This Was Clearly a Miracle Elixir

"You got the formula for forbidden drugs from Orochimaru?"

Kiyohara asked.

If there were forbidden drugs, they really could rapidly increase one's strength.

The Akimichi Clan were experts in this area, though they did not call them forbidden drugs. They were secret medicines legally produced by the clan.

For example, the Three-Colored Pills. The green pill could increase the body's strength by a third, while the yellow pill could fully unleash the user's potential.

As for the final red pill, it was said to awaken a hundredfold potential.

Of course, Kiyohara thought that was an exaggeration. If it were really that powerful, the Akimichi Clan would have become the greatest clan in the Ninja World long ago.

Still, being able to bear such a reputation was enough to show how extraordinary their clan's secret medicines were.

Kiyohara was very curious. What kind of effects would the forbidden drugs known by Renegade Kiyohara have?

"I got some."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

"But most of them are extremely harmful to the human body."

Renegade Kiyohara sounded somewhat wistful when he said that.

They had given him strength far beyond that of an ordinary Jonin, but he had needed to take medicine for the rest of his life to suppress the side effects. The reason he had stepped on that Explosive Tag was because his illness had flared up at the time.

"Then tell me about the harmless ones."

Kiyohara said.

"Strictly speaking, every secret medicine is harmful. The difference is whether the damage is permanent or temporary, and whether it can be recovered from."

"Explain in detail."

Renegade Kiyohara glanced at Kiyohara. As expected of his former self, he had no qualms about such methods.

After all, orthodox ninja relied on arduous training to obtain strength, following what they called their ninja way.

But Kiyohara would be leaving for Kannabi Bridge in three days. Even if he crammed at the last minute, he would not get anything worthwhile out of it. Sharpening his spear right before battle would at most scrape off a little rust.

If he wanted to take a shortcut, he naturally had to use unconventional methods.

"Go take out a loan right now."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

"What do I need a loan for?"

Kiyohara was surprised. Could these medicines be that expensive?

"You don't even know whether you'll survive. What's the point of keeping all that money? You might as well turn it into something that improves your chances of staying alive."

Renegade Kiyohara shook his head, sounding frustrated by Kiyohara's failure to meet expectations.

He had suffered because of exactly this.

Damn it, he had defected too hastily. Orochimaru had not given him any time to prepare for his escape.

By the time he looked back, he had already fled Konoha. All his possessions had been left in the village and were eventually legally confiscated!

"Ninja probably can't borrow much, can they?"

Kiyohara had never tried taking out a loan before.

Ninja were in a high-risk profession where tomorrow was never guaranteed. Forget loans—even insurance companies probably would not dare take them on.

Konoha possessed all kinds of technological creations, including refrigerators, televisions, and utility poles, so its level of modernization was actually quite high. People's thinking, however, remained relatively traditional and conservative.

He had considered borrowing money from every Uchiha a few days before the Uchiha Clan Massacre Night. Once the Uchiha Clan automatically ceased to exist, he would not need to repay those debts.

Kiyohara trusted Uchiha Itachi's professional competence. He would surely leave behind only his younger brother, Sasuke.

"Borrow as much as you can."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

You were going to the battlefield anyway. Why not go all in and take out six loans at once?

"This is a sure-win deal. If you die, your debts die with you. If you live, you can earn it back by doing a few more missions."

Kiyohara thought it over. It actually made damn good sense.

But that would mean going all in.

Going all in was a kind of wisdom, but not many people could choose the right moment.

After all, no one knew how difficult a mission would really be. They could only judge roughly by its rank.

Yet a C-rank mission could suddenly become a B-rank mission, while an A-rank mission could become no harder than a C-rank mission because the enemy got careless and made a mistake.

Take the mission at Kannabi Bridge. Everyone believed that with Namikaze Minato there, the mission would definitely be completed.

And Namikaze Minato did indeed complete the mission.

But who knew whether they themselves would be the price?

No matter how strong Namikaze Minato was, he could not possibly watch over everyone. And no normal person would assume that they would be the one to die, so few ninja ever took out loans.

Only someone like Kiyohara, who knew the plot in advance, could exploit that information gap.

After pondering for a moment, Kiyohara rummaged through his house and took out everything valuable.

Using it all as collateral, he borrowed 650,000 ryo.

No one was willing to lend Kiyohara any more than that. Even an unsecured loan was out of the question.

He had only managed to borrow that much because his reputation in the village was decent and he had gotten lucky.

In their eyes, Kiyohara was just a lowly Genin with a rather high chance of dying in battle.

Together with his previous savings, he now had 700,000 ryo in total. It was already no small sum.

Then, under Renegade Kiyohara's guidance, Kiyohara immediately went to buy medicinal ingredients and tools.

In Konoha, the Nara Clan and the Akimichi Clan had deep roots in the medicinal ingredient trade. It could even be said that many businesses were monopolized by those two clans.

The Nara Clan possessed a vast forest, where they raised intelligent sacred deer. Their antlers were an extremely valuable medicinal ingredient.

The Akimichi Clan, meanwhile, excelled at all kinds of medicinal formulas. In the original work, Tsunade had even borrowed Akimichi Clan prescriptions for reference, which was enough to prove their value.

On top of that, the Ino-Shika-Cho clans were allies with an extraordinary relationship, making the Nara Clan and the Akimichi Clan a powerful partnership.

"Hiss, these medicinal ingredients are really expensive."

More than half of the money Kiyohara had just borrowed disappeared before he had even had a chance to warm it in his hands.

"They're expensive for a reason. These forbidden drugs minimize the side effects as much as possible. As long as you control the dosage, you'll only get occasional headaches for three months at most. After that, nothing will happen."

Renegade Kiyohara said.

He had followed Orochimaru around for a long time before that guy had finally tossed him this little bit of good stuff.

As far as Orochimaru was concerned, Sasuke was the only one in his eyes.

That was good news for Renegade Kiyohara as well. At least he did not have to worry about Orochimaru stabbing him in the back.

He would rather have an icy kunai enter his body than Orochimaru's soul.

"Three months? That's fine."

Kiyohara was very satisfied with that effect.

What forbidden drug was this? It was clearly a miracle elixir!

"You brat, what are you buying so many medicinal ingredients for?"

Hearing that, Kiyohara turned around. Two storm clouds filled his vision, displaying full curves.

By his estimate, they were huge.

Coupled with the purple diamond-shaped mark on the woman's forehead and her long blonde hair, her identity was obvious.

Tsunade!

"Lady Tsunade."

Kiyohara greeted her respectfully.

Tsunade had also returned to Konoha by now.

Konoha had reached a critical point of life and death, so naturally Tsunade could not simply stand by and watch.

On the eve of the Third Shinobi World War, she had even treated Namikaze Minato after he collapsed at Training Ground 3.

It was not as though she had remained outside the village and never returned after Dan Katō's death.

This had been recorded in the official manga Minato Gaiden.

"I bought these because I want to make my family's secret medicine."

Kiyohara said.

He did not make excuses about a family member or friend being ill.

Those lies would not fool Tsunade. It was better to give a normal explanation.

Among ninja, people would not pry too deeply into each other's affairs.

Sure enough, Tsunade did not continue questioning him.

Instead, she curiously asked about something else.

"Brat, I just saw you taking out a loan over there. How did you manage to get one?"

There was a hint of urgency in Tsunade's tone.

She had lost some more money and desperately needed capital for a comeback.