After an ample amount of time spent searching about the areas, Madara scowled behind his mask on returning to his hideout.

"Were you successful in retrieving the Rinnegan?" Kabuto's voice spoke behind him, Madara looking behind himself to the reptilian man in red robes.

He was silent, before gazing back forward.

"I was unable to. The Rinnegan disappeared completely when I tried to find it. Even after I tore the entire Hidden Rain Village apart, there was no trace of it, or of Konan."

"That's certainly troublesome. But there can be workarounds to it." Kabuto noted. "Sasuke is still in the process of recovering, but Kisame was able to report back before he was terminated. He located where the Nine Tails and Eight Tails are, so I'll be going to retrieve them personally."

"Hmmm. It would be prudent to undercut the reason for the war at all if we can capture them. Very well. If it can be done, do what you must."

Their plan, overall, had been worrying in nature, but as Konan and Gohan had Elder Kai teleport them to their destination, directly at the meeting place of the Five Kage, the foreknowledge that Konan was a reformed but infamous terrorist on this universe's Earth was something Gohan hoped would at least let them get their foot in the door while they worked on getting him a mentor who could teach him how best to use his power.

Elder Kai, as had happened before however, gave no clear sign of caring as he just had them appear before the meeting room door, before two samurais who acted as guards, then brazenly knocked on the door, announced that he was entering, then walked in, him looking back over at the guards', Konan and Gohan's shocked expressions.

"Come on now, will you? We haven't got all day."

"It's the Akatsuki!" One samurai exclaimed after finally recovering from his shock, the many individuals inside turning to face the sound at this, Konan frowning before splinters appeared in her skin, her instinctively preparing for combat, only for her to catch herself, with the breaks in her skin disappearing.

"I haven't come to fight. I'm here to defect to the Allied Shinobi Forces." She announced, before raising her hands in surrender. "Fifth Hokage, I've brought a powerful ally who will need your guidance for 1 hour's time before he can join the War effort."

The people inside all stood from their chairs, gauging Konan and Elder Kai, before sharing a look.

"We also have a few things to report." Elder Kai added. "This lady was just attacked by a man named Madara Uchiha, in his attempt to take the eyes of the Rinnegan. He needed to use their power to complete his Eye of the Moon plan, but we managed to keep it away from him. Now, we just have to go about stopping Madara once and for all."

"Hmph. Why should we trust the words of someone in league with the Akatsuki?" A burly man with dark skin and braided blonde hair asked the others.

"It's the truth." Konan answered, before looking to the woman they'd come to question. "Fifth Hokage, I am Konan, and worked directly with Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki who used the pseudonym Pain. Nagato used both his life force and the Rinnegan to restore all life lost in our attack on the Leaf Village. Even posthumously, his will lives on through me. Please, teach this warrior I've brought with me to use chakra in the way you do."

"I'm sorry if you haven't noticed, but we're in the middle of a meeting to discuss our methods of warfare." Tsunade responded, holding her hand on her hip. "My star pupil, Sakura Haruno, had to train for years in order to perfect my techniques, when she was already blessed with great talent for chakra control. Why would I or anyone here trust anything you say?"

Konan stared briefly, then closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I will turn myself in. My only term for surrender is that you at least heed both my request and my warnings."

She knelt herself down, then fully prostrated herself to the people before them, them looking briefly at this, before the Raikage walked forward.

"Even with your supplication, you don't truly expect us to trust you, do you?" He asked.

"We're trying to help for a reason." Gohan spoke up. "This is for the sake of your world. None of us have any obligation to help, but if we can work together, this whole thing can be over today. Please."

Konan slowly rose to a sitting position, head still lowered, yet the people present readied their weapons.

Gohan narrowed his eyes, then walked forward, standing beside Konan.

"Konan, I'm grateful that you're going this far to help me." Gohan said, then narrowed his eyes. "But I'll find some other way to defeat Madara. You won't be safe, as long as you're still here."

"You need Tsunade's guidance to be able to properly fight against him." Konan reminded him. "There isn't much else that can be done. It's a risk that's worth taking."

