Half a month later, Konoha Hospital
"This drug will enhance your reflexes, but its side effects include an elevated heart rate, high blood pressure, and reduced digestion. Long-term use leads to insomnia and nervous exhaustion.
This one can increase your muscle density, but it puts greater strain on your heart, lungs, and stomach, easily triggering a variety of diseases.
This one slowly boosts your endurance but causes significant damage to your liver and kidneys.
And this drug…"
Shizune listed off each of the potent mixes Tsunade had prepared, as if reciting from an extensive catalog.
[Can Delicate Illness Extraction handle all that?]
After hearing about a total of eleven different "hardcore meds," Link felt a faint sense of dread. Their side effects were even harsher than their benefits—practically poisons.
If Delicate Illness Extraction turned out insufficient, he worried he might just end up in a hospital bed tomorrow.
Shizune paused, then continued, "That's all for now. The main issue is that neither Lady Tsunade nor I can figure out exactly which aspects of the drugs your technique might remove, and which your body might adapt to. If you have no objections, we'd like to perform a full physical exam on you."
Seeing the boy hesitate, she gave him a slight smile. "Don't worry. Many of these are the same meds that certain shinobi clans used to raise their warriors in the past." She paused again. "Lady Tsunade has already reduced some of the doses."
"These are your monthly supplies. As long as we monitor you carefully and stop any one that causes problems, even if your technique doesn't work, you won't be in danger."
"All right." Link nodded. "As for the physical exam—right now is fine."
Shizune hadn't expected him to agree so readily, and she froze a moment before responding, "Then follow me." She moved to seal all the drugs into a storage scroll.
"Wait." Link quickly stopped her. "I'm supposed to take these home to use, right?"
"Yes. You'll take them before training each day, on schedule—I've labeled the doses." She gave him a curious look.
"Put them in a bag, please. Summoning scrolls and I…eh…" Link shrugged helplessly.
Shizune realized his meaning and displayed a look of Oh, I see. "So even mutated ninjutsu aren't always convenient."
With that, she packed all the medicine into a bag and handed it to one of Link's shadows.
…
One hour later, inside the Medical Corps building, in a lab…
"Your body…" Tsunade examined his checkup report, brows furrowed.
As she anticipated, Link's repeated overuse of that mysterious technique had left his body practically "brand-new." He appeared extremely healthy, but that was precisely the issue: nobody understood how his technique functioned at the cellular level, nor how it partially restored him to an optimal state. Because of his long-term abuse of it, the different tissues in his body had recovered to "peak health" at various times, causing a sense of discontinuity.
By nature, as long as you're using chakra—burning physical stamina—there's some subtle damage to cells. Then, if you repeatedly "fix" that damage in a piecemeal way, the body's recovered portions never quite sync up with the older cells.
It's inevitable. "Refreshed" cells differ from "used" ones. Without letting the tissues adapt or unify, over time…
"If I'm not mistaken, your growth has slowed a lot lately, right?" she asked with conviction.
Link nodded, straightforward. "Yes. My physical development and height growth have nearly stalled."
A flood of thoughts ran through his mind.
Tsunade gave a slight sigh. "Then from now on, you'd best use Delicate Illness Extraction more sparingly…especially not multiple times on yourself in one day—if you still want your body to develop normally."
No need to get into other treatments. While there were problems with how he was using it, that jutsu transcended the usual limits of medical ninjutsu.
"Understood." Link nodded.
So the question was: did he want to grow taller and keep physically progressing, or continue his short-term exploitation of Delicate Illness Extraction? He'd have to decide for himself.
"Come back for another exam once you let your body recover." Tsunade said while raising her arm. The Yin Seal marking on her forehead faded. "Time for today's portion."
Link set his hand on hers, refining a large amount of chakra, using Delicate Illness Extraction.
Tsunade concentrated, her potent chakra already affecting the surroundings physically.
"Crack…crack…" A water cup nearby shattered, the desk trembling under the pressure.
After about a dozen seconds, that overwhelming chakra was fully contained once more.
"All done." The Yin Seal symbol reappeared on her forehead, and Tsunade, breathing a bit heavily, said, "Regarding that 'Yin Healing Wound Destruction' you mentioned, it's pretty complicated.
