The white light that dominated the sky had disappeared. The clouds slowly dispersed, as if they had fulfilled their sentence. The silence was heavy, absolute, broken only by the irregular sound of Li Shang's breathing.
His eyes opened with difficulty.
The first thing he saw was the clear sky, without any trace of the previous storm. The second, the heat pulsing in his own chest. He felt the dampness of the soil under his naked body, the smell of dry blood, burnt earth... and something more.
His gaze slowly descended.
Tsunade's body was clinging to his, still carbonized, her arms wrapped around his waist, as if her soul had decided not to let go even in the face of death.
"I survived...?"
The voice came out in a hoarse, incredulous whisper.
Then everything came back like a blade in his mind. The third lightning bolt. Tsunade's madness in hugging him. The pain, the collapse... and now she, there, motionless. Dead?
"NO!"
The scream echoed through the clearing, muffled only by the urgency in Li Shang's eyes. He held her face, noticing something... her skin, though still burnt, was regenerating. Slowly, visibly. It was slow, but progressive.
'The tribulation is over... the reconstruction process has begun... the body is naturally refining itself...'
Even so, she shouldn't have resisted. Tsunade's body was not made to withstand spiritual energy of that magnitude. She was a kunoichi, not a cultivator.
Li Shang didn't think twice.
He took out Liquid Yuan Qi and, without hesitation, brought it to his own mouth. Then he pressed his lips against Tsunade's, forcing the shining liquid to pass.
Tsunade reacted with a brutal spasm. Her body began to convulse in his arms, as if it were being burned from within.
'Damn, she can't refine the Liquid Yuan Qi... her body isn't ready!'
Li Shang positioned her sitting and moved behind her, pressing his chest against her back, his hands flat on her shoulders.
"Celestial Devourer!"
His technique activated in silence. A spiritual connection formed between the two. He began to slowly pull the excess Yuan Qi from Tsunade's body, refining, breaking, and converting each particle of the liquid energy into a more acceptable form for her organism.
Hours passed.
The sky was already tinged with amber tones. Tsunade suddenly opened her eyes. Her body was still covered in black and gray marks from carbonization, but the sensation was different. It pulsed. It vibrated with pure energy.
She tried to move, but felt something, someone, behind her. She looked over her shoulder, surprised.
"Neji?"
He was sweating intensely, concentrated, his eyes half-closed in total effort. His skin was clean, without wounds. His body completely regenerated.
"Concentrate on this new energy in your body."
His tone was firm, almost harsh. Tsunade was about to question, but forced herself to look within. The chakra was still there, but something strange circulated with it... denser, warmer... more alive.
"What happened? How are you completely healed?"
"Concentrate or you might die!"
The scream destabilized her chakra for an instant. Then she closed her eyes and followed the internal flow of the unknown energy, channeling it with the mastery of someone who knows their own body like no one else.
More hours passed.
Li Shang finally fell to the side, panting. The technique was interrupted. He was exhausted, his eyes half-closed, his mouth dry.
From Tsunade's body, small drops of a black goo began to seep from her pores. They were impurities. Substances accumulated over the years, poisons, residues of ancient jutsus. Her body was purifying itself at an accelerated rate.
The seal on her forehead, the Byakugou, pulsed with full force, charged as if it had never been used.
Tsunade looked at herself, surprised, and then turned to face Li Shang.
"Neji... what did you do to my body?"
He sat up with difficulty, his breathing still uneven.
"I made you drink Liquid Yuan Qi... but since you can't cultivate that energy, I had to do it for you."
"Liquid Yuan Qi? What is that?"
Li Shang closed his eyes for a second, trying to organize his thoughts.
"In my world... people cultivate. They absorb the energy of heaven and earth and strengthen their bodies, their souls. There are stages, techniques... it's a slow but powerful process. Yuan Qi is the purest form of that energy."
Tsunade remained silent. It was too much to process at once.
He offered a tired, but teasing smile.
"Anyway... even all burnt, you're still beautiful. Maybe even more so now."
