"Tsunade, you misunderstood!" Uchiha Ran didn't argue—he merely shook his head. "I'm grateful for your good intentions, but… I don't dare to learn."
"You know this already: the Uchiha clan's Sharingan allows us to copy others' techniques. I've mastered quite a few… but I don't dare practice them. Don't dare use them. So it's all useless to me."
"If I gave you a technique of monstrous power, it means I know how to make it so you can learn it!" Tsunade said, pulling out another scroll and handing it to Ran.
"This… is a summoning contract?" Ran's heart clenched. He nearly cried.
And it wasn't out of sentimentality, but because… Tsunade was finally beginning to understand.
Guilt—it was a powerful force.
In truth, Uchiha Ran never wanted to manipulate Tsunade. He didn't want to push her into guilt.
He didn't even hate her. But in order to survive, he had no choice.
Out of all the influential people in the village within his reach, the only one he could use… was her—Tsunade.
And now everything was falling into place. Uchiha Ran was finally preparing to rise.
So his voice suddenly became strained, trembling slightly:
"Tsunade… you… you didn't have to go this far for me."
"The village owes you," Tsunade said, shaking her head, her voice filled with pain. "My grandfather, Lord Hiruzen… and me, too… we all owe you."
Laying both scrolls down beside him, Uchiha Ran suddenly looked at her:
"Tsunade, I… I'm scared."
"You idiot, that's a good sign! What's there to be afraid of?"
"I'm afraid… that without power, I won't survive… and with power—I'll do something I'll regret."
Hearing that—so raw, so achingly human—Tsunade's lingering doubts vanished without a trace.
After everything Uzumaki Mito had said, a shadow of unease had remained in her heart. Even though she'd decided to help Ran no matter what, there was still a sliver of anxiety.
But now, after hearing such honesty, what could she possibly be afraid of?
If they kept talking like this—openly, with nothing to hide—everything would work out.
"Ran, don't be afraid. I'll always be by your side," Tsunade promised. "And I won't act on impulse anymore. We'll discuss everything—together."
Uchiha Ran gave a measured nod. His heart felt heavy… and yet inside, he could barely contain his triumphant laughter.
That's right. Sincerity—that was the ultimate weapon.
And I, Uchiha Ran, never lie.
Except this once.
Seeing he no longer resisted, Tsunade quickly pulled Ran toward the scroll, sliced his finger with a chakra scalpel, and let a drop of blood fall onto the contract.
A blood pact was sealed.
"Ran, now follow my hand signs!" Tsunade began slowly weaving the signs, and Ran focused on replicating each one precisely.
Completing the hand signs for Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Uchiha Ran slammed his palm onto the ground. With a poof, a tiny, finger-sized slug appeared before them.
"It worked?" Tsunade gasped with delight at the sight of the tiny slug.
She'd thought it would be difficult for Ran to perform a summoning without prior training. But he'd succeeded on his first try.
Sure, with his currently limited chakra reserves, he could only summon a small slug.
But with time and practice, as his chakra grew, he would master the technique fully.
"As for the monstrous strength technique…" Tsunade opened the second scroll. "This was my grandfather's project. He wanted to create a technique based on our Senju clan's innate physical strength."
"If he'd succeeded, it would've empowered our shinobi—and even those outside the Senju clan could have learned it. But he died before completing his research. I finished it myself."
She began explaining the core principles and key components.
Not much time had passed when a knock came at the door—duty called once more.
But before parting ways, they arranged to meet that evening in the Dry Forest.
Tsunade would go first, and then summon Ran using reverse summoning with Katsuyu.
With that promise in place, Uchiha Ran felt like he'd been given a second wind for the rest of the day.
Not because of some quiet moment alone with Tsunade—but because he could finally begin training in the Hiraishin no Jutsu—the Flying Thunder God technique.
Once he mastered it, no threat would ever truly be a threat again.
Because this was Hiraishin.
Even a genin who grasped it would instantly stand on equal footing with an elite jōnin, and if a Kage-level fighter so much as slipped for a second, they could be taken down too.
Look at someone like Uchiha Obito—once he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and gained access to Kamui, his power immediately vaulted into Kage territory.
That's the nature of ninjutsu—wild, ruthless, unfair.
Around ten in the evening, after tucking Namikaze Minato into bed and telling him a bedtime story…
Uchiha Ran lay down on the bed next to him, holding his breath in anticipation of the summoning—his fate, in the form of Tsunade.
He focused on the moment he would be called away, trying to feel how space distorted during a space-time transfer.
It was part of his preparation for mastering Hiraishin no Jutsu.
Not long after, he felt a light tug in his chest—and vanished from the bed.
Thanks to his ever-active sensory perception, he immediately sensed the massive spatial ripple as he teleported.
That one experience alone yielded a wealth of information.
However, the moment he felt something soft, sticky, and gooey all around him, shivers ran up his spine and his hair stood on end.
Turns out the human body really does instinctively reject sensations like that.
He stood up and looked around—only to find himself beneath a green dome, where enormous trees blocked out the sky. Their canopies intertwined so tightly that only the faintest light filtered through the leaves.
Tiny slugs were scattered throughout the grove, crawling in every direction, casting curious glances his way.
Uchiha Ran felt the air pressing against his chest, his skin tingling from the humidity, and each breath stung in his lungs—it was profoundly uncomfortable.
"This is Shikkotsurin..? Really… corrosive gases everywhere…" he muttered.
It wasn't hard to see how it got its name—in this environment, even an ordinary beast would rot to the bone. Give it more time, and the bones would dissolve too.
"Ran, over here!" Tsunade waved from nearby.
He hurried over, and together they walked deeper into the forest.
"Tsunade, is the whole of Shikkotsurin like this?" Ran frowned.
Even if he was the best medical-nin out there, his body didn't have natural regeneration like Tsunade's, nor did he possess the Yin Seal to heal instantly.
He could endure it for a short time—but not much longer than that.
"Not exactly," Tsunade shook her head. "In theory, the reverse summoning should've brought you directly to Katsuyu."
"But her body is far too massive," she continued. "So she split into countless tiny slugs. And with reverse summoning, that creates a problem—you might end up inside one of them… anywhere."
"So I'm… inside one of her slugs?" Ran grimaced.
Tsunade nodded silently, wearing a matching expression of resignation.
In their eyes, the same three words were written clearly: as always, of course.
But this was Katsuyu's domain. And although she was gentle by nature and unlikely to take offense, they still didn't dare say it out loud. At least some manners were in order.