CHAPTER 236: CHAPTER 236: ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHANGING CAREERS?

On the street, Uzumaki Kushina was strolling around with the Number 1 clone of the Nine-Tails. This was her recent mission—although she didn’t quite understand the reason, both Namikaze Minato and Ryoho Kyohiko had said so, so she had no choice but to act as they said. Perhaps it’s to cultivate a bond! Kushina thought to herself.

"Kushina-sensei! Oh my, this fox is so cute! Sensei, can I hold it?"

"Wow, it has so many tails!"

Two girls squatted in front of the little Nine-Tails.

Kurama couldn’t even be bothered to look up. In his prime, when had he ever suffered such indignity? But now, without any power, besides a milk-voiced roar that only made the other party exclaim "cute" again, it served no other purpose. What a disgrace! If he had known this would happen, he would rather have returned to his main body than be insulted like this.

However, these were just his inner thoughts. Kushina knew very well that the Nine-Tails clone, once out, was completely unwilling to return to her seal. Although in the seal, it could perceive the outside situation through a small crack she maintained, it was still not as good as now—limited freedom was better than nothing at all.

The two little girls aggressively petted. Finally, the Nine-Tails couldn’t stand it anymore and bared its teeth and roared. The two girls immediately retracted their hands in fear.

Kushina smiled and broke the ice.

"Alright, why are you two dressed like this? Aren’t you training?"

Uzuki Yugao pointed to the girl beside her.

"We’re out shopping. Anko said she wanted to eat sticky rice dumplings and red bean paste, so we came to this street. Sensei, what do you want to eat here? Anko knows this place very well!"

Mitarashi Anko blushed.

"W-Where am I familiar! I just like to eat the dumplings and red bean paste from this shop. I don’t know much about the others, okay?"

"Hahahaha, then let’s try the sticky rice dumplings and red bean paste that you like so much. My treat!"

Uzumaki Kushina picked up the Nine-Tails, a sweet smile on her face.

Ever since becoming a teacher, she felt relaxed and happy. The depression and madness of the past were gone. Of course, it might also have something to do with the Nine-Tails not causing trouble now. In short... seeing these children, she suddenly wanted a child of her own.

Uzumaki Kushina stroked the two girls’ hair and smiled.

"I wish I had a daughter as cute as you two!"

"Huh, then what would you name her?"

"Ah? A name? I haven’t thought about it!"

Uzumaki Kushina thought seriously.

In her arms, the Nine-Tails sighed. This silly woman, you don’t even have a shadow of a child yet, what name are you considering? Shouldn’t the first thing to consider be asking the guy at home when to have one! It was speechless.

Suddenly, the Nine-Tails sensed a faint malice. It turned its head to look. The crowd was surging over there; it couldn’t tell who was watching. But... someone definitely had ill intentions towards it! The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes.

"What do you want to eat?"

Hmm? The Nine-Tails looked up. It can eat too?

"Ah? Kushina-sensei, are you going to order for it too?"

"Yes!"

Kushina looked down. "See for yourself, what do you want to eat?"

Anko watched curiously.

"Can it understand?"

Then, she noticed that the Nine-Tails was looking at her with a look of contempt. A Tailed Beast can go without eating or drinking, but it also has flesh and blood and can eat normal food. The Nine-Tails was very tempted. After a long while, its paw pressed on a dish.

"I want to eat grilled meat skewers!"

"Ah!! You can talk?"

Anko cried out. The shop owner was also startled, but seeing the Nine-Tails’ miniature appearance, he didn’t feel scared for a moment. Instead... it seemed quite cute?

The Nine-Tails pouted.

"Don’t underestimate this great lord. This great lord is older than your father!"

"Alright, boss, three servings of sticky rice dumplings, four servings of red bean paste, plus ten meat skewers. We’ll eat in the shop."

"Okay."

The boss was surprised and scared at first, but soon was no longer afraid. After all, this was Konoha Village. In Konoha, ninja beasts were too common to be surprising.

Soon, the three people and one beast were gathered around a table, eating and chatting. The Nine-Tails was very happy eating the ten meat skewers, but its peripheral vision was always paying attention to the shadows. A fan. The Uchiha clan? The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes and continued to gnaw on the meat skewers, but secretly made a mental note. Compared to Kushina and Minato, it certainly hated Uchiha Madara and his clan more. What’s more, those two also had ill intentions towards it.

---

In the Hokage’s Office.

Tsunade was sitting crookedly, half of her body leaning on the table, with no image to speak of. Fortunately, only she and Shizune were in the room. Although it wasn’t very dignified, Shizune was already used to it. In fact, not going out to gamble, rarely drinking, and spending half a day seriously working... was something Shizune could hardly imagine during their wandering days. The current Tsunade was a complete transformation!