"You can be my teacher. Even if it's a bit, I'll make the most of it." Gohan replied, before looking to the people present, who stood with their guards up. "Elder Kai, you said that my Mystic state was roughly equal to a Kage's level of power, even without proper use of chakra, right?"

"I'd say so. I still stand by that assessment." Elder Kai replied.

"In that case, would defeating everyone here at least make you consider it?" Gohan asked Tsunade.

The woman raised an eyebrow, curious.

"You're really going to put that much faith in your abilities? That's arrogant of you." She said.

"It's not arrogance if I can back it up." Gohan answered, before his energy burst to life around him, becoming a see-through hue that sent ripples of pressure outwards that made the room quake, looking to them. "Do you plan on proving me wrong?"

"Hmph. You're really planning to push me on this?" Tsunade walked forward.

"If that's what it takes to get the training I need." Gohan answered. "I've already fought Madara head to head once, and the key to winning isn't that far off. I just need your technique."

"In that case, let me see if you're really worth my time." Tsunade answered. "But not here. Come outside."

Gohan watched as she walked past him, him letting his aura down from around himself to look after her.

"Is this a test that you'll be giving me, or a fight?"

"Come outside, and you'll see." Tsunade answered.

Gohan looked to Konan, who rose to her feet, Elder Kai walking up to her.

"I'll take her back for now. We'll watch over you." Elder Kai assured, and, before anyone could answer, he teleported himself and Konan back to the planet of the Kais, Gohan looking after Tsunade and nodding, stepping after her.

—

As Tsunade led him out of the building, she turned to face him, regarding him.

"You don't look like much, but tell me. Have you ever had any natural talent with chakra?" She asked him.

"Not at all. I've never successfully used it before, but if you give me the basic knowledge on how, I'll be able to."

"In that case, Shizune," Tsunade looked to the person standing at the door, who had followed them outside, "set a timer for five minutes. If he can last against me for that long, I'll take him on as a temporary pupil."

"Are you certain, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune called.

"If he really thinks it'll only take a few minutes to learn about my techniques, I'll see. I've already been proven wrong about the impossible once after all." Tsunade answered, before looking to the Saiyan hybrid. "You don't have any issue with that, do you?"

"Not at all." Gohan entered a fighting position, entering his Mystic form, smiling. "Even if I can't pass, I'll at least try to learn from this."

"Let's see then. Ready Shizune?" Tsunade asked while clenching her fist so tightly the joints of her fingers cracked.

"Ready!"

"Start the timer then." Tsunade shifted her feet apart, smirking before speeding forward, her form blurring with her movement, but Gohan's eyes able to track her, him firing a ball of energy at her that Tsunade narrowed her eyes at, weaving out of the way as it whizzed by her ear, exploding potently behind her, Gohan flying forward to meet her charge, Tsunade concentrating before her clenched fist became engulfed in chakra, feet skidding against the ground as she gave a kiai yell, ramming her fist hard against the ground and sending shockwaves rippling through it, Gohan stamping his foot on the ground just when her fist made contact to send himself into the air, letting the inertia carry him forward to her.

He had initially decided to refrain from using his flight ability for the sake of getting the best understanding of how combat was for shinobi, and yet, at the rippling pound of Tsunade's punch, columns of Earth erected themselves abruptly in his path, surrounding him, and he narrowly stopped himself in mid-air, Tsunade haunching herself against one of the pillars that had shot up, her planting her feet firmly against the side of the pillar, to the right of his peripheral, before she kicked herself forward, rocketing forward, him turning to face her just before her fist could send itself into him, her fist bursting through an after image of him as he moved, but Tsunade, tracking his movement with her eyes, released the chakra built up in her fist at an angle to divert her path of movement, her being suspended in mid-air briefly, but another shilling of chakra racing up her arm, being released in a split second of starting its journey, her body entering a path of rotation as her shin became coated in her energy, tearing a ruthless path of destruction around herself, right in the path where Gohan had moved, his eyes widening at her redirecting her movement in an instant, him loudly invoking Kaioken before bracing his arm, swinging up his forearm to block the shin she swung at his arm, the release of chakra at the point of contact sending a burst of force and power rushing over his body like if the combined force and speed of a thousand bullet trains had been combined into one, the backlash of the force sending one of the boulders she'd formed bursting off of the ground to go toppling to the ground, Gohan trying to move his arm, but a shock disrupting his movements, a great burning sensation ripping through his nervous system, his body moving strangely as Tsunade landed on her feet under him, Gohan floating down to the ground but landing, his Kaioken dispersing around him, but him maintaining his balance.

