Chapter 23: A Gift

In the week after, Ryosuke temporarily stayed in Snowy Village under the identity of a barefoot doctor.

Snowy Village endured snowstorms all year round. The local residents, more or less, carried a trace of cold energy within their bodies. Aches in the legs, waist, hands, and feet were everyday occurrences.

During the process of treating Haku's mother, Ryosuke discovered that in the process of the Ripple confronting various types of cold energy, it was refining and growing at a much faster speed than usual.

The cold energy of the other villagers was relatively weaker than Haku's mother's, and lacked a certain indescribable sense of power. But what they had was quantity, endless and abundant.

Ryosuke couldn't always use Haku's mother for training after all…

She still had a husband.

With the help of the villagers in his training, the Ripple that had made no progress for a long time finally broke through its bottleneck.

'The first stage of Ripple training can heal flesh wounds and enhance physical quality by 2 or 3 times.'

'Later, during bounty missions, I figured out that Ripple could attach to weapons, transforming into silver Ripple and crudely enhancing the weapon's power.'

'That's the second stage, Ripple transformation.'

'But back then, Ripple transformation was still crude; only a small portion of power could be fully transformed. But now…'

A streak of bluish-green Ripple appeared at Ryosuke's fingertip.

He touched the tea water in the cup, and the tea instantly became as hard as steel, resisting his finger.

If this were river water, with bluish-green Ripple focused on his feet, Ryosuke would now be capable of walking on water.

Not only that, Ryosuke hooked his finger, pulling the tea out into the air. With a single swipe, the tea transformed into a shield of immense hardness.

The next second, the Ripple color turned crimson red. It radiated heat far more intense than before. The tea water turned to steam, and Ryosuke punched into the steam...

Boom!

An explosion rang out.

'Steam explosion.'

Ryosuke's hair flew back.

The power of this move was greater than he imagined.

'The first stage is external release of Ripple. The second stage is using breath frequency adjustment to transform the nature of Ripple, adapting to different combat scenarios.'

Crimson Ripple, effect, extremely high temperature.

Bluish-green Ripple, effect, water control and manipulation.

Silver Ripple, effect, metal enhancement, massively improving hardness, sharpness, and elasticity.

And the strongest of them all, Ryosuke opened his palm again. A streak of golden electricity flashed by.

In the past, his Ripple releases showed golden light.

Now, the golden current was more condensed than before and far more powerful.

'Sunlight Yellow Ripple.'

The Ripple with the strongest frontal attack ability. Ryosuke faintly sensed there were subtle distinctions within it, but having just broken through the bottleneck, he needed time to slowly grasp them.

Ryosuke clenched his fist and summoned Star Platinum, Aerosmith, and Hermit Purple.

Stands are projections of the user's will. As Ryosuke's body and spirit grew stronger, all the Stands he controlled received amplification.

'If it weren't for the time needed to train and break through step-by-step, the Ripple breathing technique would absolutely be a five-star, or even a six-star, Stand-level technique.'

'Once I fully master the attribute transformation of Sunlight Yellow Ripple Overdrive, the power of one punch… even if it's weaker than first-stage Star Platinum, it won't be by much."

Ryosuke could already imagine the scene, future enemies, thinking they'd discovered the secret of his Stand and avoided Star Platinum to attack his "weak" body, only to get obliterated by a single punch.

This trip to Snowy Village was well worth it.

Otherwise, had he trained alone in isolation, who knows how long it would've taken to break through to stage two of the Ripple.

Ryosuke slowly exhaled and retracted his Ripple power.

Knock! Knock!

Knocking sounded from outside again.

Before Sasuke could open the door, a woman in her thirties, still youthful and charming, pushed it open and strode in.

While walking, she was already taking off her thick winter coat, revealing only a loosely wrapped chest binding underneath, exposing large patches of snow-white skin.

"Doctor Ryosuke, please feel me again, I mean, treat me. My shoulder still hurts a little, hey! Why are you pulling me?!"

Before the woman could finish her sentence, another short-haired woman pulled her back.

"Get in line! Obviously, I was first! If Doctor Ryosuke is going to feel someone, it should be me first!"

"I was first!"

"Me!"

Outside the temporary clinic, a crowd of women argued loudly, all wanting to be treated by Ryosuke first.

A doctor rarely came to the village, and just one touch from Ryosuke made their whole bodies tingle.

