Soon—
Ren caught several rabbits and began preparing breakfast.
Working together with Karin and Shizune, they skillfully cleaned them and placed them over the fire to roast.
The four master and disciples sat around the campfire.
The atmosphere felt warm and homely.
"Here, Tsunade-nee…"
Ren smiled as he handed a freshly roasted rabbit to Tsunade.
"Thanks."
Tsunade accepted it without ceremony.
She took a small bite with her pearly teeth, savoring the taste.
With a satisfied expression, she said,
"As expected, Ren, your cooking really suits my taste!"
"Oh right, Karin…"
She turned to the little girl—who was still brooding about being hung up earlier by a certain "tentacle monster," occasionally making faces at Ren—and asked,
"How's your mastery of the Mystical Palm Technique going?"
For someone whose chakra control was sufficiently precise,
an A-rank medical ninjutsu like the Mystical Palm Technique wasn't actually that difficult.
The real difficulty lay in using it proficiently.
"Of course I've mastered it!"
Karin puffed out her chest proudly.
"Tsunade-sama, I can already use the Mystical Palm Technique very skillfully!"
Over the past two years, with guidance from three increasingly outstanding medical ninja—Shizune, Ren, and Tsunade—and with Karin's own talent not being bad,
she had successfully mastered the Mystical Palm Technique half a month ago after continuous effort.
"If small animals get injured, I can heal them very quickly!"
As she spoke,
she eagerly formed hand seals.
Soft green light appeared in her palms.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama. Karin has progressed very quickly. Although her use of the Mystical Palm Technique is still a bit rough…"
Shizune smiled.
"She can already begin the next stage of learning."
Compared to a monster like Ren,
Karin's performance was what a normal genius looked like.
Of course, having such a junior brother and junior sister put a lot of pressure on her as the senior sister.
Although she wasn't afraid of being surpassed, she still didn't want to lose too much face.
Over the past two years, she had often humbly asked Ren for advice and gritted her teeth while training her chakra control.
Though limited by her natural talent,
she still hadn't reached a level that truly satisfied Tsunade.
But her improvement had been considerable.
"Mm. When we get to the Land of Hot Water, we'll find a chance for you to practice it."
Tsunade said with satisfaction.
"That's great!"
Karin jumped up happily.
She stuck out her tongue at Ren, who always bullied her, and made a face.
"Hmph, you annoying Ren! I'm definitely going to surpass you someday!"
What she didn't know was that Ren bullied her on purpose.
Two years ago, when he discovered that this little girl—who had just turned seven at the time—had somehow become fascinated with his overwhelmingly handsome looks and was beginning to show signs of turning into a fangirl,
he had put quite a bit of effort into correcting her.
After all, compared to that,
Ren preferred a more normal Karin.
If he wanted fangirls, there were plenty in Konoha's Ninja Academy.
For example, Ino's so-called best friend—Haruno Sakura—was one of them.
"Is that so?"
Ren smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Then you'll have to work very hard."
"Hey! You messed up my hair again!"
"You rude brat. Call me senior brother!"
"Senior brother my foot!"
Watching the two start bickering again,
Tsunade and Shizune merely smiled, already used to it.
Only at moments like this did Ren seem like a child his age.
It was clear that he truly treated Karin like a younger sister.
Otherwise, with his mature and steady temperament, he would never waste time fooling around with a little girl like this.
"Alright, Ren. Stop bullying Karin all the time."
Tsunade took out a scroll.
She tossed it to Ren, who had just suppressed Karin.
"This is for you."
"This is…?"
Ren was surprised.
After opening it, the bold characters at the top of the page read:
Yin Seal.
His pupils shrank slightly, and he couldn't help feeling delighted.
"This is the Yin Seal passed down from my grandmother, along with the Strength of a Hundred Technique that I developed based on it over the years."
Looking at the astonished Ren, Tsunade said seriously,
"In these past two years, your medical skills have advanced extremely quickly. You're already almost on the same level as me."
"Other than these two techniques, there's basically nothing left for me to teach you as your teacher."
"If you want to improve further, you'll have to rely on yourself."
Just as Tsunade had expected in the past—
In only two years, Ren had already learned all the medical knowledge she had accumulated over the years.
His medical ninjutsu had advanced by leaps and bounds, far surpassing Shizune, his senior sister.
Moreover, Ren's thinking was incredibly imaginative.
He often proposed unique insights that even surprised Tsunade, making her feel suddenly enlightened.
She had benefited greatly from those discussions.
Strictly speaking, he had already graduated and could stand on his own.
The only difference between him and Tsunade was the vast clinical experience she had accumulated over decades.
But if he simply imitated her path, it would only limit his thinking and hinder his progress.
Ren needed to experience things for himself—continuously researching, exploring, and accumulating knowledge.
Only then could he one day truly surpass his teacher.
"These two techniques are closely related. To learn the Strength of a Hundred Technique, you must first learn the Yin Seal."
Tsunade smiled.
"Of course, since you already possess the ability to heal without hand seals, you don't actually need the Strength of a Hundred Technique."
"What you truly need is the Yin Seal, which allows you to store excess chakra during normal times."
"No, I think both techniques will be very useful to me."
Ren accepted the scroll with a smile.
"Tsunade-nee, do you remember the medical scroll idea I mentioned before?"
"Of course I remember."
Tsunade nodded.
"Although your idea is extremely difficult to achieve, it does have considerable feasibility. However, its limitations are also very large."
During one of their discussions,
Ren had once proposed an idea.
Could medical ninjutsu like the Mystical Palm Technique be sealed into a scroll—just like storing objects in a storage scroll—by experienced medical ninja?
If that were possible,
even someone who knew nothing about medical ninjutsu could directly use the scroll to perform advanced Mystical Palm healing on injured people.
However, the process involved many complicated factors.
Most importantly, every patient's injuries were different.
So it couldn't be universally applied.
"What I'm thinking is this…"
Ren's eyes shone brightly as he spoke bluntly.
"Could the complete Yin Seal—or even the Strength of a Hundred Technique—be sealed into someone else's body using special sealing techniques, similar to how tailed beasts are sealed?"
"Then, through a special chakra conversion mechanism that adjusts the precise chakra output, wouldn't that allow the person to use it the same way a jinchūriki uses a tailed beast's chakra?"
"In other words, they could indirectly wield the Yin Seal and the Strength of a Hundred Technique."
"What!?"
Shizune and Karin were both stunned.
They swallowed nervously.
Could something so outrageous really be possible?
"You really do have quite the imagination."
Tsunade stared at Ren in disbelief.
Frowning slightly, she said seriously,
"While it does have a certain degree of feasibility, actually achieving it would be far from simple."
Compared to Shizune and Karin,
Tsunade could see much further and had thought of far more implications.
"This would essentially become an entirely new forbidden technique."
"If it truly succeeded, it would bring a huge transformation to the ninja world."
"It could allow even people with mediocre talent to gain the potential to become powerful."
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