Chapter 271: Hemophobia Cured, Leaving a Mark on Tsunade
Tsunade stroked her brother's face, pouring out all the experiences she had gone through over the years.
Who knows how long she spoke, but she finally came to Akiyama Makoto.
"If you were still alive, you'd be about his age—ah, no, I got it wrong. It's been so many years..."
"I mean, you would have reached the age where you'd be as handsome as him—I'm not saying he's handsome, just that he fits the aesthetic of young people nowadays—like Shizune."
Tsunade touched her cheek, feeling a little embarrassed.
Just now, when she saw him sacrifice his life to save Nawaki, for a moment, she really wanted to give herself to him.
But then she realized that Nawaki had been dead for many years. It was impossible for Makoto to have the ability to go back in time and save him. This was all just a genjutsu.
He seemed to want to make her feel better in this way. But she didn't want to forget this memory.
Nawaki's death had indeed caused her immense pain, and her hemophobia still tortured her to this day.
But without this painful experience, she wouldn't have been able to develop the Strength of a Hundred Seal and Creation Rebirth, two epoch-making ninjutsu she was proud of.
It was just a pity that these jutsu were too difficult to learn. Even Shizune hadn't mastered them yet. She wondered if she could find a suitable successor.
"Anyway, your big sister is doing... not bad. I have the ability to save you now, but I can't save you... I'm sorry."
Tsunade revealed a sad smile. Seeing Nawaki's whole body, plus the increasing warmth in her own body, she had the urge to return to reality and take a look.
And she knew this meant she would have to try to fight her hemophobia again and get her life back on track.
Could she succeed?
"You will win."
Makoto's voice appeared again, which meant he hadn't left yet. He was still sharing everything she saw through the genjutsu and the Yamanaka clan's secret technique.
Tsunade clenched her fists in annoyance. "Damn it! Who told you to keep peeking? Watch me beat you into a cripple later!"
Then, she angrily punched forward.
The next second, everything before her shattered. The smell of blood filled her nose and mouth, causing her body to tremble subconsciously.
Hemophobia had become a habit for her. After all, it was hard for a kunoichi not to see blood.
Habit pushed her to imagine the tragic state of Nawaki's death. However, at this moment, the scene of Makoto saving Nawaki with his life appeared before her eyes.
Miraculously, she felt her trembling lessen.
She understood the principle. She even knew that if she wanted to, she could ask a Yamanaka ninja to seal her memories, and she would quickly recover from her hemophobia.
It was just that she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to forget her past guilt. It was this guilt that had driven her to where she was today.
However, the current Tsunade also didn't want to break this illusory memory. Not because Makoto was involved, but because he had successfully made her remember her brother's healthy and lively appearance.
This memory wasn't just a visual recollection, but also the sounds and smells of that moment, the vitality in his young body, the youthful experience of resonating with her brother's dream of becoming Hokage.
Unlike the current Tsunade, who looked young on the surface but was actually decadent in spirit, she had naturally forgotten the hot blood of her youth.
"Forget it. Just like this."
"I have to go out and teach this guy a lesson first. I can't let him run wild just because of my hemophobia."
Tsunade convinced herself with this reason, then suddenly opened her eyes.
Before her was Makoto, bleeding from his nose and mouth. At first, she didn't care, because she had punched him, after all.
Forget him, even a Kage-level powerhouse would bleed from the nose and mouth after taking a punch from her.
But then, his dry white hair and gradually thinning face made her expression change drastically. These were signs of excessive loss of life force.
"What are you doing?!"
Tsunade shouted sternly. Then she felt something strange on her stomach. When she saw the sealing formula there, her mind went blank.
The abundant life force flowing in her body gave her a feeling of returning to her youth, and this life force was being transferred by him through the sealing formula.
In her concept, people who did this only had one end: death.
She slapped his hand away without thinking, then pressed him to the ground. Her face was a mix of anger, unease, and panic. She placed her hands on his chest to treat him.
She soon realized that because of the excessive loss of life force, he had entered a critical state.
If she hadn't stopped him immediately, he might have continued until he died.
"Are you crazy?!"
"That was—hemophobia! Not some disease or injury! What use is giving me life force?!"
"You already have a bloodline disease, with cell activity so high it devours chakra—wait, that's right!"
At this thought, Tsunade's eyes lit up, and she immediately released her Yin Seal.
Without another word, she injected her chakra into his body, letting him absorb it.
"I—"
He wanted to say something, but she interrupted him directly. "Shut up! I'm the doctor now! Listen to me!"
"Try to activate your talent, let your cells devour my chakra, and then recover your life force!"
"And, Shizune! Where the hell did you go?!"
Shizune came upstairs carrying bags of breakfast, only to see Tsunade, disheveled, with her Yin Seal released and the character "Zhen" on her stomach, pressing down on Makoto.
This scene made Shizune's brain crash. Even Tonton covered its eyes with its hooves.