However, Shizune glanced at Tsunade, then at herself, and couldn’t help but swallow. If it were me...

"Shizune, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing!"

Shizune answered immediately, then quickly asked back, "Tsunade-sama, your attention is not on the documents at all! You should be more serious. I’m almost done on my side!"

"Hey, then you..."

Just as Tsunade was about to say "work harder," she sensed a violent chakra fluctuation outside. She immediately sat up straight and tidied her clothes, and then Ryoho Kyohiko pushed the door and walked in.

She pretended to be looking at the documents seriously.

"Sister, your pen is upside down. You should look at my report instead."

Ryoho Kyohiko placed the report he had just organized on Tsunade’s desk.

The document had two pages. One page recorded the intelligence and analysis related to the Uchiha, which could give Tsunade a general understanding of the situation of the Uchiha and the village. Regarding the Uchiha, if Tsunade was unaware of some situations, she might not be able to react in time if something happened suddenly.

After a detailed look, Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief. For now, the Uchiha’s situation was within the plan, and Shisui’s rash action had not destroyed the plan. On the contrary, it had pushed the indecisive Fugaku forward. The plan was very successful.

Tsunade looked at Kyohiko.

"Shisui, what do you think of him?"

Ryoho Kyohiko pointed to the other page.

"Smart, kind, and at the same time has his own bottom line and persistence. I think he can be cultivated as a key figure. Also, regarding the follow-up arrangements for the Uchiha, I’ve written it on the second page."

Tsunade nodded lightly, picked up the paper, and continued to read. A few seconds later, she looked up at Kyohiko, a look of surprise in her eyes. This document... was not just a proposal for the subsequent placement of the Uchiha. It affected all aspects. Even the entire structure and situation of Konoha might change because of it.

Her face was serious.

"Kyohiko, are you serious?"

Ryoho Kyohiko explained his analysis.

"The reform of the Police Force is inevitable. The current Police Force is actually a poisoned bait for the Uchiha. The more they occupy, the more they are separated from Konoha..."

Tsunade naturally understood. She was referring to...

"Let other families and commoners join the Police Force in exchange for the Uchiha entering the high levels of Konoha. Will the Uchiha agree?"

Ryoho Kyohiko asked back.

"We lift the targeted restrictions. And, I will take Shisui as my disciple. Why wouldn’t they agree?"

Tsunade was at a loss for words for a moment. That’s right! The current Kyohiko’s strength no longer needed others’ recognition, and with her support, he would undoubtedly be the next Hokage. Then, at that time, Shisui would be an existence in the Hokage’s lineage just like Uchiha Kagami back then, and in the future, he might even have hope of becoming Hokage! As long as the Uchiha were rational and smart enough, they would agree to many exchange conditions.

Tsunade pondered for a moment.

"According to your vision, no matter what, the veterinary field will definitely become more and more important. We can negotiate with the Inuzuka clan first."

The role of ninja beasts was no longer just a simple combat partner. Special experiments, combat, and communication all required summoned beasts. According to the blueprint drawn by Kyohiko, the future Konoha would ideally have universal ninja beasts for everyone. Even if they couldn’t fight with the Beast Human Clone technique like the Inuzuka clan, they could still serve as partners to supplement their own shortcomings. This was a very good strategy!

"Then, should I go and negotiate?"

"You can. This is your idea. You certainly know better than I do how to do it."

---

In the Inuzuka clan compound.

"Tsume, you’re too anxious!"

"I can’t not be anxious. The current situation of the family is not optimistic. We must have a sense of crisis!"

Inuzuka Tsume glared at her husband.

This husband... couldn’t be said to be incompetent. After all, he still had strength. It was just that, relatively speaking, he was lacking in family management and crisis awareness and didn’t understand the key points of developing the family. On the contrary, she was even stronger, so much so that now, she was the one who had been recommended to become the current clan head. With such pressure on her, how could she not be anxious?

Inuzuka Tsume sighed. In the current Konoha, families like the Yamanaka and Nara, who were on good terms with Kyohiko, were constantly improving in strength. And the Hyuga clan, needless to say. In addition, Kyohiko had also brought in many ninja clans from the outside, so that the number of ninja families in Konoha was increasing. Only their Inuzuka clan. Orochimaru and the Anbu were both researching ninja beasts. With Kyohiko’s ability, who knows, one day, their Inuzuka clan might be slowly marginalized. At that time... where would they go? Like the current Uchiha?

Thinking of this, the sorrow between Inuzuka Tsume’s brows could not be dispelled, and her mood became heavier.

