With Shinji's current mastery of Medical Ninjutsu, uncovering the secret of the Curse Mark wasn't difficult.
After all, the Curse Mark was simply an extreme technique within the Breathing Technique that pushed the body beyond its limits and consumed its life force.
But nothing was absolute!
Take Might Guy, for example. Once he opened the Eight Gates, all he had to do was open the final Gate of Death, and he could burn his body and will, using himself as fuel to unleash power approaching the Six Paths level.
But to someone truly at the Six Paths level, a secret technique like the Eight Gates was of limited use. They already had complete control over themselves. Every move they made could be performed in the state of the Gate of Death, and their powerful bodies and wills could withstand the strain. They could therefore use secret techniques on the level of the Eight Gates without any cost.
The same principle applied here.
For an ordinary swordsman, activating the Curse Mark meant sacrificing their life force to gain strength. But for a "monster" with Shion's constitution, the tiny amount of life force the Curse Mark consumed simply wasn't enough to truly threaten her life.
So Shinji suspected that if Shion really activated the Curse Mark, it would only appear when she unleashed the Breathing Technique at full power. In her normal state, her body probably wouldn't show the Curse Mark.
With a new goal to pursue, Shion was once again full of energy.
Especially after learning that, compared to everyone else, she was practically cheating when it came to training in the Breathing Technique. That only made her even more motivated.
At lunchtime, Tsunade came to the Ninja Academy once again.
Having been through this before, the students knew what was