Springtime Shinobi 62 (Patreon)

Though he might have jumped at the chance to bed Tsunade in the past, or at least under different circumstances, Seikun's expression and tone exuded severity as he stated, "Even a blind person can see that Jiraiya is head over heels for you. I also don't believe you feel nothing for him, so I won't have sex with you..."

"That old pervert?" asked Tsunade, scoffing. Despite attempting to sound harsh, however, her words lacked bite as she asserted, "If he really cared about me, he wouldn't have left me alone to wander the world in search of some Child of Prophecy. He had more than twenty years to console me or make his move...that ship sank long ago..."

"Then dredge it up..." said Seikun, furrowing his brows as he pointed out, "You're both still alive. If you don't at least talk things through and come to terms with your grievances, you're going to have even more regrets if he dies..."

"Shizune, we're leaving..." said Tsunade, getting down from the massage table and making her way for the entrance completely nude. This caused Shizune to panic, grab her clothes, and hurry to catch up, but before she departed the room, she met Seikun's gaze and mouthed the words 'Thank you...' with a cramped but grateful smile.

"I think you made her angry..." muttered Sakura, swallowing audibly as she knew better than most how scary and unreasonable Tsunade could be when the blood rushed to her head. Fortunately, the parlor and house managed to escape unscathed...

"I honestly can't believe you turned her down..." appended Ino, looking genuinely surprised. "Lady Tsunade might be past her prime, but she is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful Kunoichi in the world. Most guys would probably pay to have her step on them..."

"I'm already in a relationship with three amazing and beautiful Kunoichi..." asserted Seikun, pulling at his collar to release some of the heat building in his top as he added, "Tsunade is an exceptionally beautiful woman, but I'm not the animal you seem to think I am...the only reason I have sex so frequently with the three of you and Tenten is because it's something you want and expect from me...and I will do just about anything for the people I love..."

"We feel the same way," Hinata asserted with a smile, preempting what Sakura and Ino wanted to say. Then, even though Tsunade and Shizune had yet to leave the estate, she surprised Seikun by cupping the front of his trousers with her hand, narrowing her eyes as she stated, "So we will serve you as dutifully as you serve us..."

Though he felt it wasn't the best timing, Seikun felt more anticipation than apprehension as Hinata lowered herself onto her knees. Sakura and Ino followed suit after an exchange of looks, so while Tsunade made her way over to the open-air bath to rinse her body with cold water and then soak for the better part of an hour, Seikun reaped the rewards of his devotion...

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With Hinata, Tenten, and Ino preparing for their matches against Shino, Neji, and someone named Shigure, Sakura being forced to take on more shifts at Konoha Central Hospital, and Hanabi having started the Academy a few months prior, Seikun found himself with a surprising amount of free time. He hoped to use this to experiment with the wisdom stored within Tobirama's scrolls, but before he could make any breakthroughs, Hiruzen summoned him, somewhat surprisingly, to his manor on the Sarutobi Clan Compound.

After being guided to a room typically reserved for calligraphy, Seikun felt increasingly anxious as, even before Hiruzen arrived, there was a palpable tension in the air. It was difficult to describe, but he got the feeling he had somehow been exposed. How, and to what extent, he had no idea...

Confirming Seikun's suspicions, Hiruzen arrived nearly half an hour later in his Hokage robes, sitting across from him with a very stern, piercing gaze as he tossed over a file and said, "I am very disappointed in you, Seikun..."

Grabbing the file, Seikun opened it to find photos of the site where he had murdered Kabuto and a surprisingly accurate investigation report detailing what had transpired. He had thought Kabuto's death would be deemed an unfortunate casualty of the Forest of Death, but it appeared Konoha didn't just turn a blind eye to its Genin disappearing...

'I fucked up big time...' realized Seikun, his throat tightening. He might have convinced Hiruzen that Kabuto was an agent of Orochimaru if he had reported the incident immediately, but keeping it a secret for more than a week was all the evidence needed to prove he had something to hide.

"I am absolutely certain you had your reasons for doing what you did..." stated Hiruzen, attempting to appear reassuring by adopting his usual, grandfatherly smile. The look in his eyes told a different story, however, as Seikun felt like Hiruzen was looking through him and seeing someone else where he was seated...presumably Orochimaru...

Seeing Seikun lower his gaze in resignation, Hiruzen was both surprised and relieved as he revealed, "I have Yamanaka Inoichi and several other members of the Intelligence Division waiting nearby. This is the last thing I would have wanted, but without knowing why you did what you did, you cannot be trusted..."

"I understand..." responded Seikun, causing Hiruzen himself to feel a little choked up as he felt like he was witnessing a flame that once burned as dazzlingly as the sun on the verge of being extinguished. Unfortunately, they couldn't simply sweep the matter under the rug, so while it was likely that Seikun would suffer permanent damage from having the recesses of his mind probed, they had little choice...

'I really, really hope this works...' thought Seikun, closing his eyes and exhaling a sigh from his nose. At the same time, unbeknownst to Hiruzen and the many people waiting to ambush him if he attempted to escape, he began gathering Natural Energy into his body, directly into his brain...

