Chapter 167: The Cure and The Cost
The silence in the Hokage's Office was a suffocating weight.
Tsunade stood stiffly, her arms crossed, her entire being radiating a mixture of humiliation and simmering rage from her recent... "lesson." Jiraiya and Shizune stood near the door, neither daring to speak, their worry palpable.
Uchiha Akira, appearing completely unbothered by the tension he had created, leaned back in the Hokage's chair. He calmly placed a small, porcelain vial on the desk.
The vial was unremarkable, sealed with a simple cork. The liquid inside was a pale, shimmering, almost mint-green.
[Host has exchanged 10,000 Uchiha Honor Points for one (1) vial of 'Panacea of the Mind'.]
Akira regarded her with that same, indifferent expression. "Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Tsunade's eyes flickered to the bottle, her lip curling in a sneer. "And what's that supposed to be? Poison? A drug to make me more... obedient?"
"This is a potion," Akira stated simply, ignoring her barb. "It is capable of clearing all negative statuses, including... complex psychological conditions."
He let the implication hang in the air. "Like hemophobia."
[Inorin's Note: Hemophobia (血液恐怖症, Ketsueki Kyōfushō) is the extreme and irrational fear of blood. Tsunade developed this severe phobia after the deaths of her brother, Nawaki, and her fiancé, Dan Katō.]
Tsunade's breath hitched. The sneer on her face froze, replaced by a complex mask of shock and disbelief.
Akira continued, his voice a flat monotone. "I'm only giving you one chance."
"Drink it. You can get rid of the inner demon that has plagued you for over a decade. You can become a true top-tier Medical-Ninja again."
"Don't drink it. You will remain what you are now—a waste who's even afraid of the very thing you were born to master."
He steepled his fingers, his gaze unyielding. "You choose."
Silence, thick and absolute, once again filled the office.
Tsunade stared at the small bottle on the table, her eyes flickering with an intense, chaotic internal battle.
Her rationality, her lifetime of experience, was screaming.
[It's a scam. A trick. A trap!]
[He breaks me, and now he offers me a poisoned olive branch? He wants to humiliate me further!]
But her emotional side... a desperate, starved part of her she had buried for years... was madly, treacherously tempting her.
[What if?]
[What if... just what if... it's real?]
[To be free... To not see his face, his blood, every time... To be able to... to live again...]
Getting rid of that nightmare-like fear wasn't just something she dreamed of. It was an impossible fantasy.
The temptation was too great. It was a hook, and it had sunk deep.
Tsunade's heart was in an agonizing internal struggle.
"Drink, or not drink?"
This was the ultimate gamble. And she... she was the Legendary Sucker. She lost every gamble.
"Lady Tsunade…"
Shizune, who had been watching her master's face twist with pain and conflict, took a shaky, brave step forward. Her heart ached for Tsunade.
She turned to Uchiha Akira, her hands clenched at her sides. She bowed her head, her voice trembling but resolute.
"Lord Fifth Hokage, can I… can I please try the medicine for Lady Tsunade first? If it is dangerous, let me—"
"Shizune!" Tsunade snapped, her head whipping around. The protective instinct was sharp, cutting through her own confusion. "Don't talk nonsense! Step back!"
"No need," Akira said, his voice cold. He didn't even bother to look at Shizune, his gaze remaining locked on Tsunade.
"Your loyalty is noted, and it is pointless. This potion is keyed to her specific psychological trauma. On you, it would be as effective as water."
His gaze returned to Tsunade, the small, terrifying vial sitting between them.
"My patience is limited."
He raised one hand, index finger extended.
"I'll give you ten seconds to think."
"Ten."
The cold, emotionless countdown began to ring in Tsunade's ears, each number a hammer blow against her resolve.
[Ten... He can't be serious... He's timing me? Like a child?]
"Nine."
Tsunade's hands, hidden in the sleeves of her haori, clenched so tightly her fingernails dug into her palms.
"Eight."
Jiraiya couldn't stand the oppressive silence any longer. He finally spoke, his voice a low, earnest rumble.
"Tsunade... why don't you… give it a try."
She shot him a betrayed look, but he continued, his reasoning desperate but sound.
"Listen. Given his strength and his status... if he really wanted to deal with you, he wouldn't need to resort to such underhanded methods. He could have killed you on that plain. He could kill all three of us right now before we could even blink."
He met her eyes. "Poison is a coward's tool. Whatever else he is, he's no coward. Perhaps… this medicine is real."
Jiraiya's words were a bucket of cold water, snapping her out of her purely emotional reaction.
