As evening approached, a light rain suddenly began to fall, making the already chilly autumn air even colder.
Tsunade returned to her residence, and as soon as she stepped inside, she rubbed her arms and shivered slightly.
"I'm back."
However, there was no response.
Just as she was changing her shoes, Shizune walked over with a troubled expression.
"What's wrong?"
Shizune merely gestured toward the living room with a slight tilt of her head.
Thinking that a guest might have arrived, Tsunade looked toward the living room and saw two middle-aged men sitting there.
They noticed Tsunade as well and immediately stood up with broad, insincere smiles.
"It's been a long time, Lady Tsunade."
Tsunade froze for a moment, her mind racing.
As she looked at their faces, her brain quickly provided an answer—
They were debt collectors!
This realization sent a jolt of panic through her, and she instinctively grabbed Shizune's arm, preparing to turn and flee.
But then, she suddenly remembered—she was in Konoha now.
Where could she even run? She couldn't leave the village.
"Lady Tsunade," one of the men spoke again, still smiling.
"We've been looking for you for quite some time. Now that you've returned to Konoha, isn't it about time we properly settled the debts between us?"
Tsunade forced out a nervous chuckle and feigned surprise.
"Who are you? I don't think I know you. Did you borrow money from me?"
One of the men, as if expecting her to play dumb, pulled out a piece of paper.
"This is the loan agreement you signed. Everything is clearly documented. If Lady Tsunade tries to deny it, we'll have no choice but to bring this matter to Lord Hokage."
Tsunade felt an instant headache upon hearing this.
She never expected her creditors to actually track her down.
Back when she was traveling, constantly on the move with no fixed location, borrowing money everywhere never really weighed on her conscience—after all, she had only lost it all back to them anyway.
One of the men spoke up, "Lady Tsunade, the loan amount and interest are clearly written on the promissory note. We hope you can repay the original loan accordingly."
Tsunade let out a dry laugh and spread her hands. "Repay the money, huh..."
She glanced at Shizune, who also looked troubled.
At this moment, the two men smiled again and said, "Don't worry, we won't make things too difficult for you. This sum isn't small, so we can give you three days. We'll take the opportunity to tour Konoha in the meantime. But if we don't receive payment in three days, we'll have no choice but to report this matter to Lord Hokage."
"Farewell, Lady Tsunade."
With that, the two men turned and left, pushing open the door, raising their umbrellas, and stepping into the rainy evening.
Tsunade clutched her head in frustration. "How did they even find me here?"
Shizune shook her head. "I don't know either. They just showed up out of nowhere today and scared me too."
Tsunade then asked, "How much do we owe them?"
Shizune hesitated. "I checked the promissory note... The original loan plus interest is about... fifty million ryo."
"FIFTY MILLION?!" Tsunade cried out in disbelief.
She started counting on her fingers. "I make ten thousand ryo a month… Fifty thousand months… That's over four hundred and ten—"
Smack!
She slapped her own forehead. "How the hell did we rack up so much debt?!"
Shizune whispered, "Because we kept losing money..."
An S-rank mission only paid about one million ryo.
Even if she started taking on top-level missions that influenced entire nations, she'd need to complete fifty of them just to break even.
Tsunade collapsed onto the sofa in despair, looking utterly hopeless as she muttered, "It's over, Shizune. Let's just run away."
Shizune asked doubtfully, "Can we even run?"
"..."
Could they even escape from Konoha Village?
Thinking of the man currently sitting in the Hokage's office, Tsunade grew even more frustrated.
She grabbed a cushion and started furiously pounding it in her arms.
She turned to Shizune. "How much money do we have at home right now?"
Shizune hesitated. "A little over fifty thousand, I think."
"Why so little?"
Shizune sighed and said, "Lady Tsunade, you eat a lot, drink from time to time, and also—"
"Alright, alright, stop talking."
Tsunade lay on the sofa for a while before getting up irritably, grabbing an umbrella, and heading out the door.
"Lady Tsunade, where are you going?"
"To find money."
Tsunade made her way to Jiraiya's house.
Ever since Jiraiya had become a rogue ninja, his house had been abandoned.
She casually broke the lock and stepped inside, greeted by a wave of cold, stale air.
She searched through the entire place and managed to find a few thousand ryo along with some… less than appropriate reading material.
"That idiot Jiraiya, how is he this broke too?" Tsunade muttered, stuffing the money into her pocket before heading back out into the rain.
The autumn drizzle fell in a light, misty veil.
Staring at the rain in front of her, she suddenly realized—she didn't have many friends left in the village.
At the hospital, she had plenty of admirers and subordinates to order around.
But who in the world had fifty million ryo just lying around?!
Tsunade felt another headache coming on.
After much deliberation, she decided to visit the hospital director.
When she left, she had an extra one million ryo in hand.
The hospital director, a middle-aged man in his forties, had secretly taken out most of his family's savings, saying his wife mustn't find out.
He told Tsunade to use it as emergency funds for now.
She then went to the head of the Medical Corps and borrowed another 300,000 ryo.
But it was still far from enough.
Tsunade knew her status among medical ninjas, but if she planned to stay in Konoha long-term, these were all favors she would have to repay eventually.
Unlike dealing with loan sharks, she couldn't just take the money and run without caring about the consequences.
She looked at the stack of bills in her hands and briefly considered not repaying them… or maybe even intimidating them a little…
Neither was a wise choice.
Tsunade stood in the rain for a long time before finally turning around and returning all the borrowed money to its owners.
When she got home, Shizune looked at her expectantly and asked, "Lady Tsunade, did you find the money?"
Tsunade pulled out the few thousand ryo she had scavenged from Jiraiya's house and handed it over.
"Let's have a nice meal tonight. And get some sake, too."
Shizune: "…..."
She glanced at the money in her hands and cautiously asked, "So… what do we do next? Run away?"
Run away…
Tsunade thought to herself—no matter what, she was the granddaughter of the First Hokage and one of the Legendary Sannin.
If a bunch of debt collectors forced her into becoming a rogue ninja, it would be the biggest joke in history.
Her granduncle, Tobirama, would probably hunt her down himself.
Shizune pursed her lips and hesitantly said, "We can't actually let them go to the Hokage and cause a scene… right?"
She still cared about her reputation.
Just imagining how embarrassing it would be if word of this got out made her cringe.
Tsunade sank into the sofa, covering her head with a cushion.
If Orochimaru were still the Hokage, she could have gone to him about this, and he would probably help her solve the problem…
If Orochimaru were still Hokage, she wouldn't even have to worry about this debt at all—she could just run away…
Then, she suddenly thought about the person currently sitting in the Hokage's office.
There was no way that guy would help her.
"…I'll think of something," she muttered.
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