"Still standing? That's something." Tsunade noted. "Even after my chakra shot into your system."

"Is that what this burning feeling is?" Gohan rasped, a shock of electricity tearing through his body.

"My Body Pathway Derangement technique. I disrupted the electrical signals your brain, so it disables your body's ability to do what you want it to. It can be combatted, but not most can figure out how." Tsunade answered, but smirked, before chakra laced her palm again, her thrusting her palm hard against the ground once more, the waves of ripples this time sending Gohan up into the air, his eyes wide as he tried to initiate flight, but his body not responding as he wanted.

Tsunade jumped upwards towards him, body undergoing a front flip above him, leg out and ready for a downward axe, Gohan gritting his teeth before he let down his Mystic form on seeing her descending down onto him, a strong tingling sensation festering between his shoulder blades, rapidly growing more intense but concentrated, before it exploded through his entire nervous system, him transforming into Super Saiyan 2 with an explosion of energy, him becoming fully aware of his body, how his energy coursed through him, before he sent his body into overdrive to act as he commanded it to, him crossing his arms just in time to block Tsunade's Heaven Kick of Pain, the force of the kick fracturing Gohan's bones in his current state, but him being far too used to such injuries to let it slow him down, even as his feet rammed harshly against the ground, the earth fracturing beneath them, Tsunade pushing her sandal against his broken arms, kicking herself back to land a few feet away, but Gohan lowering his arms and feeling them getting limp at his sides, him huffing as met Tsunade's eyes, her speeding forward once again, fist raising itself in preparation for a punch, but it being a feint, her skidding against the ground to do a sweeping kick of his legs that connected.

In spite of this, however, the second she began to approach, Gohan, using his few seconds of experience with resisting chakra entered directly into his system, acted with his gut and pumped energy through his legs to form itself into the compact, divine ki-laden, ground, Tsunade sweeping kick happening just when he decided to release the energy in the form of an explosion, it erupting from underneath her to send her up under him, and as Gohan stood in momentary free fall, directly above her, he reverted to his base, then, with a singular burst in power, reentered his Mystic state, the feeling of the power burning in his body, disrupting his body movements, being shifted about unstably getting meted out briefly with his transformation, but his energy becoming hued crimson — "Times FIVE!" — preceding him clenching his fists and proceeding to ram a fist into Tsunade's chest that sent her hurtling down onto her back against the ground, her eyes going wide as her body bounced back up from the sheer force of the impact, but her not losing her concentration, seeing Gohan bearing down upon her with his second fist at the ready, rocketing it down at her.

In that instant, she pressed one hand back against the ground under her, one shooting up to catch his fist, and tucked her knees up while channeling chakra into all four of her limbs, the sheer impact of the punch against her palm making the ground fracture apart even further, the forearm Tsunade had against the ground fracturing, but her smiling despite her pain, her tucked feet, laden with her chakra, being rammed harshly into Gohan's stomach, the burst of force and power sending him flying back, landing on his side and rolling for a second that Tsunade took to bend her broken arm and then push herself back up to her feet, huffing, upon which Gohan landed in a three point stance, the red hue sustaining itself as he looked to her, Tsunade smirking with challenge, before they both shot forward toward one another at once, Gohan shoving himself back up to his feet and sprinting with inhuman bounds, Tsunade's gait having one chakra padded step that sent pillars of earth shooting up around them, the instant they entered striking distance of one another being preceded by Tsunade throwing a punch towards his torso that he side stepped to right of, a right hook ramming into Tsunade's rib cage that made her grunt, but her channeling chakra into her sandals to root herself to the spot despite the force of the impact worsening from this, her swinging her elbow at him from her outstretched arm, him ducking under it as it whizzed over his head, her releasing the hold against the ground her chakra enabled, her swinging her knee hard into Gohan's jaw and sending him stumbling back a step, the red hue dispersing from his aura, but him not giving up, him still acting, sending a hard punch towards Tsunade's torso that she blocked with both hands stacked atop one another, her getting sent back several feet through the air before her sandals scraped against the ground.