Plus, with his model-like Uchiha face and rumors that he was still unmarried, naturally, young girls and married women alike came flocking. Some even included widows from neighboring villages who came upon hearing the news.

"Brother Ryosuke, women… are scary…" Sasuke whispered.

"They are scary," Ryosuke replied with a smile. "So, never let yourself get caught."

"Eh?"

Sasuke was stunned. "What do women have to do with getting caught?"

"What do you think will happen if you're caught by another organization or ninja village?"

"Torture? Forced to reveal breathing techniques and ninjutsu? And then… they'll dig out my Sharingan, right?"

That was the scariest outcome Sasuke could imagine.

Ryosuke shook his head slightly. "No, you won't die."

"I won't?"

"You definitely won't. In fact, you'll be treated like a king, fed with lamb kidneys, unlimited oysters every day, and then…"

Ryosuke's lips curled into a smile.

"You'll be bred."

"B-bred?!"

Not Sasuke, but Rei, who was sitting in the corner reading a book. Hearing that Sasuke would be captured and bred, the little girl's eyes widened into circles and she cried out in shock.

Ryosuke said, "Exactly. Killing you to take your eyes would be killing the chicken for the eggs. But keeping you alive and having you constantly produce new Uchiha descendants, that's the optimal strategy. In just a dozen years, they could produce an army with Sharingan."

Sasuke touched his chin, recalling Hayato Kamihara's hobbies. "But for a guy… doesn't sound that bad?"

"Heh, " Ryosuke chuckled.

"You think the ones they'll send you for breeding will be beauties? To make strong children, they'll send you muscular, tough, and brawny women."

A different Northern Rain-sister crawling into your bed every night, the image alone was terrifying.

Sasuke shivered at the thought.

Seeing his reaction, Ryosuke couldn't help but laugh. Nearby, Rei also covered her mouth and chuckled for the first time in a while.

"Ryosuke! Come test this!"

Came the voice of the blacksmith from outside.

"Coming," Ryosuke replied, walking out.

———

[County Magistrate's Residence]

County Magistrate Senmura sat in his chair, holding a wine cup. Beside him, a chocolate-skinned maid from the Land of Lightning poured his drink.

Get close and you'd notice, there was no smell of alcohol. What he drank… was water.

Senmura was in his forties, with thinning hair, around 1.6 meters tall, ordinary-looking, and slightly chubby.

No one would've thought that such a plain man would be the lord magistrate ruling over this region.

Senmura never drank alcohol, it made his mind slow and foggy. And foggy… meant mistakes.

He didn't like making mistakes.

Senmura rose from poverty, started a business, made connections, bought his official position, and eventually became a local tyrant, all through brains.

He merely enjoyed the service of beautiful women.

In front of him was the head bookkeeper, reporting line by line on the revenue and expenditure over the past month.

"Wait a minute… Snowy Village hasn't paid this month's heating tax?"

"They haven't," the bookkeeper reminded. "The two samurai sent to collect it had their legs broken and were driven back."

Senmura vaguely recalled his subordinates reporting something.

But he never cared about the lives of subordinates, so he hadn't paid attention.

Foolish peasants occasionally did stupid things.

Breaking samurai's legs?

Whatever.

But cutting off his money?

Unacceptable.

"Summon those two samurai tax collectors."

Soon after, a tall and a short samurai limped into the room.

They'd laid hands on Rei, and Sasuke had hit them viciously, likely they'd need canes for the rest of their lives.

Seeing Senmura, the two knelt in a perfect dogeza, heads low, voices choked with sobs, "My lord! You must avenge us!"

Senmura asked for the details, listened carefully, and finally asked, "The enemy was strong?"

"Very strong!"

The two samurai gestured wildly, exaggerating Ryosuke and Sasuke into devil-like monsters. They claimed they'd fought with all their might but couldn't win, and had only escaped to report back.

"Very strong, huh… Got it. You're dismissed."

The two samurai exchanged glances, confused by the magistrate's words, then bowed and left with doubt in their hearts.

Senmura rubbed his chin and pondered for a full ten minutes.

"Tell the treasurer to bring a box of gold and silver jewelry, two bolts of fine fabric, and two beautiful women. Have the Wolf Squad take a trip to Snowy Village and give that strong fellow…"

"A gift."

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