Chapter 184: Now That's a Senju Princess~
"A kiss is a kiss, why'd you have to bite me?" Keisuke mumbled, wincing slightly.
"A talk is a talk, why'd you have to use your mouth?" Princess Tsunade, her face scarlet, retorted. "And... why are you so skilled at this?"
Once upon a time, Tsunade had thought Keisuke was just a shy, introverted boy. Now she realized she was the innocent one. His kissing technique was so practiced it made her legs go weak. Why didn't I notice that last time?
"Speaking of which," Keisuke, nearly sunk by her accidental compliment, deftly activated his Topic Diversion Jutsu. "Your kissing skills are as undeveloped as a dead-last who turns in a blank test."
I'm sorry my kissing technique is so unpracticed!!
Blood rushed to Tsunade's face, and a burst of strength she didn't know she had surged through her exhausted body.
"Could it be..." Keisuke continued to dance on the edge of getting beaten to a pulp. "That your first kiss wasn't with someone else, but was, in fact, with me?!"
Tsunade, who a second ago had looked like an exploding bomb, instantly deflated like a punctured balloon. This wasn't her first kiss with the opposite sex, but one like that... well, this was the first—no, the second time!
"Heh... hehe..." Tsunade stammered out a laugh, her bravado completely transparent. "First kiss? How could this possibly be my first kiss... Right! I had something important to tell you! You completely interrupted me, you devious brat!"
In the end, she had to deploy her own Topic Diversion Jutsu.
"Go ahead, I'm listening," Keisuke said, pulling his fat sheep tighter into his arms. She had yet to realize she was still being held in a princess carry.
"You were talking about my great-uncle..." Tsunade glanced at the distant statue of Hashirama, a strange wave of embarrassment washing over her, but she suppressed it. "Your strength right now... can you compare to his?"
"Good question." Keisuke sat down cross-legged, settling her more comfortably in his lap. "I don't know what I did to make you think so highly of my power level... but in all honesty, I believe there is still a massive gap between myself and the First Hokage."
Tsunade had never personally witnessed Hashirama in battle. In her eyes, the strongest ninja in the world were Hiruzen Sarutobi and Hanzō of the Salamander. Everyone else, from the Tsuchikage to the Raikage, was a step below. But given the strength Keisuke had just displayed, and the glorious war record he'd earned... she felt that he was already incredibly strong. Stronger than her by more than just one tier. Especially that giant jutsu he had used at the end...
"Nara, is the gap between you and my great-uncle really that wide?" Tsunade reached up and pinched his cheeks. "You're not just messing with me, are you? I know how clever you are."
"Let's put it this way," Keisuke said, his voice muffled. "In my opinion, Lord First is the number one ninja below the Sage of Six Paths."
"Now you're just being ridiculous!" Tsunade let go of his face and struggled in his lap. "Bringing up the Sage of Six Paths... ugh."
"So don't fidget. It could cause problems," Keisuke said, holding her tight as he suppressed his own growing fire. "If I lose control... the scene could get ugly."
"...I get it!" Tsunade's voice trembled, the tips of her ears burning red. She had definitely been "conquered" by his show of strength, but she really didn't want to be "conquered" again out here in the open.
"Never mind the talk about the Sage," she said, forcing her composure. "If you were to fight Orochimaru, what are your chances?"
"Actually, I nearly killed him when I first got to the battlefield..." Keisuke said, also diverting his attention. "But you know how he is. His other skills are debatable, but he's first-class when it comes to avoiding fights, running for his life, and enduring pressure."
"That's true..." Tsunade knew Orochimaru's abilities better than anyone. "But how did you almost kill him? With that giant jutsu?"
"No." Keisuke casually raised his right hand, condensed a ball of Yin Release chakra, and fired it at the wide river below. The Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon shot past the sound barrier and slammed into the water, erupting in a massive plume.
"That power... and that speed... and it's instant-cast with no seals..." Tsunade was dumbstruck. If Keisuke had used that in their fight, she would have had to either run for her life or use Creation Rebirth just to tank it.
"This technique is still too weak," Keisuke said, dissatisfied. "Sooner or later, I'm going to make something much bigger." The "bigger" thing he was referring to was, of course, the prototype for the Rasengan—the Tailed Beast Bomb. It just consumed too much chakra, and his own reserves weren't large enough to test it freely without halting all his other research.
A jutsu like that... is weak? Tsunade suddenly understood how ordinary medical-nin must feel when they looked at her. 'So this is the difference between a genius and a super-genius?' She couldn't help but raise a hand and gently stroke his face.
"Hm?" Keisuke looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. "You want to?"
"No!" Tsunade snatched her hand back as if shocked. She cleared her throat. "I meant, just leave Orochimaru to me!"
"Don't be ridiculous," Keisuke said, tapping his forehead against hers. "Your hemophobia isn't even cured. How can you fight him? Unless..."
