"Because this is my first time taking out a loan."
Kiyohara finally spoke.
He looked at Tsunade.
Tsunade wore a sleeveless top with a green jacket draped over it, hiding her impressive figure beneath the layers. Light blue capri pants hugged her long, well-shaped legs.
"First time?"
Tsunade frowned.
Not good.
She herself had taken out more loans than she could keep track of.
One glance at that subtle shift in her expression told Kiyohara that her personal credit rating had probably sunk straight into the ground.
"Ahem, I am Tsunade. Lend me some money now, and once I turn things around, I will definitely pay you back."
She looked him straight in the eye.
"Lady Tsunade, are you going gambling?"
Kiyohara asked.
Tsunade's gambling addiction was hardly a secret. She had even earned the nickname Walking Cash Cow because of it.
Give it up, Tsunade. Everyone else wins. You are the only one who never does.
Kiyohara figured that even if he lent her money, she had no chance of winning.
Still, something in his mind shifted, and he took out fifty thousand ryō to hand over.
"Lady Tsunade, I am very interested in medical ninjutsu. Could you teach me a bit?"
At this point in Konoha's history, medical training was nowhere near as developed as it would be later.
When Sakura and Naruto went on their first mission, Naruto had to slice open the back of his own hand with a kunai to drain poison. That was the only option.
Back then, Sakura herself did not even know basic techniques like the Detoxification Technique or Hemostasis Technique.
It was not until Boruto's era that the village began requiring every genin to learn basic medical knowledge and screening for talent in the field.
"Hmm..."
Tsunade furrowed her brow.
"Lady Tsunade, everyone is getting impatient."
Shizune hurried over, Tonton cradled in her arms.
She wished more than anything that Tsunade would stop gambling altogether, yet Tsunade had given her a job.
She had to watch the situation inside the gambling hall. Shizune did not dare refuse.
"Kid, you are in luck."
Tsunade nodded, accepting Kiyohara's request.
"I will give you two techniques for one hundred thousand ryō."
She held out her hand.
They were basic medical ninjutsu, but that did not mean they were easy to obtain. She was only offering them at a low price because she needed money urgently and because Kiyohara was a fellow Konoha ninja.
"No problem, Lady Tsunade."
Kiyohara smiled slightly.
He was genuinely surprised she had agreed.
He quickly took out one hundred thousand ryō along with blank paper and a pen.
He had bought them to record Rogue Kiyohara's techniques, but they would work just as well for this.
A typical C rank mission paid around thirty to one hundred thousand ryō.
According to the databook Sha no Sho, the reward was split evenly among the team.
Earning that much would normally require several missions.
"You actually carry this kind of thing with you..."
Tsunade assumed he was simply a ninja who loved studying.
She grabbed the pen without hesitation and scribbled the training methods onto the pages.
The two techniques she wrote down were indeed the Hemostasis Technique and the Detoxification Technique.
"Money for goods, fair and square."
Tsunade returned the papers and pen, then hurried toward the gambling den while clutching the thick bundle of bills.
"Shizune, let us go."
She could not wait to make a comeback.
Shizune had seen the entire transaction. Although every medical ninja knew these techniques, she still sighed.
Lady Tsunade really was hopelessly addicted.
"Lady Tsunade, the house always wins," Shizune tried again.
She felt that Kiyohara lending her money was practically enabling her.
"Shizune, you do not understand. Losing only means you are temporarily storing your money there. If you quit, that money is gone forever."
Tsunade said this as though it were deep wisdom.
After that, she said nothing more and stepped into the gambling hall, ready to dominate the tables and win back everything she believed was hers.
...
Kiyohara watched Tsunade and Shizune disappear inside and shook his head.
If the Three Sannin represented the three deadly sins, then Orochimaru would be greed, Jiraiya would be lust, and Tsunade would be sloth.
She even had the character for gamble embroidered on the back of her jacket.
"Not bad luck. You actually got those two techniques."
Rogue Kiyohara commented.
Every ninja could only master so many techniques. One of the requirements for becoming a jonin was mastering two chakra nature transformations.
Most ninja only had a small number of jutsu they could realistically use.
After spending years on the run and serving as Orochimaru's black ops agent, everything he had learned was meant for combat. He had no medical ninjutsu at all.
"I wonder if I can learn them in a few days."
Kiyohara looked at Tsunade's messy handwriting. With some effort, he could decipher it.
"That is enough. I can guide your chakra."
Rogue Kiyohara could help him practice the two basic techniques.
Neither required Yang Release, so even with only Wind and Lightning affinities, Kiyohara could learn them.
"Nice~."
Kiyohara nodded and continued down the street.
He could communicate with Rogue Kiyohara entirely in his mind, just like Naruto speaking with the Nine Tails. No one else could hear a thing.
"I hope the money I have left is enough for decent armor."
A ninja's chakra was limited and had to be conserved. That was why tools like shuriken and kunai were indispensable.
A Fire Release Great Fireball might fail to kill, but a kunai certainly would.
So he was not going to buy shuriken or kunai. He wanted armor.
Only chunin were allowed to wear the green flak jackets, but he could still buy a good chainmail shirt to wear under his clothes. It could make the difference between life and death.
After finishing his purchases, Kiyohara picked up some basic tools and even an extra pack of quickite. By the end of it, he was nearly broke.
"How do I make the medicine?"
He asked as he walked home carrying several bags.
When it came to producing the forbidden drug, only Rogue Kiyohara had the knowledge.
Kiyohara himself knew nothing.
He was not worried that his future self would harm him. If he followed the original timeline and went to reinforce Minato's squad, he probably would not survive.
Rin would be captured, Kakashi would lose an eye, and Obito would be crushed beneath the rubble. Even if Kiyohara managed to live, he would likely lose limbs.
Better to trust the version of himself who had already lived through it.
"I will use your body for this part. The timing has to be perfect," Rogue Kiyohara said.
"And every time I do this, I fade a little more. I do not have much left."
With that, his spirit slipped into Kiyohara's body.
Kiyohara felt a strange sensation.
His hands and feet began to move on their own.
Yet he could also sense that he could take control back anytime he wanted.