Filthy Gamer in Narutoverse

Chapter 84: Grinding Secrets

Hizashi made his way to the Senju Compound with a noticeable 'lightness' to his steps. Those who knew Hyuga would certainly be surprised to find that Hizashi did not wear his forehead protector and instead had an... unmarked forehead. As he neared the compound unlike the Hyuga compound generally kept in a cover of demure silence, he was greeted by the guards and was allowed to enter.

Already aware of where the person responsible for his current situation 'rested', Hizashi took note that the couple of individuals that had been tailing him ever since he was employed under the Hokage's services stopped. It was as the rumors stated, no Anbu can enter the Senju Clan.

Well, the Anbu cannot enter any clan compound but the Senju had further reinforced their internal defenses ever since the unsanctioned Root was discovered.

Soon, Hizashi stood in front of the Matriarch's Manor and waited after knocking on the door with the metal rings set in the front. A light-brown-haired woman with a pair of spectacles covering her aquamarine eyes responded with a polite nod and let him in. Hizashi was well-aware of her.

'His' so-called Bro— Nono Yakushi. The Kunoichi had only gotten more popular after entering Tsunade's services since she was one of the rare few who could easily calm down Tsunade or walk away without any issues should Tsunade rage in a drunken stupor after squandering the clan's wealth on a meaningless bet.

Hizashi knew a few things more. Nono happened to be one of the few Genjutsu specialists in the village who had an Uchiha and a Kai to train with.

Nono led Hizashi into one of the living rooms of the manor where Tsunade was going through some papers. A white labcoat was set on the edge of the couch not far from her as the Blonde matriarch continued to screen the 'scribbles' in front of her than to give Hizashi the attention he deserved as one of the three advisors of the Hokage.

Hizashi didn't mind it, of course. Instead, he silently sat and sipped the water poured by Nono before she went away to fetch the other component of this conversation.

It wasn't long until Kai appeared with a dazed expression. No, not dazed. But an uncharacteristically haggard look. Only now did Tsunade look up and scoffed, "Told you not to overdo with shadow clones, right?"

"May as well tell me not to breathe," Kai scoffed in reply while Nono slipped out. She had nothing to do with the matter Kai considered extraordinarily important.

Kai was quick to take his seat beside Tsunade and take the papers from her hands. How the boy understood these scribbles was not something Hizashi wanted to know. Instead, he took a deep breath and spoke in a resolute tone, "I am extremely grateful for your assistance. Now that I am one of the advisors, as per the laws of the Village, I and my fiancee could have our Clan's seals removed. This also has given me hope to correct the situation within the clan from the outside."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. She wasn't the one who did anything. But... her partner-in-crime was tremendously invested in Byakugan. By now, Tsunade and Kai knew the worst about each other. Tsunade knew that Kai was the one who caused these upheavals in the first place... and was also happy about it since the Danzo was committing highly treasonous but 'effective' research. And Kai knew that Tsunade had actually spat in the suppers of First and Second Hokages out of childish spite when she was young.

So, needless to say, Kai was careful of the heretic.

Anyway, Kai had to make sure that his path of grind didn't come to an end after mastering the remaining legacy skills for he had finally completed—

[Study of Chakra Weapons (100/100)]

He had now moved on to the Flying Thunder God Technique. Still, these legacy skills were limited and Kai felt that with Danzo's research papers and their own inconclusive research into Rinnegan, he could try and start with something simple.

So, of course, Kai approached Hizashi. Kai had cultured respect for the Byakugan and motivated Hizashi to participate in the recruitment. Sure, it meant that Hizashi wouldn't be an active shinobi for the next ten years if selected but once it was clear that he would be freed from the cursed seal mark, he applied for the position.

To be perfectly honest, Kai and others didn't have to pull any strings. Hizashi impressed Nara and Aburame on his own merits alone but he also had Team Tsunade's and Yata's vote. Of course, Kai made it clear that these votes cane with the prices of Hizashi assisting him in developing a few jutsus.

Hizashi was now in a position to help and Kai didn't refuse such an invitation. Instantly weaving a shadow clone as he felt his chakra recover enough after a few minutes, Kai let it accompany Hizashi to the training ground. Anyway, this clone's goal would be to emulate Byakugan's ability to see through things.

Since the Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai did not belong to the five basic elements, Kai places his bets on the Yin and Yang aspects of chakra to form a special chakra much like healing chakra.

If not anything else, this was becoming increasingly clear in their research of Rinnegan that it was formed of a special chakra outside of the five basic elements.

Once Hizashi left, Tsunade slumped back and let out an exhausted sigh, "Your lab is almost fully equipped... but did you have to make it directly underneath my laboratory?"

Brushing off the accusatory tone, Kai shrugged, "Of course, Sensei... you're the best medic. If anything happened to me, I would be more than relieved with you nearby."

"You're really considering those research materials?" Tsunade frowned and felt a little helpless. Kai was stubborn about his desires and as such... he had locked his sights on the Kekkei Genkais and Legacy Skills that Konoha had to offer. Of them, there was Sage Mastery... but Tsunade herself had no way in assisting for that. While Kai had certainly formed a summoning contract, it wasn't with Lady Katsuyu. Lady Katsuyu was clear that while Shikkotsu forest was filled with Nature Energy, it had no sage to help assist a shinobi to learn it, unlike the two other legendary locations.

So, Kai turned to Danzo's records that experimented on something similar. But it was highly risky and to complete this research without necessary human sacrifice would take a long time. Or, at least, in Tsunade's eyes.

