Bluffing

"Hey!" Yizhe leaned in front of Daidao, studying his rough face closely, but Daidao did not respond.

The man had thick brows and large eyes, with a long scar running from his left eyebrow to his eyelid. He gave off an air of wildness and defiance, yet his eyes now held a trace of dullness and confusion.

"Hey!" Yizhe patted his shoulder, but he still did not respond.

It was impossible to tell whether he could not hear or simply did not want to answer.

Yizhe was rather helpless. No matter how many ideas he had, this guy would not take the bait. Even if he had countless schemes, he had nowhere to use them.

It was like a rat trying to bite a turtle—nowhere to start.

"Lady Tsunade, what should we do?" Yizhe looked toward the blonde beauty beside him.

Tsunade curled her lips, her expression darkening as she said softly, "This is a sickness of the heart, and only medicine for the heart can cure it!"

"I'm a doctor, sure, and I can treat injuries! But I'm not a psychiatrist. I don't know psychological therapy!"

"Then... are we just going to leave him by the roadside?" Shizune asked tentatively, holding Tonton in her arms.

Yizhe immediately rejected the idea. "No way!"

"Daidao ended up like this because Lady Tsunade beat him!"

"What? You're pinning all of this on me? He was the one who came looking for a beating!" Tsunade raised her chin, glaring with wide eyes in obvious displeasure.

"That's not what I mean!" he hurriedly explained, afraid that Tsunade would beat him senseless.

"I mean Daidao's condition has something to do with us. We can't wash our hands of it! And judging by Miyamoto's attitude, Daidao's status is probably not low. It would be very inappropriate to just leave him here!"

"Then what else can we do? I can't treat a wounded heart either!" Shizune said anxiously.

"Hmm..." He held his chin and sank into deep thought.

Tsunade and Shizune also racked their brains beside him, unable to come up with any solution.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as an idea came to him.

"How about we say something to provoke him?" he suggested cautiously.

"Provoke him?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes, considering whether the idea might work.

Daidao had become like this mainly because he had lost to her. He had lost too badly, leaving him with a knot of resentment that he could not get over for the moment.

Perhaps, as this kid suggested, a little provocation could snap him out of it.

"Why don't you try?" She nodded at Yizhe.

"Me?" He pointed at his own nose, somewhat dumbfounded by Tsunade's decision.

"If not you, then who?" Tsunade held her head high and said loudly, completely justified, "You came up with the idea. If you don't try it, who will?"

Shizune watched from the side, unable to stop herself from giggling.

"I..."

He was utterly speechless at Tsunade's unreasonable stubbornness. Worse, he could not beat her. It was like a scholar meeting a soldier—reasoning was useless.

He shook his head, moved to Daidao's side, leaned close to his ear, and began with a tentative line.

"Lord Mifune has business with you. Daidao, wake up already!"

Unfortunately, Yizhe tried countless lines in a row, but Daidao still showed no reaction at all!

"Kid, try changing it up again?" Tsunade and Shizune sat nearby, looking utterly relaxed as they watched Yizhe whisper into Daidao's ear.

"You really don't know how tiring it is when you're sitting there!" He shot Tsunade a glare over his shoulder and said helplessly, "My mouth's gone dry, but he's still like a block of wood. No reaction at all!"

"Why don't we just give up?"

By now, even he had lost the will to keep wasting time.

"Really giving up?" Tsunade looked at him teasingly.

"Let's go, let's go! Forget it!" Yizhe waved his hand and casually said, "It's not like I'm the one who beat him!"

The moment he said that, Tsunade, who had been ready to leave, abruptly stopped. With a serious expression, she declared, "No, we can't leave! If he doesn't wake up, nobody is leaving today!"

"Hurry up and think of something for me!"

With that, she leaned close to Daidao herself and began tentatively saying things, trying to see whether she could wake him.

"He likes swordsmanship so much. How about we talk about something related to swords?" Shizune suddenly offered a suggestion.

"Right!" Shizune's words reminded the other two.

The two exchanged smiles and once again began saying things related to swords into Daidao's ear, hoping to provoke him.

After a long while, the three of them had talked themselves hoarse, but Daidao still showed no response.

"This won't do. I've had enough! Let me try punching him!" Tsunade had racked her brains but still could not wake Daidao, and she was already furious.

"No, no, no! Lady Tsunade, you can't!" Shizune hurriedly hugged her, afraid that she would really throw a punch at Daidao.

"Sword, sword, sword!"

Yizhe was out of ideas too. Only the word "sword" remained in his mind. He hoped to recall some famous line about swords that might perhaps be useful.

He suddenly remembered a description of swordsmen from a novel he had read in his previous life. As if possessed, he blurted out, "Only one who reaches the utmost in emotion can reach the utmost in the sword!"

At those words, clarity instantly returned to Daidao's eyes. He raised his head and muttered, "Only one who reaches the utmost in emotion can reach the utmost in the sword!"

"Only one who..."

"..."

"Ha, ha! It worked! Lady Tsunade, he's awake!" Yizhe shouted.

"He really woke up!" Seeing Daidao regain consciousness, the enraged Tsunade was overjoyed and stopped struggling.

Shizune, who had been holding onto her tightly and did not dare let go, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"If we don't leave now, when will we? Run!" With that, Yizhe darted off and vanished around the street corner.

Tsunade and Shizune looked at each other. They likewise stopped paying attention to Daidao, who was still sitting blankly on the ground, and hurried away after him.

"Kid, where did you learn that line?" Tsunade quickly caught up with him and asked with a serious expression.

Though she did not understand swordsmanship either, all great paths eventually led to the same destination. The ninja way and the sword way would ultimately meet at some point.

That short sentence was packed with profound meaning and contained immense principles.

Even she, a ninja, had gained something from hearing it and felt deeply moved.

She absolutely did not believe that a mere child of around ten could have spoken such words!

Shizune, meanwhile, lacked the insight for it. She only felt that the line sounded profound, but she could not explain what exactly was so special about it.

"What line?" Yizhe turned back to look at her blankly.

"'Only one who reaches the utmost in emotion can reach the utmost in the sword'!" Tsunade stared intently at the boy, trying to discern something from his eyes.

"That one? I made it up! I just said it casually to bluff Daidao. You actually believed it?" Yizhe replied carelessly.

"You really won't tell me?" Tsunade narrowed her beautiful eyes, her knuckles cracking loudly as she clenched her fist.

"Can't you come up with something new? You always use this trick. Aren't you tired of it?" Seeing that she wanted to hit him again, Yizhe hurriedly took several more steps away, trying to put some distance between himself and Tsunade.

"What kind of trick would you like to see, then?" Tsunade brushed back the hair at her temple and asked indifferently.

"I think something like a honey trap would be pretty good!" Yizhe nodded, his eyes shining as he looked at Tsunade.

"A 'honey trap,' huh?" Tsunade muttered. In the next instant, she appeared beside him with the Body Flicker Technique and kicked him.

Yizhe was completely unprepared—or rather, before a ninja of Tsunade's level, being prepared would have been useless anyway. Like a ball, he was sent flying by the tremendous force!