Mystical Palm Technique

Without further hesitation, Xing Ran pressed both hands over Junpei's back wound and swiftly pulled out the broken kunai fragment.

After Junpei's lung had bled for some time, the pressure that had built up inside burst out in a spray of blood the instant the kunai was removed. The sight was brutal, but Xing Ran's Healing Technique quickly eased it.

But it did not last long.

Junpei's face grew increasingly pale, a sign of excessive blood loss. Fine sweat gradually appeared on Xing Ran's forehead as he watched the wound slowly heal. The Healing Technique was recovering it too slowly. If the bleeding wound could not be stopped quickly, Junpei would still be in danger. Medical Ninjutsu would only make his death less painful.

Mystical Palm Technique!

This was a Ninjutsu more powerful than basic healing Ninjutsu and far more difficult to learn. Its principle was the same as the Healing Technique: accelerating cell proliferation to rapidly close wounds. However, while it was more potent, the Chakra circulation within the caster's body was much more complex, and it placed great demands on the caster's medical expertise. If mishandled, excessive local proliferation could, at best, deform the wound and affect the patient's life afterward. At worst, it could directly overdraw the vitality of that part of the patient's body, even causing premature aging.

Why did Ninja have such short prime years, and why did most of them meet bad ends? It was because they suffered too many injuries while young, damaging their foundations and overdrawing too much of their life force early on.

During the Warring States Period, the average lifespan in the Ninja world had only been thirty years. That was because Medical Ninja had not yet been systematized; many of them were little better than quacks. This did not begin to change until Konoha was founded. After generations of effort by the Senju Clan, a proper system had only just taken shape in Tsunade's generation. Yet in just that short time, there were already quite a few long-lived people in the Ninja world.

From the moment Xing Ran discovered that he could use the Healing Technique, he had been confident he could perform the Mystical Palm Technique as well. But he had never systematically studied medical knowledge. Nonō's notes made it clear that someone who merely knew the Mystical Palm Technique without understanding actual medicine could basically only do one thing well: knock people unconscious. Treating injuries recklessly often made things worse. Naruto's higher-level Six Paths Yang Release treatment was an exception. That was cheating, like someone who knew nothing about the human body and could not even read somehow receiving a martial arts manual and becoming invincible. It could not be explained by common sense.

But this was no time to worry about life after surgery. Even localized aging was better than losing his life.

The glow in Xing Ran's hands intensified. With his formidable mental control over his body, he precisely and naturally switched from the Healing Technique to the Mystical Palm Technique.

At that moment, the powerful Ninjutsu appeared extraordinarily miraculous. Junpei's wound rapidly healed at a visible rate: the bleeding stopped, the damaged local organs healed, a scab formed...

The entire series of healing processes was completed within just a few minutes, as though he were watching a recording on fast-forward.

The moment it reached the scabbing stage, Xing Ran promptly stopped. Nonō's notes had mentioned a little trick for beginners performing emergency treatment: once the bleeding had stopped, stop using the technique. Then use physical bandaging and medicine for the final treatment. This would minimize the drain on the patient's vitality. While preserving their life, medicinal treatment would make recovery slower, but it could conserve some of the lost life force.

That was also why, in the original story, people still needed medicine and bandages after being injured despite Medical Ninjutsu being so incredible. Who would not want to take a blast of holy light after getting hurt and be revived at full health?

There was no telling whether other enemies might appear, and they still had to continue traveling soon. Even if they had the conditions to bandage Junpei, movement could reopen the wound that had only just stopped bleeding. So Xing Ran had only healed it to the scabbing stage. With gauze and bandages, even if Junpei had to fight again shortly, he would not be completely unable to move.

"Phew... It's done. This guy's tough. Aside from a bit of fever, he won't die for now. Let's get back to the village." Ten minutes later, Xing Ran let out a long breath. The slow treatment with the Healing Technique had wasted too much time. Now that everything was handled, this was no place to linger. Carrying Junpei on his back, the two quickly vanished into the silent grove.

In this world's wilderness, animals seemed extraordinarily spiritual. Some lucky animals could even become Ninja Beasts after mastering Chakra. Not long after Xing Ran and Yamaki Atsushi, two Ninja reeking of killing intent, departed, sounds returned to the silent grove. Small animals emerged from who knew where and occupied it once more. The world seemed to return to its proper course. No matter how fiercely Ninja fought, this world continued on its own path, moving endlessly forward with time.

As the sun set, Konoha was about to be bathed in the lights of countless homes. After several days of hardship, the three-person delegation sent to the Land of Earth finally returned, ragged and exhausted.

After taking Junpei to Konoha Hospital, Yamaki Atsushi said goodbye to Xing Ran. He still had to report the mission to the Hokage, so Xing Ran walked home alone.

With the tense mission and arduous journey finally over, he had returned to safe Konoha. The abrupt shift from the brutality between life and death to the comfort and leisure of Konoha left Xing Ran somewhat dazed as he watched children in the little park bid each other farewell before heading home for dinner.

No wonder those powerful people who had truly experienced the battlefield yearned so desperately for a peaceful world. Even if it was only such a small patch of land beneath heaven and earth, a place where children could grow up to the age when they could taste fine wine was still the goal these heroes strove tirelessly to achieve.

"Let's go have a feast." A soft sigh drifted through the gradually empty street.

His home was just around the next corner. From here, he could even hear Yamanaka Hai Yi's hearty laughter as he teased little Ino. Hai Yi was back.

But Xing Ran suddenly stopped. Having abruptly entered such a peaceful environment after all that tension and excitement, the turbulence in his heart left him with no mood to go home and eat instant noodles. He no longer needed to worry about firewood, rice, oil, and salt, so he should treat himself better. As for asking Hai Yi for guidance, that could wait until tomorrow. What he needed now was to relax.

The companions who had previously been wiped out had never been close to Xing Ran, since he had always held them back. But although he had only known Junpei for a few days, Junpei's sincere concern and his usually carefree personality had laid a fairly solid foundation for friendship between them.

What happened today was nothing in the vast Ninja world, but it had still struck Xing Ran deeply. He did not care about the lofty-sounding Will of Fire, but seeing someone connected to him nearly die had made him much more interested in becoming strong—or, more precisely, becoming powerful in the field of medicine.

PS: Many thanks to reader Gudako for the help. I recently found some typos in the earlier chapters, so I'll read through them and fix them as I go.