Just then, the tent curtain was lifted once again, bringing in a colder, snake-like aura.
A slender, pale figure walked in silently.
Golden snake pupils glinted coldly in the dim light. It was Orochimaru, who had just returned from completing the rear-guard mission.
His long black hair was somewhat disheveled, stained with dew and barely visible dark smudges, and the black combat attire on his body also bore the traces of battle.
"Oya oya, it seems I've returned just in time? The old man actually sent you over after all."
Orochimaru's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a hint of his habitual playfulness as his gaze landed on Tsunade's grim face.
"What? Is your hemophobia still not cured yet, Tsunade?"
"Hmph, none of your business, Orochimaru. You were too reckless, taking sixty shinobi to attack the Hidden Sand camp. Once trapped in an encirclement, everyone will die!"
"Heh, but the strategic objectives were achieved, so sacrifices have value, don't they?"
Tsunade abruptly raised her head, suppression of anger and profound disgust swirling within her emerald-green eyes. That was directed not only at the war, but even more so at the person before her.
"Valuable?" She squeezed out those words almost through clenched teeth, her voice carrying a sarcastic bite.
"Hearing the word 'sacrifice' from your mouth is truly a novelty, Orochimaru!"
Facing Tsunade's merciless sarcasm, Orochimaru merely twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.
"Heh, you're still as direct as ever, Tsunade. However, aside from discussing my 'adventures', there seems to be something that requires your concern right now."
His golden pupils shifted slightly, looking toward the direction of the medical corps outside the tent, as if he could pierce through the canvas to see the scene inside.
"The casualties are indeed a bit heavy, especially that kid from the Uchiha Clan. He is heavily injured."
"I heard he's poisoned and unconscious. Ordinary medical shinobi probably can't handle injuries of his degree. So..."
He paused, seeming to weigh his words.
Tsunade furrowed her brow, interrupting him impatiently:
"Injured shinobi have the medical corps to handle them! I am the deputy commander of the shinobi forces, not a field medic! Furthermore..."
She instinctively averted her gaze from Orochimaru's, her voice dropping lower with a trace of an imperceptible tremble.
"...You know my condition!"
"Of course I know of your ridiculous 'hemophobia'."
Orochimaru's voice carried a trace of undisguised mockery, but his tone instantly shifted, turning a bit awkward.
"But this time is different, Tsunade. I need your help."
"What?" Tsunade thought she had misheard. She snapped her gaze toward Orochimaru, her eyes filled with incredulous astonishment.
Orochimaru would purposely come to ask her to intervene for the life or death of an Uchiha brat?
Did the sun rise from the west today?
"Since when did you start caring about an Uchiha Clan brat? This doesn't look like you, Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru's golden snake pupils stared directly into Tsunade's surprised eyes.
"Caring? Heh..."
He let out a low laugh, his long tongue unconsciously licking the corner of his mouth—an action that caused Tsunade's stomach to churn.
"I just think... he's very interesting. It would be a great pity if an Uchiha possessing... unique potential were to just die like this, or become crippled."
Ultimately, unable to bear Orochimaru's sickening mannerisms any longer, Tsunade went anyway—driven mostly by curiosity as to what kind of Uchiha could make even Orochimaru harbor the thought of taking an apprentice.
Inside the Konoha medical base.
Tsunade forcefully endured her extreme physical discomfort as she arrived at the medical corps tent, which was thick with a pungent stench of blood and bitter herbs.
Her gaze deliberately avoided the glaring, dark red patches and blood-stained bandages on the ground, forcing herself to lock her focus onto the isolated intensive care zone in the innermost room—those heavily wounded victims of poison.
Seeing her, the head of the medical corps grabbed onto her like a drowning man clutching a driftwood, his voice urgent, joyous, and laced with awe:
"Lady Tsunade! I didn't expect you to come! There are eleven shinobi in here poisoned by Hidden Sand's new type of mixed toxin! Its corrosiveness is extremely high, and conventional methods are completely useless. The toxin seems to paralyze the nerves and dissolve the chakra pathways."
He pointed toward Uchiha Ran, who was the most severely injured; the latter's complexion presented a lifeless, ashen gray.
Beneath his skin, pitch-black veins could be seen spreading like a cobweb, especially around his eyes, which were as dark as ink. His breathing was so faint it was practically stagnant.
"Hmph!"
Tsunade let out a cold snort, suppressing the churning in her stomach and the dizziness brought on by the intense scent of blood.
"All of you, step aside!"
Her voice carried unquestionable majesty, instantly dispelling the surrounding panic.
She walked to Uchiha Ran's bedside, her hands forming hand seals at high speed with movements as precise as a precision instrument.
Pale green, extremely pure chakra condensed highly in her palms, emitting a powerful life fluctuation.
"Ninja Art: Extraction of Delicate Illness!"
Her hands, covered in a dense green light, hovered about ten centimeters above Uchiha Ran's body.
Exquisite chakra manipulation skills were displayed to the absolute limit at this moment.
Countless chakra threads, even thinner than a strand of hair, were seen extending from her palms. Like living serpents, they accurately pierced into those pitch-black toxic pathways on Uchiha Ran's body surface.
The tent fell instantly silent, and even the groans of the wounded seemed to be suppressed by this miraculous sight.
All the medical shinobi held their breath, gazing fixedly at this A-rank medical ninjutsu that only a few could perform.
The chakra threads shuttled, probed, and adsorbed within the toxic pathways.
Barely two minutes passed before Tsunade abruptly opened her eyes, withdrew her hands sharply, and pulled several strands of chakra out from within Uchiha Ran's body.
The tip of each single thread was entwined and adsorbed with a small clump of ink-thick, sticky poison that exuded an ominous aura!
Uchiha Ran's complexion instantly improved, slowly turning ruddy.
She transferred the extracted poison to a specialized potion bottle and walked over to the adjacent medicine table.
Her hands moved so fast they were practically a blur. Without needing to weigh anything, relying entirely on extraordinary perception and experience, she grabbed mugwort root powder, lapis lazuli fragments, seven-leaf lotus pistil cores, and a small block of specially made adsorptive clay...
"Grind it! Boiling water!"
She directly ordered the nearby medical shinobi to cooperate immediately.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade!"
With her hands enveloped in chakra, Tsunade held a pestle in one hand to rapidly grind and mix the medicinal herbs inside the mortar, while her other hand manipulated chakra from afar to heat a kettle.
Under the precise catalysis and proportioning of chakra, the medicinal herbs dissolved and reacted at a speed visible to the naked eye, emitting a bizarre blended herbal fragrance. The entire process was smooth as flowing water, filled with a violent yet efficient aesthetic.
In less than three minutes, a small bowl of dark green, sticky medicinal liquid had formed, its surface steaming with a faint glow containing powerful therapeutic chakra.
"Feed it to them separately, and then just treat them with the Mystical Palm Technique!"
Tsunade shoved the medicine bowl into the hands of the medical corps head, while she herself walked over to the other types of heavily wounded shinobi, closed her eyes, and began treatment.
Before you continue