Hearing the faintly pressing tone in Tsunade's voice, Kageyama Kogetsu didn't mind. He poured himself a cup of sake and spoke slowly…
"I have plenty to rely on.
"For one, in my generation my achievements and prestige are unmatched. My reputation is solid, and my ties with Konoha's leadership and its great ninja clans are good.
"If you complain to the village elders and to Jiraiya, they won't necessarily back me—Elder Danzō certainly won't.
"Orochimaru would definitely support me. Even as an S-rank defector, he still has influence in Konoha.
"We're on good terms. If I hadn't gone easy on him when he fled, he never would have shaken off Konoha's pursuit."
A shocking secret—Shizune listened with her heart pounding.
"You went easy on him?" Tsunade said, face dark with anger.
"Tch, spare me. You and Jiraiya may loathe what he did, but would you really want to see him cut down by a Konoha pursuit unit?
"At most you'd want him captured alive and brought back to be punished.
"The Hokage felt the same.
"When Orochimaru's crimes were exposed, he didn't notify me, even though I was on ANBU duty. He just went with a few ANBU at his side.
"Given the Hokage's strength and his understanding of his own student's methods, if he'd steeled himself, could he really not have kept Orochimaru there?
"He even stressed Orochimaru's importance during the chase and ordered capture if possible. Isn't that like putting shackles on the pursuers?
"Catching him would have been a miracle. I eased up not only because of our rapport but mainly because I was reading the intent from above."
Tsunade fell silent again. She wanted to refute him but couldn't. Fooling others is easy; fooling oneself is hard.
"Beyond those things, Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave also back me.
"Myōboku's support is uncertain. Ryūchi Cave's will be all-out.
"I've mastered the sage arts of both places, and they offered me the summoning contracts themselves," Kageyama Kogetsu added with a smiling squint.
Mount Myōboku had not witnessed the Tenseigan Chakra Mode. Ryūchi Cave had, and was more than happy to invest further for a richer return.
"What? You've mastered the sage arts of both?"
"Impossible. Sage arts are hard. Even if you started after we last met, that's far too fast," Tsunade exclaimed, eyes wide.
"I don't find them difficult at all."
Kageyama Kogetsu brought his hands together. A flood of natural energy surged in and fused perfectly with the vast chakra he produced by instinct. Orange eye shadow appeared at once, and his right pupil became that of a toad.
Chakra affecting some part of the body is normal; affecting the eyes is rarer. Naruto's Sage Mode, the golden cloak, and Kurama Mode all change the eyes. The most distinctive cases are the ocular clans, with the Uchiha as the archetype. Others merely change the eyes' appearance; the Sharingan not only alters appearance but grants special abilities.
"Here. These are the summoning contracts for the two sacred sites."
With a wave, two great scrolls appeared and hovered in the air.
Tsunade reined in her shock, took the scrolls, and unrolled them. Her doubts vanished.
Kageyama Kogetsu dispelled Sage Mode, recalled the scrolls, and grinned. "Tsunade-senpai, you don't want Konoha falling into vicious infighting, do you?"
"Hmph. Don't get cocky," Tsunade said, thoroughly displeased. "Had I known, I wouldn't have taught you monstrous strength and medical ninjutsu."
"Mm… I'll be frank. Don't be mad.
"Those are just adornments. Given time, I'd have learned them anyway. In the end it's precise chakra control and nature transformation.
"To be even more arrogant, they're optional for me. I only think that more skills never hurt."
"Hmph. You really are arrogant.
"Kogetsu, meeting you this time, I feel you've changed. Don't let power go to your head."
Kageyama Kogetsu lifted his cup and smiled. "Tsunade-senpai, didn't you change between when you held great power and when you were weak?"
"I did, but I—"
"No. You just never thought of it. Or, if you did, you lacked the nerve.
"I've always been clear-headed. When I was weak I didn't show it and couldn't show it.
"The so-called audacity you speak of took shape gradually as I walked the shinobi world on missions.
"I saw the chasm between commoners, village shinobi, rich merchants, officials, and hereditary nobles."
Speaking of the spirit of resistance, the country of his previous life could claim first place. After millennia of tempering, and with the people's awakening in modern times, that spirit reached a peak.
If one can go on living—even barely—so be it. If one cannot, then a single spark can start a prairie fire.
Not that he truly meant to take world peace and the liberation of shinobi as his personal charge. Those were incidental.
If it could be accomplished, all would rejoice. If not, it didn't matter, so long as he turned this world into a nursery that let him grow stronger.
The nursery he envisioned was warm-water frog-boiling—harvest after harvest—not the kind of nursery other Ōtsutsuki made, where the whole world became an enemy.
"This world is already a mess. Why not try a reform?
"If it succeeds, the people benefit and the merit is boundless. If it fails, it won't be worse than now."
Tsunade's expression shifted. After a long silence she said, "Perhaps you're right. Having that idea and that courage makes you stronger than me.
"I… I'll try to support you.
"I'll give you the location of Shikkotsu Forest later, and take this letter I wrote to the Slug Sage."
Kageyama Kogetsu raised his cup. "Much obliged."
Clink—Tsunade touched her cup to his, and both drained them in one go.
"Eat, eat. Some dishes won't be as good once they're cold."
After a bout of heavy eating and drinking, the solemn tension lightened. Laughter rang out from time to time.
"By the way, Tsunade-senpai, are you planning to stay single forever?"
"Brat, mind your own business. I have no such thoughts," Tsunade shot Kageyama Kogetsu a glare.
"What a pity," Kogetsu said with regret.
"What's a pity?"
"That the Senju bloodline will die out."
"Pfft… So you do have your ignorant moments?" Tsunade couldn't help laughing.
"They're not the same. You're the direct heir of the Senju. The difference in purity is no small thing."
Tsunade's smile stalled. Half exasperated, half pained, she said, "We'll see. I haven't met anyone who moves me.
"I don't think I ever will."
Kageyama Kogetsu smiled and didn't press the topic. He turned and tore off a chicken leg, eating with relish.
"Back to you. Do you have a girlfriend?" Tsunade asked, spirits recovered and interest piqued.
Kageyama Kogetsu said nothing, holding up two fingers.
"Two?" Tsunade probed.
"Mm. To be precise, there are only two at the moment."
He tossed a grape into his mouth. Fresh sweetness burst across his tongue.
"You really are a philanderer!" Tsunade flared.
Shizune and Tonton didn't speak, but both gave the slightest nod, showing agreement.
"They get along well."
"Huh?"
Two women and one pig stared, incredulous.
"For a capable man to have a few girlfriends is normal, isn't it?
"Those useless sons of rich merchants, officials, and nobles have more women than I do.
"I want the Kageyama family to grow. One wife isn't enough.
"The odds of producing talent are too low, and the risk resistance is too weak," Kageyama Kogetsu said with perfect self-assurance.
The two women and one pig were speechless. After a long moment, Tsunade forced out a line.
"From a medical perspective, the more women, the worse the health, and the shorter the life."
Kageyama Kogetsu smiled. "I understand. Lust is a blade that scrapes the bone. My bones are harder than steel. Beauty can't scrape me."
"Braggart!" Tsunade said with disdain, pinching her cup.
"Tch. Practice gives true knowledge. Want to try?"
Shizune's eyes widened. Startled and flustered, she thought: Truly audaciously lecherous!
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