After a surprisingly peaceful night's sleep, Nobu awoke to find himself holding, not being held by, Yui. He wouldn't have been troubled by this under normal circumstances, but, due to her penchant for waking early, the first thing he saw was Yui staring off into space with a bored yet patient look on her face.

"What are you thinking about...?"

Not expecting the sudden question, Yui's body briefly tensed as she turned her head to face Nobu, answering, 'Uh...I was thinking about training..."

Raising his right brow, Nobu began to lightly tap Yui's unsurprisingly exposed stomach as he asked, "Training...?".

Though she was momentarily distracted by Nobu's wayward hand, Yui still managed to nod her head, explaining, "The time I spent on my mission was the longest period I've ever gone without training. Before that, I would have lessons as both a warrior and a kunoichi. At times, my training menu was so packed that it would even bleed into the following days..."

Understanding what she was trying to say, Nobu ceased playing with Yui's bellybutton before sitting up and asking, "So? You're not going to train anymore? Isn't that like super important if you want to be a warrior...?"

Rising to sit alongside him, Yui made no effort to conceal her palm-sized, perfectly cuppable, breasts as she answered, "Well...it's not that simple. The resources of a clan are not unlimited. Once a member reaches a certain age, the only way they can receive additional resources is to contribute to the clan's prosperity. As for us contracted kunoichi like us...well, things are a bit different..."

Frowning, Nobu asked, "How so...?" despite the uncomfortable feeling that was beginning to swell within his chest.

With an apologetic smile on her face and a somewhat distant look in her eyes, Yui went on to explain, "Once the Lord of a contracted kunoichi reaches adulthood, they effectively become our sole proprietor. We're training to take care of your every need, and, in exchange, you are expected to reward us for our efforts. In other words...now that you are here, our growth has become entirely dependent on the resources you can provide for us. We can still train, but, without pills, herbs, medicines, and other resources, our growth will be limited..."

Expecting Nobu to furrow his brows and even curse, Yui was more than a little surprised to see him nod his head and muttered, "Ah...well, that makes more sense. If you all kept doing everything without expecting anything in return, I might have lost my shit..."

Now that he understood that the girls weren't entirely his slaves, a bit of a weight had been removed from Nobu's shoulders. It also helped him to justify why the girls were so eager to please him, as, from their perspective, their success in life was entirely dependent on him.

Fortunately, while he was currently very weak, Nobu was pretty confident in his ability to grow much stronger. He might only be earning 0.005 Aura per click, but that was still five times the amount he was earning in the beginning. Since the difference between Ranks was the same until you advanced to the next Realm, this meant his cultivation actually increased between Ranks rather than decreasing due to a lack of effort and resources.

Thinking of the stone tablet, Nobu habitually manifested it before looking towards the naked beauty silently observing him and saying, "Well, if you're bored or feeling anxious, you're free to continue training at your leisure. I'll probably start my own exercise routine pretty soon. As for the other girls...well, let's get together and talk about that kind of thing around lunchtime. I really don't have anything for you guys to do so you're free to make your own decisions. They can even loiter around here all day if they want to. Just make sure Kazue takes a bath first. That girl smells like ass."

Though she probably shouldn't have, Yui found herself chuckling in response to Nobu's rude remark. She knew he wasn't actually trying to be hurtful. He was just said whatever came to his mind without even trying to filter it. This made her think he was somewhat childish in the past, but, now that she was getting to know him, Yui was beginning to believe he was just honest to a fault.

As that thought crossed her mind, Yui removed the covers before rising to reveal her naked form in all its petite and lithe glory. Then, while fixing her hair so that it wouldn't get tangled, she said, "I'm going to move some of my stuff today. I'll also talk to my Grandmother about knocking down the adjacent walls that we can use the space next door for training. I imagine you don't want to exercise in front of a bunch of kunoichi so we'll convert the room over into a private dojo. Is that okay with you...?"

Taken aback by the drastic change in Yui's behavior, Nobu found himself at a momentary loss for words before ultimately nodding his head and saying, "Yeah. Having to bathe with a bunch of horned-up kunoichi is already bad enough. The last thing I need is a fucking peanut gallery sitting off to the side as I do basic training...

With even the children of the clan being more powerful than him, at least for the time being, Nobu wasn't particularly enthused by the prospect of having them watch him like a strange animal. He also wanted to limit the number of people closely monitoring his growth. As shitty as the situation had been, the incident with Shizune had made him aware of the fact that even 'trainees' could sense the changes in his Aura. He knew it was only a matter of time before his growth drew the attention of countless pains in the ass, but that didn't mean he wanted to go around advertising it...

