Early the next morning.
Hyuga Arin opened the door—and saw Tsunade staring at him with an unfriendly expression.
Bang!
He shut the door again.
"That's strange. Seeing Tsunade first thing in the morning?"
The two of them shouldn't really be that closely connected.
"Must be an illusion."
He opened the door again.
This time, not only did he see Tsunade—he also saw Tsunade's fist swinging toward him.
"Monster Strength Punch!"
"Substitution Technique!"
A shield replaced Hyuga Arin's figure. Tsunade's punch slammed into it, and he watched in horror as the steel shield began to crack from the point of impact.
Boom!
The entire shield shattered into pieces.
Hyuga Arin stumbled back, heart pounding. Like a violated young boy, he screamed in panic:
"Tsunade-sama, you really can't!!"
Tsunade… can't…
Those two words were like trigger phrases.
The doors of the surrounding rooms flew open at once, pairs of eyes peeking out through the cracks.
Low murmurs followed.
"Is that Tsunade? The Princess of Konoha?"
"It really is her. I heard she's always been single—didn't expect her to like younger ones."
"And she's into forcing it too… tsk tsk tsk."
The chatter made Tsunade's face flush red. Veins popped on her forehead as she raised her fist again.
Hyuga Arin stared wide-eyed.
That didn't scare her off?!
Do you even have a sense of shame?!
Judging by her raised fist—
Realizing something, he turned and bolted back into the room. Tsunade's furious roar echoed behind him.
"You bastard!! I'll kill you!!"
Hyuga Arin rushed to the window, about to jump out—
When a long, slender leg lashed out at him.
He turned his head. The kick was already right in front of him.
No way to dodge.
Hyuga Arin closed his eyes peacefully.
BOOM!!
…
Tsunade dragged a battered, bruised Hyuga Arin out of the inn.
"Tsunade-sama, we can talk this out!"
He'd underestimated this woman.
She really attacked without holding back.
She'd clearly come with bad intentions—
And sure enough, those who came kindly never came prepared.
Tsunade ground her teeth. "Hyuga Arin, can you cause less trouble for me?"
First, the Hyuga clan pressured him—she stepped in because of her brother.
Then he set up an arena and got her scolded by that old man Sarutobi.
And now he'd gone and added scandalous rumors on top of it all.
This brat was even more annoying than Jiraiya!
Hyuga Arin rolled his eyes, just about to say something—
When Tsunade cut him off.
"From now on, you're learning medical ninTechnique from me. Right under my nose. Let's see what trouble you can still cause."
"Noooo!" Hyuga Arin wailed.
He still needed to grind EXP. He still needed to level up.
The Second Shinobi World War was just around the corner—he couldn't afford to waste time like this.
But he couldn't persuade Tsunade at all.
She grabbed him and marched straight into Konoha Hospital.
Konoha Hospital had been established by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
Originally, it was staffed only by ordinary doctors.
But after Tsunade invented the Mystical Palm Technique, some ninja began working there.
Even ninja who had lost their qualification to fight could earn a living at the hospital if they mastered Mystical Palm.
They became the first generation of medical ninja.
Tsunade brought Hyuga Arin into the emergency ward.
"Tsunade-sama, another batch of wounded has arrived," said a woman in nurse's attire with glasses, walking over.
Her gaze flicked to Hyuga Arin beside Tsunade.
"Don't worry about him. Take me there first," Tsunade said, setting Hyuga Arin down.
She shot him a vicious glare. "You'd better behave and stick close. Otherwise… heh."
She didn't say the threat out loud, but it was obvious enough.
Hyuga Arin shrank his neck.
"Old hag. No wonder you can't get married."
His voice was too soft for Tsunade to hear. She followed the nurse into the emergency ward.
Inside, groans filled the air. Many patients lay on beds, wailing in pain.
Medical ninja with missing arms or broken legs were desperately using Mystical Palm Technique to heal others.
"Tsunade-sama, you're finally here!" someone cried anxiously. "There's a critical patient!"
A gurney was pushed out. The ninja lying on it had purplish-black skin exposed.
"Poison?" Tsunade tied up her hair, rolled up her sleeves, and stepped forward. Green light shimmered in her hands.
She began treating him.
As she worked, she explained:
"Mystical Palm requires extremely stable chakra…"
She was teaching everyone present.
There were countless people in Konoha with crippled bodies, but only those in this ward truly knew Mystical Palm—and even they weren't very stable with it yet.
By treating patients while instructing others, she hoped they'd master it better.
Mystical Palm wasn't something you could just "know" and use.
It required constant adjustment based on the injury. If chakra stability was lacking, the technique could actually worsen the wound.
Before long, the poison in the ninja's body began to fade.
Hyuga Arin, who'd been standing around with nothing to do, listened thoughtfully to Tsunade's explanation.
The most important aspect of Mystical Palm was chakra control.
Following her words, Hyuga Arin raised his hand and adjusted his chakra.
Green light quickly appeared in his palm—
Then vanished.
"Hmm?" Tsunade, having just finished the treatment, widened her eyes and stared at Hyuga Arin.
"You learned Mystical Palm already?"
This Technique had A-rank difficulty.
Even under her guidance, it took the hospital staff several months to truly master it.
Hyuga Arin glanced at the new skill that had appeared in his skill list.
[Mystical Palm Technique (Lv1) EXP (0/300) Trait (None)]
No wonder it was A-rank—the EXP requirement was outrageous.
Tsunade finally looked at Hyuga Arin seriously.
To grasp Mystical Palm this quickly—
This kid really was a genius.
The hardest part of Mystical Palm was chakra control. Even the slightest instability could cause failure.
Because his chakra reserves were low, Hyuga Arin had long trained his control intentionally.
His chakra control was far beyond that of ordinary people.
Tsunade pondered for a moment, then said, "From now on, I'll treat patients. You stand beside me and watch."
Originally, she'd only planned to teach Hyuga Arin medical ninTechnique to appease the Hyuga clan.
But now, she genuinely wanted to take him as her disciple.
As a jōnin, she already had the qualifications to accept a student.
Hyuga Arin had no right to refuse.
Damn old hag.
He cursed silently.
Tsunade brought Hyuga Arin along as she treated patients, instructing him while working.
As soon as one batch was stabilized, another was rushed in.
She barely stopped moving all day.
By the time they finished, night had already fallen.
"Come with me," she said, leading Hyuga Arin out of the hospital.
Seeing the familiar streets, Hyuga Arin realized they were heading toward Nawaki's home.
"Tsunade-sama, what exactly do you want?" he finally stopped in the quiet street.
Streetlights illuminated his body, his shadow stretching long behind him.
Tsunade fell silent for a moment, then asked,
"Are you willing to become my disciple?"
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