Ino and Shikamaru were both busy learning their clan's secret techniques, so Kitazawa couldn't help them for now.
His eyes landed on Kabuto Yakushi.
After a week of practicing wind-style chakra transformation, Kabuto had already picked up his first Wind Release jutsu—Gale Palm.
It was a C-rank technique, fairly moderate in difficulty, and pretty suitable for Kabuto's level.
Kitazawa watched him for a bit, realized he didn't need to step in, and moved over to Hinata.
The standard Body Flicker Technique is D-rank, but Leaf's version is B-rank.
Hinata had been working on it for over a week and had barely gotten the hang of it. She was still struggling.
Kitazawa wasn't sure she'd be able to use it during the upcoming monthly exam.
Off in the distance, Neji Hyuga was practicing the Gentle Fist: Sixty-Four Palms.
He'd already mastered the first eight strikes and was pushing toward the tenth.
Coincidentally, Hinata was around the same level—at the tenth strike too.
They were neck-and-neck in terms of progress, but Hinata had clearly worked harder to get there.
After thinking for a moment, Kitazawa formed a hand seal and created a shadow clone.
He then walked over to the academy's artificial lake.
Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka were training there.
Kiba had already finished his tree-walking training and was now learning how to walk on water.
Sasuke, on the other hand, was multitasking—refining Fire Release chakra nature transformation while also learning a second Sharingan genjutsu from Itachi.
Clearly, after his match with Neji, Sasuke had started taking genjutsu more seriously.
But Kitazawa wasn't here for Sasuke or Kiba. He came to check on Sakura.
Over the past two weeks, she had learned two medical ninjutsu techniques.
They were only D-rank, but it was more proof of her natural talent in medical ninjutsu.
That said, she was currently hitting a wall—too young, and her chakra reserves were still too limited.
"Sakura," Kitazawa called out with a wave.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei?" she walked over and asked, "Do you need something?"
"As a medical ninja, it's important to learn medical ninjutsu—but there's something else just as important," he said with a grin. "Any guesses?"
"Hmm… knowledge?" Sakura hesitated.
"It's hands-on practice," he said. "The goal of a medic-nin is to apply what you've learned to real patients."
"You mean… you want me to treat real patients?" Sakura blinked, surprised.
Without her usual Sasuke obsession, she was genuinely sharp—a true academic.
"Half right. You're not ready to treat anyone by yourself yet," Kitazawa said, tapping her forehead. "I want you to be my assistant—or apprentice, if you will."
"Assistant?" she echoed, confused.
"I'm currently a part-time medical ninja at Konoha Hospital. I'm already authorized to lead surgeries on my own," Kitazawa explained. "If you assist, you'll get used to the medical ninja role early—and build up real experience."
Sakura's eyes widened.
She didn't know much about Kitazawa aside from him being a great teacher.
But she did know that the part-time medics at Konoha Hospital were the elite of the elite.
"You look shocked," Kitazawa chuckled.
"I had no idea you were that incredible, sensei!" Sakura said in awe.
"Come on, we're heading to the hospital."
Bringing Sakura along was partly on a whim—maybe he'd trigger a quest—but the main reason was that he'd finally mastered the Mystical Palm Technique. Yakushi Nonō had granted him permission to lead surgeries solo.
Especially the tough ones.
He still had a mission: complete nine high-difficulty surgeries.
Now it was finally time to begin.
"This is Sakura Haruno, my student," Kitazawa introduced once they arrived.
"She must be quite talented if you took her in," Nono said, raising an eyebrow.
Sakura did look very young—barely six or seven.
"She's in Class 1-A," Kitazawa clarified.
"Ah, that explains it."
Nono nodded. The confusion cleared up—"student" meant something very different when they were this young.
"But she really does have a knack for medical ninjutsu," Kitazawa added. "I'd like her to be my assistant."
"She's awfully young. Are you sure that's okay?"
"I can do it!" Sakura quickly said, patting her chest with confidence.
"Alright then," Nono agreed after a short pause. "With you watching her, I'm sure it'll be fine."
And if anything did go wrong, Tsunade could always step in—no one would blame the trainee.
"Thank you, Nono-senpai," Kitazawa said gratefully.
With Tsunade mostly out of the picture, Nono was effectively the hospital director, so her approval made Sakura's assistant role official.
