Tsunade: Blondie, Where Are Your Principles?

"Honking, honking, honking, honking, honking~"

The moment her consciousness returned to her body, Kushina clutched her stomach and laughed so hard she could not straighten up.

In all the years she had been the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki,

whenever she saw the Nine Tails, it was either wearing a ferocious expression, radiating murderous malice as if it wanted to kill everyone,

or cursing like a shrew—after cursing the First Hokage, it cursed the Second Hokage; after cursing the Second, it cursed Kinkaku and Ginkaku; and finally, it made sure to send its warmest regards to Grandma Mito and Madara Uchiha.

Although Yamanaka Kei had said before that the Nine Tails was merely a big fox starved of affection,

and that as long as she treated it kindly and as an equal instead of viewing it as some terrifying monster, it would eventually return that kindness,

she had been met with nothing but coldness despite her warmth. When it was in a good mood, it ignored her; when it was in a bad mood, it even mocked her.

She was not made of dough. How could she simply endure the Nine Tails' abuse?

But now things were different.

With that cheerful smile on the Nine Tails' face, as long as she sealed off her hearing, wouldn't every look at it make her happy?

"Kei, how long can this technique last?"

Kushina half lay across the sofa, wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes.

"That's hard to say. If there's no outside interference, maybe for a lifetime?"

Yamanaka Kei scratched his cheek.

Smiling Face (White): Permanently alters facial muscle nerves. Whenever the expression changes, all expressions become smiling faces. Slightly increases affinity. Increases likelihood of depression.

If an ordinary person were affected by this trait, they would probably stay that way for the rest of their life.

But for a ninja, whether it was Orochimaru's Software Modification or Tsunade-sama's Medical Ninjutsu, both could alter facial muscle nerves.

The Nine Tails, however, was not a creature of flesh and blood. It was a Chakra life-form created when the Sage of Six Paths split the Ten Tails apart.

Could the Nine Tails alter its own facial muscle nerves?

That was genuinely hard to say.

After all, Namikaze Minato had split the Nine Tails into yin and yang halves, and it was still doing just fine.

If the Nine Tails was ruthless enough, it might really be able to give itself a new face.

The process just might not be very pleasant.

Gurgle, gurgle~ Gurgle, gurgle~

A sound like boiling water rose from Kushina's body.

Threads of scarlet Chakra seeped out from her abdomen and spread across her body, forming a visible cloak of Chakra.

"That damn fox is so petty."

Kushina muttered, then waved nonchalantly when she saw the concern in Yamanaka Kei's eyes.

She took out a palm-sized suppression talisman covered in Sealing Technique formulas from the Ninja Tool Pouch at her waist and stuck it onto her abdomen.

The orange-red Nine Tails Chakra spreading from Kushina's body swiftly dissipated.

The seal that had surfaced on her smooth waist and abdomen due to the rampaging Nine Tails Chakra also quieted down, sinking back beneath her skin.

Kushina patted her little hands as though dusting them off.

Her pretty face practically screamed, Hurry up and praise me!

After hearing Yamanaka Kei mention this thing twice, she had spent ages digging through the Uzumaki Clan's inherited texts, then practiced in secret for a long time before finally making it!

No matter how much the Nine Tails struggled, with Grandma Mito's seal and the suppression talisman working together,

they could make it behave obediently!

Bang!

Just as Yamanaka Kei was about to play along and shower his girlfriend with praise, giving her the emotional validation she deserved, the guest room door was violently yanked open.

Tsunade, startled awake from the Genjutsu, radiated a fierce aura.

She stared solemnly at Kushina and Yamanaka Kei in the living room.

"Is there something wrong with the Nine Tails' seal?"

"Uh... we were just practicing how to control the Nine Tails' Chakra."

Yamanaka Kei's thoughts raced as he quickly came up with an excuse that was not particularly convincing, but barely plausible.

After all, whether he said he thought Madara Uchiha was not dead, or that he believed someone in the future would use the Reanimation Jutsu to summon Madara Uchiha and cause trouble,

most people would think he was having paranoid delusions.

Going out of his way to put a Contract Seal on the Nine Tails because of that was already ridiculous enough.

Then, on the way out, deciding the Nine Tails looked good when it smiled and giving it a "permanent smiling face," only for it to go berserk as a result...

That...

Yamanaka Kei really did not feel comfortable saying it aloud.

Nine Tails: You fucking know how to be embarrassed?凸(艹皿艹 )凸!

"That's right! That's exactly it!"

Kushina nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick, then secretly gave her boyfriend a thumbs-up behind her back.

Tsunade eyed the two of them suspiciously.

Seeing that their stories matched, she could not be bothered to dig any deeper.

It was not her house, anyway. Even if something got damaged, she would not be the one upset about it.

Besides, instead of worrying here for nothing, wouldn't it be better to continue the gambling game from earlier?

That Niuniu game was pretty damn great. She already had four low cards; one more and she would have Five Little Niuniu...

No!

She had gotten carried away and forgotten that it was a Genjutsu!

She could not go back on her own. She still needed Yamanaka Kei, that brat, to cast it on her again.

That's not right either...

Wasn't she supposed to be here to settle things with that brat?

Thinking that, Tsunade glanced at the clock on the wall, and her pupils trembled slightly.

She had actually spent an entire afternoon gambling in the illusion!

If the Genjutsu's energy had not weakened after lasting all afternoon, and if the Nine Tails' Chakra had not suddenly appeared and triggered her body's instinctive alarm,

she probably would not have been able to break free until the Genjutsu's energy was completely exhausted.

This brat's Genjutsu was so powerful!

Tsunade's beautiful brows knitted slightly, and the way she looked at Yamanaka Kei was no longer as casual as before.

A Genjutsu cast almost instantly with one-handed seals during an exchange of blows could actually be this strong.

Even those Uchiha who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan might not be able to pull that off!

And what was even more ridiculous was

that this near-instant Genjutsu even carried mental backlash!

The little thing she had created earlier with Mitotic Regeneration as its core had allowed her to realize the instant she was caught that she had been deceived by Genjutsu.

But the reason she had not immediately forced her way out of it was not because of the casino.

It was because that single probe had made the needle-like sense of danger clearly tell her that if she forcibly broke free of the Genjutsu, her mental strength would definitely suffer a massive impact.

Mental injuries were not something that could be easily healed with Medical Ninjutsu like the Mystical Palm Technique.

Even she would need a long period of recovery after suffering mental trauma.

So, trusting that he would not truly do anything to her, she had simply enjoyed the casino in the illusion.

But...

Hadn't this brat said earlier that he wanted her to try the Hozuki Clan Secret Technique?

That Genjutsu was bullshit Hozuki Clan Secret Technique!

Tsunade's beautiful eyes fixed on Yamanaka Kei's awkwardly smiling face.

Short blond hair...

Hmm, this blondie was not bad-looking. His body was decent too, and he was very strong.

But weren't his principles a little too flexible? Could he throw away something he had just said without the slightest psychological burden?

Did Kushina really choose her boyfriend based only on his face?

"Well, Tsunade-sama, want to play cards together after dinner?"

Yamanaka Kei felt uncomfortable under her gaze and could only make idle conversation.

"...First explain to me what exactly the Hozuki Clan Secret Technique is."

"..."