Thin Accumulation, Powerful Breakthrough

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The farce Kushina Uzumaki had orchestrated had done nothing to dampen Uchiha Yue's mood. In fact, he was eager for another chance to fight an elite ninja like her.

If he hadn't fought Kushina, he wouldn't have discovered the flaws in his newly developed Taijutsu, Falling Moon Style: Sunflower Pointing Hand, or learned the extent of his abilities through actual combat. But because Jiraiya had hurriedly taken Kushina away, Yue hadn't managed to ask her one question.

Ever since realizing he had an advantage in spiritual energy, Yue had been exploring its many uses. So when he first met Kushina, he had used his spiritual energy to sense that the chakra within her felt strangely familiar. After giving it much thought, he finally realized that her chakra bore some resemblance to his mother Minako's.

For that reason, Yue suspected Kushina and his mother might share some special connection. Otherwise, their chakra couldn't be so similar, and he wouldn't have felt such a strong sense of familiarity the first time he met Kushina.

Unfortunately, he had no chance to ask Kushina about it this time. He would have to wait for another opportunity.

By then, Tsunade had already drawn up Yue's next training plan. He naturally followed his master's instructions and began his next course of training. And as he followed her toward the place where he would be working from then on, he could already guess where she was taking him.

Just as he'd expected, Tsunade was taking him to Konoha's Ninja Hospital.

Although the Second Shinobi World War had ended, the shinobi world remained in turmoil. Every day, countless wounded were brought to the Ninja Hospital for treatment. The steady influx of casualties had left the hospital desperately short of beds. With too few medical ninja on hand, many patients died in their beds before they could be treated.

Tsunade had two reasons for bringing Yue to work at the hospital.

First, she had already taught him a substantial amount of Medical Ninjutsu. Now he needed countless hours of practice to truly master it. The Ninja Hospital was without a doubt the best place for him to train. Its seemingly endless stream of wounded patients would provide all the practice he needed.

Second, Tsunade wanted Yue to help out at the hospital. She couldn't bear to see so many ninja die simply because no medical ninja were available to treat them. Yue's Medical Ninjutsu was already good enough to qualify him as a medical ninja, even though he had only been training in it for two days.

There was no doubt that Tsunade wouldn't have brought him to train at the hospital if he hadn't already become competent in Medical Ninjutsu.

After all, Yue was still a student at the Ninja Academy. Even with Tsunade's considerable authority at the hospital, bringing her student there to practice without proper cause would invite criticism.

When Tsunade led Yue into the hospital, she first arranged a room for him. Then she said gravely, "Yue, you've already gained a certain level of proficiency in Medical Ninjutsu. You can treat patients with less serious injuries. But if you encounter anything you don't understand, ask for help immediately. Never gamble with a patient's life. Understood?"

"I understand, Master."

Yue nodded firmly. He felt no resistance at all.

If he hadn't discovered the benefits of training in Medical Ninjutsu, he might have resented the assignment Tsunade had given him. That resentment could even have caused him to make mistakes while working at the hospital. But now he understood how much he stood to gain, and he was eager to begin. As Tsunade had said, mastering Medical Ninjutsu took plenty of practice. Without it, his skill might well stagnate.

Tsunade was already highly accomplished in Medical Ninjutsu and one of Konoha's Sannin. Arranging work for Yue at the hospital was a simple matter. Besides, ever since she returned to Konoha, the Ninja Hospital had once again fallen under her authority. If she couldn't even find a place for her own student on her own turf, she would have been a laughingstock.

After that...

Once Tsunade had arranged Yue's work, she sat nearby and watched him treat each patient.

At first, the patients who came to Yue had only minor external injuries. Those were no challenge at all. He didn't even need medical bandages; his Medical Ninjutsu alone was enough to treat them. But as time passed, beads of sweat appeared on Yue's forehead. During his practical training at the hospital, he finally ran into trouble.

Not everyone who came to the Ninja Hospital had minor injuries. Some of the more seriously wounded needed Yue's full attention.

With the Medical Ninjutsu he had learned so far, treating many of their injuries took him a long time. And without Tsunade there to guide him, he might have gotten into trouble while treating the third patient. The difficulty of hands-on practice weighed increasingly on Yue, and he finally understood that his Medical Ninjutsu was still at the very beginning.

For the entire day, Yue didn't get a moment to rest.

Even when he needed to replenish his chakra, he had to do it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the next patient might die from their injuries.

Fortunately, Tsunade didn't make Yue treat patients at the hospital all day. His shift ended at six in the evening.

Even so, when he finished treating the last patient and prepared to go home, he had to rely on sheer willpower to make it back. Training at the Ninja Hospital was much more grueling than training with Tsunade. And Yue wasn't treating fish sealed inside scrolls anymore; he was treating Konoha's wounded, which brought its own psychological pressure.

If he didn't want to watch a life fade away before his eyes, he had to give every patient his utmost care.

So working at the Ninja Hospital left Yue not only physically exhausted but mentally drained as well.

But...

Even Yue had to admit that practical training was extremely effective.

After just one day of medical work at the hospital, he could already feel that his Medical Ninjutsu had improved considerably.

And as his skill in Medical Ninjutsu grew, his chakra control improved rapidly as well, while his overall strength advanced by leaps and bounds.

Yue's time working at the Ninja Hospital was perhaps the most grueling period of training he had ever experienced.

Yet it was precisely this difficult experience that allowed him to build up a solid reserve of strength, laying a firm foundation for his future rise!