Dead, They Were All Dead (It's the End of the Month, Please Vote Q

AQ)

"Third Hokage?"

The door to the hospital room opened.

The person who entered was none other than Sarutobi Hiruzen.

However, an unfamiliar old woman followed behind him.

Hearing Hyuga Yunchuan's surprised tone, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave him a gentle smile, then turned to the old woman behind him and sighed. "I'll have to trouble you, Koharu."

"Alright, alright. This old woman is only good for this much anyway."

Utatane Koharu shot him a glance and grumbled irritably before walking toward Akamichi Chodo.

Akamichi Chodo had suffered moderate burns to his respiratory tract, which had already spread to his trachea and main bronchi.

It was like swallowing a mouthful of scorching sand. Every breath scraped against his throat, while the rusty stench of blood filled his nasal cavity. It was as though feathers kept scratching at his windpipe—the more he coughed, the itchier it became, and the itchier it became, the harder he coughed.

"Cough! Cough!"

Akamichi Chodo looked as though he were about to cough up his lungs. His hoarse coughing was more piercing than the wind outside, and the black phlegm he spat out resembled bloody mucus mixed with coal dust.

Treating this kind of burn normally required lavage and the removal of necrotic mucosa and soot. In severe cases, emergency intubation or a tracheotomy was needed to prevent laryngeal edema from sealing off the airway.

However, Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to have great confidence in Utatane Koharu. He had not even summoned other medical ninja in a grand display.

Although Utatane Koharu seemed somewhat fickle between Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen, she had at least once been a member of Tobirama's elite guard unit in her youth.

Sss.

Utatane Koharu first used a scalpel to cut open the afflicted area, then extended her palm before Akamichi Chodo. As chakra flowed meticulously into the wound, the blackish-purple necrotic mucosa and pus-filled blood were drawn out.

The Delicate Illness Extraction Technique was a B-rank Medical Ninjutsu. By sensing the chaotic chakra within the body, it could identify subtle sources harmful to the human body, such as toxins and pathogens, drawing out the toxins while treating the damaged area.

Even among Medical Ninjutsu, which were generally difficult, this technique counted as a high-level Ninjutsu.

Hyuga Yunchuan stared intently at Utatane Koharu's movements. He even activated his Byakugan without reservation to secretly learn it, but Sarutobi Hiruzen merely assumed he was worried.

"Don't worry." Sarutobi Hiruzen placed his Hokage Hat on the coat rack and sat down in another chair as he comforted him. "In all of Konoha, aside from Tsunade, it would be hard to find a medical ninja with more experience than this old lady."

"Third Hokage..."

Hearing that, Hyuga Yunchuan seemed to finally relax and look away. Noticing Sarutobi Hiruzen's gentle gaze upon him, guilt and disappointment appeared on his face.

He was about to rise from his chair, but Sarutobi Hiruzen stopped him, reaching out to gently press a hand onto his shoulder. "Just stay seated. I already understand the general course of events. Chodo and I both know this wasn't your fault."

"The doctor said you were injured too. How are you feeling now?"

Hyuga Yunchuan was gently pressed back into his chair. Feeling the warm touch on his shoulder, he placed his hands helplessly on his lap, his face faintly reddening as though he were restrained and excited.

After all, the gap in their status could be described as heaven and earth apart. They should never have been able to sit together and speak so closely in their entire lives, so Yunchuan's behavior pleased Sarutobi Hiruzen greatly.

"Thank you for your concern. Thanks to Senior Chodo, I only suffered a few minor injuries."

Hyuga Yunchuan did not insist on standing again. He met Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze, his tone filled with Humility, sincerity, and gratitude.

"Those weren't minor injuries." Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. "Aside from Chodo, you were the closest to the blast. If it had been someone else, even if they survived, they would have been crippled."

Catching the implication in his words, Hyuga Yunchuan's face paled slightly. He hurriedly said, "Third Hokage, I-I didn't intentionally steal Rotation. I only..."

"Yunchuan, I don't blame you." Before he could finish, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled. "If you and Chodo hadn't stood at the front, the escort team's casualties would have been far worse."

"I simply didn't expect your progress to be so great, or your performance to be so outstanding."

Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's still-gentle tone, Hyuga Yunchuan seemed to relax considerably. He pursed his lips and hesitated. "I-I don't know why either. Ever since I awakened the Byakugan three months ago, my control over my body and chakra seems to have become stronger."

Looking at the confusion and innocence in Hyuga Yunchuan's eyes, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had detected no abnormalities, narrowed his eyes slightly and formed a guess about Yunchuan's changes.

Did the change only appear after he awakened the Byakugan three months ago?

No, it should have been after Orochimaru defected, right?

It seemed Orochimaru really had done something to this child. No wonder he had wanted to take the child with him when he fled. Unfortunately, there was still no telling what exactly was abnormal about him. It would be better to keep the child by his side and continue observing him.

Even Hatake Kakashi and Yamato, who had tried to assassinate him and their comrades, had been forgiven and tolerated by Sarutobi Hiruzen, even directly accepted into the Anbu as his personal guards. He had even less reason to reject Hyuga Yunchuan, who had always carried the Will of Fire in his heart.

At least for now, Hyuga Yunchuan's temperament and loyalty were both good. His strength and talent also seemed to have benefited from disaster, perhaps having been completed by Orochimaru.

With that thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen let go of his last trace of suspicion. He stopped probing and instead asked seriously, "Yunchuan, Chodo and the others said that before you left, you saw what happened afterward with your Byakugan. Is that correct?"

"I want to know what you encountered, who you encountered, and what exactly happened in the end."

He had shown concern, and he had tested him. It was time to get to the real matter.

As though recalling that horrifying scene once more, fear appeared on Hyuga Yunchuan's face.

"They died. They all died." His voice trembled slightly. "That guy wasn't human at all. That kind of power wasn't something a human could possess."

Meanwhile, at the border of the Land of Hot Water, four figures stood silently in the night.

"Ha..."

Samui slowly exhaled, as though breathing out the chill in her heart, calming her lingering fear.

From where they stood, they could now clearly see the terrain of this region.

It resembled the cap of a mushroom. Their current position was the highest point, while the surrounding land lay lower.

Other than the place where they stood, the ground throughout the surrounding area was covered in savage ravines, stretching from their side all the way to the end a thousand meters away. The devastated landscape revealed the violence and terror that had passed through here.

Merely looking at those marks, one could sense a sharp, cutting force.

Samui closed her eyes and imagined what had happened here.

One person had stood in the center and unleashed some kind of tornado-like Wind Style Ninjutsu, shredding everything before him into dust and turning the area into a barren wasteland.

Not only that, the man had even controlled the tornado and turned in a circle, sweeping away and destroying everything around him as though clearing trash.

A terrifying force worthy of being called a Natural Disaster Hurricane had moved at his command like an extension of his limbs. Those who had tried to block his path with flesh and blood had all turned into clouds of dust; blood, flesh, and bone had become fertilizer, buried beneath the soil of this region.

That kind of power...