Elsewhere, the real Ryusei sat cross-legged inside his own tent, the faint flicker of a lamp playing across his face.
A rush of memory spilled into his mind as one of his clones dispelled.
The entire conversation with Orochimaru came flooding back, every word, every subtle glance.
He smirked. "So, the snake took the bait."
It was exactly as he planned.
During these last three months, Ryusei had still been busy following Tsunade as her unofficial assistant in the medical corps and was able to move across the entire front.
He visited all four divisions at some point by this time.
At one point, while around his own original division, when the rotation took him close to the position where his old teammates were also stationed, he made sure to send a stealth clone directly to them.
The reunion had been something.
He explained the situation in his usual cool tone, that Tsunade had saved him, protected him, and taught him during these months. He left the Daimyo out of it.
Instead, he simply showed them enough to quiet their concerns and stir admiration.
Kanae's contrasting eyes had locked on him instantly, and he didn't miss the water droplets that gathered around her eyes when she first realized it was really him, even if it was just a shadow clone.
He also asked about their progress, and it was good enough.
Of course, he didn't forget to tease Kanae about whether she had missed him.
He then told them that they should get stronger, since soon he would once again take them on special missions, but this time really far away.
They had been excited, but for different reasons.
Renjiro obviously, because he could fight and experience more complicated situations, and Kanae, perhaps because she could be with him constantly like before, even if she would never admit that yet.
During all of this time, Ryusei never slacked off in his training.
Perhaps all of his always ongoing, relentless physical drills still didn't result in him being able to open another Inner Gate, his third one yet, on time, but significant progress had been made elsewhere.
He had already stepped into the beginner stages of Tsunade's medical chakra enhancement and the beginnings of Creation Rebirth, and was slowly preparing himself to eventually accept the Yin Seal.
His jutsu arsenal had also grown wider. Now he could finally use more nature releases' versatile and defensive techniques, along with longer-range options, through those 3 releases he missed the most advanced levels of.
Wind, water, and earth 3 A-rank jutsu, alongside even more B-rank ones, of various utilities, were added to his repertoire, something that three months ago would have been unthinkable when he barely had a collection of C-rank ones.
With this, Ryusei already considered himself 'Quasi-Kage' level.
It wasn't the most optimal level he had once imagined, to have at this point, in the most optimistic projection, but it was undeniable progress.
Still, he knew his greatest limitation remained the same.
Without the Byakugan, he could only go so far.
Acquiring it had become his most urgent priority, since he knew it would speed up literally everything he was working toward, and he wasn't exaggerating.
The reason for such a sudden jump in skill wasn't glamorous.
After all, what he had achieved, learning three A-rank jutsu in mere three months, would have already been considered impossible in the shinobi world without not only one of the highest talents but also some kind of a shortcut.
And fortunately, he had already discovered another 'hack', in the meantime, but the one that demanded he set aside his pride.
Basically, he had resorted to begging Tsunade, even acting like a spoiled child, for the first time, in front of her, and even using other tactics like acting hurt or sad, every day, and exaggerating the danger he was facing, until she finally allowed him to use the small Katsuyu slugs filled with her released stored chakra.
With them, Ryusei could train with shadow clones until all of his own chakra was spent, and then keep going for the rest of the day still, using her personal chakra Yin Seal reserves, literally every day, like a living 'cheat code'.
It was one thing to train while also having to worry about being as efficient and economic as possible, versus not; the pace was totally different, even if he was a little 'wasteful' now.
It wasn't dignified, depending on a woman's chakra. Worse, it was the chakra Tsunade had carefully cultivated over the years.
But Ryusei needed power now, and there was no other way.
He justified it to himself easily.
Tsunade had spent almost no chakra for over a decade, and she had more than enough stored for herself.
He remembered how she basically kept all of Konoha alive during Pain's assault, and later in the Fourth Shinobi World War, how she supported the entire Allied Shinobi Forces at times.
