"Are you drunk?" Ryosuke asked.
Tsunade shook her head.
"I'm being serious."
"You know I don't have much desire for power. Back then, the only reason I accepted this job was because I couldn't feel at ease leaving Konoha alone. I just came to put out fires. And now..."
She spread her hands.
The pits the Third and Danzō had dug were basically filled.
Konoha was the winner of the war, and a huge amount of resources would flow into the village.
Plus, there was Ryosuke, this key ally.
It was easy to foresee that in the next fifty years, Konoha would gradually become strong.
Tsunade truly wanted to retire.
"If you're willing, that'd be best. You were born in Konoha. But I know that's probably wishful thinking."
Being Hokage of Konoha might be the dream of many kids in the village, but for Ryosuke, who held the whole world… Way too small.
"Do you have anyone you'd recommend?" Tsunade asked.
"Is this work talk or a casual chat between friends?"
If it was work, Ryosuke couldn't speak casually or trust vague impressions. He'd have to gather and compare all kinds of data to produce a responsible conclusion.
Tsunade pointed at the two long pale legs sticking out from under her bathrobe, her bare feet casually propped on the table.
They looked very nice.
"What do you think?"
Ryosuke shrugged.
Since it was just casual talk, he said whatever came to mind, "Kakashi. He's unlocked the Mangekyō, and his IQ is online."
"Asuma and Nara Shikaku are good too, excellent at handling affairs, calm personalities… just a bit weak."
"And then there's Jiraiya. His combat ability is enough, but when it comes to big things he's too indecisive, and with small things he's too impulsive…"
While Ryosuke was talking, he suddenly heard even breathing. He looked down and saw Tsunade, at some point, had opened her mouth wide and fallen asleep drooling, snoring away, her mouth pointed right at him, warm alcohol-scented breath blowing onto his face.
"This woman…"
Ryosuke glanced at her overly open collar, then took a blanket from the Ghost Room, wrapped her up, and tossed her into the bedroom.
After leaving the bedroom, he cleaned up the disaster the living room had become. When he finally sat back on the sofa, it was already two in the morning.
He looked at the half bottle of liquor on the table. Too lazy to get a glass, he picked it up and started drinking straight from the bottle, taking the pain of his body constantly tearing itself apart as drinking snacks.
Taking advantage of the quiet, Ryosuke sorted through the gains from hunting down Uchiha Itachi this time.
The most direct one was soul fragments.
2200 of them. Counting the 4700 left in his account, that made a total of 6900.
After using a Dimensional Upgrade Star Core to draw Weather Report, Ticket to Ride, and Pearl Jam, Ryosuke had 4100 fragments left.
Over the next three months, he spent every day saving fragments to upgrade the newly obtained Stands.
Among them, Ticket to Ride and Pearl Jam had both reached max level at Level 5. Only Weather Report wasn't maxed yet.
'Considering for quite a while my real body won't be able to fight…'
Ryosuke made his decision.
'System, upgrade Weather Report.'
He heard the familiar clattering sound of coins falling. Six thousand soul fragments vanished, and Weather Report rose from Level 5 to Level 6.
At max level, Weather Report's domain expanded to 150 kilometers, and the weather it could generate became even stronger, for example, severe thunderstorms, ball lightning, superstorms, etc.
It was worth noting that the 150-kilometer range referred to the area where severe weather could form.
But that didn't mean areas beyond 150 km wouldn't be affected.
If Ryosuke summoned heavy rain and caused a massive flood, there was no way floods would stop exactly at 150 km while the outside stayed bone-dry.
Weather was something that, once triggered, would continue running on its own even if Ryosuke did nothing afterward.
That was the terrifying part of Weather Report.
If Ryosuke really wanted to destroy the world, all he had to do was keep moving forward, and disaster would spread across the world.
After upgrading, Ryosuke checked his current Stands.
[Star Platinum: The World (Six-star Max)]
[New Moon (Six-star Max)]
[Killer Queen, Bites the Dust (Six-star Max)]
[Weather Report (Six-star Max)]
[Aerosmith (Five-star Level 2)]
[Ticket to Ride (Five-star Max)]
[Pearl Jam (Five-star Max)]
These were Ryosuke's commonly used six-star and five-star Stands. Lower down were functional Stands like Hermit Purple and Burning Down the House.
As for Golden Years and Cheap Trick, Ryosuke didn't even feel like looking at them.
They could just stay locked away at the bottom of the chest.
After upgrading Weather Report, he still had 900 soul fragments left, so Ryosuke upgraded Aerosmith to Level 3.
This was his second five-star Stand. In the early stages, it had helped him a lot in scouting and long-range combat.
Even if maxed out, it might not add much to Ryosuke's combat power.
But Ryosuke had noticed that after leveling from 1 to 2, the pilot, Mr. Smith, suddenly had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
Sometimes he'd light one while patrolling in the sky.
In the past, soul fragments were scarce, but now that Ryosuke was gradually getting wealthier, of course he would provide better conditions for an old comrade who'd accompanied him all this time.
After reaching Level 3, Aerosmith circled once in the room and flew to Ryosuke. The pilot now held a cup of hot coffee and raised it in a toast.
Ryosuke raised the liquor bottle in return.
Closing the system interface, Ryosuke reached into the Ghost Room and pulled out a thermos. When he opened it, a bloody smell drifted out.
Two eyeballs rolled up and down in the bloody liquid.
Uchiha Itachi's Amaterasu.
Uchiha Fugaku's "Heavenly Great Life."
Compared with the "meager" 2200 soul fragments, these two Mangekyō Sharingan were the biggest harvest of this mission.
"Itachi's Mangekyō can be given to Sasuke. That way, Sasuke can advance to a perfect Mangekyō and won't have to worry about physical strain every time he swings his sword."
"The key is Fugaku's eye…"
Ryosuke opened his palm. His skin slowly split open, creating a slit just large enough to hold an eyeball.
Should he try it?
Ryosuke was Uchiha. Even if there were rejection reactions, they would be much smaller than Danzō's or Kakashi's.
With this eye, combined with Hermit Purple, his intel-gathering ability would become terrifying.
The temptation of being able to deduce everything was simply too strong.
Especially now that Ryosuke held the world, unsheathing his sword and looking around, he had no enemies left.
With peace settling in, how should he walk each step from here on?
Would there be internal division? If other voices rose, how should he handle them?
Ryosuke knew lots of theory, but theory didn't always work when dealing with people.
'As long as I implant this eye… with my power, and its intel ability, I can solve all these problems.'
Holding the eyeball, he stared into the Mangekyō in its pupil.
A long moment later, he put the eye back into the thermos.
"Too unlucky."
The last two owners of this eye had died, and died terribly. Ryosuke couldn't help feeling something was off about it.
"Better throw it to the research institute and have them take a look first."
———
[Early the Next Morning]
The little slug came again, saying the Slug Sage had returned and Ryosuke could prepare to head to Shikkotsu Forest.
Ryosuke glanced at Tsunade, still sound asleep, wrote a note and placed it on her breakfast, and habitually flicked the pen he had used into the Ghost Room.
Then he left for Shikkotsu Forest.
Over half an hour later, Tsunade stumbled out of the bedroom, hair messy, yawning.
Seeing that Ryosuke had even made breakfast, she silently gave the kid a thumbs-up in her heart.
After washing up, Tsunade sat down to eat while reading work documents. She was just about to add annotations when she reached around the table for a while...
"Hm?"
"Where's my pen?"
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