"What do you want from me Hokage-sama?"
I said acting all humble and giving respect, while openly staring and appreciating her figure.
"Cut the crap you brat. Before you go into your den, solve one small problem for me with you 'super research powers' as you call it."
"What do you want? You never, ever acknowledged my Super Research Powers. I can give you my body, but not for free."
I say alert and put my hand across my chest.
Listening to me, Shizune was trying not to laugh, while Tonton struggled between holding back laughter and breathing.
Tsunade, on the other hand, had her lips twitching and a tick mark forming on her forehead. I knew I should stop here, or I'd end up tasting the infamous "fist of love."
We had grown close enough to joke around like this while I assisted her with medical research.
"Haa… Okay, I'll let you off for now because I want your answer. How do you think I should deal with the paperwork that's doubled thanks to your research? Easier and more efficiently, of course. Aren't you all about quicker, easier, and more efficient methods? So, tell me."
I gave her a weird look, not expecting the question to be this straightforward. I had anticipated something more along the lines of Danzo's scheming.
"What's with the look? Just spit it out. Or do you want to taste the fist of love? Huh?!"
"Alright, first off, this should have been your top priority after becoming Hokage, especially since you already knew about the paperwork situation. Second, I was the one who gave you the suggestion and the name for the 'fist of love.' Lastly, I thought this was about something serious, like dealing with the pot king, not something so simple.
"Use shadow clones. Change the format of writing reports. Create a system where lower-level reports are sorted by lower ranks, and only the important ones are sent to you. How can you not think of this simple stuff?"
"…"
"…"
They just stared at me, shocked. Shizune's jaw dropped so wide that I promptly popped a candy into her mouth—one from the dango shop I had recently started supplying. She closed her mouth, embarrassed but clearly enjoying the taste. Meanwhile, Tsunade looked at me with a mix of confusion and wonder, probably questioning how my brain worked.
"What's with the looks? Tell me already, or I'll head back to my cave for research. I've got a few new ideas and won't come out for at least a week."
"Elaborate on the second and third methods," Tsunade said. "The shadow clone method will just overload my mind, which is worse."
"Okay, but don't tell me you haven't noticed! After practicing meditation for so long, especially with your experience, you don't need to worry about the mental backlash anymore. You process information faster and more efficiently now, right?"
"Oh? You're right. I do take less time than before, but the problem was with your multiple submissions recently. Otherwise, I'd usually be done by night."
Poof!
A shadow clone of Tsunade appeared and promptly left. After about fifteen minutes, we waited for her confirmation. During that time, the clone read and memorized random documents. Just as I predicted, there was no mental strain.
"Alright, now about the other methods," Tsunade said, clearly trying to sweep her earlier oversight under the rug. However, the embarrassment was still evident.
I explained the second method: she should organize a team under her specifically for sorting and managing paperwork for genin, chunin, and jonin levels. They could summarize these reports before submitting them to her.
As for the third method, I suggested changing the format of unnecessarily long reports. Key information and keywords should be listed at the top, with headings for points throughout the report making it easier to sort them by priority and importance.
Afterward, I left to work on creating the wardstone. That night, the sound of crazy laughter echoed throughout Konoha.
The main trouble or problem if you can call it that, with the wardstone, which was taking that much time is that the nature energy in this world has become too volatile. My guess is from the tree plantation project from the otsusuki pair a thousand years ago.
Due to its volatile nature, you cannot just absorb it and use it willy nily unless you have the body that can handle it, which was the case with Hashirama, or become used to it over time, as in the case with Jiraiya, or simply have the techniques or methods to deal with that volatile nature, which is how the three holy places' sage mode came along.
But, that is not what really had me stumped. I could already use natural energy because of the flowing cloud style, as a tribute to the real monkey king using a flying cloud and a bo staff as a weapon. The main issue was basically automation.
I could use natural energy, but for the seal to use natural energy and work as intended, I had to add some filters and make changes to the seal I had initially designed as it could not handle managing natural energy and once it started absorbing, it would basically suck off all the free natural energy on the planet and keep it in Konoha.
Which would turn out to be a disaster, as the high concentration cannot be handled by everyone and people will start raging or some random mutations might even occur. Plus, the nature all over the world will wither fast and take about a 100 years to recover with no human intervention.
So, after an extra week than planned of testing the seal in the back mountains of Konoha on a small scale on the animals and vegetation there, I was finally done with my first major project, which will start really affecting the timeline, although not immediately and in the future.
During this time, I also completed a few of my own side projects.