Chapter 410: The Forest

“I went to the Hokage office but did not see you,” said Edward as he looked at the hospital and patients. “Have you resumed your previous job?”

“Where have you been all this time? It’s been a month since I last saw you,” said Tsunade.

“It’s only a month.”

“Don’t you know how long a month is? That’s more than 30 days.”

“Hmm, I forget I’m now a longevity species, and how I experience time differs from mortals. I should take note of this for the future.”

“Are you saying it’s normal for you to spend years without seeing your family and wives?”

“Yes, were are essentially immortal, so time is something we have more than enough.”

“What a weird family dynamic.”

“Maybe. But why do you care?” asked Edward with a smug smile. “You seem too invested in me and my family situation.”

“You take yourself too seriously,” replied Tsunade after coughing a little in embarrassment. “You are a dangerous individual, and it is in the Leaf’s best interest to know your whereabouts at all times and to gather as much information as possible.”

“Is that so?”

Tsunade hated that smirk look he had on his face.

“I must say, I like this Tsundere side of yours.”

“Tsundere? What’s that?” She instantly felt it was something that would anger her.

“I can’t say. I don’t want you to destroy this hospital and ruin your heroic image in this village.”

Tsunade finally took notice of the surroundings as she noticed many people looking at her and gossiping; she could hear them wondering who is this young and handsome lad that Lady Tsunade seemed to be flirting with.

“Heherm, follow me to my office.” She rapidly walked to her office with great stride.

“You know, your actions might intensify the rumors, ” said Edward as he closed the door to her office. “I can see the headlines: Lady Tsunade invites an unknown handsome man into her office for a private chat. What are they discussing? Marriage? Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy? Read to find out.”

Tsunade looked at him, not knowing how to respond to the absurdity that just came out of his mouth. “Sometimes I wonder whether you’re a fraud. How could a thousand-year-old person say something so ridiculous?”

“When you live as long as I have, you must keep a youthful mind. Otherwise, life would not be as fun,” shrugged Edward. “Plus, you’ve never seen a modern world publication: these outlines are more absurd to entice readers to buy.”

“I’m not going to unpack all that,” replied Tsunade. “I see you are all healed.”

“Not at all; this is just a prosthetic,” Edward showed her as his skin suddenly turned metal. “Synthetic skin to make it indistinguishable from the rest.” He wiggled his robotic fingers, and Tsunade could not remove her gaze from them.

“Interesting technology. If I had it, I could provide a normal life for many Ninjas who lost limbs in war or mission.”

“This technology is too advanced for your current world. However, I can give you the lesser version that uses Puppets and Chakra Strings. I’ll even add ways for you to reattach limbs as long as they are preserved.”

“What do you want?” asked Tsunade, on guard.

“I resent this accusation. I would have asked anyway, even if I didn’t give you this gift. Plus, I’m only asking you for convenience and to prevent you from using my powers. Otherwise, I could scan the entire planet and know almost everything.”

“Fine, I believe you. “Tsunade handed him a few empty scrolls, and Edward gave her the information. “I also have another gift for you.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a potion to activate your Senju Blood Limit. With it, you should develop Wood Style if you desire.”

Tsunade looked at the vial with green liquid. “Why are you being so nice?”

“What can I say? Gift-giving is my love language.”

“Love language? What a strange expression,” commented Tsunade. She looked at the potion with countless thoughts in her mind.

“So, are you not going to be the fifth Hokage?” Edward asked.

“Not yet. I’ll wait for a while since the old man can keep going.”

“He’s not a very good Kage. He let the Elders have too much power. Of course, now that Danzo is gone, maybe, he can finally be effective.”

Tsunade did not comment on this issue–even if she agreed.

“Did Sasuke betrays the village?”

“How do you know about this? Did you see the future? I remember you mentioned something about the Fourth Great Ninja War and something about an alien clan.”

“You don’t have to worry about it. Now that I’m here, this world’s destiny has shifted in a completely different direction.”

“I still want to know.”

So, Edward showed her what happened in the Naruto Series.

“Madara, Obito, Infinite Tsukiyomi, Otsutsuki Clan, so much to digest,” muttered Tsunade as she caressed her temple.

“Don’t worry about anything. One of my objectives is to get Madara’s body and Rinnegan, so none of these things will happen.”

“So, why were you here in the first place?”

“I came here to ask you to introduce me to the Shikkotsu Forest; I’m interested in their Sage Art.” Edward had information about the other Sage Modes, except for the Shikkotsu Forest. The only information is the inference that Hashirama mastered Slug Sage Mode from the forest, but even that was not properly stated or explained.

“You’re not going after the Slug Sage, aren’t you?”

“Once again, questioning my integrity. How hurtful.”

“I’m serious,” she glared.

“I promise, I only want to learn Sage Mode. And if they don’t want to teach me, I’ll just quietly take the knowledge from their minds.”

“Don’t you understand that’s a violation of people’s privacy?”

“Hence the reason I ask you to introduce me; to prevent all these unpleasantries,” explained Edward. “Plus, I recognize your hypocrisy. If you had my power, you would use it to steal countless intelligence for the Hidden Leaf Village.”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not. I’m the Emperor of a mighty Empire, so I will use any means to acquire knowledge for my people.”

“Emperor? Is that like the Daimyo?”

“More like if there was one Daimyo that ruled all the Lands and Villages.”

“So, you rule over the planet? That’s impressive, I guess.”

“Planet? No, I rule over thousands of them.”

“Is…that even possible?” Tsunade could not fathom such a thing, so it took her a while to process.

“The universe is more vast and complex than you can imagine,” said Edward as he looked through the window. “Back to the topic. Can you take me?”

Tsunade took a moment to regain her composure. “Fine. I cannot reverse summon you, so we’ll have to travel there.”

Edward nodded. If he wanted to, he could have reverse summoned to the forest with a Kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and use it to teleport there. Furthermore, his clones build mana, Psychic, and Chakra containing artifacts to use. So, any of these methods could get him there. Or he could even turn his prosthetics into Jet Boosters as he designed them to do so, allowing for faster travel. However, he would not ruin his chance to travel with a beautiful lady.

“I need three days to prepare. Then we can leave.”

“Sure. I can find something to do in the meanwhile.”

“Don’t cause trouble.”

“I can’t promise that,” replied Edward before disappearing. Tsunade sighed before going to report to the Third Hokage. Despite Edward’s warnings, she did not want to leave everything in his hands. So, she wanted the leaf to keep a tighter watch on the Akatsuki and watch them for when they began gathering the Tail Beasts.

Edward’s main body went to summon the Fourth Hokage to get the other half of Kurama from him. Meanwhile, Clone 1 was forced to leave the lab to gather some needed resources once he found his main body was flirting. He knew it was revenge for the prosthetic, so he could not complain.