"Good kid! Not bad—you actually came up with a method like that!" Tsunade praised Yizhe generously, her face lighting up with delight.
After giving it some thought, she understood that the idea was feasible and regarded the boy before her in a whole 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 certainly 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 extremely flat stretch of land, covered in thick snow, with no vegetation visible anywhere nearby.
"Move aside." Tsunade brushed the two of them away and spoke softly.
Yizhe did not understand what she intended to do, but he silently stepped back anyway.
"Hah!"
Tsunade shouted, clenched her fist, and slammed it into the snow before her.
Boom!
A tremendous blast erupted from the flat ground.
Yizhe clearly felt a powerful force explode through the snow the instant Tsunade's fist struck the ground.
Snow blasted several meters into the air before raining down over all three of them.
As the snow settled, Yizhe clearly saw a huge snow pit ahead of them, nearly four meters wide and two meters deep. Tsunade stood inside it, covered from head to toe in snow.
"What are you doing?" Yizhe snapped.
Tsunade's sudden blow 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 here!"
"There, I made one for you in a single blow. Hurry up and get it ready!" Tsunade said indifferently. She sprang out of the pit, then shot Yizhe a look, signaling for him to climb down.
Shizune merely shook her head with a wry smile and took the lead in jumping into the snow pit.
Seeing this, Yizhe had no choice but to curl his lip and follow her down.
Making such a huge pit had been easy for Tsunade, but the later repairs left Yizhe and Shizune exhausted.
They needed to shape the walls of the pit into slopes angled toward the center of its floor, then pack those slopes down firmly so they could better concentrate the sunlight.
After an unknown amount of time, the two finally finished preparing the snow pit, drenched in sweat.
The pit was now brightly lit, almost dazzlingly so.
Shizune leaped out and called to Tsunade, who was sitting in the snow above and dozing off, "Lady Tsunade, everything is ready!"
"Mm..." Tsunade was startled awake by the sudden voice. Rubbing her temples, she said groggily, "Prepare the medical equipment. In a moment, I'll operate on that kid!"
Shizune immediately took a sealing scroll from her waist, spread it over the snow, formed several hand seals, and pressed her palm against it.
After a puff of blue smoke, a set of surgical tools and some bandages appeared atop the scroll.
Afterward, she carefully inspected every surgical instrument. Only once she confirmed that nothing was wrong did she report to Tsunade, "Lady Tsunade, everything is prepared!"
"Mm—" Hearing that, Tsunade slowly rose to her feet, stretched lazily, and moved her arms and legs. Her energy appeared to have fully recovered.
"Are you still not ready, Lady Tsunade?" Yizhe, waiting in the pit, was growing impatient.
He had endured humiliation and hardship under Tsunade for so long. At last, this day had come—his hands were about to be reborn!
"What's the rush?" Tsunade said with an unhappy expression as she jumped down into the snow pit.
When she landed, the gust she kicked up was so impressive that Yizhe could only stare in amazement.
Tsunade saw his expression and grew somewhat displeased. "Why do you have so many thoughts at such a young age? Did you learn that from Jiraiya?"
"Yeah! That's right! He led me astray!" Yizhe nodded repeatedly, lying through his teeth without batting an eye.
Sorry, Jiraiya! You can take the blame for this one. It's not like one more charge will make a difference! he silently thought.
"Not only does he refuse to behave himself, he even corrupts children. Just wait until I deal with him next time!" Tsunade said indignantly.
"All right, lie down." She pointed to a small open patch behind Yizhe, then knelt where she was and arranged the surgical tools beside her.
The floor of the pit was not very large to begin with. Once Yizhe lay down, the space became even tighter. The two were extremely close, and he could even hear Tsunade breathing.
"Take this." Tsunade pulled a white pill from her pocket and held it to his mouth.
"What kind of medicine is this?" Yizhe obediently swallowed the pill and casually asked.
"A numbing, painkilling pill. It's just that I haven't performed surgery in a long time, so this pill has been sitting around for ages. I have no idea how much of its potency is left." Tsunade put on dark glasses and spoke expressionlessly.
"Wait!" Yizhe hurriedly pulled his hand from her demonic grasp and cautiously asked, "How long is 'a long time'?"
"Probably over two years." She looked up at the sky and estimated a number.
"Medicine from two years ago! How much effect 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.
That would not do. Medicine from two years ago probably had very little effect left.
Yizhe was not some tough guy like Guan Yu. He did not dare, nor did he want, to endure the pain of scraping poison from bone.
Suddenly, he caught sight of a set of silver needles among Tsunade's surgical tools. Inspiration struck, and he immediately had an idea.
"Give me a few silver needles!"
"What do you want those for?" Though Tsunade was puzzled, she still handed several over.
"Byakugan!" Taking the needles, he activated the Byakugan's combat stance, located the acupuncture points on his right arm, and inserted the needles.
At once, a numb sensation spread from his right hand, and his palm gradually lost all feeling.
When it came to understanding acupuncture points, no one could compare to the Hyuga Clan.
He was taking advantage of the fact that striking certain acupuncture points could paralyze the body. By piercing them with silver needles, he could achieve the same effect as medicine.
That way, he could undergo surgery painlessly without suffering through it.
"Not bad!" Tsunade praised him sincerely.
Only someone born into the Hyuga Clan could have thought of a method like that.
Once everything was ready, Tsunade placed his right hand on her knee and began the tense operation.
Just as planned, Shizune held up a mirror and reflected sunlight onto Yizhe's hand, providing Tsunade with ample illumination.
Though a beautiful woman was so close to him, Yizhe had no thoughts of anything else. He did not even dare glance in Tsunade's direction.
Because the palm being operated on atop Tsunade's knee was a bloody, mangled mess that made his heart tremble!
Seconds and minutes passed. He waited with difficulty until, at last, he heard words that filled him with joy.
"Done. Switch to the other hand!"
He focused his eyes and saw that his once-unsightly palm had completely returned to normal after Tsunade's surgery and medical ninjutsu repairs.
"Stop staring and switch to the other hand already. Once I'm done with you, we're heading back! I'm starving!" Tsunade urged impatiently.
Yizhe could clearly see that her forehead was covered in sweat. Performing surgery under such crude conditions must have been an enormous challenge for Tsunade and taken a great deal of effort.
So he repeated the same process, inserting silver needles into his left arm and allowing Tsunade to continue the surgery.
This time was much faster than the first. It took only about half as long to complete.
Tsunade had likely grown accustomed to this method of surgery.
With that, Yizhe's palms were completely healed, reborn anew.
Before you continue