Konoha Medical Department, top-floor offices.
Inside one office.
Two people in white lab coats stood by the window, looking down at the street below. They watched Uchiha Asuka see off another Uchiha clansman, occasionally saying something.
"What a shame. After the Third Shinobi World War, Asuka Jonin withdrew from the Medical Ninja ranks.
Even when he occasionally comes to the hospital, it's only to visit patients..."
Hearing the faintly resentful complaint, the old man beside her twitched an eyelid.
He glanced at the bespectacled blonde woman beside him and said in an aged voice,
"You're a little better than him."
Seeing the old man emphasize "a little," the blonde woman smiled gently and said nothing.
She was different from Asuka.
She had not withdrawn from the Medical Ninja ranks. Though she had not visited the hospital often lately, that was only because she held several positions and was busy making money.
"Oh, right!"
As she watched Asuka wave someone off, surprise flashed through her eyes. She asked curiously,
"Didn't Asuka Jonin lose faith in Medical Ninjutsu because he couldn't save his comrades, and stop treating people afterward? When he withdrew from the Medical Ninja ranks, Tsunade even went to see him personally."
At that, the old man crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled.
"She'd lost all her gambling money. She was going home to get more, so she dropped by to take a look at him."
As he spoke, he pointed at his own head with pride.
"Little Asuka was able to join the Medical Department entirely thanks to This Old One's wisdom."
Wisdom?
Looking at the old man's bald head gleaming in the sunlight, the blonde woman pursed her lips and swallowed her laughter.
According to her research, baldness had no connection to wisdom. It might have