"This medical ninjutsu is even harder than the Mind Body Switch Technique. You won't be able to learn it yet."
Kitazawa shook his head and advised gently, "When it comes to medical ninjutsu, you have to progress step by step. Don't rush it."
Although Sakura had an incredible gift for medical ninjutsu, she was still young, and her fundamentals weren't nearly as solid as in the original timeline.
Trying to master high-level medical ninjutsu this early was simply impossible.
"Understood, Kitazawa-sensei," Sakura said, suppressing the excitement in her heart.
"Hah! Then you'll never catch up to me!"
Ino grabbed Kitazawa's arm, leaned around him, and made a proud face at Sakura.
"Hmph, how childish."
Sakura muttered, rolling her eyes at Ino's tongue-out expression.
"That's enough for today. You two should go home and rest."
Kitazawa smiled, reaching out to pat Ino's head.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Sakura said eagerly, "what medical ninjutsu will I be learning tomorrow?"
"You…"
Kitazawa was just about to answer when a system notification suddenly interrupted him.
[System Notice]
"You and Sakura Haruno are both medical ninjutsu prodigies in the same class. Let's see who learns faster."
Current Mission: Learn a medical ninjutsu faster than Sakura Haruno.
Reward: Proficient-level Yang Release Chakra Nature Transformation.
Accept Mission?
Kitazawa's eyes brightened immediately.
In theory, once you mastered both chakra shape transformation and chakra nature transformation, you could learn any ninjutsu.
He already possessed expert-level chakra shape transformation, but had no nature transformation yet.
Finally, this was his chance—his first step toward it, even if it was only one element.
The system ranked mastery in three stages: Basic, Proficient, and Expert.
To master Yang Release at a proficient level would put him roughly on par with Shizune.
At expert level—that was Tsunade's realm.
Before this, people already called him a genius for his chakra control and shape transformation.
Now, with nature transformation added, he'd be a reinforced medical ninjutsu prodigy—no title needed.
"Let's keep it a secret for now," Kitazawa said with a grin. "I'll tell you tomorrow."
"Eh?"
Sakura froze.
How was she supposed to sleep now?!
Ino grinned from ear to ear, feeling completely avenged. She grabbed Sakura's hand and waved back:
"Thanks, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Kitazawa chuckled softly.
It wasn't about favoritism. He simply wanted to adjust the difficulty of the next jutsu according to Tsunade's second lesson.
His real goal: surpass Sakura Haruno and complete his mission.
If he missed out on that Yang Release nature transformation, he'd probably wake up at midnight screaming, "I'm such an idiot!"
That evening, Kitazawa returned to Kurenai home.
As usual, Tsunade and Shizune were already waiting.
Lately, Tsunade had been surprisingly punctual—probably because even she took medical training seriously.
Though, to Kitazawa's mild irritation, Tsunade always made Shizune handle the actual lessons.
"Kitazawa," Shizune began, taking out the same fish from yesterday, "did you practice during the day?"
"Yes. I squeezed in about three hours today," he replied.
"Good. You'll need to push harder," Shizune said with a smile. "Two days pass quickly."
"I won't need two days," Kitazawa said confidently. "I'll master the Healing Hands Technique: Minor tonight."
"Really? I don't believe that," Shizune said, shaking her head.
Six hours of total training was nowhere near enough for most shinobi.
"Just watch, Shizune-senpai," Kitazawa said, putting weight on the word senpai.
"Fine, let's see what you've got!"
Shizune crossed her arms. Her patience had limits too.
Kitazawa placed his hands over the fish and began focusing his chakra.
The faint green glow of healing chakra shimmered between his palms.
At first, Shizune offered tips—but soon she fell silent.
After only two hours, the wounds on the fish closed completely, and it began flopping around with new life.
A medical miracle.
A normal fish could only survive a few hours out of water—but thanks to his treatment, this one could easily last the day.
"You… actually mastered Healing Hands Technique: Minor already?"
Shizune was stunned.
"Only eight hours total?"
Tsunade sat up straighter, eyes sharp.
That was the same amount of time she had taken to learn it.
In other words, Kitazawa's talent for medical ninjutsu might equal her own.
"I owe it to your guidance, Shizune-senpai," he said with a polite smile.
"..."
Shizune twitched. She had barely guided him at all!
