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"Brat, what brings you here? On a mission?"
After washing up and changing clothes, Tsunade sat at the table eating sushi and asked; as for the slight wardrobe malfunction seen earlier, she was initially a bit bothered and embarrassed, but by the time she came out, she had calmed down significantly, only shooting Yōichi a sharp glare.
"It's sort of a mission. I went to Yugakure and dealt with a follower of the evil god cult. I found something interesting there, possibly a method beyond ninjutsu."
Yōichi briefly explained his mission to Yugakure, making some modifications to the story and omitting the details about the war.
This was also a decision guided by the guidebook; as he approached Tsunade, the "Strategy Guide" ability had provided directions and methods.
"If you have time, help me research it. If you make any breakthroughs, consider it ten S-rank mission rewards."
"Ten S-rank mission rewards? What exactly did you find?"
Tsunade curiously took the information about the evil god cult and began to read, but the more she read, the more furrowed her brow became.
It seemed to be just a regular church ritual, and as for achieving immortality through worship of the evil god, Tsunade was highly skeptical.
"It's true, what's written here. These followers of the evil god cult are really bizarre. The deeper their faith and the more sacrifices they make to the evil god, the closer they are to immortality. The cult leader I killed yesterday could live for two minutes even after I chopped off his head."
Hearing this from Yōichi, Tsunade began to believe him a bit, though she still found it incredible that someone could live for two minutes without a head.
"If only we had a body, we could learn a lot from it."
"There is a body, of course, but I won't show it to you. I'll take it back to Orochimaru."
Tsunade felt a surge of irritation. Knowing she wouldn't see the body yet mentioning it, and still asking her to research this matter, this brat really was troublesome.
"What are you doing here then? If you're done with the mission, why not go back to the village?"
"This mission ended too quickly. I thought I'd rest here for a couple of days, but I didn't expect to run into you, Tsunade-sama. You gambled late into the night again yesterday?"
Yōichi's comment made Tsunade speechless. She was about to change the subject when Shizune, who was beside her, spoke up: "It's not just gambling late; she almost lost all the money she just got, and after losing, Tsunade-sama even went drinking."
"Shizune!"
The black-haired girl wanted to continue exposing Tsunade's deeds but was quickly silenced by an angry flick on the forehead, causing her to hold her head in pain.
Yōichi couldn't help but smile silently. If this were Shizune a few years later, she would probably be used to Tsunade's antics and might even help her swindle money along with Tonton.
But Shizune, just out of the Ninja Academy, was still somewhat resistant to the three ninja prohibitions, which is why she boldly spoke out; in a few years, she'd probably only complain secretly behind Tsunade's back.
After seeing a prompt from the guidebook, Yōichi spoke up, "I plan to rest here for three days; there's nothing much to do, so I might as well go gamble with you, Tsunade-sama."
"You want to gamble too?"
Tsunade's eyes lit up, immediately setting aside the evil god cult's information, then leaned in close and said, "Taking you there is no problem, but can you lend me some money?"
"You didn't lose everything, did you?"
Shizune interjected: "Although she didn't lose everything, there's only a few tens of thousands left. Tsunade-sama even pretended to be drunk yesterday to ask me for money."
"Shizune!"
Tsunade said, face flushed with embarrassment and anger, her normally carefree demeanor now showing signs of shame.
"I didn't bring much, but I'll lend you one million ryō."
Yōichi casually took out a storage scroll; his ninja tool bag had two storage scrolls for money, totaling two million ryō.
In the ninja world, there are rarely opportunities to spend so much money, unless one goes to an underground exchange to post missions; two million ryō was definitely enough.
"Thanks, I didn't expect you to be so generous, little brat. I'll pay you back with interest once I make some money!"
One million ryō was beyond Tsunade's expectations. With the money in hand, a smile quickly spread across her face.
Yōichi then checked the affection rating; after giving one million ryō, Tsunade's affection towards him increased by two points.
