On the other side, after finishing lunch, Uchiha Hikaru headed to the Hokage's Office and found Mito Uzumaki.
She was currently in the middle of a discussion with two others.
When she saw Uchiha Hikaru walk in, her eyes lit up. She turned to the people in front of her and said:
"This is the creator of the Medical Tag, Uchiha Hikaru. If you have any questions, you can ask him. I have something to do, so I'll leave you to it."
Without even glancing at the odd expressions on everyone's faces, Mito Uzumaki walked out confidently.
As she passed by Hikaru, she even shot him a look that clearly said, 'You'd better perform well.'
He almost felt like his bloodline had changed—he might as well be a Hyuga now.
But the next second, he felt something was wrong.
Two searing gazes had locked onto him the moment Mito finished speaking.
The heads of the Sealing Division and the Medical Division were both staring at him passionately, like lovers who had just reunited.
In the midst of a heated debate, the two refused to back down from one another.
Eventually, they decided to approach Uchiha Hikaru together and introduced themselves.
The head of the Sealing Division was a fellow Uzumaki who had come to Konoha with Mito Uzumaki. His name was Uzumaki Ten, a man from the same generation as her.
The head of the Medical Division was from the main Senju family, also from Mito's generation, named Senju Kaho.
Once they'd finished their introductions, they ignored everything else and immediately launched into a barrage of questions about the Medical Tag.
Although Uchiha Hikaru had come here for this exact purpose, he was still a bit overwhelmed by their endless questioning.
Now, he finally understood why Mito Uzumaki had bailed the moment he arrived.
At that moment, he felt Chinatsu's pain on a spiritual level.
So he decided to nope out.
Waving his hand, Uchiha Hikaru interrupted the two chatterboxes in front of him.
Then, he pulled out a scroll from his robes, placed it on the table, and said to the confused pair:
"This contains the manufacturing process of the Medical Tag. You can work it out yourselves. I've got something else to do, so I'll take my leave."
And with a poof, Uchiha Hikaru vanished before their eyes.
The moment he decided to dip, he had already swapped himself with a Shadow Clone and quietly slipped away.
With his current strength, pulling off something like that was child's play.
The two stood frozen in place, wide-eyed at what just happened.
After a moment, Uzumaki Ten broke the silence with a sigh.
"Exactly like Mito. The moment there's work, all kinds of excuses come up."
Senju Kaho nodded in agreement.
"Right? They really are like family. Do you think little Tsunade will be like that in the future?"
They glanced at each other again, both seeing the same helplessness in the other's eyes.
But now that he was gone, there was nothing they could do. So they simply picked up the scroll and began reading.
And once they started, they were completely hooked, forgetting everything else.
...
After leaving a clone behind to deal with them, Uchiha Hikaru didn't have anywhere in particular to go, so he returned to the Senju Estate.
When he walked into the courtyard, Mito Uzumaki was sitting there, drinking tea and basking in the sun—looking completely carefree.
Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi were also there, both training on their own.
But Chinatsu, who usually followed Mito Uzumaki everywhere, was nowhere to be seen.
As for where she was, Uchiha Hikaru didn't even need to guess.
The Hokage couldn't possibly have nothing to do. And if the Hokage wasn't doing the work, someone had to.
And who else but Chinatsu?
Uchiha Hikaru gave her a mental moment of silence. 0.1 seconds, tops.
Then he pulled up a chair next to Mito Uzumaki, sat down, poured himself some tea, and took a slow sip.
Mito Uzumaki glanced at him from the corner of her eye, wanting to say something—but in the end, she didn't have the guts.
After all, she'd bailed too. Could she really scold someone else for doing the same?
Realizing that, Mito Uzumaki gave up on trying to reason with herself.
Better to enjoy life instead.
So the two of them leaned back lazily, basking in the afternoon sun, sipping tea with their eyes half-closed.
Tsunade and Nonō Yakushi stared at the scene, visibly confused.
Especially Tsunade, who was drenched in sweat from training her Monster Strength technique. She wiped her forehead, feeling incredibly unbalanced.
Just imagine—you're doing military drills, standing at attention under the blazing sun, pouring sweat.
And right in front of you, someone's got a popsicle, a parasol, and is enjoying themselves at a snail's pace.
And not just one person—they came as a pair. How would you feel?
Tsunade, who hadn't been beaten in a month, was feeling increasingly wronged the more she thought about it.
Her eyes rolled, and a cunning idea flashed through her mind.
She stopped her training and ran over to Mito Uzumaki.
"Grandma, I've been training Monster Strength for a while now, but I still can't grasp the core of it."
"I really need someone to guide me. Can you train with me, please?"
Mito Uzumaki opened her eyes slightly and looked at the girl acting all cutesy, letting out a chuckle.
She knew exactly what this was—Tsunade wasn't giving up and wanted to drag someone down with her.
If it were the past, she would've had no way to refuse.
After all, when your grandchild wants to improve, how could you say no as an elder?
But now, wasn't there someone else who could guide Tsunade?
With that in mind, Mito Uzumaki turned her gaze to Uchiha Hikaru.
Truthfully, Uchiha Hikaru had already guessed what Tsunade was plotting the moment she opened her mouth.
But hey, this was the shinobi world. What made Tsunade think he didn't know Shadow Clone?
So just as Mito Uzumaki looked at him, there was a poof, and a Shadow Clone of Uchiha Hikaru appeared.
"Seriously? You're just going to toss me in like that? Does no one speak up for clones anymore?"
"And when I get dispelled, you're still going to feel it all anyway."
The clone began complaining the moment it appeared.
Of course, even though he grumbled, he still obediently began training with Tsunade.
Tsunade, although a little disappointed that it was just a clone, didn't mind too much—her goal had been achieved.
As the clone said, everything it experiences would be passed back once dispelled. That made this a win.
Uchiha Hikaru was well aware of the clone's properties too, but so what?
What Tsunade pulled off was a perfect open scheme—a yang plot. There was no counter.
It was straight out of Tobirama Senju's playbook.
So to prevent this from happening again, he had already registered Shadow Clone into the Idle Training System.
Nonō Yakushi looked at the interaction with a bit of envy. She wanted to join in too—but in the end, she held herself back.
She was still something of an outsider. She wasn't as close to them as the others.
But the next moment, as she continued her training, the sunlight over her was suddenly blocked.
She looked up—and saw Uchiha Hikaru, smiling gently as he stood in front of her.