Shinobi wages must never be delayed. That was a rule acknowledged by every village. "Alright, fine. You go back. I’ll sleep a bit longer." Hikari waved his hand, signaling Tsunade to leave. Then he lifted the blanket, lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep. ’So straightforward? Shouldn’t this guy be making some demands?’ With that question lingering in her mind, Tsunade said, "Well, if you’re fine, then I’ll head back first!" "Mm, go ahead. Just remember to have my shinobi registration removed. Since you don’t trust me anyway, there’s no need to keep me around as an eyesore, right?" ’What? This guy wants to cancel his shinobi status?’ Hearing this, Tsunade could no longer sit still. This was no joking matter. Normally, shinobi served for life. Of course, there were exceptions where a shinobi might cancel their own status, but from the founding of Konoha to now, such cases were extremely rare. "Um, why? How about you think it over again?" Tsunade asked with a forced smile. Others might not know, but how could she not? Hikari was her trump card. Forget Wood Release—just his mysterious Sage Mode alone was something Tsunade herself had never been able to achieve. Yet with Hikari’s Sage Mark, she’d managed to cross that threshold, suppress the Raikage and the Tsuchikage, and secure a glorious victory for Konoha. Now that she no longer had Hikari’s Sage Mark, defeating the combined might of the Raikage and Tsuchikage again in the near future was nearly impossible. "No particular reason. The Hokage barges into his subordinate’s home and frames them with false charges. How’s that for justification?" Hikari said lifelessly, then closed his eyes again. He was ready to take a nap. And a good nap was the greatest respect one could pay to life. What sleep was the sweetest? A nap after waking up! Besides, without shinobi duties, all he needed to do was write novels, occasionally meet fans deeply devoted to him, and if one happened to be especially enthusiastic... well, he wouldn’t turn them down. He’d do his best to satisfy them. After all, he was the idol of countless girls, and the number of beauties who craved his body was far from small. "I can explain this!" Tsunade felt that if she didn’t clear things up today, she’d definitely regret it for the rest of her life. "Forget it. I’m tired. I don’t want to hear your explanation. Let’s leave it at that." "To work tirelessly for Konoha one’s whole life, only to meet such an end... how tragic." Hikari sighed at how fleeting time was and how quickly people’s hearts grew cold. He didn’t notice that Tsunade was on the verge of snapping. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥 Look at him—he wasn’t even thirty yet. Compare that to those shinobi in their fifties and sixties who were still genin yet continued to contribute to Konoha’s development. And then think about Kamizuki Hikari... Well, fine; she couldn’t afford to provoke this guy. If it were any other shinobi—genin, chūnin, even jōnin—wanting to retire, Tsunade wouldn’t have cared much. But Hikari was different. He carried too many secrets. If they let him go, and if he defected to another village, what would Konoha do then? Sure, his older brother, Kamizuki Izumo, was still around in Konoha, but that wasn’t a guarantee. Shinobi weren’t ordinary people. There were countless cases of shinobi killing their own kin to grow stronger. Tsunade didn’t dare gamble on Hikari’s state of mind. What if he suddenly lost it, killed Izumo, and somehow awakened a Sharingan from it? "Fine. The truth is, I just have creditors after me, so I wanted to borrow some money from you." At least this was more honest than her previous excuse. Thinking this, Hikari sat up lazily and leaned against the headboard. "Borrowing money, huh. Not a big problem." "Really? I knew you were the most reliable, Hikari!" Hearing such magnanimous words, Tsunade wished she had five thousand words ready to flatter him. Too bad she didn’t. "Yes," Hikari said lazily, "the important part is—I don’t have money." After a long pause, she finally processed it. "What the hell, you’re messing with me!" "I’m not." Hikari spread his hands, looking ready for her to search him. "If I had money on me, wouldn’t you have found it already when you searched earlier?" That... almost made sense. Almost. But who would believe him? Just think of Jiraiya’s secret savings, and then remember that Hikari, too, was a bestselling author rivaling him. There was no way his savings were small. "Hikari, I really need this money. If you don’t believe me, how about I give you an IOU? How about that?" Tsunade said, still confident her reputation was worth something. Little did she know, in Hikari’s heart, as long as the topic wasn’t money, she was fine. But the moment ’money’ came up, Tsunade became ’The Legendary Sucker’—the kind of person who borrowed money and never paid it back. Think about it—had she been wandering the shinobi world all these years because she hated settling down? No. It was because she had too many creditors chasing her. She had no choice. With her kind of gambling luck, even if the Goddess of Fate handed her an olive branch, she’d snap it and toss it back. "How about this: tell me the real reason, and I’ll consider lending you money. If it’s for gambling, though, I’m powerless!" Hikari believed that among the three shinobi prohibitions—gambling, drugs, and women—gambling was the worst of the three evils. Why? Because it was a bottomless pit. Once greed took hold, you’d eventually sink in and never escape. As for lust—well, you needed a strong body to indulge in that. Youth had its vigor, but once men matured, they let go of many things—not because they wanted to, but because their bodies wouldn’t allow it. As for drugs—poisons and the like—at worst, they killed you. In the shinobi world, even death wasn’t always permanent. Some mysterious dream-maker might resurrect you someday. After all, in this world, anything was possible. "I’m really not going to gamble. I swear on my honor!" Tsunade said with a serious expression, uttering what she considered the most solemn oath. The moment these words were spoken, Hikari immediately looked Tsunade up and down. [My god, how thick-skinned do you need to be to say that? With everything you’ve done, you still dare to talk about honor? That honor disappeared ages ago—back when you first stepped into a casino, when you used Transformation Jutsu to dodge creditors, and when you even sold Tonton. It’s long gone.] Hearing this inner monologue, Tsunade was furious. Who? Who told Hikari about all that? As the saying goes, doing bad things isn’t scary. What’s scary is when someone knows all your dirt—that’s unbearable. "Am I really that untrustworthy in your eyes?" [Oh? Since when did this woman gain such self-awareness? Did she have a sudden epiphany?] "You bastard! Go to hell!" Unable to hold back anymore, Tsunade lunged at Hikari. In her rage, she decided to teach him with her fists what righteous judgment meant. But just as her fist stopped a mere hair’s breadth from his face, Hikari spoke: "I’ll lend it to you." Her fist stopped, then pulled back. Tsunade forced a composed smile, gently tucking the blanket around Hikari. "See? Isn’t this better? Saves me from being the bad guy. Now, where’s your bankbook? If you don’t want me to use force, just hand it over. You know, I’m not like other women—when I lose my temper, even I’m afraid of myself. So, please cooperate nicely, okay?" Read 40+ advanced Chapters on my P@treon. [email protected]/KakuzuTL