A Strong Medicine for a Stubborn Illness
Naruto stood at the street corner without dodging.
He stepped back half a step with his right foot, and his left palm shot out like a pair of pincers, precisely catching the fist that was about to strike his face.
The two Monster Strength collided, and the shockwave overturned the surrounding broken wooden planks. Several casino thugs who were peeking out from the street were thrown over by the residual force and rolled all over the ground.
The underworld forces of Tanzaku Town finally realized that tonight's fight was not just an ordinary brawl between ninjas.
Tsunade's eyes became even more bloodshot after her attack was thwarted.
With his right fist restrained, he raised his left knee without hesitation, aiming straight for Naruto's ribs, his Monster Strength creating an unstoppable close-range suppression.
Naruto lowered his shoulders, neither dodging nor flinching.
The Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body withstood the knee strike, and a drum-like tremor emanated from its chest.
Following the point of contact between the two, the intense Yang Release Chakra flowed back in the opposite direction once more.
Tsunade felt a tingling sensation throughout her right arm, and the rampant Chakra within her was forcefully suppressed back into her meridians by this powerful life force.
The reaction force sent her flying back more than ten meters, her wooden clogs dragging two deep furrows into the ground.
"Is that all the strength you have? Didn't you get any food from Tanzaku Town tonight, you big fat sheep?"
Naruto flicked his wrist, his tone dripping with barbed mockery.
Tsunade raised her eyes, suppressing her trembling with anger, and charged forward again.
Jiraiya stood in the corner, his right foot just taking a step forward when he abruptly stopped.
He saw it very clearly: every time Naruto received an attack, he controlled his Yang Release within the limits that Tsunade's meridians could withstand.
This guy wasn't fighting back; he was using the most extreme physical methods to gradually calm her out-of-control emotions.
The third punch landed.
Naruto stomped on the rocks with his left foot, steadily blocked the force of the punch with his right palm, and then pressed his left hand on Tsunade's shoulder.
The overwhelming Yang Release Chakra surged in relentlessly, brutally severing the images of the old battlefield from her mind.
"What kind of monster are you?"
Tsunade stared intently at the boy before her, her voice hoarse.
Naruto leaned closer, his azure eyes unwavering. "I'm the kind of person who can pull you out of your Hemophobia. You can hate me, but you'll have to get back to Hidden Leaf alive first."
These words caused Tsunade to momentarily lose her composure.
Immediately afterwards, she raised her left fist and slammed it heavily into Naruto's chest.
This punch lacked the ferocity of the previous two, but it carried all the resentment and bitterness that had accumulated over the past decade.
Naruto neither dodged nor evaded, bracing himself to take the heavy blow.
The crack beneath his feet widened by half a meter, but he didn't even flinch, only replying in a low voice, "Consider this punch my way for those in Hidden Leaf who are still waiting for you to save them."
Tsunade's fist stopped in front of his chest, and her shoulders relaxed.
She didn't fall, nor did she continue her attack; she simply clutched the golden chip, like a drowning person finally finding a rock to catch their breath.
Naruto released her hand, brushed the dust off his shoulder, and said coldly, "Dead people are Orochimaru's bargaining chips; living people are the ledger you should be guarding. The three-day deadline remains unchanged. You choose."
Instead of making the decision for her, he put the choice back in her hands.
Tsunade and raised her hand to slap him, but her palm stopped in mid-air and ultimately did not fall.
She threw the golden chips back into Naruto's arms, her voice hoarse. "I'll give you an answer in three days. Now get lost, or I'm afraid I won't be able to resist punching you into the ground."
Naruto held the chip between two fingers, his smile becoming increasingly smug, "If you can really do it, I'll raise the bet."
In the shadow of the eaves a hundred meters away.
Kabuto Yakushi quickly wrote down the frequency of Naruto's Yang Release counterattack in his notebook.
He pushed up his round-framed glasses, his eyes behind the lenses filled with apprehension.
"Lord Orochimaru, this monster isn't just protecting Tsunade. He's using us as stepping stones."
He took half a step back, then turned and disappeared into the darkness.
Before leaving, he quietly left a snake-shaped mark in the crack of the wall.
The single-track approach to reviving the transaction is no longer viable; the second plan Orochimaru outlined must be implemented immediately.
At the same moment Kabuto retreated, the system's mechanical voice rang out crisply in Naruto's mind.
[Main Quest Update: The Legendary Sannin' High-Stakes Gamble - 72 Hours Countdown]
[Victory Condition: Tsunade Senju's affection level reaches 60 and she actively chooses to join the Uzumaki.]
[Failure Penalty: Target permanently lost, Wood Release Source reward canceled.]
[Bonus points: Repelled Orochimaru's interference during the event (+10), cured Tsunade's Hemophobia (+15).]
Naruto pressed the tip of his tongue against his palate and let out a soft snort.
"Permanent loss?"
This game is getting more and more to my liking.
At the other end of the street corner, the casino owner of Tanzaku Town, along with a dozen or so thugs, quietly blocked their escape route.
The boss stared at the black card in Shizune's hand, a greedy glint in his eyes. "Gentlemen, you think you can just leave after causing a scene? Leave your loan receipts and cards behind."
Naruto turned around, looked at this group of clueless fodder, and grinned maliciously. "Guys, tell me the truth, bringing so many people to ambush me, you're not planning to... you know what, are you?"
Before he could finish speaking, he casually kicked out with his right leg.
A piece of gravel the size of half a fist shot out like a cannonball, accurately piercing the right knee of the leader of the thugs.
Blood splattered mixed with bone fragments, and the thug screamed as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his leg and rolling around on the floor.
The remaining dozen or so people's knees buckled, and most of them knelt down on the spot.
Tsunade at the group of begging gamblers, Tsunade's previously chaotic gaze regained some of its former majesty.
She strode over and, with a cold expression, ordered the casino owner to hand over all the ledgers.
After flipping through a few pages, she tore up the loan agreements involving ordinary people at exorbitant interest rates in front of everyone.
Paper scraps fell like snowflakes.
The residents of Tanzaku Town, who were hiding nearby, watched this scene with a sense of awe for the first time towards this generous "fat sheep."
Jiraiya stepped forward at the opportune moment and handed over the secret letter containing the Hokage's seal. "Tsunade, take a look."
Tsunade's fingers lingered on the cover for a long time before she silently tucked the letter into her pocket.
She didn't say she agreed to become Hokage, nor did she mention returning to Hidden Leaf. She simply turned to Shizune and asked, "How many wounded soldiers are still needed in the village's medical corps?"
Shizune tears nearly welled up in her eyes, and she hurriedly rattled off a string of numbers.
Tsunade appeared nonchalant, but she kept pressing for details about the medicinal herb reserves and the list of seriously injured people.
Jiraiya watched as she resumed her role as medical-nin, then turned his gaze to Naruto stood to the side with his hands in his pockets.
He suddenly realized that this twelve-year-old boy knew how to push people to the edge of a cliff, but also knew how to get them back on track on their own.
Night gradually swallowed up the Tanzaku Town.
The abandoned izakaya has long been closed.
Tsunade went alone to the town's makeshift clinic to check the herb reserves.
Shizune, holding the list of medicinal herbs, hurriedly walked into another dark back street.
Around the corner behind her, a casino clerk wearing a tattered straw hat silently followed her.
The moonlight lengthened his shadow, and a twisted black Snake Seal was clearly visible on the edge of the man's tattered sleeve.