"Mm."
Kaede nodded and said, "only those who have experienced pain, who have felt suffering, and have been able to overcome it, and help others do the same, can truly understand how to alleviate that pain..."
Tsunade stared at Kaede for several seconds before shaking her head. "Those pains can't be erased. The only thing you can try is to ease them by forgetting, but it won't be effective."
A ninja's duty is to endure what ordinary people cannot. Every ninja has to bear pain, whether it's the death of a comrade or a loved one.
For such emotional wounds and their healing methods, ninjas rarely touch them. Even she has had little experience in this area. What could a young boy like Kaede possibly do?
Shizune was also surprised.
She hadn't expected Kaede to visit Tsunade to treat her hemophobia. After all, it was something that even Sarutobi Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and other medical ninjas couldn't help with.
However, Shizune had always wanted to find a cure for Tsunade's condition. While studying medicine, she had been searching for healing methods. After a brief hesitation, she couldn't resist speaking up:
"Lady Tsunade, maybe Kaede really can alleviate your symptoms? After all, he managed to overcome that kind of pain and even comforted his brother, Kakashi..."
For some reason, she felt an inexplicable trust in Kaede.
"Shizune!"
Tsunade shot Shizune a displeased look, but Shizune only shrank back a little before biting her lip and meeting her gaze, leaving Tsunade no choice but to helplessly shake her head.
Tsunade turned her attention back to Kaede, crossing her arms in front of her. "Fine, let's see what you can do..."
Kaede sat down in front of Tsunade, his expression becoming serious. "I apologize, Lady Tsunade. Please treat me as a doctor and yourself as a patient. Do not resist the treatment."
Seeing Kaede's demeanor, Tsunade couldn't help but smile. "Alright."
She was curious to see what Kaede was capable of.
After adjusting his posture and creating the right atmosphere, Kaede began guiding Tsunade through psychological techniques, drawing from the knowledge he had mastered in his past life. The treatment began.
The effect was surprisingly good.
Perhaps it was due to Tsunade's already somewhat exhausted state, but after some treatment and reassurance, she fell into a deep sleep.
"Shh."
Seeing Tsunade asleep in front of him, Kaede made a gesture to Shizune.
Shizune immediately understood, nodding as she quietly moved to help him gently lay Tsunade down. They placed a pillow under her head, and Kaede carefully covered her with a blanket.
As they laid her down, Kaede couldn't help but briefly glimpse past Tsunade's loose sleeping attire, catching a faint sight of something he could only describe as a "holy light" covering her.
Kaede remained calm, viewing it as the reward for the exhausting treatment.
With an unchanged expression, he and Shizune finished tending to Tsunade, then exchanged a quiet word before silently leaving the tent.
After all, he had been exposed to many such scenes in his past life and wasn't fazed by these things. But he couldn't help but think that while the experience wasn't shocking, reality was far more impressive than anything he had seen in the pages of his old books.
Returning to his tent, he reflected on his own situation.
If he continued using time acceleration to hasten his growth, he'd likely reach the body of an 18-year-old by the time he was around 12 or 13. Meanwhile, people like Asuma and others wouldn't even be older than 12. This created a troubling dilemma.
This wasn't the Warring States period, where people lived to an average age of around 30. Now, most ninjas marry around 18 or older.
From what he observed, young ninja couples in Konoha tended to start dating between the ages of 9 and 14, fall in love between 15 and 18, and marry and have children around 18 to 20.
Kaede preferred to adapt to the local customs of whatever world he found himself in. He believed in experiencing the world through its own lens, so he stayed in the ninja academy until he was 9 before graduating.
"My personality is actually pretty nasty," Kaede chuckled to himself as he walked toward his tent.
Perhaps it was because he had been unnoticed and overlooked in his past life, but in this world, he enjoyed the attention of girls like Hinata, Rin, and Shizune.
But upon reflection, he realized there was nothing particularly malicious about it. He just maintained the image of a normal, sunny, and talented ninja.
From another angle, perhaps it was the girls, Hinata and others, who were the ones being a bit... persistent.
After entering his tent, Kaede thought further.
He planned to follow his original plan: to use time acceleration to quickly grow his body to around the age of 20, reaching his physical peak.
He didn't need to worry about shortening his lifespan, as he had the ability to reverse time, allowing him to maintain a single age for as long as he liked.
…
The next day.
Tsunade woke up feeling refreshed and stretched lazily. It had been a long time since she had slept so well, and for once, her dreams weren't nightmares.
As her thoughts focused again, she quickly noticed the unusual state of her mind. Recalling what had happened the previous day, she couldn't help but feel surprised.
"That kid's treatment… actually worked?"
The reason she had agreed to cooperate with Kaede was partly because she had sensed Shizune's desire to help, and partly because she wanted to see what Kaede could actually do.
But to her surprise, Kaede's "treatment" seemed to have a real effect. She could clearly feel that when she recalled her traumatic memories, the emotional turmoil wasn't as intense as before.
"Lady Tsunade, you're awake?!"
Shizune, who had gone out to fetch water, returned to the tent and whispered upon seeing Tsunade sitting up.
Yesterday, when Kaede had helped Tsunade fall asleep during the "treatment," Shizune had been relieved. Whether it worked or not, at least it hadn't gotten worse.
"Mm."
Tsunade nodded, a thoughtful look in her eyes.
Kaede did seem to have some ability after all.
As for how a boy who had never learned medical ninjutsu could possess such therapeutic skills, Tsunade was able to come up with a reasonable explanation.
After suffering severe emotional trauma, being able to pull oneself out of it and then comfort someone else who had been similarly affected, like her brother, could lead to finding methods to help others. This was rare, and it seemed that Kaede might be the only one with such a method right now.
"It seems you weren't exaggerating when you spoke of him, Shizune."
As Tsunade dressed, she commented, "That kid really does have some talent."
Although she said "some talent," she had already mentally placed Kaede in the "genius" category. As a medical expert, Tsunade knew how difficult it was to master such a method of treatment.
It probably took countless exceptional healers to analyze the psychological aspects of trauma, to try, test, and refine methods, and even then, it was hard to create a viable theory. Kaede might have just stumbled upon the right path.
But such luck was rare, not everyone would find it, and Kaede's psychological maturity was much greater than his physical age. otherwise, he couldn't have pulled this off.
Though graduating from the academy at nine and becoming Orochimaru's student might not seem like much, in the area of psychological treatment, Kaede was definitely a genius.
"So you do agree with me, Lady Tsunade?"
Shizune smiled, pleased.
Tsunade snorted softly, "It's still too early to say. It's not that easy to impress me. Go tell him to come again tonight."
"Got it."
Shizune grinned as she responded.
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