"Haha, Anshi, you're back!"
Caught red-handed by Li Anshi, Tsunade was a bit embarrassed.
"What are you doing?"
Li Anshi first stacked the softwood he was carrying in a corner of the shop before coming over to Tsunade, glancing at the money in her hand with a smile as he asked.
"This..."
"Um, right!"
"I'm here to collect the rent."
As expected of Tsunade, perhaps?
Her quick wit was second to none.
Once she had her excuse, the panic on Tsunade's face vanished, replaced by an expression of complete entitlement.
Sneaking Li Anshi's money, Tsunade would feel a sense of shame.
But collecting rent from him, Tsunade was filled with righteous indignation.
"Heh, collecting rent?"
"Lady Tsunade, are you aware of how far in advance the rent for this shop has already been paid?"
"Huh?"
Tsunade looked bewildered; that was a question she had never considered.
What she seemed to remember was trading the data on her great-granduncle's Flying Thunder God Technique three years ago, which had covered over sixty years of rent.
As for how much money she had taken from him over the past three years, and how much rent that would cover, she had never calculated it.
Neither she nor Li Anshi had ever paid much attention to the matter.
Finally, Tsunade coughed a few times, glanced around, and seeing no other customers in the shop, she leaned her head in close to Li Anshi and whispered, "So, how far in advance is it paid now?"
Li Anshi rolled his eyes at her.
He knew it. The woman was a bottomless pit!
However, Li Anshi could also understand.
After the events involving the First and Second Hokage, Tsunade had come to treat her "gambling luck" as a kind of omen.
If she lost every bet at the casino, then the people she cared about would be safe, or rather, the "bad luck" she perceived would stay away from her.
But if she ever started winning every bet, then for Tsunade, it meant a greater misfortune was about to befall her.
Li Anshi had traveled to the Land of Whirlpools at his fastest speed in a straight line; even Konoha's intelligence network had not been able to fully track his whereabouts.
Under these circumstances, the only way Tsunade could be sure of his condition was through her own "gambling luck."
Losing all the shop's earnings every day meant that he was safe and sound.
After Li Anshi's safe return to Konoha, she no longer needed to use this method to confirm his status.
However, Tsunade had overestimated her resistance to gambling.
When he was away, she could restrain herself, her focus being on winning or losing.
After he returned, her worries for him vanished, and she threw herself wholeheartedly into enjoying the atmosphere of gambling...
And so, it had ultimately led to a situation where Li Anshi didn't even have the money to post a mission.
After the Senju clan integrated into Konoha, the vast majority of their massive family assets had naturally been absorbed into the village as well.
One whale falls, and ten thousand things thrive!
At least thirty percent of the prosperity of Konoha's villagers could be attributed to the Senju clan's contribution.
What was left for Tsunade and her brother were just a few residences and some storefronts, so that they wouldn't have to live solely on mission rewards like other smaller clans.
When Tsunade was young, Mito Uzumaki would entrust the income from these shops to her for safekeeping.
But after her hobby was exposed, aside from her basic living expenses, Tsunade's gambling funds were cut off.
It was around that time that Li Anshi had entered her sights, becoming her backup gambling fund.
And it was then that the connection between the two had begun.
"I give up on you."
"If you count what's in your hand, we're paid up for the next twenty years."
Thanks to the fame of Konoha's White Fang and Little Li's Flying Dagger, business at the shop had been good, with an average daily income of about eight thousand Ryo.
Because Li Anshi had been young when he started, the Senju clan had rented the storefront to him at an extremely low price. Otherwise, he would never have been able to afford the high rent back then.
Over all these years, the rent had never been raised.
"Good, then I'm collecting the rent for the twenty-first year now!"
"Fine, fine, this is the rent for the twenty-first year."
Seeing her like this, what else could Li Anshi do?
He had brought this upon himself, so he had to indulge her!
"But, Tsunade..."
