Gisei began scouting for a suitable training location within Konoha.
After picking and choosing, he finally settled on the Forest of Death. Few people came here, making it a decent secluded spot, although the commute was a bit inconvenient.
But that wasn't a big deal.
After selecting the location, Gisei found Uncle Sadahisa, the head of the clan's caravan. He handed over the list of supplies he needed along with the money.
It would take at least a month for Sadahisa to deliver the goods, so Gisei finally had a rare break.
However, upon returning to the hospital, Gisei found the atmosphere a bit strange. especially among the members of the medical team. Everyone looked at him with a hint of amusement in their eyes.
Gisei was baffled. He only understood what was going on after returning to his office.
"Thanks to someone, the workload of our medical team has just become a lot heavier."
Tsunade stood in front of him, holding a massive stack of documents.
Gisei took the stack and flipped through a few pages, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Are these all for childbirth?"
"Right now, there isn't a pregnant woman in Konoha who doesn't know about you. Your medical ninjutsu is famous—'miraculous,' they say. Even during surgery, they feel absolutely no pain."
Gisei looked at the thickness of the documents and smiled bitterly. "Even if I work myself to death, I can't finish this many surgeries. Try to exaggerate the side effects of the ninjutsu; we need to scare some of them off."
"Uncle Shikaku's wife hasn't been discharged yet. No matter how much you exaggerate, people just need to take one look at her to know the truth. It's useless."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Raise the price!"
Gisei was stunned. He hesitated. "That's not very ethical, is it? I am the squad leader, after all. Won't people gossip if I do something like that?"
"You actually care about gossip?"
"Alright... I was just saying. Do I get a share of this money?"
"Half goes to the village. We split the remaining half 50-50."
50-50?
Gisei sized up Tsunade; he didn't realize she had this kind of business brain.
"I'm the one doing the surgery. Why should I split it 50-50 with you?"
"If you're not afraid of my master coming to find you, you can keep it all."
"The Hokage has the time to care about this kind of thing?"
"Do you know the price for one of your surgeries now?"
Tsunade held up two fingers.
Gisei blinked. "Twenty million?"
"Keep dreaming. Even ninja clans wouldn't spend twenty million just to have a baby. Two million."
"That little?"
"Even the reward for an S-rank mission isn't necessarily that much, and you think it's little?"
"Half to the village, then you take half of the rest. I'm left with only five hundred thousand; that's too much of a loss."
Tsunade's face darkened. "Are you doing it or not?"
Hey, what is this threat?
Gisei looked thoughtful. "Generally speaking, this kind of news wouldn't spread so quickly on its own. So, it was you who leaked it, right?"
Gisei thought back to the time he had demanded the exorbitant price of one hundred million ryo for his secret technique. There had been no news from Tsunade for the past few days; presumably, her family refused to pay that amount.
She didn't have the money but still wanted his secret technique.
So, she had set her sights on him, wanting to get something for nothing. Making him earn the money so she could buy his own secret technique from him...
Gisei truly admired Tsunade's hustle. Even with two lifetimes of experience, he couldn't have come up with such a shameless operation.
"In this situation, you don't lose anything anyway. Besides, you can't do it without an assistant. I'll take a step back: 40-60."
Gisei: "Is this a question of the split? You are simply too despicable."
Tsunade: "You need money!"
Gisei: "...10-90!"
Tsunade: "Did you think I would say 30-70? It's 40-60."
Gisei: "20-80."
Tsunade: "Otherwise, you give me the secret technique, and I'll give you all the money."
Gisei: "Dream on. I'd rather exchange money for goods directly; this trick is for fooling children."
Tsunade started clenching her fist, her knuckles cracking. "Don't forget you've already taken my fifty million!"
"We agreed beforehand. You were too confident; it has nothing to do with me if you can't learn it."
Tsunade was exasperated and smashed the table into splinters with one punch.
"Are you doing it or not?!"
"30-70!"
Tsunade tilted her head and calculated for a moment. Then, she beamed with joy. "Deal."
Just like that, Gisei was dragged by Tsunade completely into a vortex of money.
With at least two surgeries a day, it wasn't exactly tiring. He spent at most ten minutes on the actual surgery; most of his time was spent on boring paperwork.
Not everyone could afford two million, so Tsunade thoughtfully introduced a "half-price service."
When Tsunade got serious about money, she was terrifying. She ran around the various wards in the hospital every day, aggressively promoting the benefits of painless surgery.
As more and more surgeries were performed, Gisei deeply realized how important having a specialized skill was for making money.
He also began to take private jobs and even offered house calls—all done behind Tsunade's back, of course.
The price wasn't high, just one million, and if someone bargained, Gisei would appropriately ask for a bit less. In this way, his reputation in Konoha became better and better, and more and more people came to him privately.
Seeing fewer and fewer people coming to the hospital to give birth, Tsunade grew suspicious and began to investigate.
When she traced the cause back to Gisei, Tsunade was ready to explode.
Without a word, she rushed into Gisei's office and smashed everything in sight. Gisei, anticipating this, simply slipped away before she arrived.
Looking at the string of zeros on his bankbook, Gisei revealed a happy smile.
Tsunade thought she was smart, but he checkmated her. Wanting to get his secret technique for nothing? Keep dreaming.
Walking down the street, Gisei figured it would take at least a few days for Tsunade to cool down, so he decided to head home. Anyway, with Tsunade in the medical team, no major trouble could occur.
After getting home, Gisei found he had nothing to do.
He basically didn't train anymore.
His former weakness, taijutsu, had become stronger and stronger ever since he started using Lightning Release to stimulate his cells over a year ago.
As for ninjutsu, after developing five elemental nature transformations, he had lost his direction.
In other words, his current strength had basically reached the ceiling for ordinary ninjas. To go further, unless he changed his bloodline, it was almost impossible.
The reason his strength had improved so quickly was, of course, due to the assistance provided by the butterfly seed. If Mei hadn't been replenishing his life force, he probably would have white hair on his head by now.
If there was really a weakness, it would probably be genjutsu.
He had learned a few genjutsu in the Anbu, but he had basically never used them. Moreover, for something like genjutsu, it was too difficult to reach the peak without the Sharingan.
This was a rank suppression brought about by bloodline, absolutely not something human effort could change.
Having said that, if someone really used genjutsu on him, Gisei would teach them a lesson in minutes.
Not to mention the powerful spiritual energy brought by the butterfly seed, the moment he was hit by a genjutsu, the "City" inside his body would warn him.
He wasn't alone; he was now raising four butterfly seeds, all of which had matured. Seemingly one person, he was actually five people. To make him fall into a genjutsu, unless it was a Mangekyo-level Sharingan, it was basically impossible.
Gisei felt a bit melancholy—the melancholy of not seeing the road ahead.
Mei's suggestion was for him to continue raising butterfly seeds, but he had been hesitating.
If he continued to raise butterfly seeds, he probably would never be able to break free from Mei's control. This wasn't something he hoped for, unless he could find a way to manipulate life force himself.