Naruto: The Ninja World's Life Buyer

Chapter 167 Tsunade's Lesson: Shizune's Talent

Konoha Hospital, Director's Office.

Tsunade kicked the door open and threw a thick stack of scrolls on the table, causing the water in her teacup to spill out.

"That damn old man! He's giving me even more work!"

She had just returned from the Hokage's office, clearly having had another argument with the Third Hokage.

"Lady Tsunade, please keep your voice down, the next room is a hospital room—"

A slightly immature voice rang out from the side.

She was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl.

She has short black hair, wears a purple kimono blouse, and is holding a pink pig in her arms.

Mute.

At this moment, her face still carried the immaturity of a young girl.

"There's nothing we can do about it —"

Jingyin sighed, muttering to herself like a busybody.

"Not only have you spent all the twenty million taels that Mr. Sosuke gave you, but you also lost three million taels at the casino yesterday. If we don't take on more work to earn extra pay, we won't even be able to afford pig feed next week."

"Stop nagging! I know, I know!"

Tsunade's sore spot was hit, and her momentum weakened instantly. She grabbed the bottle of sake on the table and took a swig.

"Can't I at least have a drink to calm down?"

Since being summoned back to the village, Tsunade has been living a life of misery.

During the day, they had to deal with mountains of wounded reports in the medical department and analyze the new toxins from Sunagakure. At night, they would be called to meetings by the Third Hokage to discuss how to improve the survival rate of frontline ninjas.

"I've been so busy, but the death rate has increased by 5% this month."

97

Tsunade took a swig of sake, her face turning pale.

"Those barbarians from Kumogakure were too ruthless. Many of the wounded were brought back with their bones shattered beyond repair."

"Furthermore, the explosive clay from Iwagakure has been improved, resulting in higher temperatures and larger burn areas that are difficult to treat with conventional treatments."

Silently, Shizune helped her tidy up the scattered scrolls.

"Lady Tsunade, you have done your best."

"What's the point of trying your best!"

Tsunade scratched her hair in frustration.

"I need new technology. Technology that can rapidly regenerate bone and treat large-area burns."

"However, this requires a lot of experimental data and—money. The village's finances are almost in deficit, so it's impossible to get funding approved."

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

"Please come in."

Jingyin quickly straightened her clothes, appearing very composed.

The door opened.

Sosuke walked in carrying a food box.

"Lady Tsunade, you seem quite angry; you must have been working hard for the village again."

Sosuke smiled and placed the food box on the table.

"I brought you some late-night snacks. Chilled sake with grilled eel."

Tsunade's nose twitched, and her eyes lit up.

"You're quite thoughtful, kid."

Without any hesitation, she opened the food box, disregarding her image, and started gnawing on a skewer of grilled eel that was crispy and juicy.

Shizune watched from the side, swallowed hard, but still politely bowed to Sosuke.

"Mr. Sousuke, please excuse my poor appearance. Lady Tsunade—she's just under a lot of pressure."

Sosuke looked at the little girl.

Right now, Shizune is just a junior apprentice following behind the legendary Sannin. But her eyes are clear, and she is organized and methodical, already demonstrating excellent support abilities.

"It's nothing."

Sousuke pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Tsunade.

"Speak, what do you need from me this time?" Tsunade finished a skewer of eel, in a great mood.

"I do have a small research question that I would like to ask for your guidance on."

Sosuke spread a drawing out on the table.

It depicts an extremely complex mechanical structure. It is an arm.

"What is this?" Tsunade picked up another skewer of eel and gnawed on it, asking indistinctly.

"Prosthetic limbs".

Sosuke explained.

"The war produced too many cruel victims. Countless people had their hands and feet severed. They gave their bodies for the village, but faced hardship after their discharge."

"I want to do something for them."

"Therefore, I designed this chakra conduction prosthesis."

Tsunade put down the eel, picked up the blueprints, and her eyes became serious.

"Using chakra-conducting metal as a skeleton and nerve cord—this is—Sunagakure's puppet technology?"

"Theoretically possible. But it requires extremely precise craftsmanship, and also—"

Tsunade looked at Sousuke.

"We need an adhesive that allows for a perfect connection between nerves and metal." Otherwise, a rejection reaction will turn the user's remains into a pile of rotten flesh.

"That's right."

Sosuke nodded.

"I haven't found a suitable formula for the adhesive yet. That's why I'd like to ask you for advice."

Tsunade pondered for a moment.

"Slug."

She uttered a single word.

