Turbulent Undercurrents

Seeing him withdraw his chakra and end the treatment, Shizune stepped forward to congratulate him. "Congratulations! You actually learned the Healing Technique and the Mystical Palm Technique so quickly!"

"It was nothing. I only achieved this thanks to Sister Shizune's usual guidance!" Yizhe replied modestly.

"Thank you, both of you. How much is the consultation fee?" The samurai cupped his hands slightly in thanks.

"Um..." Unable to decide, Yizhe looked toward Shizune.

"Just give us one thousand yuan!" she replied with a smile.

Hearing that, the samurai readily pulled out a stack of banknotes, counted out ten, and handed them over.

Yizhe accepted the fee without counting it again, then asked curiously, "Brother, we've been seeing patients here every day, and recently, we've noticed more and more injured people coming in!"

"And most of them are samurai with sword wounds. Could it be that your hospitals have shut down? Or has your country been invaded by an outside enemy?"

"That..." The samurai seemed hesitant, his face showing uncertainty.

"It's fine!" Yizhe waved his hand and smiled. "I was just asking. If you can't say it, forget it!"

"Ah..."

The samurai let out a long sigh, shook his head, and said helplessly, "It's not really something I can't talk about. It's just a little hard to say!"

"Oh?" That only made Yizhe more interested.

"This has to do with Lord Daidao!" The samurai wore a nostalgic expression.

"Daidao?" He and Shizune exchanged glances, both puzzled.

"Yes!" The samurai nodded and slowly recalled, "It began roughly half a month ago!"

"Lord Daidao said he was going out to challenge a powerful expert. But when he returned, his clothes were in tatters and he looked utterly miserable!"

At that, Yizhe's heart tightened. That must have been when Daidao challenged Tsunade. The timing matched perfectly.

The samurai continued, "Victory and defeat are common in battle. Lord Daidao is powerful, but there are plenty of people in this world stronger than him. Losing was nothing unusual!"

"It's just..." The samurai trailed off.

"Just what?" Yizhe pressed curiously, while Shizune listened with great interest beside him.

The samurai shook his head. "Ever since then, Lord Daidao has seemed like a completely different person. He gained an indescribable aura, and even his swordsmanship style became utterly unlike before."

"Even when Lord Mifune sparred with him, he found it increasingly difficult to defeat him!"

"Oh? Even Mifune was nearly unable to handle him?" Yizhe was greatly shocked.

He had been in the Land of Iron for some time now and had learned a fair amount about this nation ruled by samurai. Mifune stood at the pinnacle of all samurai. Daidao was strong, but there should still have been quite a gap between him and Mifune.

He just did not know what kind of fortuitous encounter Daidao had experienced to make such a breakthrough in swordsmanship that he could stand shoulder to shoulder with Mifune.

"Yes!" The samurai nodded and continued, "Lord Mifune was extremely surprised by Lord Daidao's progress, so he went to ask him about it!"

"Daidao was willing to tell him?" Yizhe found that hard to believe.

The samurai shook his head. "Lord Daidao is not a selfish man. He quickly shared his opportunity with everyone."

"He said that after challenging Tsunade, one of the Three Legendary Ninja, he suffered a crushing defeat. When his heart had turned to ashes, a friend guided him and gifted him a piece of insight from a master of the sword."

"An insight?" Yizhe had a bad feeling about this.

"'Only by reaching the utmost depths of emotion can one reach the utmost heights of the sword!'" At the mention of those words, the samurai looked as though he were worshipping at a shrine, his eyes filled with fervor.

"Why was it that line?!" Yizhe was utterly horrified.

Shizune was even more stunned, frozen where she stood.

"From then on, that saying spread among the samurai, and everyone became obsessed with the way of the sword as if possessed!

"Yet the more deeply they immersed themselves, the more everyone discovered the profound difficulty of swordsmanship. Each person understood the sword differently, and as time passed, the disagreements between them only grew greater."

"With more disagreements naturally came conflicts, but no one could convince anyone else! In the end, they could only use their swords to determine who was superior! That's why our wounds were inflicted by ourselves!" The samurai shook his head and laughed bitterly.

"So that was what happened!" Shizune found it utterly unbelievable.

She had been there at the time. She knew Yizhe had casually bluffed Daidao, but she had never expected those words to hold such power and make so many samurai obsess over them.

"You two are ninja, so perhaps you do not feel it as deeply. But for samurai like us who cultivate the way of the sword, those words are practically a supreme truth!" The samurai praised them endlessly.

Yizhe and Shizune looked at each other.

"Enough, I won't keep chatting with you. I need to hurry back to the dojo and continue training!" The samurai bid them farewell and hurried away.

Only then did Yizhe and the others finally understand why so many people had recently come seeking treatment, and why they were all samurai suffering from sword wounds.

However, as time gradually passed, they began to feel that something was wrong. The injuries of the patients coming to them grew increasingly severe.

One day, while Yizhe and the other two were eating at a restaurant, they were surrounded by a group of samurai who filed inside.

"May I ask if you are Lady Tsunade?" A samurai covered in blood, panting heavily, respectfully asked Tsunade.

Something was amiss!

Looking at the group of wounded samurai, Yizhe quietly put down his chopsticks. Under the cover of the table, he pulled out a kunai and gripped it tightly, keeping his guard up.

Just in case!

"I am!" Tsunade pinched her small sake cup, tipped back her head, and drank its last drop. Her pretty face was flushed, and with narrowed eyes, she asked fearlessly.

Hearing this, several samurai exchanged glances. With a clatter, they planted their swords on the ground, dropped to one knee, and pleaded, "We beg Princess Tsunade to do us a favor!"

Seeing the samurai in such a state, Yizhe and Shizune were both deeply curious. What had happened, and what exactly did these samurai want?

"What is it? Speak!" Tsunade took the sake flask, poured herself another cup, held it in her hand, and gently swirled it.

"Lord Mifune was injured by that traitor Daidao through a moment of carelessness, and his life hangs by a thread!"

"Lord Mifune also said that in the entire Land of Iron, only you can save him!" the leading samurai choked out.

"Mifune? Daidao? What exactly happened?" Tsunade asked hazily, slightly drunk.

The leading samurai said loudly, "Ever since Daidao brought back that cultivation insight from an elder master of the sword, the atmosphere among the samurai has become increasingly tense. They often argued over questions of swordsmanship and even came to blows!"

"Today, Daidao and Lord Mifune sparred with one another. No one knows why, but after Daidao lost to Lord Mifune, he suddenly launched a vicious sneak attack and severely wounded him! Daidao's attack was like a fuse, directly provoking many samurai into a riot!"

"We beg Princess Tsunade to show a healer's compassion and save Lord Mifune!"

The leading samurai's voice was filled with grief. It seemed Mifune held great prestige among the samurai.

"Mifune..." Tsunade tapped the table with her left hand, weighing the pros and cons.

She had no friendship with Mifune. Saving him or not saving him made no difference to her.

"Then... give me a reason to save Mifune!" After thinking it over, Tsunade still could not make up her mind, so she threw the question back at the samurai.

The samurai looked at one another. In the end, the leading samurai stepped forward again and said quietly, "Before we came, Lord Mifune said that if you save his life, he will no longer hold your companions accountable for causing the chaos among the samurai of the Land of Iron!"

"What?" Hearing that, Tsunade sobered up considerably.

How had this disturbance among the samurai of the Land of Iron become their responsibility?