"You two finally made it back. If you'd stayed out any longer, I would've starved to death."
Instead of going back to the Gojo house, Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina returned to Hashirama's old mansion.
They had just changed their shoes in the entryway when Tsunade walked over, looking annoyed.
"One of you has Flying Thunder God, the other has Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Couldn't one of you just leave a shadow clone camping out on watch while your real body came home to eat, bathe, and sleep? Why do you insist on making yourselves suffer? What's the point?"
"When it's time to eat, eat properly. When it's time to train, train properly. When it's time to have fun, have fun properly. And when it's time to do missions, do those properly too." Yoru shot her a look, then corrected her in a severe tone. "Also, this is my house now. You still owe me 27,346,725 ryō, and you're already two years and six months behind on rent. A tenant drowning in debt still expects the homeowner to come back in the middle of missions just to cook for her? Do you have any shame at all?"
"No money. Just one life," Tsunade replied, rolling her eyes. Then, making the exact same face as a begging gorilla meme, she held out her hand toward Yoru. "Lend me another sum. Tonight we fight till dawn. Once I win, I'll pay you back."
With a smack, Yoru slapped her hand away, then pressed down on the head of the blonde woman—who was seven centimeters shorter than Kushina—and ruffled her pale gold hair into a mess.
Standing over her, he laughed. "No cash means you work off the debt. And what kind of attitude is that when you're asking for a loan? If you want to borrow money, get on your knees and beg."
"Fine. I want ten million ryō."
Instead of getting mad, Tsunade's eyes lit up. She was clearly about to exploit his wording and actually drop to her knees.
"You're hopeless."
Yoru stopped her by hooking an arm around her neck and dragging the busty woman toward the living room.
Tsunade let him do it, and while pressed close to him, both hands started frisking him from top to bottom. On the surface it looked like she was taking advantage of him, but in reality she was openly trying to pickpocket him.
Kushina had long since gotten used to this.
After changing her shoes, she ignored the two of them and went to put the groceries away.
Just as Yoru had expected, Tsunade—who had mastered Yin Seal six years earlier than in the original timeline—hadn't changed much over the last five years. Her looks and figure were still frozen in that perfect stage between the lingering freshness of youth and the first bloom of maturity, making her look only three or four years older than Yoru and Kushina.
The Senju clan's Yang chakra plus the fine regulation of Yin Seal made Tsunade second only to someone like Kaguya when it came to being an ageless goddess.
When she appeared in canon, her looks were already fixed at her Third Great Ninja War phase, and that appearance didn't change even all the way into Boruto.
At that point, she was already seventy years old.
Hiruzen, by contrast, was only sixty-nine when he died in canon.
Meanwhile, Mei Terumi had wrinkles all over her face by forty-six in Boruto—her prime was tragically short.
For the next several decades, Tsunade would dominate the title of the most beautiful woman in the shinobi world.
The only one who could really compare was Kushina, who also mastered Yin Seal, was distantly related to Tsunade by blood, and possessed equally monstrous Yang chakra.
By this point, there was no longer any awkwardness at all between Yoru and Tsunade.
The stronger a woman is, the more likely she has a hidden instinct to admire strength.
In front of Orochimaru and Jiraiya, Tsunade was bold, fierce, and overwhelmingly dominant.
Jiraiya, in particular, couldn't even imagine Tsunade acting gentle.
That was because he could never conquer Tsunade, and Tsunade had never liked his type in the first place.
The only person who had ever seen Tsunade's gentler side before was Nawaki, and that had been the tenderness of an older sister.
Now, Yoru was the second person who had seen that side of her.
Over the past five years, Yoru had held Tsunade firmly in the palm of his hand, using force and tactics to grind away at her bad habits.
In the original story, the reason she became addicted to gambling wasn't just because she'd picked it up from gambling with Hashirama as a child—it was also because her younger brother and lover both died, she developed hemophobia, and could no longer even fight properly, so she simply gave up and let herself rot.
Once she became the Fifth Hokage, though, that gambling addiction faded fast. After all, with that many documents to handle every day, she simply didn't have the time to gamble.
Between important work and gambling, Tsunade always chose the former.
So whenever she found herself with too much free time, Yoru would send her off to teach classes at the Ninja Academy, while also asking her to keep an eye out for institutional reforms the school might still need.