"What?"

"The slug fairy of Shikkotsu Forest has secretions with the strongest cell adhesion and regeneration capabilities."

"If we could get some of its mucus as a culture medium—perhaps we could develop the adhesive you want."

"Shikkotsu Forest—" Sosuke frowned. "That's not a good place to go."

"I'll handle this."

Tsunade wiped the grease from the corner of her mouth.

"That's a great idea."

"If it really succeeds, it will not only allow those disabled ninjas to regain their dignity, but it will also be a means of quickly repairing damaged units on the battlefield."

"I'll take on this project."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

Zong took his leave.

Tsunade looked at the prosthetic limb design drawings, then at the remaining grilled eel on the table.

"Mute".

"exist."

"Go and bring over all the medical department's scrolls on cell culture."

Tsunade's fighting spirit was rekindled.

"I'm going to make these crippled kids healthy again!"

the next day.

Shizune arrived at the Kikyo Pavilion.

"Mr. Sosuke, Lady Tsunade asked me to give this to you."

Silently handed over a scroll.

"This is a diluted sample of the slug sage's slime. Lady Tsunade said it might be helpful for your research."

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Shizune."

Sosuke took the scroll.

"Have a cup of tea before you go."

"No, no need! I need to go back and help Lady Tsunade organize the data—"

Silently waved her hand.

"No rush."

Sousuke smiled.

"Actually, there's something I'd like you to take a look at."

With a puzzled Shizune in mind, Sosuke went to the herb garden in the backyard.

This place is filled with all sorts of rare medicinal herbs.

Sosuke stopped in front of a strangely shaped plant.

The plant had thick leaves with purple spots and emitted a bitter, almond-like smell.

"This is----"

Silent nose twitched.

She crouched down and took a closer look.

As Tsunade's disciple, although she is still learning medical ninjutsu, she has a keen intuition regarding "poison" and "pharmacology".

"Is this a variant of 'Hozuki no Hijiki'?"

"Silent said somewhat uncertainly."

"Its sap is highly poisonous and can paralyze the nerves. But—the chakra patterns on this plant are wrong; it seems to have been modified?"

"Good eye."

Sousuke praised.

"This is a modified version of the strain that my assistant and I developed. We removed its lethality, retained its paralyzing effect, and used chakra to catalyze it, turning it into a nerve activator."

"However, we encountered a bottleneck in dosage control. We were always unable to balance toxicity and efficacy."

Silently plucked a leaf, crushed it between her fingers, and smelled the sap.

Her eyes changed. They became the focused gaze of a researcher.

"The alkaloid concentration here is too high."

"Silence," she said instinctively.

"Adding a little bit of 'Cnidium monnieri' neutralizing solution might stabilize its molecular structure —"

As she was speaking, she suddenly realized that she had been too rude, blushed, and quickly shut up.

"I'm sorry! I was just talking nonsense!"

No, you're absolutely right.

Sosuke looked at the girl, who was only a teenager.

She was unaware of her own talent. In the original story, she was a renowned toxicology expert, extremely proficient in both poison spraying and antidote preparation.

"Miss Shizune".

Sosuke crouched down, bringing his eyes level with hers.

"You're quite knowledgeable about poisonous plants?"

"Hmm—because Lady Tsunade taught me that if you want to save people, you must first understand poison."

"Silently," she said.

"And—I find dispensing medicine quite interesting."

"Would you be interested in doing a part-time job with me?"

Sosuke extended an olive branch.

"Part-time job?" Shizune was stunned.

"Yes."

Sosuke pointed to the medicinal herb garden.

"Although my assistant and I are skilled in technology, we are not traditional medical ninjas, so our understanding of the medicinal properties of herbs is not refined enough."

"I need someone with an intuition for toxicology and pharmacology to help us adjust the formula."

"I don't need you to be a full-time employee. Just come and watch over her for two hours every day when Lady Tsunade goes out gambling and drinking."

""

"But—I'm still just a Chunin, still learning—" Shizune said, sounding somewhat insecure.

"But that doesn't stop you from having talent."

Sousuke smiled and uttered the most fatal temptation.

"And, there is a salary."

He held up two fingers.

"Two hundred thousand taels per month."

Two hundred thousand?!

Silently, her little mouth slightly open, almost causing the piglet in her arms to fall to the ground.

Two hundred thousand taels! That's enough for her to live comfortably for a month even after Lady Tsunade gambled away all her savings, and she might even be able to save some money on her own!

