Visible Growth and a Grand Plan Nearing Completion (Please Bookmark, Follow, and Vote)

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, a week had passed.

During this time, Taiichi stopped thinking about Tsunade and let everything take its course. After all, a big shot like Tsunade was not someone he could meet whenever he wanted. A tactic like blocking her door was fine once, but doing it too often would only become annoying. Besides, they were not familiar with each other.

Having set aside his worries, Taiichi began living a regular life:

He left home at five every morning to train, sometimes with Might Guy, sometimes with Kakashi, and occasionally all three of them would run into each other and train together;

Then he returned home to eat and get ready before heading to the ninja academy at eight;

After school ended at four in the afternoon, he met up with Guy and Kakashi again at the Training Ground to squeeze out their remaining energy. If she had the chance, Shizune would join them as well. Sometimes, because of Kakashi, Rin Nohara and Obito would also come along;

He arrived home at six thirty in the evening to eat and rest, then continued his nighttime training. At that time, he mainly practiced the Three Body Technique, Basic Taijutsu, and Basic Meditation.

Taiichi's days were plain but fulfilling. He trained tirelessly, monotonously, and persistently. That effort had paid off. Compared to before, his strength was practically night and day. He believed he could now easily crush the version of himself from a week ago.

He could now skillfully use Ninja Tool Throwing in battle, and even the Three Body Technique could be used to catch others off guard. His rapid improvement had repeatedly surprised his friends. Even Teacher Yamada personally stepped in to have a brief spar with Taiichi. Of course, the spar was followed by another unavoidable report.

Taiichi's current status panel:

Name: Taichi Matsushita

Class: Genin Lv3 (324/400)

Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Mediocrity, Academic Overachiever

Age: 6

Physique: 11

Strength: 12

Agility: 11

Spirit: 19

Chakra: 2000 (4600)

Attribute Points: 6

Skill Points: 6

Skills: Basic Taijutsu Lv7 (537/1200), Basic Meditation Lv7 (684/1200), Chakra Refinement Technique Lv6 (345/1000), Ninja Tool Throwing Lv5 (463/800), Transformation Technique Lv4 (13/600), Clone Technique Lv4 (462/600)), Substitution Technique Lv4 (534/600)

Evaluation: You are already slightly more than cannon fodder, but cannon fodder is still your fate

Taiichi had already grown used to the panel's snark and simply ignored it. What he cared about was the improvement of his attributes and skills. Every time he looked at the panel, he felt that the road ahead was filled with light.

Konoha Hospital, office.

After skipping work for several days, Tsunade finally remembered that she still had a job at Konoha Hospital. Rarely resisting the urge to slack off, she came to her office. The moment she sat down, she noticed a small bottle placed in the middle of her desk. Only then did she remember that she had agreed to someone's request.

The heavens were truly helping Taiichi. When he had stored the Allicin, he had considered the issue of preservation and used a brown lightproof bottle. On top of that, it was early spring, and the temperature was not yet very high. Otherwise, after such a long time, with the poor seal of this ordinary little bottle, the Allicin inside would have long since degraded and become ineffective.

Tsunade picked up the small bottle, removed the stopper, and carefully sniffed it. After examining it closely, she still could not identify anything from that strange smell.

After thinking about it, she went to the laboratory. The hospital's lab conditions were far better than those in Taiichi's home, with every kind of equipment and sample available.

Tsunade first disinfected herself, then took a sample of common bacteria from the refrigerated cabinet and placed it under a microscope. She checked the bacteria's activity.

"Mm, very good. No problems."

Then Tsunade carefully drew out some of the "special medicine" from the little bottle and dripped it onto the bacterial sample. Once she was done, she leaned over the eyepiece, ready to see the effects of the "special medicine."

Her eyes widened. What had she just seen? With only a single drop, every bacterium touched by the medicine lost its activity almost immediately. Such powerful medicinal effects were hard for Tsunade to believe.

