After Kakashi and Hikari arrived at the meeting room, Itachi Uchiha, who had just dropped Sasuke off at the Academy, also arrived belatedly.
Including the summoned Katsuyu, the team researching how to simplify Sage Mode was now fully assembled, save for Jiraiya, whom Kakashi had already accounted for.
Everyone present was a ninja among ninjas, the absolute elite.
Since Kakashi already had the idea of using the Yin Seal as a foundation and had researched it for a while, Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi continued to develop its possibilities based on this concept.
However, the Yin Seal could only store one's own chakra. The requirements to use the Yin Seal to store natural energy, or to simultaneously store one's own chakra and use the seal to absorb external natural energy to convert it into senjutsu chakra, were incredibly high.
To this, Tobirama Senju could only say it was an excellent idea worth trying.
During this time, Tsunade, having caught wind of the news, barged into the meeting room in a whirlwind of fury.
"Kakashi, explain yourself!"
The door was kicked open, and Tsunade glared at Kakashi, who was currently working.
"Tsunade, you're here."
Kakashi had long prepared himself mentally to face Tsunade, looking completely unfazed and shameless.
She could beat him or scold him; he would let her do as she pleased.
"You brat!"
"After everything I've done for you, you actually—!"
Tsunade stormed forward, wanting to grab Kakashi by the collar, but a hand clamped down on her wrist.
"Tsuna."
Tobirama Senju stopped her movements.
"As a Leaf ninja, you cannot treat the Hokage this way."
Sitting behind Tobirama, Kakashi watched the scene with a calm expression.
On the other side, Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to have expected this all along.
As the Second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, Tobirama Senju's logic always outweighed personal feelings.
Although he was secretly displeased with Kakashi, Kakashi was the Hokage no matter what. Moreover, Kakashi's purpose in awakening him was to raise the overall strength of the Hidden Leaf. If the jutsu could be completed, the village would gain several master-level combatants.
Especially Tsunade.
Already possessing the Yin Seal, she would be the greatest beneficiary of this brand-new jutsu.
Both publicly and privately, for the development of this new jutsu alone, Tobirama supported Kakashi.
"..."
Tsunade looked at Tobirama blocking her path and spoke unwillingly, "But, Second Granduncle, you..."
"It doesn't matter to me. Being able to see you again makes this journey back to the ninja world worthwhile for me."
Compared to the blockheaded Hashirama Senju, Tobirama treated Tsunade just like his own biological granddaughter, especially since he had remained unmarried and childless his entire life.
Tsunade was his granddaughter.
"...You just wait!"
Tsunade glared at Kakashi hiding behind Tobirama, then turned and left without looking back.
She was afraid that if she stayed even a second longer with that guy, she wouldn't be able to resist beating him up.
Watching Tsunade's retreating back, Kakashi shifted his gaze to Tobirama in front of him and offered his thanks.
"No need to thank me. You should be thanking your status as Hokage."
Tobirama paid it no mind.
"Since that's settled, let's continue."
Kakashi pointed to the pile of documents in front of him.
"It would be great if we had a fūinjutsu expert from the Uzumaki Clan," Tobirama said with a slight sigh.
In his view, Kakashi's concept was equivalent in difficulty to creating an S-rank forbidden jutsu—perhaps even harder.
To make breakthroughs in fūinjutsu, having an Uzumaki Clan expert involved would drastically reduce the difficulty.
Hearing this, Kakashi's eyes shifted slightly, lost in thought.
"What are you planning?!"
"Absolutely not!"
Seeing Kakashi's expression, Hiruzen immediately stood up to interrupt his thoughts.
A fūinjutsu expert from the Uzumaki Clan?
Counting back through decades of Leaf Village history, only two people fit that description.
Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki.
Hiruzen naturally didn't believe Kakashi would be crazy enough to use Edo Tensei on his own sensei's wife, but Mito Uzumaki was a different story.
Furthermore...
Hiruzen cast a somewhat resentful glance at his teacher.
He highly doubted his teacher had brought this up unintentionally.
After all, someone who could develop a jutsu like Edo Tensei couldn't possibly be a saint.
"I wasn't planning anything."
Kakashi waved his hand dismissively.
Watching Kakashi, Tobirama secretly thought it a pity.
Just as Hiruzen suspected, he had done it on purpose.
After all, as her brother-in-law, taking the initiative to use Edo Tensei on his sister-in-law would be hard to justify.
It had to be the current Hokage, Kakashi, who made the decision.
That way, if Mito Uzumaki really was brought back via Edo Tensei, he could stay out of it.
The deed would have been done by Kakashi, the Fifth Hokage; what would it have to do with him, the Second?
Kakashi and Tobirama exchanged a glance, both tacitly choosing not to push the subject any further.
Contrary to what Tobirama thought, Kakashi was actually a bit concerned about Tsunade's attitude.
Using Edo Tensei on Tobirama had already infuriated her; if he brought back Mito Uzumaki, Tsunade's own grandmother, it would offend her beyond repair.
After all, Tsunade was one of his supporters and had treated him fairly well; there was no need to alienate her.
"Since that's settled, let's continue."
Days passed one by one, and two months flew by in the blink of an eye. Just as Kakashi and the others were in full swing developing the new jutsu, a travel-worn figure appeared at the gates of the Hidden Leaf.
Looking at the familiar gates before him, Jiraiya sighed.
He had been busy outside the village for almost half a year, and now he was finally back.
He wondered if Tsunade had missed him.
His return naturally meant he had found the so-called Gelel Stone vein, completing the mission Kakashi had entrusted to him.
And as it turned out, the Gelel Stone vein was right here in the Land of Fire.
After all, as the most fertile region in the ninja world, the Land of Fire possessed countless resources, including quite a few rare ones.
Upon learning that Jiraiya had returned to the village, Kakashi went to greet him immediately.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Looking at the travel-worn Jiraiya, Kakashi felt a bit of emotion.
"Thanks to you, I found it."
Looking at the unchanged Kakashi, Jiraiya grumpily tossed a scroll at him.
Unable to wait, Kakashi opened it. Seeing the marked Gelel Stone vein, a look of satisfaction crossed his face.
Now that the Gelel Stone vein had been found, as long as they investigated to confirm its accuracy, he could arrange for manpower to mine it.
For such an important resource, Kakashi would naturally appoint personnel personally to avoid any mistakes.
Thinking of this, Kakashi patted Jiraiya on the shoulder with a smile and said, "As expected of the Sannin. Your efficiency is truly high."
To tirelessly track down the target using nothing more than a single name provided by Kakashi was a testament to just how capable Jiraiya was.
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