Healing Wounds (Part 1)

Just as Yizhe had expected, once Tsunade put on the sunglasses, she was no longer afraid of blood. Through that kind of vision, blood lost its original color. Tsunade could simply treat it as something else in her field of view, no longer recognizing it as blood.

However, ever since Tsunade developed her fear of blood, she had never personally performed another surgery. Even simple operations had been done by Shizune under her guidance.

As a result, her skills had grown quite rusty.

Furthermore, although Tsunade could no longer see the red of blood while wearing sunglasses, the other colors in her vision had also become difficult to distinguish.

She could no longer easily identify different tissues, organs, and structures by color. Misjudgments could easily occur, and that was unacceptable in a delicate operation.

So she honestly told Yizhe that she still needed some time to practice and become fully familiar with the darkened vision beneath the sunglasses before she could perform the surgery.

And so, Yizhe began a long wait.

"Sister Shizune, when do you think Lady Tsunade will finally get used to those two pairs of sunglasses and operate on me?" Yizhe asked listlessly as he leaned against the wall during one of their house calls.

After seeing off the patient in front of her, Shizune tilted her head and thought for a moment. "It should... not take much longer, right?"

"Lady Tsunade is already incredibly skilled. She just hasn't operated in a long time, and the glasses have made her a little uncomfortable. She'll be fine after a while!"

As she spoke, she took on another patient and began her diagnosis.

"She goes to the casino every day wearing those sunglasses. Is that supposed to count as practice too?" Yizhe questioned.

Whenever he thought about it, anger rose in his chest. Shizune and he worked hard every day, making house calls to earn money, only for it all to end up in Tsunade's pocket. Then, under the excuse of practicing, Tsunade took it to the casino and lost every last bit.

"Well..." Shizune did not know how to explain it, so she could only turn back with an awkward smile.

"It's because you're so soft-hearted that Tsunade turned out like this. She has the two of us making house calls every day to earn money, while she runs off somewhere to enjoy herself!" Yizhe said indignantly.

"What, do you want to act tough in front of Lady Tsunade for once? Offer her some advice?" Shizune teased, without relaxing her focus on the patient's diagnosis.

"How would I dare?" He let out a long sigh and muttered, "Maybe I could try if I could beat her!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" Hearing that, Shizune clutched her stomach and laughed until tears streamed from her eyes.

"I... I thought... you'd forgotten the pain... after your wounds healed!" She laughed so hard that she could barely catch her breath.

"Miss, please hurry up and see the patient!" someone waiting in line complained impatiently.

"Sorry, sorry!" Shizune apologized repeatedly. Once she had composed herself, she continued the examination and said to Yizhe behind her, "Until you can beat Lady Tsunade, I think you should give up on that idea and just go out with me every day to earn money!"

"Ah..." Yizhe let out a long sigh. He had no answer, and his heart was filled with melancholy.

Making house calls with Shizune was terribly dull. Because of his injured hand, it was difficult for him to be much help. At most, he could pass things to her or use the White Insight Eye to investigate certain conditions for her.

So most of the time, he simply stood quietly to the side and watched Shizune treat the patients.

Still, whenever Shizune had some spare time, she would take the opportunity while treating patients to explain things to him in practice and introduce some basic medical knowledge.

Perhaps this was one of Tsunade's tests for him as well, he thought silently.

Thus, Tsunade lingered at the casino every day, while Yizhe and Shizune worked hard making house calls every day. More than ten days passed in a row.

"Kid, the two of you don't need to make house calls today!" Tsunade called out seriously to the pair just as they were about to leave.

"Lady Tsunade, could it be..." Shizune trailed off.

"Yes. I'm ready. I plan to operate on him today!" She glanced at Yizhe beside Shizune.

"Really?" Yizhe was overjoyed when he heard Tsunade's words.

After waiting so long, the day had finally arrived.

"Although the sunglasses cover up the red of blood, the visibility is still far too poor. I need a brightly lit environment to assist with the operation!"

"So, you need to find a way to make the surroundings even brighter!" Tsunade said solemnly.

"Then... should we go buy a few more lamps?" Shizune tentatively suggested.

Tsunade bit her lip, thought for a moment, then waved them away. "That works too. Go buy lamps quickly!"

"Wait, that's not right!" After taking only a few steps, Yizhe felt his empty pockets and turned back. "You haven't given us any money!"

"Um... well..." Tsunade stared at the ceiling, hemming and hawing as she tried to muddle through.

"Hand over the money!" He extended his hand toward Tsunade.

"It's gone..." Though Tsunade tried her best to lower her voice, he still heard her clearly.

"What?!" "What?!" Yizhe and Shizune cried out in unison.

"Well..." Tsunade turned her head aside, her pretty face flushing as she explained in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "I couldn't sleep last night, tossing and turning. So I went to the casino again..."

"Oh, heavens! You spendthrift woman, did you lose it all again?!" Yizhe shouted in shock.

Tsunade had always had terrible luck at gambling, yet she could never resist going. The money Shizune and he earned from house calls was basically all lost by her at the casino.

"What did you say?!" When Tsunade heard Yizhe call her a "spendthrift woman," anger immediately surged in her heart. The little guilt she had felt vanished at once, and she made as if to strike him.

Shizune, who had also heard Yizhe's rude words, immediately knew things were about to go badly. Without a second thought, she hurried forward and wrapped her arms around Tsunade, stopping the impending tragedy.

"Lady Tsunade, let's talk this out, let's talk this out!" she urged, trying to calm Tsunade's anger while repeatedly signaling Yizhe with her eyes.

"Let go, let go!" Tsunade struggled.

Seeing her furious, Yizhe trembled with fear. After catching Shizune's signal, he reluctantly gave in. "I was wrong, Lady Tsunade!"

"Hmph!" Tsunade turned her head aside, too lazy to look at him.

After all, she really was in the wrong, so she could not say much more.

Only when Shizune felt that Tsunade had stopped struggling did she cautiously release her.

"So what do we do now? Are we not doing the surgery today? Should we go make house calls and earn some money first?" Shizune asked tentatively.

"Forget it. At this rate, there probably won't be any chance tomorrow either!" Yizhe refused outright.

He could not wait any longer. If they delayed again, there might still be no money afterward.

"Then what do you want to do?" Tsunade asked back, her anger still not fully dispelled.

Yizhe held his chin, thought briefly, and said seriously, "I have an idea. We don't need to buy lamps!"

"Speak!" Tsunade became interested. She wanted to see what solution this boy, who was usually full of clever little tricks, had come up with.

"The weather is clear today. We can find a flat area with thick snow, dig a large cone-shaped pit with its point facing downward, pack down the snow around it, and concentrate the sunlight in the center. Then Sister Shizune can hold up a mirror and reflect the sunlight onto my hand to make it brighter. That should provide enough light!" Yizhe slowly explained his idea.