Ryo nodded without saying much more and led the group to several other areas.
Under Ryo's guidance, time passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was already noon.
At Gardevoir's call, Ryo ended their little tour.
"Alright, I think you've seen enough for now. How about staying for lunch before heading out?" he offered.
As soon as he finished speaking, Tsunade immediately nodded. "Sure! I haven't had a proper chat with Cynthia in a while—plus Hoopa and Diancie too."
Seeing her enthusiastic response, Ryo couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth. If it weren't for that obvious gulping motion, he might've believed her act.
Jiraiya and Naruto also nodded in agreement. "Then we'll be troubling you, Boss."
"No trouble," Ryo replied, shaking his head. "Let's go."
With that, he headed back toward the backyard, and Tsunade and the others followed closely behind.
Just as he opened the door to the backyard, he heard a voice from behind.
"Ryo! You're so slow! Hoopa's starving!"
Shaking his head, Ryo stepped out and saw Hoopa frowning at him.
"If you're hungry, just start eating. I already had some energy cubes set aside for you," Ryo said, helplessly.
"Hmph—" Hoopa pouted. "Gardevoir said we couldn't eat until you arrived. This is your fault. Hoopa's starving!"
Ryo sighed and walked over to pat Hoopa on the head. "Alright, my bad. I'll make sure to come earlier next time so Hoopa won't go hungry."
He turned toward Gardevoir. "You really don't have to wait for me. Everyone can start eating without me."
Gardevoir smiled and nodded—neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Ryo didn't press the matter. He knew it was pointless to argue; he'd said this before, and it never changed.
"Hoopa, long time no see. How's your win streak been lately?" Tsunade walked over and greeted Hoopa warmly.
"Not good," Hoopa huffed. "Hoopa's been losing a lot. But that ends today! I'll win this afternoon, for sure!"
There was a spark of determination in Hoopa's eyes.
"Hoopa!"
That cold voice cut in sharply from the side.
The moment Hoopa heard it, the excitement drained from his face, replaced by a look of utter despair.
Everyone turned toward the voice and saw Cynthia standing there, arms crossed and holding Diancie, fury blazing in her eyes.
Staring straight at Hoopa, she said, "If you go again today, I'm making you go a whole day without food."
"Ahem—" Ryo quickly cleared his throat. "Alright, alright, let's not argue. Let's eat first. Everyone, grab a seat—Jiraiya, Naruto, Tsunade, you too. Hoopa, weren't you hungry? Dig in already."
"Hmph—"
Cynthia snorted but didn't say anything more.
And so, everyone sat down and began eating the meal Gardevoir had prepared.
After the earlier drama, the lunch was surprisingly quiet.
Even Tsunade, usually rough and casual during meals, toned it down this time.
Soon enough, lunch came to an end. Afterward, Tsunade and the others left.
Cynthia and Konan also went off to handle their own business.
The Pokémon, too, returned to training or playing as usual.
With everyone gone, Ryo turned his gaze to Kakuzu.
"I've figured out a solution to our staffing shortage for the new branches. But… it might take some effort."
Kakuzu's eyes lit up, but then he frowned. "Effort? What kind of effort?"
"Time," Ryo replied as he stood, gazing off toward the direction of Konoha.
Kakuzu looked even more puzzled. "Time?"
He didn't quite get it—how was time a factor here?
But suddenly, something clicked, and he spoke with surprise, "Boss… you don't mean like how Konoha trains, do you?"
Ryo nodded. "Exactly what you're thinking."
He'd already been considering it after seeing Tsunade earlier.
If they were short-staffed, why not do what Konoha did—raise their own people?
They could recruit ordinary folks to bond with Pokémon. Once they reached the required level, they could be dispatched to new regions to open Pokémon Houses.
"But that takes too long. Even with years of training, Konoha still hasn't produced many people who meet our standards," Kakuzu said, clearly baffled.
Ryo shook his head slightly. "Sure, it takes time. But it solves the problem at its root. Training a trainer strong enough to rival Kage-level ninja is a lot easier than producing an actual Kage-level ninja."
"This time we're short-handed, and even if we recruit now, what about next time? And the time after that?"
Kakuzu fell silent.
He knew Ryo was right. Kage-level ninja were incredibly rare across the entire ninja world.
And most of those already held top positions in their villages. Who among them would be willing to come work at a Pokémon shop?
"But Boss, we need people now," Kakuzu said, still unsure.
He knew Ryo's plan made sense long-term, but it wouldn't help in the short term.
"I know. But in the short term, we don't need to train them ourselves. We just need to offer a bit of incentive."
"Huh?"
Kakuzu looked even more confused. "Just offer incentives?"
"That's right. Give up a little profit," Ryo said with a slow nod.
When he first thought about cultivating his own staff, he realized it wouldn't be a short-term solution.
But then he remembered the upcoming tournament—and that made him think of the Gym system from the Pokémon world.
His eyes lit up at the idea. If the Pokémon world could use that system, why couldn't he?
After the tournament ends, he could select the top few participants to become Gym Leaders.
Then, he could assign them to small ninja villages to open Pokémon Houses.
Of course, it wouldn't be entirely without compensation—Ryo planned to give them certain benefits and privileges.
He was confident no one would refuse such an offer.
And even if some did, it wouldn't matter. There were plenty of people who cared about benefits—he only needed to pick a few.
The only thing that made him hesitate was that most of these potential recruits likely had Pokémon only around level 60.
But it would have to do. He could assign two people to each location, and that'd be enough.
Besides, these were small villages. It wasn't like anything major was going to happen there.
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