"Naruto, don't let your mind wander during battle. If I were your enemy, you'd already be dead."
Naruto, sprawled on the ground, clutched his stomach and rubbed it with a pained expression. The curiosity that had sparkled in his eyes moments ago vanished completely.
"Venusaur, now—Solar Beam!"
"Venaa—saur!"
Venusaur nodded firmly. A beam of blazing light began to condense rapidly at its mouth.
Seeing this, Kakashi's expression grew serious. Even he could feel the dangerous pressure emanating from that gathering light.
Without a moment's hesitation, he moved to dodge.
But just as he did, the condensed beam erupted from Venusaur's mouth, shooting straight toward Kakashi with blinding speed.
"So fast!"
Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately accelerated his movements to avoid the beam.
Swish—
The next second, the beam tore through the air, and a loud boom echoed across the area.
A cloud of smoke billowed where Kakashi had been moments earlier. The charred scent and airborne particles made the onlookers widen their eyes in astonishment.
…
"Kakashi! Lady Tsunade, are you sure this is safe?"
Shizune stood at a distance, anxiety written all over her face as she turned to Tsunade.
Venusaur's attack was no less powerful than an S-rank ninjutsu. If Kakashi had been hit, even if he didn't die, he'd be seriously injured.
"Don't worry. Kakashi's fine," Tsunade replied calmly. "And he's not as easy to deal with as you think."
"Yeah, just watch. Kakashi isn't someone who can be taken down so easily," Jiraiya added with a chuckle. He knew Kakashi's strength very well—after all, he was practically his grand-disciple.
As a true genius, Kakashi was far more than just an elite jōnin.
Hearing this, Shizune finally let out a breath of relief and didn't press further. She turned her attention back to the battlefield.
…
"Rai-chuu!"
Not far away, Raichu—who was locked in battle with Sakura and her partner—suddenly heard the commotion and turned its head, its expression growing anxious. Ignoring its current fight, it bolted toward Kakashi.
Seeing Raichu leave so abruptly, Eliza moved to chase it, but Sakura reached out and stopped her.
"Let it go. Don't worry about Raichu for now. Let's go check things out too."
Even though Venusaur's attack was powerful, Sakura didn't believe it had actually harmed Kakashi.
This seemed like a good opportunity to regroup with Naruto.
"Elu—!"
Eliza nodded in agreement and quickly followed behind.
Naruto, on the other hand, stared at the smoldering area with a worried look in his eyes.
Did he go too far? Could Kakashi have actually been taken out by that one blast?
Regret started to creep in—this was just supposed to be a test, not a real fight to the death.
"That was close. I almost got hit."
Just then, a voice came from the fading smoke.
Relief washed over Naruto at the sound. At the same time, his expression became sharp again.
As the smoke dispersed, Kakashi's figure gradually appeared before them.
"Rai-chuu!"
Raichu rushed to Kakashi's side and cried out joyfully.
Kakashi gave Raichu a reassuring pat on the head. "Don't worry. I'm okay."
Then, turning to Naruto and Sakura, he said, "Not bad at all. I'm impressed with how far you two have come. The bells are still with me, but that's good enough. You've both passed."
There was no need to continue the fight. He'd already seen enough of their strength.
"That's enough for now," Tsunade said as she stepped forward from the sidelines.
Naruto and Sakura both nodded. Although they were a bit disappointed that they didn't manage to take the bells, they accepted the result.
Afterward, the group chatted for a while before heading back toward the Hokage Building.
…
The next morning, inside the Pokémon Home.
"Konan, long time no see."
As usual, Konan sat behind the front desk, lazily watching the people pass by. The sudden call of her name made her sit up straight.
Turning toward the voice, she saw Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Naruto approaching. Her eyes lit up. "Jiraiya-sensei, you're back?"
Jiraiya nodded. "Yep, I'm back. How've you been? Getting used to life in Konoha?"
Konan gave a gentle nod. "I am. It's been nice here."
"Oh, right—where's Nagato?"
"He's not in Konoha. He left yesterday," Konan replied.
Jiraiya gave a regretful sigh. "Ah, I see."
As the two chatted, Tsunade stepped forward and cut in, "Save the catching up for later."
She turned to Konan and asked, "Where's Ryo?"
Konan pointed toward the back. "He's in the rear courtyard."
Tsunade nodded. "Alright then. We won't bother you anymore."
With that, the group walked toward the back.
In the rear courtyard, Ryo was currently meeting with Kakuzu, who had just returned.
"Boss, these are our earnings for the month, plus the financial reports from all the branches!"
Kakuzu sat across from Ryo, his face brimming with excitement.
Ryo looked at Kakuzu's eager expression with some confusion, but took the stack of reports from him and began reading through them carefully.
The moment his eyes caught the figures listed under this month's earnings, a flicker of disbelief flashed across his face. Now it all made sense—why Kakuzu had looked so ecstatic.
"Four hundred and fifty million ryo in profits this month?" he murmured in astonishment.
And that wasn't revenue—it was pure profit.
Thanks to the system, Ryo didn't have to bear any cost in sourcing the items. Which meant that every single ryo in those earnings could go straight into his own pocket.
Kakuzu nodded, still grinning. "Yeah. The tournament made a huge impact. Business boomed."
Ryo exhaled slowly, regaining his composure, though his mind was still spinning from the number.
"So, the tournament really did boost the popularity of Pokémon across the board…"
Their profits in the previous months had already passed the hundred million mark, but only just. Compared to that, this month's leap was downright absurd—nearly quadruple the previous record.
No longer dwelling on the raw profits, Ryo flipped through the reports from each of the branches. He read them line by line with a critical eye.
By the end, his brows were furrowed in thought. He had already spotted several areas of concern.
The simplest and most glaring issue—there just weren't enough branches to handle the surge in customers.
"Kakuzu, how many branches do we have right now?" Ryo asked, closing the report.
Truthfully, he didn't have an exact number in mind. He hadn't been paying much attention to those logistics lately.
Of course, that wasn't entirely fair. Once they had opened branches in each of the Five Great Ninja Villages, Ryo had gradually stopped worrying about expansion.
But things had changed.
Kakuzu leaned back and began to recount, "Counting the main shop here in Konoha and the newer expansions in the Land of Lightning, we have about twenty-two branches in total. But…"
He paused, clearly aware of what Ryo was getting at.
"…But if this trend keeps up, we'll be overwhelmed soon."
Ryo nodded. "We'll need more branches. A lot more."
They couldn't afford to let long lines and waitlists frustrate customers. Not when demand was skyrocketing.
"And we'll need more staff trained to handle Pokémon treatment, battle consultations, cube crafting, and tournament organizing," he added thoughtfully. "We're no longer just a novelty shop. This is a full-blown industry."
Kakuzu's eyes lit up at the word "industry."
"Should I start looking for new locations?"
"Start with the surrounding towns," Ryo said. "But also—target neutral zones. Places not under direct control of the big villages. We want reach, but not political entanglements."
Kakuzu nodded. "Got it. I'll get my network moving. We'll have proposals and numbers by the end of the week."
Ryo leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the edge of the table.
This wasn't just a good month. This was a turning point.
He glanced down at the report again, rereading the numbers, as if to ground himself.
Four hundred and fifty million…
And they weren't even at full saturation yet.
With the right moves, with expansion and infrastructure in place—he could turn this world of ninja and chakra into a world where Pokémon reigned supreme.
And he would be at the center of it all.
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