Cross of Courage

"This is a high-purity Chakra Crystal. It only reacts to specific types of Chakra and can restrain the power of Jinchūriki. It's worth around three million." Shen Mo ultimately told her the truth.

"That's all?" Tsunade pressed.

"That's all!" Shen Mo answered with certainty.

There was no so-called Curse on this necklace at all.

As for Nawaki and Dan Katō...

In the Hokage world, whose family hadn't lost a few people? The necklace wasn't at fault. The world was.

Tsunade stared at Shen Mo, the space between her brows already twisted into a knot.

There it was, Tsunade's signature irritated expression.

It really was more lifelike than the most realistic cosplay Shen Mo had ever seen. The key was her temperament.

"Miss Tsunade." Shen Mo called her by name for the first time and looked at her with utter seriousness. "You must understand that I am not an ordinary merchant, nor do I sell ordinary goods. Something like this is not enough to make me misjudge it."

"A mysterious fellow."

Tsunade gripped the necklace tightly in her hand, unable to describe how she felt.

This necklace had been her grandfather's heirloom.

She had never believed it carried a Curse.

But after receiving a certain confirmation...

The dark clouds hanging over her heart had not eased at all. Instead, they had grown even heavier.

"Opening cans! Opening cans!" she shouted as if venting her frustration. She gulped down every last drop in the bottle, her face flushing crimson from the alcohol, then casually tossed the empty bottle aside. "Shizune, go get more wine."

Shizune opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

She stood, gave Shen Mo a slight bow, and turned to leave. She returned shortly afterward.

Shen Mo looked at Tsunade and understood perfectly well.

He should make a big profit tonight.

Some people liked opening boxes when they were in a bad mood, as if good luck could ease their feelings. Of course, if they were cursed with terrible luck, they would only become more annoyed.

Since that was the case...

He should prepare some good things.

Shen Mo took out another scroll and put away the pile of items from earlier.

"Don't just sit there like an idiot. Come drink with me." Tsunade smashed another Jar with a slap and cast Shen Mo a bleary glance. "A businessman should drink with his customers."

Shen Mo immediately felt helpless.

He had too many secrets.

He couldn't afford to get drunk so casually.

Still, he did not refuse.

"Then I'll gladly accept."

He raised his hand and downed the small cup of wine Shizune offered him in one gulp.

He spent some Trading Points to buy a Sobering Pill and swallowed it first. No matter how much he drank, he would not get drunk.

"Good!"

Tsunade smashed another Jar with a slap, excitedly identifying the treasure inside.

Shen Mo watched her.

A woman like this...

Why was she so popular among Hokage fans?

She was an old woman in her fifties, extreme in personality, willful, addicted to gambling, reckless with money, and a violent woman who loved punching people at the slightest provocation...

Still, her weakness and strength, gentleness and roughness, really did create a nice contrast.

Wait—

Shen Mo's gaze suddenly drifted somewhere.

Then realization dawned on him.

So that was it. Her greatest charm really was her enormous chest.

"Kid, what's this?" Tsunade hooked an arm around Shen Mo's shoulders and leaned close, swaying the bottle in her hand as the smell of alcohol clung to her.

"Uh..." Shen Mo's expression became slightly unnatural, but he quickly recovered. "Body Tempering Fluid. Use it while bathing. If you keep at it for a long time, even an ordinary person can gain physical fitness comparable to a ninja's. It's practically a treasure for taijutsu ninja."

This old woman's body was unexpectedly soft.

This wasn't some cultivation world where everyone was hundreds of years old.

That was practically cheating!

"Whoa! Good stuff. Shizune, this is for you." Tsunade happily tossed it to Shizune.

Among these Jars, Shen Mo had selected items that would be useful to ninja.

They were all cheap goods worth around six hundred Trading Points.

But some came from magical worlds, some from cultivation worlds, and even the most valuable item among them—the Red Potion from the Overlord World, which could efficiently restore a certain degree of injury—cost only six hundred and eighty-eight.

After the spoils were used up, he had even forcibly squeezed knowledge worth more than eight million in total from Tsunade—three hundred thousand Trading Points.

By the time night fell...

The floor was covered in shattered Pottery Jars, various potions, and medicinal herbs.

Tsunade looked extremely satisfied. She still had her final five hundred thousand left.

"Another set!"

"Miss Tsunade." Shen Mo blinked. "Congratulations. You have purchased more than twenty sets of Level 1 Chests in total, and you now qualify to purchase Level 2 Chests."

"Level 2 Chests?" Tsunade froze.

"That's right." Shen Mo took out another scroll. "Each Jar is worth five hundred thousand. The previous items may have been relatively rare, but they were only minor trinkets. True treasures can only be found in higher-level Jars."

"Minor trinkets?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed slightly. Her mind, which had nearly been completely drunk, unexpectedly regained some clarity.

The potions and medicinal herbs before her...

Even she could not make them.

If they were taken outside, they could easily shock every major Ninja Village. They might even start a war just to obtain the methods for making them.

Yet they were only minor trinkets?

"Then give me one." Tsunade was clearly intrigued.

Shen Mo unfurled the scroll, and a Jar more than twice as large as the previous ones appeared.

Smash.

As usual, Tsunade shattered it with one slap.

Inside was a cross-shaped necklace.

It was worth six thousand Trading Points!

"Congratulations!" Shen Mo raised his voice, wearing a congratulatory smile. "I didn't expect a special piece of equipment to appear from the very first Level 2 Chest—the Cross of Courage!"

"Cross of Courage?" Tsunade picked up the necklace and studied it for a long while before finally giving up. "Just tell me what it does."

"As its name suggests, it can increase the wearer's courage." Shen Mo explained. "As long as it is worn, fear will fade to a certain degree, and a person will have greater courage to face misfortune. Items that grant this kind of mental enhancement are quite rare. It's worth roughly seven hundred thousand."

It was an item from a game-like world.

It had the special effect of Courage +2.

That was right.

This was something even more valuable to Tsunade.

Hemophobia!

After consecutively losing important people in her life, Tsunade had developed hemophobia. The moment she saw blood, she would be overcome by uncontrollable fear. For one of the Sannin who had once earned a fearsome reputation on the battlefield, it could only be called ironic.

After hearing Shen Mo's introduction, Tsunade stared blankly at the necklace, her expression complicated.

Courage?

Slowly, she put the necklace around her neck.

It gently bumped against that ominous necklace.