In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen just finished hearing a report from one of his Anbu stationed to keep an eye on the jinchuuriki's movements. Regardless of how pointless it is sometimes, he still wants them to keep tabs on Mito to some degree.
"Very well, you're dismissed." Hiruzen dismissed the kneeling Anbu in front of him.
"Yes Lord Hokage!" The Anbu disappeared using the Body Flicker Technique.
Hiruzen sighed, softly rubbing the temples of his head due to the headache he feels coming. "This has Kushina written all over it."
About 5 minutes later, he heard a knock on his door. He was expecting a visitor. "Come in."
The door opened, even though he just heard the report on Mito. It was still shocking to see his teacher's wife regain her youth. He can tell this isn't a genjutsu either.
"Trust me old monkey, I'm just as shocked as you are." Mito closed the door behind her and took a seat across from Hiruzen.
"Mito-sama…how did you do it or I should say instead what happened?" Hiruzen asked in pure confusion and shock.
"I didn't do anything, what happened is Kushina and her crazy ideas again. The simple version is she manipulated life force energy and flooded all of my cells to make me young again. I myself still don't really understand the exact details. She just asked me if I wanted to be young again and after a bit of convincing on her part, I accepted her offer." Mito explained.
Hiruzen took in her words. "Isn't it a little too reckless to take such a high risk? I mean no disrespect Mito-sama but couldn't this have affected your seal in some way?"
"Normally you'd be right, however in this instance what risk are you referring to? You should know she wouldn't have even brought up a miraculous offer if she wasn't 100% confident in her ability to succeed. Kushina may seem like a reckless child, but she's truly far from it." Mito replied.
The Hokage sighed. "I cannot deny that despite her crazy antics, she's a good child. What about your seal?"
"Yeah…about that.." Mito chuckled.
"Do I even want to know?" Hiruzen truly contemplated whether he should drop the matter.
"Probably not but it's best if you're aware. Kushina made a deal with the Nine-Tails, in exchange for freedom the Nine-Tails left all of its chakra within me." Mito said.
"F-Freedom? You mean the Kyuubi is no longer imprisoned?!" Hiruzen was stunned.
She nodded. "Yes, Kyuubi is free, however it is not roaming the Elemental Nations. The fox is in one of Kushina's dimensions, a rainforest to be exact."
"How are you alive Mito-sama? As you know, jinchuuriki die once the tailed beast is removed." Hiruzen questioned.
"Kushina supplied my vitals with chakra to prevent me from suffering from the extraction." Mito said.
"So Konoha has lost the Nine-Tails…" Hiruzen shook his head.
"Yes and no, as I stated before in exchange for its freedom, the Nine-Tails left all of its chakra with me. I can freely access it at will without having to worry about losing control. In a way you can say I am now a perfect jinchuuriki even though I'm technically not a jinchuuriki anymore." Mito explained.
"Wait…you mean you've fully mastered the Nine-Tails chakra? If what you say is true then…this sacrifice of losing the Nine-Tails actually resulted in our village's military power growing exponentially in firepower.." Hiruzen came to the conclusion with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Exactly, do you want me to show you how I look with the Nine-Tails chakra under my complete control?" Mito offered.
Hiruzen shook his head. "It is fine, I have no reason to doubt your words Mito-sama." He politely declined. "Do you want to become an active ninja again?"
"No, I would prefer to only be needed for important battles against other kage-level enemies. For now we just need to wait until Kushina graduates and she'll win us the war." Mito stated confidently.
Hiruzen did not doubt her words, the girl can literally beat Tsunade in an all out battle while only using her physical strength. No ninjutsu, no Sharingan, no Byakugan or RinneSharingan or sealing.
This is why he plans to send Kushina to the front lines as soon as she graduates. It may seem cruel to send a rookie Genin in the trenches of the war so soon. However, Kushina is the clear exception.
"How is her skill level in wood release?" Hiruzen asked.
"No less than Hashirama, maybe even better. If I'm being honest, she only needed Hashirama's notes to steal his wood jutsus. Not so much to learn how to strengthen her bloodline. It's the same with her insane water release, unlike Tobirama she can actually turn water into ice through pure water manipulation. Her mastery over water release is so high she can freeze the sea." Mito said.
"Truly?" Hiruzen was shocked.
"Truly." Mito nodded. "Me, Tsunade and Nawaki all fell on our butts when she demonstrated to us. Nawaki ended up passing out from the shock of it all."
"Such a reaction is warranted, so do you plan on hiding your appearance? Once the villagers see your youthful appearance, word will quickly spread to the clans. They will become curious and start asking questions." The Hokage informed her.
"Just tell them the truth, I know Kushina won't care if anything she will want the extra attention to use it as an opportunity to build a better relationship with the clans." The Senju Matriarch shrugged.
This is what Hiruzen is unsure of, he already has to watch over his shoulder all the time because of his friend Danzo. He is no fool, Hiruzen is very aware of Danzo's obvious greed for the position as Hokage, Danzo never truly approved of Tobirama's decision to appoint Hiruzen as the Third Hokage. In order to somewhat appease his long time friend, he agreed to Danzo creating the ROOT organization. A decision he's been recently wondering if it was truly a good idea. It also doesn't help that Danzo is secretly trying to find methods to antagonize the Uchiha Clan.
The issue with Kushina is that the girl is already one of the strongest in the village at only 9 years old. A child who has not even begun to tap into her true potential. Her mind and memories have already been thoroughly checked back when she first arrived in Konoha. So Hiruzen knew she was not a spy from another village. Her loyalty and love for Konoha were completely genuine, and the villagers mostly had a positive opinion about Kushina despite being an outsider. Many did not treat her like one, though some kids from the academy did try to bully her out of jealousy. Using the fact she's an outsider as an insult, Hiruzen noted Kushina never took any bullying seriously. She simply laughed it off or scared the bullies away.
All of this combined is what made Hiruzen worry, unlike Danzo, Kushina has a real chance of taking the position as Hokage away from him. If she continues to grow, within a few years or maybe less she will surpass him in strength. While it's a good thing for Konoha's next generation to surpass their predecessors, he's not entirely ready to give up his title. Kushina gaining a strong political backing by performing well in the war won't do him any favors. Unfortunately, Hiruzen's hands are tied, even more so now that Mito is young again.
'If I didn't know any better, I would say the girl is already making moves worthy of a Kage. The first move she made was stabilizing Konoha's jinchuuriki issue while strengthening the jinchuuriki at the same time. Now, if need be Konoha can deploy our jinchuuriki to the battlefield without fear of them losing control. Then there's Tsunade…one of Konoha's pillars has also grown a lot more powerful due to Kushina. What a brilliant move, Kushina effectively took away one of my student's support, weakening my position as Hokage.' Hiruzen thought to himself.
He didn't even know about Might Duy yet, he was only aware of their close friendship.
Mito could sense Hiruzen's storm of emotions, she had an idea of what he was thinking about.
"Very well." Hiruzen said.
"By the way old monkey, how is your son Asuma? Maybe in the future you should have him trained under Kushina." Mito suggested.
Hiruzen had to forcibly stop his eye twitching from irritation. Would he lose his son as well?