But Tsunade didn't care about any of that. "Don't just stand there! Feed him!"
"Eating at a time like this—were you guys playing so intensely that you need to replenish your stamina to continue?"
"Bastard! I'm saving his life!"
Hearing this, Shizune's expression immediately became serious. She rushed over to check his condition.
With just one look, she knew his condition was bad and he desperately needed energy.
She didn't waste any words, rummaging through the breakfast. Finally, she took out a meatball and tried to feed it to him, but he didn't react.
"Let me!"
Tsunade grabbed the meatball, chewed it up fiercely, pried open his mouth, and fed it to him.
"Bastard, hurry up and eat, or I'll stuff it directly into your stomach!"
Her threat clearly worked. He swallowed with difficulty.
She wanted to continue, but Shizune said, "Lady Tsunade, you handle the healing. Leave the rest to me."
"Alright."
Tsunade licked her lips. Stabilizing his chakra with one hand was indeed difficult. The chakra in this guy's body was very strong.
However, she didn't know that this was because he had sealed most of his chakra.
As for why she didn't feel the existence of his Yin Seal, it was naturally because his level in the Yin Seal had actually surpassed hers.
He had hidden his Yin Seal under the Illusion-Breaking Seal, and the Illusion-Breaking Seal was disguised as the same Restorative Life Reincarnation seal on her stomach, so she naturally didn't find it strange.
What's more, saving him was the priority now. She didn't have time to consider anything else.
Shizune chewed food and fed it to him. After he had eaten two boxes, his breathing gradually steadied, and Shizune and Tsunade finally stopped.
Tsunade looked at Shizune, whose mouth was full of food crumbs, while Shizune's gaze drifted to the "Zhen" character on her stomach.
It couldn't be helped; such a large character was too conspicuous. Shizune had to wonder what had happened between him and Tsunade in such a short time.
Such a gaze naturally couldn't escape Tsunade's eyes. She said grumpily, "Nothing happened."
"Mm-hm!"
Shizune nodded quickly, but her gossipy expression clearly showed she didn't believe a word.
Tsunade clenched her fists in anger. Then Shizune suddenly exclaimed, "Ah, Lady Tsunade! Are you not afraid of blood anymore?"
Shizune pointed to the blood on her own clothes, which she had gotten while feeding him.
Not only her, but Tsunade also had patches of blood on her. She hadn't been able to care about such things just now.
As a medical ninja, being used to blood was normal. It was only on her that this normal thing seemed abnormal.
Tsunade pinched her yukata, looking at the bloodstains, and the habitual fear appeared again.
But as the warm current from her stomach traveled through her body, the image of Nawaki in her mind became less tragic. She slowly exhaled. She really had walked out of her hemophobia.
Of course, as her memory of Nawaki faded, or the life force stored in the strange sealing formula on her body ran out, she might relapse.
But at least for now, she felt incredibly relaxed.
"Ah... I guess I'm temporarily cured—"
She wanted to say something more to cover up her emotions, but Shizune had already pounced on her, hugging her neck and crying like a baby.
"That's great! That's really great! Lady Tsunade has finally walked out of it!"
Tsunade's eyes felt hot. She gently hugged Shizune's shoulders.
Only then did she remember that she wasn't Shizune's younger sister, but the Tsunade who had raised Shizune. For so many years, she had been relying on Shizune's care instead.
She could only say that she had caused Shizune enough trouble.
Just as she was planning to comfort Shizune with a few words, Shizune's next words made her face darken.
"Since Lady Tsunade has walked out of the shadows, we can go back to Konoha, right? I've had enough of wandering around. I just want to find a stable job."
"And Lady Tsunade, don't always make me take care of you. You should learn to be independent."
"Of course, if you choose to retire now, it's only right for me to take care of you..."
Before Shizune could finish, Tsunade pinched her temples with her thumb and middle finger. "Bastard! You make it sound like I'm a giant baby who needs your care all the time! I raised you, remember?!"
"Move aside! I need to check what this thing is."
Shizune stuck out her tongue, then retreated and sat down properly. She then began to clean the clothes of herself, Tsunade, and Makoto.
She even changed clothes with Tsunade in front of him, since in their eyes, he hadn't regained consciousness yet.
Then Shizune began to point at the sealing formula on Tsunade's stomach. Tsunade also tried to activate it but failed. Finally, the two came to a conclusion.
"This seems to be the sealing formula of some evil art. It's harmless to the implanted person, but the others have to sacrifice their life force."
"Why does he know this kind of thing—ah, could it be this?"
Shizune had a flash of inspiration. "The person who developed this jutsu wanted him to extend their life. As a result, he disagreed and ran to Tanzaku Town to relax, and then used it on us."
"As for the elder he said died, maybe it was a group of guys who treated him as a panacea. Such guys deserve to die."
Tsunade listened, nodded, and then gave Shizune a flick on the forehead.
"Don't guess blindly when you don't know the full picture. Why don't we ask him when he wakes up?"
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