After saying those words, Gento secretly took out a Lust Pill.
With a light squeeze of his fingers, the pink pill crumbled into powder.
He recited Shizune's name in his mind.
The powder immediately transformed into a faint pink mist that silently drifted toward Shizune standing at the doorway.
Shizune was leaning against the door, as the pink mist wrapped around her.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
However, shortly after, her eyes gradually became hazy.
The clarity in her gaze disappeared, replaced by a dreamy look filled with desire.
Her breathing grew rapid, her chest rising and falling unevenly, her lips parting slightly as soft gasps escaped them.
The heat rising from deep within her body made her unable to control the growing restlessness.
The Lust Pill had taken effect.
Looking at her appearance, a smile rose on Gento's lips.
He waved toward Shizune.
"Don't be shy. Come over here."
"I'm only exploring Princess Tsunade's ninja way. This is normal shinobi interaction."
"You can join us too."
Shizune lifted her head and looked toward Gento.
Those eyes had become clouded over, desire utterly overwhelming reason.
She slowly stepped forward and walked toward Gento.
...
One full day and night later.
Even with Gento's current taijutsu mastery, he couldn't help but feel weak and exhausted.
The next morning, Gento awoke on Tsunade's bed.
The system notification sounded in his mind:
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for completing Dual Cultivation with a kunoichi!]
[Evaluating the aptitude of the Dual Cultivation target...]
[Evaluation complete.]
[Dual Cultivation target: Shizune Kato.]
[Overall: A]
[Partner No.11: Shizune Kato]
[Aptitude: A]
[Claimable: A-rank Family Treasure Chest ×1]
"Claim it!"
[Ding! A-rank Family Treasure Chest successfully claimed. Open?]
"Open it."
[Treasure Chest opening. Distributing rewards...]
[Ding! Reward obtained: Mangekyo Awakening Card ×1]
There was only a single reward, but the reward's quality had increased.
Gento was very satisfied with this reward.
It could conveniently be stored away for future use on an outstanding younger member of the Uchiha or one of his own children.
Gento stored away the Mangekyo Awakening Card.
He turned his head and discovered that Tsunade was no longer beside him.
Shizune, however, was still curled up beneath the blankets, sleeping deeply.
Sounds of retching came from the bathroom.
"Urgh!"
Gento sat up, a smile rising on his lips.
Although he already knew Tsunade was pregnant, hearing the sound himself still made him somewhat excited.
Last time, when he had been with Kushina and she later gave birth to Hanyu, Kushina's Uzumaki bloodline had triggered a special reward trait, allowing Hanyu to possess the top-tier talent trait "Six Paths Body."
Tsunade possessed Senju blood. Wouldn't the child she gave birth to also be the same?
The Senju and Uzumaki shared the same origin, but the Senju leaned more toward the ultimate extremes of Yang-Attribute Chakra and vitality.
What kind of talent would this child awaken?
As he was thinking about this, the bathroom door was suddenly pushed open, and Tsunade stormed out with a furious expression.
As the strongest medical ninja in the shinobi world, she naturally knew the reason for her nausea.
This was pregnancy sickness!
And pregnancy sickness generally appeared around one month after conception.
That meant she had already become pregnant during that night with Gento in the Land of Hot Water!
Gritting her teeth, she glared at Gento, her voice filled with anger.
"You bastard!"
"I'm really carrying your child!"
Gento immediately stood up, walked forward, took Tsunade's hand, and gently held it in his palm.
"That's a good thing!"
"Don't worry, Princess Tsunade. I'll take responsibility for you."
Tsunade's hand struggled symbolically a few times but failed to break free.
Just as she was about to use her monstrous strength-
She thought about how the two of them had already become intimately close long ago, so she simply let out a cold snort and stopped trying to pull her hand away, allowing him to hold it.
Seeing this, Gento knew that after several rounds of dual cultivation, Tsunade had subconsciously started treating him as one of her own and was no longer as resistant.
This was the perfect opportunity to deepen their relationship.
He stepped forward, his other hand gently wrapping around her waist as he pulled her into his embrace.
"Don't worry. Since you're carrying my child, we'll be one family from now on."
"Your matters are my matters."
"As for the Hidden Leaf Village's situation, I'll do my best to resolve it. You don't need to worry about it anymore."
