It was already the next day when Kazuyama woke up.
He had slept well, but as soon as he tried to stretch, he noticed something was wrong. First, there was the IV in his hand. When he reached for it, he realized it was back-bleeding. A closer look revealed that half the length of the tube—more than a meter long—had turned bright red. Panicked, he quickly let go of his hand.
Lowering it, he immediately sensed someone nearby.
"Huh? You're awake?"
"Hey, hey, hey! What's wrong with your IV? Why is it all red?"
Pakura, who had been awakened by Kazuyama's movement, slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the blood-filled tube, she recoiled in alarm.
"Calm down, calm down," Kazuyama reassured her quickly. "I just stretched a little carelessly, and some blood flowed back. It's nothing serious; it'll be fine in a bit. Don't worry, the blood will all go back into my body."
"But, why are you even here?"
Kazuyama hesitated, a trace of doubt crossing his mind. "Shouldn't I be in the ANBU infirmary?"
Pakura glanced at him. His complexion, no longer pale, seemed much better, and she let her guard down. She huffed in annoyance.
"It was your ANBU people who notified Aunt Ebisami that you'd been hospitalized after your mission," she explained grumpily. "Aunt Ebisami was so scared, thinking you might lose a limb or two. She had to go back to take care of the little ones, so I'm the one keeping an eye on you."
Kazuyama let out a sly chuckle, his tone annoyingly mischievous.
"Oh? So, you spent the night in the same room as me?"
Pakura narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, so what? If I didn't, would I just let you die here?"
Hearing her response, Kazuyama immediately put on an exaggerated, aggrieved expression.
"You—you actually took advantage of me while I was in the hospital! I'm still a young boy Ugh… Where's my innocence? They just let a poor girl grope me all night! What do you think should be done about this?"
Pakura's eyes widened in disbelief, her jaw dropping slightly. She had never encountered anyone this shameless before. She touched him all night? Was this guy serious?
Her mind flashed back to the moment she had carried him out of the bathroom. The victim hadn't said a word then, and now this jerk was flipping the story on her!
Kazuyama burst into laughter, watching her expression shift from pale to red to furious.
"Just kidding, just kidding! Don't get mad. I'm a patient, remember? If you hit me, you'd be bullying a defenseless guy!"
Pakura's anger boiled over, but in the end, she let out a frustrated laugh.
"I should've ignored you, you bastard!" she snapped. "Go to hell!"
As she moved to get up, Kazuyama pulled her back down with a smirk.
"It was just a joke, you idiot! Why are you so dense?"
Pakura felt the heat and strength of his grip on her wrist. Suddenly, her body went limp, and she found herself sitting back down without understanding why.
"Hmph, let me tell you—if you pull a stunt like that again, you'd better watch out..."
As she spoke, Pakura made a scissor motion with her fingers, which sent a chill down Kazuyama's spine.
Mom, this woman is terrifying when she's serious—and she's always ready to snap.
His thoughts drifted. Maybe Tsunade would be better. At least she wouldn't go around threatening to cut people up. Well... no, with Tsunade, it'd be a series of punches instead. And if you get hit by her, you'd end up in pieces anyway. Ugh, forget it. Neither of them is good!
Kazuyama suddenly slapped his forehead as a thought struck him. "Pakura! Go buy me something quickly. I need it!"
"Huh? What do you need? You're in this state, and you want to eat?"
"It's not food. I need a bunch of big cloth bags, like the ones used to carry rice. Hurry—I need at least a few dozen!"
Pakura blinked, her face full of confusion. "What do you need so many bags for?"
But Kazuyama ignored her question, his excitement building. "Oh, and storage scrolls! Head south to the village—there's a shop there that sells them."
He thought for a moment and added, "He sells them from his house. As for the money, go ask Ebisami. Tell her I'll pay her back double later!"
"Don't just stand there—go! Come back to me after you've bought everything!"
Kazuyama grabbed the IV stand with one hand and tugged on Pakura with the other, urging her to hurry. Despite her confusion, she left to do as he asked.
First, she went home to get the money, then set off shopping. She returned with 50 large bags and headed to the shop Kazuyama had mentioned to buy storage scrolls. She only bought ten since they were expensive—3,000 ryo each, the price of 50 bowls of ramen.
Thanks to Kazuyama's earlier looting spree in the Land of Grass, their finances weren't completely drained.
