Healing Injuries (Part 2)

"Good kid! Not bad! You actually came up with a method like this!" Tsunade beamed and lavishly praised Yizhe.

After giving it some thought, she understood that the idea was feasible, and she regarded the boy before her in an entirely new light.

"Then... let's set out right away!" Shizune reminded them.

The three of them gathered all the necessary tools and headed out in a grand procession.

They did not know what other specialties the Land of Iron had, but there was plenty of snow. That much was obvious at a glance.

Finding a place with deep snow was not difficult. Before long, they found one outside the city.

It was an exceptionally flat stretch of land, blanketed in thick snow, with not a trace of vegetation in sight.

"Move aside." Tsunade shoved the two of them lightly and spoke in a soft voice.

Yizhe did not understand what she intended to do, but he silently stepped aside anyway.

"Ha!"

Tsunade gave a loud shout, clenched her fist, and punched the snow before her.

Bang!

A thunderous boom erupted from the flat ground.

Yizhe clearly felt a powerful force burst across the snow the instant Tsunade's fist struck the ground.

The blast sent snow flying several meters into the air, and it came raining down over all three of them.

As the snow settled, Yizhe clearly saw a massive snow pit nearly four meters wide and two meters deep in front of him. Tsunade stood inside it, covered from head to toe in snow.

"What are you doing?" Yizhe snapped.

Tsunade's sudden attack had covered all three of them in snow. Some had even slipped beneath their clothes, making them thoroughly uncomfortable.

"I don't have time to slowly dig a snow pit with you two!"

"There, done in one go. Hurry up and fix it up!" Tsunade said indifferently. She sprang out of the pit and gave Yizhe a look, signaling for him to climb down.

Shizune merely shook her head with a wry smile before taking the lead and jumping into the snow pit.

Seeing that, Yizhe had no choice but to curl his lip and follow her down.

Tsunade had created such a large pit with ease, but Yizhe and Shizune were the ones left with the miserable task of finishing it.

They needed to reshape the walls of the snow pit into slopes angled toward the center of the bottom, then pack those slopes firmly so sunlight could be concentrated there.

After who knew how long, the two of them finally finished working on the snow pit, drenched in sweat.

The pit was now brilliantly lit, almost painfully so.

Shizune leaped out and called to Tsunade, who was sitting in the snow and dozing off. "Lady Tsunade, everything is ready!"

"Mmm..." Tsunade was startled awake by the sudden voice. Rubbing her temples, she muttered groggily, "Prepare the medical equipment. I'll operate on that kid in a moment!"

Shizune immediately took a sealing scroll from her waist, spread it out on the snow, formed several hand seals, and pressed her hand against it.

After a puff of green smoke, a set of surgical instruments and some gauze appeared atop the scroll.

Once that was done, she carefully inspected every surgical tool. Only after confirming there were no issues did she report to Tsunade, "Lady Tsunade, everything is ready!"

"Mhm—" Hearing that, Tsunade slowly rose to her feet, stretched lazily, and moved her limbs. She looked completely refreshed.

"Are you still not ready, Lady Tsunade?" Yizhe, waiting in the snow pit, was growing impatient.

He had endured humiliation and hardship at Tsunade's side for so long. At last, this day had come—his hands were about to be reborn!

"What are you so anxious for?" Tsunade asked with an irritated expression as she jumped down into the snow pit from above.

When she landed, the force she kicked up was so spectacular that Yizhe could only stare in amazement.

Tsunade looked displeased at his reaction. "How can someone so young have so many thoughts? Did you learn that from Jiraiya?"

"Yeah! That's right! He was the one who led me astray!" Yizhe nodded repeatedly, lying through his teeth without blinking.

Sorry, Jiraiya! You can take the blame for this one. It's not like one more will make a difference! he silently thought.

"He's bad enough himself, and now he's corrupting children too. Just wait until I deal with him next time!" Tsunade said indignantly.

"Alright, lie down!" She pointed at a small open spot behind Yizhe, then knelt where she was and laid out the surgical equipment beside her.

The bottom of the pit was not very spacious to begin with. Once Yizhe lay down, it became even more cramped. They were pressed very close together, and he could even hear Tsunade breathing.

"Eat this!" Tsunade took out a white pill and held it to his mouth.

"What kind of medicine is this?" Yizhe obediently swallowed the pill and casually asked.

"A numbing painkiller. It's just that I haven't performed surgery in a long time, so this pill has been sitting around for ages. I don't know how much of its effect is left," Tsunade said expressionlessly as she put on dark glasses.

"Wait!" Yizhe hurriedly pulled his hand out of her clutches and asked cautiously, "How long is 'a long time'?"

"More than two years, probably." She raised her head to look at the sky and estimated a number.

"Medicine from two years ago! How much potency could it possibly have left? Are you kidding? Don't you have anything newer?" Yizhe asked.

"I don't have the money to buy any," she said as if it did not matter.

This would not do. Medicine from two years ago probably had barely any effect left.

Yizhe was not some tough guy like Guan Yu. He did not dare, nor did he want, to endure the ordeal of having his bone scraped to remove poison.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a set of silver needles among Tsunade's surgical instruments. Inspiration struck, and he immediately had an idea.

"Give me a few of those silver needles!"

"What do you want those for?" Although Tsunade was puzzled, she still handed several over.

"Byakugan!" Taking the needles, he activated his Byakugan's combat stance, located the acupoints on his right arm, and inserted the needles.

A numb sensation immediately spread through his right hand, and his palm gradually lost all feeling.

When it came to understanding acupoints, perhaps no one could surpass the Hyuga Clan.

He was taking advantage of how striking certain acupoints could paralyze the body. By needling those points with silver needles, he could achieve the same effect as medicine.

That way, he could undergo the surgery painlessly and avoid suffering.

"Not bad!" Tsunade praised him sincerely.

Only someone born into the Hyuga Clan could have come up with such a method.

Once everything was ready, Tsunade placed his right hand on her knee and began the tense operation.

As they had planned earlier, Shizune held up a mirror and reflected sunlight onto Yizhe's hand, providing Tsunade with sufficient illumination.

Although a beautiful woman was right in front of him, Yizhe had no mind for anything else. He did not even dare glance in Tsunade's direction.

Because the palm undergoing surgery atop Tsunade's knee was a bloody, mangled mess that made his heart shudder.

Time passed second by second. He waited with difficulty until, at a certain moment, he heard words that filled him with joy.

"Done. Switch to the other hand!"

He looked closely. The palm that had been too horrible to look at had returned to normal after Tsunade's surgical treatment and medical ninjutsu repair.

"Quit staring and switch to the other hand already. Once we're done, we're going back! I'm starving!" Tsunade urged impatiently.

Yizhe could clearly see that her forehead was already covered in sweat. Performing surgery under such crude conditions was clearly an enormous and exhausting challenge even for Tsunade.

So he repeated the process, inserting silver needles into his left arm and allowing Tsunade to continue the operation.

This time was much faster than before. It took only about half as long to finish the surgery.

Tsunade had presumably grown accustomed to this kind of operation.

With that, Yizhe's palms were completely healed, reborn anew.