The Difficult Problem

Unexpectedly, Yuna's home was at the very end of the street where Ruri lived. This residential area had originally been a ruin, and he had personally constructed the houses using the Four-Pillar House Technique.

Yuna pushed open the door and walked straight into the room. Ruri, who had intended to leave after dropping her off, had no choice but to stop in his tracks when he saw Masashige following her inside.

"Mother, I'm home! I'm sorry to have worried you, but I still didn't pass the Ninja Academy exam..." Yuna's voice was thick with tears; she truly longed to enter the Ninja Academy.

"Cough, cough... It's enough that you're back. As long as you are doing well, Mother is fine." The woman lying on the bed looked haggard, appearing to be quite ill.

"Aunt Nadeshiko, are you not feeling any better today?" Masashige spoke up from the side.

"Oh, Masashige is here too. Thank you for your concern." Nadeshiko didn't mention her illness; with her daughter right there, she didn't want to cause her any worry.

"Aunt Nadeshiko, I passed the exam! I brought my teacher with me; he should be able to help!" Masashige tugged on Ruri's robe, leading him before Nadeshiko.

"Auntie is fine..." Nadeshiko coughed a few more times, then looked up slightly to see the Takikage Hat atop Ruri's head, exclaiming in shock: "I am so sorry, is this Lord Takikage?!"

Ruri gestured for Nadeshiko, who was attempting to rise and pay her respects, to remain still. At a rough glance, her illness appeared to be tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis was notoriously difficult to cure, especially with medical ninjutsu not yet on the right track; it was unlikely to be healed by the medical arts of this world alone.

After leaving Yuna's home with Masashige, Ruri delved deeper into the matter. Yuna's father had been an ordinary chunin who died protecting the village during the previous coup by Kubi Ichiro. It was from that point on that Nadeshiko had contracted tuberculosis.

The reason Yuna was desperate to enter the Ninja Academy was to improve their living conditions. Ruri provided a generous pension to the families of fallen ninjas, but it had been nearly exhausted to pay for Nadeshiko's treatment. If not for the fact that their house had been personally allocated by the Takikage, they might have even been forced to sell it.

Ruri fell into deep thought. The death pension he provided was enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for twenty years; even with medical expenses, it shouldn't have been depleted so quickly!

"Lord Kakuzu has been recruiting many doctors, and the medicinal herbs used for research are quite extensive. The Ninja Academy has also stockpiled a large amount of supplies, which has caused medical costs in the village to soar and the price of herbs to skyrocket..." Masashige looked at Ruri earnestly with wide eyes. He had investigated all of this in secret, and he felt a bit nervous, unsure if his teacher would blame him for meddling.

Ruri was stunned. This was a point he hadn't considered. Because the village consisted mostly of ninjas and young, healthy migrants, there were few sick people, leading to low demand for doctors and herbs. Consequently, even though he had gathered many doctors to treat Kakuzu, he had neglected civilian healthcare, and since there was no demand, no one had reported these issues.

They say Itachi could think like a Hokage at seven; Masashige was no less impressive! He was truly worthy of being the Hanzo who would later lead Amegakure and maneuver between the three great nations!

It seemed Masashige had brought him to Yuna's house to see Nadeshiko on purpose. Otherwise, seeing is believing, and hearing is hearsay—how else would Ruri, as the Takikage, have believed the words of a mere six-year-old? Even for a disciple, it would have been unlikely.

"I will specially approve a fund for medical subsidies. Furthermore, if Yuna is willing, I can have her study under the village doctors. Not having the talent for a ninja doesn't mean she cannot achieve something in other fields." Ruri was no bleeding heart, but the coup had only just passed; to let the wives and daughters of those who sacrificed for the village struggle for survival was truly disheartening. Moreover, this matter was indeed a result of his own oversight while preoccupied with Kakuzu's condition, so a medical subsidy was only right.

As for the fact that Nadeshiko's illness might be incurable, Ruri kept that to himself. Life, aging, sickness, and death were unavoidable; all he could do was find Yuna a job that would ensure her survival in the future, providing her with some peace of mind once Nadeshiko's condition could no longer be sustained.

The Ninja Academy enrollment ended quickly. Both Masashige and Akito passed the second round of exams. A total of forty-six children passed the second round, sixteen of whom came from civilian families with no ninja foundation. Even with Ruri's deliberate bias toward civilian children, this ratio was still somewhat meager.

However, once the next enrollment cycle began, everything would surely change. Those civilian children, knowing they had the potential to become ninjas, would undoubtedly work twice as hard.

With the Ninja Academy nearing completion, Ruri launched his steelmaking and wine-making projects. Steel was a strategic resource, while wine could be sold daily or used as a standard commodity for trade with the major nations.

Ruri handed the wine-brewing method directly to the owner of the local tavern. The owner's son, Shuto, was a creative Water-style chunin who might be able to help from the sidelines, so there was no need to worry too much.

However, the steelmaking side hit a snag.

Ruri had built a wooden hut by the stream, and Hagane Masamasa had not stepped out of it for five days.

The Hagane Clan could forge ordinary steel at will, and could even create it out of thin air using chakra through their bloodline limit. But the steel produced from the Steelmaking Encyclopedia that Ruri had provided was not ordinary steel.

According to Hagane Masamasa's assessment, the steel being produced was the "Thousand-Refined Steel" passed down in their clan since ancient times. It not only had a lower carbon content and better, harder texture, but it also possessed chakra-conductive properties.

Upon hearing about the chakra-conductive properties, Ruri couldn't help but get excited. He knew how rare chakra metal was; if Takigakure could mass-produce it, it would undoubtedly boost their overall national strength! The mission rewards were looking promising!

However, Hagane Masamasa poured a bucket of cold water on him.

Not only did the clan's ancient teachings confirm it, but the Steelmaking Encyclopedia also detailed that producing Thousand-Refined Steel required a massive amount of iron. According to Hagane Masamasa's estimate, a thousand catties of iron might only yield enough Thousand-Refined Steel to forge a single blade, and that was without accounting for the possibility of forging failures. Takigakure's iron reserves were a mere drop in the bucket, and the Land of Waterfalls was not a mineral-rich nation, making it difficult to supply.

Helpless, Ruri had to hand over all the iron to Hagane Masamasa, telling him to practice with other techniques first. Even if they couldn't produce Thousand-Refined Steel, producing Hundred-Refined Steel, Ten-Refined Steel, or Folded Steel would still strengthen the combat power of the Takigakure Ninjas. As for the iron ore issue, Ruri would have to find another way.

Days passed, and the Ninja Academy was finally completed. The new students would be able to enroll in a month, and Mu intended to leave with his delegation (the construction team). To be honest, Ruri was a bit reluctant to see them go. Takigakure didn't have many Earth-style ninjas, and construction workers were even scarcer. He still had a vast number of public welfare facilities that he hadn't yet put into action...

Even with the temptation of Sukiya Sushi, Mu firmly rejected Ruri's request for him to stay. He had already written to Ishikawa about the design of the Ninja Academy, and the Iwagakure Ninja Academy was being completed at the same time as the Takigakure one. Since Ishikawa had given Mu full responsibility for the academy, he had to return to his village immediately to recruit new students.

However, just before Mu left Takigakure, Ruri received some incredible news. It took a lot of convincing, but Mu finally agreed to stay for one more day.