Chapter 16: I'm Not Interested in Money!

Chapter 16: I'm Not Interested in Money!

The next day, during medical duty.

Kita Yama Ogi arrived at work holding a book, thinking she was the first one there. However, when she arrived, she noticed that the lights in the boys' locker room were on, with wisps of mist drifting out from underneath the door.

Moreover,

the mist carried a strange odor.

After hesitating for a moment, she decided to open the door and see what was going on.

Good heavens!

As soon as she opened the door, a strong medicinal smell hit her nose, causing her to cough incessantly. It took her a long time to get used to the pungent scent. The thick mist inside made it impossible to see anything.

Once she was sure the mist was not poisonous, she cautiously stepped inside.

“Is anyone here?”

“Anyone at all?”

Carefully, Kita Yama Ogi explored step by step until she reached the bathing area inside the locker room, where she finally found the source of the mist—

In the bathtub, a remarkably handsome young boy lay completely submerged, reclining in water dyed a deep black by some mysterious medicinal concoction.

“Chiba, you… ow!”

Thinking Chiba had fainted, she hurried over, only to kick something small and lose her balance, falling into the bathtub.

Although Kita Yama Ogi was a Special Jonin, as a medical ninja she hadn’t fought or practiced physical skills for a long time and was unable to adjust her posture in time.

Splash!

After the noise, came a pained “ouch.”

“Who’s there?”

Fortunately, the impact hit her abdomen and did not shift lower; otherwise, little Chiba, who was just gaining momentum, would have suffered serious injury.

Clutching his stomach, Chiba climbed out of the tub.

The next moment—

Splash!

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

Kita Yama Ogi’s head popped out of the water, spitting repeatedly. Having fallen in headfirst, she was forced to swallow a mouthful of the bitter bathwater. Her throat burned with the harsh taste as she coughed violently, gasping for breath. Her soaked upper body, clinging tightly to her curves, resembled two small watermelons.

Thankfully, the thick mist concealed the scene.

“You! What are you doing? I thought you’d passed out!”

Kita Yama Ogi was a little annoyed.

She had been worried sick and wasn’t paying attention to where she stepped, yet this kid was perfectly fine, full of energy, while she herself—

Her face flushed instantly.

“Sensei, I’m conducting an experiment.”

Chiba, sensing the awkwardness, quietly pulled down a bath towel to cover himself. “Would you mind stepping outside for a moment?”

“...”

Kita Yama Ogi glanced at him, then silently turned and left.

Good grief!

He was just soaking in the bath.

She sat outside and turned on the ventilation fan, gradually thinning the mist inside.

But when she glanced down, before Chiba could come out, she hurriedly left the room. Upon opening the door, she saw Hyakusa dazedly staring at her from down the corridor.

“Senior Kita Yama?”

“Chiba is running an experiment; I was just… Anyway, you’ll see once you look.”

Kita Yama Ogi quickly retreated back into the locker room.

After a moment’s hesitation, Hyakusa approached the locker room door and opened it. A mix of various smells flooded out. As a seasoned medical ninja, he was accustomed to all sorts of odors, but even he found it overwhelming and hastily shut the door.

Minutes later,

Chiba emerged, a little embarrassed. “There’s no continuous hot water supply at home, so I thought I’d run the experiment here last night.”

“You did the experiment all night?”

Kita Yama Ogi was shocked and then irritated. “You’re risking your life! And who experiments like that—using their own body as a guinea pig? What if something went wrong?”

“No worries. Before the first version, I made sure it was basically harmless to the body. The effects were mild, and the changes I made yesterday only affect the medicine’s properties—they won’t turn it into poison.”

Chiba explained.

But Kita Yama Ogi wasn’t convinced. Every medicine required countless trials to perfect. At least this boy had the right mindset—not experimenting on others.

Still,

using his own body as a test subject was too reckless.

“Sensei, I know I was wrong.”

“You know?”

Kita Yama Ogi laughed bitterly.

This wasn’t the first time Chiba had been reckless; previously, with the soldier’s ration pills, he quietly finished the work before even telling her.

“Yes, I know. I’ll definitely change next time!”

“Bah, I bet you’ll still dare to do it again.”

Kita Yama Ogi took a deep breath to calm her anger.

As for the embarrassing moment when she fell into the tub, she no longer cared much.

Silence filled the office for a while.

“Alright, I know you’re a genius, but even a genius can’t just mess around like this. What if you got poisoned? Who would save you at night?”

Kita Yama Ogi said gently.

Chiba nodded repeatedly without argument.

Only then did her anger subside, and the outline of her soaked clothes stopped shifting.

“Alright, let’s drop this. What kind of experiment are you working on?”

Kita Yama Ogi asked with curiosity.

This kid had great talent; as long as it wasn’t an S-rank jutsu, he could learn it in a few tries. His creativity was exceptional. Her scolding was out of concern for his safety.

Anyone else, she would have kicked out long ago.

“A medicinal bath.”

“Medicinal bath?”

Kita Yama Ogi was puzzled.

What was that?

“To put it simply, it’s a bath infused with medicine that quickly relieves muscle fatigue and speeds up the body’s absorption of nutrients,” Chiba explained.

Though a medical ninja herself, Kita Yama Ogi had once trained hard physically. After hearing Chiba’s explanation, she understood the benefits of a medicinal bath.

Physical ability could be replenished with soldier’s ration pills.

But muscle and bodily fatigue had been difficult to ease with medicine until now.

If Chiba’s medicine really worked, many people would gladly buy a dose every day. Moreover, it had another advantage—accelerated absorption meant the body could digest and assimilate energy faster.

Medicine created specifically for training!

“How about the ingredients?”

Kita Yama Ogi asked.

Chiba understood her meaning and described the five versions he had tried.

Versions one and two were most effective, but two of the ingredients were rare and hard to obtain, limiting production.

Versions three and four were less effective, with similar results, but used common ingredients that were easily replaceable.

The last version was slightly better than three and four but cost twice as much.

So,

there was no finished product yet.

Kita Yama Ogi thought for a moment and said, “Let’s run some promotion experiments. If you don’t mind sharing some of the profits, the medical team can help with the testing.”

“No problem.”

Chiba replied without hesitation.

“Are you sure? The ingredients are cheap, and the share you’d get would be at most ten percent. But this is a consumable; once it catches on, everyone will probably buy it. The money will add up.”

Kita Yama Ogi clarified.

Chiba nodded. “As long as I have enough, I’m not interested in money. Besides, I still have to keep improving it. I do everything myself—there’s no time for training or studying. If I had that time, I’d have created a new jutsu by now.”

“…”

Damn it, he was telling the truth, but still made her want to punch him.

She was silent for a few seconds before saying, “Submit the rough draft tomorrow. I’ll have Hyakusa and the others run the experiments. For now, your most important task is to get some sleep and rest well!”

“Yes!”

Chiba left the office and closed the door behind him, hearing the sound of books thudding on the desk inside.

Today's update schedule has been temporarily adjusted: one update at 1 a.m., and another around 11 p.m.

(End of chapter)