Hearing Gento's reassurance, the corners of Tsunade's lips couldn't help but lift slightly.
However, her personality was strong-willed, so she still forced herself to say:
"Hmph! Even without your help, I could still find other solutions! I only came to you out of consideration for the relationship between your Uchiha clan and my grandfather!"
Gento didn't expose her tsundere attitude and merely smiled as he reminded her:
"From now on, take good care of the baby. You absolutely can't drink alcohol anymore."
Tsunade suddenly felt a warmth in her heart.
She didn't stubbornly argue back and nodded seriously.
She lowered her head, her other hand unconsciously resting over her lower abdomen as a trace of complicated emotion flashed through her eyes.
Over the next few days, Gento remained in the Hidden Leaf Village.
He held several detailed discussions with the heads of the major ninja clans, finalizing every detail of the cooperation agreement one by one.
From mission assignments, team composition, and reward distribution, to dispute resolution, intelligence sharing, and logistical support, every single detail was written into the agreement.
Before leaving, Gento left a Flying Thunder God kunai with Tsunade so it would be convenient for him to visit the Hidden Leaf Village next time.
Tsunade accepted the kunai and held it in her hand before turning her face away and saying coldly:
"Alright, now get lost already."
Gento smiled and turned to leave.
As he walked out of the Hokage's office, Tsunade's extremely soft and low voice came from behind him:
"Be careful on the road."
...
After returning to the Land of Hot Water, Gento immediately informed Fugaku about the cooperation with the Hidden Leaf Village.
Fugaku was overjoyed upon hearing it.
A rare smile appeared on his usually calm face.
Rubbing his hands together, his eyes filled with excitement, he said:
"Clan Head, this is truly wonderful!"
"Right now, Hidden Gento Village has more missions than we can handle. Watching those missions get abandoned because of insufficient manpower makes my heart ache like it's bleeding as the Mission Hall Director!"
Gento immediately laughed upon hearing this:
"Now that we have the Hidden Leaf Village's assistance, all these problems will be easily resolved."
"And the share I negotiated is quite generous. It's very beneficial to our Uchiha clan."
Fugaku nodded repeatedly and immediately went off to make arrangements.
Just like that, the cooperation agreement between Hidden Gento Village and the Hidden Leaf Village was officially established.
Over the following months, the cooperation between the two villages progressed steadily.
At first, it was only small-scale experimentation, with a small number of Uchiha ninja leading Hidden Leaf Village ninja on low-risk missions. After confirming that the cooperation was indeed feasible, both sides gradually increased the scale of their partnership.
The results were immediate.
Originally, even including the Anbu, the Uchiha clan's nearly four thousand ninja could at most form around one thousand four-man squads, meaning they could only take on a little over one thousand missions at a time.
After cooperating with the Hidden Leaf Village, the Uchiha only needed to send out one person to form a new mission squad together with three Hidden Leaf Village ninja.
And the number of ninja the Hidden Leaf Village could deploy was several times greater than that of the Uchiha.
Even better, the Hidden Leaf Village ninja had abundant mission experience, and with the bonuses provided by the Mission Hall family building, mission quality did not decrease in the slightest, nor did client satisfaction diminish.
Those missions that had originally been abandoned because of insufficient manpower were now all accepted by Hidden Gento Village without exception.
Hidden Gento Village's income also skyrocketed as a result.
Every day, Fugaku looked at the numbers in the account books with a grin so wide he could barely close his mouth.
At the same time, the Hidden Leaf Village's economic difficulties were greatly alleviated.
Those idle ninja finally had a stable source of income, and the village's financial situation gradually improved.
Inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade looked over the reports submitted by the Anbu and let out a long sigh of relief.
In the blink of an eye, four months passed by in a hurry.
On this day, the security around Hidden Gento Village's palace was suddenly upgraded.
The Uchiha Anbu stood guard every few steps, with sentries stationed everywhere. Not even a fly could get inside.
Shisui and Itachi personally oversaw the area, while Fugaku coordinated operations from the outer perimeter.
The entire palace was shrouded in a tense yet expectant atmosphere.
The reason Hidden Gento Village was treating the situation with such gravity was because Mei, who had carried the baby for ten months, was finally about to give birth!
---
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