"Tsunade-sama, what do you need me to do?"
After leaving a good impression on Gojo Yoru, Katsuyu finally turned to Tsunade and asked.
Tsunade snapped back to herself. Forgetting to dig into Katsuyu's strange behavior, she quickly said, "Katsuyu-sama, I need your split bodies to help me search this area for places with a strong medicinal smell."
"Understood."
Katsuyu agreed very straightforwardly.
Then a fist-sized slug split off from her body and quickly crawled onto Tsunade's shoulder.
In the next instant, the huge Katsuyu divided into hundreds—thousands—of small slugs. Some melted into the flowing water, others crawled away in all directions.
Even though they were "just slugs," they weren't slow at all. Very soon they vanished completely from Gojo Yoru's sight.
"Thank you for the trouble, Katsuyu-sama," Tsunade said respectfully.
"No need."
At that moment, Yoru cut through their courtesies and asked, "Tsunade-sama, do we just wait for news now?"
"Yes," Tsunade explained. "Amegakure was raided not long ago. It's definitely crawling with Rain ninja. Even if we disguise ourselves with Transformation Jutsu, we'll be checked easily. It's not suitable for us to scout personally."
"Also, Katsuyu-sama is a sage of Shikkotsu Forest and can sense nature itself. When it comes to finding a pharmaceutical workshop, even the Hyuga's Byakugan is nowhere close."
On that point, Yoru fully agreed.
A pure-blood Ōtsutsuki's Byakugan was frightening—but the Hyuga's Byakugan wasn't absolute.
The shinobi world had legends of "red eyes" that could counter Byakugan, and it also had special barriers that could block Byakugan's perception.
After obtaining the Uzumaki Book of Seals, Yoru had figured out that the inscriptions in his family basement were a barrier specifically designed to block sensing.
If a jōnin household could have something like that, then the major clans and villages certainly could too.
And Katsuyu could even detect the space–time chakra inside Yoru—while being a sage who grew stronger by absorbing natural energy. When it came to finding medicine, she really was more convenient than the Hyuga's Byakugan.
So Yoru said, "Since we don't need to scout personally, I'll step away for a bit and recover some chakra somewhere quiet."
"Go," Tsunade nodded. "I'll wait here."
After Yoru vanished, Tsunade could no longer suppress her curiosity. She asked Katsuyu on her shoulder, "Katsuyu-sama, it's rare to see you act like that. Does that kid have something special about him?"
Katsuyu answered with a question instead. "Tsunade-sama… you don't know?"
"Know what?" Tsunade blinked.
Katsuyu continued, "Tsunade-sama, what is your relationship to that lord?"
"Senior and junior," Tsunade answered honestly. "He's my companion's student."
"Since you still don't know, that means that lord doesn't wish to reveal it yet. Forgive me—I cannot enlighten you," Katsuyu said gently. "That lord is a new miracle of the shinobi world. Shikkotsu Forest dares not become his enemy. If possible, I hope you maintain a good relationship and never provoke him."
Tsunade felt as if a storm had erupted inside her.
Dares not become his enemy. Never provoke him.
Those two lines coming from Katsuyu's mouth at the same time… the "value" behind them was terrifying.
Who exactly was that brat, to deserve a title like "miracle of the shinobi world"?
Even Katsuyu feared offending him and wouldn't reveal his secret to her.
The more Katsuyu refused to say, the more curious Tsunade became.
Doesn't want to reveal it… meaning Flying Thunder God wasn't even Yoru's real secret.
This kid was hiding something even bigger.
It made Tsunade's heart itch—like something was scratching at it, maddeningly uncomfortable.
She almost wished she could reincarnate into the Yamanaka clan, learn mind-reading, tie Yoru up, and pry his memories out directly.
Gojo Yoru, of course, had no idea his space–time ability had sparked a certain "big-breasted cow's" endless curiosity.
He even assumed Katsuyu had already told Tsunade everything.
The reason he chose to step away and recover chakra outside Amegakure was because he feared Katsuyu might notice that his space–time chakra came from cells secreting space–time power—not from absorbing space–time power externally—and that it still had a bottleneck.
At this moment, Yoru was wary of the sages of the Three Great Summoning Lands to the extreme.
Until his chakra was sufficient to train Sage Mode, he would never go to Ryūchi Cave—nor would he casually use Summoning Jutsu, in case he accidentally summoned one of those Three Great Snake Princesses who could already take human form.
After swallowing a soldier pill, Yoru extracted space–time power from his cells and restored his space–time chakra.
For once, the only benefit of having a small capacity finally showed itself:
His recovery speed was extremely fast.
With soldier pills squeezing the cells for energy, Yoru only needed a little over ten minutes to restore his space–time chakra to full.
He blinked back into the sewer and instantly sensed something was off.
Seeing Tsunade looking him up and down, Yoru instinctively checked himself—his raincoat wasn't torn, and he wasn't stained with anything. He asked in confusion, "Tsunade-sama… what is it?"
"…Nothing." Tsunade hesitated, then shook her head.
If not for Katsuyu on her shoulder, Tsunade would have wanted to pry.
But her expression made Yoru think.
That didn't look like someone who had learned about a space–time bloodline.
So… Katsuyu hadn't told her?
Then why not?
Did she have some scheme?
At that moment, Katsuyu suddenly said, "Tsunade-sama, I found the place you described."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Tsunade's expression sharpened. "Thank you for your trouble, Katsuyu-sama. Please tell me the location."
"Seven o'clock direction, about twenty-five kilometers."
Tsunade immediately looked at Yoru. He nodded, then used Earth Body Flicker to sink underground.
A few minutes later, Yoru blinked back and took Tsunade to a spot behind a huge boulder in the open.
The field of view was wide, yet they were still within Amegakure's core area.
If Orochimaru were here, he would recognize this place at once—
Because it wasn't far from the tower where Hanzō lived.
"Katsuyu-sama, what's the precise location?" Tsunade asked quietly, looking at the slug split body on the ground.
"Nine o'clock direction, the bamboo grove. There's a damaged barrier there. Beneath it is a secret base with a very strong medicinal smell and a strong smell of blood."
Tsunade immediately pressed, "Is the medicinal smell only residue?"
"No," Katsuyu answered. "There are three similar places in this village. The other two only have residual medicinal scent. Only this one shows signs of fierce fighting and retains a large amount of medicinal smell. This should be the place you're looking for."
Hearing that, Tsunade's expression lit up with joy.
~~~
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