"If you think about it, preemptively healing yourself is something most medic-nin do in battle. That's what sets it at A-rank difficulty. The 'instant recovery' aspect you described definitely involves a special constitution.
"So developing it might take time."
"I see," Link replied, subconsciously retrieving an extra-strong soldier pill and swallowing it.
He's definitely ignoring medical advice… Tsunade thought, quietly shaking her head. "Also, about Orochimaru's test subject—I've examined him. I'm studying the data from his experiments. I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Okay." Feeling fatigued, Link left the lab, bag of meds in his shadow's hands.
Their arrangement wasn't about finding Kato Dan or reviving Nawaki—Tsunade, though emotional, was no fool.
To secure her cooperation, Link would eventually keep summoning Dan or Nawaki, so she asked him to cast Delicate Illness Extraction on her every day.
From what he could see, she wanted to make herself younger.
Currently, Tsunade might appear young, but in truth that's partly cosmetic—her real age is in her fifties, and she uses ninjutsu to preserve the look of someone in her twenties. Delicate Illness Extraction can't literally reverse aging. Even draining Link to the brink wouldn't be enough. She's effectively an older body in illusions of youth; forcibly rejuvenating some of her cells each day might let her temporarily feel younger and thus refine chakra more easily. But an older body would cause those newly "youthful" cells to die off swiftly if you didn't carefully preserve them.
Hence, in normal circumstances, it wouldn't restore youth. Overdoing it might even shorten the person's life if they're elderly.
But Tsunade's case was different. She, as the strongest medic-nin, had terrifying mastery of chakra control and her own body. Every time she reverts some of her cells to a younger state, she can keep them stable with her abundant chakra. Little by little, she might truly turn back the clock.
A Tsunade who regains her youthful physique and retains her full strength from that era is no simple matter—she could keep growing even stronger.
"Maybe I'm creating a monster," Link mused as he walked home. Then again, Tsunade was on his side, and he also had some leverage over her. The stronger she got, the better for him. More time to grow, and eventually, he'd stand at the summit of the ninja world.
"First I'll get a bowl of ramen, then head home to fix my body. Then… time to start doping!"
He recalled the huge bag of meds and felt like he'd soon be skyrocketing.
…
Land of Wind – Sunagakure
"Click—"
The door marked with the kanji for "puppet" opened. Sasori of the Red Sand stepped out, spotting Chiyo dozing near the entrance.
"Old woman. You call this 'keeping watch'?" he said.
"Don't underestimate me," Chiyo muttered without opening her eyes fully. "I'll keep a close watch on you."
Sasori didn't bother dealing with the weird old hag. Glancing over at the lurking Anbu, he said, "Inform the Kazekage that the Third Kazekage puppet has been repaired."
One Anbu vanished in a flicker, while the others formed a tight encirclement.
Chiyo observed her grandson, who seemed both normal and not so normal, but her expression stayed unreadable, eyes showing faint changes.
What brought you back to the village… she still couldn't figure it out.
Sasori clutched a scroll, standing there quietly. He had no intention of taking the Third Kazekage puppet and fleeing. Once his greatest puppet, it had been ruined at a moment's notice by Link's bizarre summoned creature, its status plummeting. Sasori's pursuit was already directed at a higher, eternal art.
Before long, the Fourth Kazekage arrived with several jōnin. Sasori raised his arm and opened the scroll, summoning the Third Kazekage puppet behind him.
"Clack—"
A mass of black iron sand formed in midair, falling to the ground.
It worked!
The Fourth Kazekage's emotions fluctuated. Regaining Iron Sand creation meant the village's funding wouldn't be as tight as before, letting them produce more ninja tools and puppets. It also meant… less desperation to rely on a Jinchūriki's power.
He fought back his excitement and said calmly, "What must we do for you to hand the Third Kazekage puppet over to the village?"
"Heh…" Sasori let out a cold laugh. "You really think I'll hand it over that easily?"
The atmosphere instantly stiffened.
He sealed the Third Kazekage puppet back into the scroll, continuing: "Even if you got it, you couldn't use it. I've specially modified my creation. Only I can handle it.
"Let's trade," Sasori said, looking the Fourth Kazekage in the eye.
~~~
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