3: A Dinner With Mito

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Ryoichi knew Jigen had a complete Shinju in his Dimension, and believes that if he got his hand on that he should be able to create a serum to break his own limit, not to mention researching an Otsutsuki's body might lead him to have a breakthrough on his main research which he hadn't made much progress in.

Ryoichi had a few ideas for achieving immortality, mainly the few he remembered from the original series. But they all had some major flaws.

Whether it was Body switching, cloning, permanent reanimation, or becoming a puppet. All had a downside that Ryoichi wasn't much fond of. There were a few more ways to become immortal but Ryoichi didn't remember them.

"Welcome back, master." A maid greeted Ryoichi as he entered his newly made house.

"Nanami, I'll be travelling to the Land of Iron for some business tomorrow and will be unavailable for few days, inform the clan elders." Ryoichi said as he removed his Haori and handed it to Nanami.

"Understood, master."

"And don't make anything today, I will be having dinner with Mito sensei."

"Understood, should I prepare a bath and clothes for you," Nanami asked, making Ryoichi nod and reply.

"You do that."

Ryoichi then proceeds to walk towards the underground Chamber where he does his legal and less unethical research.

The ongoing research in this lab was the soul base Jutsu. Ryoichi had reverse-engineered more than a dozen soul Jutsu to understand the essence and core of every living being. And by now he had a rough understanding of the soul and how to interact with it.

Ryoichi plans to create a Jutsu that can destroy souls, and once he succeeds Ryoichi would have one more way he could kill an Otsutsuki. As of now, he can only kill an Otsutsuki with the reaper death seal, but that Jutsu demands a heavy toll and even higher requirement.

The toll being the unconditional death of the user, and the requirement being the minimum Kage-level Chakra reservoir to activate the Jutsu.

The requirement being the only reason that dropped the usefulness of the Justu, if there was no such requirements Ryoichi would have easily paid toll by ten times.

'Nothing can be this easy…' Ryoichi lamented.

The Kage level requirement was too much, even after nurturing his subordinates for seven years close to eight, he only had a single Kage rank under him, even that didn't come from his nurturing. The Kage-rank Shinobi was originally a vagabond elite Jonin, who came to Akihara village to gain a permanent residence with his daughter. Ryoichi saw the potential in him and formed a plan to gain his loyalty, although the plan consisted of planting a fake tumour inside the Jonin's daughter, but it all went right and Ryoichi gained an elite Jonin with the potential to become a Kage-rank.

That happened five years ago, and today the Jonin has already become a Kage-rank and is loyal enough to sacrifice his life for Ryoichi.

His name is Ikari Ryomen, and his existence has helped Ryoichi to easily expand Akihara Village's business without much problem.

Ryoichi worked on the Jutsu for some time before he exited the underground room and entered the bath, an artificial hot spring. He thoroughly cleaned himself and then dipped his body for a relaxing half an hour before he exited the bath with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Ryoichi saw Nanami standing outside the bath, holding his clothes, a sudden desire welled within his body after seeing Nanami in her loose Yukata.

Ryoichi easily recognised his teen hormones acting up, he took a deep breath and suppressed raging emotion before walking past the Nanami with his clothes. As he walked past her Ryoichi saw her upper lip lifting slightly, forming a small almost imperceptible smirk.

It reminded him of the time he met Nanami and how she declared she would kill him one day.

'Cute…' Thought Ryoichi as his Haki picked the slight killing intent while exiting the changing area and heading towards his room.

Once inside his room, Ryoichi put on his clothes and gave himself a look in the mirror. He nodded his head at Nanami's choice as he gave a noble vibe with his black Yukata and the red Haori with gold embroidery.

After checking himself over, Ryoichi grabbed the report from Mirai and started reading.

'A discharge worth a Tail beast Chakra, and no destruction to the surrounding…' Ryoichi thought as Mirai's report gave a detailed description of the incident, but what intrigued Ryoichi more was her own thoughts at the end of the report.

According to her, the Chakra discharge came from a Jutsu similar to his FLYING THUNDER GOD, a sort of teleportation Jutsu.

