After stepping away from the operating table, Hyuga Yu took off his bloodstained surgical gown, grabbed a white coat and threw it over his shoulders, then walked outside.
Medical Team leader Furobuki silently watched Hyuga Yu's retreating figure.
The white coat concealed the sharp, murderous aura of a ninja, allowing him to blend more and more into the Medical Team's environment.
Like a real doctor.
And yet,
the Hyuga brat now seemed utterly different from the cautious figure Furobuki remembered from Konoha Hospital.
It was as though he had undergone some kind of upheaval, some opportunity that had finally freed him from his cage.
He had begun to stop hiding his brilliance!
Furobuki turned her head slightly to look at the surgical timer beside her, frozen at 1:56. Her eyes narrowed as she thought. How long had the brat taken the last time he performed a surgery of this caliber?
Was it... 3:12?
But now,
16 minutes???
Thinking of the difference between those two numbers, even Furobuki—one of the Medical Team's senior staff, who had long tacitly understood that Hyuga Yu had been holding back—couldn't stop her face from twitching violently. Her gaze flickered repeatedly like a searchlight.
Meanwhile,
inside the field operating room, the Konoha Medical Ninja were still discussing their amazement at Hyuga Yu, and their conversation was gradually turning in another direction:
"How come the Hyuga brat's so talented, but we've never heard rumors about him before? We've barely even seen him."
"I know this one—because of his Byakugan, he apparently caught the attention of the Medical Team's senior staff right away. They let him assist in their operations, even though he was outside the usual requirements for a surgical assistant. I guess he did a pretty good job, so he ended up staying by the side of a few senior staff members."
"How could he not do a good job? He's got the Byakugan! What doctor wouldn't want a CT scanner that could follow them everywhere and give them results almost instantly?"
"Ahhh, why is the gap between people bigger than the gap between people and dogs? I'm still working as an assistant to build up experience, while this brat's already performing surgeries as the lead surgeon and surpassing all of Konoha!"
"Come to think of it, a doctor this good must have caught Lady Tsunade's attention, right?"
"Could Lady Tsunade take him on as her disciple and make him the youngest senior member of Konoha's Medical Team?"
At that point,
not only had several Medical Ninja grown interested—even the six Medical Ninja performing another operation nearby couldn't help pricking up their ears.
Just then,
Medical Team leader Furobuki's face darkened, and she scolded them sternly:
"Are you all that free?"
"Get moving and bring in the next patient!"
At her words, the exhausted young Medical Ninja drooped, but they didn't dare talk back to their superior. They ended their idle conversation and filed out to prepare for the next operation.
Once they had all left, Furobuki fell silent. A trace of regret crossed her face, and she couldn't help shaking her head.
A competent doctor and a competent Medical Ninja,
after all, weren't the same thing.
Hyuga Yu had the perfect aptitude for being a doctor and the most diligent attitude toward learning. He was the finest lead surgeon Konoha Hospital had produced since its founding.
The Medical Team's senior staff had once secretly invited Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, to observe Hyuga Yu's surgery, hoping to recommend him to Princess Tsunade.
Unfortunately,
after learning about Hyuga Yu's circumstances, Princess Tsunade had candidly said:
With so little chakra that he couldn't master the three A-rank Medical Ninjutsu even if he learned them, Hyuga Yu didn't have the talent to become a competent Medical Ninja.
Even when he came of age and his chakra barely reached 4 jin, giving him the ability to use A-rank medical ninjutsu,
it still wouldn't be enough for him to learn Tsunade's S-rank Ninjutsu.
Tsunade's opinion was that once Hyuga Yu came of age, he should be made a senior member of Konoha's Medical Team ahead of schedule, becoming one of the leaders of Konoha Hospital.
But she couldn't take Hyuga Yu on as her disciple.
Thinking of that, Furobuki sighed.
But soon,
she suddenly furrowed her brows and turned sharply to look at the now-empty operating table beside her.
"Something's not right... Even if he's been holding back, he couldn't have cut the operating time down by so much in such a short time!"
"The brat definitely used chakra during that operation!"
"And even if it was because the patient was his fiancée, with his personality, he wouldn't waste chakra like that."
"Unless..."
Thinking of that—and of the rumor circulating around camp—Furobuki's gaze suddenly sharpened.
Meanwhile, at one side of the operating room,
Yumiko, a Medical Ninja who was organizing the surgical instruments, was also looking at the timer frozen at 1:56. Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and a cold, scorpion-like glint flashed in them.
"Has Konoha produced another future member of the Legendary Sannin?"
"Heh..."
In a corner where no one noticed, a cold, murderous, bloodthirsty sneer appeared on Yumiko's face.
After leaving the field operating room,
Hyuga Yu saw Hizashi Hyuga, who had been waiting outside, spring to his feet and stride over.
Frowning, he asked Hyuga Yu, "How is Hyuga Natsu?"
Hyuga Yu knew he wasn't asking about Hyuga Natsu's physical condition. As one of the commanders with real authority on the entire eastern front, Hizashi Hyuga had no time to worry about the condition of a Branch House member.
He nodded to Hizashi and said,
"She's fine."
"That's good." Hizashi Hyuga breathed a sigh of relief.
With no one else around, and the injured members of the clan who were anxiously waiting for the result of the other operation already sent away by Hizashi Hyuga,
he fell silent in thought for a moment, then looked at Hyuga Yu and slowly began:
"The fighting in the Land of Waves is fierce. I won't be here much longer."
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
"You know about the Main House, right?"
Hyuga Yu nodded.
After receiving a clear answer, Hizashi Hyuga spoke at once:
"I know you, Hyuga Yu."
"I was there three years ago, the day you talked back to Hyuga Hiashi of the Main House."
He was making his position clear. The moment Hizashi Hyuga called his elder brother, Hyuga Hiashi, by name, he was no longer Hyuga Hiashi's younger brother.
He was Hizashi Hyuga of the Branch House.
That was why he would deliberately cover for Hyuga Yu, and why he would pretend not to have seen anything when he saw Hyuga Yu's blue chakra.
Hyuga Yu looked at him and asked, "What are you trying to say?"
Hizashi Hyuga furrowed his brows. "The people who came with me this time are all my trusted men. They won't leak information about you. I'll also hold back the pressure from the Main House for now."
"But,"
"the truth can't stay hidden forever. My word alone can only delay your exposure for a while. The Main House will definitely grow suspicious, and as the fighting intensifies, the next group of Branch House members sent here will bring the Main House's orders and investigate this incident in greater detail."
"As soon as they see your chakra, the Main House won't care about your explanations or attempts to hide it. They'll immediately summon you back to the clan."
Hizashi Hyuga spoke bluntly:
"Have you thought carefully about what you'll do next?"
Hyuga Yu nodded. "I have."
"In that case, I won't ask." Hizashi Hyuga nodded. He thought it over, then finally let Hyuga Yu in on something:
"Opinions within the Main House aren't unanimous about the future of the Hyuga Clan."
"There's someone who can help you."
Hyuga Yu immediately asked, "Who?"
"The one you've served for thirteen years: Elder Hyuga Takahiro."
"He seems to know a lot of things—"
Hizashi Hyuga tried to recall what he had seen and heard as a child in the Main House, then spoke with some uncertainty:
"I think that includes the chakra in your body."
"He doesn't have much time left. It should happen within the next two years. As a Medical Ninja, you should understand that better than I do."
"If possible,"
"you should make time to see him."
Before you continue