"That's amazing! Ren Takashi, did you create all of these? You must be more powerful than my great-grandfather and Second Hokage!"
Nawaki's wide-eyed praise made Ren Takashi chuckle and shake his head.
"Not at all. I'm still far behind them," Ren Takashi replied modestly. "You should focus on practicing hard."
Nawaki grinned and gave a clumsy salute. "Don't worry! After today, I'll follow your lead. You're my boss now!"
Ren Takashi's brow twitched.
"Behave yourself," Tsunade snapped, smacking Nawaki on the back of the head. "He's younger than you."
"Ouch! Sis!"
Laughter echoed around the room.
In the following half month, while keeping up with his cultivation, Ren Takashi focused on two key projects: researching nutritional pills with Tsunade, and refining blast furnace steelmaking and mechanical forging techniques in his backyard's underground facility.
Eventually, the first breakthrough came in the lab.
"Teacher, let's produce a batch and verify the formula. If everything checks out, we can start planning for mass production."
"What are we waiting for? Let's make money!" Tsunade grinned.
After final validation, they confirmed the three-tiered formula was successful. They had achieved mass-producible low-, mid-, and high-grade nutritional pills. The excitement was palpable.
Ren Takashi carefully sealed most of the data in a space scroll and teleported it to a hidden chamber in his home protected by layers of sealing barriers. Only a summary report remained in hand.
"You've mastered Flying Thunder God perfectly," Tsunade said, envious. She had tried, and failed, to learn it herself.
"It's not that hard," Ren Takashi replied with a smile.
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Says the genius."
They teleported to Uzumaki Mito's garden pavilion, where she greeted them calmly.
"Judging by your faces, the pills are ready?"
"Yes," Ren Takashi said proudly. He handed her the report. "We've classified the pills by level. Genin, Chūnin, and Jōnin recover 80% of energy per tier. Even Kage-level users regain 10% with the high-tier pill."
"Production costs, required materials, and factory setup conditions are included," Tsunade added.
Mito reviewed the document and nodded. "You've done your homework. The profit margins on low- and mid-level pills are massive. So how do you plan to move forward?"
Ren Takashi outlined the proposal: "We'll form a pharmaceutical company. Tsunade and I will hold 40% for the tech. Senju and Uchiha get 10% each. The remaining 40% will be split into eight parts for clans and suppliers through bidding."
"A fair and strategic distribution," Mito said. "Let's proceed. Prepare samples and invitations for the bidders."
She paused. "But have you secured the formula? What if someone reverse-engineers it?"
Ren Takashi smiled. "We've sealed each pill with a special lock. Unless someone has sealing skills stronger than mine, they'll trigger a self-destruction sequence in the pill."
He handed her one to inspect. With her mental perception, Mito quickly understood—the seal would dissolve safely in stomach acid, releasing the medicine. But forced analysis would destroy it.
"Simple, elegant, and unbreakable," she murmured. "You've weaponized your understanding of human greed. I'm impressed."
"It can even be branded by machine," Ren Takashi added. "We've built it into the production process."
"Now I'm worried for the thieves," Mito said, amused.
"I'm planning a bidding meeting in five days," Ren Takashi continued. "I'll also reveal a new industry—blast furnace steelmaking and hydraulic forging."
"You did that too?" Tsunade exclaimed.
Ren Takashi nodded and explained the technological leap and its applications.
"You're not human," Tsunade finally muttered.
The others, especially Minato and Kushina, silently agreed. Ren Takashi wasn't just reshaping the ninja world—he was building its future from the ground up.