My Good Brother

"Aaaaaah!!!!!"

A scream of agony rang through the forests of Konoha, so heartrending that anyone who heard it would weep!

Nawaki lay face-down on the ground, his right hand clamped over the palm-sized chunk missing from his right buttock, which was bleeding profusely. With his left hand, he pounded the ground frantically, tears streaming down his face as he wailed:

"Zhou Duan, you beast! You even cut your own teammate! Have you no conscience? What bullshit about being poisoned? It's obviously just an excuse you made up because you wanted to cut me!"

"Nawaki, we've been on the same team for a long time. Don't you know what kind of person I am? When have I ever failed to rush to your rescue when you were in danger?"

Zhou Duan looked at Nawaki with deep sorrow. But then his expression softened:

"Nawaki, even though you misunderstood me, I know you're only saying such things because you're in terrible pain. I'll forgive you this time. Sigh..."

Zhou Duan pulled a packet of medicinal powder from his clothes and sprinkled it over Nawaki's wound.

"This is a powder that stops bleeding and helps flesh regrow. It might not be able to neutralize the poison, but it'll still help you recover. Oh, right—I added a little something to it myself. It'll hurt a bit more, but you'll definitely heal faster!"

"Oh, shit! This is bad!"

As Zhou Duan scattered the powder over him, Nawaki instinctively tried to dodge. But the enormous wound on his buttock had left him almost unable to move. He could only watch as nearly every grain of powder landed on his backside!

"Aaaaah... Urk!"

Another scream, no less agonizing than the first, rang out. But it was cut short. The powder had tormented Nawaki's body so badly that he passed out on the spot!

"Lord Orochimaru..."

Zhou Duan turned to Orochimaru in grief.

"My teammate, my comrade-in-arms, and my good brother—Senju Nawaki—has been suffering terribly from poison. As the one responsible for all this, I'm so distraught I can barely contain myself. Lord Orochimaru, I know my medical skills are inadequate, and I can't cure the poison in Nawaki's body. So I beg you to accept this tissue sample from Nawaki and develop an antidote as quickly as possible, to save my good brother!"

Orochimaru and the two teammates remaining stared in shock as Zhou Duan approached, "grief-stricken," carrying a palm-sized piece of buttock. Orochimaru felt as if his entire outlook on life, values, and the world had taken a massive hit!

He even felt that the cruel, evil experiments he'd once performed on captive ninja had become utterly insignificant!

At least when he experimented, he used people from other villages or rogue ninja. But Zhou Duan had casually hacked at his own teammate for personal gain without so much as blinking!

"Uh, yes... All right!"

Orochimaru answered awkwardly. At some point, Zhou Duan had stuffed Nawaki's piece of buttock into his hand. If his estimate was right, the sample would be enough to keep him busy with research for quite some time. Orochimaru carefully put the tissue away, then met Zhou Duan's expectant gaze and spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Zhou Duan, since you're a Lower-rank Medical Ninja and the one who used the medicine, let me test you. What's your opinion on Nawaki's poisoning?"

"Sigh!"

Zhou Duan let out a long sigh, wiped away nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes, and spoke in a heavy voice:

"Since you've asked, Lord Orochimaru, I'll share my opinion. First, Nawaki is missing a chunk of flesh, which will take a Ninja Snake's shed skin that's at least a hundred years old to restore. Second, the poison came from his blood, so we'll need Purple Cart to neutralize it. As for the other supporting ingredients, well, in my many years of medical experience, the more precious, the better!"

"You're so good at putting on an act, you wouldn't even need a disguise to infiltrate another village!"

Orochimaru felt like there was something he had to say, but even as a proud, cold-blooded man with an expressionless face, he managed to hold his tongue. He took out a scroll, unsealed several precious medicinal ingredients, and handed them to Zhou Duan.

"Here's the Purple Cart and shed skin you need, along with a few other precious ingredients. The shed skin is a hundred and fifty years old. You can take a look. I have things to do, so I'll be going!"

Before Zhou Duan could say anything else, Orochimaru vanished in a flash. All that remained in the air was a wooden token and a message:

"You don't need to return to the village. The combat units have taken over the fight against the invading Sand ninja, and it should be over soon. Go straight to Steel Rock Valley and report in. The password is 'Fire Snake.' Take care of yourselves!"

"Phew! Orochimaru really is something. He's got such good resources—he just pulled out a pile of precious ingredients. I've been running all over trying to find them. He's a huge mobile supply depot! From now on, whenever I need something, I'll only have to give him a few insignificant things in return!"

Zhou Duan glanced at the unconscious Nawaki and saw him not as a person anymore, but as a treasure trove of medicinal ingredients, bursting with value. As if sensing Zhou Duan's gaze, Nawaki shuddered in his sleep!

"Zhou Duan, don't you think you went a bit too far?"

Hundred Palms pointed at the terrifying wound on Nawaki's buttock. Though it was covered in medicinal powder, it was still oozing blood. He asked Zhou Duan:

"Does fast tissue regeneration need shed skin? I may not be an expert, but shed skin and restorative medicine have absolutely nothing to do with each other. There's a limit to how much you can lie. Are you going to do this to Water Gate and me someday, too?"

Water Gate stood beside Hundred Palms and nodded in agreement. Apparently, even someone as composed as Water Gate was a little dumbfounded right now!

"Hundred Palms, Water Gate, how can you think that of me? Am I the kind of person who'd sell out his teammates without a second thought just to get precious medicine?"

Zhou Duan ignored Nawaki, who was still unconscious and lying there like a corpse, and looked at Hundred Palms and Water Gate with complete sincerity.

"Besides, one of you is a branch-family member of the Hyuga Clan, and the other is a genin with no clan backing or special jutsu. Who would pay attention to you? You're not worth anything at all, okay?"

"After hearing your reassurance..."

Hundred Palms glanced at Water Gate, who looked just as helpless.

"I'm truly touched!"

"Not at all..."

Zhou Duan smiled modestly, but things weren't as simple in his heart as he made them sound. As the saying went, it was better to fear being watched by a thief than to be robbed by one. Zhou Duan had seen just how interested Orochimaru was in Nawaki. This was a man who could even kill his own teacher!

Although Orochimaru wouldn't do anything too outrageous to Nawaki out of consideration for Tsunade, if someone in the village deliberately fanned the flames, who knew what unforeseen trouble might arise?

Zhou Duan firmly believed in conspiracy theories. In his view, it was better to give Orochimaru enough benefits from the start, nipping any potential danger in the bud!

Hundred Palms hadn't thought of all that, but Water Gate... Water Gate had probably noticed some of it. Otherwise, Water Gate wouldn't be able to stomach even a grain of sand.

Zhou Duan had bullied Nawaki plenty before, but he'd truly done it for Nawaki's own good. What he'd done today, however, was purely at Nawaki's expense for his own benefit. Water Gate was bound to call him out for it!

"Since there's no danger, we'll rest here for a day. Nawaki's wound looks awful, but with my medicine, he'll be completely healed in a day!"

Zhou Duan put those thoughts aside and looked toward the direction of Steel Cliff. That was where the great battle had begun.

"One day from now, it'll be our turn to report in!"