I Won

Lin Chongshu did not hesitate. Taking advantage of the second Tsunade had frozen up, he violently flung a kunai with his right hand toward Shan Tianzhu and his wife.

The kunai spun through the air, its tip aimed straight at the woman.

She hid behind Shan Tianzhu and shrieked, "Help!"

Shan Tianzhu instinctively lunged forward, using his body to shield her.

The kunai buried itself in his chest. Blood gushed out as he let out a muffled groan and slid to the ground.

"Stop!" Shizune's voice came from behind him.

Lin Chongshu felt a chill run down his back. Shizune struck him with her palm, and a sharp blade of condensed chakra precisely sliced through the muscles in his left arm.

She pulled her hand back, preparing to launch a second attack.

Lin Chongshu reminded her, "If you don't save the one beside you, he'll bleed to death."

Shizune's Chakra Blade stopped in midair.

She glanced at Shan Tianzhu, who had collapsed by the doorway. Blood had already soaked the ground around his shoulder, and his face was visibly turning pale.

After a moment's thought, she withdrew the green Chakra Blade from her palm, replaced it with the healing Mystical Palm Technique, and rushed toward Shan Tianzhu.

"Good people really are easy to manipulate," Lin Chongshu murmured.

Now, aside from Temari, Shizune could also be added to his list of honest people.

Letting his arm hang limply, he turned and walked toward Tsunade.

Tsunade was still standing there in a daze, trembling all over, her eyes fixed on the blood that had splattered across her body.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shouted as she stopped the bleeding. "Bastard, stay away from Lady Tsunade!"

Shizune was puzzled as well. Hemophobia was Tsunade's greatest secret; even the Hidden Leaf Village's higher-ups might not know about it. How could a kid she had never met stab directly at her one and only weakness the instant they met?

And the kid had not hesitated at all. He had cut open his own palm as though he had known all along that Tsunade would be rendered helpless the moment blood appeared.

Lin Chongshu walked up to Tsunade and reached out, ripping the necklace from her chest. It still carried her body heat in his palm.

He tucked the necklace into his clothes, then extended one finger and pressed it against the purple diamond-shaped mark on Tsunade's forehead.

He gently pushed forward.

Tsunade fell backward onto the sand. Her golden hair spread out, tangled with the grains.

Her eyes remained wide as she stared at the sky. Her chest heaved violently, but her limbs would not obey her at all.

[Detected that the host has imposed a suppressive threat upon Tsunade. The target has developed intense anger due to the necklace being taken. Reward draw complete.]

[Obtained: Medical Ninjutsu: Chakra Scalpel Proficiency +1]

Lin Chongshu looked down at her. "I won. Looking at you now, you can't fulfill the agreement, so I'll take this as payment first."

He turned around, passed Shizune and Shan Tianzhu, and vaulted over the courtyard wall.

The sand beneath his feet carried him swiftly away, and he vanished behind the dunes.

Only after he had completely escaped the village and plunged into the desert did Lin Chongshu dare stop to catch his breath.

After confirming that no one was pursuing him, his legs gave out and he dropped straight onto the sand.

The clothes on his back were soaked through, half with cold sweat and half with blood that had seeped out when the Chakra Blade cut him.

His left arm was still numb, dangling at his side and swaying like a piece of dead flesh.

He raised his right hand, and a ball of green light lit up in his palm.

The Mystical Palm Technique, freshly drawn from Tsunade. It was his first time using it, and his chakra circulation was still clumsy. The green light flickered bright and dim.

He pressed his palm against the wound on his left shoulder. The green light slowly seeped into the area around it. The bleeding stopped, but this beginner-level Mystical Palm Technique could not reconnect severed muscles. He could only wait for them to heal gradually.

He had once thought that he should try to leave a good impression when he first met Tsunade. Well, he had certainly left an impression. Whether it was good was another matter.