Tsunade had just been trying to change the subject, but his hesitation piqued her interest. "Unless what?"
"Unless... I use your body to fight him," he suggested. "I can use my secret technique to control your body. That way, you won't have to worry about your phobia."
It was a feasible solution, but she wanted a better one. "What if I want to use my own will to deal with him?"
Keisuke frowned. "Then you'd either have to make him not bleed, or be unable to bleed."
"Easier said than done," Tsunade huffed, trying to rile him up. "What kind of fight has no blood? I want to see rivers of it."
"Actually, there is a way," Keisuke said with a perfectly straight face. "As long as you instantly dry up all his blood before it spills, you can create the illusion that he isn't bleeding."
"Hahaha..." Tsunade started to laugh, ready to mock him for being ridiculous. But she stopped when she realized he wasn't laughing with her. "You're serious?"
Keisuke didn't answer directly. "What are your chakra natures?"
Tsunade had obviously tested hers. "Yang, then Water, Fire, Lightning, and Earth."
"Water and Earth?" Keisuke's eyebrows shot up. "Tsunade, have you never tried to learn Wood Style? Honestly, that would be a much better solution than what I was thinking."
"Throughout the entire history of the Senju clan, only my great-uncle could use Wood Style," she countered. "Do you think a Kekkei Genkai is just some common piece of wood you can find anywhere?"
"No, of course I know they're rare," he said, shaking his head. "But they're also not as valuable as you think."
"You say that as if you're some Kekkei Genkai ninja!" Tsunade said with a laugh, but then she stopped, a look of sudden suspicion on her face. "Wait... how do you know Wood Style is made from Water and Earth?"
"Where did your mind just go?" Keisuke said, exasperated. "I haven't been researching any Hashirama cells."
"Hashirama cells... hehe..." A broken smile crossed Tsunade's face. "So there's even a formal name for it?"
"In any case, that's what Orochimaru and Root are researching," Keisuke explained. "My information on Wood Style comes from another source."
Tsunade's voice was low. "Nara, don't tell me you met a Wood Style user."
"Actually... more than one," he said. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to tell her everything. "I was debating whether to tell you this, but now..."
"No more nonsense. Just tell me," she interrupted.
"Edo Tensei, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Madara, Wood Style, White Zetsu..." Keisuke summarized the key points, recounting the entire "Founder of Konoha" mission in detail. "If you want, I can take you to see the live White Zetsu."
Tsunade couldn't wait. She struggled out of his lap. "Let's go. Now!"
Keisuke created a Shadow Creature, took her back to Kikyo Castle, and went straight to his hidden research base. This base was only for "semi-public" research; for those he was close to, there was no need for secrecy.
Tsunade entered the lab, and her eyes immediately landed on the lone White Zetsu, sealed in a glass container.
"This is the special creature you were talking about?" she said, frowning. "A White Zetsu? And it can use Wood Style?"
"I can demonstrate." Keisuke first sent a shadow thread to completely control the Zetsu's body, then released it from the container. The pale creature stood in the middle of the lab's large protective barrier. Keisuke manipulated its body, sensed the chakra within it, and quickly formed hand seals.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
Tsunade watched as the Zetsu's pale arm instantly turned a deep, wooden brown. A lifelike Wood Dragon emerged from its arm and coiled on the lab floor. Keisuke cut the chakra flow, and the dragon's tail snapped off from the Zetsu's arm with a crisp crack. He used his shadow to retrieve the dragon construct and then stuffed the White Zetsu back into its glass case.
He handed the piece of wood to Tsunade. She grabbed it and, with a clench of her fist, crushed the back half of the dragon into powder. Tiny wood chips sifted through her fingers.
"It... it really is Wood Style!" Tsunade was trembling with rage. "Damn you, Orochimaru!"
"Well, to be accurate, this isn't Orochimaru's work," Keisuke said, not bothering to scapegoat him this time. "This was Madara's doing. As for how he researched it... that remains a mystery. Madara is dead now, and the other Zetsu got away. For research purposes, this live one is all we have, other than a few corpses that are probably with the Third Hokage by now."
Tsunade held the remains of the wood dragon like a broken trophy. "So this is how you knew the nature transformation for Wood Style?"
"No, I only know it's a combination of Water and Earth. I haven't successfully replicated it yet," Keisuke admitted. "What I did just now, using the Zetsu's body... that was just my jutsu being special."
Tsunade fell silent. She clenched the wood dragon in her hand, looked at the White Zetsu in the tank, and then thought back to Orochimaru's research...
"Nara," she said suddenly. "You've done a lot of research on Kekkei Genkai, haven't you?"
"A little, but not that much," he said, first nodding, then shaking his head. "I still haven't been able to create my own exclusive Kekkei Genkai."
"Then..." Tsunade took a deep breath. She stared at him, her expression dead serious. "If I gave you enough research data on Wood Style, could you... replicate my great-uncle's technique?"
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