Chapter 49

"Hey, Ryu-kun!"

Looking around, I noticed Tsunade waving from the street on the right. I wondered what she wanted. After waiting for her to come closer, I smiled and bowed.

"Good day and thank you for the gift!"

"No need for thanks," Tsunade waved dismissively, still smiling warmly. "These techniques aren't so rare that you couldn't find them in the library. I just took the trouble to compile them into one scroll."

"At least it's a serious time saver," I shrugged. "But let's leave that topic. Tsunade, why did you need me?"

"Stop with the 'sama'!" the blonde grimaced. "I get my share of respect without you, especially since I don't hear any real respect from you."

"Then just Tsunade? Or -san?" I suggested, grinning.

"Just Tsunade is fine."

"Alright, Tsunade, so why did you need me?" I tilted my head slightly.

A characteristic twitch of the hands of the busty medic showed me that she wasn't immune to my childish charm either - the vast majority of women in the hospital would already be hugging me just seeing such a surprised expression.

Yeah, excellent self-control, as expected from the princess of the clan. I'll have to practice various expressions at home - it's a great way to manipulate adults, as I discovered, becoming a child.

"I was looking for you to give you an invitation," the blonde announced, folding her arms across her chest.

"From whom?" Such news threw me off a bit - we're not close enough to visit each other, and we don't seem to have any other mutual acquaintances.

"From Linli-chan, she heard about your promotion from me and decided to invite you over," explained Tsunade. "Seems you promised her something before, but there was never a reason, and now you can celebrate your new rank and also meet Kushina-chan, who's visiting us."

Oh! Kushina is already in Konoha? And I had no idea! I would have missed it if the princess hadn't mentioned her. Hmm, if she's here, then Minato should be enrolling in the ninja academy soon.

If I remember the timeline correctly, a lot of people should be appearing soon from key figures - among them, Mikoto, who should be the same age as Kushina, this year already saw the birth of Asuma, if rumors are to be believed, as well as Morino Ibiki, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shizune.

Inuzuka Tsume should already be training as a kunoichi, and I should end up in her class in the last year. However, that can wait. The legitimate way to meet Naruto's presumed mother and the future (or already present?) jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox is worth it, and such an opportunity shouldn't be missed! Just don't forget about secrecy.

"Kushina? Who's that?"

"Kushina Uzumaki, a distant relative of Mito-ba-san, who's come to live in Konoha. Right now, she's staying with the Senju."

"I see. What day is the invitation for?" I asked.

"On Sunday, six in the evening, and don't forget to bring Sae-san with you."

Hmm, four days from now...

"Alright, does Ka-chan know where your district is, or does Lin-chan live separately from the clan?"

Many clan shinobi buy separate houses as soon as they start earning enough money.

"She's in the clan, so you'll find your way there," Tsunade nodded. "Just tell the gate guards the purpose of your visit, and they'll escort you to her."

"Okay! Will you be there too?"

"Maybe, if no new mission comes up, I'll come," the blonde nodded. "But I need to hurry now, so see you soon!"

"See you soon!"

Waving goodbye, I watched the departing girl until the hospital doors and then resumed my way home. How could I forget about the promise and about the beauty of Senju... But I'm looking forward to seeing her! And Sae deserves a break, she's been training almost non-stop, so I often have to apply healing skills in practice to fix overly damaged muscles.

However, there's still time until the weekend, so Kushina can be forgotten for now. What's much more important is the injection of poison I'm supposed to get today, the eighth one.

It'll make me dizzy and nauseous again, but what can't you do for your own survival and undeniable benefit! I learned about the resistance training course to various poisons from Ichimaru-sensei, and after a short war of arguments with Sae, who eventually yielded to the ironclad reasoning, I decided to undergo it before entering the academy.

I don't know where she got a hundred injections with different poisons, but for two months now, I've been undergoing a course designed for the strongest ANBU.

Considering my healing kekkei genkai, the effects disappear relatively quickly, so enduring the first terrible couple of hours is enough for the blood to produce enough antidote to breathe a sigh of relief. You can't achieve absolute immunity to all toxins with this method, of course, but slowing down or weakening the effect is a very nice bonus for any shinobi. Especially when combined with regeneration.