Li Tong jumped in fright and jerked backward in the tub. Then he realized something was off. He looked down at himself and shot upright, snatching the towel from the chair beside the tub and covering himself with it.
"Brat, what did you do to me?" Tsunade repeated coldly.
"Um... could you step outside first... so I can get dressed?" Li Tong stammered, swallowing.
Tsunade lowered her eyelids and glanced beneath the surface of the bathwater. Then she gave a deeply disdainful smile, strode forward, grabbed Li Tong by the shoulder, and hauled him out of the water, staring into his eyes.
"Brat! Answer me. What did you do to me?!" Tsunade's voice turned stern.
"Uh... well..." Seeing how worked up Tsunade was, Li Tong figured he might get beaten. After a pause, he suddenly raised his hand. "Look over here!"
Snap!
Li Tong snapped his fingers.
Tsunade's gaze didn't waver. She narrowed her eyes at him, the corner of her mouth curling into a mocking smile. "Brat! If you don't want me to break your fingers, you'd better lower your hand."
Li Tong lowered his hand at once.
As expected, it didn't work!
Actually, hypnotizing someone had some very strict requirements. The most basic was that the target had to be relaxed and at ease, without any pressure—or extremely tense. People in either state were easy to hypnotize: the relaxed were easily led into the right frame of mind, while the tense were easily distracted by the snap of one's fingers. Both were highly susceptible to hypnosis.
Earlier, when Li Tong had hypnotized Tsunade, she had been relaxed, going about her daily routine. She hadn't been on guard around him, which was why he had managed to hypnotize her.
But now she was on guard!
"If you let me put on some clothes, maybe we can talk this out," Li Tong said.
Tsunade's expression darkened. After a moment's thought, she let go.
Splash!
Li Tong fell back into the tub.
"You have three minutes. I'll wait outside. Don't try anything!" Tsunade said, then walked out of the bathroom.
"Stupid woman," Li Tong cursed inwardly. He let out a long breath, dunked his head in the water and splashed around a couple of times, then climbed out of the tub to get dressed.
As he dressed, Li Tong heard some strange noises outside the door. Tsunade was obviously making them, but he had no idea what she was doing.
Dressed and refreshed, Li Tong walked out of the bathroom and looked toward the lawn outside. His expression turned peculiar.
Tsunade had dug a huge hole in the grass in front of the house—about three meters across and two meters deep. Standing beside it, she glanced back at Li Tong, who had just come out, then tossed the shovel aside.
"Why'd you dig a hole?" Li Tong asked as he walked over and peered into it.
"Get in!" Tsunade grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him into the hole. Then she kicked at the pile of dirt she'd dug up, scattering it over Li Tong's face.
Li Tong's body stiffened.
Great. So much for that bath!
He was starting to think his obsessive cleanliness might actually be cured by Tsunade.
"Hey, what's the meaning of this?" Li Tong looked up at her expressionlessly. In his mind, he was cursing her ancestors back eighteen generations, and he had a bad feeling about this.
"Since you're a brat who spouts nothing but nonsense and lies through your teeth, I need to take some precautions to make sure you tell the truth."
"What precautions?"
"From now on, you answer whatever I ask. If you dare lie, I'll bury you alive!"
"You're not serious, are you?"
"I'm completely serious! You can refuse to answer any question, too. I promise I'll bury you alive immediately!"
Li Tong believed Tsunade. In his eyes, the relationship indicator for her had changed—not from neutral to hostile, but to furious! Clearly, if he pushed her any further, she really was capable of anything.
Damn woman! I hope your whole family drops dead, that no man ever wants you, that you get hit by a car, and that your hands and feet rot and your face is ruined... Li Tong cursed her viciously in his head, but forced a smile and said sweetly, "Go ahead and ask!"
"That's more like it, brat!" Tsunade crouched by the hole, grinned, and raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, what did you do to me?"
"Hypnosis!" Li Tong snapped his fingers. "Simply put, it's a kind of mental guidance technique. By using sound to influence someone continuously, it guides their thoughts until they fall asleep or enter a half-asleep, half-awake state."
"Hypnosis?" Tsunade furrowed her brow. "Is it a ninjutsu?"
"No. It doesn't involve using chakra at all. It's a mental guidance technique that even ordinary people can learn."
Rustle...