Suddenly. "Woof woof woof!" A series of barks rang out in the clan. The entire clan’s ninja hounds seemed to be stressed, one by one barking madly. And beside Inuzuka Tsume... the still relatively young Kuromaru raised his head, barking in fear and madness.

"Kuromaru! Don’t be afraid. There won’t be any enemies in our village. You don’t have to be afraid..."

Inuzuka Tsume comforted him again and again, then looked at her husband, Inuzuka Go.

"Who’s here?"

Inuzuka Go roughly had a guess in his heart.

"A presence that can excite all the ninja hounds like this, there are few in the entire village. I’ll go and welcome him."

But he and Tsume looked at each other, not quite understanding... why was the other party coming over?

At the clan gate. Ryoho Kyohiko frowned slightly. Did these ninja hounds smell the scent of the Nine-Tails? But the Nine-Tails isn’t here, at most I’m stained with a part of its scent... or are they simply barking at me?

As he was deep in thought, Inuzuka Go and Inuzuka Tsume bewilderedly patted Kuromaru—after approaching Kyohiko, Kuromaru went from barking wildly to being completely terrified and afraid, not daring to make a sound. This was the instinctive fear of a creature! Ryoho Kyohiko glanced at it, and it immediately shrank its head and whimpered, not daring to make eye contact at all. Inuzuka Go was even more certain that it was indeed Kyohiko who had caused the commotion among the entire clan’s ninja hounds...

Inuzuka Tsume reacted quickly and soon made a "please come in" gesture.

"Kyohiko-kun, please come in!"

Ryoho Kyohiko smiled.

"Tsume-senpai, you and Minato were classmates. I’ve wanted to visit you for a while, but I’ve been delayed by miscellaneous matters. Today, I happen to have a rather urgent matter to discuss with you. Please don’t blame me for coming unannounced."

"Not at all... your time now is very precious. Many families wish you would come, but don’t have the opportunity."

Inuzuka Tsume smiled, her tone also much closer. Kyohiko mentioning the relationship between Minato and her was to hope to bring them closer. This proved that today was a good thing. She received the signal, and her mood immediately improved a lot—Tsunade and Kyohiko haven’t forgotten the Inuzuka clan! The pressure in Inuzuka Tsume’s heart immediately lessened a lot. She led Kyohiko inside all the way.

With Tsume’s company, and Kyohiko deliberately concealing his own presence with chakra, there were no major waves later on.

Inuzuka Tsume hesitated slightly, starting to speak, then stopping.

"Kyohiko-kun, the presence on you..."

It felt to her like it came from a powerful, evil creature, full of violent and crazy presence. No wonder those ninja hounds couldn’t stand it. Could it be the Nine-Tails’ chakra?

Ryoho Kyohiko smiled.

"It’s from the Nine-Tails. I was doing an experiment and might have been stained with some of the residue at the time. It should be better now that I’m controlling and restraining it, right?"

"Mm."

Inuzuka Tsume let out a breath of relief. Just a chakra experiment, then it’s fine...

Then, she finally asked about Kyohiko’s real business for coming.

Ryoho Kyohiko pondered for a moment.

"Is your clan interested in entering the veterinary field?"

"Ah?"

Inuzuka Tsume’s expression was blank. She looked at her husband, hoping to get some advice from him. But at this moment, Inuzuka Go was also stunned. The veterinary field? Their clan was a combat ninja clan. Being a veterinarian was just a side research from treating their own ninja hounds...

After a moment of shutdown, Inuzuka Tsume gradually came back to her senses.

"Kyohiko-kun, what do you mean by the veterinary field?"

Ryoho Kyohiko looked at the two of them.

"Ninja beasts, dogs, cats, and so on. You can do more research. Not only can you treat the ninja beasts in our village, but you can also take commissions from the capital and foreign nobles in the future."

"Don’t you think this is a huge blue ocean market?"

The two looked at each other, unable to answer for a moment. From the sound of it, is he asking their clan to change careers? No. It should be, to open up the veterinary field... This. They had never considered it.

Ryoho Kyohiko painted a future blueprint.

"In the future, our connection with the capital will only become deeper and deeper..."

Inuzuka Tsume emerged from her bewilderment and slowly understood Kyohiko’s meaning. As the other party said, the nobles’ money was definitely more than ordinary people’s. Seems like a way?

"Then what about ninja beasts?"

Ryoho Kyohiko explained quickly.

"My idea is that Konoha should ideally make ninja beasts a relatively common and popularized ninja technique. Of course, your family’s secret techniques do not need to be handed over..."

Many ninja clans were most wary of the village stealing their secret techniques. This point had to be clarified, otherwise a good thing could turn into a bad thing.

"In addition, regarding your family, I may have some other important arrangements in the future. It’s just not convenient to say now."