Tsunade ate a piece of sushi and said slowly as she chewed,
"From now on, the three of you will form a team!"
The two girls' eyes curved with delight. Both were overjoyed to be teamed up with Kairen.
Kairen asked, "Who will be our leading Jōnin?"
In Konoha's squad structure, it was standard for one Jōnin to lead three Genin.
Tsunade smiled faintly, and for a brief moment, the room seemed to bloom with flowers.
Kairen seemed to realize something and turned his gaze toward the radiant Tsunade.
"Our leading Jōnin... is you!"
Tsunade nodded, then flicked Kairen's forehead with a finger.
"From today onward, I'll be your Jōnin instructor. You'd better start showing me some respect."
Kairen nodded sincerely. "Got it. As they say, one day as a sensei, a lifetime as a sensei."
Tsunade ruffled his hair and tugged on his cheek.
"If only you could stay this honest all the time!"
But when she saw the mischievous glint in Kairen's eyes, she knew perfectly well that this brat would never be that well-behaved.
"Tsunade-san, stop joking around. Let's just eat."
"Fine!" Tsunade nodded.
Her eyes drifted toward the whip hanging on the cabinet. If Kairen didn't behave, she would make sure to discipline him.
After a satisfying meal, Kairen lay sprawled across Wolon's belly, clutching his stomach, unwilling to move.
"Ugh!"
Fenchu pushed at Kairen's head, trying to save her brother.
Tsunade gave Kairen a light kick, freeing Wolon from under him.
Half-opening his eyes, Kairen looked up at Tsunade, stretched out his hand, and called,
"Tsunade-san, care to join me for some post-meal exercise?"
"You little brat, can you ever keep a straight face?" Tsunade snorted, neatly clearing the leftovers from the table.
After tidying up, Tsunade sat back down on the mat with them, chatting for a while about the upcoming Chūnin Exams, sharing her experience with the three.
Before long, Kairen started running his mouth again, spinning his words so wildly that Tsunade, Shizune, and Kurenai all ended up dizzy from the conversation.
"Ugh~~~"
Eventually, Wolon let out a long yawn, which quickly spread to the others. Seeing that it was late, Tsunade told them all to head to bed.
Kairen picked up Wolon and Fenchu and slowly carried them back to his room. As he closed the door, a trace of wariness crossed his face.
With his Kekkei Genkai, there was no way he'd believe that Root or Anbu agents weren't keeping watch outside.
During the day, even Orochimaru had sent a white snake agent. Who knew what kind of "rat" or "dog" agent might show up at night?
"Byakugan – Activate!"
Kairen opened his Byakugan, his vision stretching out for five kilometers, allowing him to see every chakra signature within range.
Within one kilometer of the Senju compound, he could clearly see several hidden chakra clusters—each at the Special Jōnin level. There were also strange chakra signatures belonging to cats, dogs, and snakes.
He didn't know whether they were from Root or Anbu, but either way, they were a bunch of disgusting rats.
Kairen created over ten shadow clones. Each changed into black combat gear and headed toward the marked locations to drive the spies away.
After chasing off the hidden watchers, Kairen created about twenty more shadow clones to patrol continuously around the Senju compound.
Once the "before-bed routine" was done, Kairen shut his door and lay down slowly on his bed. Inside his mind, two chakra clusters stirred.
Doctor Snake spoke up: "Main body, let me out! I still need to develop the ninjutsu they requested!"
Kairen hadn't expected Doctor Snake to be so diligent. But really—could a ball of chakra even get tired?
He nodded, formed a hand seal, and Doctor Snake appeared beside him.
Doctor Snake glanced around the room, then shook his head. He wanted a wide, open space for his ninjutsu development and testing.
The Scholar clone also materialized beside Kairen and said to Doctor Snake, "Not enough space, huh?"
Doctor Snake nodded.
The Scholar turned to Kairen. "Main body, make a hundred more shadow clones. We'll dig an underground chamber in the backyard for Doctor Snake's lab."
Kairen nodded. Bringing his hands together, he channeled his massive chakra and split into over a hundred shadow clones at once.
Doctor Snake led the clones outside and began tearing up the Senju backyard.
Kairen looked at the Scholar clone still standing beside him.
"And what are you planning to do?"
The Scholar replied, "Do you have any books? I want to read—learn about the history and culture of the ninja world."
Truly worthy of his Scholar attribute—studying even in the middle of the night, like preparing for an exam.
If Kairen himself had that kind of motivation, he wouldn't have failed so many subjects in the past.
Still, it was a good thing that his clones were so hardworking. As the boss, he didn't have to pay them a single ryo, yet he reaped all the rewards. They were basically his free labor force.
Kairen entered the Infinite Resurrection System's shop. Books in the ninja world were cheap—after all, the culture here valued fighting more than writing diaries.
For just 100 experience points, Kairen bought an entire room full of books, filling his quarters from wall to wall.
He then made about fifty more shadow clones to move the books outside and set up a study for the Scholar clone in the underground lab.
The noise from all his clones working soon reached Tsunade and the others.
Tsunade shouted toward Kairen's room,
"You little brat! What are you doing in there? It's the middle of the night—are you trying to tear the house down?!"
She wasn't entirely wrong—they were literally building an underground chamber.
Kairen called back, "It's fine, Tsunade-san!"
"If it's fine, then get to sleep already! You'd better train properly tomorrow!"
"Got it, Tsunade-san. But I can't sleep unless I'm buried in your arms. Could you grant me that one request?"
"Go die!"
Tsunade cursed and didn't say another word. She decided that the whip would come out tomorrow.
If Kairen got cheeky again, she'd beat him like a misbehaving ox.
Lying on Wolon and Fenchu's bellies, Kairen tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He stared blankly for half the night, and the only two words he could read from the book pages were—"so boring."
Back on the battlefield, he had always been tense, mentally exhausted by the end of each day. Sleep came easily then.
But now, in the peace of Konoha, he wasn't used to it. No short videos to scroll through, no adult books to read—people here basically went to bed as soon as the sun went down.
Either that, or they had a vigorous sparring match before sleeping from exhaustion.
Looks like I'll have to bring back some things from my past life... Kairen thought.
The ninja world was already close to modern civilization. A small push from him would make all the difference.
He rolled over a few times, utterly bored.
Then suddenly, he heard the familiar chime of the system.
"Ding!"
[Shadow Clone: Doctor Snake has successfully developed a Genjutsu—named 'Traceless Spring Dream.' The technique has been recorded.]
Kairen froze, then jumped up instantly.
Canon's chakra avatar laughed wildly.
"Boss, this is amazing! The Spring Dream Genjutsu is finally complete! Tsunade-sama will be putty in your hands!"
"Doctor Snake truly is a genius—to have developed such an advanced Genjutsu!"
"John Doe, have I not lectured you enough about criminal law lately? You're getting bold again, huh?!"
"Thief, don't you dare break the law! Your methods are already dancing on the edge of legality!"
Kairen's voice trembled with excitement.