To make sure the next generation wouldn't produce another Nawaki, Tsunade threw herself into that work with passion and determination. As a result, even before she truly made her name as one of the Sannin or as the world's greatest medical ninja, she still became an idol to countless girls.
Because the elective course system had been pushed through by Tsunade.
That system, which allowed even common-born students to develop a specialty of their own, won enormous public support. As expected of the First Hokage's granddaughter.
Every time she saw children looking at her with pure admiration, or saw more and more of Konoha's new generation mastering medical ninjutsu—or, if they lacked the talent for that, at least developing some other useful specialty that raised their survival odds—Tsunade felt something in her heart being healed. It filled her with comfort and accomplishment.
And because Yoru had been the one to give her those forward-thinking ideas in the first place, she had been completely won over by him. That was the main reason Yoru got to see Tsunade's gentler side.
Of course, Yoru never made her quit gambling entirely.
Every so often, he'd treat it like a reward, taking her via Flying Thunder God to prosperous cities around the shinobi world so she could get her fix at all sorts of casinos.
Once she'd sampled every kind of gambling there was, Yoru even brought in gambling games from his previous life—successfully becoming Tsunade's biggest creditor.
Other than the memorial hall outside, Hashirama's mansion, the Senju clan's ninjutsu scrolls, and its secret techniques had all been gambled away to Yoru. She still owed him a mountain of debt on top of that.
Tsunade had already gone from being the owner of the house to being a renter. Even her hospital salary got partially docked every month, and Yoru controlled both her allowance and her gambling money.
She couldn't beat him in strength, intelligence, or even in gambling, since Yoru kept introducing entirely new games she'd never seen before and lost every time.
Her strong-willed nature had been ground down by someone even stronger.
Like taming a horse, Yoru had long since broken Tsunade in without ever needing to say it outright.
Over these five years, Tsunade had effectively become Yoru's hidden subordinate. In some ways, she was even less mature than Kushina now.
"By the way, Kushina, there's something I need to tell you."
After dinner, the three of them sat on the tatami as usual, playing Fight the Landlord with a bit of money on the line.
Suddenly, Yoru brought up what had happened earlier that day.
"The Hokage said our mission experience has already reached the upper limit for jōnin. If we keep doing missions like this, the only thing we'll gain is a little money. There won't be any real improvement. He wants me to switch tracks next year and serve as a jōnin instructor for a few years."
Before Kushina could respond, Tsunade immediately mocked him.
"The old man's plan is obvious. If I'm not mistaken, he wants you to be Asuma's jōnin instructor, right?"
"That's exactly what he wants," Yoru admitted.
Kushina, meanwhile, lit up. "A jōnin instructor? Then can I switch too?"
"You're dreaming."
Tsunade pinched Kushina's cheek the same way Yoru would and laughed.
"Until you become a perfect jinchūriki, the higher-ups are already being incredibly lenient just by letting you go out on missions. If Yoru weren't around, you'd only be allowed out if I or Orochimaru were the ones taking you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be leaving the village at all."
"As for being a jōnin instructor? That's even less possible."
"That's true," Kushina said, instantly deflating.
The moment her face fell, Yoru immediately knew what had come to mind—the blurry memory of her first loss of control.
These five years, Kushina's growth had obviously not been entirely smooth.
Even though she had completely rewritten her original destiny and obtained overwhelming strength early on, she still had a hard time suppressing the complete Nine-Tails.
The moment Mito's chakra seal faded and Kushina still hadn't awakened Adamantine Sealing Chains, Kurama immediately tried to smash through the seal and drive her into half-tailed transformation.
Fortunately, Yoru had noticed in time. He took her away from Konoha, then used his space-time bloodline and sealing arts to beat her—quite literally—back to normal.
Once he realized Mito's chakra had fully vanished, Yoru finally entered Kushina's jinchūriki space using the space-time version of Spirit Transformation. The two of them teamed up and gave Kurama a proper beating, eventually locking him inside a cage with an Eight Trigrams Seal made from two Four Symbols Seals.
From beginning to end, Yoru never let Kushina try to bond with Kurama or ease his hatred to unlock "Kurama Mode."
Because Yoru didn't want Kushina forming a bond with a tailed beast.
This world could never escape the Ōtsutsuki. Chakra came from the God Tree's fruit. The God Tree was the Ten-Tails. The Ten-Tails was the Demonic Statue plus the nine tailed beasts.
