Life's Divine Erosion, Extreme Ambiguity in Tsunade's Tent

Inside the medical tent, blinding green chakra light flashed wildly. Tsunade clasped her hands together and pressed them tightly against the abnormality on Sosuke's left arm.

Sweat slid down her smooth forehead and struck the bedsheet, spreading into dark stains.

It was useless.

The ever-reliable Mystical Palm Technique now seemed to have struck a bottomless black hole. The blackish-brown wood grain spreading beneath Sosuke's skin not only showed no signs of receding, but greedily devoured the chakra Tsunade poured into him, growing ever faster.

"Damn it! What the hell is this thing?!" Tsunade gritted her teeth, her eyes bloodshot.

The left side of Sosuke's shoulder had completely lost the softness of human flesh. Beneath her fingers was a rough, hard, cold wooden texture. A deathly yet strangely immense vitality was using his left arm as its starting point, steadily pressing toward his heart.

The surrounding medical ninja looked at one another, not daring to even breathe.

"Everyone, get out!" Tsunade suddenly turned, her sharp gaze sweeping across them. "Seal off this information. If anyone dares leak even half a word about Sosuke's condition today, I'll personally wring his neck!"

Everyone shuddered and scrambled out.

Tsunade took a deep breath, grabbed a blanket, and wrapped Sosuke tightly in it before bending down and carrying him in her arms. The boy was so light that her heart trembled. The younger clansman who had once followed behind her with a gentle smile had somehow been tortured into this skeletal state.

Avoiding the camp's main roads, she moved like lightning and brought Sosuke straight to her private command tent deep within the camp.

After landing, Tsunade rapidly formed hand seals with one hand.

"Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"

Four miniature purple pillars of light rose from the four corners of the tent, completely sealing the space off from the outside. Only then did she carefully lay Sosuke down on the broad field bed.

The dim candlelight in the tent flickered, illuminating Sosuke's bloodless face.

His eyes were tightly shut, his brows twisted in pain, muffled groans escaping his throat. The wooden patterns had already crossed his collarbone and crawled over his pale chest.

With trembling hands, Tsunade undid Sosuke's mud- and blood-stained shirt.

Large patches of skin were exposed to the air. His right side retained a young man's thin warmth, while his left had become savage, twisted, bark-like keratin. Half man, half wood.

"Grandfather's notes... never recorded a backlash like this..." Tsunade's eyes reddened as intense medical chakra lit up in her hands again, trying to establish a defensive line around Sosuke's heart.

At that moment, a cold mechanical voice quietly exploded in Sosuke's mind.

[ Ding! Detected that the host is currently undergoing extreme divine erosion.]

[Warning: Woodification progress has reached 15%. If it spreads to the heart, the host will completely transform into an unconscious Divine Tree sapling.]

[Detected S-rank target: Senju Tsunade.]

[Solution: The Wood Release origin within the host is too violent. Only by engaging in a deep union of yin and yang with a highly qualified woman, using the excess divine vitality as "life seeds" to reproduce and redirect it, can the backlash be suppressed. The higher the target's qualifications, the better the redirection effect.]

Reproductive redirection.

Amid the extreme pain, Sosuke retained a thread of absolute clarity. Feeling Tsunade's soft, trembling hands pressed to his chest, a cold calculation flashed through his heart.

No children, no survival. This system really has carved the laws of survival into its bones.

But the woman before him was Tsunade. The princess of the Senju Clan, one of the famed Three Ninja, not only immensely powerful, but proud and stubborn to the core. If he wanted her to willingly set aside the restraints of seniority and morality, brute force would not do. He had to use some tactics.

Sosuke slowly opened his eyes.

His once-clear black eyes were now filled with fine blood vessels, yet beneath them lay just the right amount of vulnerability and longing.

"Tsunade... Sister..."

His voice was hoarse like sandpaper rubbing together, so weak it was barely audible.

"Sosuke! You're awake? Don't talk. Save your strength. I'll definitely find a way to suppress this power!" Hearing him stir, Tsunade hurriedly leaned closer, unable to hide the panic in her eyes.

Sosuke struggled to raise his right hand, which had not yet been fully consumed by the woodification. His fingertips trembled as they lightly touched the beauty mark at the corner of Tsunade's eye.

"Don't waste your strength..." Sosuke forced a tragic smile. His fingers slid down Tsunade's cheek before falling limply over the edge of the bed. "I know my own body best. This power is too immense. It's devouring my consciousness. I can feel it... I'm turning into a tree."

"Shut up!" Tsunade suddenly raised her voice, an oppressed sob in her tone. "I won't let you die! You're the last man of the Senju Clan. You awakened Wood Release. You still have a bright future ahead of you!"

"A future?" Sosuke shook his head bitterly. "What future does the Senju Clan have left? If you hadn't arrived today, Sister, Danzo would have taken me to Root and cut me to pieces. My talent is mediocre. To awaken Grandfather's power in a death trap like this and protect you once... I'm already satisfied."

Those words were like a sharp blade stabbing fiercely into the softest part of Tsunade's heart.

Since Nawaki's death, what she feared most was losing family. And now, in order to survive and avoid burdening her, Sosuke had forcibly activated the Wood Release he could not control, ending up in this state worse than death.

