Diagnosing Auntie

After school that afternoon, Hyuga Ningyuan held Yūhi Kurenai's hand, and the two skipped all the way to the Yūhi Clan's home.

Yūhi Shinku had not returned yet. Only Yūhi Nogiko, Kurenai's mother, was there, serving them tea.

Her complexion had grown increasingly pale. She looked as though a gust of wind could knock her over.

"Auntie, is there something wrong with your health?" Ningyuan asked worriedly. "Have you seen a doctor?"

"I have, but they couldn't find any obvious symptoms..." Yūhi Nogiko covered her waist and forced a smile. "It's probably an old ailment left over from the battlefield. Some rest should be enough!"

If rest could cure it, her condition would not have been getting worse by the day!

The Medical Ninja system had only been established during the Second Shinobi World War. It had only been a few years since then.

They could treat injuries and neutralize poison, but they might not be skilled at replenishing the body's deficiencies.

Let me see if I have a solution!

Ningyuan sat down in a chair, took a sip of tea, then closed his eyes and entered the Arcane Brush Palace.

"Give me a medical book!" Ningyuan only remembered watching videos from clickbait accounts and reading biology textbooks. He did not recall ever reading any medical texts.

Still, he would give it a try. Maybe he had read one before, only for it to be buried deep in his memories!

Whoosh.

A thick book drifted out from the bookshelf and landed before Ningyuan.

"There really is one!" Ningyuan froze, then looked at the cover. Barefoot Doctor's Manual!

"When did I ever read this?" Ningyuan looked utterly baffled. Yet the moment he took the book, memories of flipping through it surfaced in his mind.

He had been seven or eight at the time. He had been frail and sickly since childhood, practically treating the traditional medicine clinic in his village as his home.

His family had also been poor when he was little. They could not afford coal briquettes, while the clinic stayed warm all year round, making it a great place to keep warm.

Back then, the old doctor had kept just such a book on his desk, and Ningyuan had flipped through it from cover to cover.

"So that's how it was..." Ningyuan was speechless. He probably had not been studying medicine back then, but learning to read or looking at the illustrations.

At an age when he had just begun learning characters, he naturally read every book that had words in it.

Ningyuan had indeed loved reading. Who would have thought that trees planted in his previous life would give him shade after transmigrating? Something he had done at seven or eight had ended up benefiting him in this new world.

Opening the book, he saw a line printed on the first page: Put the focus of medical and healthcare work in rural areas—Mao.

Ningyuan's eyes immediately welled with tears. Even after transmigrating, he was still receiving Mao's grace.

He flipped to Chapter Three: How Traditional Medicine Diagnosed Illness.

Observation Diagnosis.

Ningyuan opened his eyes and looked at Yūhi Nogiko before him. Her complexion was pale, indicating mostly deficiency symptoms.

"Auntie, can I look at your tongue?" Ningyuan asked. "Let me examine you!"

"You know how to examine patients?" Yūhi Nogiko asked curiously.

"Just a little!" He was still at the stage of flipping through medical books.

"Alright, then have a look!" Yūhi Nogiko did not believe him, but since the child wanted to play doctor, she would indulge him.

She stuck out her tongue. Ningyuan examined it closely, then turned and said, "Red Wolf, stick out your tongue too. Let me take a look!"

"What did you call me?"

"Cough, cough. Little Red!"

A tiny fist smashed into him. "I have a name!"

Still, she eventually stuck out her tongue.

"Mm, Auntie's tongue is paler than yours, and her tongue coating is whiter!" Ningyuan said.

"Is... is that a problem?" Yūhi Kurenai blinked and asked.

"That's one symptom of illness!" Ningyuan asked, "Auntie, do you have any other symptoms? Anything different from normal counts!"

"This..." Yūhi Nogiko paused, looking troubled. She did have symptoms, but they were difficult to speak of.

"I'm a doctor right now. What is there to be embarrassed about in front of a doctor?" Ningyuan said. "The clearer you are, the more accurate my diagnosis will be!"

"This..." Although she still did not believe Ningyuan, there was nothing wrong with that reasoning.

Then she would mention some less important things.

"Mm, does not really wanting to eat count?" Yūhi Nogiko asked.

"Loss of appetite definitely counts!"

"Then... I always feel weak," Yūhi Nogiko continued.

"Do you mean your body feels weak, or your limbs feel weak?" Ningyuan asked.

"My body!"

"Then that's fatigue. Anything else?"

"My stomach always feels cold, and I feel like vomiting, but I can only throw up clear water..."

