Outside Sunagakure, endless yellow sands stretched far and wide across the vast desert.
"Halt immediately and state your name!" A Suna ninja atop the city wall shouted down.
"Konoha aid envoy—Seiki Shimaseki!" Seiki replied.
The guard, having been informed of his arrival, verified it against a drawn portrait. "Confirmed. I'll open the gates right away."
"What a desolate place," Seiki muttered, glancing around. "Wouldn't it be easy to ask someone as approachable as the First Hokage for help greening this wasteland?"
"Tch, probably just some pointless pride getting in the way!"
As he finished speaking, the gates creaked open.
A squad of Suna ninjas stepped out to greet him respectfully. "Jonin Shimaseki, please come inside."
Given Seiki's current status, he could already be considered part of Konoha's upper echelon. They naturally wouldn't dare to be impolite.
"My thanks. I've arrived a little later than expected—please take me directly to your village hospital."
"Yes, sir!"
As they walked in, curious villagers whispered among themselves—why had a Konoha ninja shown up in Suna?
As villagers stared at Seiki with curiosity, he quietly observed his surroundings.
Many of them looked malnourished, frail, and weak—nothing like what one would expect from one of the Great Five nations' hidden villages.
Still, Seiki wasn't surprised. After all, throughout its history, Sunagakure had always struggled with poverty.
During the era of The First Kazekage, they still insisted on keeping up appearances; during The Second Kazekage's rule, although puppet techniques were developed to improve war potential, this only further impoverished the village due to the costly creation of puppets. By the end of the Third Great Ninja War, Suna could barely survive, selling out their hero Pakura to stay afloat. Under The Fourth Kazekage, they'd sunk so low that even the leader had to work outside the village.
In an original account described by some ninja, Suna's main sources of income came from new jutsu created by The Fourth and gold dust mined for trade. The entire village only had the Kazekage who could earn foreign currency, showing just how dire Sunagakure's situation had become.
By the time Gaara was captured, they'd completely lost hope and turned to Konoha for support without hesitation.
Under such circumstances, expecting Suna to commit troops was simply unreasonable!
Mulling over his thoughts, Seiki decided, "To convince Suna to send troops, I must address both their interests and insecurities precisely."
Suna Hospital.
No sooner had he stepped inside than Seiki heard nurses shouting urgently, like chaos was breaking loose inside.
"Patient in bed 35 is getting worse!"
"The man in bed 26 has turned pitch black!"
"Bed 19 started convulsing—someone cast a calming jutsu on him now!"
Seeing the chaos, Seiki stepped forward without hesitation.
Tell me which patients are in the worst condition," his voice carried calm authority.
Subconsciously, the nurses answered,
"Bed 35."
"Bed 26."
"Bed 7."
"I'll take those three."
Not even waiting for the nurses in charge of those beds to react, Seiki created two Shadow Clones to take over those stations.
"Hold on, who are yo—eeeep!" The young nurse was about to protest against this outsider taking over her post when she suddenly squeaked, "You're Lord Seiki from Konoha?"
As soon as she spoke, the clinic erupted into chaos.
"Lord Seiki who developed the Medical Scroll? Where? Where?"
"I heard it's a revolutionary invention that could rewrite our entire medical system!"
To these medical ninja, it didn't matter how many enemies Seiki had taken down in battle. What mattered most was his contribution to the medical system.
The appearance of the Medical Scroll had not only increased survival rates among ninja but also reduced their need to go to the battlefield.
The Sunagakure ninja who accompanied Seiki here stood there with his mouth hanging open, tugging at a nurse's sleeve and asking, "He's performing three surgeries simultaneously?!"
A young nurse watching the surgery closely replied impatiently, "Yeah yeah, I know already!"
The Suna ninja practically shouted, "Even if I'm not a medical ninja myself, this seems completely reckless!"
"Ordinary medical ninja certainly couldn't do that, but is he an ordinary ninja?" The young nurse looked toward Seiki with admiration. "That man is a legend among medical ninja!"
It was like having a top-tier med god personally stopping by a no-name clinic—of course they'd be freaking excited!
When Rasa arrived with several advisors and saw the three surgeries happening simultaneously, he joined the ranks of those questioning reality.
Ebizō muttered in disbelief, "Sis, does Konoha have a Three-Day Moon Style Medical Ninjutsu besides the Three-Day Moon Sword Technique?"
Chiyo shot him a glare. "Hmph, do you really think that's possible?"
"That's exactly why I'm confused!" Ebizō sighed.
"This kid's medical ninjutsu might not have reached Katsuyu's level yet, but in terms of efficiency, he's definitely surpassed his teacher," Chiyo commented.
Kazekage couldn't help but feel envious—if only he could keep up that pace, he'd get three shifts crushed before lunch!
Keep on grindin', office worker... He silently encouraged himself before asking, "If we invest more resources into medical training, do you think we could cultivate a medical ninja like him?"
"Lord Kazekage, the sun hasn't even set yet!" Chiyo sarcastically jabbed before continuing, "The root of our weak medical capabilities isn't just our facilities—it's the lack of qualified instructors. Without good teachers, it's extremely difficult to master skills through self-study alone!"
"It looks like after the war ends, establishing student exchange programs with Konoha will be necessary," Kazekage mused. Noticing that Seiki showed no sign of stopping, he simply took his leave.
After all, as Kazekage, his time was incredibly valuable.
Plus, he still had to head out to his side hustle later!
...
Because the poisoning had lasted longer and weaker toxin suppression methods were used earlier, despite having more experience, Seiki actually spent more time here than he did in Konoha.
From nine o'clock in the morning straight through to nine o'clock at night, after experiencing what he called a 'fubao' (the bittersweet kind of blessing), Seiki finally completed all the surgeries.
"Sorry for making you wait so long," Seiki smiled warmly.
"Not at all, not at all!" Everyone kept shaking their heads. How could such a great learning opportunity be considered a waste of time?
At that moment, a voice abruptly interrupted.
"Jonin Seiki, Jonin Seiki! Kazekage wishes to see you..." Baki couldn't help but feel emotional. Two years ago, he could still speak with Seiki as equals, but now their positions were light-years apart.
While feeling this way, Baki suddenly realized the people around him had begun giving him odd looks.
"Damn it, I still wanted to ask Master Seiki for advice!"
"Get that nuisance out of here!"
The nurses glared angrily at Baki; it was precisely ninja like him, who couldn't tell when they weren't wanted, that hindered the development of medical jutsu in Sunagakure.
Baki stood there stunned. He couldn't believe how fast things were changing. Had it really only been half a day? Did it really feel like their hospital was about to be renamed? Was this turning into "Seiki Hospital"?
Realizing things were getting out of hand, Baki quickly sold out his boss: "It's not my fault! I'm just delivering the Kazekage's message."
The nurses reluctantly backed down—they held great respect for that hardworking Kazekage.
So they redirected their frustration elsewhere, grinding their teeth and whispering among themselves:
"So your name is Baki, huh? Next time you come to the hospital, remember to wear your mask properly!"
"Or maybe hit yourself in the face first until it swells up!"
Baki felt completely wronged. What kind of world was this anyway?
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