"Done. All materials have been organized by position. Now I just need to analyze who's suitable."
Loe let out a big yawn and stretched.
Took forever to finish—this was no easy task!
Looking up, he suddenly felt a bit dazed.
Where are Akaba and Shinnosuke?!
Weren't they just here a moment ago?
"Are we really okay leaving Loe behind like this?"
"Do you think you can help? Or do you want to deal with those headache-inducing records together?"
Akaba and Shinnosuke climbed out from underground.
Shinnosuke glanced back several times, but thinking about those piles of records—the cramped lines of text—he couldn't help but feel his scalp crawling.
So, although he said "no" out loud, he obediently followed Akaba down the side path and left.
When it came to escaping, Akaba had plenty of experience.
Besides, he had sensory abilities. Once he spread his perception, detecting nearby movements was effortless.
Dodging Loe was practically too easy.
Huh? Tsunade is at the manga shop?
"Shinnosuke, I've got something to take care of first."
Recently, Tsunade had been extremely busy—either studying how to apply medical ninjutsu or observing doctors at the hospital.
She barely went to eat unless the hospital staff dragged her there—never mind looking for Akaba.
If she actually came looking for him, it must be something important.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Thinking it was something urgent, Shinnosuke immediately asked out of concern.
"No, I'll handle it myself."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Akaba formed hand seals and vanished in a blur.
He rushed to the manga shop at full speed and found Tsunade sitting outside its entrance, deeply immersed in reading a manga volume.
She wasn't holding just one book—many were earlier editions.
"You over here—did your medical ninjutsu succeed?"
Akaba sat down.
Because he'd left midway and there was also the recruitment event going on, today the manga shop had no shadow clones on guard duty—Tsunade really wouldn't have been able to find him if she came looking.
"Not even close yet, but now I'm not the only one working on it."
Aunt Utatane has collected some medical ninjutsu materials from other seniors, and the hospital has partnered with the research institute to establish a medical ninjutsu research division. Many experienced medical personnel have joined the effort.
A faint smile appeared on Tsunade's face.
Although her original motivation for researching medical ninjutsu had been to enhance her healing abilities so she could master Sage Mode, she had truly grown fond of the feeling of saving lives.
Especially being able to heal people whom previously couldn't heal—those feelings of accomplishment were unlike anything she'd known before.
"Then congratulations."
Akaba genuinely felt happy for her. Before Tsunade took over, medical ninjutsu had indeed been incomplete—many techniques already existed in personal collections, but lacked proper naming or transmission methods, gradually fading into obscurity.
Now, at least, the medical system had advanced ahead of schedule.
Still holding the manga, Tsunade continued, "After finishing the last meeting this morning, I suddenly remembered that Yakushi Kabuto character in your manga, plus your earlier suggestion to send medical personnel to the battlefield for rescues. So I hurried over to ask what you thought about medical ninjutsu and medics in general."
"Yakushi Kabuto? Hmm… Let's walk and talk.
"Let's talk as we head to the hospital."
Tsunade stood up and began walking toward the medical facility along the outer path circling the village.
After taking a few steps, she continued their conversation: "Yesterday, we received the bodies of many fallen countrymen. When I saw that scene, my mind suddenly thought of your character Kabuto from the manga."
"A combat medic ninja?"
"Precisely. Although Kabuto hasn't yet demonstrated his abilities in your manga, judging from the storyline, he should be an upper-rank ninja (jonin) with exceptional medical skills and formidable combat capabilities. If we had ninjas like him during this war, our casualties wouldn't have been so severe."
Tsunade's tone carried a hint of sadness.
No wonder the village strongly supports Medical Ninjutsu; it was understandable she wouldn't display any happiness.
Most likely, these past few days she'd seen far too many severely wounded patients at the hospital—some perhaps even dying before her very eyes.
The village certainly wished to reduce its casualties.
But the Land of Whirlpools had plunged into chaos. It wasn't just ordinary ninjas without combat ability who were in danger; even medical personnel at the genin or chunin level could easily fall victim to assassination techniques in the Land of Whirlpools.
In an assassination war, priority targets were always the most strategically critical individuals.
Without needing Tsunade to remind him, Akaba soon spotted bodies being secretly transported into the hospital.
Two corpses!
These two were among the few who could be brought back given the current situation. Many more deceased Hidden Shinobi couldn't be retrieved—their bodies were immediately destroyed due to the urgency of the battlefield.
"Developing combat medics requires high standards, and building such a system within a short period will be extremely difficult. In this respect, we're not even close to Sunagakure."
Tsunade continued speaking.
Sunagakure might have its flaws, but its reputation for poison was world-famous.
Poison and medicine were closely related fields. Add modifications using Puppet Techniques, and Sunagakure's current medical capabilities ranked first among the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Konoha had no advantage here.
Akaba took a few steps forward, mulling over the upcoming plot developments.
Plot-wise, aside from Tsunade's appearances involving extensive use of Medical Ninjutsu, there would be only one other instance where Kabuto treated Hinata using some medical techniques and treatments.
Perhaps that could work.
Kabuto used [Mystical Palm Technique] to heal Hinata, a technique uniquely suited not just for treating allies, but also capable of seriously damaging enemies.
However, the [Mystical Palm Technique] was extremely difficult. Even in later generations, very few managed to fully master it. Although the basic form of this medical jutsu already exists now, currently it was merely used for emergency care and hadn't been fully developed or utilized.
