The tree hollow was more spacious than Temari had imagined.
The old tree, over three meters tall, had split open down the middle, creating enough space for four or five people. Its inner walls were dry and smooth, the ground was covered in a layer of fallen leaves, and the air carried the faint, aged scent of wood.
After Chiba entered, he used Wood Release to grow a thin curtain of vines over the opening. It let in light and air, but no one outside could see what was happening within.
Anko's voice came through the vine curtain from outside.
"Boss, I'll keep watch out here. Take your time."
Her tone carried thirty percent suggestiveness and seventy percent teasing.
Chiba ignored her and turned to Temari, who stood against the wall inside the hollow.
"Sit down. I'll treat your wound."
Temari stood with her arms folded and did not move. Half of her four-tailed blond hair had come loose during the earlier fight and draped over her shoulders. Her honey-toned skin was smeared with mud and sweat. The blood around the wound on her right shoulder had already dried, but the blackened edges of the torn cloth showed that poison remained.
"I can treat it myself. I don't need your help."
"You can't even lift your arm, and you're still putting on a brave face?"
Chiba walked up to her, pressed a hand onto her left shoulder, and pushed her down.
Temari's knees gave out, and she sat on the leaf-covered ground under his force. Her exhausted body could not resist the pressure from that palm, and her teeth ground together.
"You..."
"Don't move. If the poison spreads, it'll be troublesome. Those Amegakure people use corrosive water poison. Once it seeps into the chakra pathway system, it disrupts the normal