Ch.274 Awakening

Some time later, Yakumo woke up in a Hidden Leaf Hospital ward. 

Slowly opening her eyes, she found a crowd gathered around her: "W-Where am I?" 

Tsunade approached Yakumo's bedside: "How does your body feel?" 

"Lady Tsunade!" 

Recognizing Tsunade, Yakumo hurriedly tried to sit up and bow, but before she could prop herself up, she collapsed back down. 

Tsunade pressed her down: "Don't move!" 

Yakumo exclaimed: "Lady Tsunade, what's going on? Why do I feel pain all over and can't muster even a bit of strength?" 

"Your body's been heavily depleted. Don't move around!" Then, frowning, Tsunade glanced at Yakumo's freshly issued medical report, muttering in confusion: "This is strange!" 

Shion, standing among the group, asked: "Lady Tsunade, is Yakumo's body okay?" 

The other classmates also looked at Tsunade, their eyes faintly tinged with worry. 

Shinji, mixed in the crowd, shared their concern—but not for Yakumo's health. He was worried whether the Koryugan in her sockets might be exposed. 

After all, he knew Yakumo's current condition well. As long as he supplied Yang Release chakra in time, she wouldn't be in immediate danger. 

Tsunade didn't answer the students' questions. Instead, she asked Yakumo on the bed: "Your blood sugar and fat consumption this time are abnormally high. Normal people can't utilize their body's energy this efficiently. Did you use some kind of secret technique?" 

"Secret technique!?" 

Yakumo was utterly baffled. 

Seeing her reaction, Tsunade grew puzzled too. 

Using a taijutsu secret technique akin to the "Eight Gates" was the most logical explanation for Yakumo's current physical depletion. 

But if it wasn't a secret technique, the situation just got complicated. 

Then, staring at Yakumo, Tsunade asked: "What's going on with your eyes?" 

"W-What?" 

Yakumo's heart clenched, and she stammered. 

Tsunade gave her a deep look, then said: "Stay in the hospital and rest well today." 

With that, she turned to the group of classmates in the room: "She needs rest most right now. Stop bothering her and head back to school!" 

"Yakumo, rest up!" 

The students bid Yakumo farewell one by one before filing out of the ward. 

Shinji, blending in with the crowd, glanced at Yakumo, then at Tsunade, before leaving the room unnoticed with the others. 

"She noticed…" 

After leaving the hospital, Shinji mused to himself. 

Though Tsunade hadn't spelled it out in the ward, he knew that with her mastery of medical ninjutsu, the Koryugan likely couldn't slip past her! 

But the Koryugan was his creation, unrecorded in the shinobi world. 

Even Tsunade wouldn't be able to trace its origins. So even if it was exposed, things shouldn't reach an irreparable point. 

That was why he'd dared to transplant the Koryugan into Yakumo. 

"How will the village handle Yakumo?" 

He cast a thoughtful glance back at Hidden Leaf Hospital. 

At Hidden Leaf Hospital. 

Back in her office, Tsunade buried herself in Yakumo's medical report again. 

As she flipped through it page by page, her brow furrowed tighter, as if grappling with something incomprehensible. 

Just then, Jiraiya entered her office: "Tsunade, can that Naruto kid be discharged today?" 

Tsunade, her train of thought interrupted, didn't look up. Still flipping through the report, she said coldly: "Go handle his discharge procedures!" 

Seeing her mood, Jiraiya asked: "What's wrong?" 

After a moment's hesitation, Tsunade said: "Remember that Kurama girl I mentioned to you before?" 

"The one born frail?" Jiraiya crossed his arms: "Didn't you say her body wasn't suited to keep being a shinobi?" 

Tsunade's expression turned serious: "A few weeks ago, I gave her a full checkup. Back then, her body was extremely weak. Continuing as a shinobi might've led to an early death!" 

Jiraiya, accustomed to the shinobi world's harshness, remained calm and listened patiently. 

Tsunade continued: "But somehow, about a week ago, her body miraculously recovered. All her stats started improving!" 

"Hm?" 

Jiraiya frowned slightly. With his sharp instincts, he could smell something off about this. 

"And in her chakra, I sensed traces of the First Hokage's chakra." Pausing, Tsunade explained: "That's why I had the Anbu monitor her." 

Jiraiya asked: "Why would the Kurama clan's main family daughter have the First Hokage's chakra in her? Did the Kurama clan secretly perform some human experiments on her?" 

It wasn't surprising he'd think that. 

With Hiruko joining the Akatsuki, the Hidden Leaf's intelligence network had uncovered what he'd been up to since defecting all those years ago. 

Learning that his childhood friend hadn't abandoned those bloody, cruel human experiments after leaving the village had left Jiraiya heartbroken. 

Tsunade said: "I didn't find any signs of human experimentation on her." 

Jiraiya pressed: "Then why does she have the First Hokage's chakra?" 

"I can't explain it!" Shaking her head, Tsunade added: "These past few days, I've been focused on watching Naruto, so I eased up on her. I didn't expect her to run into trouble today!" 

"What kind of trouble?" 

Jiraiya asked eagerly. 

Anything that could make Tsunade this serious had to be significant, piquing his interest. 

"Her eyes…" Tsunade paused, choosing her words carefully before continuing: "Her eyes have changed!" 

"Changed!?" 

Jiraiya was thrown off by her vague phrasing. 

Tsunade handed him Yakumo's medical report: "Page 13, see for yourself! The chakra fluctuations in her eyes have spiked nearly 700 times higher than her last checkup!" 

Jiraiya looked at the report, his expression growing animated as he muttered: "How's that possible!"

Tsunade said: "I've double-checked. The numbers in the report are accurate!" 

Jiraiya, baffled: "Why would this happen?" 

Tsunade's gaze sharpened: "Either she's had a pair of eyes transplanted with dojutsu power far beyond a standard three-tomoe Sharingan, or she's awakened some kind of dojutsu kekkei genkai herself!" 

"You just said 'changed'…" Pausing, Jiraiya added: "So you think it's the latter—she's awakened a brand-new dojutsu Bloodline Limit?"