"At the very least, you have to leave me the money to post the collection mission, right?"
"Otherwise, if I don't have softwood, I can't carve, and I won't have any income. This shop will have to close sooner or later."
"Lady Tsunade, you don't want to be without a source of rent in the future, do you..."
"This..."
Tsunade looked troubled.
Even if it was just five hundred Ryo, if she placed smaller bets, she could gamble a few more times.
However, she knew what Li Anshi said was reasonable.
If his shop closed, where else would she find such a steady stream of gambling funds?
Suddenly, Tsunade's eyes lit up.
She saw the pile of softwood Li Anshi had stacked in the corner.
Li Anshi's expression changed.
After all these years, he knew her like the back of his hand.
The moment her expression shifted, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Instantly, Li Anshi used his Body Flicker Technique, appearing directly in front of her.
"Tsunade, don't even think about it!"
"I am a woodcarving shop owner. If I also have to go out and collect my own carving materials, I might as well just be a ninja, do a few missions, and achieve financial freedom directly."
"Haha, haha, Anshi, how could you think of me like that?"
"No matter what, I wouldn't use your mission rewards to gamble."
Tsunade's gaze darted away, and she turned her face to the side.
Indeed, for Tsunade, she could use the money Li Anshi earned from his carvings without any guilt.
However, if it was money earned from missions, in her eyes, that was money earned by risking his life.
Although Li Anshi's strength was nearly invincible, and there was little to no danger for him in completing missions, she couldn't just assume that there was a one hundred percent guarantee of his safety.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to the casino every day while he was away in the Land of Whirlpools.
However, that was her original way of thinking.
Now that Li Anshi had brought up the issue, her resolve seemed to waver.
If he gave her his mission rewards, could she really resist the temptation of gambling?
No, no!
How could I even think that?
Tsunade shook her head repeatedly.
If he went back to being a ninja, he wouldn't be renting her family's storefront.
At that point, how could she collect rent from him?
A moment of pleasure versus a lifetime of it—Tsunade could still tell the difference.
"You probably don't even believe what you're saying."
Seeing her like this, Li Anshi shook his head.
"Anshi, how could you think of me that way?"
"Then prove it to me."
Challenged by Li Anshi, Tsunade became determined.
She grabbed a handful of bills from the drawer, intending to slam them on the table.
But after a moment's hesitation, she stopped her motion, counted out seven hundred Ryo from the handful, and handed it to him.
"Here!"
Li Anshi gave her a speechless look.
With all her earlier bravado, he had thought she might actually be generous for once.
He had been too naive.
"You don't want it?"
Seeing Tsunade's eyes begin to sparkle and her hand start to withdraw, Li Anshi's patience snapped.
"I'll take it, why wouldn't I?"
With that, he reached out and grabbed the seven hundred Ryo.
Unsurprisingly, he felt a tugging force on his hand.
He suspected that if a little more force wouldn't have torn the money, the pull would have been much stronger.
In fact, if she hadn't counted out the money and handed it to him herself, she might have even used her monstrous strength to snatch it back.
"Lady Tsunade, is this your resolve?"
After several attempts, Li Anshi still couldn't manage to pull the seven hundred Ryo from her grasp.
Narrowing his eyes, he said to her softly,
"Or maybe... I should just go to the Hokage's office and take a mission."
"No, no..."
Tsunade was startled and quickly let go.
It was no joke. If she really let him go and take missions, what would happen to her future gambling funds?
After watching forlornly as Li Anshi tucked the seven hundred Ryo into his pocket, Tsunade finally tore her gaze away from his pocket and began to tidy up the rest of the money in the drawer.
"Ahem, Anshi, I'll just be taking this rent with me for now."
"I'll be back tomorrow to collect the rest."
Without waiting for his reply, Tsunade clutched the money and ran out of the shop.
Watching her retreating back, Li Anshi shook his head.
However, he did not try to stop her.
