Shizune's office was on the top floor of the hospital. It was usually light and spacious, but now the blinds were tightly closed, cutting the room off from the outside world.
Naruto walked inside.
Click. Click. Click.
Shizune locked the door with three turns right behind his back. Then she walked to the walls and activated pre-inscribed fūin-seals. A light ripple ran through the room, isolating sound and chakra.
The blonde watched her silently.
Shizune wasn't herself. Her usually collected movements had become jerky. Her eyes shone feverishly. She paced from the desk to the couch, rearranging instruments that were already perfectly aligned.
"Sit," she threw out without looking at him. "Take off your vest. I need access to your torso."
Naruto didn't move.
"Shizune-san," his voice was quiet but commanding. "Are you sure you're in control?"
She froze with tweezers in her hand.
"What do you mean?"
"Your look," the Uzumaki said directly. "That gleam and obsession... You remind me of Orochimaru right now, when he was staring at me."
Shizune flinched as if doused with ice water. The tweezers clattered onto the metal tray.
She took a deep breath, covering her eyes with her hand. The comparison to the Snake Sannin sobered her better than any slap.
"Sorry," she exhaled, turning around. Her face became human again, though the tension hadn't gone anywhere. "Just... I understand what is in this room right now. If my guesses are correct, this is an incredible discovery. It could change the entire understanding of medicine."
Naruto nodded, accepting the explanation. He took off his vest, jacket, and mesh shirt, remaining naked to the waist, and sat on the couch.
"Check."
Shizune put on gloves. Professionalism took precedence over emotions.
"First, external test. I want to check tissue density."
She took a scalpel and fed chakra into it. The blade was enveloped in a blue glow.
"Don't move."
She touched his shoulder.
Zzzzt.
The sound was as if she were trying to saw dense rubber with a dull hacksaw. The scalpel slipped, leaving only a small white mark.
Shizune frowned. She increased the chakra flow to the maximum. The blade hummed. She pressed harder, with force that would pierce a wooden beam. Naruto's skin yielded reluctantly, and finally, a tiny drop of blood appeared.
Shizune removed the instrument.
The wound disappeared. Instantly. No smoke or seals. The edges simply joined, as if pulled by invisible threads.
"Epidermal density exceeds the norm tenfold," she stated, structuring the data in her head. "Regeneration is not cellular, but energetic. Your body forcibly restores its 'form'."
"Now internal examination," she said, activating the Mystic Palm technique. Green glow enveloped her hands. "Breathe evenly."
She placed her palms on his chest.
And immediately exhaled from what she saw.
Before her inner eye opened a picture that would shatter any traditional medic's worldview.
She saw the familiar Chakra Pathway System—a bluish network of channels entwining organs.
But through it, parallel, ran another network.
More structured. Rigid. Shining with white light.
Meridians.
They looked like a steel frame upon which meat was stretched. They entered tissues, organs, bones, making them stronger than normal. And they all converged at one point.
In the stomach.
Where the Kyūbi seal should be, a star rotated. The Pseudo-Core pulsed rhythmically and powerfully, like a second heart, pumping thick, dense energy through the body.
Shizune slowly removed her hands. She pulled off her gloves and threw them in the bin.
"I discussed this with Tsunade-sama," she said quietly, not looking him in the eye.
Naruto raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"She gave the go-ahead. Said: 'If the kid agrees—take it. We could use this power.'"
Shizune turned to him. Fire lit up in her eyes again, but now it wasn't scientific obsession, but the desperation of a person tired of being weak.
"Teach me, Naruto. Pass me this Seed of Qi."
The Uzumaki was silent. He looked at her with an unblinking, studying gaze, assessing her resolve.
Shizune interpreted this silence as refusal. Nerves, taut as strings, snapped.
She stepped toward him, closing the distance to a minimum.
"Naruto, please," her voice broke into a whisper. "This is important to me. I... I will do anything. Any request. Just don't refuse me."
There was something pitiful and ambiguous in that phrase, but Naruto just shook his head, interrupting her flow of self-flagellation.
"No need for extremes, Shizune-san. You don't need to bargain."
He met her gaze calmly.
"I just thought about the risks. But strengthening you means strengthening the Village and protecting Granny Tsunade. And that is in my interests. I agree."
Shizune's shoulders slumped. It was as if the air had been let out of her.
"Thank you..."
"Don't rush to thank me," Naruto's voice became hard as metal. "You must understand what you're getting into. You're not a teenager like Hinata or me. Your channels are already formed and 'ossified.' Forcing a path for meridians will be hellishly painful."
He emphasized the last word.
"It won't just be unpleasant. It will be torture. And also... filth. Qi will wash out slag and toxins accumulated over years of working with poisons and such. It will be disgusting, but it must be endured."
