A Skilled Physician

After arriving at the Raikage Building, Yotsuki Ki made his way to the Raikage's Office with practiced ease. The Third Raikage was currently dealing with a mountain of accumulated documents.

Judging by the thickness of the files, Dada felt that every time Father finished one sheet, the secretary beside him added two more, successfully bugging the Third Raikage.

"Father, I have something to report," Yotsuki Ki called out carelessly.

"I told you to call me Raikage when you're in the Raikage Building... Forget it. Go on. What is it?" Seeing a perfectly valid excuse, A immediately shoved aside the documents in front of him, relief flashing in his eyes. If not for Yotsuki Ki's interruption, he would probably have had to stay in the Raikage Building tonight, and his promise to eat dinner at home with his wife would have fallen through again.

"Father, when I was carrying out a mission before, I met an incredible doctor in the Land of Soup. No, more accurately, he was a Medical Ninja. I roughly described Dada's condition to him, and he said he had treated similar cases before..." Yotsuki Ki said excitedly.

A raised his brows in surprise. "Is that information reliable? Why do you think he can cure Dada?"

It turned out that Yotsuki Ki's team had run into an ambush during a mission. One of his Chunin companions had unfortunately had an arm severed. Though they recovered the severed arm afterward, they were too far from the village to return in time for treatment.

Though the arm could not be reattached, the wound still needed treatment. Yotsuki Ki's team secretly searched for a physician in the area and, by chance, found a healer said to be living in seclusion nearby.

According to the locals, that healer possessed superb medical skills and a kind heart, along with all manner of miraculous treatments.

So Yotsuki Ki's team sought him out and met an old man who looked as though he might keel over at any moment.

When Yotsuki Ki and the others visited, they had concealed their identities as ninja. The old man did not say much either. He glanced at the severed arm and asked whether they still had it. If they did, he said, it could still be reattached.

Yotsuki Ki and the others had never believed there was any chance of reattaching the arm, so they had not preserved it properly. The old man picked up the severed arm and sniffed it, saying it smelled a little, but not too badly—so it was still usable. Then he used Medical Ninjutsu to reattach it.

Hearing this, Dada rolled his eyes so hard they practically spun three hundred and sixty degrees. The arm had already started to stink, and it could still be reattached? Wouldn't that take three whole episodes of Approaching Science to explain?

But considering that Chakra could shape lightning, revive the dead, and create memory-bearing copies of oneself with Shadow Clones... maybe reattaching a slightly smelly arm was not all that absurd...

At least it sounded more reasonable than a plug-and-play USB Sharingan...

According to Yotsuki Ki, his companion experienced no adverse effects after the arm was reattached. Even though Kumogakure's Medical Ninjutsu had improved considerably over the past few years because of the Fire Stealing Plan, with a severed arm like that—never mind whether it smelled—even reattaching it while fresh would greatly reduce its strength and dexterity. It would basically mean the end of one's ninja career.

Yet after the arm was reattached, that companion returned to normal within days without any adverse effects. Combined with what Yotsuki Ki had seen of the old man treating other patients, he believed the old man truly had some skill. In certain respects, his Medical Ninjutsu had already surpassed the techniques currently possessed by the village.

Mm, by a wide margin.

So Yotsuki Ki made up a few lies and vaguely revealed some details about his younger brother's condition. To his surprise, the old man inferred the general situation from the tiny amount of information Yotsuki Ki provided and said he had treated similar symptoms long ago.

At that point, A's long-cultivated instinct to "recruit people" kicked in. "Then why not directly invite him to the village?" When he said the word "invite," he raised his brows at Yotsuki Ki.

Dada rolled his eyes so hard they nearly spun seven hundred and twenty degrees. The Hyuga clan would practically come to Kumogakure to claim kinship—either way, he had to be from the Main Family.

Yotsuki Ki sighed as well. The Fire Stealing Plan was a long-term mission all of Kumogakure carried out in secret. Whenever they encountered someone like this, they usually found a way to bring them back to the village, and Kumogakure would offer excellent terms...

"But that old man is just too old... Other than when he's treating patients, he looks like he could die on the spot at any time. I did bring it up, but he refused. We didn't dare forcibly abduct him either. Besides, since he's going to treat Dada, I think we should show him some respect. Otherwise, even if he came, he might not put his heart into it. So I planned to bring Dada to him, as he requested," Yotsuki Ki stated his request.

That old man was eccentric and looked ready to be buried at any moment. He really was not easy to deal with. Yotsuki Ki worried that if they tried to seize him by force, they would end up carrying a corpse back to the village. That would be ridiculous...

A stroked the slightly yellow beard on his chin. "The Land of Soup, huh? That isn't too far away..."

The Land of Soup was still within the Land of Lightning's sphere of influence.

At that moment, Dada suddenly realized something. Did this mean he could leave the village?

A huge wave of joy hit him. Since transmigrating here, he had never left Kumogakure even once. He had been stifled to death.

He had long wanted to see somewhere beyond the village. This time, he could even visit another country.

He needed to find a way to help push this along.

"But it's too early to make a decision now. The clan elders will not agree so easily, and recently they've been..." A glanced at Dada as he spoke, but did not finish his sentence.

Dada's expression stiffened as well.

"I left one of my teammates with that old man. If you're worried, you can send more people. That old man looks like he could die at any time... So I think this matter... should be handled quickly," Yotsuki Ki said.

"Mm... I'll discuss it with the clan elders tonight and reach a decision as soon as possible. Also, I haven't had time to read your mission report yet. Is there anything else you need to report separately?"

"It's all in the report. Nothing major. The only thing is that there has been some unusual activity in the direction of the Land of Fire lately. They suspect ninja have infiltrated, but they haven't found anyone."

Even in peacetime, espionage and friction between the major ninja villages had never ceased. Of course, most of the time, they were restrained and disguised.

A sharply connected this to the recent relocation of the Red Eye Kekkei Genkai Family from the Land of Birds. They had been attacked by assailants disguised as Kumogakure ninja, and the two sides had fought. Kumogakure had won, and the Red Eye Kekkei Genkai Family had already entered the Land of Lightning.

But A suspected that Kumogakure's Fire Stealing Plan had already been noticed by the other ninja villages...

Still, it did not matter. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, and he had long prepared ways to deal with it...

But could that Medical Ninja living in seclusion in the Land of Soup truly cure Dada...

At the very least, it was worth trying. Although the village's Medical Ninjutsu had advanced greatly in recent years, they were still completely at a loss when it came to Dada's condition...

Looks like I'll have to try persuading the clan elders again. What a hassle... A thought.

At the same time, Dada was also thinking about how to act cute around the clan elders and persuade them to let him go out...