Tsunade Sells Shizune

Watching Hikari leave, Shizune went to the next room, filled a basin with water, and carried it back. After closing the door, Tsunade, who had supposedly passed out drunk, suddenly opened her eyes.

"Lady Tsunade, what are you doing?" Shizune was dumbfounded. What kind of act was Tsunade putting on now?

Tsunade shook her head, sniffed the smell of alcohol on herself, and instinctively frowned.

It smelled awful.

She took off her clothes.

In no time at all, she tossed her alcohol-soaked clothes aside, revealing the alluring Holy Light.

Shizune looked enviously at those two watermelons, then at her own flat runway, and shed tears of jealousy.

She did not want to be this well-endowed either.

"Shizune, how much money was left after the drinking?"

Money?

Why was Lady Tsunade asking about that? Could she be planning to gamble?

At that thought, Shizune's expression changed instantly.

"Lady Tsunade, there's no money left. The money you took from Hikari's wallet wasn't even enough to pay the bill. I had to put in half a month's food budget too. You really can't drink so much in the future."

"Tch, do you really think I was drunk?" Tsunade took the basin and began washing herself.

"There had to be at least a million ryō in that money. I did the math. The alcohol we drank today couldn't have cost more than four hundred thousand ryō. Where's the rest? Did you pocket a cut?"

Shizune looked embarrassed and took out the money from her pocket.

"Well, I was planning to save it for food later!"

"Lady Tsunade, we haven't received our allowance yet. If we don't start being more careful, we might starve to death someday."

Just imagining the Fifth Hokage Tsunade starving to death at her post would make her the laughingstock of the ninja world.

"Go on, go on. Do you really think I'd take your money? So petty!"

Tsunade glanced disdainfully at the money Shizune held in her hand. Yes, disdainfully.

She clearly remembered that Hikari had a bankbook in his pocket with ten million ryō in savings.

What kind of concept was that?

Even shinobi who went on missions would not carry that many bankbooks on them.

That showed that this bankbook was only a tiny fraction of Hikari's family wealth.

That was the money she ought to be calculating over. What did a few hundred thousand ryō amount to for Tsunade? Nothing at all.

Shizune happily put the money away. Looking at Tsunade's enormous watermelons, she did not feel like talking anymore.

A figure overwhelmingly attractive to men was something she did not even want to look at.

She could not help feeling inferior.

The more she looked, the sadder she became.

"Shizune, what do you think of Hikari?"

Shizune looked up. "Lady Tsunade, what do you mean?"

Tsunade looked at Shizune as though she were a block of wood. "I mean as a man, obviously. He's handsome and rich. What do you think?"

Shizune's face immediately went pale. "Lady Tsunade, don't tell me you want to marry him!"

Seeing Tsunade's expression change, Shizune thought she had guessed correctly and hurried to explain.

"I don't have any objections. It's mainly that the gap between your statuses is too large, and Hikari's strength would make people think he was living off you."

"You're such an idiot!" Tsunade's face was full of helplessness.

"I'm talking about you. What do you think of Hikari? Do you want to get to know him better? You're not getting any younger yourself."

This familiar marriage pressure moved Shizune deeply.

Shizune thought, Lady Tsunade, you finally remembered that I'm single. I'm so touched that you thought of me at a time like this.

Tsunade stopped looking at Shizune and began thinking to herself.

"Your chest is too flat, Shizune. You look almost like a boy. And Hikari clearly doesn't like your type of figure. If I forcibly try to set you two up, it'll only make Hikari drift farther and farther away from you."

Shizune thought, Lady Tsunade, please stop. If you keep going, I really am going to cry.

Looking at Tsunade's two enormous watermelons, Shizune felt deceived.

Lady Tsunade definitely had some secret method she had never taught her. Definitely.

"What if I gave you to Hikari as a maid? Would he give me a hundred million ryō as a thank-you gift? That way, you could enjoy a good life in the Shen Clan, while I'd have someone to rely on in my old age. It's the best of both worlds!"

Shizune: ???

Did that even sound like something a person would say?

Lady Tsunade, you weren't giving me away. You were selling me!

If I went there, I wouldn't have any status at all, so please stop talking.

Besides, if you think Hikari wouldn't even like me, why sell me to him? You might as well sell yourself. You could keep the money and enjoy a good life too. Wouldn't that be great?

Even with Shizune's good temper, she could not help feeling a little resentful toward Tsunade.

"Ah, forget it. I still have to operate on Rock Lee tomorrow!"

"Ah!"

"Speaking of this operation, Shizune. People have to pay to see a doctor, right? If I charge Rock Lee a treatment fee, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Shizune could not help slapping her forehead.

How embarrassing.

"Lady Tsunade, you really drank too much today."

"Rock Lee is Might Guy's disciple. You're the Fifth Hokage now, not back when you were treating people for the Fourth Raikage, when you could rip people off however you wanted. He's your subordinate, at least consider the consequences."

"Is that so? So I can't make money off him? What a shame!" After washing herself, Tsunade sprawled carelessly on the tatami, completely unconcerned with how tempting she looked to men in her current state.

Uh, there were no men here.

Then it was fine.

"Lady Tsunade, it gets cold at night. You should cover yourself with a blanket." After saying that, Shizune covered Tsunade's exposed body with a blanket, then began tidying up Tsunade's clothes.

Tsunade lay there, staring at the ceiling.

"Danzo has always wanted to become Hokage. What if he gave me five hundred million—no, one billion ryō? What if I gave the Hokage position to him?"

Shizune thought, Has Lady Tsunade gone crazy?

Forget one billion; Danzo might not even be able to produce five hundred million.

After following Tsunade for the past few days, Shizune had gained a proper understanding of the ninja village's internal administration. Running a village appeared to require quite a lot of money every year.

But in truth, it would be good enough if thirty percent actually made its way into the ninja village.

A ninja village's income was roughly divided into three types: financial subsidies from the Daimyo, shares of shinobi mission rewards, and village taxes.

Of those three, the Daimyo's subsidies made up the largest portion. Shinobi mission shares accounted for a smaller portion, while taxes were almost negligible.

It could be said that a large portion of the people who opened shops in the Hidden Leaf Village were shinobi, while pure civilians were few.

Those who had become disabled or no longer had the physical qualifications to be shinobi could not simply starve after retiring. At that point, the ninja village would assign them a portion of farmland, and they could sell snacks or do something similar to earn an income.

Under such circumstances, how could the ninja village have the nerve to impose heavy taxes?

As for clan businesses, such as the Nara clan's medicinal herb trade, they were staunch supporters of the Hokage. If they were taxed too heavily, would the Nara clan not develop grievances?

So Hidden Leaf Village's tax income was truly not much.

Shinobi were indeed powerful, but training shinobi was also an industry that burned through money like water.

As an elder, Shimura Danzō had Root as his foundation and appeared immensely influential, but most of the time he needed the Third Hokage Hiruzen's financial support. Sometimes, he even had to send Root on shady missions to supplement Root's operating funds.

Under these circumstances, Tsunade wanted Danzo to spend money to buy the Hokage position. Forget five hundred million—if he could take out one hundred million, that would already mean Danzo was an excellent manager.