At night, Gisei Shiraishi lay in bed, tossing and turning. Having slept all day, he couldn't fall asleep now, his mind constantly preoccupied with his uncle Eisawa's problem.
During dinner, he had indirectly asked some questions about Eisawa's health.
Eisawa was quite frank, telling him directly that if not for the sealing jutsu developed by his grandfather, he would already be lying in bed waiting to die.
At the time, Gisei had strangely asked, "Isn't there any medical ninja who can treat it?"
But Eisawa's reaction was even stranger; he actually asked back, "What is a medical ninja? Are you talking about a doctor?"
The two stared at each other for a while until Gisei finally realized that Konoha had only been established for just over ten years, and Tsunade was not even ten years old yet.
Konoha's medical system only began to be established under Tsunade's vigorous advocacy much later. Right now, the concept of a "medical ninja" didn't even exist. Everyone just took medicine and saw doctors. Konoha Hospital could currently only perform some simple surgical operations.
After Gisei explained what a medical ninja was, Eisawa remained silent for a long time.
"In the Warring States period, ninja clans lived in precarious conditions. If you weren't strong, others would bully you. No ninja clan would go research that kind of ninjutsu; everyone focused entirely on enhancing combat power. Not many years after Konoha was established, the Ninja World War broke out, so there was no time to develop either. It's a good idea; perhaps you can try it."
At that time, Gisei was dumbfounded.
It was easy to say, but being a medical ninja wasn't something just anyone could do. It required not only a vast amount of medical theoretical knowledge but also technique and talent.
If it were just learning medical ninjutsu, perhaps he could learn it quickly relying on his chakra control ability, but to develop medical ninjutsu from scratch...
That was hellish difficulty.
Gisei thought for a long time, then simply got up, went into the courtyard, sat on the steps, and began to stare blankly at the moon.
His mind kept replaying the events of these past years. His grandfather, parents, and those clansmen had all disappeared one by one, leaving only an uncle to accompany him. But now it seemed this uncle was also about to disappear.
People all die eventually; he comforted himself like this, but it was still very painful, and he felt a stifling sensation in his chest.
When his grandfather died, he was powerless. For a baby less than a year old to be able to speak was already amazing enough.
When those clansmen wore their armor and rushed to the battlefield, he would fall after running a few steps on his short little legs.
When his parents died, he started learning to practice shuriken.
Now, did he have to watch helplessly as his last relative died?
The more he thought, the more agitated he became. He got up, went to the wooden training stake, and punched it.
"Sure enough, it still hurts..."
Clutching his small fist, Gisei sat down with his back against the wooden stake.
Why not give it a try?
He thought to himself, if medical ninjutsu could really save Eisawa's life, why not do it? Living without a goal didn't seem very interesting anyway.
Moreover, if he became good at medical ninjutsu, even if he went to the battlefield later, he would stay in the rear. Staying alive shouldn't be a big problem.
"Then I'll give it a try."
Saying this, he stood up and kicked the wooden stake hard, then punched it again.
In the darkness, Eisawa stood by the window, watching his little nephew punching and kicking the wooden stake. He shook his head, but as he turned around, the corners of his mouth couldn't stop curling into a smile.
The next day, Gisei took a leave of absence. As for the reason: overexertion.
Eisawa placed a bookshelf in his room, densely packed with various scrolls and books, then gave Gisei a look and went out to drink.
Gisei stared at the bookshelf, his scalp tingling. There were at least a thousand books here; even if he read one a day, it would take three years.
He randomly pulled one out; it was about the classification of butterfly species and their various living habits.
Hehe. Besides a wry smile, there was only a wry smile.
And so, the boring study time began.
Holding a book while eating, holding a book while walking, even taking a book to the toilet. To be honest, he wasn't this serious even for the college entrance exam in his past life.
When his injury was almost healed, he resumed his true male identity and reported to the Ninja Academy, receiving warm greetings from Teacher Kawano.
Jiraiya was still making a ruckus in the class, and Orochimaru was quite curious about what kind of injury this deskmate, whom he had only met once at the start of school, had suffered.
Naturally, Gisei couldn't tell the truth, so he just brushed it off as a cold.
Compared to the books on the shelf at home, the books at the Ninja Academy seemed quite simple. Gisei spent about a month finishing all that material.
Full marks in theoretical knowledge, combat training... well, just so-so. Except for throwing shuriken a bit better, he was basically at the bottom in everything else.
Jiraiya: at the bottom in theoretical knowledge, full marks in combat.
Tsunade and Orochimaru: full marks in everything.
