"Ahahaha~!"
The moment her consciousness returned to her body, Kushina doubled over, clutching her stomach as she burst into uncontrollable laughter.
For as long as she had been the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, every time she encountered the fox, it was either baring its fangs in a murderous rage, ready to kill everything in sight, or cursing like a furious banshee—ranting about the First Hokage, then the Second, then the Gold and Silver Brothers, and always making sure to throw in a few choice insults for Grandma Mito and Uchiha Madara.
Shinno had mentioned before that the Nine-Tails was just an oversized fox starved for affection. If someone treated it with genuine kindness and approached it as an equal rather than a beast of calamity, then over time, it would reciprocate.
But Kushina had tried being friendly, only to get the cold shoulder at best and biting sarcasm at worst. She wasn't one to take insults lying down—there was no way she'd put up with the Nine-Tails' bad attitude forever.
But now?
Seeing the fox's ever-smiling face, all she had to do was block out the sound, and everything became hilarious!
"Shinno, how long will this jutsu last?"
Kushina half-slumped onto the couch, wiping away the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.
"Hard to say. If there's no outside interference… maybe forever?"
Shinno scratched his cheek.
[Always Smiling (White): Permanent alteration of facial nerve muscles. All facial expressions default to a smile. Slight increase in approachability. Higher risk of depression.]
For an ordinary person, this effect would likely be permanent.
But for a ninja? Whether it was Orochimaru's body modifications or Tsunade's medical ninjutsu, there were ways to restore facial nerve function.
The problem was, the Nine-Tails wasn't made of flesh and blood—it was a chakra entity created by the Sage of Six Paths when he split the Ten-Tails.
Could the Nine-Tails alter its own facial nerves?
That was hard to say.
After all, Minato had split it into Yin and Yang halves, and it was still alive and kicking.
If the fox was ruthless enough, it might just be able to reconstruct an entirely new face for itself.
But the process… would probably be anything but pleasant.
[...]
Gurgle, gurgle~
A bubbling sound, like boiling water, echoed from Kushina's body.
Wisps of crimson chakra seeped from her abdomen, spreading across her body like a second skin—a visible aura of the Nine-Tails' power.
"Tch, stingy fox," Kushina muttered.
Seeing the concern in Shinno's eyes, she waved him off nonchalantly.
From her ninja pouch, she pulled out a palm-sized suppression seal covered in intricate sealing formulas and pressed it against her stomach.
The orange-red chakra cloak dissipated instantly.
The seal, which had briefly surfaced on her smooth abdomen due to the chakra's agitation, once again faded into her skin.
Brushing off her hands as if dusting them clean, Kushina's expression practically screamed,
"Hurry up and praise me!"
She had heard Shinno mention this sealing method twice before, and after digging through countless Uzumaki clan texts and practicing for ages, she had finally managed to make one herself.
No matter how troublesome the Nine-Tails was, with Grandma Mito's sealing techniques and her suppression seals combined, she could keep it in check!
[...]
BANG!
Just as Shinno was about to shower her with compliments and provide some well-earned emotional validation, the guest room door was yanked open with force.
Tsunade, newly awakened from the genjutsu, radiated a sharp, almost oppressive aura.
Her gaze swept over Kushina and Shinno with grave seriousness.
"Did something go wrong with the Nine-Tails' seal?"
"Uh… we were just practicing how to control its chakra," Shinno said, thinking fast to come up with a semi-plausible excuse.
After all, telling Tsunade that he suspected Madara was still alive or that someone might resurrect him with Edo Tensei sounded like pure paranoia.
Even crazier was the truth—that he had placed a contract seal on the Nine-Tails just because he thought Madara might show up one day.
And then, on a whim, he decided the fox looked better with a smile, so he hit it with a 'permanent smiling face' debuff… which led to it going berserk.
Yeah.
No way he was saying that out loud.
Nine-Tails: *Oh, so now you know how to feel embarrassed?!*凸(艹皿艹)凸
"Yep! That's exactly what happened!" Kushina bobbed her head enthusiastically, even sneaking a thumbs-up behind her back for Shinno.
Tsunade eyed them both suspiciously.
But since they were sticking to their story, she couldn't be bothered to dig any deeper.
It wasn't her house, after all. If anything got wrecked, she wouldn't be the one feeling distressed.
Besides, instead of wasting time worrying, wouldn't it be better to get back to that gambling game?
Wait.
That was in the genjutsu.
She had been so caught up in the game that she forgot it wasn't real.
And worse… she had been stuck in that illusion for the entire afternoon.
If not for the genjutsu's energy waning over time and the Nine-Tails' sudden chakra flare triggering her survival instincts, she might have stayed there until the illusion completely dissipated.
This brat's genjutsu… was ridiculously powerful.
Tsunade's brows furrowed as she studied Shinno again, this time with sharper scrutiny.
A near-instantaneous genjutsu, cast in the middle of a physical fight, that was strong enough to trap even her?
Even Uchiha shinobi with three-tomoe Sharingan might not be capable of such a feat.
And what made it even more absurd—
This nearly instant-cast genjutsu even had a built-in mental backlash!
The moment she fell under its influence, the Yin Seal she had crafted to counter illusions had alerted her to the fact that she was under a genjutsu.
But she hadn't broken free immediately.
Not because she was lured in by the gambling.
But because even her initial attempt to break the illusion triggered a sharp, needle-like pain in her psyche—a clear warning that if she forcibly broke free, she would suffer a severe mental backlash.
And mental damage wasn't something that could be healed with medical ninjutsu.
Even she would need significant time to recover from such an injury.
So, banking on the fact that Shinno wouldn't actually harm her, she decided to simply enjoy the genjutsu's casino setting while she waited for it to weaken.
[...]
But now that she thought about it…
Didn't this little brat claim it was some secret technique from the Hozuki clan?
That genjutsu was nothing like a Hozuki clan technique!
Tsunade's sharp eyes locked onto Shinno, who was now sporting a stiff, awkward grin.
Short blond hair…
Hmm. Not bad-looking. Decent build. Strong.
But seriously—did he even have a bottom line?
Saying one thing, then immediately going back on it without a hint of guilt?
Did Kushina really pick her boyfriend based on looks alone?
"Ahem… Tsunade, how about a game of cards after dinner?"
Shinno, feeling thoroughly scrutinized, blurted out the first distraction he could think of.
"…Explain to me first," Tsunade said, crossing her arms. "What exactly is this 'Hozuki clan secret technique'?"
"..."
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