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Tsunade - Ch 48
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 16:00:14 +0000 UTCChapter 48: The Temptation of Returning to the Village
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Who is it?!"
Annoyed by the obnoxious knocking, Kamizuki Hikari furrowed his brows and forced his sleepy eyes open.
"Who the hell has such terrible manners?"
"Knocking this early in the morning—do you have a death wish?!"
Tsunade's voice came from behind him, causing Hikari's eyes to widen in shock.
[Wait... this isn't my room... oh my god, don't tell me I lost my innocence?!]
Whack!
Having reached her limit, Tsunade smacked Hikari on the head.
"Get out!"
[Alright, alright... real men don’t fight women!]
Hikari got up and glanced back. Tsunade was still lying under the covers, her eyes locked on him like they were laced with murderous intent.
Looking down and seeing that his clothes were still perfectly intact, Hikari couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
[Sigh... looks like my innocence is still intact.]
[Tsunade, seriously? I gave you the perfect chance, and you didn’t take it. Aren’t you supposed to be the Hokage? So disappointing!]
"Scram!"
Tsunade growled, flustered and furious.
What did he mean by saying she missed her chance?
She was a woman, after all, and she certainly wasn’t into some random guy like Kamizuki Hikari. He was completely beneath her notice.
[Heh, women. Enjoy the feast and then pretend nothing happened, huh?]
Despite the trash talk running wild in his head, Hikari kept a calm expression and walked out of the room. Only after he was gone did Tsunade throw off the blanket, revealing her radiant form.
'So embarrassing!'
'Why do I have this bad habit of stripping when I drink? I seriously need to fix that...'
'Whatever, I’ll just drink less from now on.'
Tsunade could usually hold her liquor, but even she had limits. She’d been drinking from noon until late into the night yesterday. The room was still littered with empty bottles piled like a small mountain.
---
"Scrub-a-dub-dub, I love bathing, my skin’s so fine~"
"The hell?! What are you doing in here?!"
Hikari was mid-shower when Kamizuki Izumo walked in, forcing him to instinctively cover his rear.
'Trying to sneak up on me? Not today—I’m on full alert.'
Izumo took one glance at Hikari’s lower half, then immediately turned his head away.
"Hey, Hikari, we’re leaving today. Think you can talk Tsunade-sama into letting me buy a couple of maids before we head back? I heard the ones in the Daimyo’s court are professionally trained. They’re apparently amazing at taking care of people."
"Do you have the money?" Hikari looked at him suspiciously.
No need to ask—high-quality maids definitely came with a high price tag.
With Izumo’s income, buying one might be barely possible. Two? He’d have better luck dreaming.
"Ahem, that’s why I’m coming to you! Hikari, lend me a little, would ya? In all these years, your big bro's never asked you for anything... just this tiny favor, you get what I mean?" Izumo waggled his brows suggestively.
"I don’t get it. And don’t ask me for money either. You know what they say: talking about money ruins friendships. We’re tight, man. You can’t just let a little cash get between us."
"Come on, it’s not like I’m not paying you back. I’ll take missions as soon as we’re back and pay you off quick. I swear on the name of Kamizuki!"
"That’s not the issue!" Hikari felt the need to clarify.
"Tsunade-sama already said no to you or me buying maids to be our wives. Even putting that aside, think about it—can your body even handle two at once? And imagine the rest of us, single and miserable, watching you hugging girls on both sides. How do you think that’ll make us feel?"
Izumo shamelessly replied, "Obviously you’d be happy for me."
Hikari: ???
'Alright then, how did I never realize Izumo had such thick skin?'
"We’re all single, and you wanna be living the dream with two babes? That’s messed up, man. For the sake of our brotherhood, try to stay on the same page as us."
"Just stay single. It suits you better."
"Fine, I’ll head out then. You better hurry up with that bath—you don’t want to keep Tsunade-sama waiting!" With that, Izumo walked off.
Relieved, Hikari dropped his hands from his rear.
'Man, I thought Izumo had suddenly developed... different tastes.'
'If he really did swing that way, I’d say he and Kotetsu would make a better pair. If it ever came to that, I wouldn’t judge.'
'As for the Kamizuki clan’s future, I’ll take care of it. I’ll just marry a few more wives. For the sake of the clan’s prosperity, I’m willing to be the overworked old ox.'
An hour later, Tsunade led the group out of the Daimyo's residence. The eight-man team was finally back together.
Compared to their tense mood on the way there, everyone now wore cheerful smiles.
---
"Tsunade-sama, we’re sorry. We entered the capital ahead of time but didn’t manage to gather any useful intel." Kurenai apologized after discussing with Genma and Aoba.
"It’s fine!" Tsunade responded generously. "None of you are to blame."
"I already thought this through. Sending you ahead was just a precautionary tactic. It was a tight schedule, and with elite jonin guarding the Daimyo, it made sense you couldn’t act rashly. I think you all did well."
Then Tsunade suddenly remembered something.
A few nights ago, Kamizuki Hikari had sent out a shadow clone to spy on the Daimyo and the Root shinobi. Not only had the Daimyō’s jōnin failed to detect it, but Hikari had even managed to flip some Root shinobi to his side afterward.
Regardless of his methods, that kind of skill was far beyond an ordinary jōnin.
'If my suspicions are correct... Kamizuki Hikari might actually be some kind of hidden powerhouse!'
'If he can deal with Danzō after we return, then I’ll have to think about how to keep him in check. Since this guy wants to be a slacker, I’ll just keep him close. As long as I watch him tightly, he won’t escape my grasp.'
Meanwhile, Hikari remained blissfully unaware of Tsunade’s scheming, still pretending to be an oblivious bystander.
"For this mission, I’ll be issuing an A-rank reward. Kurenai, Guy—does that sound acceptable?"
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!"
An A-rank mission would not only bolster their records but also put some serious money in their pockets.
This trip with Tsunade had been smooth sailing—no real danger, just some rushed travel. Overall, it couldn’t have gone better.
While everyone else was happy, Hikari alone hadn’t received a reward. He couldn’t help but speak up: "Tsunade-sama, what about my reward? I’m not asking for much. Just give me a B-rank mission payout and I’ll be content."
Even though B-rank rewards were pocket change to him, after all the drinks and food from yesterday, Hikari felt he needed some compensation—or he’d feel cheated.
"Since you asked, I’ll count yours as a B-rank mission."
Gai, Kurenai, and the rest of the peanut gallery: If you two don’t have something going on... we’ll write our names backward!
