In the hospital room, Tsunade had recovered a little. Using chakra threads to control her bowl and spoon, she carefully drank her meat porridge. Her body was extremely sensitive now, and even the slightest movement hurt terribly.
The others were all in bad shape too. Natsuhoshi, the youngest among them, still wore an expression like she'd been thoroughly wrecked and hadn't recovered yet.
"Big Sis Tsunade, it won't keep hurting this much forever, will it?"
Uchiha Mikoto sipped her porridge through tears, taking a moment to ask. She was worried the pain would never go away.
Uchiha Juri and Pakura couldn't help glancing over as well. Shimura Izumi, on the other hand, didn't seem to care.
Tsunade continued drinking her porridge in silence, which was as good as confirming it.
As soon as she'd recovered a little, she'd checked the state of her body and tried several treatments using her medical skills. Unfortunately, none of them worked. The only option was to sever the entire nervous system, but that would leave her paralyzed.
"It really will stay like this, but you can get used to it."
Karura spoke up. She knew about this and understood it very well.
"How do you know?"
Tsunade looked up, puzzled.
"I underwent the Evil God ritual's transformation with Hao's help a long time ago. It wasn't a punishment, but a kind of power. It makes your senses more acute and locks your life force in place, granting you an immortal body. You won't die unless your head is smashed."
Karura didn't hide anything. She revealed the true nature of the Evil God ritual.
Although Hao had used it this time to punish them, the ritual itself really was a gift of power. In fact, according to the records of the Evil God Cult, it