A cold sensation in the abdomen, vomiting clear water.

I found the condition!

"Do you also have bloating and swollen feet?" Ningyuan asked.

Yūhi Nogiko's eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, I do!"

"And diarrhea!" Yūhi Kurenai added from the side. "My mother has diarrhea!"

Yūhi Nogiko glared at her. "What nonsense are you saying?!"

Ningyuan glanced at Yūhi Kurenai. She really was her mother's good daughter.

Still, it was indeed an obvious symptom, and one Ningyuan had been too embarrassed to ask about. Thankfully, Yūhi Kurenai had blurted it out.

"I roughly know what the problem is!" Ningyuan declared firmly. "This is Qi Deficiency and Spleen Yang Deficiency!"

"W-What?" Yūhi Nogiko blinked. Ningyuan had spoken in his native language, and since he did not know how to say it in Japanese, she had not understood him!

"It means there's a kind of energy in your body that sustains life, but you're running a little short on it!" Ningyuan explained. "Also, the main problem lies in your spleen!"

Yūhi Nogiko's eyes widened. "I was injured here. You can tell even that?"

"I'm a doctor!"

Yūhi Nogiko looked at the confident Ningyuan and began to believe him somewhat. Then she asked, "Is there a way to treat this condition?"

Konoha Hospital truly could not treat this illness. There was no China in this world, so the Japanese had nowhere to steal traditional medicine prescriptions from and alter into Kampo formulas. Naturally, they had no matching prescription.

"Yes!" Ningyuan said. "Use Dried Ginger, Psoralea, Nutmeg, Atractylodes, Long Pepper... Huh?"

"What is it?" Yūhi Nogiko asked.

"Wait a moment!"

The medical book only listed which medicines to use, but did not say how to use them!

"Start by making some Brown Sugar Water with Ginger Soup. Drink some every day!" Ningyuan suddenly thought of another issue. The names of the herbs in the Barefoot Doctor's Manual might not be the same as those in the shinobi world. He might not even be able to find the herbs by those names.

Fortunately, ginger was a seasoning, so it could be bought at the market.

"Once I learn Medical Ninjutsu, I'll come treat you, Auntie!" Ningyuan said.

"Oh, no, no!" Yūhi Nogiko hurriedly said. "You're going to do Major Events. Just focus on learning ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. Why learn Medical Ninjutsu?"

"If I don't learn Medical Ninjutsu, am I supposed to watch Auntie grow weaker before my eyes?" Ningyuan shook his head. "If I truly couldn't do it, that would be one thing. But when I clearly have the ability, why not give it a try?"

Over the past two days, Yūhi Nogiko had watched Yūhi Shinku teach Ningyuan and had come to understand something of Ningyuan's learning speed.

If he could learn Medical Ninjutsu that quickly too, then maybe he really could do it?

Besides, it was the child's filial devotion, and learning more was never a bad thing.

She stopped trying to persuade him.

Thus, when Yūhi Shinku returned home, taught Ningyuan two more low-level Genjutsu, and then heard Ningyuan's request.

"Father-in-law, if I want to learn Medical Ninjutsu, do you have any connections?"

"Why do you suddenly want to learn Medical Ninjutsu?" Yūhi Shinku asked curiously.

"I feel that my learning ability is very strong, but I don't have much to study every day, so a great deal of time is wasted!" Ningyuan said. "Learning medicine would let me make use of my time, and it would also be for Auntie..."

Ningyuan turned to look at Yūhi Nogiko, whose frame was thin and complexion pale. "Perhaps after learning medicine, I'll find a way to treat Auntie!"

"This..." Yūhi Shinku looked at his wife, who had remained sickly ever since giving birth to Yūhi Kurenai, and tears instantly filled his eyes.

The shinobi world did not have a tradition of ruling through filial piety, but filial devotion was still a traditional virtue. At that moment, Yūhi Shinku, who had already acknowledged Ningyuan, felt even more fortunate.

Good thing I was patient and tested him a little.

If I had driven away such a good child, I would regret it for the rest of my life!

"It's good that you have such intentions, but a person's energy is, uh..." He wanted to say that a person's energy was limited, but Ningyuan seemed to be an exception.

He had always learned Genjutsu the moment he saw it. If he could not learn something, it was because he lacked Chakra, not because the ninjutsu was too difficult.

For a genius, not learning more things would be the real waste!

And besides, the child meant well, did he not?

"I'll ask around for you tomorrow!" Yūhi Shinku thought for a moment, then said seriously.

"Mm-hm!" Ningyuan nodded heavily.