Tsunade's Technique Is Practically Nonexistent?

Tsunade stood up and reached out, grabbing Sasuke by the collar.

"You, come with me."

Shizune sprang up from her chair, clutching Tonton. "Lady Tsunade?!"

"Take a break, Shizune. I need to ask him about a few other things." Tsunade didn't even look back as she hauled Sasuke toward the door.

With his collar gripped tight, Sasuke's toes dragged two short furrows across the wooden floor.

Jiraiya sat cross-legged by the low table, a sake cup in his hand, watching Tsunade drag Sasuke out. The corners of his mouth curled upward.

"Yo, Tsunade, are you trying to kidnap a kid?"

"Shut up, Jiraiya. One more word and I'll burn that trashy novel of yours for firewood." Tsunade kicked the door open and hauled Sasuke out.

The door slammed shut behind them.

The inn's backyard had a small clearing covered in gravel, with a few empty sake jars piled in the corner and white bedsheets hanging overhead, swaying slowly in the night breeze.

Tsunade released Sasuke's collar, planted her hands on her hips, and leaned down until her face was inches from his.

"Talk. What exactly is the energy you and that Round Deer use? I'm very interested in it."

Sasuke straightened his collar.

The matter of Cursed Energy would have to come out sooner or later; he just wouldn't reveal everything. Besides, he had some experiments he wanted to conduct himself.

Tsunade was the top medical ninja in the ninja world. If she were willing to help with the research, it would certainly be more efficient than fumbling through it on his own.

"Cursed Energy," Sasuke said. "I call it Cursed Energy."

Tsunade's brows furrowed; she had never heard the term before.

"What is Cursed Energy? Where does it come from?"

"Negative emotions," Sasuke said. "Energy extracted from things like anger, hatred, fear, and despair."

"Chakra is a mixture of physical and mental energy, but Cursed Energy is pure mental energy."

Tsunade's frown deepened into a scowl.

"Negative emotions, mental energy, extraction..." Tsunade's lips moved slightly, as if chewing on the words, and then her expression suddenly softened.

She was reminded of the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan.

The Sharingan was triggered by negative emotions; clan members could only awaken the eyes after experiencing extreme pain and mental trauma.

Had this kid, Sasuke, awakened some new ability after his clan was wiped out?

Wasn't his research into Cursed Energy just him seeing the more fundamental truth behind the Sharingan?

Tsunade reached up to touch her chin, her pupils reflecting a complex mix of emotions.

She let out a soft huff through her nose, unable to tell if it was admiration or pity.

"You little brat." Tsunade's voice suddenly lost its edge. She reached out, pressed her hand onto the top of Sasuke's head, and gave it a rough rub.

"To be able to dig out and study what lies behind the Sharingan—you've really got something there."

Sasuke's head dipped forward under the force of her hand.

He raised his hand to swat hers away and tilted his head to look at her.

Tsunade seemed to have misunderstood something, which was exactly the result he wanted; he couldn't reveal his entire hand all at once.

"Something like that."

Sasuke brushed back the hair Tsunade had ruffled, then looked up at her.

"Since you've already felt a portion of my Cursed Energy, you should have a chance to condense it yourself. Give it a try."

Tsunade blinked, pointing a finger at her own nose.

"Me? Condensing Cursed Energy? Isn't this part of a Kekkei Genkai?"

"More like a secret technique, I suppose. I can feel that you should be able to condense it."

Tsunade stood where she was, looking down at her hands, opening and closing her fingers. She tried to recall things that made her angry.

Tsunade closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly separated a portion of the mental energy within her chakra pathways and began to convert it toward the nature of Cursed Energy.

Ten minutes passed.

Tsunade crouched in the clearing and pulled out three dice, placing them in front of her.

...She had lost so much money today.

She slammed the dice onto the ground, stood up, cracked her neck, and closed her eyes again.

A flicker of blue energy suddenly sparked at her fingertips.

Tsunade opened her eyes and looked down at the thin, blue film coating her fingers.

It was the exact opposite of the positive energy she had felt when first encountering the Round Deer; this energy came entirely from her own mental state.

It felt like taking all the frustrating baggage piled up in her heart, rolling it into a ball, and stuffing it into her chakra pathways.

"It worked."

"Mn." Sasuke responded, "Now, try using Cursed Energy to sense your Innate Technique."

"Innate Technique?"

"In the Cursed Energy system, everyone has an innate technique, similar to a Kekkei Genkai. Channel your Cursed Energy and try to feel it."

Tsunade pushed her Cursed Energy up through the meridians in her arm; the energy flowed past her shoulder and neck, finally gathering at the Yin Seal on her forehead.

The purple diamond-shaped mark suddenly flickered.

Tsunade froze.

She could feel that the chakra stored within the Yin Seal had been stirred by that small trickle of Cursed Energy, however faintly.

But beyond that, there was something else.

It was a feeling she couldn't quite name—like an instinct, or perhaps a latent ability she had always possessed but never discovered, now awakened as the Cursed Energy flowed through her meridians.

