"So what's wrong with that? One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Lord Jiraiya, does that too."
Lowering his voice, Mikami Yuu leaned closer to his father and said, "I heard some jōnin talking about it—right now, with war breaking out all over the place, every ninja village is short on manpower, and the village wants to encourage people to have more children. In a time like this, writing dirty books might actually be perfect. For all we know, the village might even quietly help promote them!"
"R-really?"
Mikami Tajima still looked dazed. Then, as if something had occurred to him, he shot Yuu a complicated glare. "You little brat, have you been secretly reading that kind of book? You seem to know way too much! I'm telling you, kids shouldn't be looking at that stuff. If you read too much of it, it'll sap your strength—"
At the moment, the idea of opening a shop or writing books was still just a rough outline.
Mikami Yuu really had come up with a kind of sweet soda. It didn't taste as good as cola back on Earth, but it was still pretty good—way better than the tea drinks Konoha had now. And as for erotic books, he could casually throw out a whole pile of story outlines for Mikami Tajima to draw from, things like Chiyo-obaasan or Young Tobi—
Those had originally been things Yuu meant to keep for himself as a fallback plan in case he didn't stay a ninja.
But now it looked like he wouldn't need them for that, so he could let Tajima put them to good use instead.
If Tajima agreed—
Mikami Yuu planned to rope Tsunade in. In exchange for thirty percent of the profits, he'd ask her to improve the sweet soda formula. Whether that succeeded or not, they could still market it under the name "Produced by Princess Tsunade," borrowing the fame of one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin and greatest medical masters, and saving a huge amount on advertising.
He could even talk to Tsunade about bringing in the Shikkotsu Forest, claiming the ingredients came from "natural sacred spring water" transported from one of the Three Great Sage Regions, with effects like strengthening the body, nourishing yin, and boosting yang—
If they did that, the nobles would probably start scrambling to buy it too.
Under normal circumstances, Tsunade probably wouldn't agree to something like that. Compared to Jiraiya, who openly wrote erotic books under his real name, she still cared a lot more about her image.
But—
If the money was good enough, it would be a different story.
After all, this great sheep of the ninja world was chronically short on gambling money. Getting some from Mikami Yuu would still be better than running around writing IOUs everywhere.
Just as Tsunade had said,
the number of wounded returning from the front over the next few days surged sharply, most of them coming back from the southwestern battlefield. After all, driving the Sand ninja out of the Land of Fire in such a major victory couldn't possibly have come without a cost.
For days on end, the corridors of Konoha Hospital were filled with the thick smell of blood and disinfectant. The rattling of stretcher wheels over the floor, low groans, urgent shouted orders—every sound blended together into one long assault on the nerves.
The advanced medical class was suspended.
Mikami Yuu and Nohara Rin, along with every medical ninja currently in training or on leave, were all drafted back in. Under the direction of Biwako Sarutobi, Tsunade, and even several medical jōnin temporarily called in such as Nono Yakushi, they began handling wounded nonstop.
Surgery, blood transfusions, detoxification—
The high-intensity rescue work went on for several days.
By the time they had ground through several days and nights in a row, nearly everyone in the medical team had been wrung dry.
When the last wounded patient's condition finally stabilized, Mikami Yuu felt like he could fall asleep standing up. Rin was even worse—she was leaning weakly against the wall, her pale face drained of color.
Biwako Sarutobi, as the wife of the Hokage, stepped forward and promised that everyone who had participated in the rescue work would receive an extra fifty thousand ryō as additional compensation, then finally ordered them all to go home and rest. She herself would remain at the hospital with a small number of jōnin, just in case.
Once most of the medical ninja had left,
Tsunade—who had been absent from most of the frontline surgery because of her hemophobia—called Mikami Yuu and Rin over. She walked up to them and coughed lightly.
"Hey, you two. You did well this time. Go home and get some proper rest.
"This Saturday, nine in the morning, come to my house."
"Huh?"
Rin froze.
She had no idea Tsunade intended to teach them something new.
Mikami Yuu was a little surprised too. If Tsunade was going to teach them something, why not at the hospital? Why invite them to her house?
Was this going to be something more personal?
Whatever the case, it was a good thing.
Yuu and Rin cleaned up a little, then went together to visit Mikami Tajima. Of course, Rin went as "a friend's daughter." After chatting briefly, Tajima himself brought the conversation to an end and urged them both to hurry home and rest.
In the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived.
Early in the morning,
Mikami Yuu and Nohara Rin headed together to the Senju clan estate.
By now, the Senju were nothing like the great clan that had once stood shoulder to shoulder with the Uchiha during the Warring States era.
There were many reasons for the decline, but at the core there was only one: Senju Hashirama had died. Nearly half of the Senju clan's power had been built on the personal might of the First Hokage, so once Hashirama died, the clan's decline became inevitable.
On top of that, after Konoha was founded, the Senju had been one of the first clans to abolish internal marriage customs. Over the decades, many of the older Senju had married out, established separate households, changed their names, and blended into Konoha's other families. So by now, only a handful were left.
Well—
plus one large golden cat.
With a creak, the heavy old gate swung open and then shut behind them, cutting off the noisy sounds of the village outside all at once.
Before them stretched a deep green courtyard. Ancient trees towered overhead, leaves floated across the pond, and sunlight filtered through the canopy, scattering flecks of gold over the stone path.
At that moment,
Tsunade was sitting cross-legged on a wooden corridor beside a low tea table. Compared to how she was at the hospital, there was an extra touch of laziness and domestic ease about her.
She wore only a plain yukata. The broad collar hung slightly open, exposing part of her long, pale neck.
Perhaps she had just bathed. Her long blonde hair was loosely pinned up, with a few damp strands clinging to her cheeks. Her bare white feet rested casually on the smooth wood floor, slim at the ankles, beautifully shaped, her toes rounded like little pearls.
Shizune knelt nearby, boiling water and preparing tea.
"You're here?"
Tsunade gave Mikami Yuu and Rin a glance and jerked her chin. "Sit."
Without making anything of it, Mikami Yuu took in Tsunade's appearance for a brief moment, then sat down with Rin on the cushions opposite her.
Tsunade didn't waste words. She directly pulled over a scroll that looked rather heavy, flicked her wrist, and snapped it open across the tea table. It was covered in incredibly intricate diagrams of the human internal organs, along with dense, tiny written notes.
"This is—"
"Mystical Palm Technique."
Tsunade tapped the column of text on the far left with her fingertip. "An A-rank medical ninjutsu. Very difficult. Normally, you need to be at jōnin level before you can completely master it. Shizune has been by my side for two and a half years and still hasn't learned it."
"Whoa!"
Both Mikami Yuu and Rin were startled.
Rin was shocked because she had heard "A-rank jutsu." Even though it was an A-rank medical technique rather than a normal A-rank combat jutsu, it still carried serious weight. Up to now, the jutsu she had been learning were all C-rank, and she had barely had any exposure even to B-rank techniques.
As for Mikami Yuu, what stunned him was—
[Ding! Detected giftable item · advanced limited skin for Healing Technique: Mystical Palm Technique! (Note: advanced limited skins can only be gifted after the Infatuated stage.)]