As expected.
When the people on top are willing to share, the people on the bottom will offer endless loyalty in return.
Kangetsu wasn't worried that doubling everyone's pay would draw too much attention.
As the director of Konoha Hospital, he had a lot of autonomy.
Otherwise, the Third Hokage geezer wouldn't have treated the position as a reward.
Of course.
If Kangetsu didn't manage anything, it was a cushy, empty post.
If he did manage it, it was real authority.
And when the Third Hokage geezer heard what Kangetsu, that good kid, had been doing, he burst out laughing.
That's my good kid.
He actually used his own money to keep Konoha Hospital fed.
A true example of selfless public service.
Buying hearts and minds?
That's exactly what the geezer wanted him to do.
The old man already had thoughts of grooming Kangetsu.
If you don't show your value, how do you rise?
Besides.
To the higher-ups, this little Konoha Hospital situation was nothing more than a minor scuffle.
But Kangetsu, that good kid's slogan wasn't half bad.
Move, develop, produce results.
The geezer decided he'd use that line as the theme for the next meeting.
And just like that—
It wasn't only the major clans. Plenty of smaller clans learned about Kangetsu's existence too.
The newly rising Kangetsu had officially carved out a name for himself in Konoha.
Not huge, but memorable.
Enough weight to matter.
[Proficiency System]
[Kangetsu: Chūnin (overall)
Chakra: Chūnin
Affinities: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Lightning
Taijutsu: Chūnin
Genjutsu: Genin
Ninjutsu: Chūnin
Ninjutsu—
Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) (E): LV3 (5%)
Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique) (E): LV3 (3%)
Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique) (E): LV3 (42%)
Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) (D): LV4 (61%)
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) (C): LV2 (3%)
Chakura Seiren (Chakra Refinement) : LV4 (99%)
Genjutsu—
Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) (D): LV2 (39%)
Taijutsu—
Konoha Taijutsu Kihon (Basic Konoha Taijutsu): LV4 (48%)]
...
In his own courtyard.
Kangetsu quietly kept an eye on the proficiency of Chakura Seiren (Chakra Refinement).
Lately, he hadn't slacked off on training his strength.
He understood it deeply: in the shinobi world, having strength and not having strength were two entirely different realities.
A peaceful life in the shinobi world never lasted long.
If you looked at the original timeline, Konoha Year 60 was when the story kicked off.
Right now it was Konoha Year 53, which still left some room.
Once the plot started, major events came one after another.
Konoha Year 53 was a good time.
Orochimaru hadn't defected yet.
The Uchiha clan hadn't suffered the massacre.
The Hyuga clan was still keeping their heads down.
The Fourth had died early, and the Third had retaken control.
Outside Konoha, Uchiha Madara, that undead fossil, was still recuperating and building strength.
Some "filial son" was still waiting to split the moon to "save his mother."
Akatsuki was only just starting to show signs, and the major villages were still in the postwar recovery haze.
There was still time.
Kangetsu counted the days and decided that by the time the plot truly kicked off, he'd already have enough ability to protect himself.
And at that point, delaying things would be far easier.
Same as always.
Time was on his side.
The longer he dragged things out, the better.
[Chakura Seiren (Chakra Refinement): LV4 (99%) → Chakura Seiren (Chakra Refinement): LV5 (0%)]
In the blink of an eye.
Kangetsu felt his senses stretch outward.
He could vaguely "see" something the natural world was giving off…
Energy? Spiritual power? Chakra?
Whatever you wanted to call it.
This had to be what the original story mentioned: Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra).
So his earlier hunch was right—LV5 skills really did come with a qualitative leap.
He could directly extract Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra)…
No longer needing to burn his own stamina and spirit to refine bodily chakra.
That meant his chakra ceiling and recovery speed would immediately jump several tiers.
Before, his Proficiency System grew slowly because chakra was the bottleneck.
Now?
A curve lifted at the corner of Kangetsu's mouth.
A faint glimmer of fire seemed to flash in his eyes.
The chakra inside his body fully transformed into Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra).
There was none of the "beastification" risk from the original story. Clearly, LV5 Chakura Seiren (Chakra Refinement) was doing the heavy lifting.
Refined through LV5, it wasn't violent anymore—if anything, it was unusually gentle.
And since there was no beastification risk, even converting everything into Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra) was fine.
He didn't have Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode).
Or rather—Kangetsu was in Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode) all the time.
Because what flowed through him was Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra).
Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu all surged in power.
By his rough estimate, he no longer needed to fear an average jōnin.
The jump was absurd.
After all.
Before this, Kangetsu's strength had only been ordinary chūnin level.
And not some gifted chūnin either—no Kekkei Genkai, no special physique, no broken signature techniques. Just a bottom-rung chūnin.
Sure, Shizen Chakura (Natural Chakra) boosted a shinobi's strength, but your base quality still had to be solid.
What a shame.
If he already had jōnin-level fundamentals, then right now he probably wouldn't even fear Kage-class powerhouses.
Come to think of it—
Power scaling in the shinobi world was always blurry.
If you really had to declare a "standard," it was basically only three ranks.
Genin, chūnin, jōnin.
And the shinobi world didn't universally recognize "Kage" as some separate formal tier.
When two shinobi met face-to-face, who was stronger still came down to fighting it out.
Kangetsu was only able to split things into layers because of how he'd analyzed the setting in his previous life:
The five great villages: genin, chūnin, jōnin, Kage.
Above Kage, there were monsters like Uchiha Madara—above Kage-class. He'd call that Super-Kage for now.
Above Super-Kage were outliers like the Sage of Six Paths—entities beyond the scale.
The more he thought about it, the more Kangetsu convinced himself he was still far from enough.
He had to keep grinding.
Grind strength, and quietly lay out plans at the same time.
He'd love to just lie low.
But he had no intention of handing his fate over to those two "successors" down the line.
He sighed inwardly.
In the shinobi world, it was impossible to take zero risks.
Even if you stayed home and never went out, shinobi could still take missions to cut your head off.
That was how ridiculous it was.
There were countless reasons.
A noble took a liking to your house. Your land got in the way of some merchant's business expansion. You became target practice for a newly graduated shinobi—any excuse worked.
He stretched.
Kangetsu decided it was time to rein things in a bit.
The clothing business and Konoha Hospital were already enough for him to stand firmly in Konoha.
After this, he'd wait until his strength climbed further before placing the next piece.
"Food's ready!"
Haruno, the wicked little enchantress, wore nothing but an apron, her pink toes stepping lightly across the tatami as she blinked at him.
Her man was training again.
Even taking two quick swigs of milk was inconvenient.
Yukine shot that rebellious daughter a glance.
One hike of the hips, and Yukine already knew what kind of "pose" that rebellious girl was planning.
Maybe it was because she'd gotten a taste and couldn't stop.
That rebellious girl was ready at any time, any place, any situation.
To the point where half the time, they'd be talking, cooking, reading, or brewing tea—then suddenly she'd start acting up.
Absolutely shameless…