Faced with Tsunade's gamble, Anya entered the game with full alertness. The atmosphere in the lab had completely flipped. Tsunade, who had been busy at first, now lay half-reclined and drowsy, while the previously relaxed Anya became busier than ever.
Each of the three toxins was deadly on its own. For Tsunade, extracting an entirely new toxin from them became exponentially more difficult. Ensuring its stability to produce a viable poison mist made the task even harder.
Thus, failure was only natural. Anya reviewed Tsunade's toxin ratios, neutralizing the counteractive elements among the toxins. Medicinal properties often clashed and couldn't simply be neutralized. Success would only come after countless experiments. Therefore, an antidote was far more difficult to make than the poison itself.
While studying Tsunade's notes page by page, Anya's dexterous hands worked feverishly through experiments. After every failure, she immediately started the next round. Busy and engrossed, she almost lost track of time, completely absorbed in her work. Anya failed to notice that Tsunade, who had seemed drowsy all along, had been watching her intently—a gleam of unprecedented emotion shimmering in her eyes.
Failure, again. Failure, again...
As failures accumulated, Anya's eyes sparkled brighter. She had gradually identified the causes behind each failed attempt. Success was near.
Indeed, during the next experiment, after proper adjustment and blending, the medicinal ingredients didn't dissipate like before. Instead, they slowly fused together, gradually forming a grayish pill.
It worked...
Overjoyed, Anya quickly retrieved the gray pill and rushed to Tsunade's side.
A darkened hue spread across Tsunade's face—the mark of a severe toxin. Her eyes remained tightly shut, her brows knotted together—she looked extremely pained.
Seeing this, Anya hurriedly held the pill near Tsunade's lips. "Quickly, take the antidote."
But Tsunade showed no reaction. Damn it, she couldn't be dead, right?
Anya reminded herself that as a doctor, she should treat patients without regard to gender, and extended her hand to check for a pulse.
Halfway through reaching out, Tsunade's eyes suddenly flew open. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, so you're still alive. Good," Anya exhaled in relief. "Quickly, the antidote is ready. Take it and you'll be fine."
"Took you long enough," Tsunade grumbled. "What are you standing around for? You think I can move on my own? Feed it to me."
"Alright." Anya leaned down carefully, bringing the antidote to Tsunade's lips.
Tsunade extended her tongue and swallowed the pill. Accidentally, her tongue brushed against Anya's fingers. That silky touch sent a strange warmth through Anya's chest.
After taking the antidote, the darkness on Tsunade's face quickly faded. Her complexion turned slightly rosy, her energy visibly improved. Though still carrying traces of lingering poison, she was finally stable—alive.
Anya began to understand something about Tsunade's uncanny survival instinct. She never won when gambling with money, but always came out alive when gambling with her life.
Clearly, Tsunade had won this bet—Anya had succeeded in creating the antidote within five hours.
With a lazy tone, Tsunade said, "The antidote you made isn't good enough. I still feel weak and feverish after taking it. Seems like I can't do any research today. What a pity. Not even one mission was completed."
Anya got the message loud and clear—if he missed the subtext, he'd basically be an idiot. Still, he played along, reaching out to touch Tsunade's forehead. "Hmm, feels okay. Not hot at all."
Tsunade froze instantly, her face flushing deeper red at the unexpected touch from a man.
"Hmm, actually... seems a bit warm now," Anya murmured in surprise. Was she actually running a fever?
Blushing and fuming, Tsunade suddenly kneed him hard in the gut.
Caught completely off guard, Anya let out a sharp gasp as pain shot through his stomach. He curled over like a shrimp and collapsed onto Tsunade. Their lips accidentally brushed. Both froze at the sudden physical contact, their breath mingling together.
"Erm, I didn't mean to..." A voice came from the doorway. Shizune had somehow already reached the door and, upon witnessing their awkward positions, turned around shyly while explaining: "I just came because Tsunade-sama said she would check my progress, but I waited forever and she never showed up, so really—I don't know anything. I didn't see anything at all!"
After hastily blurting out those words while covering her face, Shizune ran off.
Coming back to her senses, Tsunade shoved Anya off her immediately and muttered, "This is all your fault!" Then, without looking back, she dashed out of the lab—hardly resembling someone still suffering from poison and weak.
Lying on the floor clutching his gut, Anya activated green chakra in his hands to heal himself. Cold sweat poured down his back as he silently reflected how careless he'd been—if Tsunade's blow had shifted slightly downward, he might've just died and checked whether reincarnation existed.
Once healed, Anya stood up. No doubt about it—getting punched was totally worth it.
Looking at the notice on the wall, he decided to stay a little longer and got back to tonight's mission.
Meanwhile, after reviewing Shizune's work, Tsunade seriously explained, "What you saw just now—it wasn't real. We're not..."
Before Tsunade could finish, Shizune reflexively replied, "I totally understand, Tsunade-sama. Don't worry."
Doubtfully, Tsunade asked, "Really?"
Shizune nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, really."
When Tsunade returned to the lab again, she spotted Anya busily working away. A slight smile formed on her lips—a knowing expression—as she yawned, stretched, and walked off.
After that, Anya became extremely busy. During the day, he occasionally dropped off Kurenai Yuhi and Konan at school, picked up Rin Nohara in the afternoon to study the Spirit Transformation Technique, and spent evenings both finishing Tsunade's assignments and using [Shadow Clone Jutsu] to teach Yugao. His schedule was packed tightly.
Just like that, time passed until one day Tsunade tossed a document over, saying, "The application you submitted earlier for Yugao Uzuki joining Anbu has been approved. She will now train under Root. No need to secretly use [Shadow Clone Jutsu] to teach her anymore."
"Also, I've decided to retreat for research during this period. You'll stay with me and not go out," Tsunade added casually.
Anya nodded without objection. Their recent research had indeed achieved great progress—at least they had already compressed one of the poisons and used chakra control to emit it as poison mist for offensive purposes. It was already a solid offensive technique, and with continued research, they could develop even stronger toxins and more versatile ways to attack.
Anya's understanding of poison was also rapidly improving. He now felt confident about neutralizing the poisons from Sunagakure Village. Moreover, he felt pleased that after their previous misunderstanding, Tsunade's attitude toward him had subtly changed. Their teamwork had gradually become more in sync and far less painful than it used to be.
Tsunade and Anya worked busily until late into the night. Tsunade was already slightly drowsy, yawning as she did. At that moment, Anya sensed something—an ethereal presence drifted in and entered his mind.
"Hehe, big brother, can you guess who it is?"
Who else could it be with such a distinct white soul?
"Rin Nohara, you've managed to use Spirit Transformation Technique on your own now. Looks like you've made significant progress lately."
"Yes, I've been training nonstop every day."
"Good job. Staying focused and ignoring outside noise always brings results."
"Oh come on, it's not like I'm completely unaware of what's going on. For example, today everyone in the village was gossiping about someone called White Fang."
"What did you just say?"
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