Chapter 272: Ding! Tsunade's One-Week Youth Experience Card Begins
Shizune looked at Tsunade with grievance, feeling that Tsunade was deliberately picking on her in retaliation for her earlier words.
So Shizune chose to continue staring at the "Zhen" character on Tsunade's stomach, until she saw Tsunade subconsciously cover it with her clothes, unaware of her own reaction.
To make the unrestrained Tsunade act like this, it was clear she was truly shy.
She felt the sealing formula still working on her body, considering whether to remove it now.
But it contained the essence of Akiyama Makoto's life force. If she wasted his painstaking effort like this, wouldn't it be a reckless waste of a heavenly gift?
It's not that she likes this feeling of being rejuvenated...
Makoto felt it was about time and opened his eyes.
Shizune and Tsunade immediately surrounded him. Before he could speak, Tsunade grabbed him by the neck. "Damn it, you bastard! Do you want to die?!"
It was the first time Tsunade had been healed by someone else using their life force. While moved, she was also quite annoyed.
Especially since he had almost lost his life because of her hemophobia. If he died, she would be burdened with a huge debt of gratitude for nothing.
He coughed twice. "Can I have some water first?"
"Okay, I'll get it."
Shizune quickly brought warm water. Tsunade let go of him, and he breathed a sigh of relief after clearing his mouth.
Shizune and Tsunade had indeed spared no effort in saving him, to the point that he had even collected Shizune's pheromones.
This was within his expectations, but being fed mouth-to-mouth by two people had exceeded them. But for ordinary people to replenish life force, this was the only way.
His evaluation of this was—the meatballs tasted pretty good, but that's about it.
Under these circumstances, it was impossible to have any romantic feelings. Otherwise, it would be a disservice to their spirit of saving lives and helping the injured.
But as his gaze drifted to Tsunade's stomach, Shizune's concerned look turned playful, and veins began to pop on Tsunade's forehead.
Seeing this, he knew everyone had relaxed from the tension of saving him.
He said, "Big Sister Tsunade, it looks like you've recovered. Sorry, this was the only way I could think of."
After speaking, he coughed weakly twice.
He wasn't pretending to be weak now; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to fool Tsunade's eyes.
He had stored most of his life force in his Yin Seal. This was something the current him could do; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to inject life force into his Wood Style.
The result was that he appeared very weak, essentially like Kakashi after overusing his chakra, needing to lie down for several days.
Of course, with his bloodline level, he could recover his mobility in a day as long as he ate and drank enough.
If needed, he could also unseal his life force at any time to return to full strength—but that would expose him in front of Tsunade and Shizune.
Therefore, at least for today, he had to pretend to be a sickly young man.
"As for me, it's fine. I'll probably recover by tomorrow. You know my body."
Tsunade had been furious, but seeing him still caring about her, her heart softened.
However, on the surface, she still said fiercely, "Little bastard, I just have hemophobia. I would have recovered after resting for a while."
"But you planned to use your life force to save me, and even came up with such a weird thing. I can't accept this favor."
"Also, get rid of this thing quickly, and absorb the life force you left inside. That way you should be able to recover faster."
Tsunade pulled open a corner of her clothes, revealing the "Zhen" character underneath, but also exposing her lace-trimmed underwear.
Her fingers trembled, and she quickly pulled her clothes back, then glared fiercely at him.
He happened to turn his head away, tapping his cheek lightly with his finger, pretending he hadn't seen anything.
This interaction, for some reason, made Tsunade feel even more youthful.
"Anyway, let's end this quickly. Let's just pretend nothing happened."
Tsunade seemed to want to help him recover, but essentially, she was eager to distance herself from him, even reluctant to do it herself.
This let him know that he had successfully cracked open the closed stone door of her heart.
Since this path had been successfully walked, he wouldn't take it back. So he said, "Sorry, I can't do that."
"Although my body can absorb chakra to restore life force, it can only absorb my own, not someone else's."
"Maybe you can try it yourself, Big Sister Tsunade, and then mobilize the life force inside and give it back to me?"
Although there were many abilities in the ninja world to absorb chakra, the ability to absorb someone else's life force was almost non-existent. The vast majority of people didn't have the ability to mobilize life force either.
In fact, just mobilizing Yang Release chakra was enough to stump 99% of people, and those who could mobilize life force were all forbidden jutsu users, not to be used lightly.
Tsunade naturally understood this principle. She frowned and looked at him with dissatisfaction, hating the feeling of owing someone.
Seeing this, he comforted her, "Didn't you save me too, Big Sister Tsunade? We're even."
"And thank you, Big Sister Shizune. You helped a lot too."
Shizune shook her head. "I just did the basics. The rest was done by Tsunade... little sister."
At the address "Tsunade little sister," the corners of Shizune's mouth curled up.
Tsunade glared fiercely at Shizune. She had been considering whether to reveal her identity and be open with him, but after Shizune's interruption, didn't she have to continue pretending?
Shizune shrugged with a smile, as if to say: You didn't say you wanted to reveal your identity!
