~Soutarou POV, one and a half months after The Nine Tails Attack~
'Man who knew assigning Tsunade that task would turn out to be a mistake! This old lady has just been rotting in my house reading those damn scrolls for almost a month now! Not only that, she orders around Kabuto… That's my subordinate dammit!'
'You have Shizune for a reason. Well the saving grace is she really is pretending to still have hemophobia, by avoiding the hospital at all costs… though she spent this time secretly teaching Kabuto and Nono… '
'Not only that she formalized all the shit I pulled out of my ass the other day. And guess what Konoha really does have a psychological investigative and research unit now. Not only that she really did go ahead and approve all the changes I said, so overnight Konoha's Medical unit had a massive overhaul. Not only that she completely overhauled and improved the medical curriculum, but she did so as a co-author…'
'She's throwing all the main credit to me and then Nono. Speaking of which… Nono officially got her cursed tongue eradication seal removed and she was officially pulled out of the ROOT. She also got promoted to an Elite Jonin officially, and with Tsunade's pushing Nono's now the director of the Konoha Medical Department, replacing Tsunade herself. Which came as a bit of a surprise… but then again when you consider how much Nono's improved over the last few weeks studying under Tsunade.'
'Forget that Kabuto was forced out of the hospital and he now has to do treatments under an alias, because not only was there a bounty placed on me, but those cunts put one on me and Nono too!'
'Nono was exposed for being the Wandering Miko and her actions during the Nine Tails attack alongside mine and Kabuto's reduced Konoha's losses enough that we're still at nearly-full wartime strength. Almost no Jonin died in the nine tails attack, and only one elite jonin was lost, who Nono just replaced.'
'I was looking over the list of people who died and I think I might've messed up. Ikkaku Umino, Kohari Umino, Shinku Yuhi, and dozens of members of the barrier team who should've all died all ended up surviving. Not to mention the fact that most of Konoha's veteran Jonin were supposed to die.'
'By my current estimates Nono, Kabuto and my intervention caused nearly two thousand shinobi to survive, along with at least three thousand civilians. Which is crazy. But then again I had everyone healing everyone. Meaning no one died from infection. No one died from salvageable wounds. No one died because the medical ninja were overwhelmed and lacking chakra.'
'As for the civilians thanks to Nono firing off that flare, most people had left their houses and headed towards the shelter and if not chunin and jonin nearby got them moving. Which saved us thousands of lives right off the bat as Obito's summoning of the nine tails put him in a population dead zone.'
'In fact if Minato and Kushina didn't die Konoha would be ready to give anyone who was dumb enough to start a war with us a damn blood nose. Still to think within such a short period of time so many plans are already in motion. It's like it's going too well… I'd better have not raised a flag.'
'Still with how high my bounty is I'm required to move around the village with an ANBU guard at all times. These bastards made my bounty Forty fucking Million ryo! I'm worth more than Asuma dammit! Then again I'm almost certain it's that old fence sitter, getting scared of talent, since he has none in his village…'
'Whatever… Man so much shit happened and worse unlike the original timeline where the Ninja Academy was completely destroyed in this timeline it was only partially broken. Not only was the damage less to Konoha, because the old monkey sent Kurama flying that much earlier, but current estimates show all buildings will be repaired and ready by next week. Including the newly designed and updated ninja academy.'
'Oh and these bastards stole my idea and added basic medical treatment to the general courses meaning every damn student has to learn it. Along with evacuation drills. Why? Because I keep muttering stuff to Kabuto and that damn traitor keeps yapping to Tsunade who goes and rots in the old man's office and gives him my ideas for gambling money. Damn traitor Kabuto! Where's my ninety million ryo dammit? Instead this damn woman Tsunade gambled away ten million earned from my ideas… Good thing I stopped sharing my ideas for now… otherwise how could I plagiarize my old world and make money?'
A crass voice rang out, "Oi brat, get up. I'm teaching you something today."
Soutarou's eyes lit up and he said, "Really?" with sparkling eyes.
Tsunade paused for a moment and smiled gently and motioned to him before stopping in front of a random closet. Causing Soutarou to turn confused before Tsunade threw the door open and ran her chakra through the floor revealing dozens of seals that soon after retreated revealing a stairwell downwards. Soutarou's jaw dropped and mumbled, "I have a secret base inside my house? How come I didn't know?"
Tsunade smiled and said, "You probably wouldn't have ever noticed until you became a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster. Anyways, this leads down to a training hall that's connected with the rest of the old Senju Clan houses. Though I've been sealing most of those entrances over the last few weeks since those houses don't really belong to us anymore… So this tunnel system only leads to two places anymore… The house Grandpa left for me and the special training ground. Still if you want to think of it that way, it's kind of like the Uchiha's so-called hidden chamber, the Naka Shrine. But instead this was for two things and two things only, fighting and training. The seals in here are so strong most Grandmasters wouldn't even notice them… Afterall, Grandma Mito made this place alongside First Grandpa. Grandpa used to train down here so we don't need to worry about breaking anything while training."
Tsunade paused and said, "Don't act as if you don't know about the Uchiha's secret chamber, it's all over Second Grandpa's notes… though I'm seriously curious as to where you put the notes regarding the information networks… I already had Jiraiya cross reference what you said, and it took him a minute, but that Honoka girl really does exist. So just where would such a good intelligence network come from that Second Grandpa wouldn't leave for Konoha?"
