While Itachi Uchiha and the others were taking their entrance tests at the Ninja Academy, Tsunade had already followed Anko Mitarashi, who had been waiting outside her room early in the morning, to the front of a shop that had only recently opened.
Looking at the signboard openly displaying the large words "Custom Curse Marks," and then at the long line that had already formed in front of the shop, Tsunade could not help shaking her head. From the bottom of her heart, she lamented that she was somewhat unable to keep up with this runaway era.
"This is truly… a scene I would never have imagined in my life if I had not come to Kirigakure."
"That is not really the case. If there are no major changes to the overall situation of the shinobi world, you should be able to see our chain store signboards in the Land of Fire and Konoha Village within five years."
Listening to Anko Mitarashi's confident answer, Tsunade rolled her eyes at her speechlessly and snapped:
"Do you think I am an idiot? In Kirigakure and the Land of Water, at least you have your Fourth Mizukage helping to endorse you. Even if no one knows what medicine you are selling in your gourd, at least they will not think you are deliberately trying to swindle money and lives… But once you leave the Land of Water, do you think people in other countries will accept something of unknown origin and suspicious purpose so easily—"
"Ahhh, Lady Anko!"
A somewhat shrill and high-pitched female voice interrupted Tsunade's words. She turned her head and saw a richly dressed noblewoman whose figure was plump to the point of being somewhat bloated. With twisting steps, her face full of delight, she ran toward Anko Mitarashi and Tsunade. As she ran, she cheered in that extremely penetrating voice of hers:
"Are you personally drawing the curse marks for us today!?"
"Mm. Since the shop happened to be closed yesterday because I had to go welcome guests, today can be considered compensation for everyone's waiting time."
"Oh my, that is truly wonderful. I personally watched that younger sister of mine who married a merchant slim down as if she were cheating after receiving a curse mark drawn by your own hand. If I cannot get the same kind of curse mark as her, I do not know how I will be able to eat or sleep…"
"Well, well, I will do my best to customize the curse mark type and drawing order for each customer according to their physical condition. Please do not be too anxious. Let me go inside and prepare first, all right?"
"Ah, ah, look at the foolish thing I have done…"
Anko Mitarashi skillfully gave the fat noblewoman a response capable of soothing her emotions. Then she pulled Tsunade, whose brows were deeply furrowed, and slipped through the gathering crowd like a snake covered in smooth scales, entering the shop that was still being prepared.
Upon seeing Anko Mitarashi arrive, the several genin inside the shop, who had been wearing troubled expressions, immediately lit up and cheered:
"Ooooh, it's Lady Anko! Great! This means we won't have to close for the day again!"
"All right, all right. Hurry up and prepare the materials needed to draw the curse marks. You have already been interning here for a week, so why do you still look like this, making a fuss about everything and thinking only of relying on me?"
After driving the gathered apprentices away to do what they were supposed to do, Anko Mitarashi adjusted her clothes. She pulled a chair over for Tsunade and invited her to sit down. Then she said somewhat apologetically:
"Sorry, Lady Tsunade. It looks like there are a lot of customers today. I may have to stay busy until around noon before I have time to explain the commercialization model of this custom curse mark business to you in detail…"
"There is no need to pay too much attention to me. I will just observe from the side."
"As long as you do not mind."
And so, an extremely busy morning began just like that.
As the chief technician of custom curse marks, Anko Mitarashi was naturally so busy in front of the endless stream of customers that she barely had a moment to breathe. Meanwhile, through walking around and observing inside the shop, as well as chatting with several female customers who had received curse mark drawings, Tsunade roughly figured out how this shop operated.
First, the many types of curse marks, with clear grading, provided the shop's core business direction—slimming, body shaping, and weight loss.
After customers explained what kind of service they wanted to receive, the assistants in the shop who had received medical ninjutsu training examined their physical condition. According to the examination results, they then carefully formulated an order for drawing the curse marks and handed it to Anko Mitarashi. After that, she and the only two chunin present completed the drawing of the specific curse marks.
After using paint condensed with a certain amount of natural energy to finish drawing the curse mark, Anko Mitarashi and the two chunin would inject their own chakra into the curse mark they had drawn, activating it and triggering its continuous chakra-consuming effect.
Through varying levels of this consumption, they achieved an effect called "weight loss," but which was in essence "consuming" life.
But what Tsunade found somewhat impossible to understand was that while these curse marks consumed the host's chakra and vitality, they would also consume the chakra Anko Mitarashi and the two chunin had injected into them.
Based on her understanding of ninjutsu, once the chakra injected into those curse marks was exhausted, the entire curse mark should stop operating.
That made things very strange.
After thinking about it repeatedly without reaching an answer, Tsunade decided to ask Anko Mitarashi, who was in charge of this project, directly. And when Anko Mitarashi finished listening to Tsunade's question, the confused expression on her face made Tsunade feel even more deeply puzzled.
"Why would you think… that we are doing a one-time business, Lady Tsunade?"
"Not a one-time business? But that special paint condensed with natural energy seems to directly seep into the body's tissues, right? In other words, once it is drawn, it will always exist inside the host's body, won't it?" Tsunade frowned and stared straight at Anko Mitarashi as she asked.
"The curse mark will indeed continue to exist, but as long as corresponding chakra is not injected into it, it will not be activated again, nor will it perform the mission it was given." Anko Mitarashi shrugged, still unable to understand as she asked back, "Since you have already seen this point, why would you still think we are doing a one-time business?"
"…Wait. You mean, don't tell me, you are going to charge them another fee for recharging the curse mark!?"
Facing Tsunade's sudden realization, Anko Mitarashi nodded very naturally and said proudly:
"One mission commission solves one problem. If the problem makes a comeback, then issuing another commission to us and paying the corresponding reward is only natural, is it not?"
"B-But the amount you charge just for drawing the curse marks is already ridiculous, isn't it?"
Looking at the fee list, where the highest-grade curse mark combinations required millions of ryo to purchase, Tsunade could not help sucking in a cold breath at Kirigakure's ruthlessness.
"It is fine. There are plenty of nobles who want to maintain their figure and are willing to pay for this kind of weight loss and body shaping method that does not require any exercise or dietary restrictions. If we could add a youth-restoring effect to this package, even if the price were multiplied several times, they would still flock to it~"
As Anko Mitarashi spoke, she enthusiastically held Tsunade's slender jade-like hand, whose expression had changed drastically in an instant. With great sincerity, she said:
"Lady Tsunade, opportunity does not wait once lost. If you seize this chance and invest with the Secret Technique: Strength of a Hundred Seal, you can completely lie down and become the number one rich woman in the shinobi world. As the creator of the Strength of a Hundred Seal, you should be the person who understands best just how important a youthful appearance is to those women, and even men, who are gradually growing old, right?"
"With this technique, perhaps even the daimyo of the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning would be unable to resist leaning toward our side."
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