Of course, fundamentally, Shizune just liked seeing Tsunade puffed up with anger but unable to do anything to her.
"Hmph—I just did what I should have done."
Helpless, Tsunade cleared her throat, intending to act young.
But then she was surprised to find that she didn't need to force her voice. Speaking normally, she was full of youthful energy, as if she really were 24 years old.
This trend hadn't been obvious before, but now, as his life force fermented within her, she felt completely different from head to toe, inside and out.
Every cell in her body was cheering. That youthful spirit had returned to her, not just the hallucination in her mind.
This jutsu—
A look of shock appeared on Tsunade's face. Only now did she realize she had still underestimated this jutsu. Was it not just as simple as saving a life?
Was Shizune's guess correct? Was this something meant to sacrifice others for eternal youth?
Tsunade's expression became serious. If this thing leaked out, the entire ninja world would go crazy for it.
A ninja like Orochimaru, who sought eternal life, would probably pay any price for this.
If it was just obtaining the ninjutsu, that would be one thing. But to maintain eternal youth, how many human lives would have to be sacrificed?
At this thought, Tsunade had to speak. "Where did you get this sealing formula you inscribed? Who did you learn it from?"
However, Makoto, who had always been very compliant with her, shook his head solemnly this time. "Sorry, I can't say."
"I believe you've discovered it too. It's very important. I trusted you, so I let you see it. Under normal circumstances, it will never appear in the mainstream view of the ninja world."
His words made Tsunade breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed the person who developed this jutsu had some self-awareness and wasn't deliberately doing evil.
But this didn't put her at ease. She continued to ask, "But you gave it to me. If I die somewhere, this formula will still be exposed."
"You can rest assured about that, Big Sister Tsunade. When the life force inside is exhausted, the sealing formula will also disappear directly. It can only last for about seven days."
He gave his judgment calmly. Tsunade nodded subconsciously, but her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
It felt as if something important was about to leave her, making her feel uneasy.
There were few things in this world that Tsunade feared. Even death wasn't much.
But there was one point: she valued her youthful appearance immensely. Its importance was second only to protecting the village and her comrades.
And the impending loss of her youthfulness in seven days was equivalent to taking away half of her inner beauty. This made her instinctively resist.
She bit her lip, fighting against this feeling.
From her moral standpoint, she couldn't accept sacrificing someone else's life for her own appearance.
Seeing this, Shizune said, "Can you really not say? Actually, we don't covet this jutsu. We're just worried that your situation is very dangerous."
He smiled in response. "Thank you for your concern, Big Sister Shizune. Aren't I here with you?"
"And revealing the secret of this jutsu is equivalent to revealing my secret. Are you and Big Sister Tsunade willing to reveal your true identities?"
Shizune looked at Tsunade. In her opinion, there was nothing wrong with revealing their identities; they weren't shameful.
But Tsunade shook her head subconsciously. "No need. Let's just get along like this. Shizune, take him back to his room to rest."
After Shizune settled him in and returned, she asked in surprise, "Tsunade little sister, we—Ouch!"
Looking at the chop on her head, Shizune quickly changed her tone. "Lady Tsunade, it wouldn't matter if we revealed our identities, right?"
"Idiot. If he knew my identity, he would definitely worry that I'm interested in his secret technique and run away directly, wouldn't he?"
"How could he? He couldn't wait to pursue you, Lady Tsunade!"
Tsunade rolled her eyes at Shizune. This little girl is getting carried away these days!
She crooked her finger at Shizune. When Shizune approached, she grabbed her.
"Were you laughing very loudly just now? Now let me loosen your muscles and bones. Try not to scream."
Half an hour later, Shizune lay on the tatami mat, her face flushed. Tsunade had loosened every joint in her body.
Although it was comfortable now, she had felt like her bones were being crushed just moments ago. This was undoubtedly Tsunade's deliberate revenge.
Tsunade went to the bathroom to shower with satisfaction. Looking at her youthful and beautiful self in the mirror, she slowly raised her hand and released the effect of the Yin Seal.
Then she looked at herself in the mirror in astonishment. Her appearance hadn't changed at all. She truly felt the benefits of the life force on her.
She touched her face, rubbed her shoulders, and finally struck a few difficult poses, then kissed her reflection in the mirror.
If she walked out of the room now and someone told her it was Konoha 35, how wonderful would that be?
"Nawaki..."
She murmured to herself, her eyes becoming gentle. But in her memory of Nawaki, Makoto appeared beside him.
She shook her head, trying to throw him out of her mind in annoyance. But his life force was still flowing in her body. How could she just forget him?
"It seems I really have to leave here later... Damn little bastard. I have to say, you really do have a way of making people unforgettable."
She made up her mind to leave, but before that, she could continue to be with him for this week.
With this thought, she felt much more relaxed, and her smile in the mirror became much more natural.
After showering, she had intended to open the Yin Seal, but her hand forming the seal paused slightly.
Anyway, I'll stay young for the next week. Why not just live like this for a week—
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