The Perfect Surgeon

Hyuga Yu lifted the flap of the camp's main tent,

and more than a dozen cold, hair-raising gazes swept over him at once!

Located on the Grass Wave Coast in the Land of Fire, the Medical Team was the largest gathering place for medical ninjas on the eastern front.

For that reason, the Konoha Medical Unit had spent a fortune building a field operating room there, specifically to perform emergency surgery on wounded soldiers who couldn't be transported back to Konoha in time.

Under normal circumstances, the field operating room wasn't open. If it was, the situation was always extremely urgent.

At that moment,

six shadowless lamps banished every shadow from the operating room.

Inside the tent, twelve medical ninjas in surgical gowns were split into two groups of six, each group performing surgery at one of the two operating tables.

When Hyuga Yu entered, the two lead surgeons didn't even look up. They continued concentrating on their operations, scalpels in hand.

"What are you standing around for? Retract!"

Seeing the second assistant suddenly freeze, the lead female surgeon at the main operating table snapped at him. She had grayish-brown hair, round glasses, and a long face with somewhat sharp features.

"We're about to lose the surgical field! Does your generation of medical ninjas have no empathy at all?"

Beside her, the second assistant hurriedly resumed retracting the tissue and reminded her:

"Lady Lyu Chui... someone's barged in."

"Even if the Third Mizukage himself walked in, you'd still better keep that retractor steady!"

"Yes! Uh... Huh? This is bad!"

"Looks like an artery's ruptured! Quick, stop the bleeding!"

The second assistant began fumbling in a panic,

but just then,

a gentle, calm, steady voice rang out. "Leave it to me."

The second assistant looked up in surprise. The Byakugan-wielding boy who had just entered the operating room had already changed into surgical scrubs in a matter of seconds. Calm and composed, he walked over.

Veins bulged around his eyes, and his irises were pure white. Like mirrors, they reflected the second assistant's panicked expression.

Yet simply looking at that reassuring face,

the second assistant's agitation strangely began to subside.

Hyuga Yu came to his side, took the retractor from his hand, and opened up the incision, revealing a perfect surgical field beneath the shadowless lamps. At the same time, he calmly assessed the situation:

"There's no major bleeding. Too much of the graft vessel was cut during harvesting, and it wasn't sutured properly."

"Hmph."

Lyu Chui, the Medical Team's chief surgeon, gave a cold snort. Then, following Hyuga Yu's instructions, she had the assistant on the other side of the operating table open up the surgical field.

"That's incredible!"

"Amazing! Is this the Byakugan!?"

"Could he be that prodigy from Konoha Hospital...?"

Several assistants cried out in surprise.

Even Lyu Chui, the Medical Team's chief, relaxed her stern expression slightly. But she still gave Hyuga Yu no warm welcome, merely asking coolly:

"Can you perform Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery now?"

Hyuga Yu nodded. "No problem. I was just about to ask you for guidance, Teacher Lyu Chui."

"I have no student as lacking in talent as you. Don't go trying to claim a connection with me!"

Lyu Chui gave a brisk order:

"Yumiko, take over for the second assistant. I'll take your place. He can perform this surgery!"

The kunoichi called Yumiko stared at Hyuga Yu in astonishment.

"But... Lady Lyu Chui, only senior members of the Medical Team are qualified to lead a Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery. He..."

Faced with Yumiko's doubts, Lyu Chui paused, then explained on Hyuga Yu's behalf, a trace of regret in her expression:

"Aside from his Medical Ninjutsu..."

"This brat is the perfect surgeon!"

"I'm honored by your praise." Hyuga Yu smiled and took the lead surgeon's position without hesitation. Then he calmly called out:

"Micro Non-invasive Forceps!"

The nurse handed him the forceps. Hyuga Yu took them and began clamping the blood vessels to proceed with the surgery.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting was intended to improve blood flow to the heart.

Hyuga Yu had already seen through the surgical drape with his Byakugan. The patient was Hyuga Natsu.

She was covered in severe injuries and cuts. A heavy blow to her chest had caused a coronary artery blockage. The rest of her injuries had been treated in an emergency, but the loss of blood and oxygen supply to her heart had left her on the brink of death.

That was why she couldn't be transported back to Konoha and had to undergo emergency battlefield surgery at the Grass Wave Coast: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

But as soon as he got to work and began operating inside his young fiancée's body,

Hyuga Yu immediately realized

that although her injuries were severe, none of them were fatal apart from the condition that required immediate surgery. It was almost as if... she'd known someone at the Grass Wave Coast could perform the operation and had deliberately caused these injuries.

Hyuga Yu considered this, then casually asked Lyu Chui:

"Teacher Lyu Chui, what does the examination report say?"

"What you'd expect."

"I mean the copy submitted to Anbu..."

Lyu Chui's expression darkened slightly. She turned to look at Hyuga Yu and clicked her tongue in displeasure.

She had evidently realized something, but didn't expose it. She simply said coldly:

"Based on the examination of her injuries, this Chunin most likely suffered a massive explosive impact from a ninjutsu or an Explosive Tag attack. She has seven cuts from kunai and Shuriken, bruises from Taijutsu, and is on the brink of death."

Hyuga Yu shook his head and corrected her through narrowed Byakugan eyes:

"It's not 'most likely.' It's certain—"

"She encountered Munashi Jinpachi, wielder of the Exploding Blade Shibuki and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and fought him. Coronary artery blockage caused by external injuries is extremely rare. The only weapon that could cause this kind of injury in a Taijutsu battle is the Exploding Blade Shibuki."

As he spoke,

Hyuga Yu kept his hands moving and called out without looking up, "Wipe my sweat."

The nurse followed his instructions, removed Hyuga Yu's Forehead Protector, revealing the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead, then wiped the sweat from his brow in full view of everyone.

The rudimentary field operating room had no air conditioning. In no time, everyone's head was slick with sweat.

"Scalpel."

"Here!"

"Needle holder."

"Huh? Don't you need a microscope?"

"No."

"Here!"

"Suture."

"Here!"

"Surgical scissors."

"Here!"

"The surgery is complete. Thanks for all your hard work!"

The timer stopped at 1 hour and 56 minutes.

A Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery that normally took at least three to six hours had taken less than twenty minutes after Hyuga Yu took over.

At that moment,

the five medical ninjas beside the operating table, along with several nurses, stared at Hyuga Yu as if he were some kind of deity, dumbfounded.

"Wait, how long did that guy take?!"

"Gulp... To be exact, sixteen minutes."

"Even with the Byakugan, that's ridiculous!"

"Did any of you notice that he hardly needed help throughout the whole operation? Even Lady Lyu Chui only assisted by suctioning fluids a few times... In other words, with Medical Ninjutsu, he can perform this extremely difficult surgery entirely on his own."

"And faster than anyone else in all of Konoha!"

"Anyone in Konoha... That includes Lady Tsunade!"