"Thank you, Director!" Sakura said excitedly.
"No need to be so formal," Nono smiled. "But since she's so young, we don't have a nurse uniform in her size. I'll have one custom-made."
"Thanks for the help, senpai," Kitazawa added.
After a brief chat, he brought Sakura to his office.
"Kitazawa-sensei," she asked while curiously looking around, "What exactly does an assistant do?"
"It's all written in this scroll," he said, handing her a scroll from his desk.
"Thank you!" Sakura sat on the couch and immediately began reading carefully.
Kitazawa picked up another scroll—his was filled with advanced medical ninjutsu.
He had almost finished learning everything in the standard curriculum. Only one remained: the A-rank Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
Technically A-rank, but to him, it was S-rank in disguise—large-scale healing requiring multiple elite medical jōnin.
Normal genin or chūnin medics weren't even qualified to participate.
If a surgery required this technique, it was definitely a high-difficulty one.
The only problem? These kinds of surgeries were rare—especially in today's peaceful ninja world.
Thankfully, learning while also teaching Sakura kept things from getting too dull.
Finally, on Friday, he got his first high-difficulty case.
"Kitazawa-sensei, how do I look in my new nurse uniform?" Sakura asked, twirling excitedly.
"Pretty good," Kitazawa nodded.
Not exactly fashionable, but it was definitely cute in a chibi sort of way.
"Hehe~" Sakura giggled, covering her face. "I wonder when I'll get to treat Sasuke…"
"Maybe during the monthly exam in a couple of days," Kitazawa joked. "If he gets injured, he's all yours."
"Yes!" she lit up immediately.
Right then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Kitazawa called out, expecting a nurse with surgical info—but it was Yakushi Nonō again.
"We've got an emergency case," she said seriously. "I think you're the best one to lead."
"Where's the patient?" Kitazawa stood up at once.
"Follow me. You'll lead the operation; I'll assist."
Two medical jōnin on the same surgery? That was exactly what he'd been waiting for.
At the OR doors, he suddenly spotted Itachi.
"Itachi? What are you doing here?" Kitazawa asked.
"You're doing the surgery?" Itachi looked stunned.
He'd known Kitazawa had been learning from Tsunade, but to already be a lead surgeon?
"Yeah. Let's catch up after," Kitazawa said as he and Nono stepped inside.
A nurse handed them the case file.
Uchiha Yashiro?
Kitazawa blinked. No wonder Itachi was there.
Yashiro was a veteran member of the Uchiha clan—someone even Fugaku showed respect to.
"Let's begin," Kitazawa said, setting the file aside.
Yashiro was in critical condition—his entire body injured, the worst being a near-fatal slash to the heart.
Thankfully, it wasn't deep enough to kill him.
Hours later, the surgery was complete.
A system prompt flashed in Kitazawa's view—1 out of 9 high-difficulty surgeries complete.
"How'd it go?" Itachi asked, rushing up to him.
"He's stable. Should recover fully in two to three months."
"Good," Itachi sighed in relief.
Nono wheeled Yashiro to the recovery ward. Sakura went along to assist.
Besides training, she had also officially taken up part-time nurse duties.
"You're Tsunade-sama's student now?" Itachi asked, eyes sharp.
Kitazawa had acted as Tsunade's proxy during the summer banquet, but there was a clear difference between being a representative and being an actual student.
If Kitazawa could heal someone like Yashiro, he clearly had Tsunade's personal instruction.
"Not yet," Kitazawa replied with a faint smile.
Itachi looked thoughtful.
Becoming Tsunade's student was every medic's dream.
And Kitazawa's calm demeanor said one thing clearly—he wasn't far from it.
"How did Yashiro get injured? Looks like Water Release damage."
"He was ambushed by Mist ninja," Itachi said after a pause. "I suspect the intel from Root was wrong."
"What's Root say?"
"They insist the intel was accurate."
"Figures," Kitazawa muttered, remembering how in the original timeline, Itachi still trusted Danzo and Root even after knowing they targeted the Uchiha.
To him, Konoha always came before his clan.
But now that Tsunade was involved, things were different.
If he had to choose between Danzo and Tsunade, Itachi wouldn't hesitate.
"We don't have evidence that Root's intel was wrong, so we can't pursue it," Itachi said, a little helplessly.
