Kairen stayed curled up under the covers until evening, only getting up when Tsunade called him to eat.
Kairen climbed out of bed, looked at Wolon and Fenchu snoring soundly by the door, and smiled.
Wolon and Fenchu were guarding the door — who would dare break in?
Kairen stood up. He had planned to throw Tsunade a little banquet that night, but chakra was tight now, so he let the idea drop.
He went into the inner room. Shizune and Kurenai sat properly on the cushions, kneeling.
Tsunade glanced at Kairen. "Go wash your hands and eat!"
Kairen nodded, washed up outside, then tucked into a hearty meal with chopsticks and bowl.
After the meal, Kairen obediently cleared the leftovers from the table.
Tsunade nodded with a smile.
Shizune and Kurenai looked at Kairen — he seemed different from usual. They fell silent and became unusually well-behaved.
Is it sunny now?!
They both felt a little off; they'd grown used to that wild, unrestrained boy.
Kairen even washed the dishes on his own. Tsunade was even more pleased — the little Kairen had been tamed by her.
After washing the dishes Kairen swept, mopped, and did all the household chores.
When he was a little out of breath and flopped onto a cushion, Tsunade gently rubbed his forehead.
She smiled and said, "From now on you don't have to do these things. A grown man should be out doing big deeds, earning merit and glory."
Kairen lay quietly, enjoying Tsunade's touch.
Shizune and Kurenai came closer, looking at the quiet Kairen with puzzled expressions.
Shizune asked first, "Kairen, what's wrong? Are you sick?"
Kairen thought, How dare you think I'm ill just because I'm being well-behaved?
Tsunade answered for him. "The brat's come to his senses — he's stepped out of the battlefield's psychosis. By the way, I've also gotten over my fear of blood."
Shizune widened her eyes and looked at Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sensei, really? You've cured your fear of blood?"
Tsunade nodded. "That's right. You don't need to worry. I've recovered my old combat ability!"
Kairen propped himself up, sat half on the wooden boards for a moment, then said to Tsunade,
"If you've truly overcome your fear of blood, why don't you try running for the Fourth Hokage?"
The three Sannin were the strongest candidates for the Fourth Hokage.
Orochimaru would certainly contend for the title; Jiraiya's ambitions lay elsewhere and he'd likely let his student Minato run; Tsunade, because of her blood phobia, wouldn't have stood a chance.
No other Jonin would pick someone with a fear of blood to be Hokage.
But now it was different — Tsunade had overcome that fear, meaning she was qualified to run.
Besides, Tsunade was a medical master who'd saved countless shinobi during the Second Shinobi World War.
Couple that with being the descendant of the First Hokage and the village beauty aura — her qualifications might outshine Orochimaru.
After all, her magnanimity could gather a large following!
In canon, Hiruzen Sarutobi died and when Tsunade returned to the village she could dominate Danzo; that shows her standing in the village.
Tsunade paused — Kairen's words made sense.
She had been training Kairen to become the Fifth Hokage; why not run herself for the Fourth?
That way she could both protect Kairen and continue the Senju legacy, ending the clan-dominated rule within the village.
Seeing Tsunade deep in thought, Kairen smiled. If Tsunade could become the Fourth Hokage, that would be the village he should stay in.
After all, if his woman is Hokage, who would dare touch him?!
Tsunade thought it over carefully, then shook her head.
"I can't. The Hokage's work is too complicated. I don't have time to sit in that little office all day!"
The Hokage's position may look grand, but every problem in the village gets dumped in his lap.
Even C-rank and D-rank missions must pass through the Hokage's office before execution.
Call it responsibility if it sounds noble; call it power-hoarding if it doesn't — it implies distrust of those around you.
During Boruto's era Naruto became so busy as Hokage he hardly went home, neglecting Hinata, and endured her cold stares every day.
Looking at him makes Kairen ache with pity!
Kairen thought carefully about the village's power structure from his previous life and suggested, "If you become Hokage, you can just assign those files to whoever you want!"
"Gather a few aides, set up a Secretariat, divide duties — then you won't be so worn out."
Tsunade mulled it over; it made sense in part, but she still shook her head.
"I've racked up a mountain of debt. If I become Hokage, every creditor will come knocking."
Ebisu once said the Hokage must possess benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith — Tsunade's gambling streak would ruin the Hokage's reputation.
And a big tree attracts wind — that will bring creditors to the doorstep.
Kairen put a hand on her shoulder, sounding like a swaggering boss,
"Don't worry, Tsunade-san. I've got plenty of money; I'll pay off your debts."
Tsunade looked at his confident eyes and smiled.
"Where on earth did you get money?!"
Kairen bluffed, "Don't forget my multiple Shadow Clone Technique. I can split into two thousand clones a day to go do odd jobs — in short time I can raise a heap to pay off your debts!"
