Back at the palace in the Country of Hot Springs, Tsunade immediately started calculating.
"According to how many missions I've completed based on mission commission standards, don't we need to settle accounts?"
Hiroki Hyuga looked at her sideways.
"Even if we put it another way, I'm technically a government official now. How come I haven't received a single paycheck?"
"Nobody else is getting paid either."
"White Zetsu isn't even human. Of course they don't need anything since they don't eat or drink for months."
"Tsunade, aren't you already rich enough?"
Tsunade gave him a playful pout. "That's got nothing to do with this. This is mine, fair and square. And you're not exactly broke either, are you?"
Without a word, Hiroki Hyuga pulled out a check worth ten million.
"It can only be used for consumption in the Country of Hot Springs and the Country of Frost."
With the money obtained, what else could Tsunade do?
Of course, she had nothing else to do but gamble.
With her gambling skills, wherever she went, she was like a walking money magnet — for everyone else.
Hiroki didn't want her giving their money away in other countries.
Tsunade reached out and took it, and unusually, showed a bright smile on her face.
"Shizune, let's go."
With this huge sum of money and accompanied by Shizune, Tsunade went out to spend extravagantly.
As they walked away, Hiroki Hyuga shook off the moment and returned to his own matters.
His social circle, aside from training, was quite simple—mainly Tsunade, Shizune, Kaguya, and the White Zetsus.
Since he never told anyone about his real plan to eventually reclaim all the chakra, he kept his distance from both Tsunade and Shizune.
The White Zetsus had strong execution ability but lacked independent personalities, making them uninteresting conversation partners.
As for Kaguya, for some unknown reason, her attitude had been fluctuating between warm and cold.
Thanks to their intervention, the security situation in both the Country of Hot Springs and the Country of Frost had improved considerably.
This attracted many people to come.
However, some wealthy individuals still lacked full trust in local security forces, so they hired ninjas for personal protection.
Those ninjas came from the prestigious Five Great Ninja Villages.
As for those two unfortunate villages—Hidden Frost and Hidden Hot Spring Village—one had been completely destroyed by Konoha, while the other had been eliminated by ninja who originally came from that very village, and both were currently undergoing reconstruction.
He would continue providing financial support, of course.
Still, it was foreseeable that these two villages would gradually be forgotten.
Ninjas were trained from regular humans and couldn't be created overnight.
In the future, without participating in the Ninja Union Exams, their fame would naturally decline, making them less competitive.
Even within their own countries, these two villages currently had very few official ninjas, meaning they couldn't carry out missions anymore—they essentially existed in name only.
They couldn't sustain themselves independently.
The Land of Waves and the Land of Sea maintained good relations with the Land of Water. Within the Land of Water, the Hidden Mist Village was secretly under Obito's rule. Moreover, the Land of Sea was a gathering place for various factions, specifically cultivating summoning beasts for the major ninja villages.
These two countries, Hiroki Hyuga temporarily refrained from sending personnel into, instead dispatching White Zetsu to search for traces of the exiled princess from the Snow Country.
Life had been pretty dull lately, so after handing out orders to the White Zetsus, Hiroki appeared before Kaguya once more.
Kaguya's gaze remained unfathomable as ever.
"Kaguya, aren't you supposed to be all-powerful here? Why don't you just conjure up something already?"
He couldn't help but think Kaguya's life must have been even more monotonous than his. Aside from seeing the outside world through their shared perspective, she seemed to have no other form of entertainment.
"Why bother getting into something fake?"
"Then are there really nothing you like at all?"
"...No."
Chakra—did that count? Kaguya wondered.
Back with the Otsutsuki Clan, she had always been under immense pressure. Even after escaping to the Ninja World, she constantly worried about the Otsutsuki attacking again. She never had the peace of mind to think about anything else.
Thinking carefully, it seemed she genuinely had nothing particularly worth caring about.
"This country's already ours. Do whatever you like—just do something," Hiroki Hyuga said, his voice carrying a trace of pity.
Seeing his expression, Kaguya inexplicably felt a surge of annoyance.
Why are you showing that same look you gave Tsunade?
Do I need your sympathy?
Absolutely not!
"Hmph!" She snorted coldly.
Before Kaguya could respond, Hiroki suddenly found himself back in the real world.
"...Fine then, I'll go do something useful instead—like checking the account books."
Putting food into her mouth from the plate, Tsunade experienced absolutely no sensation.
She inwardly grumbled: What am I doing? It's one thing if you interfere when I'm fighting normally, but is it really necessary to take over my body just to experience eating a meal?
Guess someone sealed away for a thousand years would pick up some weird quirks, huh?
"Kaguya-sama, what exactly are you doing?"
"It's an honor for you."
"..." Tsunade remained silent.
What a great privilege! Who'd ever want this?
After finishing the meal, Kaguya still didn't return control of the body, walking out of the restaurant alongside Shizune.
"Tsunade-sama, where should we go next?" Shizune asked.
The area they currently stood in was one of the more prosperous parts of the Country of Hot Springs, with pedestrians coming and going, and plenty of noise reaching both their ears.
"Mommy, I want to eat that..."
"No, that will cause diarrhea."
"I want it! Buy it for me!"
"C'mon, let's go home. If you don't behave, ninja will come and get you!"
"…"
Curious, Kaguya looked over and walked closer. "What is this?"
"Tsunade-sama, wait for me," Shizune called from behind.
"It's ice cream," smiled the dessert shop owner, handing her a cone. "Would you like one?"
She reached out to take it, bringing it toward her mouth and taking a bite.
Sweet and slightly cold, its texture resembled extremely fine snow.
So this is what human ingenuity comes down to? These flashy little things...
Tsunade inwardly complained: Are you serious? Eating ice cream now? You're supposed to have regular meals, you know. I spend the money, you enjoy it, and eventually any illness or trouble falls on me...
Still holding the ice cream, Kaguya turned and started walking away.
"Hey, you haven't paid yet!" the dessert shop owner shouted from behind.
Kaguya turned back and fixed her gaze on Shizune.
Meeting her stare, Shizune quickly pulled out her wallet. "Oh, oh, I'll pay."
Tsunade-sama's presence suddenly felt really overwhelming, Shizune thought.
They wandered like this for several hours before Kaguya finally left Tsunade's body.
Not a single word of explanation was offered the whole time.
Tsunade was completely baffled.
Shizune was carrying a huge bag in her hand.
Tsunade snatched the bag from Shizune, returned to the palace, barged into Hiroki Hyuga's room, dumped the items in front of him, and pulled out several receipts.
"Settle the bill!"
Hiroki Hyuga glanced at them with obvious displeasure. "You were the one who spent the money. Why should I reimburse you? I'm not your anything."
"These," Tsunade said with a half-smile, "were all bought by her."
"What has she done exactly?" Hiroki asked curiously.
"She…"
Tsunade intended to reveal Kaguya's actions but discovered she couldn't speak again.
She found the irony of the situation rather amusing internally.
Hiroki waited for a long time, yet Tsunade never continued speaking.
After a while, the muting effect faded away. Tsunade lightly coughed and simply said, "Anyway, this was Kaguya's order. Pay up."
"Fine then," Hiroki Hyuga replied helplessly.
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