"This—this is too much—"

"Not much. This is the price of knowledge."

Sosuke looked at her.

"How is it, Miss Shizune? This is money you earned with your own abilities, and it also helps to ease Tsunade's financial burden."

By their own abilities —

These words touched the girl's heart.

She always followed behind Tsunade and was regarded as "Tsunade's follower". Although she respected her teacher, deep down, she also longed to achieve something of her own.

The man in front of her seemed to have seen through her talent and was willing to invest in it.

and----

She recalled the embarrassing scene from yesterday when Tsunade had to run a debt at the tavern because she lost money.

If there is money —

"I'll do it!"

Shizune clenched her fists, her eyes hardening.

"I will try my best! But I can only do so when it doesn't interfere with my training."

"certainly."

Sousuke smiled.

"Welcome to the Silent Researcher team."

Another investment has sown the seeds.

Tsunade is a strategic-level medical advisor, while Shizune is the core of future research and development.

He wanted both the master and his apprentice.

The funding application for Konoha Hospital has been rejected once again.

"Deficit! Another deficit!"

Mitokado slammed the account book on the table and glared at the head of the medical department, gesturing wildly.

"Last month's medication expenditure exceeded the budget by 30%! How are you managing your accounts?!"

The Minister of Health looked aggrieved.

-

"Advisor, this is not our fault."

"More and more wounded soldiers are being sent back from the front lines. The injuries caused by the poison from Sunagakure and the lightning release from Kumogakure are extremely complex, and conventional medicines are simply ineffective."

"We can only purchase large quantities of premium medicines from the Takaya Trading Company. Those things are highly effective, but the price is also—"

"Don't mention that chamber of commerce to me!"

Mitomon Yan gets a headache whenever he hears "Takaya Shokai".

Ever since Sosuke supplied Kaori Uzuki with clean water at cost price in exchange for her livelihood, this merchant has completely seized control of the lifeline of Konoha's medical system.

While using cheap clean water to win the favor and dependence of the village, he also developed various expensive and highly effective medicines, such as "powerful bone regeneration ointment" and "nerve repair fluid".

These were byproducts of biotechnology research, all created by Orochimaru, technologies he looked down upon. As Orochimaru's financial backer, Sousuke naturally took advantage of these technologies and developed many new drugs.

These new drugs were not covered by the original agreement.

In order to save lives, the medical department had no choice but to reluctantly purchase supplies at high prices.

As a result, the village's financial expenditures not only did not decrease, but were instead trapped by Sosuke in another way.

"That Takaya Sousuke—he's practically a bloodsucking leech," Koharu Utatane remarked coldly from the side.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the main seat, silently smoking.

He knew exactly what Sousuke was planning. But right now, Konoha couldn't do without him.

Just then, Tsunade pushed open the door and entered.

She slammed a new budget request on the table.

"Old man, I need some funds. Fifty million taels."

Mitokado almost choked on his breath.

"Fifty million?! Tsunade, are you crazy? Do you know how poor the village is right now?"

"I know."

Tsunade's expression was very serious.

"But this money must be approved. I want to use it to research a new tactical prosthetic."

She placed the proposal on the table.

"Sousuke Takaya has provided a feasible solution. We can use the principles of chakra conduction to metal and puppetry to equip high-performance combat prosthetics for ninjas who have lost limbs in war."

"This will not only restore their ability to live independently, but may even allow them to return to the battlefield!"

"Returning to the battlefield?"

Hiruzen's eyes lit up.

Tsunade nodded, her eyes burning.

"That's right. An experienced Chunin, even if he loses an arm, can become stronger than an ordinary Genin if he is fitted with a prosthetic arm that can fire kunai and generate chakra blades."

"This will greatly alleviate our problem of insufficient mid-level combat power."

Everyone fell silent.

This idea is too bold and too tempting.

What Konoha lacks most right now? Experienced veterans.

Every year, hundreds, even thousands, of ninjas are discharged due to injuries, struggling to survive in the village on meager pensions. If only they could be given the chance to take up arms again—

"The funding can be approved."

Hizen made a decisive move.

"However, the research institute must be directly under the Ministry of Health, and all technological achievements must belong to the village."

This is a politician's instinct: to keep core technologies in their own hands.

"Sure." Tsunade shrugged indifferently. "I just want the freedom to conduct research."

"But—" she changed the subject, "for this project, I need the full cooperation of the Takaya Trading Company. Materials, funding,

And the technologies he has already mastered.

"Approved."

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