Tsunade gets up from the table and begins pacing in circles around the room, staring at her rejuvenated hand and clearly thinking, with countless mental conflicts. After a few minutes, she sits back down in her chair.
"How is this possible? Surely there must be side effects," the Sannin asks.
"Let's just say my profession is related to research, which has led me to discover many things by accident. This is one of them, and we're still discovering its full potential. As for the side effects, we could say it's quite pleasurable for some. In fact, the more chakra the user possesses, the more effective its effect is in every way. Did you feel it?" Akira explains.
Tsunade nods, "I could sense something like that, though my surprise prevented me from realizing it at the time. The sensation is familiar, but what is that aura and where does it come from?"
"Our suspicions so far are that it's vitality… an extremely concentrated vitality capable of permeating living tissue and directly affecting the body's cells, rejuvenating their structure in some way. I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't explain it to you as you'd like."
The sannin nods again, then insists, "And the source of the energy?"
Akira gestures around her, "From the environment, all around you, simple, pure natural energy."
Tsunade grows serious, frowning, "Are you talking about a type of senjutsu?"
"I don't know if I should call it senjutsu, but let's just say it's very similar."
The sannin thinks for a long time, while Akira waits patiently. It's not until Shizuki coughs forcefully that the woman decides to speak again.
"What do you need from me?"
"Help with a transplant," Akira answers directly.
"Why would that be problematic?" the woman asks, intrigued.
"Because it's an eye transplant… specifically a pair of Sharingan eyes," the man answers again directly, albeit with a more serious tone.
Tsunade immediately becomes defensive, and in a threatening tone asks, "Who did they belong to?"
"Does it matter?" Akira's tone doesn't change at all, maintaining his composure.
"It matters to me."
"I got them from a corpse, which I didn't kill, of course, but rather rescued from the wrath of a young assassin, over two years ago."
"The Uchiha massacre? Were you there?"
"Not during the massacre itself, as it happened quite quickly. You have to give young Itachi credit. I arrived too late, and the only thing I was able to save were a pair of eyes before they were destroyed. It would be a shame to waste them."
"Those eyes belong to the Uchiha clan."
"Don't worry, I have the clan's permission," Akira says, pointing behind the woman.
Tsunade then notices Shizuki standing behind her, emanating a rather hostile aura, her Sharingan deployed, staring directly at her.
Akira continues, "And for your information, Shizuki isn't the only Uchiha within my organization, so you could say the clan is much more mine than Konoha's… Or perhaps I should ask little Sasuke his opinion? I wonder what he'd think if he knew there were members of his clan still alive elsewhere? Would he want to join them?"
Tsunade looks back at the man, her face full of conflict. "I need to discuss this with the Hokage."
But the man shakes his head, "No. This is an offer for you and not for the village. You have only now to decide if you accept it or not, and if I don't get an answer in the next few minutes, say goodbye to your new youth. I will simply look for another ninja doctor, maybe I can find help in another of the big villages."
The sannin can't help but grit her teeth at the helplessness she feels at this moment. "You're a damn aggressive negotiator... If I were to agree to help you, how can you guarantee that I wouldn't tell the Hokage about all this?"
"Because I'm very good at sizing people up, and you're not a liar, nor someone who goes back on their own word. Besides, if for some reason I find out you told the Hokage, I'll simply stop giving you the treatment, because it's a procedure that takes time and several sessions to achieve the effects you need," Akira says with great confidence.
Tsunade simply falls silent again, staring at her hand and the now-unlit artifact.
"Look at it from this perspective," the man says, "Regaining your youth is a good thing for Konoha, as it allows you to use your healing technique much more freely. And let's do something, if you agree to help me, I will allow you to conduct studies with the full variety of healing instruments I have developed."
This time, Tsunade can't resist the temptation and gives in, collapsing on the table. "Okay, you win... But I'd like one of those artifacts for my own use."
"That can be discussed in the future, only if everything goes well with our agreement and our relationship is fruitful," the man replies. "Besides, everything still depends on our next conversation, which I must have with Tsunade Senju, representative of Konoha."
The Sannin immediately understands what the man is referring to and changes her posture and attitude to a more formal one, "As a representative of Konoha, I would like to know the intentions of your organization in the Land of Fire and the relationship you have in the Daimyo's court."
"It's a fairly specific request, I assume it was written by the Hokage," says Akira, "But unfortunately I have to refuse to answer it. What I can tell you is, first, we are not a hidden village, despite having our own ninja division, as our organization encompasses a large number of individuals from many more professions and we do not mold ourselves to your ninja standards. Second, we are not interested in what you do in your territory, in ours we have our rules and you are not going to interfere in our affairs. Basically, 'You don't mess with us and we do the same with you.'"
Tsunade sighs somewhat resigned at the man's words, "You're making things very difficult for me, what do you plan for your relationship with Konoha to be?"
"It's quite simple, we stay in our cities and you do what you want elsewhere. We are not interested in your business with the missions, so we will never have economic conflicts, even within our cities. The land of fire is large enough to house our two organizations, we will try to stay south of the capital."
"Are you suggesting some kind of alliance?" the woman asks, somewhat surprised.
"Not right now, however, depending on how we get along from here on out, it could be quite feasible," the man says. "Although, to be honest, I don't like Konoha's current leadership at all… On the other hand, if the Hokage were someone like you, I'd have no problem forging an alliance immediately."
"Do you want me to be Hokage?" The situation becomes increasingly confusing for Tsunade. "That... that's something I can't decide, and I have no plans to do at all... the responsibility is too much."
"Don't say that. I have a suspicion you're perfect material to be a good leader."
"Cough... Changing the subject, does your organization have a name?"
"Of course, it's called the Divine Order," Akira exclaims.
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