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Slowly opening his eyes after what felt like a long time but also an instant, Seikun was somewhat shaken to find himself spooning Tenten within their shared tent. He immediately recognized the situation as being identical to his previous experience, so as difficult as it was to accept, Seikun had no choice but to come to terms with the reality he had been sent back more than two months, specifically to the morning before he entered the Land of Waves...

Feeling a mix of emotions that made him want to laugh and cry, Seikun startled Tenten awake by hugging her tightly. The greatest burden of an ability like his, which he had already realized in the previous loop, was that every meaningful experience he had with others during the reversion period was effectively erased from history. Recreating those experiences and leaving the same impression was next to impossible, so even though it was objectively a good thing that he could reset and redo things if they got out of hand or he lost someone important to him, Seikun left Tenten feeling at a loss as he couldn't help shedding a few tears over what had been lost...

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"Feeling better...?" asked Tenten, cradling Seikun's head with his face buried in her chest. She had absolutely no idea what had triggered his exceptionally abrupt emotional breakdown, but that didn't stop her from doing everything in her power to console him.

"Sorry..." muttered Seikun, sniffling one final time before attempting to remove his face from Tenten's breasts. Instead, she hugged him tighter, stating, "I don't know what happened, but you did nothing to apologize for..."

'But I'm going to do many...' Seikun responded in his mind. He didn't have the heart to kill Zabuza and Haku again, so the pretense that had allowed him and Tenten to become lovers previously would no longer exist. They would likely cross the line before returning to Konoha, but it wouldn't be under the same circumstances, fundamentally altering their relationship's dynamic and underlying premise...

Separating from Tenten once she relaxed her embrace, Seikun rose to a seated position, smiled, and explained, "I've never actually seen it, but I had a...really vivid dream where the Kyubi appeared and I was powerless to stop it from killing everyone I cared about..."

"Do you often have nightmares like this? Are they why you try so hard to become stronger...?" asked Tenten, taking the liberty to extend her right hand and wipe a remnant tear from Seikun's eye. She didn't know how to explain it, but he suddenly seemed more approachable...like all the walls he had erected to keep her at bay had vanished instantly.

"It doesn't happen too often..." responded Seikun, closing his eyes. "But when I do have them, they feel real...and no matter how I try to convince myself they're not, I can't escape until they end naturally..."

"Is there anything I can do to help...?" asked Tenten, her expression and tone sincere, full of empathy.

"You've already done plenty..." affirmed Seikun, placing his left hand over the one Tenten used to cup his cheek. Then, with the excuse he needed some fresh air, he departed the tent, refusing her offer to come with him. He had spent a considerable amount of his previous stay in the Land of Waves thinking about how he could do things better, so now that he had the opportunity, Seikun sought out Guy and proposed what he considered to be a very reasonable change in plans...

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Though he wasn't particularly happy about it, Tazuna remained camped out in the forest, under the watchful eye of several clones, while Seikun, disguised as him, was ferried into the Land of Waves under the escort of Team Guy. He had considered several ways to eliminate Gato discreetly, but most were too far removed from his mission parameters to justify. The simplest action, therefore, was to draw out Zabuza and injure him enough that Haku intervened under the guise of a Hunter-nin. There was a chance that Haku would come to Zabuza's aid before that, but since Tenten, Neji, and Lee weren't disguised, Seikun believed he wouldn't proactively assist unless his Master's life was in genuine peril.

"Get down...!" exclaimed Neji, prompting Tenten to tackle the disguised Seikun as Guy, rather than dodging, moved to intercept the greatsword flying at them with a kick. His tabi had durable metal plates embedded in the soles, so with the additional protection of his Chakra, he was able to deflect the Kubikiribōchō mid-flight.

Appearing out of thin air to grasp the sword, Zabuza slashed the tip into the ground, staring down the group with a vicious smile as he remarked, "Might Guy...Konoha's Sublime Green Beast. They say your Taijutsu skills are unrivaled in all the Five Nations..."

Getting into a stance remarkably similar to Lee's come-hither pose, Guy adopted a smile of his own as he responded, "Your reputation proceeds you as well, Mo-mo-chi Zabuza. Or do you prefer your moniker, Demon of the Hidden Mist?"

"I would prefer this old man's head..." replied Zabuza or, more accurately, the version of him that appeared from a puddle behind Tenten, Neji, Lee, and the disguised Seikun.

To Zabuza's surprise, as he was unleashing a typically paralyzing amount of bloodlust, Lee's body abruptly flickered out of existence as Seikun had suggested he remove his weights prior to the encounter. As such, his kick was nowhere near as powerful, lacking the additional force contributed by the weights, but Zabuza couldn't even react to it as he was promptly sent soaring into the air by a blindingly swift kick to his lower jaw...

Leaving Zabuza at an even greater loss, the moment he opened his eyes following the unexpected blow, he discovered Neji in the sky above him, his left hand extended, right behind him, and veins protruding around his eyes as he shouted, "Eight Trigrams, Vacuum Palm Jutsu!" before pushing his right hand forward and sending a penetrating column of compressed Chakra through his guard and body, overloading every Tenketsu that was hit...

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(A/N: Tenten?)