So while Seijuro's clone was out there catching bodies and making a name for itself by hunting S-rank Shinobi—for shits and giggles, you know, the fun stuff—
It had also set up a lab.
He also spent quite some time perfecting some Jutsus. Making some too.
Also, he did plan on making Shunpo and the Rasengan publicly known Jutsu in Konoha... why, you may ask? Well, you see, his other identity used those moves, and it would get very annoying trying not to use those moves in battle when they were clearly better. And on the occasion he slipped up—which had a very low chance of happening since he was so tedious—
It would be hella sus. So, to make it harder to find out it was him—and partly because he loved his village—the reason why, those Jutsu would kinda be d-ish to Konoha. Something like earning max prestige.
Enough to learn one of those S-rank Jutsu in Konoha or something. Well, he'd get there when that happened.
Anyway, as he was in the middle of finishing his training, an ANBU called him, saying something like, Tsunade called him up. So he left his training and went to her.
He wasn't stopped this time. The privilege of being an elite Jounin.
When he got there, Tsunade didn't look up at first. She was scribbling something aggressively onto a scroll—likely another death report or requisition. Her voice came curt:
"You're going back to Konoha."
Seijuro blinked once. Not surprised. But his head tilted ever-so-slightly, foxlike. Cool and polite.
"Was I... reassigned due to performance?"
That question had trap energy. The kind ANBU commanders whispered before quietly relocating rogue elements.
Tsunade finally looked up.
"No. Relax, Genjutsu Devil. It's not that." He truly didn't like that nickname. It didn't fit his aesthetic at all. This text is hosted at novel-fire.ɴet
She leaned back, cracking her neck.
"It's rotation protocol. After a while during war, Konoha recalls back some Shinobi from the frontline back to Konoha. It starts with Genin, before going all the way up to the Jounins."
Seijuro raised an eyebrow.
"Psychological relief rotation?"
"Something like that," Tsunade said. "We call it 'sanity leave.' To keep some people from developing war PTSD. It's like a few weeks' leave, you know."
"By cycling Shinobi , Konoha always has some kind of battle-ready Shinobi back in the village if need be, and Shinobi get to relax and see what they are fighting for," Seijuro muttered. Heh, how nice of them.
"You'll be in Konoha for a few weeks. Walk the streets, buy dumplings, sleep somewhere not haunted by the screams of your enemies. You know. Civilization."
"Wants to reward you. No need to have such an uptight attitude. Jeez, you always look like you have a dick in your ass," she said dryly.
His brow furrowed. The hell did she mean by that?
Though before he could act—
She tossed him a scroll—official orders, sealed.
"You leave tonight. You will arrive in Konoha in 2 days. From there, report back to the old man and enjoy your vacation," she said, looking at him.
Seijuro tucked the scroll into his sleeve.
Then, after a brief pause—
He left. Hm, so from what he read in the scroll, he had roughly 4 weeks back in Konoha before he was deployed back to the frontline once more.
So like a full month, and with 12 shadow clones working—that's like a year's worth of working.
Sure, he couldn't get his physical body to that level yet, but guess what he could do though—
Get his ninjutsu up to snuff. And since he could spam like 2k shadow clones, he in fact could spam this shit. Granted, it's not like he would gain 10 years—153 years to be exact, factoring in repetition and training. Okay, maybe half of that wasn't earned.
That's still like 76.5 years focusing on mastering all of those techniques. Jeez, the math was fun for him. {I hate math}
Anyway, all of this to say—after this break is over, his mastery over his jutsu would be insane... hm. Yeah, 2k clones would easily be noticed by Konoha.
He could practice with like 50 clones at most. He could use the excuse of the Hundred Healing for that. He could also have some other clones all around the village, training to get stronger and all.
This was a good strategy.
Hm, his clone should have finished setting up the hidden bases. It was now just a matter of when the clone would finally pop, 'cause like damn, shit is taking a mighty long time before popping.
Oh well, he did give it a lot of chakra... speaking of which—
As Seijuro was alone in his tent, he looked at his hand... a red cloak could be seen forming. His Biju chakra had fully replenished. Good.
He was neglecting his Fuinjutsu a bit, but oh well, he could focus on that.
Kushina would be on his ass when he was back in the village. She was bound to be excited.
She should still be in the academy. She would graduate next year. He would have a present for her by then.
He was sure she would like it.