Nawaki, Are You Here to Disgust Us?

After training for the day, Shin rubbed his stomach, feeling a bit hungry.

"Let's call it a day. I'm getting hungry."

Shin said to the women sitting on the ground.

"It's no wonder you're so strong," Tsunade remarked, looking at Shin with exhaustion.

They were exhausted—truly, utterly drained. They had tried to keep up with Shin's high-intensity training for half a day and had already hit their limits, while Shin looked as fresh as if he had barely broken a sweat.

"Don't compare yourselves to me; I have an advantage," Shin said.

The recovery rate of the Perfect Sage Body was unimaginably strong. As long as the training wasn't excessively intense, Shin never felt fatigue; he was practically a perpetual motion machine.

Just as they were preparing to head back, they spotted a figure approaching from a distance.

"Nawaki is here."

Though the distance was great, Shin's eyesight was sharp enough to recognize him instantly.

"Shin, Sister, you really are here!"

Nawaki's face was beaming, as if he had just struck gold.

"Nawaki, looking at how happy you are, did you find money on the ground?" Shin asked.

"Not found, but I earned it—and quite a bit, too! So, I've decided to treat you all to a meal today."

As Nawaki walked closer, he spoke with delight. Judging by his expression, he really had made a tidy sum.

However, as Nawaki approached, Tsunade, Kushina, and Mikoto all stepped back to put some distance between them, and even Shin instinctively took a step back.

"Nawaki, why do you smell so bad?" Tsunade asked.

"Do I?" Nawaki sniffed himself carefully, but he couldn't smell anything.

It wasn't that Nawaki's sense of smell had failed; he had simply grown accustomed to it. He had been surrounded by that stench all day, and his nose had gone numb to it.

"Hey, Nawaki, did you fall into a latrine?" Kushina asked suspiciously, continuing to back away.

"No way! I just spent the afternoon shoveling manure."

As soon as Nawaki finished his sentence, the three women walked far away, and even Shin dodged him. It was just that visceral.

"Nawaki, are you out of your mind? Why would you go shovel manure?" Shin couldn't help but ask.

"I didn't want to, but Orochimaru-sensei accepted a mission to clean up a ranch. Mostly, it was clearing out the manure. There was no helping it."

Nawaki said with a bitter face. To ensure his first mission wasn't a failure, he had done the job. The reward was indeed generous—even though it was a D-rank mission, the pay was comparable to a C-rank.

Shin looked at Nawaki with sympathy. He hadn't expected Orochimaru to take on such a top-tier "special" mission.

"Since I made money, I wanted to celebrate with you all. I'm treating you to barbecue today!" Nawaki said with a grand air.

Tsunade's expression turned incredibly ugly.

"Nawaki, before you came over, didn't you know to take a bath and change your clothes? I don't think you're here to treat us to dinner; I think you're here to gross us out."

Nawaki was full of question marks. He had come with good intentions to treat them to barbecue—something he had agonized over for a long time before deciding—so why were they treating him like this?

However, the stench wafting off Nawaki was so potent that no one had an appetite anymore. Even Shin, who had been hungry, suddenly felt his stomach turn.

"Shin, why are they looking at me like that?"

Nawaki didn't understand why Tsunade and the others were glaring at him with murderous intent.

Shin shook his head and said, "Let's do it next time. We'll pass for today."

Shin rejected him outright. Nawaki felt a mix of disappointment and relief—disappointment that they hadn't agreed, but relief that he got to keep his money.

Nawaki left, ruthlessly chased away by Tsunade. As he walked off, his eyes were filled with gloom.

"I can't believe Orochimaru isn't disgusted by this. He's the only one who would ever accept a mission like that," Tsunade muttered.

"So, are we still eating dinner? Because I've completely lost my appetite," Kushina said.

"Eat? Of course we're eating. If we don't eat, we'll starve."

Shin didn't feel like he was so disgusted that he couldn't stomach a meal.

By comparison, Shin still felt that filling his stomach was the most important thing. Otherwise, how would he have the strength to train? Even with a Perfect Sage Body, one still needed to eat.

In the end, Shin was the only one who ate dinner that night; Kushina and the others all insisted they were skipping it.

"Mikoto, now that you're living here, won't the Uchiha clan have anything to say about it?" Shin suddenly asked.

Mikoto shook her head.

"In the Uchiha Clan, I'm just a background character, so no one should say anything."

Although Mikoto is beautiful, beauty doesn't put food on the table in the world of ninjas, so the quiet-natured Mikoto isn't particularly famous within the Uchiha Clan.

"Rest assured, as a disciple of Tsunade, no one would dare gossip about you," Tsunade said domineeringly.

Shin suddenly curled his lip; the way you say that makes it sound like you're actually impressive.

"Hey, brat Shin, are you looking down on me?"

Tsunade caught Shin's secret lip-curling expression immediately, and she stood up at once, glaring at him.

"Heh, you actually saw that wrong. I clearly think you're very impressive," Shin replied perfunctorily.

"Impressive my foot. Shin, you're much stronger than her," Kushina spoke up.

Shin glanced at Kushina. Kushina, are you intentionally trying to stir up trouble for me?

"Kushina, do you want to taste my fist?" Tsunade clenched her fist, looking at Kushina dangerously.

"What are you trying to do?"

Kushina hid behind Shin vigilantly, watching Tsunade.

"If you've got the guts, come over here and see if I can't make you cry into your blanket with a single punch," Tsunade said to Kushina while cracking her knuckles.

"Threatening me? Do you think you're such a big deal? Give me three years, and I will definitely surpass you," Kushina said indignantly.

Wuyou's mouth twitched. Kushina, are you trying to make a three-year pact with Tsunade? Do you want to add that 'thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river' line too?

But even in three years, it would be impossible for Kushina to be a match for Tsunade.

Unless Kushina became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and could perfectly borrow the power of the Nine-Tails, it would be impossible to defeat Tsunade within three years.

However, it is already impossible for Kushina to become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki now; the candidate for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has already been chosen, and that is Uzumaki Akiko.

Moreover, even if she did become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, controlling the power of the Nine-Tails would be impossible. Why would the Nine-Tails ever lend you its power? It would be lucky if it didn't cause you trouble.

"Heh, alright then. I'd love to see how you plan to surpass me in three years, but that doesn't stop me from making you cry right now."

Tsunade clearly hadn't given up on the idea of giving Kushina a beating, and she walked toward her with a strange, eerie smile on her face.

"Shin, help me!"

Seeing the strange smile on Tsunade's face, Kushina felt afraid and quickly huddled closer to Shin.

"That brat Shin can't help you. Today, I'm going to properly teach you a lesson, you little girl."

As she spoke, Tsunade reached out to grab Kushina.

"Alright, Tsunade, why are you bullying Kushina? Her strength is still weak; there's no sense of accomplishment in bullying her, is there?" Shin said, blocking Tsunade.

"Hmph, I knew you would protect her." Tsunade snorted softly, giving Shin some face and letting Kushina off the hook.

Kushina lightly bit Shin's arm. What does he mean by "her strength is still weak" and "no sense of accomplishment in bullying her"? Listen to that—is that even something a human would say?