"I am the student of Legendary Tsunade," she smirked, though her fingers trembled. "I know everything about pain."
"Good."
Naruto gestured to the floor.
"Take off your top. I need access to the Dantian. Sit in the lotus position."
Shizune, without hesitation, threw off her robe. Hesitating for a second, she took off her blue shirt too, remaining in a tight black tank top.
She sat on the floor, crossing her legs. Naruto sat down behind her.
"Close your eyes. Focus on the lower abdomen. Do not resist the intrusion, or you'll only hurt yourself."
He placed his palm on her back, just below the shoulder blades.
His hand was hot, like an iron.
"Beginning."
Qi Control: Seed of Qi.
Naruto sent the impulse.
If chakra felt like wind or water, then Qi felt like molten gold. Heavy, thick, scorching.
"Ghh!" Shizune arched her back, clenching her teeth.
A scream stuck in her throat.
The sensation was as if boiling water had been poured into her veins. The energy rammed her solidified meridians, breaking through blockages with brute force.
The pain was blinding.
Every old injury, every clogged channel flared with fire.
Endure! Naruto's voice sounded straight in her head. Accept it!
Dark, oily substance began to ooze from Shizune's pores. It smelled of metal and something sour. These were poisons she had breathed in the lab, byproducts of sleepless nights and stress.
While her body writhed in the agony of restructuring, Naruto shared basic knowledge.
Base. Rotation.
And most importantly—"Color Overlay."
Hide it, his whisper sounded. Mask white as blue. Your Qi must look like Medical Chakra. Otherwise, you become a target.
The process lasted an eternity.
Finally, the heat subsided, replaced by coolness.
In Shizune's lower abdomen, where there used to be emptiness, a tiny but bright ember now glowed.
A tiny, formed Dantian.
Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment, Naruto noted to himself, feeling the source's stable vibration. She has officially stepped onto the path of cultivation. The first step is taken.
"Done..." Naruto exhaled. He removed his hand.
Shizune went limp. Her body didn't obey. Muscles trembled from the shock, but there was no more pain. On the contrary. She felt as if she had thrown a heavy burden off her shoulders that she had carried for years.
She began to fall backward.
Naruto caught her, preventing her head from hitting the floor.
"You did well," he said quietly.
Suddenly he grimaced. The smell from the secretions was sharp, unpleasant. Black slime soaked her tank top through. Leaving her like this was impossible—toxins would start corroding the skin.
"Shizune-san," he shook her shoulder slightly. "Need to take off the tank top. It's toxic."
Shizune nodded weakly, but her arms hung limply at her sides. She couldn't move.
Naruto realized he would have to act himself.
Casting aside embarrassment—right now he was a medic—he grabbed the hem of her sticky black tank top and carefully pulled it over her head.
Closing his eyes, Naruto reached for the table, moistened several towels with water from a carafe, and began quickly but thoroughly wiping the black filth from her body. Back, shoulders, stomach.
Shizune flinched at the touch of the damp cloth but pressed against him, seeking support. She didn't care that she was half-naked in front of a guy. Right now, he was the only one she could rely on.
Finished with the cleaning, Naruto reached for the hanger and took down her spare medical coat. Threading her limp arms into the sleeves, he wrapped the fabric around her, bundling her up.
Now she was clean and warm.
Shizune lay in a semi-conscious state. Euphoria from the gained power mixed with monstrous fatigue.
She opened her eyes slightly. Naruto's face was close. He looked tired, shadows under his eyes—transferring Qi to an adult had taken a lot of strength from him.
"Don't leave..." she whispered, clutching his hand. Her fingers were weak but insistent. "Stay here... until I fall asleep..."
"I'm here," he replied, continuing to wipe her forehead. "Don't worry about anything and sleep."
"Now I will be useful... right?.." her voice faded.
"Right. With due diligence, you will become much stronger."
Shizune smiled with the corners of her lips and fell into a deep, restorative sleep.
Naruto sat with her for a few more minutes until her breathing became even. Then he carefully lifted her in his arms—she seemed weightless—and moved her to the couch, covering her with a blanket.
He looked at her.
Under the layer of washed-off filth, her skin glowed. Small wrinkles disappeared, her face smoothed out. She looked five years younger. Cultivation had already begun its work.
"Welcome to the world of cultivation, Shizune-san," he uttered quietly.
Naruto put on his mesh shirt and vest. His head spun a little. The Pseudo-Core reserve had dropped by almost a third. He needed to recover too.
He left the office, quietly closing the door behind him.
Outside the corridor window, twilight was gathering. Shadows grew longer, portending a restless night.