Nodding her head in response to Nobu's words, Yui quickly donned her armor before saying, "I will inform Cho to bring your breakfast. The sun has already risen beyond the horizon so she would have already prepared something by now. Kumiko should also be stopping by to help arrange your schedule so you should be well protected so long as you don't wander too far. I should be back around noon, but you can send someone to retrieve me if anything important arises. I will never prioritize my own plans over yours."

Cringing in response to Yui's final statement, Nobu waved her off, saying, "Yeah, yeah, if you say so..." in a slightly annoyed tone. This caused an awkward smile to develop across her face, but, understanding it was probably for the best she remained silent, Yui just nodded her head before quickly departing the room.

Exhaling a sigh shortly after Yui's departure, Nobu sat back down and began to fiddle around with the stone tablet. He had stockpiled nearly four days worth of clicks at this point, so, while it was guaranteed to draw attention, he wanted to work through the more than 390,000 clicks he had accumulated. This was more than 1,700 Aura, so, if he worked hard, he could literally increase his base from Rank 5 to Rank 7 in a single day.

As that thought crossed his mind, Nobu noticed a tiny icon in the top left of his screen, much like the indicators that informed you when you had a missed call or text. This took a bit of the wind out of his sails, but, so long as he could continue stockpiling clicks, it wasn't like he had to use them right this instant. After all, if he was serious and went on a fourteen-hour spree, he could easily click between 700,000~800,000 times in a single day. In other words, so long as he invested just a single day towards clicking, he could basically take the rest of the week off.

Hoping for some kind of good news, Nobu's pupils shrank to the size of pinholes the moment he thumbed the notification and saw it read: You have (13) new friend requests. His breathing became one long and steady breath that rapidly cooled his head, and, though he already had some suspicions regarding why the number was listed as eleven, his heart began beating had enough to make his throat pulse as he opened the messenger app and tapped on his friends list.

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[Yoshitsune Yui] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Yuriko] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Hitomi] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Suzune] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Chikako] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Kiku] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Kazue] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Kumiko] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Aiko] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Cho] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Ayane] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Takao] would like to add you as a friend.

[Yoshitsune Rukia] would like to add you as a friend.

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"Note to self...make sure to check the tablet at least twice a day..."

Since he hadn't really touched the stone tablet ever since the incident with Shizune, Nobu didn't know how much time had passed since he received the notifications. He also didn't really know what triggered them, but, considering the mother-daughter duo of Takao and Rukie were listed, he assumed it was their desire to coordinate or work alongside him. The only alternative he could think of was them wanting to have sex, but, considering names like Shizune were missing, he doubted it.

"Who the fuck is Hitomi...? Yui's Grandmother...?"

Though he had been speaking to himself, Nobu nearly jumped to his feet when he heard someone answer, "Yes." in a dull monotone. Fortunately, it was a voice he had recognized. Unfortunately, the owner of the voice wasn't alone. Instead, he turned his head to find both Aiko and Chikako staring at him from a few meters away, both seated in a seiza position...

"How long have the two of you been sitting there...?"

Answering on behalf of them both, Aiko explained, "Yui-sama informed us that you had given us permission to enter the room and 'loiter about'. We did announce our presence when we first came in, but my Lord was distracted with his musing. We didn't want to disturb you so we have been sitting here ever since."

Recalling that he did tell Yui to inform the girls that they could loiter around in his room, a wry smile developed across Nobu's face. He should have expected that they would enter if given the option, so, while it had still scared the living bejesus out of him, he decided not to rebuke them for doing something he said they could do. He also didn't question whether or not they would reveal his secrets to anyone, as, the moment he began worrying about shit like that, he would never be able to rest peacefully.

"Well...whatever...it's good that the two of you are here. Tell me if you notice anything strange when I do this..."

Punctuating his words, Nobu attempted to confirm both Aiko and Chikako as friends. What he didn't expect was for a notification to pop up, asking, "Would you like to spend 713,420 Aura to add [Yoshitsune Aiko] as a friend?" before immediately following up with a notification that stated, "Warning: Insufficient Aura to complete this transaction."

Deadpanning in response to the ridiculous cost, Nobu left Aiko and Chikako feeling confused as he briefly hung his head in his hands. The cost to add someone as a friend was apparently the same as their cultivation base. This meant Aiko was a Rank 7 Silver Adept, as, every time you increased a Realm, the requirements for the next were ten times the base amount. This meant it required 10,000 to reach Iron, 100,000 to reach Silver, and 1,000,000 to reach Gold. As for what purpose befriending people served...well, he would apparently have to wait until he either recruited a child or increased his cultivation base to the point that he could willfully sacrifice hundreds-of-thousands without flinching...

...

..

.

(A/N: If something costs that much, it has to be good though...right...right!?)