With her chakra having been meted out of his body with his Ultimate form's aura, compounded by his use of Kaioken, his body felt more in his control again, and he raised his hands up, the back of his left hand against his forehead, the back of his right against his left hand's palm, before golden energy formed there, speedily concentrating — "Masenko HA!" — and bursting out of his palms readily, the intensity of his attack great as it bore down against Tsunade, who regarded it with surprise, having never seen an attack of such a type before, her ramming her palm hard against the beam, it pushing her forcibly back a few feet before she used chakra to root her feet against the ground, grunting with strain, only for her to hear Gohan's voice, roaring out, "Times TEN!"

The beam suddenly grew tenfold in its power, Tsunade gritting her teeth as she closed one eye, her elbows bending as her hands struggled to contain it, before she spoke in turn, "Seal of a Hundred!" the lavender rhombus mark on her forehead glowing intensely dark marking spreading across her head as her entire body became endowed with immense strength, her forcibly shoving the Masenko back a foot, rearing her fist back, before harshly uppercutting the beam hard enough to send it flying up into the air, Gohan looking to her, unable to sense it, but him able to feel an intense power emanating from Tsunade then as his beam dissipated.

In spite of this, he didn't give up, him still concentrating on the release of energy he'd put out, him raising a hand to stop it in its rapid ascent into the atmosphere, it concentrating to become a singular ball of energy, Tsunade frowning as Gohan sent down a fragment of it to shoot down at her from above, her looking up, smirking, then looking down at him and moving with much enhanced speed, Gohan barely able to catch glimpses of her movements as she was suddenly before him, him barely able to dodge the blow she sent to him, Tsunade looking back at him, and, in spite of the intense pain he experienced, in spite of her having accessed a great sum of power, Gohan realized that he wore a broad smile upon his face just the same as her, another punch she sent his way, towards his stomach, getting blocked by his less fractured forearm, but it being broken in from the impact of the punch, his eyes widening before Tsunade grasped his now forearm, forcibly tugged him closer, then started sending another fist up to his face to slug him out cold, with her only being stopped in this by another fragment of his Scatter Masenko shooting down at them, her letting go and jumping back.

In spite of him missing, however, Tsunade's eyes saw it stopped before hitting the ground, then flickered over to the first fragment he'd sent down, how it hovered harmlessly above the ground as well, Gohan raising his hand and releasing torrents of smaller bits of concentrated energy that shot forward and hailed towards Tsunade, who blurred as she rushed along to get out of the way of the onslaught, each ball stopping briefly, Gohan aiming, then resumed their barrage against her, one aimed immediately after where she was running, while the other aimed at where she would be in a few seconds' time, Tsunade, seeing this, leaping over the hail of energy projectiles, feet planting against the side of a boulder she'd kicked up, before she launched herself forward directly at him, gravity pulling her down to land against the ground before him, Gohan bracing himself.

He could sense from her enhanced speed and power that he likely couldn't hurt her any longer, in much the same way that he couldn't hurt Madara from how much his divine ki buffered any damage he used with his normal ki, and he devoted himself to his secondary skill, his speed allowing him to dodge Tsunade's attacks while he used fragments of his Scatter Masenko to force her away when he couldn't move in time otherwise, it lasting until he'd run out of fragments, them idly floating about as a mine field, upon which Gohan sped about them as Tsunade pursued, him guiding her into the center of it all, then made all of the balls of energy converge onto her speedily — only for Tsunade to smirk, skidding to a halt to take it, before her fists clenched, then blurred, her delivering a flurry of punches to all fo the balls of energy that sent them all flying away.