Over the next few hours, Tsunade experimented on every type of bacteria she could find. In the end, she reached a conclusion: this special medicine could kill most common bacteria, and its effects were exceptionally strong. That meant that if a medicine based on this substance could be successfully developed, then not only in everyday life, but even on the battlefield, the casualty and disability rate among ninja could be reduced by at least half.

Medical Ninja were scarce to begin with. Even in Konoha, despite her personal efforts to promote them, there was still a severe shortage of Medical Ninja. There was no need to mention the other ninja villages, where Medical Ninja were practically nonexistent.

Furthermore, a Medical Ninja's Chakra was limited. On a tense battlefield, their limited Chakra could only be used on the more valuable wounded. Most injured people could only receive simple treatment before relying on conventional methods, and that made medicine indispensable.

The most common injuries on the battlefield were wounds from blades and swords, and the most frequently used medicines were precisely these antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs. Konoha's current medicines of this kind worked well enough on ordinary minor injuries, but for anything even slightly more serious, they were nearly useless. If they had this "special medicine," who knew how many ninja lives could be saved on the battlefield? It would truly be a blessing for Konoha.

At that thought, Tsunade immediately cleaned up the laboratory, erased all traces of her earlier work, grabbed the remaining "special medicine," and rushed toward the Hokage's Office.

Hokage's Office.

Bang! The doors flew open in response!

The three people inside immediately turned to look at the doorway. They saw Tsunade drawing back her foot as she hurried inside, shouting, "Old man, look at the good thing I brought you!"

"Well then, Hokage-sama, we'll be taking our leave first," one of the Jonin said.

"All right. Jonin Murata, Jonin Ikeshita, you may go back first," Hiruzen Sarutobi instructed the two Jonin.

After watching the two Jonin leave the office, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to Tsunade and said, "What is it? If you kick my door a few more times, I'll have to replace it again."

Tsunade did not answer. Instead, she looked around the room.

Seeing this, Hiruzen did not hesitate and made a hand sign. A series of faint movements sounded all around them.

"Can you speak now?"

Tsunade took out the small bottle and placed it on Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk. She first explained the matter involving Nonō and Taichi Matsushita, then described all the tests she had conducted on the medicine and its prospects.

"You're saying this 'special medicine' was discovered by a child named Taichi Matsushita?"

"Yes. What, old man? You know him too?" Tsunade asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yes. I've been hearing his name often lately. He's a genius newcomer in this year's academy class. He might even become another talent like Minato."

"Oh? You think that highly of him, old man?"

Hiruzen looked at Tsunade but did not respond.

"Is it really as impressive as you say?"

"Even in its current semi-finished state, it is more than five times as effective as similar medicines. Once it is made into a finished product, it will only be stronger."

"You said earlier that they wanted to cooperate with the village under the joint names of the Orphanage and that child?" Hiruzen asked again.

"Yes. Before coming here, I looked through the Orphanage's records." Tsunade looked at Hiruzen with a serious expression. "For the past two years, the village has provided the Orphanage with very little funding. They have barely been getting by on the mission earnings of its director, Yakushi Nonō."

"Ah! I have failed in my duties as Hokage!" Hiruzen said, looking ashamed.

Tsunade had long grown used to seeing Hiruzen blaming himself like that. If her teacher had been more like her First Hokage or Second Hokage grandfather, how could there have been all that nonsense Danzo had done?

"So how do you propose we cooperate?" Tsunade asked impatiently.

"Let's do this. Give them a sum of money and shares. The money can be more generous—let's set it at twenty million ryo. But the shares cannot be too many. They cannot protect too much right now."

Seeing that her teacher's arrangement was reasonable, Tsunade said no more. She turned around, tossed out, "I'll go notify them," and left.

In the office, Hiruzen picked up the little bottle from his desk and stared at it absentmindedly. He unconsciously recalled the scenes he had seen at the academy through the Telescope Technique. "What a good child."

After leaving, Tsunade found Yakushi Nonō at the Orphanage. Once she told Nonō the news, Nonō let out a long breath and looked extremely happy. After waiting for so long, she had begun to worry whether this would work out.

After the two of them arranged matters at the Orphanage, they headed to Taiichi's home.