Soutarou without hesitation said, "If you read those notes, you should also know that Grandpa made contingencies for our Senju Clan. Any progress on the formula by the way?"
Tsunade scowled and said, "With how stingy you are with materials, how could I make any real progress? Me, Kabuto, and Nono analyzed it, but since you only let us use the used water, which by the way is a nasty concept, we haven't made much progress other than the fact that whatever grandpa and that mysterious senju ancestor put in it is ridiculously good. We were also able to detect something similar to First Grandpa's cells in the solution, it seems to be that unknown material Second Grandpa was talking about…"
"My guess is that unknown material is the fossilized bone of the Sage of Six Paths. Or the Senju and Uzumaki's ancestor. I'm leaning more towards the Sage of Six Paths since Second Grandpa designed the Sword of Thunder using an artifact of the Sage of Six Paths. For the core to be able to function as a replacement it means that the source has to be the same. Still you haven't given us much to work with."
"The only reason I was able to figure out even this much is simply, because other than Second Grandpa and Orochimaru I'm probably the Ninja World's best researcher, especially when it comes to genetics, physiology, and bloodline theory. Honestly Second Grandpa could've achieved what I did if he only focused on this and not the thousands of projects he did. I'm working on a diluted solution that you should also be able to use alongside the current one… but it'll take time. My focus right now is… Building up my own strength."
Soutarou nodded before saying, "Alright when you're ready to head out just make sure to let me know, I have a few pieces of information that might interest you during your journey."
Tsunade looked back at him while the duo continued down the straight, but long stairwell. Tsunade said, "Why do you always act so mysterious? Whatever… After today I'll beat it out of you."
Soutarou nearly stumbled falling straight onto Tsunade's back who then just picked him up by the scruff of collar and tucked him under her arm. Soutarou said, "H-hey…. Tsunade Onee-san this isn't really necessary is it?"
Tsunade's beautiful smile got deep as she merrily continued down as Soutarou began struggling in her arms. As they reached the bottom of the staircase there was just a dead end or so it seemed. At that moment Tsunade formed one handed seals and slammed her hand on the ground revealing a massive sealing array that then opened up the wall to a massive underground world.
Soutarou who had been dropped got up and dusted himself as he looked around at the vegetation, the water, even the false sun. Before muttering, "This place is massive…"
Soutarou then asked, "So what am I actually learning?"
Tsunade crossed her arms and bluntly replied, "Bankai."
Soutarou said, "Excuse me?"
Tsunade uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips, before smiling saying, "That's right kiddo and in just three months you're going to learn and master Bankai."
Soutarou paused as he thought, 'BANKAI?!? IS THIS IS THE WRONG ANIME? SHE EVEN USED THE YORUICHI VOICELINES! WOAH WHAT THE HELL?'
Tsunade shook her head saying, "You're thinking of something weird right now aren't you? Bankai means final release or complete liberation. Our Senju Clan's taijutsu is unique in that we release chakra and coat our entire bodies. There's not technique. Just pure force. This is something I took even further than any Senju Clan member before me. And I'm going to show you exactly how I did it… but first…"
Tsunade showed her arm that now glowed in a sky blue hue before she punched the ground causing cracks to form before a sealing array appeared and began mending the damage. Tsunade continued, "By being able to coat just a singular limb, you'll have reached initial release or Shikai. And once you can coat your entire body in chakra…"
Tsunade's chakra flowed as a massive wind pressure formed around her literally pushing Soutarou back and lighting his passive sensory field with one singular loud and glaring presence. Soutarou began sweating, 'She was hiding some of her chakra! H-her chakra it's even denser than the nine tails! Not to mention it's even larger than that old Monkey's! Damn… She's at least got three times that old man's chakra… It's like a tenth of what the nine tails had… but I can't make an accurate guess… because… because of how dense it is… it's like the whole world is getting heavier… This is how strong Tsunade is? No wonder she became the fifth Hokage after twenty years of wasting her life… She's just that innately talented…'
Soutarou gulped before the pressure began to increase steadily and within moments Soutarou's arms were forced in front of his face as the pressure began to build up to the point he could barely see in front of him. His knees began to tremble and he grit his teeth.
'No! She's testing me, she's seeing my resistance… Then I'll show her.'
Once getting pushed back Soutarou flared his own chakra in response.
'She's basically showing me the chakra flow… I just need to copy it and reinforce or coat my legs and push forwards towards her-'
As Soutarou began to think and work on coating his arms, Tsunade again increased the pressure focusing more and more of her chakra towards Soutarou before Soutarou finally felt a chill run down his spine.
'K-k-killing i-intent? T-this is what future S-sasuke and N-naruto had to deal with? I feel like I want to puke… This energy, this feeling it's… it's so revolting…'
His mind began to swirl and his consciousness turned blurry, but Soutarou refused to go down without at least something to show for it.
'Not yet!'
'NOT. YET!'
Gritting his teeth and then biting his lips so deeply that blood began to trickle down from them…
'You still owe me too much you damn hag! I'll show you… I'll show you that I never give up!'