playing around the bush and accepting his complicated emotions. Who didn't know about the crush this man held for Tsunade?

Grinning in reply, Kai shook the 'eager' Jiraiya's hand and waggled his brows, "Right? Did she tell you herself or play around the bush?"

Observing the 'kid' whose height and level of gaze was similar to his own at this point, Jiraiya didn't even feel when his smirk turned into a bitter grin, "Oh, she announced it once filled with five jugs of sake... Hah... man, and you've grown up so much! Really makes me hate your guts and admire you nonetheless. Not to mention, I can't thank you enough for taking care of my apprentice..."

Jiraiya took his hands back and laughed, "But if I keep talking about it, I'd regret even returning. I heard the problem you and Minato encountered with his Jutsu, Rasengan. I'm here for a few weeks, I'll try to clear it."

Kai shrugged, "I already did, though," while he kind of felt awesome with how Tsunade did announce their relationship, he pulled his attention to something else and stared at Jiraiya, "Did... you see Orochimaru, too, yesterday?"

Nodding casually, Jiraiya inquired, "I did. What's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to learn a few Jutsu from him," Kai shrugged while understanding that Jiraiya was much like him and remained clueless about Orochi because one thing Kai was sure about the snake-like Bimbo was that she would have certainly tried to hint Jiraiya too about her changes just for her own kicks. Orochi might claim that she was cautious... but Kai knew a 'fun-loving' son of a gun when he sees one.

"From him?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow before grinning, "Stop that! You need to focus. Believe me, when you hear the few tips I have to impart... you'll remember me forever!"

Cringing, Kai scoffed, "I'd rather not... besides, I'm an iryo-nin. I understand what you want to 'impart' and more." The youth was humble enough to understand that the information-based technique that most likely originated from Jiraiya helped a lot but he hadn't lost his mind. It was very likely that Mikoto wouldn't even want to sleep with him after she finds out that Jiraiya blessed her fiance with the eldritch information of perversion...

Visibly deflating, Jiraiya turned to look at Minato who wasn't that far off but didn't even participate because he wanted to utilize every second to lower the gap between him and Kai, "Then? He's hard to move when he gets like that...'"

Kai looked at Minato, too, and looked thoughtful, "Jiraiya-san, did you know I got a bounty?"

Evading the knock on his head, Kai heard Jiraiya grumble, "You bet I did. Stronger than the Sannin? Konoha's Dragon or should I call you Dragon Sennin?"

"Dragon Sennin, of course," Kai smiled as Jiraiya deadpanned.

Finally rolling his eyes, Jiraiya questioned, "What about your bounty?"

"Since I've already called myself a Sennin... why not teach me the real stuff? Ever since my body grew, so did my reserve for chakra and I've got this, too," Kai pointed at his forehead where Jiraiya observed the circular steel-blue mark and remarked, "And what 'real stuff' is that you want to learn?"

Letting his excitement simmer down, Kai smiled slightly while biting for the prize, "The Sage Mode... you know it, don't you?"

The corner of Jiraiya's eyes twitched as he questioned, "Sensei will have my head if something happened to you of all people! You can't learn something like that just because you want to..."

"Why can't I learn it just because I want to?" Kai inquired with a curious expression.

"Because... you could die!"

"I could die in any number of missions or the war that we won through technicality but you don't see me, Hokage, or anyone else whining about it," Kai smirked, "Just test me out. Senju Legacy has something like that but I can't start it unless a Sage helps me... always makes me wonder how the first Sage even came to be."

Jiraiya looked conflicted and Kai couldn't blame the man. After all, not many knew that Kai mastered not one but two sources of Sage Mode. Although their primal enhancements remained the same, Kai's knowledge and control of Senjutsu Chakra and the ability to develop the Sage Art variants of the regular ninjutsu and genjutsu were connected to [Shikkotsu Rock Egg Sage Art.]

In fact, even Tsunade and Orochimaru only knew about the Sage Transformation.

Sighing deeply, Jiraiya still shook his head, "That knowledge isn't mine to share... but I can ask for you. Give me a few days. The ones who taught me slumber often during autumn..."

Kai nodded, "Thank you."

The duo just sat down after a while as Jiraiya began to excitedly describe his adventures as Kai just happened to be the rare few who would listen, pose questions, and even joke with him without the usual judgment like others.

Only after having a blast of a discussion did Jiraiya move forward slightly and blinked, "Oh, right. You said you already solved the problem of making an elemental version of Rasengan."

Kai nodded and calmly explained, not the least bit worried about the information being used against him. After all, just 'knowing' was not the same as performing the said process, and he did want a favor from Jiraiya so unwilling to sour their relationship over a tiny aspect of knowledge he possessed, he replied, "Back then, we kept the elemental aspect to its primal nature. For instance, for the element of wind, we formed the Rasengan to mimic wind itself. The result was expected, the Rasengan blew away. We should have used its second nature— cutting force that is enhanced with Wind Chakra."

Jiraiya frowned and revealed the wealth of experience he possessed and noted something that Kai only realized after using a similar technique.

"Wouldn't it hurt the user? It's like holding a ball of rapidly spinning blades..."

Kai nodded and smiled, "One problem at a time. It's hard as is to turn a perfectly shaped chakra jutsu by adding nature transformation only after."

Jiraiya then frowned harder and agreed, "Yeah... you two have a lot to train..."

His expression soon eased a bit and he looked at Kai, "No point worrying about it now, as you said. Sensei and Sakumo-san himself think that you're already an Elite Jonin... how about a spar? Just Taijutsu. How about it?"

Kai raised his brow and inquired, "Want me to lose the weighted accesories or not?"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the obvious provocation.

***

Alternate Title: Manly Acceptance of Loss!

***

Shoutout to Rene!!

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