With Tsunade's support, Shigeru no longer needed to follow her around and could stay in the lounge to study every day.

With enough time and Tsunade's personal guidance, Shigeru learned the Chakra scalpel in two days.

After a while, Shigeru was like a dry sponge, quickly absorbing all kinds of relevant knowledge and learning various medical Ninjutsu.

Tsunade was initially shocked, then gradually became accustomed to it, and eventually became numb.

She felt like she was being squeezed dry, with not a drop of energy left.

The medical Ninjutsu she had learned was completely surpassed by Shigeru.

Two months later, Tsunade personally took Shigeru to the assessment.

As expected, Shigeru passed with excellent results, successfully obtained the medical ninja certificate, and submitted an application to work at the hospital.

In an elegant tavern, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and the team's trio reunited.

"Tsunade, I heard you accepted a disciple, and he's from the Hyuga clan," Jiraiya said, grinning as if he had already forgotten the times he'd been beaten up.

"Oh, is that so?" Orochimaru's hand, holding up a wine glass, paused.

Tsunade glared fiercely at Jiraiya, making him tremble, and then withdrew her gaze with satisfaction.

"I didn't accept a disciple. I just saw that the boy had talent, and since I had time, I helped him along. But I made a mistake—Hyuga Shigeru has remarkable medical talent."

"Let's not talk about this anymore."

Shaking her head, Tsunade changed the subject: "What have you two been up to lately?"

Since their Jōnin assessments, the three had gone their separate ways. Tsunade was working at Konoha Hospital, Orochimaru was busy with strange experiments, and Jiraiya was either on missions or "gathering research material."

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"I recently had a troublesome mission. It took a while," Orochimaru replied casually.

"Hey, I've been busy too, I…"

Just as Jiraiya began to speak, Tsunade cut him off.

"Okay, no need to explain. If you're not peeping on girls, you're writing your ridiculous books."

With that, Tsunade slammed her hand on the table, warning him: "If I find out that you've given strange books to my brother again, I'll beat you to death!"

Jiraiya, flustered, defended himself: "A misunderstanding! Rope tree sneaked them in himself. It has nothing to do with me!"

"Sure."

As Tsunade glared at the squirming Jiraiya, Orochimaru smirked quietly. He enjoyed these rare moments of relaxation, even though he preferred to sit aside and listen.

They drank, ate, and shared stories about work and missions. Soon, they parted ways.

Tsunade left, but Jiraiya remained, grinning stupidly while holding a bottle. Tsunade seemed to have forgiven him, at least for now.

"..."

Disgusted by Jiraiya's goofy grin, Orochimaru silently left.

When Tsunade returned home, smelling of alcohol, she found Kushina sitting alone in the yard.

"Tsunade-sama."

Kushina quickly stood up to greet her.

"Just call me sister. Or does the word sister feel too uncomfortable for you?"

Annoyed, Tsunade ruffled Kushina's red hair.

"Tsunade-nee!!"

Her hair now a mess, Kushina froze for a moment before letting out a scream—few girls appreciated a hair disaster.

"Don't cry, don't cry. It was my bad. How about I take you out shopping later, okay?"

Tsunade hadn't expected Kushina to cry so easily after such a little tease. It took a lot of effort to calm her down, with a promise to take her shopping.

Seeing Kushina's smile return, Tsunade sighed. Coaxing a child felt more exhausting than hospital work.

"Sister Tsunade, someone delivered a letter for you earlier," Kushina said excitedly, producing the letter.

"A letter? For me?"

Tsunade opened it curiously. Her expression grew serious after reading it.

Putting the letter away, she patted Kushina's head.

"Kushina, Sister Tsunade has some things to take care of. How about we go shopping another day?"

"Can't I come with you?" Kushina asked with big, sad eyes.

Tsunade sighed. Teasing Kushina earlier had led to this, and now she felt guilty.

After a bit of internal struggle, Tsunade relented.

"Alright, you can come—but you have to be on your best behavior, okay?"

Kushina was an unfortunate child, just like Shigeru. Tsunade thought maybe the two could bond and become friends.

Although the village had forbidden Kushina from making outside contacts, Shigeru was someone Tsunade trusted, practically one of her own.

What was wrong with letting Kushina meet him? If anyone had a problem with it, they could take it up with her.

So, Tsunade brought Kushina out of the Senju compound and headed toward the Hyuga clan. On the way, she stopped at a store to buy snacks.

As Lady Tsunade approached the Hyuga estate with Kushina, the Anbu ninja monitoring Kushina immediately reported it to the Third Hokage.

In his office, the Third Hokage looked out the window, facing the direction of the Hyuga compound.

"Is this about the Hyuga?"

Shigeru had applied to study in the medical department. In just over two months, he had mastered medical Ninjutsu better than many experienced medics and had passed the medical ninja examination with ease.

When his evaluation results came in, the report landed on the Third Hokage's desk.

Because of his injury and the mistreatment by his family, Shigeru had applied for medical training, accidentally revealing his remarkable talent in the process.

The scarcity of medical ninjas and Shigeru's abilities caught the Third Hokage's attention. What made the case more interesting was that Tsunade had taken an interest in him. Given that Tsunade was a Hokage disciple, it was enough for Shigeru to be considered "one of their own."

The Third Hokage picked up Shigeru's profile again and studied it. After a while, he murmured, "What a pity."

Shigeru's background made him a complicated figure, someone who could only be considered half-aligned with Konoha.