Early the next morning.
Hyūga Ming opened the door and was greeted by Tsunade's extremely unfriendly expression.
Bang!
He immediately shut the door again.
"That's weird," Ming muttered to himself.
"Seeing Tsunade first thing in the morning… must be an illusion."
After all, the two of them shouldn't have that much interaction.
"Yeah, definitely an illusion."
He opened the door again.
This time, not only was Tsunade still there—
her fist was already flying toward him.
"Monster Strength Punch!"
"Substitution Jutsu!"
A shield instantly replaced Hyūga Ming's position.
Tsunade's punch smashed straight into the metal shield.
Ming stared in horror as cracks rapidly spread from the point of impact, spiderwebbing across the steel.
BOOM!
The entire shield shattered into fragments.
Hyūga Ming staggered backward, trembling like a violated young man, and let out a shrill scream:
"Tsunade-sama, you really can't do this!!"
Those two words—
Tsunade
can't
—were like cursed keywords.
Doors along the hallway creaked open one after another.
Pairs of eyes peeked out from behind doorframes.
Whispers followed.
"Is that Tsunade… the Princess of Konoha?"
"Yeah, that's her. I heard she's been single forever—didn't know she liked younger guys."
"And she's forcing him too… tsk tsk."
The murmurs made Tsunade's face flush bright red.
Veins popped out on her forehead.
Her raised fist trembled slightly.
Hyūga Ming's eyes widened.
This still didn't scare her off!?
Does this woman not have a sense of shame at all!?
Judging by that clenched fist—
He instantly realized something was wrong.
Ming spun around and bolted back into the room.
Behind him came Tsunade's furious roar.
"You little bastard!! I'll kill you!!"
Ming had just reached the window, ready to vault out—
When a long, slender leg snapped toward him.
He turned his head.
The kick was already right in front of his face.
No way to dodge.
Hyūga Ming peacefully closed his eyes.
Boom!!
A moment later.
Tsunade dragged a battered, black-and-blue Hyūga Ming out of the inn by the collar.
"Tsunade-sama, we can talk this out…"
He had seriously underestimated this woman.
She didn't care about appearances at all—she just went straight for the kill.
He should've known.
That look earlier wasn't "unfriendly."
It was "here to murder."
Tsunade ground her teeth.
"Hyūga Ming, can you stop causing trouble for just one day?"
First, the Hyūga clan incident—she stepped in because of her brother.
Then the fighting arena—Hiruzen personally warned her.
And now, on top of that, rumors about her.
This brat was more annoying than Jiraiya!
Hyūga Ming's eyes darted around, just about to say something—
"From now on," Tsunade cut him off coldly,
"you're learning medical ninjutsu with me. Right under my nose."
"I'll see how much trouble you can still cause."
"Noooooo!" Ming wailed in despair.
He still needed to grind EXP.
He still needed to level up.
The Second Shinobi World War was coming soon—there was no time to waste!
Unfortunately, reasoning with Tsunade was impossible.
She dragged him straight into Konoha Hospital.
Konoha Hospital had been established by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
Originally, it was staffed entirely by ordinary doctors.
But after Tsunade developed the Mystical Palm Technique, some shinobi began working here as well.
Even ninja who could no longer fight could still earn a living here if they mastered medical ninjutsu.
They became the first generation of medical-nin.
Tsunade hauled Ming straight into the emergency ward.
"Tsunade-sama, another batch of injured just arrived,"
a bespectacled woman in a nurse's uniform reported.
Her gaze flicked curiously toward Hyūga Ming.
"Ignore him. Take me there first," Tsunade said curtly.
She finally let go of Ming, then glared at him fiercely.
"You'd better behave. Or else…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Hyūga Ming shrank his neck.
"Old hag… no wonder you can't get married," he muttered quietly.
His voice was too low—Tsunade didn't hear it.
She followed the nurse into the ward.
The emergency room was filled with groans.
Beds lined the room, occupied by injured shinobi.
Some were missing limbs. Others were drenched in blood.
Medical-nin struggled to heal them with the Mystical Palm Technique.
"Tsunade-sama, you're finally here!" someone said anxiously.
"There's a critical patient!"
A bed was rushed forward.
The ninja lying on it had exposed skin that was dark purple-black.
"Poison?" Tsunade asked calmly.
She tied up her hair, rolled up her sleeves, and placed her hands down.
Soft green light bloomed from her palms.
As she treated the patient, she spoke without pausing:
"The Mystical Palm Technique requires extremely stable chakra control…"
She was teaching while healing.
Konoha had countless wounded shinobi, but very few who truly mastered medical ninjutsu—and even those present were still unstable in their control.
If the chakra flow was off by even a little, the technique could worsen injuries instead of healing them.
Under Tsunade's hands, the poison rapidly receded.
Hyūga Ming, who had been standing around bored, listened carefully.
Chakra control…
He raised a hand experimentally, adjusting his chakra flow.
A faint green glow appeared—
Then quickly dissipated.
"Hm?"
Tsunade, having just finished treatment, suddenly stared wide-eyed at him.
"Did you just learn the Mystical Palm Technique?"
That jutsu was A-rank difficulty.
Even under her guidance, the medical-nin in the hospital took months to grasp it.
Hyūga Ming glanced at his skill list.
A new entry had appeared.
[Mystical Palm Technique (Lv.1) – EXP 0/300 | Traits: None]
No wonder.
An A-rank skill really did cost a lot of EXP.
Tsunade looked at Ming again—this time, seriously.
To grasp the Mystical Palm Technique this quickly…
This kid really was a genius.
The hardest part of medical ninjutsu was chakra control.
And because Ming's chakra pool was small, he had long been consciously training precision control.
His chakra control was far beyond that of ordinary ninja.
Tsunade thought for a moment, then said:
"From now on, I'll treat patients. You observe."
At first, teaching Ming medical ninjutsu had just been a way to placate the Hyūga clan.
But now—
She genuinely wanted to take him as a disciple.
As a jōnin, she already had the right to accept students.
Hyūga Ming, however, had no right to refuse.
Damn old woman…
He cursed inwardly.
Tsunade took Ming through the emergency ward, treating patients nonstop.
She healed while teaching, teaching while healing.
As soon as one group stabilized, another was brought in.
She barely had time to touch the ground.
By the time everything was finished, night had fallen.
"Come with me," she said.
She led Ming out of the hospital.
The road ahead was familiar—
the direction of Nawaki's home.
"Tsunade-sama," Ming suddenly stopped under the streetlights.
The glow stretched his shadow long across the ground.
"What exactly do you want from me?"
Tsunade fell silent for a moment.
Then she asked softly:
"Are you willing… to become my disciple?"
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