Tsunade swept some dirt into the hole, showering Li Tong with it.
"Hey! You crazy woman, what are you doing? Are you sick or something?" Li Tong had had enough. He jumped up in the hole and yelled at Tsunade.
"You lied to me," Tsunade said coldly. She stood up and stomped her foot. The shovel she'd tossed aside sprang back into her hand. Carrying it over her shoulder, she stared down at Li Tong. "I told you, if you lied to me, I'd bury you alive!"
"When did I lie? I'm telling the truth!"
"Yeah, right! How could you hypnotize someone without chakra? This is just genjutsu!"
"I tell you the truth and you don't believe me. What do you want from me?"
"Heh. I'll give you one more—"
Tsunade's voice abruptly stopped. She turned to look toward the entrance to the woods and saw Mikoto Uchiha walking down the path with two Uchiha jonin. They spotted Tsunade carrying a shovel at once.
"Oh? So this is where you were, Lady Tsunade." Mikoto Uchiha froze. Then her expression turned flustered, and she hurried over and bowed. "I'm truly sorry, Lady Tsunade. I didn't mean to disturb you earlier."
"Mm," Tsunade replied flatly.
Mikoto Uchiha breathed a sigh of relief. Tsunade really didn't seem to hold it against her.
The two Uchiha jonin hurried over and stood behind Mikoto Uchiha.
Li Tong spotted Mikoto and the others in the hole. His eyes lit up, and he cried out excitedly, "Help! Help! This woman's gone crazy! Help! She's going to bury me alive!"
Because of the angle, Mikoto Uchiha hadn't noticed Li Tong at first. Only when he shouted did she and the two jonin look down.
"Hey! Get me out of here! This woman's crazy!" Li Tong waved frantically at Mikoto Uchiha.
Mikoto Uchiha's expression shifted. She looked at Li Tong, then the hole, then at Tsunade, who stood there expressionlessly with the shovel over her shoulder. She swallowed and asked cautiously, "Lady Tsunade, are you...?"
"Burying him alive," Tsunade replied casually, tilting her head.
"Oh, oh! We won't disturb you, Lady Tsunade. We didn't see a thing. Please, carry on!" Mikoto Uchiha backed away several steps, waving nervously, then turned and ran.
The two jonin were just as pale and sweaty as she was. They ran off with her.
"Hey! Come back! Aren't you with the Police Force? Hey! Murder! Come back!" Li Tong jumped up and down in the hole, waving and shouting.
"Looks like the rumors that the brat harassed Kushina Uzumaki are true!"
"Lady Tsunade came here in person to bury him alive."
"We didn't see anything. We don't know a thing."
Mikoto Uchiha and the two jonin whispered rapidly as they went, never stopping. Soon, they disappeared from sight.
Li Tong was impressed!
Truly impressed!
Even the Police Force didn't dare interfere with Tsunade. Was she some kind of demon?
It seemed she really was...
And Li Tong already had a feeling that news of Tsunade burying him alive would soon spread throughout all of Konoha.
"Go ahead and scream. You could scream your lungs out and no one would come to save you," Tsunade said, delivering a classic villain's line as she looked down into the hole.
Li Tong gave up. He looked up at Tsunade, then spread his hands helplessly. "But I really am telling the truth. Why are you trying to bury me alive?"
"I'll put up a gravestone for you," Tsunade said coldly. She raised the shovel, ready to scoop up some dirt.
"Hey, hey, wait! I can prove it!" Li Tong called out hastily. "I can prove that I can hypnotize people without using chakra!"
"Oh?" Tsunade stopped, still looking unconvinced. "Are you just trying to stall for time? Hoping someone else will come save you?"
"Of course not. I can prove it to you right now!" Li Tong's expression was earnest. "Since you don't believe me, are you willing to let me try hypnotizing you?" He raised his brows in a taunt.
"What would I be afraid of?" Tsunade tossed the shovel aside and jumped straight into the hole. She grabbed Li Tong's left wrist, pressing her thumb against his pulse point. A numbing sensation instantly spread through his body.
His chakra had been sealed!
Li Tong could feel that he could no longer mold chakra.
"Go on, hypnotize me! Let's see what you've got," Tsunade said, raising an eyebrow at him in challenge.
You're dead! Li Tong gritted his teeth, thinking to himself.
Before you continue