Chapter Ninety: The Game of Go

In the Hidden Leaf Village, late at night, in the bath adjoining Tsunade’s bedroom, there was only Tsunade’s figure in the steamy room.

As for the man who had once planned to stay the night at Tsunade’s house, he was now in the bath at his own home, admiring his own stunning good looks.

Tonight, Kato Mikaze had ruined Tsunade’s fun at the casino, and then, on the way home, shattered the romantic heart that had only just begun to melt within her.

The weight of old grievances and fresh resentments piled up in Tsunade’s heart, and between Kato Mikaze and Tsunade, a cordial and affectionate exchange of taijutsu known as “little loving fists” lasted all the way until she reached her front door.

...

In the Kato clan district, in the bath attached to Kato Mikaze’s bedroom:

Splash... splash... gurgle... gurgle...

“Ahh...”

Kato Mikaze’s signature short, pale blue hair surfaced from the water in the tub. He lifted both hands to wipe away the beads of water from his face and let out a long, satisfied breath.

He felt that the fatigue accumulated from this outing, spent cramming in mission after mission, had been washed away by a good soak to the extent of sixty percent in one blissful bath.

For a bath aficionado like Kato Mikaze, there was no fatigue that could not be solved by a pleasant soak. If one bath was not enough, then he would simply take another.

Of course, if Tsunade could soak with him, the bath would certainly feel even more delightful.

...

When Kato Mikaze spoke with Tsunade tonight at the Kikukawa tavern about the details of his trip, he ultimately still did not reveal the information that he had discovered traces of Uchiha Madara in the Land of Rain.

It was not that Kato Mikaze wished to hide anything from Tsunade; rather, this was not the sort of matter that could simply be told to her and left at that.

In fact, before returning to the village, Kato Mikaze had already thought over the matter of Uchiha Madara’s information many times, considering seriously whether or not he should report it to the higher echelons of the Hidden Leaf.

The value of this intelligence regarding Uchiha Madara was unquestionably, unimaginably high. Not only could it affect the upcoming Second Great Ninja War, it could even alter the entire course of the story as originally known.

Whether or not to report this information to the Hidden Leaf was not something Kato Mikaze could decide lightly.

In the end, after much deliberation, Kato Mikaze had already made his choice on the road home: for now, none of the information concerning Uchiha Madara could be reported to the Hidden Leaf.

Since he had decided to withhold all information concerning Uchiha Madara from the Hidden Leaf for the time being, he might as well say nothing of it to Tsunade either, sparing himself some unnecessary trouble.

There were too many reasons for this. When Kato Mikaze had weighed the matter carefully, the reasons that occurred to him amounted to well over four thousand words.

If he were to list those four thousand words of reasoning one by one in detail, the rest of the night would probably not be enough for Kato Mikaze. He would not be getting any proper sleep.

Here, only one reason need be stated: the timing was wrong.

The timing was wrong. And by timing, it was not only the timing for reporting to the Hidden Leaf’s higher-ups. More importantly, Kato Mikaze’s own strength was still insufficient, far from enough.

At present, Kato Mikaze was still merely an unremarkable Hidden Leaf jounin, with only his secret soul art truly worthy of mention.

Within the Hidden Leaf, he had already begun to exert some influence, but when scaled to the entire ninja world, Kato Mikaze’s strength was still not strong enough.

Not strong enough to alter the balance of the entire shinobi world.

Given the overall climate of the ninja world, Kato Mikaze’s current strength had at most progressed from being mere cannon fodder to becoming a pawn on the board.

Perhaps one day, when his strength had grown sufficient and he had evolved into someone capable of affecting the grand pattern of the entire ninja world, that would be the proper time to reveal this intelligence.

And by then, even if Kato Mikaze was not yet a player at the table of the great game, he would at least be someone standing nearby, watching the board.

...

After finishing his comfortable bath, Kato Mikaze lay on his broad bed and carefully tallied the various gains from this mission-filled outing.

The first gain was a number of attribute points in the ninja system. This was the main objective of his trip beyond the village, and it had essentially achieved the goal he had originally planned.

This gain would alleviate the awkward shortage of attribute points in Kato Mikaze’s ninja system for the near future. If everything continued to go smoothly afterward, he would soon have a steady stream of attribute points, and the day when he could truly take off would not be far away.

The second gain was an extremely valuable piece of intelligence. Aside from confirming some of Kato Mikaze’s hazy recollections of the original story, it would not have much more impact on him in the short term.

The third gain was a corpse specimen of a White Zetsu clone. Connected to the second gain, Kato Mikaze also intended to withhold reporting this for the time being.

At present, the corpse specimen of the White Zetsu clone should still be a rather useful material for experimental research, and it might even affect Kato Mikaze’s task of treating the “patients” at the Spring Base.

In addition, the corpse specimen of the White Zetsu clone might also influence the special constitution in Kato Mikaze’s ninja system: vitality.

The fourth gain was that within Kato Mikaze’s soul space, five soul fragments were now preserved. These were all dropped when he used his soul clone technique from the Spirit-Breeding Art to kill enemies during this mission.

On this outing, the drop rate for soul fragments, excluding missions where killing was unnecessary, remained at a little over one-third, somewhat higher than usual.

More importantly, among those five soul fragments, there was, very fortunately, one belonging to the White Zetsu clone: that special soul fragment, somewhat similar to the “patients” in the Spring Base, and much larger than the others.

Thanks to Tsunade’s kiss. As expected of the woman he had set his sights on, this death kiss buff was truly powerful.

Beyond these four gains, Kato Mikaze’s mission outing had one more rather important harvest.

The generous mission reward, together with many spoils that held little other value for Kato Mikaze, was enough money to give his already deflated wallet a good rescue.

Earlier, on the road when Kato Mikaze had seen Tsunade home, Tsunade’s “little loving fists” had been swinging rather fiercely, and several gambling bills had fallen from the pockets of her robe...

“That spendthrift tigress...”

Lying on the bed, Kato Mikaze muttered a soft curse at Tsunade, then recalled the teasing temptation of Tsunade licking his earlobe that night.

“That spendthrift woman. A little wild, sure, but she’s becoming more and more alluring... like a demoness...”