If you wanted true longevity and immortality, you needed chakra fruit, then chakra pills refined from it.
Between tailed-beast bonds and eternal life, only one could be chosen.
Yoru naturally chose the latter.
It didn't matter if Kushina was a bit weaker for now. Even Nine-Tails chakra mode plus Sage Mode would still put her in the super-Kage tier. There were only a handful of people in the shinobi world who could match her anyway.
And if she ever took a chakra pill, not only would both of them live vastly longer, but as an Ōtsutsuki mixed-blood, Kushina might even "revert to ancestry" and evolve again.
Even without the Nine-Tails, she'd still become a super-Kage powerhouse.
Of course, Kushina had no idea Yoru had already laid all this out for her.
Seeing her looking downcast, Yoru softened a little.
"I'm planning to say yes to the Hokage."
Then he told her what he was really thinking.
"People should know gratitude. Over these years, the Hokage's care for us—and the special treatment he's given us—has been obvious to anyone paying attention. Without his help, neither you nor I would have reached this level of strength or status at our age. Besides, being a jōnin instructor would only be for a few years. Think of it as repaying the Hokage's kindness."
This time, Yoru meant every word.
He was selfish, calculating, and when he'd been weak, he had absolutely been the kind of man who planned three steps ahead for his own gain.
But, just as had been said before, Yoru also had people he cared about, and he knew how to remember favors.
He'd approached Kushina deliberately in order to obtain Yin Seal, yes—but it had never been pure exploitation.
If he hadn't actually liked Kushina, his real first choice would have been becoming Tsunade's student.
After all, Yoru understood Tsunade far better than Kushina at first simply because Tsunade had so much more screen time.
Orochimaru had guided Yoru's growth, and Yoru genuinely respected him, always calling him sensei with the equivalent of "you" in respectful form.
As for people he wasn't close to—even if they were important canon characters—he wouldn't feel even a flicker of pity if they died in front of him.
The same went for Hiruzen. Yoru could feel how much Hiruzen favored him.
Whatever Hiruzen's motives might be, Yoru still remembered the favor. That was why he always addressed him with honorific respect too.
If Hiruzen ever needed help, Yoru would help him.
As long as Danzō didn't move against Yoru, Yoru had no reason to kill him.
That was Yoru's worldview.
Unless someone touched his interests or ruined something important to him, he was, in truth, a man who respected his elders, repaid kindness, and merely happened to have a somewhat rotten personality.
Kushina knew that about him too. She nodded readily.
"That's fine. I can just treat it like a few years' break. We've already traveled all over the shinobi world anyway."
Tsunade clicked her tongue and joined in.
"Being a jōnin instructor doesn't mean you're out on missions every day. Once your subordinates and students grow enough, you can loaf around whenever you want. Orochimaru's basically living proof of that."
Then she looked amused.
"If Asuma really graduates early, next year's new generation is going to have absurd weight. If I remember right, Sakumo-senpai's son is in the same class as Asuma, along with Shinku-senpai's daughter and Dan's niece. That class is packed with talented brats."
"Ever since the Academy reform, if you master all the basic techniques and pass the final assessment for even one elective, you can apply for early graduation. Other kids can spend six years and still fail to develop a specialty. But those little monsters were basically mastering one elective's fundamentals every year. Sakumo-senpai's son, in particular, already has five chakra natures and mastered all the taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu basics by second grade. He's long had the qualifications to graduate early."
Yoru smiled in that unreadable way of his.
"It's not just the next generation. The whole era itself is absurdly stacked."
Their conversation made one thing obvious:
Yoru had triggered yet another butterfly effect.
Sakumo Hatake had never killed himself. Kakashi had never graduated from the Academy at age five.
A few years earlier, Sakumo really had gone on a large-scale mission—but unlike in the original timeline, it was never reduced to some simple "choose one or the other" situation.
Because large-scale missions didn't send out a single four-man team.
It was more like the mission to rescue Gaara in canon: Team 7 took point, but Team Guy was still on backup.
This Konoha had ended the war early. It had people to spare.
Danzō, too, had long since lost hope of becoming Hokage after the combination of Hiruzen + Orochimaru + Yoru + Tsunade + the Nine-Tails jinchūriki had solidified itself.