By the time Pakura returned to the hospital, Kazuyama had already convinced the doctor to remove the IV. Afraid she wouldn't find him, he waited by the hospital entrance. When he spotted her walking towards him, carrying all the supplies in her arms, Kazuyama's face lit up with a wide grin.
He looked genuinely happy.
"Come on, I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Pakura didn't even have a chance to respond before Kazuyama grabbed her arm and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
In her line of sight, they first left the village, then shot off in a specific direction. After several consecutive uses of the technique, they finally reached their destination.
A sudden flash of golden light made Pakura cover her eyes, blinking several times before her vision adjusted. What she saw next made her lose her composure.
A mountain of gold. It was literally a mountain of gold.
"My goodness! Is this for real?"
Seeing Pakura's stunned expression, Kazuyama laughed loudly. This was exactly the reaction he wanted—after all, who wouldn't be shocked by a pile of gold this massive?
"Kazuyama, where did you get this?" Pakura asked, still in disbelief. "There aren't stones mixed in here, are there?"
Kazuyama rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. I can tell you responsibly that this is the real deal—a mountain of gold, or rather, golden sand!"
"This is my trophy!"
Golden sand? The term tugged at Pakura's memory, and her expression shifted as realization struck. She turned to Kazuyama, her face full of disbelief.
"Golden sand? Is that what I think it is?"
Kazuyama grinned, flashing his teeth. "Yep, exactly what you think. I got it from Rasa!"
So that's why it looked so familiar! Pakura's eyes widened in shock.
"Your mission wasn't to fight Rasa, was it?" she demanded, her voice sharp. "No wonder you went straight to the hospital after coming back. Rasa's even stronger than me—he's the next Kazekage!"
"Are you insane? You should've retreated the moment he made a move! That was Magnet Release!"
Kazuyama remained silent, letting her vent. He could hear the worry beneath her scolding, and it made him smile.
When she finally stopped, he spoke slowly, his tone light.
"Pakura, you know what? Hearing you like this makes me pretty happy. After all, you're not upset because my opponent was a ninja from Sunagakure."
He stepped closer, his voice soft but firm. "Second, how do you know I can't beat Rasa?"
He pointed at the mountain of gold. "I'll tell you this—Rasa's in worse shape than I was. I not only beat him, but I also robbed him blind. Look at all this Gold Dust! If I didn't seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.
"Once Rasa becomes Kazekage, he'll hardly ever leave the village. It'll be impossible to pull something like this off again!"
Kazuyama placed a hand on Pakura's shoulder, his grin widening.
After all, Pakura had been nervous and worried about him. That alone made him feel content.
"You idiot, even if you're short of money, you can't take such risks..." Pakura's voice trailed off. "I'm currently... just an intern teacher, but Principal Hatake is still paying me a salary..." She suddenly lost her momentum, and Kazuyama burst out laughing at the sight.
"You, just forget it. Wait until you're made permanent. I've been making money for so many years; I know exactly what kind of business to do and what not to do. Since I ran into him this time, there's no reason for me not to do it. It's fine. Stop stalling and help me load the money! Where's the bag? Get it out!"
Kazuyama loved money, and that was the truth, but not all of it was his to take; otherwise, with his Transparent Escape Technique, he would have been rich beyond his wildest dreams. He set aside a handful of gold sand, then breathed fire on it, refining it into pure gold. Seeing this, Pakura began to help refine the gold as well. The two of them worked together like true gold refiners.
Once all the gold sand had been refined, they started filling their bags with the gleaming metal. They continued this process all afternoon until they had processed and packed all the gold Kazuyama had brought.
"Wow, that's a lot! This bag may be small, but it's enough to hold about a kilo of gold. And there are 32 bags in total. Wow, haha, haha, haha! A kilo of gold is worth roughly 3 million! 32 bags! We're officially multi-millionaires!"
Kazuyama was beside himself with excitement. He looked at the gold-filled bags in front of him, his whole body boiling with exhilaration. Even Pakura hadn't expected that the gold sand could be refined into as much as 32 bags of gold.
"Where are the scrolls? Where are the scrolls? Pakura, hurry, we must keep this money safe! Hahahaha!"
Pakura quickly took out ten scrolls, and Kazuyama immediately opened them. He stored three gold bags in each scroll, keeping the remaining two for daily expenses.
"Pakura, let's go! I'm in a good mood today! I'll treat you to the best barbecue in the village! It's super delicious!"
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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