The Healing Talisman

Yamanaka Tohru wanted to develop a medical talisman like an Explosive Tag.

While looking through Tsunade's notes, Tohru had once stumbled across her lament: if there were a Medical Ninjutsu that was as easy to carry as an Explosive Tag, the survival rate of shinobi would improve greatly.

If Nawaki and Dan hadn't died one after the other, dealing Tsunade such a heavy blow, perhaps she would already have made her idea for a medical talisman a reality.

In his previous life, Tohru had encountered all kinds of talismans in fantasy novels, and the Naruto world already had a ready-made Explosive Tag for him to study.

An Explosive Tag sealed a powerful Fire Release Ninjutsu in special paper using a formula of symbols. When used, its power was no less than a Jonin's Fire Release.

Tohru planned to follow the same approach and try sealing [Healing Technique] in the form of a formula of symbols.

Explosive Tags mostly used the [Fire Sealing Method]. To seal [Healing Technique], Tohru planned to use the [Seal Evil Law Seal].

Tohru remembered that in the original story, the [Seal Evil Law Seal] could even seal a Curse Mark containing Nature Energy, so sealing [Healing Technique] shouldn't be a problem.

But Tohru failed. The [Seal Evil Law Seal] could indeed seal Chakra containing [Healing Technique], but he had overlooked one thing: the [Seal Evil Law Seal] was designed to work on the human body. Paper simply couldn't bear its formula of symbols.

After the [Seal Evil Law Seal] failed, Tohru had to look for another method. He tried the [Five Elements Seal], the [Fire Sealing Method], and even the [Four Symbols Seal], which he still couldn't use proficiently. But none of them worked.

The [Five Elements Seal] and the [Fire Sealing Method] couldn't seal [Healing Technique] at all, while paper couldn't bear the [Four Symbols Seal], just as it couldn't bear the [Seal Evil Law Seal].

The repeated failures left Tohru feeling helpless, but he didn't want to give up. If he succeeded in developing the Healing Talisman, it would first provide a measure of security for the lives of his loved ones. It would also bring more income to the Yamanaka Clan, and finally, the Third Hokage would owe him a huge favor.

"Kid, are you practicing Sealing Jutsu?" Just as Tohru was at a loss, Jiraiya appeared.

Jiraiya had just left the Third Hokage's office. Sunagakure had been making frequent moves lately, and the Third Hokage was fed up with it. He planned to send someone to investigate.

When it came to gathering intelligence, the person the Third Hokage trusted most in Konoha was Jiraiya, so it was only natural that the task fell to him.

Jiraiya had planned to leave the village right away, but when he passed the Third Training Ground and saw Tohru scratching his head in frustration, he still went over.

"Uncle Jiraiya! I'm not practicing Sealing Jutsu. I'm developing a technique," Tohru replied.

"Looking at you, are you working on a medical talisman?"

"Uncle Jiraiya, how did you know?"

"If that's the technique you're trying to develop, kid, you should just give up. The previous generations worked on it for ages and never succeeded. How could you pull it off so easily?" Jiraiya said, patting Tohru on the shoulder.

Jiraiya's words startled Tohru. So people in the Naruto world had already tried to develop a Healing Talisman, but hadn't succeeded.

"Uncle Jiraiya, why did they fail?" Now that he knew others had tried something similar, Tohru wanted to know why they'd failed. Perhaps it would give him some insight.

"Hmm! I remember Tsunade saying it was because Medical Ninjutsu couldn't be stored for long," Jiraiya replied after thinking it over.

"Then, Uncle Jiraiya, what technique did they use to seal Medical Ninjutsu?"

"I don't know. You should ask Tsunade or Orochimaru. I'm not interested in that sort of thing. Kid, don't waste your time on this. War's coming again. Work on getting stronger instead." With that, Jiraiya left without looking back.

Tohru had never been one to give up easily. Just because the previous generations had failed didn't mean he would, too. Edison had failed more than eight thousand times while inventing the light bulb and tested more than 7,600 materials. Tohru had only failed a few times.

Over the next month, Tohru experimented with all kinds of materials that could conduct Chakra, but still couldn't find one suitable for sealing Medical Ninjutsu.

"Kid, you still haven't given up?" Jiraiya asked when he returned from investigating Sunagakure and found Tohru still at it.

"Uncle Jiraiya, you're back." Tohru greeted him listlessly.

"Ahem. Kid, I happened to ask Orochimaru about it earlier. He said they used jade to seal Medical Ninjutsu back then." As he spoke, he tossed Tohru a piece of jade.

"Jade?" Tohru slapped his thigh. How had he not thought of that? Had all those years spent devouring books in his previous life been for nothing? Had he read all those cultivation novels in vain?

Tohru caught the jade Jiraiya tossed him. This time, the formula of symbols from the [Seal Evil Law Seal] was successfully inscribed on the jade, and [Healing Technique] was sealed inside it as well.

Tohru sensed the [Healing Technique] inside the jade. Just as Jiraiya had said, the Medical Chakra contained in [Healing Technique] was slowly dissipating.

Strictly speaking, Medical Ninjutsu was also a form of Yang Release, just without Yang Release's miraculous healing effect.

"Uncle Jiraiya, do you think Nature Energy could stop the Medical Chakra from dissipating?"

Tohru remembered that after the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, used Senjutsu in the original story, the power of his Wood Release increased greatly and his recovery became faster. Medical Ninjutsu had originally been developed based on Hashirama Senju's rapid healing. If Nature Energy were added, would Medical Ninjutsu become more stable?

"Well, I'm not sure either. You can try it, kid."

Tohru entered Sage Mode, used [Healing Technique], then used the [Seal Evil Law Seal] to seal [Healing Technique] inside the jade.

Tohru sensed the Medical Chakra inside the jade once more. The [Healing Technique] infused with Nature Energy showed no sign of losing any Medical Chakra.

"Uncle Jiraiya, look." Tohru handed the jade to Jiraiya. After examining it for a while, Jiraiya found that the Medical Chakra inside remained just as it had been at the start.

"Kid, it looks like you did it!" Jiraiya stared at Tohru in disbelief. If Tohru's experiment had really succeeded, it would mean a great deal to Konoha.

"Uncle Jiraiya, is jade expensive in Konoha?"

"The reward for one C-rank mission can buy three or four pieces."

Jade wasn't cheap, and it was usually used in women's jewelry. Konoha's shinobi generally didn't buy it.

"Uncle Jiraiya, we'll need to observe this technique for a few more days before we know whether it's really worked. If it has, then you can tell Lord Hokage."

Jiraiya nodded. The technique was hugely important to Konoha, so the Third Hokage had to be informed.

If the Healing Talisman really had been developed successfully, Tohru wasn't worried that Konoha would keep it all for itself. Nature Energy was necessary to stop the [Healing Technique]'s Medical Chakra inside the jade from dissipating, and in Konoha, only Tohru and Jiraiya could use Sage Mode.

Tohru now planned to return to the Yamanaka Clan and explain the Healing Talisman to Yamanaka Inoichi.

This chapter is about the protagonist looking out for the Yamanaka Clan's interests. The ideas about developing the Medical Talisman were based on some theories from Zhihu, and I already got the original poster's permission.