Tsunade, reeking of sake, appeared boldly under Shizune's support....
Even though it was work hours,
Konoha was still at war,
hundreds of ninjas awaited treatment,
the village leadership was short on combat power,
Sarutobi Hiruzen still indulged his dear disciple to gamble and drink, neglecting the "Legendary Sannin" image, not to mention... the reputation of him as her teacher.
Just like in the original story where he caught Orochimaru experimenting on humans, even blocking him in the lab, ultimately let him go, resulting in Orochimaru's later attack on Konoha, forcing Hiruzen to face his own death,
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave Tsunade a look of disappointment, suppressing his rising anger, and asked Shizune to bring Tsunade a cup of tea.
The old woman sprawled onto a corner of the sofa, gulped down the tea, at that moment her rough demeanor was unlike a woman, rather more like a man,
perhaps this could numb herself to forget the pain of her brother and fiancé's consecutive deaths on the battlefield....
"Gulp...Gulp..." The teapot quickly emptied,
half sobered up, Tsunade let out a comfortable sigh, sprawled on the sofa with arms spread wide,
she impatiently said, "Get to the point, I'm in a hurry to win big tonight and win back everything I lost these past few days!"
Shizune helplessly took the teapot thrown at her, sneaked a glance at Sarutobi Hiruzen,
amid swirling smoke, the Hokage's twitching mouth became faintly visible, clearly... trying hard to suppress the anger in his heart.
Fortunately, getting down to business was more important, as Hokage, he managed not to show his emotions, Sarutobi Hiruzen opened a drawer and pushed the scroll of the "Limb Regeneration Technique" presented by Uchiha Fugaku to Tsunade.
"Take a look at this,"
"What?"
"A jutsu,"
"What's so interesting about that?" Tsunade grew more impatient, glaring, "Old man, if there's nothing else, I'm leaving."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "....."
Veins faintly bulged at his temples, just about to erupt, fortunately,
Shizune quickly grabbed the scroll with her hand, lightly coughed and said, "Lady Tsunade, I'll read it for you, it won't take long, won't delay your timing."
With that, she unrolled the scroll and saw the five words "Limb Regeneration Technique" clearly written on the front page, reflecting in her calm eyes as if it held a magical allure, pulling Shizune's gaze straight in, and for a moment she couldn't utter a single syllable,
causing the already impatient Tsunade waiting on the sofa,
to frown,
tilting her head to glare at her, "Shizune...."
"...I'm here," feeling Tsunade's impatient gaze, Shizune, clad in black long pants with high-heeled sandals, was more like a personal caretaker than a bodyguard for Tsunade, her role being to attend to Tsunade's daily life, preventing her from completely giving up and disappearing.
The woman, both bodyguard and caretaker, holding the thin scroll in her hand, secretly glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen again, seeing the old man still calmly smoking his pipe amidst the smoke, she collected her shocked thoughts, took a deep breath, and read slowly, "'Limb Regeneration Technique,' as the name suggests, specializes in 'limb regeneration'...."
"The chakra flow path is as follows...."
"The seal formation...."
"Wait a minute!" Suddenly a white, slender hand reached out, snatching the scroll from Shizune's hands before she could continue reading... it seemed Tsunade was truly sober, with the intoxicating blush on her cheeks faded, replaced by a serious, shocked face!
This expression... not to mention Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shizune, who was with the woman every day, hadn't seen it in a long time!
When had it disappeared, and when did it start... Perhaps since that evening Lord Kato Dan died... Tsunade's life had never again seen the words "serious" and "earnest"....
"Swoosh~" The scroll was unfurled, Tsunade stood up, seated herself upright, her beautiful eyes fixed, concentrating on the "Limb Regeneration Technique,"
from "a glimpse into the development of the jutsu" to "principle analysis," "repeated verification of chakra flow path," and finally "the hand signs," not missing a single word, except for the minor path verification adjustments added by Uchiha Fugaku, making the jutsu seem more genuine, which also "took a considerable amount of effort" to research, emphasizing its... hard-earned nature.
In conclusion,
as Tsunade read on... and on... she began to bite her nails....
It was exactly the look of obsession she had during her student days when engrossed in studying and researching medical ninjutsu,
seeing it, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled faintly, his mind eased... reassured!
"Remarkable, it seems this jutsu truly has operability... Ging, you're such an outstanding kid, how should the old man arrange for you?"
Some people are worrisome because they are too mediocre or foolish,
while some are so exceptional, exceptional to the point of being uncontrollable, causing worry,
that boy with jet-black hair and sharp eyes, was clearly the latter!
"Pop~" Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his mouth, exhaled a circle of smoke... as the smoke ring floated, gradually expanded, faded, finally landing in front of Tsunade, leaving only a thin wisp of smoke....
The woman, with blonde hair hanging behind her, finally finished reading all the contents of the scroll,
she took a deep breath, pulling herself away from the scroll, stared intently at Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked, "Who? Who developed this jutsu?"