His nonsense made Tsunade's eyes sparkle.
Yes — Kairen could produce so many shadow clones, and he had all kinds of strange contraptions.
Things like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime could be sold to make money.
Oh — Kairen could even brew liquor; that high-grade liquor would be sought after by Fire Country elites.
On closer thought Kairen was a treasure trove; staying near him you couldn't imagine what treasures might be dug out!
Kairen rubbed Tsunade's shoulder.
"Tsunade-san, run for Fourth Hokage. I'll fully support you — it would be easy for you to win!"
"After all, every successful woman needs a man to steer the course behind her."
Tsunade pinched Kairen's face. "You little lecher, you're being improper again."
Kairen quickly toned it down, afraid she'd hit him and revert him back into the obedient boy.
"So? Tsunade-san, want to try being Hokage?!"
Tsunade thought seriously for a while, then shook her head again. "I still can't get used to being Hokage."
Kairen sighed and swallowed his argument. Tsunade loved to roam; she'd been gambling with Shizune across the shinobi world's casinos. The Hokage post would bind her spirit — she'd rather hand that burden to Kairen.
Seeing it was late, Tsunade told the three of them to wash their feet and sleep.
After washing his feet, Kairen walked on the mat and looked at the three women — one big and two small.
One beautiful woman wore a white linen dress, golden hair, snow-white skin — the village's princess, the village beauty.
One girl wore fishnet clothing, black hair, a delicate, cute face — she looked like a hardworking future wife.
One girl wore red-and-white silk, red eyes like the Uchiha Sharingan, alluring and full of charm.
With her cute face, she would grow into a sexy beauty.
Kairen's gaze seemed to freeze on the moment, then a pang of heartache suddenly came over him.
Kairen mumbled, "If I die, will anyone shed tears for me?"
What had he changed in coming to this world? Apart from killing hundreds of Sand shinobi and leaving a trace, what else?
The man who most couldn't die feared death above all — he would lose everything, including his shadow in this world.
Tsunade heard his mutter.
She walked over, hooked an arm under his neck and asked with concern,
"You little brat, what are you saying? I'll protect you!"
Shizune and Kurenai came up, hiding affection in their eyes, and looked at Kairen with added concern.
Feeling their care, a flame lit inside him.
He mustn't die! Absolutely not!
If he died, someone else would take over his plans — that was unacceptable. Only he could carry on those plans in this world.
Kairen freed Tsunade's hand and turned toward his room. As the door closed he laughed loudly toward them,
"Wives, I'm going to bed first!"
"You brat!"
"Kairen…"
Shizune and Kurenai blushed, a little shy.
They exchanged a look, both unwilling to yield.
Kairen opened his eyes a crack in his room, scanned around and found nothing stirring. He hugged the Wolon and Fenchu pillows and fell asleep.
After he fell asleep, dark currents surged through the night.
...
"Tsunade-sama!"
An ANBU wearing a cat mask appeared in front of Tsunade, holding a mission order.
He handed it to her and said in a mechanical tone,
"Tsunade-sama, this is an urgent order from the Hokage. The Hokage commands you to go to the Land of Rivers battlefield."
Tsunade looked at the Hokage's urgent order, puzzled — she hadn't taken missions for a long time. What did her teacher mean?!
"We just received urgent intelligence from the Land of Rivers battlefield. Chiyo intervened; her poison is unsurpassed and only Tsunade-sama can cure it. Many are waiting for Tsunade-sama's treatment!"
Tsunade listened silently, then waved a hand.
"Understood. I'll depart immediately!"
The ANBU left at once. When he stepped out of the Senju household gates he corrected his mask, a cold smile on his lips revealing the special mark of Root.
Tsunade sat cross-legged on the wooden boards, a few suspicions forming in her mind. Yet a strand of Senjutsu chakra quietly infiltrated her brain and erased some of those doubts.
Still she remained cautious. She took three dice from a drawer and murmured, "I want small."
She tossed them; the three dice shattered into powder and became zero.
"A dire omen!"
Tsunade frowned. Whenever her luck was unusually good, something ominous would happen — maybe to her, maybe to someone near her.
She thought this mission to Land of Rivers would likely end badly, but only she could resolve Granny Chiyo's poison from Sunagakure.
So she had to go — it was her duty as Konoha's princess.
But if the ominous sign meant danger to someone close to her?
Kairen was her last hope. If even he died, Tsunade would be utterly broken by this village.
Tsunade clenched the mission order and closed her eyes. She would wait a few hours; if Kairen was safe, she'd depart.
Outside, a Root ANBU watching muttered angrily,
"What is Tsunade doing? She ignores a Hokage emergency order and stays at home?"
A companion beside him replied patiently,
"Wait! I don't believe she can cling to that brat forever."
...
Time passed by the minute. The sun slowly rose over the horizon.