Tsunade stood rooted to the spot, her mouth slightly agape, then closing, then opening again.

"Huh?" Tsunade furrowed her brows, staring at her own hands.

"There's something... I think I can feel it," Tsunade repeated, her tone entirely different from before.

She raised her hands before her eyes, palms facing up, then flipped them over to inspect the backs of her hands.

As the Cursed Energy flowed slowly through her meridians, that vague sensation became increasingly clear.

"I can accumulate energy," Tsunade said as she focused, the Yin Seal on her forehead glowing faintly in rhythm with her description.

"Once the energy reaches a certain level, I can trigger a boost. It feels like it can be applied to any attack."

"And then there's..." Tsunade narrowed her eyes, concentrating on sensing the specific rules of the technique.

Then, her expression shifted.

First, she frowned, then her mouth twitched, and finally, veins began to bulge on her forehead.

"There is a fifty percent chance of a successful boost upon activation. If successful, the energy is retained, allowing for a boost on the next attack."

"And there is a fifty percent chance of failure, in which case all accumulated energy is wiped clean."

Silence descended upon the clearing.

Tsunade looked down at her hands, her lips pressed into a thin line, her knuckles cracking as she clenched her fists.

Sasuke watched her expression, remaining silent for a moment.

"So, for you, it's basically useless."

"Say that again, I dare you!" Tsunade whipped her head around, flames burning in her golden pupils. She slammed a fist into the nearby laundry pole; the bamboo snapped in two with a sharp crack, and a white bedsheet drifted down to land on her head.

She yanked the sheet off and crumpled it into a ball in her hand.

"What do you mean, basically useless!"

"A fifty percent success rate—judging by the odds of our game just now..."

Tsunade's fingers clenched and unclenched as she desperately searched for a rebuttal.

"This thing is bound to me, it's not like I chose it!"

"And who says I'll always be unlucky? Maybe I'll win ten times in a row!"

"You just lost over twenty rounds in a row."

"That was gambling! This is different!"

"I'm pretty sure gambling on high or low is also a fifty percent chance."

"You—"

Tsunade took a deep breath and swept her hair back.

"You really are an insufferable brat! Forget it, let's just study this Cursed Energy."

Sasuke didn't provoke her further. He sat back down cross-legged, formed a hand seal, and condensed Cursed Energy in his palm.

"Separating Cursed Energy using mental energy is only the first step. The truly efficient way to refine Cursed Energy is to use external negative emotions as a catalyst."

"I'm currently relying on an external source, but those opportunities aren't common. If you can research a more efficient method of self-refinement—"

"It would be useful for you too, right?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Sasuke answered bluntly.

"You little brat, you certainly have a lot of nerve ordering people around. Fine. I'm a medical ninja; refining energy is my specialty anyway."

She sat down cross-legged as well, closed her eyes, and slowly injected Cursed Energy into her meridians.

Tsunade's efficiency was even higher than Sasuke had anticipated.

After all, she was at the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu, and her understanding of the meridian system was unrivaled.

Precise chakra control was a fundamental skill for any medical ninja, and Tsunade's precision in separating mental energy was dozens of times greater than Sakura's.

The night sky slowly shifted from deep black to gray-blue; dawn had arrived.

"Six hours," Tsunade said, looking down at the Cursed Energy on her palm, turning her wrist to let it dance between her fingers. "The separation efficiency has doubled."

Sasuke opened his eyes, watching the luster of Cursed Energy in Tsunade's palm.

"As expected of the Sannin's medical ninja."

Tsunade's lips curled upward.

"That goes without saying. It's morning now, let's head out to eat."

As she pushed open the wooden door at the end of the hallway, Tsunade spotted Jiraiya at a glance.

He was squatting on the windowsill, clutching a brush and scribbling something on a piece of paper.

A brown messenger hawk stood by his side, pecking at a rice ball on the sill.

Jiraiya dipped the brush in the last of the ink, finished writing the final characters, rolled up the note, and tucked it into the scroll tube on the hawk's leg.

"Off you go." Jiraiya patted the hawk's back.

Tsunade walked up behind Jiraiya and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya turned around, and upon seeing Tsunade's face, he froze for a moment.

Tsunade stood in the morning light, her hair slightly disheveled and dark circles under her eyes, clearly having not slept well through the night.

Yet, her eyes lacked any sense of lethargy or fatigue; instead, they shone with a sharp glint, making her look incredibly spirited.

"What were you up to last night?" Jiraiya looked her up and down.

"None of your business. What are you sending?" Tsunade leaned out the window, looking in the direction the hawk had flown.

"Reporting to the old man. About you, the Sasuke kid's situation, the itinerary for the next few days, and a few other things."

Jiraiya's voice was a bit more serious than usual, though not by much.

Tsunade nodded, then let out a yawn and walked past Jiraiya: "Fine, I'm hungry. Let's go get breakfast."