"Tsunade-sama won't let this go on forever," Kitazawa said after thinking for a moment.
Itachi's eyes lit up. That comment said a lot.
Tsunade had already caused a stir when she took over part of the Anbu to retrieve Nono and Kabuto.
Many believed she was eyeing the Hokage seat.
Though she'd kept a low profile afterward, Kitazawa's words gave Itachi some hope.
"If Tsunade-sama ever needs anything, the Uchiha will support her," Itachi said clearly.
"I'll let her know."
Kitazawa's real goal was to keep Itachi from siding with Danzo—to stop the Uchiha Massacre before it could happen.
But Danzo wasn't the only problem—Obito was still out there.
And for now, Kitazawa still didn't know how to deal with him.
"I'll head to the ward now. Let's talk later," Itachi said before walking off.
Kitazawa watched him go, thinking: he really needed to get Tsunade into some mental therapy.
It was already late September—two months left until the new year.
The original story never specified which month the Uchiha Massacre happened.
And with all the changes he'd caused, it could happen any time.
There wasn't much time left.
"Sakura, take the next two days off. Rest up and get ready for Monday's exam," he told her when he got back to the office and saw her collapsed on the couch.
"Got it, Kitazawa-sensei."
Sakura forced herself up and left.
Kitazawa stretched. That surgery had nearly drained his chakra.
If he had to do another one like that, he'd probably end up like Sakura—completely wiped out.
After a short break, he returned to the academy for his last practical class.
Not much new content—just the usual clone and taijutsu drills.
The only real progress: Hinata had pretty much mastered the Body Flicker.
Too bad Naruto wouldn't be able to use Rasengan in time for the exam.
Then he suddenly thought of Tsunade.
Maybe he should invite her to watch the exam—seeing how Naruto and the others were doing might change her mind about a few things.
Didn't hurt to try.
After class, he headed back to Kurenai's place.
"Come on, we're going to the Hokage Tower," she said, already at the door putting on her shoes.
"Huh? What for?"
He watched her lean down, unable to resist sneaking a glance.
"We're checking the mission board—seeing if there's anything we can take."
"But the monthly exam's on Monday."
"We won't be going right away," she said with a teasing smile. "Most missions are posted a week or two in advance. We'll grab one now and head out next week."
"Fair enough." He paused. "Actually, this gives me a chance to stop by and see the Hokage too."
"You got something else going on?"
"Not personal—academy business," he said, referring to the student council proposal he'd written but hadn't submitted to Hiruzen yet.
"Oh." She nodded and didn't ask more.
"Got a destination in mind?"
"Why does it sound like you think this is a vacation?"
"Well, if we pick an easy mission, it kind of is."
"If the Hokage heard you say that, he'd lecture you hard."
"Which is why I'm only saying it to you." He tickled her palm.
"Smooth talker," she muttered. "Alright then, let's pick a small country. Missions involving the Five Great Nations are usually more complex."
Small countries, though? Much simpler.
Some didn't even have their own ninja.
They arrived at the mission hall in the Hokage Tower.
Kurenai let go of his hand and walked straight up to the board.
There were all kinds of tasks, most of them low to mid-level. S-rank was rare.
Kitazawa stroked his chin and scanned the B-rank listings.
As a Special Jōnin and a Chūnin, they weren't eligible for A- or S-rank missions without another full Jōnin on the team.
"How about the Land of Grass?" Kurenai asked, pointing at one mission.
"The Land of Grass?" Kitazawa blinked, instantly recalling its relevance in the original timeline.
One storyline involved the Box of Ultimate Bliss, a mythical item said to grant any wish—basically the shinobi version of the Holy Grail.
Another centered on Karin and her mother.
After the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out, they were taken in by Grass Village—but only to be used as chakra batteries.
Karin's mother eventually died from chakra exhaustion. Karin would've ended the same way, if not for Orochimaru.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Karin was the same age as Sasuke and Naruto.
As an Uzumaki, she had huge chakra reserves and innate talent for sealing techniques.
Maybe this mission could trigger something.
Sealing jutsu was absolutely busted—on par with kekkei genkai in how overpowered and sinister it could be.
And if he could get his hands on some of that… he could even throw Tsunade a favor while he was at it.
~~~
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