Konoha's roosters dared not crow — those that crowed arrogantly the day before had been cooked, and some hens were so frightened they wouldn't lay eggs.
Tsunade put on an off-white ninja suit, donned light armor, left the house and vanished in an instant, heading for the Land of Rivers battlefield.
After Tsunade left, the Root ANBU sneered, "So Princess Tsunade finally left. Now I'll see how Moku Kairen struggles!"
This time Root assembled fifteen Jonin-level shinobi, mostly from established ninja families with deep foundations.
He didn't believe so many shinobi wouldn't beat a little brat, especially in a surprise attack.
"Operation: Behead Moku Kairen — commence!"
In an instant killing intent filled the air; the dawn was frigid.
A Root ANBU with a large hood and a purple marking on his face transformed into a cluster of insects and "buzzed" into the Senju house.
He slipped past the hawk on the eaves and entered — the hawk stunned for a moment, then dissolved into white smoke.
A Root ANBU carrying a great sword glimpsed something and his pupils tightened. "Exposure!"
Kairen turned over in his bed and pressed down on Wolon's small belly.
"Hmm…?!"
Kairen opened his eyes wide and received the information sent by the hawk's shadow clone.
As expected, what you fear arrives.
A buzzing sound filled the air, like thousands of insects.
On Kairen's room's window, door frames, and wooden crevices, black insects drilled through the gaps and poured in — dense and endless.
The sight alone would terrify the timid; those with trypophobia might faint.
"Hundred Transformations!"
Kairen spun chakra through his body; a black hawk wing sprouted from his back.
He flapped it, releasing a gust that slammed through the room and demolished things.
Kairen scooped up the Wolon and Fenchu pillows and crashed through the wooden window, scattering splinters everywhere.
"Buzz…buzz…"
Dozens of insects clung to his wing, humming and sucking at his chakra.
Kairen spun sharply in midair and fanned the insects off.
When he steadied himself and looked down with his Byakugan, fourteen Jonin-level chakra signatures had surrounded the Senju house, arrayed and orderly — clearly prepared.
A sharp wind sliced across the sky and a giant ink-wash eagle screeched, diving at Kairen.
Kairen's wing beat and he climbed higher, avoiding the inked eagle.
From the eagle's back sat a masked Root shinobi in a black vest, holding a brush and a scroll.
The Root's pseudo-beast ink-painting ninja — a precursor to Sai.
A cold shout came from below, "Moku Kairen, surrender quietly or I'll kill these two girls!"
Kairen looked down with a grim heart — he'd just claimed to have no weakness, and now his weakness had shown.
Even if he could fly away from Konoha, he wasn't alone; companions worth protecting were by his side.
The great enemy of invincibility is attachment — Kairen couldn't truly become heartless. He craved everything: beauties, jutsu, even the care he'd never had.
So he pushed himself to grow stronger — but the enemy used all means to force him, abducting those near him to coerce compliance.
Kairen looked down.
A Root shinobi wearing a bird mask gripped Kurenai by the throat. Kairen couldn't see his face, but he was surely smirking.
The man squeezed Kurenai's neck until she struggled for breath.
"No matter how strong you become, Moku Kairen — you'll always have a weakness. Root's doctrine is right: sever all feelings and you become the sharpest blade," a Root shinobi murmured.
The leader plucked off his mask, revealing a thoroughly villainous face.
"Moku Kairen, I am Shimura Naoto of the Shimura family. Pleased to meet you."
"Now I'll give you a choice. Let me plant a cursed seal in your brain and serve the Shimura family for life."
Root, more than assassination, preferred to turn Moku Kairen into a puppet.
Kurenai opened her red eyes and, struggling, said,
"Kairen, don't listen to him — run!"
On the other side, Shizune's face was pale, bound with ropes. She looked up at Kairen in the sky and summoned courage.
"Kairen, run!"
Both girls loved Kairen; they would not let the other fall into danger nor become a burden.
"Cough…cough…"
Shimura Naoto tightened his grip and Kurenai coughed twice, her face reddening.
He taunted, glancing up at Kairen, "Moku Kairen, give me your answer or your little lover will be crushed to death."
Seizing the moment in Shimura's rant, Kairen sent a chunk of shadow-clone chakra down to the corners.
He looked at the arrogant Shimura Naoto. Anyone who threatened him would not end well — especially anyone who threatened those near him.
For the first time he hated someone from the Shimura family so thoroughly.
Kairen raised a palm and formed the gesture of firing with two fingers.
Shimura's pupils narrowed, thinking Kairen was about to use ninjutsu to scare him.
He continued to shout, "Moku Kairen, what are you doing? Are you abandoning your little lover?"
Intelligence reports said Moku Kairen was arrogant and contemptuous, but he was attentive when it came to women he liked.
Shimura's grip loosened a bit.