'If anyone was close to Danzo and could have completed the research to write a full thesis upon this... then it's most likely him,' Kai was lost in his thoughts. He had a great reason to doubt that one particular Sannin completed this research because...

[Cursed Seal Research (0/50)]

'How many humans did he need to complete the research?' Kai wondered silently. Unlike Tsunade who was opposed to this practice, Kai had no such issues.

So, while Tsunade worried that Kai might fall to the dark side, his trait conveniently opened a path. But the thing was, to grind away this information-type skill, he must utilize a special enzyme he stole from Danzo's lab.

But this was the tip of the iceberg on things Danzo wished to achieve as noted in his documents.

"Never mind my materials, did you find out how Danzo got his hands on your grandfather's materials?" Kai inquired. This was a major mystery to both of them and Tsunade's expression darkened instantly.

She hated Danzo from the depths of her heart!

Yet, she silently shook her head. Accustomed to the Shinobi practices, the First Hokage's body was cremated but somehow Danzo got his hands on the First Hokage's stem cells and wished to recreate the famed Kekkei Genkai— Wood Release. But Tsunade had no reason to expose these matters to the outside world. It was a matter of shame!

For a second, the duo sat in silence. Kai was truly exhausted and enjoyed the peace while Tsunade was lost in her thoughts.

She finally spoke up, "So? You look positively drained. Want to add another burden to your delusional harem?" Her lips curled into a smirk as she knew that Kai COULDN'T make 'use' of the engagement as he desired.

"Hell, yeah," Kai still beamed, "I mean, Sensei, I wouldn't consider you a burden. You are lightweight despite what your looks suggest!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, not even offering an annoyed glare at this point. What could she do?

She's the one, after all, raising Kai to match herself. After all, she doesn't want an apprentice but a partner to research the Rinnegan and as such, she had started to shift her thoughts about Kai to some extent.

The duo soon stood up and left for the laboratory underneath the manor.

---

A year soon passed in the grind with nothing notable on the large scale occurring but there had been a subtle shift in the group dynamic of Team Tsunade.

Ever since learning about the Perfect Jinchuriki existing in Kumo, Kushina had focused on herself harder than ever. She was still the same Ramen-loving datte-knucklehead but the effort she placed into the grind was next to Kai.

Mikoto herself got her Jonin promotion this year while Nagato graduated this year and joined the hospital under Tsunade's lead. Yahiko, too, graduated this year but chose to be deployed in the three-men cell and was teamed up with Sakumo's son— Kakashi.

{A/N: I never understood how Kakashi managed to be in the same team as Rin and Obito since they clearly did not graduate with him.}

Konan, on the other hand, had become somewhat troublesome. She set her own standards for graduating and wasn't satisfied until she did something substantial with her chakra control and Origami. It certainly did not help that Kai's favorite munchkin had grown a love for 'rebellious' songs from the capital.

As for Kai... he was happy as usual. The Grind blessed him with... certainly amazing results.

First, he mastered—

[Super Beast Imitating Drawing (25/25)]

And Kai soon noticed that this skill and the Nara Clan's skills were quite similar in the manner to give an aspect a 'fickle' form.

Yin-based skills, for Kai, were notably simpler than Yang-based skills since the latter required high quality of knowledge.

So, Kai soon tried and touched upon the Nara Clan's skill which instantly opened the skills for him. Since these 'secret' skills were never written for fear of getting stolen, Kai's version was extrapolated from his trait's stock of reserved knowledge.

[Shadow Manipulation Jutsu (20/20)]

But this wasn't all.

As he said, Yang-based skills were hard, but not impossible. While Hizashi was unaware... Kai had managed to steal, ehm, liberate something else from the Hyuga Clan once again.

[Piercing Vision (50/50)]

As Kai had expected, Dojutsu was formed through a special chakra. Of course, this didn't mean Kai had a byakugan. Far from it. His skill did allow him an X-ray vision but it wasn't a 360° vision and even the range was questionable. This allowed Kai to understand that he somehow needed to research the Byakugan better but this was problematic itself. But it was better than nothing as it increased his perception quite a great deal.

Not even Tsunade, even now, could figure out HOW to research this type of Kekkei Genkai without a living subject.

This was a subject Kai and Tsunade had argued over constantly and it wasn't getting any better.

But other than that, Kai managed to focus on the remaining Legacy Skill, one of which made his daily life super convenient!

[Flying Thunder God Technique (75/75)]

[Four Red Yang Formation (50/50)]

Of the Legacy Skills, only the Strength of a Hundred Seals and the Shikkotsu Rock Sage Art remained, but both of them could not be mastered easily.

Meanwhile, Kai spent a total of 1250 SP to master—

[Cursed Seal Research (50/50)].

This, by itself... made Kai consider some other options. He may be Tsunade's Legacy Guardian, but he won't let that get in the path of his grin. If she was happy to curb her own growth for moralistic reasons then that's her issue. Kai wouldn't preach about it but he won't let it stop him either!

After all, his progress may not have been great in the chakra department but just this 'low' number of skills meant that he focused on his raw qualities a great deal for quite some time now!

[Name: Kai

Age: 11

Title: Senju Legacy Guardian

Gamer Traits: Skill Tree; Sleepless Gamer

Rank: Jonin

Hit Points: 100%

Stamina: 100/100% (35.1/min)

Chakra: 124869 (29983→ 35677+250%) || (1627/min) (465+250%/min)

Physique: 307→ 354/1000

Mental: 377→ 401/1000

Perception: 249→ 311/1000

Water: 24/100%