Before he could complete the smile, Tsunade's fist hit his head with moderate force.
"You're telling me I almost died... and you still dare to joke about my appearance?"
"Ouch... it's a compliment, damn it..." Li Shang rubbed his head, grumbling. "But look, now you can regain your youth without depending on your chakra."
Her eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
Li Shang raised his index finger and touched it right in the center of her forehead.
In an instant, a wave of energy coursed through Tsunade's body. She gasped, surprised, her eyes wide.
"What kind of jutsu is this?"
"It's not jutsu. It's a cultivation technique. And you already have the necessary foundation now."
He extended a small golden bottle to her. Inside, the Liquid Yuan Qi glowed like living gold.
"Take only one drop a day. And meditate with the technique I taught you. This is payment for saving my life."
Tsunade held the bottle carefully, still in shock.
'His energy... his words... all of this seems older than anything I've ever seen in this world.'
She looked at Li Shang, still confused, still full of questions.
But deep down... something within her began to awaken.
Tsunade remained seated beside Li Shang, observing the young blue-eyed man with a mixture of distrust and fascination. The energy within her body still vibrated, but her mind was more occupied with the question she could no longer contain.
"Who are you?"
The voice came out firm, but there was a hint of hesitation. Tsunade was not a woman to hesitate. And yet, looking at him, it was impossible to associate everything she had seen in the last few hours with the name "Neji Hyuuga".
"You're not Neji. There's no way you are. What are you, after all?"
Li Shang let out a slight sigh, his eyes fixed on the sky, as if still searching for words he wasn't even sure he wanted to say.
"I was a cultivator... from another world."
The answer came calm, direct. Tsunade frowned, but didn't interrupt him.
"And when I died, I woke up here, in this body. At first I thought it was some kind of punishment or illusion, but the more time passed, the more real all of this became. Not even I know exactly how or why it happened."
He turned his face to her, offering a smile without arrogance, but laden with truths that seemed to weigh on his soul.
"That's the truth. As absurd as it may seem."
Tsunade remained silent for a long moment. Everything in her wanted to reject it. But the lightning, the Liquid Yuan Qi, the absurd energy she felt in her own body... all of it screamed that it was not a lie.
"So... you died. And were reborn in Neji's body?"
"Something like that."
She ran her hand through her blonde hair, still trying to order her thoughts, but before she could ask more, Li Shang stood up with effort and walked to where Alduin and Fenrir lay, gravely wounded.
He took two small bottles and threw one towards the mouth of each beast.
"You did a great job. Now rest... and enjoy this gift."
The bottles broke upon touching the creatures' teeth, and the Liquid Yuan Qi flowed down the beasts' throats. Alduin's scales began to glow softly, while Fenrir let out a slight growl of relief.
Tsunade approached, observing intently.
"What kind of summoned animals are these? I've never seen anything like them."
Li Shang smiled as he turned, his eyes shining with a certain nostalgia.
"They were just a common lizard and wolf. But I taught both of them a cultivation technique... they grew with me."
She stared at him for a few seconds, analyzing every detail of his face. There was something in his eyes, that deep, ancient tone, that had never been in Neji's eyes.
"I always knew you were too mysterious," she murmured, her eyes fixed on his.
Li Shang chuckled softly and approached with a firm step.
"And the relationship proposal is still on the table, you know? In fact... now I want it even more. After all, you saved my life."
A strong blush rose to Tsunade's face. She tried to recoil, but couldn't avoid the impact of those words.
Li Shang leaned closer, inclining towards her. Their faces were centimeters apart. The heat between them was palpable.
But before their lips could touch, Tsunade raised her hand and placed it against his chest.
"Wait. I don't think this is right. You're... just a boy. And I'm much older than you."
Li Shang's eyes sparkled with amusement.
He leaned in, until his mouth brushed her ear, and whispered in a hoarse voice:
"Actually... if you count my past life, I'm over three hundred years old."
And then, without giving her time to react, he sealed her lips with his own.