Without delay, Tsunade then took Yōichi to a nearby casino, ready to make a big kill.
The town was quite bustling, with many streets of customs and numerous casinos, which naturally attracted Tsunade, as her dream was to visit every casino in the world.
Many casinos do not open during the day, but Tsunade managed to find one that was open. However, there were no high-stakes tables available; so, Tsunade had to take Yōichi to some lower-stake tables. Despite this, Tsunade continued to lose money.
Meanwhile, Yōichi, with his eyes closed, bet against Tsunade, and each time he placed a slightly larger bet, he consistently won.
This was a time to see all sides of Tsunade, the weak and pleasing when borrowing money, the anger and unwillingness when losing money. The only thing missing was the joy of winning money.
When evening came, Tsunade would take Yōichi out to eat, having spent a few days here, they knew well what was good to eat in the town.
The next day, and the day after, followed a similar routine, only Tsunade's debts grew larger, and each time she borrowed money, Yōichi was very forthcoming, though he always made her write a promissory note.
By the third day, Tsunade owed Yōichi nearly twenty million ryō.
And on the last gambling table, Yōichi used finely controlled chakra to continuously win against everyone, taking all the money in the room.
Although there were ninjas in the room, the ninjas hired by the casino were too weak, not even at the Jonin level, and even Tsunade beside Yōichi could not detect his use of chakra.
After leaving the casino, Tsunade was penniless, while Yōichi carried two large money boxes, containing about thirty million; this was his result over three days, turning one million into thirty million.
"Damn, my luck has been terrible recently!"
After leaving the casino, Tsunade was still biting her finger, her face full of reluctance, and her eyes occasionally darted to the money boxes in Yōichi's hands.
Shizune, pouting, said, "Tsunade-sama, you've already borrowed over twenty million from Yōichi-sama these three days."
"Nonsense, I can pay it back, just need to find a wealthy patient, and I can make it all back in no time!"
After being lectured by Shizune, Tsunade angrily tapped her on the head, then her eyes flickered as she thought about what excuse to use to borrow more money from Yōichi.
"Let's leave it here; I should be heading back to the village soon."
Before Tsunade could speak, Yōichi spoke first; then, he handed over the two boxes of money to her, who was still puzzled about what Yōichi was up to.
"Brat, what are you doing?"
"I heard that every year in the Land of Tea, they sell fine teas. If you happen to pass by there, Tsunade-sama, could you buy some for me?"
"Huh?"
"And, remember to have the money ready the next time we meet!"
With that, Yōichi formed a hand seal and used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.
"Ah, is Yōichi-sama leaving just like that?" Shizune asked Tsunade, "Aren't you going to stop him, Tsunade-sama? You said at lunch you would take Yōichi-sama to try the flowing noodles."
However, Tsunade suddenly placed the money beside Shizune, biting her finger in thought.
Seeing this, Shizune, somewhat confused, asked, "What's wrong, Tsunade-sama?"
"Nothing, that brat really went the long way around."
Tsunade scoffed, but deep down she felt somewhat moved. She had felt something was off when he handed her the money, and only when she heard about the Land of Tea did she realize the brat wanted her to leave this area.
The mission in Yugakure was probably not just about the evil god cult; more likely, it was about preparing for the war, and sending her to the Land of Tea was probably to keep her away from the battlefield.
"That brat... Senior's affairs are not for you to worry about, hmph!"
Thinking of this possibility, Tsunade chuckled softly, then picked up the money box and said to Shizune, "Let's go, Shizune. We'll rest tonight and leave here tomorrow."
"Ah, so suddenly?"
"We've had enough fun here; let's see what's in the next place."
"Are we going to the Land of Tea? Yōichi-sama just said he wanted tea from there."
"Shizune, you're my disciple, don't listen to others."
"Okay, then where are we going, Tsunade-sama?"
"Let's go to the Land of Tea."
"..."
