Chapter 53: Visiting the Uchiha Clan

“What kind of monster?” Karn feigned confusion, though he had already guessed in his heart that Kushina was about to become the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki. The thought brought him a touch of sadness—perhaps it would be much harder to see this girl again in the future.

Kushina heard Karn’s question and struggled to describe the Nine-Tails. In the end, she could only use her limited vocabulary and a flurry of gesturing hands. “It’s a terrifying, terrifying monster... In a while, I might become just such a monster myself.”

“Kushina, to me, the scariest thing is someone failing to pay after a transaction.” Karn patted Kushina’s head—not quite comforting her, but saying, “Thank you for the reminder. I finally remembered—do you recall last time I invited you to play video games, and you conveniently ate more than a dozen boxes of desserts without paying?”

“Ah... Did that really happen?” Kushina, prompted by Karn, suddenly remembered what had occurred that day. She immediately adopted an expression of innocence and awkwardly turned her head to inspect the guest room.

“Boss, perhaps you remembered wrong?”

“You really aren’t cut out for lying, Kushina. That guilty look already tells me you recall the incident,” Karn replied, displaying his signature merchant’s smile. He produced an abacus from who-knows-where, manipulating the beads as he spoke, “A box of high-end truffle chocolates costs three hundred ryo. I remember there were more than a dozen boxes that day... Let’s say nineteen. Nineteen boxes of premium truffle chocolates, that comes to...”

Kushina, hearing Karn’s words, hurriedly protested, “There were only thirteen boxes in total, and I didn’t eat anything that expensive...”

Karn glanced up at her, then continued, smiling as he moved the abacus, “Is that so? Then thirteen boxes it is. I’m a businessman, so interest on debt is only natural, right? The total comes to...”

The room filled with the clicking sound of abacus beads. Kushina’s fear of the Nine-Tails slowly turned into a dread of the abacus’s relentless rhythm. Finally, after she swallowed nervously, the sound stopped.

“Seventy-six thousand three hundred seventy ryo in total. Thanks for reminding me, Kushina—don’t forget to pay soon, or the interest will only grow. Now that you’re a ninja, earning money should be easy, yes?”

Kushina’s eyes widened like walnuts at the number. “Boss, you truly are a devil!”

“Devils follow the principle of exchange. I follow the principle of trade. They’re entirely different, Kushina. Remember to hand over your little orange wallet to me tomorrow morning—this way the interest will be less.” Karn patted her head again. Amid her indignant pout, he produced a box of unlabeled fruit-flavored lollipops and pressed it into her arms.

“Go back to sleep, and don’t let your mind wander anymore. Train well, complete your missions, and repay your debt properly.”

................

Kushina was then ushered out the door by Karn, who, before closing it, reminded her again to bring her orange wallet in the morning.

Leaving Karn’s room, Kushina was still dazed. She had come to confide her worries, but somehow ended up owing several hundred thousand ryo, and it seemed she’d even signed a promissory note? A truly frightening boss!

This thought flashed through Kushina’s mind, but seeing the candy in her arms, the gloom that had plagued her over becoming the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki evaporated completely. Now she could imagine: even if she became the Nine-Tails’ Jinchuriki, Karn would still wave the promissory note and take her orange wallet.

“Hehe~” Kushina giggled foolishly while clutching the jar of lollipops, already planning to train at six in the morning to see how the boss would find her.

“Kushina, what are you giggling about? What’s that you’re holding—is it something to eat?” Tsunade’s voice startled her, and Kushina hurried to hide the candy, but it was too late.

Tsunade strode over, glanced at Kushina’s arms, and unceremoniously said, “Don’t bother hiding it, I saw everything. Karn gave you those, right? Give me half.”

“Tsunade, half is way too much...” Kushina shook her head vigorously, suspecting she was surrounded by villains—escaping the wolf’s den only to enter the tiger’s lair.

Despite her protests, Kushina was too small, and in the end, Tsunade took half the candy.

The next day, Kushina indeed slipped away before dawn, orange wallet in hand, to train in secret. Tsunade, meanwhile, accompanied Karn to his shops, where besides giving some instructions to Nanami, he introduced Yakushi Nonoyu to Tsunade.

Yakushi Nonoyu’s talent in medical ninjutsu surprised even Tsunade. The student, barely graduated from the ninja academy, was already on par with some medical ninja in their twenties.

After evaluating Nonoyu, Tsunade immediately decided to take her as a student. However, she didn’t have time to teach Nonoyu personally yet, so she arranged for her to study at the Konoha Hospital with other medical ninja for a period. Once she finished dealing with Nawaki’s affairs, she would return to instruct Nonoyu herself.

...............

“I’m telling you now, I absolutely won’t enter the Uchiha compound. Last time, delivering a gift for you was already my limit,” Tsunade said irritably to Karn. Her inherited bloodline was fundamentally at odds with the Uchiha clan. Though she wouldn’t be openly chased out if she entered their territory, she’d surely be subjected to surveillance and hostile looks.

“No problem, just deliver it near the Uchiha compound. I doubt anyone would act recklessly at the police force headquarters,” Karn replied, smiling. He had already gathered plenty of information about the Uchiha from Tsunade, including details on the current clan head and major members.

The Uchiha, after the chaos led by Madara and Setsuna, were mostly peace-seeking now, with the hawkish faction nearly extinct. Even when faced with political injustice, they intended to earn their standing in the village through battlefield achievements—making them relatively easy to deal with.

Though the Senju and Uchiha were mutually antagonistic, Tsunade held a high opinion of the current clan head, Uchiha Hamada.

“This is close enough. I’ll visit them myself from here,” Karn said, holding the gift. The Uchiha Police Force was only a hundred meters away—having Tsunade deliver it further would be inappropriate.