That kind of power wasn't just "a lot."
It was something closer to a tailed beast.
If Kisame could be called a tailless beast for his chakra, why couldn't she?
So, her reserves were more than she could ever deplete in one lifetime.
That was why she had eventually agreed, though not without cost.
Ryusei had to endure her daily teasing, boasting, and smug remarks about his "spoiled dependence."
Still, he took it without complaint, coaxed her, and played along.
The results were undeniable.
This method didn't just accelerate his progress in elemental jutsu, but in every other field, from medical techniques to physical conditioning.
Ryusei's philosophy had always been the same: squeeze everything possible out of every second of life, no matter how shameless.
To him, every moment was like casting a vote.
By giving his all, he voted for a better ideal future where he survived, grew stable, and stood at the top of the world.
In that future, Tsunade, Kanae, Kiyomi, or any other alluring kunoichi he crossed paths with would be within his reach, and he could walk with strength and dignity.
The alternative was to lose momentum and end up humiliated, hunted, and stripped of every dream he had.
That was the path of dying quietly, like he had in his old world. For him, there was never any choice.
And it seemed to be working. Just a year ago, wasn't he still only a little better than the average chūnin?
Yet he was probably now already able to deal with multiple Elite Jonin, or even threaten a Low Kage under certain conditions.
So, the pace he was moving at now defied all common sense.
His teammates, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and probably everyone else would assume he was this strong because he had built solid foundations in his youth, or that he had hidden his strength and only revealed it later.
That was the reasonable explanation.
But only he knew the truth about the original owner of this body.
Nearly everything he had now came from the Senju bloodline and his own effort.
The original had been nothing more than higher-tier cannon fodder.
Ryusei then thought that it was also much easier to achieve results now that he didn't have to hide and train in secret, and squeeze it only between missions.
Now he could train openly however he liked, since for the time being, he didn't care if anyone was watching.
Over time, he started leaving a few shadow clones to ceremoniously follow Tsunade's main body and help her, as he was basically training all day in some form.
After all, people might ask why Tsunade healed most of her patients personally instead of just relying on clones, or why she didn't use them more often in battle, which would have been useful for a taijutsu specialist like her.
The truth was simple. Not everyone had the same knack for clones.
Just like shinobi were born with affinities for certain elemental releases, Ryusei realized they could also have innate talent for different areas of jutsu shiki, things like space-time, summoning, sealing, or cloning.
Every additional clone became harder to maintain, or else everyone in Konoha would have been spamming them endlessly like Naruto one day would.
Ryusei happened to have much stronger natural talent for clones than Tsunade.
He could send out several with little issue, while she could only create a few at a time.
Most of the time, she didn't even bother, since it didn't make much difference.
Her real value was her mind, not her hands, and there were only so many cases that truly required her direct touch.
During the last three months, Ryusei also hadn't neglected fūinjutsu and jutsu-shiki either.
Whenever he had the time, he kept testing and grinding, slowly trying to discover some other niche, of jutsu shiki, where perhaps his talent would show again.
At the same time, he never let go of that other idea he had been nurturing, the method that would one day use Edo Tensei as fuel, reaching into the Pure Land itself.
It was still just theory, but the path was there, piece by piece.
He also realized that this line of research, soul studies, and fūinjutsu combined, might serve another purpose.
It could be the key to proving the truth about what had happened to Nawaki to Tsunade.
If he could make Tsunade see it for herself, then her ties to the Hokage's faction would shatter completely.
At that moment, when her entire worldview collapsed, he would be the only one she could lean on.
From there, she could be remade.
Born anew, but this time for him. And only he could give her the chance for revenge.
However, Ryusei cut his musings short as he sensed Tsunade finishing her last call and returning.
He stood up with a grin, stretching his shoulders as if he had just been waiting around lazily the whole time.
"And here comes my 'personal chakra battery', right on time, for another 'assignment'."