---
The reconnaissance ninjas of the Ninja Corps had already completed their survey of the nearby terrain, and the main force had also arrived at this location.
When Yōichi arrived, Minato had already set up camp with over a thousand ninjas.
Inside the tent, Minato said, "Good work, Yōichi-kun. How's Yugakure?"
Yōichi replied, "It's been cleared out. Now, Yugakure is just empty houses, and the remaining Yuga-nin won't be participating in the war."
Minato nodded, "That's fine then. As for the Cloud ninjas, we can still handle them, but we don't have any movement from the other side yet."
Orochimaru, who had been sent by Hiruzen to serve under Minato as a deputy commander, while Yōichi's position was the captain of the First Ninja Corps, spoke up, "They'll come. If we move our camp a bit further and then station in the Land of Hot Springs, and have the Hot Springs ninjas seek help from the Cloud Village, the Cloud ninjas will have to join the war."
This move was typical of Orochimaru's style, and it was harsh enough, shifting the Cloud ninjas' hatred towards the Hot Springs; as long as the Cloud Village couldn't resist striking at the Hot Springs, it would provide an opportunity for Konoha.
A ninja took the alliance treaty between the Cloud and Hot Springs and went down to prepare.
"Now, we just don't know to what extent the Cloud and Stone ninjas have allied, and what plots they have. If we had more intelligence, that would be better."
A Jonin from the Nara clan suggested to Minato, "Commander Minato, I recommend increasing contact with the side to gather more intelligence about the Stone ninjas."
"Commander?"
Yōichi asked with a twitch of his mouth, "Haha, Yōichi-kun, the battlefield commander at the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire is now Minato, not Jiraiya."
Orochimaru said with a smile, this was the command issued to Yugakure and the Hidden Waterfall Village after the missions from the village, and Yōichi had only found out about his position after arriving at the battlefield camp.
"Let's not talk about that now; let's focus on making plans. Fortunately, our supplies are still sufficient to endure a drawn-out conflict with the Cloud ninjas."
Minato quickly began assigning tasks. The camp had just been prepared, and there were many arrangements to be made.
Soon, tasks were assigned, and even Yōichi wasn't spared; after settling the Ninja Corps, he had to immediately go on a mission.
---
At the seaside border of the Land of Rice, a large ship slowly approached.
Tsuchidai went forward and welcomed the people on the ship.
Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, along with Iwagakure's Kitsuchi and nearly a hundred elite ninjas.
Not counting the two Jinchuriki and Kitsuchi, just these elite Stone ninjas using combined ninjutsu were enough to break through any enemy force of equal or even double their number.
In the area of combined ninjutsu, no one could compare to Iwagakure.
"Welcome, everyone. I will lead you from here."
Tsuchidai spoke, after half a day's negotiation with the Cloud and Stone, they finally persuaded Iwagakure to send so many people to the battlefield in the Land of Hot Springs to concentrate their forces and break through one side.
Initially, Iwagakure would not have agreed; the Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki were treasures of their village, and if the Cloud had any ill intentions towards them, then the two Tailed Beasts of their village would be in danger.
But the Third Raikage repeatedly assured them, even going personally to Iwagakure as a hostage, along with some important yet non-powerful Cloud ninja to act as 'hostages' in Iwagakure, and after much persuasion, they finally agreed.
Just the negotiations and persuasions took nearly a month, after which Iwagakure and the Cloud prepared for war.
This time, the Third Raikage really had no intentions of coveting the two Jinchuriki from Iwagakure.
Firstly, he hoped to use this war to provide enough military achievements for A to compensate for the damages caused by his reign as the Third Raikage and then become the Fourth Raikage.
Kitsuchi asked, "Tsuchidai-kun, is everything ready?"
"A-sama is already waiting for you at the border of the Land of Lightning. The Cloud ninja army is also ready, able to attack the Land of Fire within a day."
Tsuchidai nodded, indicating that the highest command in the Cloud Village was now A.
(End of Chapter)