With Yoru and Kushina as his foundation, Hiruzen no longer needed to hand power to Danzō just to keep the Uchiha clan in check.
Nobody even knew what "5.5 Kage" Danzō was busy doing these days.
At Sakumo's most desperate moment, backup had arrived.
Not from Yoru.
From Jiraiya's team led by Namikaze Minato.
Five years later, Minato had also become one of Konoha's trump-card fighters, already carrying the title:
Yellow Flash.
In that respect, Minato had somewhat piggybacked off Yoru's light.
Because of Yoru, space-time was the hottest concept in the entire shinobi world.
The instant Konoha produced a second Flying Thunder God user, Minato immediately became the focus of every major village.
And once they confirmed he wasn't a true "space-time shinobi," the leadership of those villages relaxed a little—but they still remembered his name.
Flying Thunder God + Rasengan + Wind Release combination techniques, plus the fact that he was Jiraiya's student just as Yoru was Orochimaru's—people even started calling Minato a "nerfed Gojo Yoru."
Konoha's lineup now was simply outrageous.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was still in his prime and could use five-element composite ninjutsu.
And not even counting the Elder Council, the clan heads, and their elites, Konoha's trump cards alone included:
Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade — the Sarutobi team
The top-tier assassin Hatake Sakumo
Katō Dan
Namikaze Minato
the fully matured Nine-Tails jinchūriki Uzumaki Kushina
and Gojo Yoru, the Embodiment of a Miracle
Every one of them had the power to threaten a Kage. Every one of them could be considered Hokage material.
And Yoru knew Konoha still had one more hidden super-card:
Might Duy.
Once he opened the Eight Gates Formation, he could instantly kill multiple trump-card fighters.
With strength like this, Yoru genuinely couldn't imagine how a Third Shinobi World War could possibly break out.
Even if Sasori still killed the Third Kazekage, and Kumogakure seized the chance to attack Sunagakure, then dragged the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth into it—
Konoha would still crush them.
The current Konoha absolutely had the strength to fight the other four great nations at once.
One-on-one, it would crush any single country.
The only reason Yoru didn't fear that much was because he knew the shinobi world was also blooming everywhere else.
Kumogakure had the future A-B Combo.
Sunagakure had Rasa and Pakura.
Kirigakure had the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and Ao, the "Byakugan Killer."
Iwagakure had Kitsuchi.
And among the next generation there were still Kakashi, Mei Terumi, Darui, Samui, Yahiko, Konan, Nagato, and others.
If a Third Shinobi World War still broke out in the future and swept all those people into it, Yoru couldn't even imagine how grand that battlefield would be.
"Three with one."
"Joker bomb. Airplane combo!"
"Are you kidding me? I finally get an insane hand and take landlord, and you just delete me with one combo?"
"You know your own luck. The moment you saw you didn't have the Joker bomb, you should've known how this was ending."
"I'm done. Bath, sleep."
Once the serious conversation ended, their little "friendly game" naturally devolved into yet another one-sided charity event.
Looking at the hand in front of her—after playing a harmless three-with-one, every remaining card was basically a super-bomb—
Tsunade suddenly snapped, threw the cards down, and once again "quit gambling for the day."
But before she could stand and run, Yoru grabbed her by the shoulder, hooked a finger in her collar, and dragged her back toward him with a smile that was pure evil.
"Bath and sleep are fine. But write the IOU first."
Tsunade immediately turned on full acting mode. Holding up one finger, eyes wet, voice trembling pitifully, she said:
"I—I didn't win a single round. And you're really going to make me owe another three million?"
"Absolutely. Debt doesn't get heavier just because it grows. What are you so scared of?"
"No way. How is this any different from robbery?"
"Robbery doesn't make money nearly this fast."
"Yoru, you devil!"
Watching Tsunade roll around shamelessly trying to dodge the debt, and Yoru pin her down with that wicked grin—clearly enjoying himself while getting ready to write the new IOU—
Kushina, for once, didn't ignore the scene.
Instead, she broke out the camera and selfie stick with the exact same evil grin, set it to a three-second timer, then ran over beside Yoru, who was currently riding Tsunade like a victorious landlord, and flashed a cheerful peace sign.
Click.
With the flash freezing the moment forever, the image was captured for eternity:
the guest taking over the house,
the tenants losing the mansion,
and the shameless triumph of the true owner.