Thinking deeply for quite some time, Akaba decided to rush out the next volume as quickly as possible and let Izumi Yamano start printing sections immediately.
"What are you thinking about?"
Noticing Akaba hadn't responded for quite a while, Tsunade turned around with concern and asked.
"I'm considering whether medical jutsu, when applied differently, might also be used against enemies—for example…"
Akaba extended one finger, slowly concentrating chakra toward his fingertip.
Before long, the chakra condensed into a thin blade-like shape.
"A blade?"
Tsunade paused momentarily, then realized something—the appearance didn't seem quite right. This blade resembled surgical scalpels used in hospitals.
"The Scalpel can cut through internal muscles and blood vessels without leaving external wounds. However, performing this technique would require extremely precise chakra control."
Akaba explained.
Tsunade had a strong foundation in medical knowledge and definitely understood the significance of the Scalpel, so he didn't go into further details after the brief introduction.
After deep consideration, she said, "A Scalpel formed purely from condensed chakra is too fragile. It cannot be used directly and probably requires hand seals to assist."
"Exactly. A perfected Scalpel can be used for surgery as well as attacking enemies. Its primary offensive function is cutting an opponent's muscles and damaging their mobility."
Akaba elaborated while demonstrating battle techniques reminiscent of Kabuto from his previous life.
Tsunade fell into thought.
This technique was extremely useful—in some ways, it could even transform certain surgical techniques.
Of course, all of that depended on actually being able to master the technique.
After thinking for a long time, she took a deep breath and declared, "Since I can't go into battle anyway, I'll take it upon myself to develop this technique."
Go into battle?
Akaba felt speechless.
If you died on the battlefield, Mito Uzumaki might just wreak havoc across the world to avenge you.
Now that he thought about it, the Konoha Medical Team was probably already heading toward the border of the Land of Fire.
After some consideration, he followed Tsunade into the hospital.
There were four or five bodies.
Some had already been retrieved and buried—otherwise there would have been even more here.
Their high status and connections with the hospital meant nobody stopped them from entering restricted areas.
Walking all the way to the end, Akaba saw the Third Hokage.
"Hokage-sama."
Akaba and Tsunade stepped forward to greet him.
The Third silently nodded, his gaze sweeping over the bodies, dressed entirely in black as if mourning the fallen ninja.
After a long pause, he began to walk away.
Tsunade and Akaba followed closely behind until they left the room, then the Third finally spoke, "Tsunade tells me you've mentioned some ideas regarding the medical ninja system?"
"Uh, just some rough thoughts from a manga—half-baked at best. Nothing I'd call fully formed ideas."
Akaba shot Tsunade a glare.
He hadn't expected her to bring it up like that. She really didn't hold back when it came to keeping things quiet.
"I've read your manga too. That character named Kabuto, along with the Soul Release Technique [Shikon no Jutsu], and the idea of a Medical Team interested me greatly. I'd like to hear your opinions."
The Third slowly walked along.
"Yes, sir."
He kept pace beside the Hokage.
After organizing his thoughts, Akaba spoke up. "Currently, most missions are handled by four-man squads. If we could train combat-ready medical ninjas, we could drastically reduce injury and fatality rates among our shinobi."
"That goes without saying, but how exactly do we accomplish such a thing?"
The Third expressed his frustration.
These were issues everyone recognized—they understood the theory well enough, but the real question was how to train Medical Ninjas who could fight in the field.
"As a temporary measure, the best approach would be converting regular ninja."
Akaba replied.
"Convert regular ninja?"
The Third paused slightly, clearly taken aback.
He'd never thought of this approach before—because medicine wasn't something you could master just by picking up a few jutsu. It took serious medical knowledge.
Take Tsunade for example.
If she hadn't been influenced from childhood by Mito Uzumaki and learned a great deal of medical knowledge back then, she would never have been able to grasp Medical Jutsu in such a short time or gradually develop some relatively mature techniques.
"I think you need to distinguish between battlefield first aid and formal treatment. Take the most basic Healing Technique as an example—if someone in a squad masters it, they can handle emergency recovery from external injuries. Even if they can't heal severe wounds like severed limbs, at least they can keep teammates alive."
Akaba's words left not only the Third Hokage stunned but also Tsunade deep in thought.
Indeed, emergencies had their own solutions.
Even if these methods couldn't save everyone, they could definitely reduce unnecessary casualties.
The Third stayed silent for a long while before sighing heavily, "If only you had said this earlier."
"Sorry."
Akaba bowed his head, guilt pressing down on him.
Truthfully, he did have the chance to bring this up sooner—but remembering how much effort Tsunade had poured into promoting Medical Ninjas in the manga, he doubted whether he could make any real change, so he stayed silent instead.
"No, it was our mistake. If not for the Research Institute opening new possibilities, we wouldn't have even thought about innovating or expanding these techniques. This is all your credit."
The Third stopped walking, turned around, and bowed deeply.
It was stubbornness, rigid thinking—that's what had held them back all along. And now he saw it clearly.
"I'll start compiling Medical Jutsu right away and see if I can simplify them."
Tsunade caught on quickly. She understood the core of battlefield first aid—simple, fast, and easy to learn.
"As for me—"
Akaba began to speak, but the Third had already hurried off.
He needed to attend a meeting—to discuss which shinobi would be suitable for learning battlefield Medical Ninjutsu and then select those with enough skill to enter the battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools.
Not everyone could become a "Kabuto"—but at the very least, they could reduce deaths and injuries from wounds while still protecting themselves.
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