He had stolen her necklace, drawn out her Mystical Palm Technique, and even pushed her to the ground with one finger before leaving.

Tsunade had probably never been humiliated like this in her life.

He used bandages to sling his left arm around his neck, lowered his body, and continued northeast.

The following afternoon.

Tsunade woke up on a hard wooden bed.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the unfamiliar earthen beams of a mud-brick house. She abruptly sat up and reached for her chest. The necklace was gone.

The memories surged back like a tide.

That black-haired brat, the wager, then her rushing at him, and then... blood everywhere!

The First Hokage's relic, the most important thing in the world to her, had been torn from her neck by a brat while her hemophobia was acting up.

"Shizune!" Her voice shook dust from the doorframe.

Shizune pushed the door open, carrying a basin of water.

Seeing Tsunade sitting up in bed with a livid expression, she immediately set down the basin and spoke before Tsunade could open her mouth.

"I looked into it. That brat is from Sunagakure in the Land of Wind. His real name is Lin Chongshu. He's a rogue ninja, and Sunagakure has issued a C-rank wanted notice for him."

Tsunade threw off the blanket and stood up. "Which direction did he run?"

"Probably northeast, toward the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire." Shizune followed behind her. "I severed the muscles in his left arm. He'll definitely need to find a town to treat it."

Before Shizune could finish, Tsunade kicked open the door next door.

Shan Tianzhu was leaning against the headboard, his chest wrapped in bandages. He clutched a sheet of letter paper in his hand, his expression as though he had swallowed shit.

His wife hugged their child as she huddled in the corner, her eyes red as if she had just been crying.

Tsunade could not be bothered to care what the couple had been arguing about. She snatched the letter from his hand and gave it a quick glance.

The handwriting was crooked. It said something like, "For our child, endure for a few more days. It's a pity that strike didn't kill him." There was no name where the signature should have been, so it offered no clue about Lin Chongshu.

She crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it to the floor, staring into Shan Tianzhu's eyes. "Did that brat say where he was going?"

Overwhelmed by her presence, Shan Tianzhu stammered, "N-no. He only stayed at my house for a few days. He didn't leave behind any information."

Then, as if sulking, he shouted, "Ask her. She knows better than I do..."

The woman huddled in the corner and shook her head.

Tsunade did not stay any longer and walked straight out.

At dusk.

Tsunade and Shizune had already been gone from the village for two hours.

Several figures wearing conical hats appeared at the edge of the village.

Their steps were quick, making almost no sound as they trod over the sand.

The leader walked to Shan Tianzhu's door and pushed it open.

Shan Tianzhu was still leaning against the bed with an angry expression, while the woman carried over a basin of freshly heated water.

The leader removed his conical hat, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with thin, narrow eyes. He was the owner of the Bounty Exchange.

This time, a Sunagakure rogue ninja forehead protector also hung from his waist.

He entered the house, glanced at Shan Tianzhu on the bed, then at the woman holding the basin.

"A brat named Lin Chongshu stayed here for several days. Where is he?"

Shan Tianzhu opened his mouth. He recognized the man as the caretaker of the fake temple on the edge of the village. "He ran off long ago. We don't know where he went."

The middle-aged man looked at him, then said to the people behind him, "Search."

Two people in conical hats entered and turned the house upside down. Pots, bowls, and utensils from the stove were swept across the floor, but they found nothing useful.

The middle-aged man walked to Shan Tianzhu's bedside and looked down at him. "Since you don't know, there's no use keeping you alive."

When the woman heard those words, her fingers loosened. The wooden basin slipped from her hands and smashed onto the floor, splashing water all over her trousers.

She suddenly felt some regret, but she did not regret Shan Tianzhu provoking Lin Chongshu, nor did she regret everything that had happened over the past few days.

What she regretted was that, when Lin Chongshu had asked her that night whether she wanted to leave with him, she had not agreed.

It seemed she had made the wrong choice this time.