Her Highness the Princess

After handing the completed plan to Yukina the next day and telling her to give it to Watanabe Kenshin once he sensed something was wrong, Chiba's life entered another stable period. From the moment he got up each morning until nearly dinnertime, he trained. At night, he methodically continued concentrating the medicine, adjusting its properties until they were mild enough, and testing it on himself along the way. Occasionally, the trials gave him diarrhea, but that had been routine for over a month now. In fact, the number of such incidents had decreased dramatically.

After finishing all that, Chiba's schedule was no longer so tight that he had to sleep immediately afterward. He had at least an hour of free time.

However, Chiba did not use that hour to sleep, nor did he spend it refining his two self-created ninjutsu. Instead, he used it to think—about everything he could. The Eight Gates Mode he was developing after ten years in the Naruto World, the Eight Gates whose training method he had mastered, his Ninjutsu Talent, the experience he could gain in battle—he thought over and recalled it all, absorbing every piece of knowledge and information he could. At the same time, he calmed the faint but unavoidable impatience brought on by the approaching Kannabi Bridge Battle. Then, an hour later, he turned off the lights and went to sleep.

As for defense matters, rumors had begun circulating among the ninja. For example, the Defense Force had recently been frequently adjusting its deployments, or the newly arrived old commander had made fresh moves. In any case, the ninja in the village all knew that the Defense Force was taking action. They just did not know what kind of action it was, nor did they speculate too much. As ninja and combat