Human Relationships

At a life-or-death moment, it wasn't that Hanyu couldn't bear to part with an arm... well, truth be told, he was (extremely) reluctant. For a ninja, the importance of an arm is on par with a third leg.

The bigger problem was that even if Hanyu had made up his mind to cleanly sever his arm, it was already a bit too late in terms of timing. After all, it would only take ten-odd seconds for the toxins to circulate through his bloodstream to his entire body, meaning amputation wouldn't completely eliminate the source of the poison. The only good news was that Hanyu's wound was very shallow, the total amount of poison was negligible, and since he had been soaking in water, a large portion of the little toxin he had absorbed had actually diffused into the water.

Therefore, regarding his poisoning, Hanyu was generally nervous but not overly so. He took a small bottle from his ninja pouch with one hand and swallowed a few pills... This was a standard antidote. When fighting against the Sand Village, every frontline Konoha ninja was issued these to guard against poison-using ninja.

While Hanyu was popping pills, Chichiwa respected his decision. She didn't resort to that extreme amputation, but instead used the kunai in her hand to cut a large cross-shaped incision into Hanyu's poisoned arm. She then kept pressing around the wound, trying her best to squeeze out the stagnant blood and the toxins remaining in Hanyu's body.

There were no medical ninja in the squad, so emergency treatment could only go this far. Purple blood dripped onto the water surface drop by drop, and by this time, Hanyu's arm had already lost all sensation.

"He needs to be sent back to the frontline hospital as soon as possible... Renjuro and I will stay here. Chichiwa, you take Hanyu back." Nara made this judgment without hesitation. Since no one could determine the severity of the toxin's effect on Hanyu, they had to assume the worst-case scenario, meaning Hanyu required timely, professional treatment.

Chichiwa nodded to show she understood. She wasn't coy at all; she simply draped Hanyu's arm over her shoulder and carried him on her back. Nara and the other remained to rendezvous with follow-up ninja, while she quickly moved toward the Konoha base with Hanyu.

The erosion of the toxins had left Hanyu without the ability to move on his own, so although being carried by a woman wasn't exactly a good look, he had no heart to dwell on such things now. Well, among those who walk the path of the blade, one must be pragmatic... he even had to think this way: at least Chichiwa wasn't hugging him while sprinting to the camp, right?

This time, Hanyu had learned his lesson. When dealing with enemies like puppeteers, one must either deny them any chance at close-quarters combat or possess speed and movement techniques more agile and swift than theirs. Otherwise, open spears are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. Those puppeteers would release poison at the drop of a hat, which was completely detrimental to the honor of a ninja... well, Monzaemon's behavior was perfectly in line with the ninja code of conduct. Talk of "fair and square" was a joke; aren't ninja just such insidious creatures who stop at nothing to achieve their goals?

The former point was more reliable but difficult to achieve, as a ninja can never truly avoid close-quarters combat. As for the latter, it required a ninja to raise their taijutsu to a higher level, which, frankly, didn't seem like something that could be done overnight.

But regardless, as a genin, Hanyu had already reached the limit of what he could do. He just didn't know if the elite jonin squad from Konoha would be able to take down Monzaemon.

At a time like this, Hanyu even had the heart to think about such things... anyway, he was the one being carried, so it wasn't his legs that were going to give out.

Chichiwa disregarded her own stamina and returned Hanyu to the Konoha camp at top speed, immediately stuffing him into the frontline hospital.

This frontline hospital was set up in the very center of the Konoha camp and was the most important unit of the camp aside from the command post.

"What's the situation?" The medical ninja in the hospital asked immediately after seeing Chichiwa burst in with Hanyu on her back... The pace of work at the frontline hospital was exceptionally fast, so fast that medical ninja always got straight to the point and never wasted words.

"Poisoning. It's the toxin of the Sand Village puppeteer Monzaemon. The dosage is small, and he has already undergone basic emergency treatment." Chichiwa quickly briefed them on Hanyu's condition.

In truth, Hanyu's mind was exceptionally clear at this moment, but he found that he couldn't open his mouth to speak... If there had been a mirror in front of him, he believed he would have fully understood what the expression "looking dark in the face" really meant.

Upon hearing the name Monzaemon, the medical ninja took Hanyu without a word and quickly turned toward a tent in the back.

Chichiwa wanted to follow, but was stopped by the other party reaching out a hand. "We will do our best to save him. You won't be of any help following us. Rest assured and wait here; we will notify you immediately if anything happens."

Hanyu thought to himself that this sounded rather ominous.

Afterward, he only felt the wind rushing past his ears, and then he was placed onto a hospital bed by the other party.

"Teacher Koga, a victim of Monzaemon's poison." After laying Hanyu down, the medical ninja said to another medical ninja in the tent, who seemed to be the expert in detoxification.

Upon hearing the greeting, Hanyu saw another person quickly come to his side. He was certain he didn't know this person, yet the medical ninja called out his name the moment he saw him:

"Hanyu?"

"Teacher Koga, do you know him?" the first medical ninja asked, surprised that this young man would be an "acquaintance."

"No, this is my first time meeting him in person, but I have often heard Sanshao talk about this child... Monzaemon's poison, is it? You start with the standard detoxification, and I will study the composition of the toxin."

As he spoke, the medical ninja named Koga took some blood samples from Hanyu's arm and quickly darted to a table on the other side of the tent, which was filled with bottles and jars.

Everything looked so crude, yet the medical ninja's movements were steady, unhurried, and methodical. At this moment, Hanyu finally felt at ease... not because he believed in the medical ninja's sense of responsibility, nor because he believed in Konoha's cutting-edge medical technology, but because he finally understood a truth—it turned out he was a person with connections.

Because of Sanshao, at the very least, these two medical ninja would never treat him perfunctorily or treat his life as worthless.

A cool and vibrant sensation continuously radiated from Hanyu's arm. Then, the numbness in his arm vanished, replaced by an unbearable burning sensation. Afterward, that cool sensation began to struggle back and forth against the burning sensation within him.

He knew that the burning sensation was the mechanism of the toxin acting on his body, while the cool sensation was the medical ninja's medical ninjutsu. Since the other party could drive away his numbness and attempt to suppress the erosion of the toxin, it at least proved that the medical ninja's technique was effective.

"I've figured it out. It seems Monzaemon has been lingering on the front lines for some time and hasn't returned to the Sand Village, so the toxin he is using now has limited changes compared to the sample we obtained last time... This kid is lucky. Although he was poisoned, we will be able to prepare the antidote very soon." Before long, Koga had completed his toxin analysis and brought back some good news.

The toxins used by puppeteers are not only vicious, but more importantly, their formulas are ever-changing. Therefore, without long-term research, it is impossible to obtain an antidote. But the problem is, even if you get the antidote, the enemy will just use a different poison next time...

It was precisely because of this that Koga said Hanyu was lucky.