[He's right.]
[With Uchiha Akira's terrifying strength, killing me would be as simple as lifting a finger. He proved that.]
[He has no need to go to such lengths, to stage this entire... play.]
[Could it be…]
[This medicine... is it really... real?]
"Five."
Akira's voice cut through her thoughts. Half the time was gone.
Tsunade's heart rate began to accelerate wildly, pounding against her ribs.
[Should I gamble? Do I dare?]
[I, Tsunade, have lost every single gamble in my entire life. My luck is the worst in the world.]
[But this time… I'm not betting money. I'm not betting on dice.]
[I'm gambling my entire future. My... my soul.]
Tsunade's eyes, little by little, became firm. The conflict vanished, replaced by a stark, desperate resolve.
"Two."
She suddenly reached out, her hand shooting forward, and snatched the small bottle from the table.
"One."
The countdown finished.
Under Jiraiya's and Shizune's nervous, wide-eyed gazes, Tsunade didn't hesitate.
She unstopped the cork, tilted her head back, and drank the pale green liquid in the bottle in one single, defiant gulp.
The potion slid down her throat and into her stomach.
There was no bitterness as she expected, no burning, nor any strange, saccharine taste.
It was... cool. A single, cool sensation, like swallowing a snowflake, slid into her stomach.
Then, a pleasant, cool sensation rose from her abdomen and instantly spread throughout her body, into every limb, every cell.
It felt... very comfortable. Almost soothing.
Tsunade closed her eyes, her brow furrowed, quietly feeling the changes in her body, searching for any sign of poison or chakra disturbance.
One second.
Two seconds.
Ten seconds.
A full minute passed. The only sound in the room was Shizune's held breath.
There was no discomfort. No pain. No dizziness.
Nothing.
[Could it be... really just ordinary water?]
[Is that bastard just playing a trick on me?! Did he do all this just to mock me?!]
A familiar, hot spark of anger flashed in Tsunade's eyes.
Just as Tsunade was about to open her mouth, to roar in fury and hurl the empty vial at his head...
Uchiha Akira extended his right hand, palm up.
Swoosh!
Before anyone could react, he used his other hand, his fingernails hardened with chakra, to slice a deep, brutal gash across his own palm.
A cold light flashed.
The scent of iron filled the air.
Blood—dark, rich, and shockingly crimson—welled up instantly, dripping from his hand and spattering onto the surface of the Hokage's desk.
Tsunade's body subconsciously trembled the moment she saw that flash of red.
It was a deep-seated, instinctive, visceral reaction.
[Blood!]
Nausea, revulsion, and a bone-deep feeling of dizziness rushed over her like a black tide. The walls of the office seemed to spin, the air becoming thick and unbreathable.
The familiar, suffocating terror enveloped her once more.
The image of Dan, his body impaled, coughing up his last, bloody breath...
[Here it comes again…]
[No... No, not here... I'm going to throw up… I'm going to faint...]
Tsunade's face instantly turned a deathly pale, ashen and clammy.
She instinctively wanted to turn her head away, to squeeze her eyes shut, not daring to look for a second more.
Just then, just as the darkness was about to consume her...
FWOOSH!
The cool current of air that had been dormant in her abdomen surged. It wasn't a gentle flow; it was an arctic blast that shot up from her core and instantly flooded into her brain.
The intense, crippling nausea... vanished.
The debilitating dizziness... disappeared.
The paralyzing fear... was simply... gone.
The memories were still there, clear as day. But the terror attached to them, the phobic, biological reaction... it had been severed.
Hmm?
Tsunade was stunned, frozen in place.
[What's... going on?]
[I'm... I'm not nauseous anymore?]
[And... I don't feel like throwing up?]
Tsunade tentatively, fearfully, shifted her gaze back to the bleeding wound on Uchiha Akira's hand.
She stared. She stared directly at the dripping crimson blood, at the stark contrast with his pale skin.
But this time...
Tsunade's body did not show any uncomfortable reaction. No dizziness. No nausea. No panic.
She just... looked.
"This…"
Tsunade was completely, utterly dumbfounded.
"My hemophobia…"
Her voice was a hoarse whisper she didn't recognize.
"Is it really… cured?"
How was this possible?
How could this be possible!
The inner demon that had plagued her for over ten years. The psychological illness that had shattered her career, driven her from her home, and made her life a living hell...
It was completely, totally, instantly eradicated by a small bottle of potion within just a few minutes?
This was simply… a miracle. An impossible, cruel miracle.
