Tsunade's meaning was clear. She was kindly reminding Takizawa Dan not to go head-to-head with Shizune.
The reason was obvious. Shizune was her own direct disciple, and both her ninjutsu and medical skills were among the best of her generation. Even quite a few jōnin weren't her match, let alone Takizawa Dan.
Besides, if they were competing in medical skills, he stood no chance at all. His already slim odds of winning would shrink by thousands upon thousands of times!
"Dan, I'll chalk what you just said up to youthful ignorance. I can pretend I never heard it, as long as you take it back now. Then I'll pretend this never happened. We can compete however we originally planned, and it won't affect the result."
Shizune stared at Takizawa Dan, her expression stern.
If an ordinary person had dared speak to her like that, they would probably have lost their head or been left lying on the ground with serious injuries by now.
But he was just a kid, and Tsunade was here to vouch for him, so Shizune could just barely bring herself not to hold it against him.
"Heh, do you really have so little faith in me?" Takizawa Dan looked from the speechless Shizune to the stern-faced Tsunade, then suddenly broke into a hearty laugh.
"The match hasn't even been decided yet. If you don't let me try, how will we know who comes out on top?"
Faced with Takizawa Dan's hearty smile, Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a glance and fell silent.
After a moment, Tsunade finally raised her head and looked at Takizawa Dan with an unprecedentedly grave expression.
"Takizawa Dan, I have to warn you: this isn't a joke. If you've decided to compete against Shizune in medical skills, then so be it."
"But a medical skills contest is completely different from a contest of strength."
"A contest of strength isn't a core part of my field, so I can accept it even if you only go as far as necessary."
"But for a medical skills contest, I require both sides to give it their all. No holding back whatsoever. And both sides must agree on the stakes beforehand. The loser must pay the winner—no delaying payment or backing out!"
As Tsunade laid out the terms, her expression was extremely serious.
She wanted to make it clear to Takizawa Dan that a medical skills contest was no trivial matter. This was core material in Tsunade's field of instruction, so it couldn't simply be brushed aside. Nor could the loser just apologize and call it a day.
The loser had to pay a price!
"Sure! No problem. I accept." Takizawa Dan grinned. "I'm curious what you're willing to wager, Shizune. I'm ready to take you up on it."
Seeing Takizawa Dan's confident smile, Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a glance. Both saw the deep helplessness in the other's eyes.
This kid... Did he really have the skills, or had he just learned a couple of amateur tricks and gotten carried away, like a young calf that didn't fear tigers?
"Fine. I'll take your bet!"
Shizune nodded and stepped forward, taking a delicate box from her waist.
"Takizawa Dan, if you really manage to beat me today, this box is yours!"
When Tsunade saw Shizune take it out, she blurted, "Shizune! You're not joking, are you...? You're actually offering that..."
"I'm not joking. I can tell how determined Dan is, so I've decided to put my whole heart into facing his challenge!"
Shizune answered with utmost seriousness.
To be fair, Shizune usually gave people the impression that she was laid-back and didn't take much seriously. But when she got serious, she was incredibly cool, with a toughness that rivaled any male ninja.
"Big Sister Tsunade, what is that?"
Seeing how seriously Tsunade was taking the item, Takizawa Dan asked curiously.
"Shizune, explain it to him and see whether he's willing to accept."
Tsunade gave a wry smile and stepped aside.
She knew that after being provoked by Takizawa Dan again and again, Shizune had finally lost patience and decided to give it her all.
The fact that she was willing to put up this precious ninja tool she always carried with her was proof enough!
Come to think of it, when was the last time Shizune had gone all out? It seemed she'd only used half her strength the last time—and still saved the entire village.
The more Tsunade thought about it, the more reckless and unreliable Takizawa Dan seemed. She couldn't help shaking her head.
Hopefully, this defeat would teach the kid a lesson as he grew.
"This is called a Ninjutsu Scroll Launcher!" Shizune explained to Takizawa Dan. "It can fire scrolls containing ninjutsu and activate the techniques, letting you use them instantly without forming Hand Seals!"
As he listened to Shizune's explanation, Takizawa Dan's eyes suddenly lit up.
As a longtime Naruto fan, he'd watched Boruto: Naruto Next Generations in his previous life. He'd always been fascinated by devices that used technology to reproduce ninjutsu.
Just think: all you had to do was buy a ninjutsu scroll, load it into the launcher, and fire off the technique at will. No need for Hand Seals—it could be used instantly!
Not only that, it didn't consume any chakra. Even a three-year-old child could fire off a ninjutsu technique immediately just by pressing the "launch" button. How terrifying was that?
It looked like this kind of Ninjutsu Launcher had already existed in this era! But it seemed to still be a prototype, not nearly as lightweight or responsive as the one in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
"I once saved the life of a daimyō from the Land of Lightning. To repay me, he gave me this spare Ninjutsu Scroll Launcher. I've kept it with me all these years. It should be worthy stakes for this match, don't you think?" Shizune said calmly. "If you beat me, you can take it."
So it was a life-saving device owned by a daimyō. After hearing Shizune's explanation, Takizawa Dan understood.
The daimyō of the various countries were generally ordinary people, unarmed and unable to use ninjutsu. But they still needed a way to protect themselves in an emergency, so someone had come up with this compromise: using a Ninjutsu Scroll Launcher to unleash ninjutsu.
To compare it to his previous life, it was like important people who didn't have the time or energy to train hard and learn martial arts for self-defense keeping a handgun tucked away inside their clothes.
The two were essentially the same thing.
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