However, there was one person worth mentioning: Hiruko. This guy actually became a partner in adversity with Gisei. Flashy talk, but in actual operation, he made all sorts of blunders.
After some time passed, Gisei blatantly started reading "extracurricular books" in the classroom.
As his deskmate, Orochimaru was quite curious and frequently stole glances.
Gisei didn't mind; it was all theoretical knowledge anyway. Even if Orochimaru read it, he couldn't possibly learn it just by looking. Sometimes he even deliberately let Orochimaru read. After reading for a while, Orochimaru lost interest.
Days passed by boringly, one after another.
Two years later, Orochimaru graduated early.
This caused a sensation in the class. Not wanting to be outdone, Tsunade also graduated early shortly after. As Tsunade's number one admirer, Jiraiya failed the assessment three times in a row, then also quietly graduated early.
Hiruko was quite unconvinced about Jiraiya's early graduation and often "poured out his heart" to his partner in adversity, Gisei.
However, Gisei often held a book and occasionally replied with a sentence, mostly things like "you're absolutely right," or otherwise just nodded perfunctorily.
If asked urgently, he would put down the book and ask Hiruko back: "What did you say just now?"
Every time he was asked this, Hiruko's expression looked like he had eaten something foul. He would curse "bookworm" in his heart and turn away. Over time, Hiruko also stopped paying attention to Gisei.
This led to a situation where Gisei was isolated.
The classmates all kept their distance from this bookworm, and Gisei was happy to be left alone. They were all a bunch of extras anyway, and he was a man aspiring to be a supporting character.
Teacher Kawano was well aware of the situation in the class and started to chat with him frequently, talking about everything. Life, ideals, friendship, the Will of Fire—chatting about whatever came to mind.
Whenever this happened, Gisei would be a good boy to avoid having his parent called.
The first time his parent was called, Eisawa showed up reeking of alcohol. When he came back, his entire face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he tied Gisei to the wooden stake for a session of "love" education.
That was a quite painful lesson.
Gisei expressed that as long as the parent wasn't called, if the teacher said a rooster could lay eggs, then the rooster could definitely lay eggs.
Kawano worried the most about this student and received... well, a broken heart.
However, Kawano didn't give up on this student. It must be said that the academy teachers under the shine of the Will of Fire were quite responsible; he still didn't give up.
It was just that the flavor of things changed between the two.
Teacher Kawano stopped talking about life ideals and the Will of Fire. He started talking to Gisei about domestic trivia, recounting his failed marriage, frequently sharing gossip about other teachers, and sometimes even dragging Gisei to his house for dinner.
To be honest, the food tasted pretty bad.
However, Teacher Kawano's fifteen-year-old daughter, Mie, was very pretty. As for his wife, he said she was seduced away by a wealthy merchant from the Fire Capital.
Privately, Gisei had asked Mie about it, but unfortunately, Mie at the time pulled his ear and said he was precocious for his age, which made Gisei quite depressed.
As for Eisawa, he continued to live a life of drunken stupor. Anyway, over these two years, except for when he was called to the school, the two rarely met.
Another day passed. Gisei was walking on the street, reading a book as he walked. Not far away, Jiraiya was walking a pig and complaining, while Orochimaru and Tsunade were also saying something.
At this time, they should have already become the Third's disciples. Was this a mission?
Anyway, it had nothing to do with him. Gisei glanced at them once and stopped paying attention.
When they passed each other, Orochimaru suddenly spoke: "Gisei-kun is still the same as always."
Tsunade also laughed: "Really, he hasn't changed a bit."
Jiraiya held the pig with a grim look on his face.
The incident at the entrance ceremony had become a stain he couldn't wipe away for his entire life. Tsunade often mocked him about it, and in class, he had plenty of awkward run-ins with Gisei.
It was just that Gisei ignored him completely. In two years, he had only said one sentence to him: "At the entrance ceremony, what on earth were you thinking to do something like that?"
Jiraiya's answer was quite annoying: "My brain got hot, and I just rushed up."
Very good, very much the look of a lecherous ghost; truly worthy of being Jiraiya.
At that time, Gisei felt unwell all over, and his eyes practically shot fire looking at Jiraiya. If not for the fact that he couldn't win a fight, he would definitely have let Jiraiya know why the flowers are so red.
Gisei glanced at the three of them, left without saying a word, his attitude quite cold.
Orochimaru's mouth twitched, Tsunade cracked her knuckles, and Jiraiya had an "I knew it would be like this" expression on his face.
Fortunately, the three didn't do anything out of line. After all, having been classmates, they knew each other's personalities and mentalities well.
It was just still very annoying.