Minato left at dawn to go find Orochimaru and discuss Tatsuma's advice from yesterday. Tatsuma lay alone in the sickbed, feeling the heaviness in his brain and the weakness in his body.
Tatsuma felt as if he had stayed up all night, donated 400CC of blood, then rushed without rest to drink until blacking out, then woke up the next day hungover and weak.
"You managed to wake up? Your resilience is truly remarkable."
Suddenly, a teasing voice sounded, and Tatsuma turned his head to see Tsunade walking in with two lunch boxes. Tatsuma spoke, "Sensei, thank you for healing me."
"What happened to you that day? How did you manage to kill so many Sand Ninja? And two Jonin?"
Tsunade sat by the bedside, opened the lunch box, picked up a rice ball, and tried to stuff it into Tatsuma's mouth. Tatsuma nearly choked but managed to keep breathing. Life was resilient, and so was he.
"Guluburp"
Tatsuma finally swallowed the rice ball, looking helplessly at his sensei. Tsunade hadn't been sparing in her teachings about treating patients well, but she seemed to never apply it herself.
In response, Tsunade had her own set of excuses, saying, "Do as I say, not as I do," displaying double standards blatantly.
He politely declined Tsunade's attempt to feed him again, sitting up on his own. First, he picked up the water glass on the side table and took a sip before answering:
"Relying solely on myself, it was impossible to defeat them. However, Mito-sama gave me a gift before I left the village."
If it were someone else asking, Tatsuma might have kept it secret, but Tsunade was different. Not only was she his sensei, but she was also the granddaughter of Uzumaki Mito. Such secrets were safe with her.
As for the effects of the constitution brought by Shiro Yaksha, Tatsuma didn't mention it, pretending he himself was unaware.
Tsunade nodded, saying, "No wonder. I couldn't understand before why the injuries you've sustained lately would have been enough to kill you ten times over. Now, I finally get it. But to think you've kept it hidden until now, do you not trust me as your sensei?"
"Mito-sama told me not to tell anyone."
"I'm not just anyone, I'm your sensei!"
Seeing Tsunade suddenly switch to an unreasonable state, Tatsuma rubbed his forehead, changing the subject, "Ouch, my head hurts."
"You've been asleep for three whole days, how could your head not hurt? Even pigs don't sleep as much as you."
Tsunade rolled her eyes, not fooled by such clumsy attempts to change the subject, but she couldn't be bothered to delve deeper. Instead, she asked, "Will you dare to go to the battlefield again in the future?"
"There's nothing I wouldn't dare."
Tatsuma shrugged, and at his words, Tsunade's gaze subconsciously drifted towards the door, then she said, "Would you consider returning to the village and participating in a Chunin exam or something similar?"
"In the battlefield, being a Chunin won't bring me any benefits, except maybe for a free vest."
Tatsuma also glanced curiously at the door, but there was no one there. Clearly, Tsunade's gesture towards the door wasn't because of anyone being present there. He asked, "But Sensei, what do you mean? Are you suggesting I return to the village for a bit?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. She knew Tatsuma understood her meaning, and this little rascal had changed her phrase "return to the village" to "return to the village for a bit."
"It's up to you. Whether you want to come back or not, if you choose to stay, hurry up and recover. There won't be any more small team battles next. It'll all be large scale battles. Moreover, your Genin status won't be special anymore. A large number of Genin will be thrown into the battlefield, and the upper-level Ninja from the Hidden Sand Village won't show any mercy towards Genin like you."
After saying that, Tsunade stood up and walked towards the door. Tatsuma nodded. Even though the previous wars had seen reinforcement support and had declared a total war, the preparation time was too short.
"Furthermore, due to the long absence of large-scale wars, the Hidden Sand Village and Konoha are not well aware of each other's ninja reserve status, hence the need for Chunin and higher-ranking ninjas to probe."
"Now, after several rounds of wars, the probing phase is almost over. What follows is the real phase of direct combat. Even Genin can be deployed on the battlefield, even if it's just throwing a Kunai or attaching an Explosive Tag, it's still useful."
For Tatsuma, this was indeed not favorable information. Previously, because of his status as a Genin, the Jonin from the Hidden Sand Village hesitated to act against him. But that would change. Tatsuma would become just one of many Genin "cannon fodder." It would be reasonable for the Hidden Sand Village's Jonin to sweep the battlefield, and including Tatsuma in their strikes would be a logical move, with no one likely to object.
Thinking about this, Tatsuma felt the heaviness in his head diminish slightly. He tried to get out of bed several times, but his weakness made it difficult for him to stand upright.
Sitting on the hospital bed for a while, Tatsuma raised his hand and formed the Seal of Confrontation, slowly refining the chakra within his body.
He felt like he was back to four years ago, before he even enrolled in school, attempting to refine the chakra within his body. However, his body didn't respond. After several minutes of effort, he finally extracted a trace of chakra.
Using this trace of chakra, Tatsuma controlled it to circulate through his meridians, stimulating his body to produce more chakra. Ten minutes later, he finally stopped refining chakra.
It was only about a tenth of what he usually had, but it should be enough.
Tatsuma thought to himself as he began to form hand seals. With the Boar-Dog-Bird-Monkey-Boar seal formed, Tatsuma's right thumb ran through the gaps between his teeth, then he imprinted the overflowing blood on his left wrist.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Bang~"
As the jutsu unfolded, a cloud of smoke appeared, and a basketball-sized Katsuyu emerged on Tatsuma's forearm. The sudden increase in weight almost caused Tatsuma to lose balance.
Before he could even reflect on his body's weakness, a gentle voice sounded.
"Is that you, Tatsuma? Do you need my help?"
Tatsuma was about to respond when Katsuyu's chakra had already been infused into Tatsuma's body, swiftly circulating once around. Then Katsuyu continued, "Your body is in bad shape. Is it from a battle?"
Tatsuma nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm counting on you. I need to recover quickly."
"Next time, remember to summon me before or during battle. Though it's challenging to assist you in combat, I can help alleviate some of the damage."
Katsuyu's words were still gentle, but Tatsuma seemed to detect a hint of reproach. He lightly brushed his right fingers over Katsuyu's back, then apologized, "Sorry, I like to sustain some injuries during fights. It helps me focus better."
"That's a bad habit. You need to change it," Katsuyu said again, as threads of chakra continuously flowed into Tatsuma's body, replenishing energy to his depleted cells, while her size gradually decreased.
When it reduced to about half the size of a fist, Tatsuma spoke up voluntarily, "That's enough. Save some chakra for yourself. You've worked hard."
"It's nothing. I'm glad I could help you," replied Katsuyu.
With that said, Katsuyu turned into smoke and dispersed. Tatsuma wiped away the dried blood from his fingertips, propped himself up on the bed, and stood up. Though he still felt like he was walking on cotton, at least he could stand on his own.
"Next, it's time to focus on recovery."
----
Check out my Patreon for more advanced chapters up to 50 at patreon.com/HellGolt