Although she went to the casino every day, she had never once slacked off on her training.
In this ninja world, the ultimate truth was power.
Only with great power could one protect everything they cared about.
For the weak, just surviving safely in this world was a great luxury.
But as long as you were strong, the beautiful side of the world would manifest itself around you.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was the clearest example.
Before he had grown strong, he had experienced the many hardships of this world.
So after he had grown up, he wanted to change the world into the image he held in his heart.
Faced with his invincible might, the entire ninja world could only comply. Those who defied him had already been buried in the Warring States period.
Li Anshi was the same.
The difference was that Hashirama had fought his way to the top.
Li Anshi, on the other hand, had debuted at the peak.
In this era, no one yet dared to cause him trouble.
If someone's actions were to give him the idea of changing the ninja world, could this world withstand it?
Hashirama's idea of "peace" was to give each village a superweapon that could deter the others, so that when they considered taking action, they would have to think about whether they could bear the losses of war.
Therefore, he had captured the nine Tailed Beasts and distributed them evenly among the other four great villages.
Without his intervention, in the future, a super-powerhouse, having deeply felt the cruelty of the ninja world, would rise up and want to make the world feel the same pain he had.
It was for this reason that Li Anshi knew that to maintain his "freedom," he had to make the entire ninja world feel "fear" of his strength.
If one day, an existence that could counter him appeared, who could say if the other villages wouldn't want to eliminate such a "threat"?
Perhaps this was a sickness all transmigrators had.
A late-stage case of a persecution complex.
Tsunade was already ten years old this year.
In Li Anshi's perception, her chakra reserves were almost comparable to his own.
This meant that in terms of chakra quantity alone, Tsunade was in no way inferior to a Jonin.
Even if the quality had not yet reached the level of a Jonin who had mastered two chakra nature transformations, among the Chunin, she was in a league of her own.
According to his estimates, the current Tsunade was still far from being a Jonin in all aspects, but due to her extraordinary mastery of medical ninjutsu, she was no weaker than some medical Jonin.
Therefore, if she were to be rated, she would belong to the rank of "Special Jonin"—a title above Chunin, but a step below Jonin.
Perhaps in a year or two, her strength could reach the Jonin level.
This rate of improvement was in no way inferior to Kakashi Hatake's record of becoming a Jonin at the age of twelve.
No, it should be said that Tsunade's accomplishment held more weight than Kakashi's!
Kakashi, as the son of Sakumo Hatake, had inherited a portion of his father's talent and could be called a genius among geniuses.
However, compared to Tsunade, he was far inferior.
In terms of bloodline, let alone Kakashi, even Sakumo Hatake could not compare to Tsunade.
The Senju clan, as the direct bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths's second son, Asura, had inherited a portion of the Sage's body. Their chakra reserves were unmatched by anyone except the Uzumaki clan, who also shared Asura's bloodline.
Even the descendants of Indra were no exception.
The twelve-year-old Kakashi's chakra reserves were definitely not as large as Tsunade's.
What's more, Tsunade had the entire legacy of the Senju clan and the guidance of Mito Uzumaki.
Kakashi, on the other hand, had to find his own way after his father's death. The two were simply not comparable.
Furthermore, Kakashi's promotion had occurred during wartime.
At that time, Konoha was fighting against four other villages and had suffered heavy losses, forcing them to promote the new generation of ninjas.
The Kakashi of that time had only just barely met the threshold for Jonin.
Even the "Chidori" he had created was, for a Chunin, a finishing move.
But in the eyes of a Jonin, the flaws of the Chidori were still too obvious.
It was a straight-line attack. Although fast, Kakashi did not have the ability to control that speed.
As long as one moved out of that line before he launched the attack, one could evade it.
Furthermore, after releasing the Chidori, Kakashi's own neural reaction speed was a bit slow. Before he could recover from the stiffness of the move, he could be killed by the enemy.