“Still, speaking of which… hiding like this forever isn’t a solution.”
Nara Shikaku lifted a black stone between his fingers.
After studying the board for a long while, he finally placed it down at a leisurely pace.
Less than a second later, Nohara Haruto had already placed his white stone on the board.
“You know why the Hokage is looking for me.”
“Hey, hey.
Don’t tell me you’re planning to directly reject Lord Hokage’s decision to appoint you as Head of the Medical Department?” Shikaku said.
“That’s a promotion, you know.
The position of Medical Department Head carries considerable weight in the village.”
Nara Shikaku thought this teasing would be rather amusing.
It was rare to have a chance to joke with Haruto like this.
But he never expected the person sitting across from him to look even more serious than before, as if he were truly considering it carefully.
“I think your suggestion is good,” Haruto said.
“Refuse decisively and end the problem forever.”
The smile on Shikaku’s face gradually disappeared.
He looked surprised.
“You… really don’t plan on taking the position?”
Nohara Haruto spread his hands helplessly.
“I never even wanted to become a ninja in the first place.
They told me that if I wanted to learn medical ninjutsu, I had to become a shinobi, so I went to the Academy.
I joined the Medical Department only because I wanted to learn medical ninjutsu.”
“Who knew they would insist on making me a medical team leader?
Fortunately, I have a few subordinates to help me, so I can still manage the workload.
But if I become Head of the Medical Department, won’t I be worked to death?”
Haruto spoke with complete honesty.
Nara Shikaku let out a long sigh and placed another stone on the board.
“That personality of yours… aside from me, there probably aren’t many people who can truly understand you.”
He smiled faintly.
“The fame and status other people care so much about?
You think they aren’t worth mentioning.
But the tiny details no one else cares about?
You see them more clearly than anyone.”
“Who would have thought that when the Hyūga and Uchiha Clans sent elders to invite you for house calls again and again, you refused them all?
Yet for Might Duy, a mere civilian genin of Konoha with no clan background whatsoever, you took your entire medical team and spent several days rushing to the border of the Land of Fire, doing everything you could to save him.”
Nara Shikaku looked at him with deep curiosity.
He had always believed that he possessed the wisdom to see through everything.
But at this moment, it felt as if he had crashed into an iron wall.
There was no opening at all.
“I only save people worth saving,” Nohara Haruto said with a slight smile.
“Even so…” Shikaku continued, “Lord Hokage won’t give up on you so easily.
You should know that if directly refusing Lord Hokage worked, you wouldn’t be hiding at my place right now.
Besides… your younger sister, Rin, still plans to be a ninja, doesn’t she?”
Haruto waved his hand.
Just thinking about that gave him a headache.
“You’re great at making sarcastic comments.
Aren’t you famous for strategy and planning?
Shouldn’t you be helping me think of a way to get rid of this trouble?”
Shikaku fell into thought.
After a long silence, he slowly said,
“I think you should agree to Lord Hokage’s request and become Konoha’s Medical Department Head.”
“Damn it!”
Nohara Haruto could not help cursing.
“Have you been brainwashed by that old bastard Sarutobi Hiruzen too?
I keep telling you to eat more deer antler to nourish your brain.
Looks like your brain really isn’t working well anymore!”
His gaze swept down like a sharp blade.
For a moment, Shikaku felt as if he had been tied to a cross, waiting to be judged, with nowhere to escape.
If it had been anyone else, hearing Nohara Haruto say things like “that old bastard Sarutobi Hiruzen” or “eat some deer antler to nourish your brain” would probably have made them furious.
But most members of the Nara Clan worked in deer-raising and medicinal herb gathering.
Those herbs were used to support the development of medical ninjutsu.
As the head of the Nara Clan, Shikaku naturally had a deep relationship with this medical team leader, who had achieved quite a lot in the field of herbs and medicinal ingredients.
So he merely smiled calmly.
“When it comes to understanding Konoha and handling people smoothly, you really aren’t as good as me.”
“What I’m suggesting is a method of retreating in order to advance.”
“You can agree to Lord Hokage’s appointment as Medical Department Head, but you can also state your conditions.
For example, he cannot interfere with your freedom.
If Lord Hokage agrees, then everyone benefits.
If Lord Hokage refuses, then you’ll have a proper and justified reason to reject him, won’t you?”
“And if you become Head of the Medical Department, it will also greatly help your younger sister Rin’s future as a ninja.”
Oh…?
Nohara Haruto’s eyes lit up.
He felt that what Nara Shikaku said actually made sense.
He patted Shikaku on the shoulder and praised him with approval.
“As expected of Mr.
Shikaku, the man known as a genius strategist.
That suggestion really isn’t bad!”
Then he looked down at the Go board on the table.
As they had been talking, Shikaku’s black stones had already been slaughtered by Haruto’s white stones until not a single piece of armor remained.
“Since you’ve already lost, I’ll be leaving.”
Nara Shikaku smiled bitterly to himself.
His attitude changes fast…
Who was the one looking disgusted just now and saying my brain wasn’t working, telling me to eat deer antler to nourish it?
Wait.
Deer antler!
Nara Shikaku suddenly raised his head.
He saw that Nohara Haruto had already placed one hand on the head of one of his deer.
Shikaku roared loudly,
“I told you already!
Stop stealing my deer antlers!”
Nohara Haruto’s face turned slightly red.
His hand speed had clearly been fast enough.
He had not expected Nara Shikaku to react so quickly.
“Cough, cough… Harvesting deer antler can’t be called stealing deer antler.
This is a medical-nin matter.
How can medical work be called stealing?
Saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda…”
Nohara Haruto watched as Nara Shikaku’s face grew darker and darker.
It looked as if Shikaku was about to stop caring about his status as a jōnin and attack him, a medical-nin, right here.
Haruto sighed.
“Fine… fine.
At worst, put it under the Ninja Hospital’s account.
Go ask them for reimbursement!”
After saying that, Nohara Haruto held two pieces of deer antler in his hand and strode out of Nara Shikaku’s residence.