This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 95 Tsunade's Gamble

Suddenly, Long Er thought of a question and couldn't help but ask, "Neural link technology is a technology that plays a strategic role for the entire village, right? Why didn't you ask the village for leverage, but instead paid for it yourself?"

Why?

Hearing Ryuji's question, Tsunade, who had been slumped over the table, lifted her head slightly. Her cheeks were flushed red beneath her disheveled blonde hair, and her usually resolute eyes were glazed over, making her look like a complete drunkard.

"..." Ryuji was speechless.

As one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, getting this drunk in broad daylight shows a complete lack of concern for one's image! Moreover, he is in charge of important work at the hospital; hopefully, he won't mix up patients during surgeries, especially when performing organ removal surgery.

"Why are there so many 'whys'?"

Tsunade murmured softly, her eyes unfocused and glazed over. It sounded like she was talking to herself, or perhaps she was rambling in her drunken stupor.

She was thinking about Ryuji's problem.

The nerves, which can be numbed by alcohol, become abnormally slow, and no matter how hard one tries, one cannot remember.

She propped herself up and shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but all she could see were those two figures she couldn't forget.

Was it for him?

Tsunade's eyes grew increasingly blurry, but the two figures in her mind became clearer and clearer.

—Kato Dan, Nawaki.

One is her own younger brother, and the other is her first love.

They all have something in common: they regard the village as their family, the villagers as their relatives, and they all aspire to become Hokage.

Tsunade herself had no intention of becoming Hokage, so she gave the crystal necklaces representing the Will of Fire to them respectively.

As a result, the younger brother was ambushed and killed in his first mission after obtaining the necklace, without even a chance to be rescued.

Kato Dan died on a mission shortly after obtaining the crystal necklace. Even his medical ninjutsu, revered throughout the ninja world, could not save them.

Tsunade has lived with regret ever since.

She believed her younger brother could become Hokage, and that Dan Kato could carry the hopes of all those who wanted to become Hokage but failed along the way and succeed.

But they were all dead.

She felt that she had killed the two of them.

If I hadn't supported their dreams and given them the crystal necklace that represented the Will of Fire, perhaps they wouldn't have died.

This necklace was a curse to her, the culprit that killed her younger brother and her first love.

If this weren't her grandfather's keepsake, she would have thrown it away without hesitation.

but.

This necklace also holds the dreams of her younger brother and her first love. No matter how much she hates and despises this necklace, it is still the only item that Tsunade can entrust her heart and longing to.

It can be discarded, but it will never be traded to others as a commodity.

But she did it now, so...

"I'm doing this for myself."

After managing to finish saying that, Tsunade slumped back onto the table and began to snore.

She had fallen asleep.

However, before falling asleep, she remembered the answer.

It wasn't for Konoha, nor for the dream of my closest loved one, but for myself.

She simply didn't want anyone to die needlessly, didn't want to see those around her fall before her eyes again and be powerless to help, and didn't want to experience the grief of wanting to save someone but being unable to do so.

She...didn't want to be a loser.

She knew the value of neural connections, but the higher-ups in Konoha didn't, just like when she proposed using all her strength to popularize medical ninjas and was ridiculed by everyone except Dan Kato.

If it weren't for the wars of the last decade proving the value of medical ninjas, Konoha probably wouldn't have the medical ninjas of its current scale.

Under normal circumstances, she would still be confident that she could persuade Sarutobi and other high-ranking officials as she had done before.

However, Konoha is currently at war with three ninja villages simultaneously, incurring huge expenses and facing a shortage of funds.

It's simply impossible for someone to spend a large sum of money to buy a technology they don't understand.

In order to achieve her goal, she had no choice but to pay out of her own pocket and use the necklace as a bargaining chip.

She didn't know if what she was doing was right or wrong, or if she would regret it or be happy in the future—it was a gamble, a gamble that staked her heart and beliefs.

If she loses, her heart will sink completely, even more so than her original destiny, into a state that no one can awaken.

Looking at the woman fast asleep on the table, Long Er's eyes held a complex expression.

Although Tsunade only replied with "for myself," Ryuji still guessed her true thoughts.

It may not be accurate, and we may not be able to know how much conviction she mustered to do such a thing, but based on our understanding of her life experiences in the anime, we can still guess a lot about it.

People in this world are different from one another.

Some people are realistic, some are naive and have expectations of fantasy, and some have expectations of fantasy but are very aware of reality, so they are very rational in every action.

Long Er is a third party.

That's why he felt conflicted.

"I hope we won't become enemies in the future!"

Long Er muttered something to himself, paid the bill, and left.

As for Tsunade...

Are we that close?

Given her status and strength, even if she were drunk, no one would dare to have designs on her in Konoha.

Instead of wasting time on this, you might as well go back and do your research properly.

He still has many projects that haven't been started yet!

Chakra Radar, Crystal Necklace, Swift Release, the formation principle of Dragon Veins, the difference between Dragon Vein Chakra and ordinary Chakra... Now we also need to study the "Book of Golden Fairies" and the Yin Seal.

……

Back home, Ryuji entered his personal space.

He first input the research data on the Yin Seal into the observation instrument, allowing the instrument to deduce and analyze along Tsunade's research direction.

Although Tsunade of this era has not yet completed the development of the Yin Seal, she will definitely succeed in the future, so the research data at this time is probably in the right direction.

Given the speed of the observation instrument's calculations, and with this data as a foundation, it is believed that the calculations can be completed very quickly.

Even the Creation and Regeneration Technique and the Hundred Healings Technique, which were developed with the Yin Seal as their core, can be deduced.

If all of these can be researched and Silver can be given a body made primarily of Sage cells, she will become an enhanced version of Tsunade.

Um... just in terms of combat strength.

In terms of medical care, silver won't.

Because he possesses the technology to change bodies, Ryuji doesn't value abilities like healing injuries.

……

After handing over the information about the Yin Seal to the observation instrument, Ryuji took out the crystal necklace to study it.

Although there are many projects waiting to be researched, the most pressing issues are the Wood Release ninja and the Mechanical Castle.

The Mechanical City will take six years to build and has a complete plan, so there's no rush to study the floating continent technology in the Book of the Golden Fairy.

Because mastering this technology and even transforming it into a formula that conforms to the rules of this world cannot be accomplished in a short period of time.

Conversely, if one cannot resolve the issue of Wood Release ninjas during their studies with the Sand Village delegation, it will be difficult to have another opportunity in the future.

(End of this chapter)