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The hospital.
Kitahara Kaede lay on the bed, face blank.
He’d only wanted the medical unit to clean up his hand.
Check the ribs at most.
But Tsunade had followed him into the infirmary, and in a tone that left no room for argument she told the on-duty medical ninja: “Full body check.
Ribs included.”
The medical ninja glanced at her.
Then at Kaede.
Kaede shook his head slightly.
Useless.
Tsunade had already pressed him down onto the examination table.
So he was checked head to toe.
Rib alignment scan, hand wound debridement, Chakra Pathway System assessment, nothing left out.
Kaede felt like a turtle flipped belly-up for inspection, sprawled out flat with no shred of dignity.
Conclusion: left sixth rib contusion, right hand penetrating wound requiring observation, chakra depletion, rest.
“Two days.” The medical ninja finished the chart and closed his folder.
Kaede sat up.
“That’s not neces—”
“Two days.”
Not the medical ninja.
Tsunade, standing at the foot of the bed.
Same tone as the medical order.
More non-negotiable than the medical order, actually, a medical order you could sign a waiver to refuse.
Tsunade’s words, you could not.
The medical ninja took the hint and left.
The ward went quiet.
From somewhere down the corridor came the muffled drift of footsteps and voices.
Tsunade pulled the bedside stool over and sat down.
No sign of leaving.
Kaede closed his eyes.
In his mind, the system chimed.
[Side Mission: Hero Saves the Beauty, Settlement Complete.]
[Rating: S (Perfect).]
[Target’s emotional fluctuation peak has exceeded the upper threshold.
Your existence has been deeply embedded in the target’s core memory region.
Performance judged as: Irreplaceable.]
[Distributing rewards…]
[Reward received: Ninjutsu Release Effect Enhancement +5%.]
[Note: Permanent passive, stackable.
Applies to all ninjutsu released by the host, including but not limited to: power, range, duration, nature transformation precision.]
Kaede’s eyelids shifted.
+5%.
Unremarkable, at first glance.
Kaede was not a first-glance kind of person.
With this bonus, the same Great Fireball Technique, an ordinary ninja fires it for C-rank damage.
Kaede fires it for C-rank times 1.05.
The stronger his base abilities grew, the more brutal that multiplier became.
A C-rank ninjutsu hitting like B-rank.
A B-rank ninjutsu hitting like A-rank.
This reward wasn’t for now.
It was for later.
The kind of thing that got more terrifying the further down the road you went.
The corner of Kaede’s mouth ticked up.
“What are you smiling about.”
Tsunade’s voice, from beside him.
Kaede opened his eyes.
His mouth was still curved.
“Thinking about something good.”
“You’ve got a hole through your hand.
What could possibly be that good.”
“Secret.”
Tsunade stared at him for a moment, snorted, and let it go.
She stood, walked around to the right side of the bed, and reached for his bandaged hand.
“Let me see.”
“The medical ninja just—”
“He looked his way.
I’ll look mine.”
She was already unwinding the bandage as she said it.
Her technique was slower than the medical ninja’s, but her control was precise.
Seven years old.
Never studied medical ninjutsu.
Her touch was already more careful than most adults’.
Kaede said nothing and let her look.
The wound had crusted over with a thin scab, the skin around it blotched purple and blue.
Tsunade turned his hand over, examined it from several angles, then rewrapped the bandage.
When she finished, she didn’t let go.
“I’m going to learn medical ninjutsu.”
Kaede turned his head to look at her.
Tsunade didn’t look back.
Her eyes stayed on her fingers tying the knot.
“Next time you get hurt, I can handle it myself.
No waiting for the medical unit.”
She said it quietly.
Like words that had been sitting inside her for a while, finally finding a way out.
Kaede watched her lowered lashes.
This wasn’t a trauma reaction.
Tsunade wasn’t the type to be shaken into anything.
It was helplessness.
Standing five meters away.
Unable to move.
Watching someone else take a blade that was meant for you.
That feeling was worse than the blade.
“Then learn it.”
Tsunade looked up and glared at him.
“Could you say something decent for once.”
“You learn everything faster than everyone else.
Medical ninjutsu won’t be any different.”
Her fingers paused.
She didn’t answer.
She looked back down and pulled the last loop of bandage tight, a little harder than before.
Kaede hissed.
“Hurt?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll tighten it more.”
“…Yes.”
The corner of Tsunade’s mouth curved up.
She pressed it flat a second later.
She tied off the knot and sat back down on the stool.
Sunlight came in through the window at a slant, dropping a rectangle of light across the bedsheet.
Dust drifted slowly through the beam.
Tsunade leaned against the wall.
The silence stretched.
Maybe two or three minutes.
In a ward with nothing but the sound of breathing, it felt much longer.
“When you pushed me.”
Her voice was flat.
“I thought you were going to die.”
Kaede turned to look at her.
Tsunade was staring out the window.
The sunlight cut her profile clean down the middle, one half lit, one half in shadow.
Her expression was distant, like she was talking about someone she didn’t know, but the hand resting on her knee had its fingers knotted in her skirt, knuckles pulling tight, tighter, bit by bit.
Kaede’s lips moved.
“I won’t—”
He stopped.
Something had surfaced in his mind.
Inside the simulator, he was always going to die.
That was the point.
Die in the most heartfelt, most devastating way the story could manage.
The more it hurt, the higher the score.
The more it carved itself into memory, the richer the reward.
The ending was already written.
This body.
This name.
This thing that had started with dice and candy, it would all close out with a death that had been carefully arranged from the start.
The simulator would settle its rating, pay out its rewards, and zero everything out.
He’d take the spoils back to reality and keep his head down.
That was the rule.
He’d known it going in.
But.
He looked at her fingers, white-knuckled in the fabric of her skirt.
At her profile, still turned away.
Kaede swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Three seconds of silence.
“Any candy left.”
Tsunade blinked.
She turned to look at him.
Whatever had been in her eyes pulled back, replaced by that expression she wore when she was pretty sure something was wrong with him.
Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of candy.
Peach.
She didn’t toss it.
She set it on the bedside table and slid it to where his hand could reach.
“Last one.”
Kaede picked it up.
His right hand was wrapped too tight to be useful, so he bit the wrapper open and put the candy in his mouth.
Tsunade watched him settle it against his cheek, then stood.
“I’ll come change the dressing tomorrow.”
“The doctor can, ”
“I’ll do it.”
She crossed to the door and rested her hand on the frame.
Paused.
Didn’t look back.
“You were right.
I learn everything fast.”
…
➤ Next: You’re Late