"You didn't really think I wouldn't catch on, did you?" Tsunade asked, only for her eyes to widen as she looked to find all the fragments suddenly release waves of energy bullets down at her, Tsunade narrowing her eyes, but her jumping hard into the air, even as the thousands of shards collided with one another and exploded on impact with one another, Gohan jumping up after her, caught up in the heat of the skirmish, and throwing a hard punch at Tsunade that the woman caught, only for Gohan to pull her into him, hugging her body closely to his, before he twisted them, hugging her still as he made them both plummet headfirst towards the ground, Tsunade grunting before she punched him in the stomach repeatedly to get him off of her, before she acted to use her Body Pathway Derangement technique against him once more, more forcefully this time, and it succeeded in disorienting his bodily movements, her instinctively kicking herself away from him, Gohan's body falling head first to the ground still, Tsunade realizing too late that he could break his neck from a fall like that, and as Gohan landed on his scalp, before his body limply fell face first against the ground, Tsunade landed on her feet, her looking to him as his balls of energy dissipated, before she ran up to him in concern, her kneeling down beside him, only for him to suddenly begin moving, hands moving normally to push against the ground, pushing up against the ground.

"That technique is pretty powerful." Gohan muttered as she gave a surprised expression, him reaching a hand to his neck as he grunted with discomfort. "I have to wonder how useful it'd be in a fight."

"You can actually stand up so quickly after that?" Tsunade asked.

"I think my body's starting to adjust to it. When I realized how to do it the first time, I was able to do it right faster the second time." Gohan drowned despite this. "Still, I guess this means I lost? I'm pretty sure that was nowhere near five minutes."

Tsunade frowned, then let her Seal of a Hundred return to its original state, taking a deep breath.

"Honestly, I planned on beating you quickly and getting it over with. But you managed to do all you did quickly." Tsunade answered, hand on her hip. "You gave me a good run for my money, so much that I had to use my Strength of a Hundred Seal. Not many can say they managed that. And that's without using any chakra, is that right?"

"Yes. I only have a small amount of it inside of my body, but the Elder Kai said that if I trained under you, to get an understanding of how to concentrate what little I had into my attacks, I'd be better suited to fighting people here. But your other techniques are completely different. There are so many powers and techniques here that I've never seen or heard of before." He lamented. "I'm sorry for my arrogance, but I only want to help."

"Is there any specific reason you want to help so badly?" She asked him.

"Because it's the right thing to do. If Madara isn't stopped, then it could mean the end of the world if he so chose. The power of the Tailed Beasts shouldn't be in any person's hands, much less someone who plans to use them for his ends."

She gazed at him for a few moments.

"Where exactly do you come from?" She asked him.

"I'm... from another part of the planet." Gohan answered, deciding delving into the whole matter of alternate universes and the like was a bit strange, especially given he didn't fully understand it himself. "It has its own share of problems, but my family's been told to protect it. I guess you could say that's my reason."

"While I do find your power intriguing, teaching you my technique when you've so little chakra to start with, especially in an hour, is just impossible." Tsunade replied. "Unless you have a knack for learning things quickly?"

"Actually, saying it would only be an hour is stretching the truth a little." Gohan rubbed the back of his head and laughed.

"Oh? Explain."

"We have access to a room that distorts time for anyone inside. While time moves normally outside the room, a day outside is a year inside of there. An hour outside would be fifteen days inside."

"Interesting. Even so, my greatest pupil only managed to perfect it after entire years of training. Even with that time-space distortion in place, I don't have the time to leave for several days' time, with a war going on. Do you REALLY think you can learn my techniques in just a fortnight?" Tsunade asked.

"Even just a tiny understanding of it would be enough to even the odds." Gohan said. "I'll help the war effort if I can't get enough power to fight Madara directly."

Tsunade grasped the side of her neck and cracked it.

"Alright. If it's only to take an hour, I'll see what I can do for you, if you can procure evidence that you have the Rinnegan. I doubt it'd be very convincing otherwise for the other Kage."

"I'll... have to ask Konan." Gohan answered. "Those eyes are very important to her, from the sound of it."

He was internally glad that they had at least gotten their foot in the door as they had hoped, he thought.