At night, after finishing a day's work, Tsunade returned home. Busy sounds came from the kitchen; Shizune was probably preparing dinner.
"I'm back," she called out. Taking off her high heels, she stood in the entryway with one hand braced against the shoe cabinet while the other rubbed her ankle. The black stockings she had worn all day felt damp and sticky beneath her fingers.
Hearing her, Naruto Tsunade emerged from the bedroom, holding a drink with a straw and sipping from it.
"What are you drinking?" Tsunade asked.
"A beverage. It's called mango pomelo sago. Komachi bought one for me when I was at the hospital, and I thought it was pretty good, so I bought another on the way back." As Naruto Tsunade spoke, she pointed at the coffee table. There were two more cups there, for Tsunade and Shizune.
Komachi was the young girl Naruto Tsunade had met at the hospital. Tsunade knew her too; she was one of her subordinates, someone she often sent out to run errands.
"Looks like you had a pretty good day at the hospital."
"Don't even mention it."
Naruto Tsunade walked over and sat on the sofa. "The doctors at that hospital are all pretty incompetent."
Tsunade explained, "Konoha has made major breakthroughs in medical equipment, cloned organs, and bionic human bodies. The requirements for medical personnel aren't as strict as they used to be. Their theoretical knowledge is stronger now."
Naruto Tsunade sneered. "What use is any of that? Can it replace medical ninja?"
"Things like regenerating severed limbs can already be done completely," Tsunade said. "There's no more war now, and the world has been unified. Medical ninja who can treat the wounded in emergencies really aren't as needed by the times as before. Medical research has shifted toward