Haseo Yu's first meeting with Kakashi was somewhat cheerful, yet not entirely pleasant. This encounter ended with Haseo Yu paying a heavy price—losing an entire upper garment.
It was the first time in both of his lives that Haseo Yu had been overwhelmed by a child's Water Release technique...
Kakashi, for such a little kid, actually had quite a sharp mind. He understood that wetting his pants at his age was completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of. He also realized that no matter who he might have soaked, he'd always walk away without consequences.
Frankly speaking, Kakashi Hatake peaked the very moment he debuted. The power of his "Piss Release" absolutely surpassed all of his later techniques combined. Even after he became Hokage, he would never again overwhelm Haseo Yu so thoroughly that he couldn't even fight back.
But the young Kakashi would certainly not understand just how much this reckless act would cost him later on—it would indeed be a painful price to pay.
Who could have guessed it? After all, Haseo Yu had always been such a magnanimous person.
The loss Haseo suffered today wasn't just about clothes—material damages like this were easily covered by Sakumo Hatake's salary anyway. His greater grief lay in likely having to sleep on the floor for several nights.
That wasn't just a metaphor either—he meant literally sleeping on the floor.
Resting his head on what looked like a pitifully small pillow, covered only by a thin blanket, lying atop a quilt placed directly onto flat, hard wooden flooring.
The night had already fallen deeply, but some streetlights outside cast faint beams through the window into the bedroom, creating a hazy atmosphere within... Outside, the city's nightlife was still in full swing.
With both hands supporting his head behind, lying flat on his back, Haseo Yu stared wide-awake into thought—sleepiness hadn't arrived yet.
Suddenly, one corner of his blanket felt heavier. Lowering his gaze, he found the Black Cat had quietly curled up beside him.
So he reached out a hand, gently stroking the Black Cat's fur, smooth as silk. In no time, soft purring began to escape from the cat's throat... Looks like this guy's really hit rock bottom—now his only companion was a cat.
Yet…
"Cat, come here."
Tsunade's voice came from above and slightly aside. Immediately afterward, the Black Cat stood up, shaking its head lightly, throwing Haseo an almost apologetic look in the dim light—as if to say 'can't help it'—before hopping across his stomach in two quick steps, landing on the bed and settling down beside Tsunade's waiting hand—the four-legged traitor had switched sides without hesitation.
Over the years, the reality of Haseo Yu's domestic status had become painfully obvious—he had long lost authority even over the pet.
"Haseo, do you like kids?"
Not long after, possibly inspired by her impression of Kakashi earlier that day, Tsunade suddenly asked this question... Apparently, neither of them were feeling sleepy tonight.
"Kids..." Haseo really didn't like kids—because they were usually brats. But since the person asking him this question was who she was, he definitely couldn't give her a straightforward answer. "I'm not exactly sure either. I might like them very much, or maybe not."
"Yeah, to be honest, I don't have much concept of such things either. But raising your own kid must be different from raising a younger brother, right?"
Kakashi really was a misfortunate kid... And Haseo's impression of that only grew stronger.
Little kids always tended to get some women daydreaming about all sorts of things.
"Just think it over properly. You've got plenty of time. Anyway, there are no immediate plans for that kind of thing."
Haseo calmly reassured Tsunade, showing no hint of what he truly felt.
"Mm."
"And besides, there's one key issue..."
"What is it?"
"Oh, nothing... Never mind."
Haseo quickly shut himself up.
What kind of child? Facing this family was a serious practical problem:
Money.
Tsunade never thought about how her gambling addiction could set off a chain reaction.
After chatting a bit longer, Tsunade became quiet, and Haseo also felt his eyelids getting heavy, so he turned sideways and drifted off to sleep.
However, deeper into the night, Haseo suddenly woke up again because he sensed some rustling behind him—then he was hugged from behind.
To be honest, for Tsunade, this was a somewhat inconvenient position. It was like when she stood straight—she could never quite look down and see her own toes properly.
Haseo had no choice but to turn around, wrapping his arms around her waist...
Probably out of habit, once used to having two people in bed, the sudden emptiness beside her probably made it hard for her to fall asleep.
"Don't move around, Haseo."
Her sleepy murmur came out soft and dreamy, with just a touch of sweetness.
Haseo thought to himself, 'What movement? Right now, I just want to sleep quietly. It's too late at night; I'm too tired.'
But...
"Didn't I tell you not to move?"
"..."
Haseo hadn't moved, but apparently needed to adjust positions.
......
When Tsunade woke up, it was already quite late, and Haseo's spot beside her had long gone cold.
Tsunade got up, walked out of the bedroom, and saw breakfast already set on the table.
Fried eggs, bacon, toast, and milk—it was simple, filled with warmth, and tasted good.
As for Haseo, he'd already left for work.
"Haseo, don't teach Kakashi all sorts of nonsense. Little kids often don't know how to tell jokes from real talk."
On Kagenami's side, rather rarely, Sakumo Hatake was actually complaining to Haseo.
"I know, I know. It's understandable to feel like a mighty lion might when looking at a not-so-impressive pup... But it's fine—'wife is true love, kids are accidents.'" Haseo sympathetically patted Sakumo Hatake's shoulder.
This remark left Hatake momentarily stunned. He thought to himself, 'Hey, I'm perfectly satisfied with my son. Why are you acting more disappointed than me?'
"Let's put the child matter aside for now. I have an idea. Tell me what you think about its feasibility."
"Haseo didn't have the time to dwell on Kakashi's matters. He had more serious issues to discuss with Sakumo Hatake.
"What idea? Tell me."
"It's about Kagenami's future development... You see, when our ninja take external missions, the village automatically takes half of the payment. As for the remaining half, I think our organization should deduct thirty percent from that before giving the rest to the ninja who completed the mission.
But we shouldn't hand it over directly either. Hold onto the payment for three months first, then return it all at once...
We're basically running a platform, right? So why not charge both sides — the ones doing the work and the ones using it? Isn't this completely fair and reasonable… If we operate like this, soon Kagenami will become the world's largest tech enterprise.
Some might call us bullies, but that doesn't matter. Once we succeed, there'll be far more people praising us than criticizing… Then I'll be Yobus and you'll be Hatake Lee." Haseo laid out his plan to Sakumo Hatake, describing an ambitious vision — mainly focused on economic growth.
"So… Do you think I could still back out of Kagenami now?"
Sakumo fell silent for a moment, really wishing he had a cigarette to clear his head, but finally he just said:
"Don't think it has potential?"
"Not at all. I'm just worried you don't want Kagenami falling apart… Have you been short on cash recently?"
"No, I just want to make some money for baby formula."
"Huh? Did you have kids already?"
"No, not for a child's baby formula. It's for my own n…" Haseo suddenly realized what he'd almost revealed. "Why do you even care so much? If you don't get it, forget it.
What a shame. You have no idea what we've just given up.
The chance to become number one in the world — you threw it away so easily."
P.S.:
Regarding the mistake in character relationships involving Chiyo in previous chapters – I didn't double-check at the time. I roughly calculated her age and assumed Chiyo and the First Kazekage weren't from the same generation, so I wrote accordingly. But according to the official databook's character chart…
Thank you everyone for pointing this out. That was my mistake.
However, those contents aren't very important to the overall plot… So I'll try to revise them when I have time.
You know what I mean.
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