After forcing the patient to lie back down on the bed, Shin began unwrapping the bandages on his leg.
The patient felt incredibly fortunate.
How many people could be lucky enough to be treated by the two legendary prodigies of Konoha's medical world at the same time?
Countless people envied the 47 patients before him who had benefited the most from the ongoing rivalry between Tsunade and Shin. Now that luck had fallen on him, the patient couldn't believe it felt so real.
"Relax. I'm starting now!" Shin took a deep breath, pulled out a set of silver needles, and began performing acupuncture on the patient's leg.
Even though the patient wasn't a ninja and Shin couldn't manipulate the chakra within his body, his acupuncture technique could still stimulate cell activity and accelerate wound healing.
After finishing the needling, he extended both palms.
As chakra surged, two completely different types of chakra began to condense. In his right hand, he used none other than Tsunade's self-created Mystical Palm Technique.
Over the years of their rivalry, he had thoroughly mastered this jutsu. When he later used it in front of Tsunade herself and even defeated her with it, she was nearly driven to fury.
He shamelessly declared that defeating her with her own jutsu was the only true way to win.
As for the chakra in his left hand, she had never seen it before. But she could sense the immense vitality it carried… and the presence of neural energy?
What kind of technique was this? Just watching it felt healing.
Ignoring her curious stare, he pressed his palms, left and right, onto the broken bone in the patient's lower leg.
"Mm…" The moment treatment began, the patient couldn't help but let out a moan of pleasure. He swore he wasn't being perverted, it just felt that good.
But the comfort didn't last long.
After only a minute, Shin began gasping heavily, as if all the energy had been drained from his body. He was drenched in sweat. Barely able to stay upright, he let go and nearly collapsed, only to be caught by a nearby nurse.
"What's wrong? Can't handle it already?" Tsunade mocked him in the same tone he had once used on her.
Ignoring her taunt, he focused on regulating his breathing, trying to recover his strength and chakra as quickly as possible.
Ten minutes later, his complexion finally looked a bit better.
Chakra flowed from his palms again as he resumed the treatment. But this time it only lasted thirty seconds before his face turned ghostly pale, his chakra completely depleted.
Still, with a stubborn look, he began restoring his energy again.
"I feel much better!" the patient said, worried as he saw Shin looking half-dead. "There's only a slight ache in my leg now. I'll be fully recovered in a week at most. Thank you, but I really don't need any more treatment!"
Shin simply shook his head stubbornly, quietly waiting to recover. Over the next half hour, he repeated the treatment four times. By the end, the patient's leg was completely healed.
However, compared to Tsunade's treatment which only took a little over ten minutes, it paled in comparison.
"Hahaha, how pathetic!" Shin stared at his own hands, laughing bitterly and mockingly at himself in deep disappointment.
After a while, he turned to Tsunade and said, "You win this time. Congratulations. From now on, I'll no longer be your rival."
With that, he forced himself to stand up, dragging his exhausted body as he left the hospital room.
He had admitted defeat, completely and without hesitation. But Tsunade couldn't bring herself to feel happy at all.
Had she really won?
No. This time, she had lost even more thoroughly.
To win only because she had more chakra, while being completely outclassed in skill and talent, how could that be called victory?
She refused to recognize such a win.
Though the treatment lasted half an hour, the actual time Shin spent applying medical techniques was less than three minutes. The reason it took so long was because he had been forbidden from ninja training since childhood. His chakra reserves were pitifully low, and he had to constantly pause to rest.
If he had been allowed to train, even if he only had the chakra reserves of a special jonin, there would be no one else worthy of the title Number One Medical Ninja in the Shinobi World.
At that moment, she felt confused.
Why had her granduncle, even on his deathbed, still insisted on forbidding Shin from ever training? It had directly caused a promising medical genius to be forcibly stifled.
She had never really questioned this before. In her mind, her granduncle must have had his reasons. But now, seeing someone with such unparalleled talent unable to fully express it due to chakra limitations, it was heartbreaking.
---
Back in the office, sensing the emotional changes in Tsunade, Shin smiled.
If I act well enough, surely you'll feel sympathy.
This moment had been three years in the making. He had meticulously planned it all, gradually leading her to feel exactly what she felt now.
After five long years of rivalry, he knew her personality inside and out. She was deeply loyal, and she had a strong sense of compassion. Though at this age she was competitive and proud, she wasn't like Hiruzen, who might grow jealous of others' talents.
On the contrary, she highly valued gifted individuals.
At this point in her life, she still felt a strong connection to Konoha and deeply wished for more medical-nin like Shin. That was why she hated to see such extraordinary talent being wasted.
After all the conflict between them, as sharp and pointed as their rivalry had been, it would be a lie to say they didn't care at all.
That's right. Feel sorry for me. Feel it with no reservations. My escape depends on you now.
Tobirama set me up to fail back then. So if I use you to help myself now, what's wrong with that? If you really do help me… I'll go easier on you in the future.
He was in a great mood.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was anything but.
---
Back at the Senju clan estate, Tsunade seemed unusually gloomy.
In the corridor of the courtyard, Mito, who was sipping tea, rarely saw Tsunade in such a state. She smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Did you lose to that boy again?"
Tsunade shook her head, frustrated. "I won!"
"It's okay to lose… wait, what?" Mito was about to offer comfort when she suddenly froze. "Then why do you look worse than when you lose?"
She had long gotten used to Tsunade losing in the past, so hearing that she won genuinely surprised her.
"It would've been better to lose!"
Even more frustrated now, she told her grandmother everything that had happened that day.
"You're saying that boy's self-created medical jutsu was even more advanced than your Mystical Palm Technique?" Even someone as experienced as Mito sat up straight in shock.
"I saw it with my own eyes, how could it be fake?" Tsunade replied, looking utterly defeated.
"Is it really possible… for someone to have that kind of talent?" Mito sat back down, falling into deep silence.