"How could this be…" Tsunade murmured, her eyes, wide and unblinking, still filled with profound disbelief.
She stared blankly at the wound on Akira's hand, which was already rapidly healing. The flesh was visibly knitting back together at a rapid rate, a testament to his own powerful life force. In the blink of an eye, the wound sealed, leaving only smooth, unbroken skin.
[He... he even has regeneration... like...]
[Like my grandfather's...]
[Inorin's Note: This rapid, non-jutsu healing is characteristic of the 'Sage Body' (仙人体, Sennin Karada), a trait of those with Senju/Uzumaki vitality. It is exceptionally rare, and unheard-of for an Uchiha, hinting at Akira's unique nature in this fanfic.]
"It's really… really cured…"
"Lady Tsunade… how… how do you feel?" Shizune asked cautiously, her voice a small whisper. She was looking at Tsunade's dazed, pale, but no longer-panicked expression.
She had just seen it—Lady Tsunade did turn pale for a moment when she saw the blood.
But just as quickly, she returned to normal.
Could it be… that it really worked?
Tsunade slowly, mechanically, turned her head. She looked at Shizune. Then she looked at Jiraiya, who was staring at her with an expression of stunned, hopeful awe.
Her lips moved, wanting to say something. Thank you? Curse you? How? Why?
But in the end, she couldn't utter a single word.
A tidal wave of extremely complex emotions surged wildly in Tsunade's heart, turning her mind into a jumble. Relief—a profound, crushing, suffocating relief—was foremost.
But mixed with it was confusion. And resentment. And a terrifying, unwilling sense of... debt.
This man. This Uchiha. This tyrant. He had humiliated her, broken her spirit, treated her like a disobedient pet...
And then, he had given her back her life.
He had not liberated her. He had repaired her. Like a broken tool he intended to use.
She didn't even know what expression or mindset she should use to face Uchiha Akira now.
Akira, who had been watching her reaction with clinical interest, spoke calmly, as if he hadn't just rewritten her entire existence.
"It seems the medicine worked well."
He leaned forward, all business. "Since your biggest problem has been solved,"
"Then, from today onwards, you are the head of the Konoha Medical Department."
This statement, delivered with the same flat tone, was like a second shockwave.
"I need you to reorganize Konoha Hospital in the shortest possible time. The current standards are pathetic."
"You will also begin training a new generation of Medical-Ninja, using your own standards."
He looked her directly in the eye, his command clear. "I hope that in the near future, every four-person squad in Konoha will be equipped with a qualified, combat-ready Medical-Ninja."
"Can you do that?"
Uchiha Akira's voice, his words, pulled Tsunade back to reality from her chaotic thoughts.
[Head of the Medical Department? Reorganize the hospital? Training new Medical-Ninja?]
[Equipping... every squad with a Medical-Ninja?]
This…
This wasn't just a job.
This was her idea. Her dream.
This was the exact, radical proposal she had passionately pitched to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, during the dark days of the Second Shinobi World War, after seeing so many, so many, die from treatable wounds.
But this idea... it had been rejected. Laughed at. Called a "fantasy" by the Konoha Council and village advisors like Danzō. They said it was 'a waste of resources' and 'too impractical.'
This rejection, this failure to see the value in saving lives, this was the root of her complete disappointment with Konoha and the position of Hokage.
She hadn't expected it.
After so many years...
This idea, once scoffed at by everyone and considered a wild, childish fantasy...
Would actually be brought up again, stated as a direct order, by this man. By this Uchiha.
[He… he actually supports my idea?]
Tsunade's gaze towards Uchiha Akira became even more complex, a whirlwind of emotions she couldn't begin to untangle.
He wasn't just a tyrant who had broken her. He was a tyrant who had fixed her... and who, impossibly, agreed with her.
[Inorin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep translating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/InorinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
This translation is my full-time passion, and your support is what makes it possible for me to dedicate myself completely to bringing you this story. Thank you for reading!
As a special offer, I've opened a few limited-time tiers at a discounted price! You will get all the benefits of "The Plot Uncoverer" (normally $25), but at a much cheaper rate.
These slots are extremely limited:
"The Dedicated Fan": $9.99 (Save 60% / $15.01) - Only 3 slots
"The Lore Diver": $14.99 (Save 40% / $10.01) - Only 7 slots
"The Founding Pillars": $19.99 (Save 20% / $5.01) - Only 15 slots
Grab your slot before they run out! Besides membership, you can also donate via Ko-Fi [https://ko-fi.com/inorintl].
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]