Ryoichi considered such possibility but soon declined, the amount of Chakra used was too exaggerated for simple teleportation.

'The only way that amount of Chakra should be used is when someone teleports off the planet or teleports a whole army. But there were no signs of any army and for an Otsutsuki coming to this planet at this point also wasn't mentioned in the series. And I don't believe I caused enough ripples to affect the events outside the planet.' Ryoichi analysed the information before he wrote a letter, instructing Mirai to stand by for now. And that he will visit the village after his business in Land of Iron.

After sending the letter Ryoichi exited his house and started walking towards the old Lord's mansion. He reached there in five minutes and a maid guided him towards the dining table where he saw Tsunade arguing with Mito.

"I'm not late, am I sensei?" Ryoichi spoke with a charming smile, breaking the two ladies' argument.

"…you're not." Mito replied with a nod as Tsunade scoffed at his smile.

Ryoichi ignored Tsunade's action and sat across the table parallel to Mito. He looked at his beautiful teacher and dished out a compliment.

"Sensei is it me, or you have gotten even more beautiful.

"And your tongue has gotten smoother I see…" Mito replied flatly, but the small smile on her cherry red lips told Ryoichi the effectiveness of his compliment.

"Not at all Sensei, if that was the case I would have complimented Tsunade as well."

"What…?" Tsuande questioned confusingly before her brown eyes widened as she realised what he meant.

Tsunade opened her mouth to retort, but Mito shot a glare which silenced her.

"So I heard you're going to Land of Iron for our Wagon business," Mito asked as the maids brought in the food.

"Yes, I want to introduce the new Shocker technology to some investors," Ryoichi answered.

"Hmm. But why do you need investors, aren't the Senju's financial conditions stable? You can easily use our own funds."

"Ooh they are more than stable, but why use your own money when the lazy nobles are more than happy to loan us money with low interest." Ryoichi answered as the maids served him. He thanked them and looked at Mito before questioning her.

"So Sensei, tell me, why have you invited me here? I'm sure you're not interested in the clan's business."

Mito didn't answer his question, instead, she motioned the maids to leave, and only once they did, she spoke.

"I found the next vessel…"

"By vessel you mean the next Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails?" Questioned Ryoichi as an image of a rather aggressive redhead popped into his mind.

"Yes."

"But Sensei you will… not survive after the transfer." Ryoichi spoke with a "concerned" tone.

"Yes… but we still have time, the vessel is currently one year old, so the transfer won't happen for at least the next few years." Mito coaxed Ryoichi with a smile.

"But…" she continued before her smile turned melancholy. "I won't be able to hold the Nine Tails long, so the transfer won't be longer than a decade." Mito finished as Tsunade sobbed quietly. Ryoichi subconsciously moved his hand and held Tsunade's and gave a gentle squeeze.

The small action didn't go unnoticed by the older Lady as she gave them a warm smile.

After Mito's revelation, the room fell silent as they quietly ate their food.

Ryoichi's mind raced through thousands of scenarios and thoughts consisting of Kushina, the future Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails. He thought what he should do with the redhead, he thought of manipulating her first but discarded it. The reason being was that Kushina wasn't known for anything in the original series other than the Fuinjustu, but Ryoichi wasn't interested in that as he was thought by the best Uzumaki Fuin Grandmaster.

As Ryoichi thought about all this, his food finished, he slowly stood and excused himself but before he could, Mito spoke.

"I had another thing to discuss, but let's do that after you return from Land of Iron," Mito said as she glanced at Tsuande who fidgeted.

"Anytime Sensei," Ryoichi answered with a smile, but a sudden realization hit him.

'Ahh.' Upon the realization, Ryoichi subconsciously glanced at Tsunade and checked her out. Tsunade as if feeling his eyes stood straighter.

'Short, aggressive, and…' Ryoichi paused as his eyes lingered on her chest. 'Flat…'

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AN: If you want to read more go to my Patr*on/41_Claws. There are 10+ advance unedited chapters on it…]

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