Damn geniuses…
They made teaching feel pointless.
"Shizune," Tsunade said, crossing her arms, "continue teaching him."
She wanted to see for herself if Kitazawa was truly a prodigy—or just lucky.
"All right," Shizune said, after a moment's thought. "Next, I'll teach you Anesthetic Jutsu."
Forming hand seals, she pressed her palms onto the fish's body. In an instant, it went still, fast asleep.
"Anesthetic Jutsu is a D-rank medical technique," Shizune explained calmly. "The difficulty lies in controlling the area affected."
Kitazawa instantly grasped the idea.
It was basically the ninja-world version of general and local anesthesia.
But since the system hadn't granted him this one, he'd have to learn it the hard way.
After an hour, he was still struggling.
Shizune sighed in relief.
At least this time, he wasn't completely monstrous.
Still, his progress was slightly ahead of hers.
Even that small gap made her self-esteem waver.
For years she had considered herself a medical ninjutsu prodigy—trained under Tsunade herself!
And yet, this newcomer had appeared out of nowhere.
Tsunade rubbed her temples.
Kitazawa's raw talent was giving her a headache.
She had only stayed in the Leaf to earn some quick money—
but now a real medical genius had appeared out of nowhere.
Troublesome.
Maybe it was time to finish that fourth genjutsu technique she'd been developing for Yakumo and move on.
As one of the Leaf's top-ranking shinobi, Tsunade had access to every sealed memory jutsu.
After weeks of research, her new technique was nearly complete.
If all went well, she'd finish it within the week.
Later that night, after Tsunade and Shizune left, Kitazawa spent a quiet moment with Kurenai before returning home.
He had been teaching at the Academy during the day and training by night—so his general store hadn't opened in weeks.
Luckily, his Academy salary and Hinata generous "allowance" kept him afloat.
After a shower, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep instantly.
The Next Morning — Wednesday
When Kitazawa arrived at the Ninja Academy, Principal Hiruzen Hisao called him into the vice principal's office.
"Nothing serious," Hisao said plainly. "Just letting you know—the final exams are set for July twenty-ninth."
"As head of academic affairs, you'll be in charge."
"Understood, Principal."
Kitazawa nodded. He'd been waiting for this.
After all, he had another system mission tied to that exam—one where he had to take first place.
But for the combat section, he'd need a valid reason to participate.
He began planning as he walked to the training grounds.
"Kitazawa-sensei!"
Sakura ran up eagerly.
"What medical ninjutsu will I be learning today?"
"A D-rank one—Hemostasis Technique."
He had decided yesterday while practicing anesthesia that he'd teach Sakura something of equal difficulty.
Fair competition, at least on paper.
Though in truth, Sakura's young age made it uneven.
But that was fine—the system considered them peers anyway.
"Since we'll be practicing Hemostasis, our test subject won't be a fish today—it'll be a rooster."
"I've already sent a shadow clone to buy one," he added.
Ino's face twitched.
Controlling a rooster's body would be far harder than controlling a fish.
There went her evening study time.
"Shikamaru," Kitazawa called suddenly.
"Be ready for practical combat training at noon."
"Yes, Sensei…" Shikamaru sighed.
Another day of mental and physical torture.
Soon enough, Kitazawa's clone returned with the rooster in hand.
He demonstrated the jutsu once, explained the chakra control principles, and then had Sakura practice on her own—leaving a clone to supervise while he found a quiet spot to resume learning the Anesthetic Jutsu.
By noon, he had thoroughly trained Naruto and Shikamaru , both of whom were left groaning on the ground.
Shikamaru had even tried using the Shadow Possession Jutsu to ambush him—but Kitazawa knew that technique better than Shikamaru himself.
It ended poorly.
Afterward, Shikamaru began practicing Yin Release nature transformation, still determined to catch up someday.
Kitazawa, feeling refreshed, returned to his office to continue working on the Anesthetic Jutsu.
At exactly 5 p.m., the familiar chime of the system echoed in his mind:
[Mission Complete]
"You have learned a medical ninjutsu faster than Sakura Haruno."
Reward Granted: Proficient-level Yang Release Chakra Nature Transformation.
Kitazawa exhaled slowly.
A surge of information and power flooded into his mind.
His chakra felt alive—warm and bright.
From that moment on, he was a true medical ninjutsu prodigy.