Exploitation

"Grrr, grrr, grrr!" A thunderous rumble came from Yizhe's stomach.

He had only eaten a bowl of ramen last night, and after the fighting that followed, his stomach was completely empty. He was starving!

"Heh, heh, heh!" Tsunade shook her head and laughed helplessly. "Come on, let's get some breakfast first."

Looking at Yizhe's stomach, Shizune covered her mouth, trying hard not to laugh. But her crescent-shaped eyes had already given her away.

The three left the inn, found a random restaurant by the roadside, and went inside.

Each of them had their own thoughts, and before long, they had finished eating.

"Boss, the bill!" Tsunade called loudly.

But when Yizhe caught the teasing look in her eyes, he had a bad feeling.

"Sir, the total for the three of you is three hundred yuan," the waiter said with a smile.

"Mm." Tsunade lounged back in her chair, lazily pointed at Yizhe, and said casually, "Give the bill to that kid."

Yizhe was dumbfounded. He shot to his feet and protested, "Why me?"

He had been staring at Tsunade's seductive sitting posture, his mind wandering as he secretly admired those rolling waves. Then this sudden bill had smashed him right out of his fantasies.

"Why?" Tsunade sprang to her feet as well, planted one foot dominantly on the table, bent over, and berated him with a look of utter disappointment. "If you don't try to please me and make me happy now, why would I take you as my disciple?"

With those surging waves right in front of him, Yizhe reluctantly dragged his gaze away and refused to back down. "But you haven't even accepted me as your disciple yet!"

"If you want to become my disciple, you start by showing respect to your master!" Tsunade declared arrogantly, widening her eyes.

Yizhe was completely speechless. It was his first time seeing someone demand benefits so forcefully while sounding so utterly justified.

Shizune, meanwhile, was laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath.

But on second thought, he realized that Tsunade had not completely rejected his request to become her disciple. Perhaps the timing was not right yet, or perhaps Tsunade still wanted to test him.

No matter what, the door to becoming Tsunade's disciple had not been completely closed.

After thinking it over, he decided to go along with Tsunade and settle the bill.

"Only three hundred yuan?" Yizhe looked suspiciously at the waiter.

It was not that he was overly suspicious. He had stayed at a shady inn before, and it had scared him badly. Three hundred yuan was far too different from the ten thousand yuan he had paid last time.

"Yes, only three hundred yuan!" the waiter replied with the same smile.

Under Tsunade's close watch, Yizhe pulled out a stack of bills from his pocket, reluctantly picked out three, and handed them to the waiter. "Here, take it!"

"Please come again!" The waiter maintained his professional smile as he turned and left.

"Let's go." Yizhe beckoned to Shizune and Tsunade, ready to leave.

But neither of them moved, as though they had taken root. It was clear they had no intention of leaving.

When he turned around, he saw Shizune constantly winking at him and glancing toward Tsunade.

"Beautiful lady, what else do you want?" Yizhe asked Tsunade helplessly.

Tsunade lazily held out one hand and said casually, "Hand it over."

"Hand over what?" Yizhe was a little bewildered.

"Money! Money! Take out however much you have and give it all to me!" Looking completely serious, she slowly walked toward him, intending to search him.

"What the hell!" he cried, hurriedly dodging away.

"You don't understand?"

"You think treating me to breakfast is enough? Take out all the money on you and give it to me!" Tsunade spoke like a bandit, as though she had him completely cornered.

Seeing her shameless behavior, Yizhe understood that there was no way he could get through today without bleeding money!

He shook his head, gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and pulled another stack of bills from his pocket before handing it over.

"One, two, three..." Tsunade took the money and counted it carefully.

Shizune covered her mouth and chuckled as she quietly watched.

Yizhe turned his head away, not daring to look. That was the hard-earned money he had risked his life for! And now it had fallen into this woman's clutches. He truly regretted it!

How had he ended up wanting to take such a woman as his master?

Lust is a blade hanging over one's head. The ancients truly did not deceive us, Yizhe sighed inwardly.

"Why is there only eight thousand?" Tsunade counted it once and did not seem very satisfied.

"That's all I have!" Yizhe swore solemnly.

"Really?" Tsunade looked suspicious and threatened, "If I search you later and find more, then you can forget about becoming my disciple."

At that, Yizhe shot her a vicious glare, then pulled another, slightly smaller stack of bills from his pocket and said helplessly, "This is all that's left!"

"That's more like it!" Tsunade snatched the money and began counting again.

"Together with the earlier amount, it comes to around thirteen thousand. Is there any more?" Tsunade continued asking.

"No!"

"Really no more?" She did not believe him. This kid had always been so crafty that it made her suspicious.

"No!" Yizhe said firmly, wearing the expression of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.

Shizune burst out laughing.

"Mm! Fine, then let me search you!" With that, Tsunade made as if to search him.

Yizhe hurriedly used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge aside. He stared at Tsunade in astonishment and retorted, "You actually don't trust me!"

"Fine, you dare dodge me! You must still be hiding something!" Tsunade angrily rolled up her sleeves, pointed at him, and began cursing him out.

"Is there not even this much trust left between people? You actually want to search me!" Yizhe shouted.

"I'm telling you, if you don't hand over every last bit of money today, then forget about becoming my disciple in the future!" Tsunade roared.

"What do you need so much money for? I need to keep some living expenses for myself, don't I?" Hearing Tsunade use discipleship to threaten him, Yizhe could not help but soften a little.

"You won't need living expenses anymore. Hand all your money over to me for safekeeping! Just like Shizune, turn in all your money and let me handle the spending. When I'm in a good mood one day, you can officially become my disciple!" After saying that, she pointedly glanced at Shizune.

Shizune smiled and nodded at Yizhe.

"Fine!" Seeing Tsunade's determination not to stop until she got what she wanted, Yizhe helplessly pulled out the last few bills on him.

"That's more like it!"

Tsunade accepted the money from Yizhe with a beaming smile and stuffed it directly into her clothes. This time, she did not count it again.

But what left Yizhe dumbfounded was Tsunade's bold style of dress. One glance was enough to see straight down her front, so where exactly had she put the money?

Other than that green outer coat, it seemed she was only wearing one garment underneath!

"From now on, you'll go out with Shizune to make house calls. Earn money every day and show your respect to me, got it?" Tsunade patted his shoulder and instructed loudly.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Yizhe replied weakly.

He had been exploited clean by the female thug before him. Life no longer held any meaning.

"We can leave now, right?" Looking utterly deflated, he took the lead and headed outside.

"Lady Tsunade, do you really plan to take him as your disciple?" Shizune asked seriously from behind.

"Let's wait and see!" Tsunade's smile faded as she whispered, "You know medical ninjutsu isn't that simple! Teach him some basic things first and test him. See whether he has the talent!"

"Besides, I've only met this brat once, and I don't know him well. We still need to observe him for a while."