The underground laboratory of Amegakure.
Rinjin gently laid Tsunade onto the examination table, then moved aside to wash his hands. His mind was already made up.
The first seven gates of the Eight Gates gave him plenty of power-ups, but compared to the eighth, it was no contest. To put it simply: opening the Eighth Gate was on a whole different level from the first seven combined.
Right now, with seven gates open, Rinjin's strength and speed were only boosted by maybe tenfold. But if he opened the Gate of Death, that enhancement could double—or more.
What did that mean?
It meant Madara would be left gaping, exclaiming, "Nani?! Space itself is warping!"
Even now, with just seven gates, he could already make space ripple. But with the hope of reaching the eighth, how could he not seize the chance?
This—this was youth!
Bay bay bay bay bay bay bay bay~!
And, as a bonus, he could finally get rid of that not-so-cute little monster inside him!
…
When Tsunade came to, she felt a tightness in her chest.
"You died! Got stabbed through the heart from behind—pretty tragic, honestly!" Rinjin said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head. "As for the chest pain, no idea. Maybe it's just because you're too damn sexy."
He'd had to compress the life force and chakra transfer as much as possible—after all, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Ignoring Rinjin's nonsense, Tsunade braced herself on the table and shakily stood up, her vision still blurry.
"Is… is this the Pure Land?" she asked, uncertain.
With a perfectly straight face, Rinjin nodded. "Yep, this is the reception platform by the Sanzu River. Everyone wakes up on that bed after they die."
Tsunade's beautiful brows drew together in confusion. "That can't be right! I remember dying before you did. How did you get here first? And aren't you supposed to be immortal?"
"Oh, that," Rinjin waved a hand, keeping up the act. "I didn't want you walking alone, so I used Soul-Body Separation to pull my soul out and came ahead to wait for you."
At that, the still-dazed Tsunade's eyes turned red. She kicked off her high heels and threw herself into Rinjin's arms.
"Waaah! Why do you always make me cry, you jerk! Now we're both dead, everything's gone! But at least we can be together forever. That's… that's kind of nice!"
She wiped her snot all over Rinjin's shirt, then blinked in confusion.
Wait… can souls even have snot?
After a moment, Tsunade looked around.
Fresh white walls, precision machinery, and the high-tech examination table she'd just been lying on…
Her face flushed scarlet.
"Rinjin!" she yelled, voice stretched with embarrassment.
She reached out, grabbed his ear, and pointed at Riyi, who was peeking in from the doorway. "You bastard! You lied to me again! Why is Riyi here?!"
Rinjin just shrugged, feigning innocence as his mouth twitched.
…
After a round of chaos, the group finally made their way back to the village chief's office on the top floor.
Sinking into the soft sofa, Tsunade looked at Riyi's eager, smiling face and felt as if everything was unreal. That guy Rinjin had been joking around the whole time, glossing over the fact that she'd just died and come back to life like it was nothing.
If there was a ranking for unreliability, Tsunade was sure he'd be max level.
There probably wasn't another person in the entire ninja world with a mind as strange as his.
Lost in thought, Tsunade finally turned to Riyi and asked, a trace of uncertainty in her voice,
"Riyi, am I really alive? I remember dying so clearly—the feeling of my heart being pierced still makes my back go cold."
Riyi smiled and squeezed Tsunade's hand. "You're really alive, Tsunade-sensei. Trust my brother. He might seem unreliable most of the time, but when it really matters, you can count on him."
Tsunade glanced at Rinjin, who was already sprawled out on the sofa, and nodded quietly.
"Then… what about the person who attacked me?!"
Rinjin turned his head and pointed at Tsunade. "You ate him."
"I… I ate him?!" Her scream echoed through the office.
Rinjin nodded, dead serious.
Based on Matatabi's account, he more or less pieced together what had happened after the monster took over his body.
It had devoured half of Black Zetsu—and absorbed it.
No wonder his recovery rate had shot up.
But even after swallowing Black Zetsu, the monster had still sent all that life force over to Rinjin.
Not only that, it probably coughed up about one-tenth of its own original life force too.
How did he know it was one-tenth?
Just a gut feeling.
Before, it took all ten fingers to keep that little monster inside him in check.
Now, nine were enough—the little guy just couldn't handle it anymore.
So, yeah—he was missing about one-tenth of his original life force.
But if Rinjin was right, that "original source" was the very essence of his immortality.
Which meant… Tsunade might now have a piece of that undying power herself.
The thought barely finished before Rinjin whipped out a kunai and stabbed it straight into Tsunade's plush thigh.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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