Kurenai was saved. She gasped for air, then looked up at Kairen, "Kairen, run! Don't worry about me!"
"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!"
In an instant a thick black smoke shrouded the Senju house below.
"Buzz, buzz!!"
A yellow supercar flashed out like lightning, mowing several Root shinobi aside. A hand snatched Kurenai and slammed her into the car door.
Kairen's clone had been trying to rescue Shizune, but the Root shinobi guarding her was tightly on alert, dodging the clone's achingly close strike.
The clone had no choice but to yell, "Ignite!"
The ash-burn jutsu's gunpowder flared, like a crimson thunderhead of fire.
"Get clear!"
The Root shinobi all instantaneously teleported to evade the scorching flames.
"Boom—"
Bumblebee gunned the engine, spewing thick exhaust and tearing out of the black-and-red inferno.
Although the Root shinobi were Jonin, Kairen still managed to rescue Kurenai.
Kairen took Kurenai from the clone, flapped his wing, and shot into the sky; a pseudo-beast ink-painting ninja closely pursued him.
"Cough…"
Kurenai opened her eyes, breathing in Kairen's scent; her fear turned into excitement.
As long as Kairen was nearby, his hands could protect everything.
Her pupils shrank as she noticed Shizune's absence. She gripped Kairen's sleeve.
"…Kairen, Shizune?!"
Kairen's eyes were calm, but his brows were laced with murderous intent.
"Don't speak. I'll get her out first."
The pursing pseudo-beast ink-painting ninja shouted up to him,
"Moku Kairen, we have another little lover in our hands! Surrender and come to the Death Forest, or you'll never imagine the torture that awaits her. No one can withstand Root's instruments."
"Fire Gun!"
Kairen beat the air with his wing and released five Fire Guns. The explosions and smoke blocked the pseudo-beast ninja's view.
Kairen used that chance to fly toward a training ground.
He landed and set Kurenai, Wolon and Fenchu down.
"Kurenai, wait here. I'll fetch Shizune right away!"
"Cough…okay!" Kurenai replied, masking the pain in her voice.
Kairen's eyes sharpened at Kurenai's purplish-red face.
"Poison!!"
An organization that often assassinated important enemies was no slouch at poisons — their research rivaled Chiyo's. How could they not carry toxins on a mission?
Kairen's pharmacology was max-level; he recognized at a glance that Kurenai was poisoned with a synthetic compound.
An antidote would be painfully hard to concoct; only the poisoners themselves might have the cure.
He had two options.
One: go after the Root shinobi, kill them, rescue Shizune and seize the antidote.
Two: find Tsunade — the medical saint — who could handle this poison easily.
Most would choose the second; it was safer. Besides, Kairen's system was offline — he had no immortality abilities and faced a big disadvantage.
But Kairen chose the first — because he was Moku Kairen!
He clenched his teeth and made a fist.
Then he calmed, released a healing palm technique to ease Kurenai's pain a little.
He kissed Kurenai's forehead and soothed, "Sleep here. When you wake, everything will be alright."
Kairen pressed Kurenai's sleep point; her eyes slowly closed, and she murmured,
"…Kairen, run!"
"Hmm~"
Wolon and Fenchu watched Kurenai with worry.
Kairen ruffled the two panda cubs' heads.
"You two stay put and don't make a fuss. I'll be right back."
"Hmm~"
Wolon and Fenchu nodded.
Kairen spread his wings and flew toward the Death Forest.
Why hadn't Konoha requested Hokage assistance after a Konoha ninja was attacked in the village? After all, this was the village that proclaimed the Will of Fire.
The Root's attack on village shinobi should have been noticed by the Hokage's ANBU; intelligence would have been uploaded to the village high command.
But Kairen had no backup — he wasn't trusted by the elders!
Maybe Jiraiya or the tomato-stir-fried-egg folks would help, but they might be intercepted by Root or constrained by the higher-ups.
Kairen's heart burned with murderous intent as he swept over the sky.
Today he would taste blood!
...
Hokage Tower.
Four high-ranking Konoha elders gathered, silent. None were fools — they knew Root acted on its own.
An enraged Koharu glared, "Danzo, why are you attacking Konoha shinobi without cause?"
Danzo sneered. "Without cause? You saw that brat's arrogance. A dead Moku Kairen is worth more than a living one."
He glanced at the silent Hiruzen Sarutobi and declared,
"Hiruzen, whether Moku Kairen lives or dies today, he must die. Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't save him — I, Danzo Shimura, say so!"
Hiruzen looked up at Danzo. The presence of a true shinobi pressed down on him.
"Danzo, you're arrogant!"
"You forged a falsified Hokage order and mobilized Root to attack our own village's shinobi!"
"Danzo, do you think you are the Hokage?!"
"Hiruzen, I—"
Danzo's heart skipped; he'd been too overconfident and had forgotten the man who'd always been above him since childhood.