Days pass and Touki can't get the incident with Tsunade out of his mind, struggling to remember those moments his mind refuses to reveal. He was never a fan of the Sannin in his past life, even though he always considered her a very important character, but now he can't help but see her as a beautiful woman with whom he even slept, no matter if it was an involuntary act.
The man has never been particularly successful in the romantic sphere with women, mainly due to his personality and the excessive focus he always had on his career in his past life and now on his ambitions. But that moment, when he completely lost his inhibitions, flipped a kind of switch inside him, something that confuses him greatly and fills him with strange thoughts.
But Touki refuses to let his emotions get the better of him and quickly returns to his old self, continuing his tireless work crafting artifacts and preparing for the future of his organization.
Tsunade's second session proceeded smoothly, obviously without Touki's presence and assisted by Izumi, who precisely timed the exposure to the pink aura. The sannin emerged from the room even younger, looking very close to someone in her 20s and describing herself as feeling much more revitalized inside.
The third session turned out to be the last, as Tsunade failed to rejuvenate further, maintaining her twenty-something appearance, although her inner vitality improved slightly. She maintains her mature personality, but her youthful image contrasts in a way that makes her seem strange, so much so that she herself decided to use the transformation to look a little older when she appears in public again.
With a preliminary treaty and channels of dialogue established, Tsunade concluded her diplomatic visit to the Divine Order territories and prepared to return to Konoha to report to the Hokage. For Touki, it all ended a bit bittersweetly, but it laid the groundwork for a possible future relationship with the village where he ironically lives. Feeling a bit guilty, the man decided to give the sannin a medallion capable of generating a minimal amount of pink aura, so she could keep her skin intact and experiment with other possible uses.
Back in Konoha, Suki's condition has improved considerably, allowing her to open her eyes for a short period of time, as a test, which has resulted in a very rapid weakening of her, due to the fact that her eyes are in a perpetual state of 3 tomoes. But for Suki, that small moment of vision meant a new world, leaving her surprised and even a little dizzy. From then on, she has made it a mandatory exercise to open her eyes at least once a day, in order to get used to it and somehow manage to control the excessive consumption of Chakra.
Fortunately for Suki, the green and pink aura healing artifacts seem to speed up the eye's assimilation process and have allowed her to function perfectly once her eyes are opened, which becomes easier and easier as she performs her daily exercises.
As for the shop, Naruto has been a surprise to everyone, from Touki and his family to the customers themselves, who have found a true expert on all things bicycles and someone excellent at closing deals and selling promotions. No one knows how the boy can be such a good salesman, but Touki suspects it has to do with his legendary "Talk no Jutsu," which is specifically applied to business.
Naruto has gone overnight from an impoverished orphan to someone quite wealthy for his age, with his particular "gama-chan" wallet, quite full and happy, as he likes to call it. Furthermore, he now tends to eat at "Ichiraku Ramen" much more often, in addition to inviting his friends from the academy to restaurants. Such is the boy's tendency to share what he has that Touki had to scold him to teach him the responsibility of saving.
Touki always wanted to help Naruto in some way, but without attracting attention or raising suspicions, and now that he has the excuse, he has taken advantage of giving the boy everything he can, from giving him an enviable salary for someone his age, helping him open his first bank account, urging him to buy more and better clothes, as well as advising him on the common issues of life, something very similar to a father figure.
Fortunately, no one has found it strange that Naruto has started working at the shop, with only one individual to complain on a few occasions, a conceited Sasuke, who tends to visit the place more and more frequently, clearly with the intention of paying Suki a visit. Touki initially suspected that the Uchiha boy was in love with his apprentice, but it didn't take long for him to realize that he simply saw her as a maternal figure, most likely due to Suki's maturity, compassion, and incredible ability to express affection.
Little by little, the shop has become a gathering place for Naruto and Karin's generation, so much so that Touki had to set up tables and chairs, both inside and outside the entrance, where children entertain themselves playing board games and generally hanging out, a good way to attract attention and customers.
On a different note, preparations for the order's imminent operation in the land of noodles are already in their final stages. The idea is to cause general destabilization within the small nation, thereby attracting the attention of all neighboring nations, and if possible, the world at large. This way, it would be possible for the order to stage a coup d'état in the land of tea, attracting as little attention as possible.
The plan depends largely on the actions of several nobles from the land of noodles, whose loyalty to the current Daimyo has proven fragile and prone to fading with the right incentives. The order has invested a huge amount of money and resources in convincing these nobles to rise up in arms in several of the nation's major cities, with the promise that if they succeed, they will be helped to consolidate power and proclaim a new Daimyo.
Touki, at this point, has no illusions that everything will go according to plan; on the contrary, he hopes that everything will spiral out of control, because the more unpredictable things are, the more they will attract the attention of much more distant nations. The man has a rough idea of how world politics will transform from this great disaster he hopes to unleash, but many questions remain, especially related to what players like Akatsuki and Orochimaru will do, enemies whom Touki does not want to face at the moment.
The only task Touki must accomplish is to manufacture more and more artifacts, which will be key to the operation. The order, as a whole, will not be contributing its personnel to the impending revolt, but it will assist with a secret weapon, something that will undoubtedly take anyone who wants to get involved in what is about to happen by surprise.
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