Intense guilt and protectiveness erupted within Tsunade like a volcano.

"Don't say such discouraging things!" Tsunade grabbed Sosuke's hand and pressed his palm against her burning cheek. "As long as I'm here, no one can take you away! Not Danzo, and not this damned Wood Release backlash!"

Sosuke felt the startling softness and warmth against his palm, while Tsunade's unique fragrance mixed with the faint scent of medicinal herbs lingered at his nose.

He knew the timing was about right.

"Sister, actually... there may be a way." Sosuke gasped heavily several times, pretending to be extremely weak and hesitant.

Tsunade's eyes lit up as though she had seized a lifeline. She abruptly bent over, bringing herself extremely close to Sosuke, their breaths nearly entwining.

"What way? Tell me quickly! As long as it can save you, I'll do anything!"

"I can feel..." Sosuke turned his head slightly, as if finding it difficult to speak. An unnatural flush surfaced on his pale cheeks. "This power is backlashing because the vitality of its Yang Release is too violent. My body is like a cup filled with water, about to burst."

As a top-tier medical ninja, Tsunade instantly thought of countless medical theories upon hearing this description.

"Excessive Yang Release, rampant vitality..." Tsunade frowned deeply, quickly pressing and examining Sosuke's lower abdomen.

Sure enough, she sensed a vast, violently surging mass of green chakra within Sosuke. Lacking the balance of Yin Release, it was wantonly destroying his original chakra pathways and assimilating them into plant matter.

"We have to guide this excess vitality out!" Tsunade bit her lower lip, her eyes urgent. "But how? This power has already fused with your bloodline."

Sosuke said nothing. He simply looked quietly at Tsunade with those gentle, damp eyes.

The storm outside the tent seemed to grow louder, raindrops pounding against the canvas with dull thuds. Yet the air inside the tent grew thicker and hotter.

Tsunade's gaze fell upon Sosuke's eyes, traveled down the bridge of his straight nose, and settled on his lips, which trembled faintly as he endured the pain.

Then an extremely ancient, even absurd, medical concept surfaced from the deepest recesses of her memories.

The harmony of yin and yang, the mingling of water and milk.

To guide out the violent Yang Release origin within a man's body, the most direct and only method that would not damage his foundation was for a woman of the same bloodline, with immense chakra herself, to use the most intimate physical contact to envelop, accept, and ultimately neutralize that power with her own Yin Release.

Tsunade's movements suddenly froze.

Her pupils contracted sharply as an unbelievable blush instantly spread from her fair neck to the tips of her ears.

"This... this won't do..." Tsunade yanked her hands back and retreated half a step as if shocked, her chest rising and falling violently.

That was Sosuke! The younger clansman she had watched grow up!

Such a thing was utterly rebellious, a violation of all propriety!

But Sosuke groaned again. During the brief gap when Tsunade had withdrawn her medical chakra, the blackish-brown wooden patterns surged upward by another inch, directly approaching his heart.

"Sosuke!" Tsunade cried out and threw herself back to the bedside.

There was no time left. If she did not suppress this violent divine vitality, Sosuke would completely become a soulless wooden sculpture tonight.

Tsunade clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms. Looking at Sosuke's pained yet still handsome face, Danzo's greedy, vicious single eye flashed through her mind.

"You damned brat..." Tsunade's voice became unusually hoarse, carrying an unquestionable dominance.

She suddenly bent down and tightly embraced Sosuke's shoulders. The distance between them vanished in an instant, their breaths mingling. Tsunade released her immense Yin Release chakra without reservation, forcing it into Sosuke through their closely pressed bodies, trying to soothe the rampaging Yang Release through this near-embrace.

Startling softness and scorching body heat seeped through their thin clothing.

Sosuke's nose brushed Tsunade's neck, her fragrance drilling into his bones. He narrowed his eyes slightly. On the system panel, the woodification progress bar finally stopped moving, locked firmly at 15%.

But that was far from enough.

"This can only... suppress it temporarily..." Tsunade breathed beside Sosuke's ear, her voice carrying a tremor and shyness she herself had not noticed. "If we want to eradicate it completely, we must..."

That word lodged in her throat, refusing to come out.

Feeling the soft, full body trembling faintly in his arms, an intense possessive desire flashed through Sosuke's eyes. Yet outwardly, he struggled to raise his hand and gently pushed Tsunade's shoulder away.

"Sister, no."

Sosuke's eyes were clear yet pained. He gasped heavily, portraying fragility and brokenness to perfection. "I am a sinner of the Senju Clan. How can I ruin your purity in that way? Temporarily suppressing it is enough... I'll endure the rest myself."

The more he retreated, the more he endured, the faster Tsunade's defenses collapsed.

Tsunade stared blankly at Sosuke's pale yet resolute face. Deep within her, the shackles of morality and her desire to protect the boy before her were tearing savagely at each other. The tent was deathly quiet, with only their violently overlapping heartbeats endlessly magnified beneath the dim candlelight. Faced with the only forbidden solution that could save his life, the medical master renowned throughout the ninja world fell completely into an impossible dilemma.