"Tsunade, you're being far too reckless! Is this a place you can enter and leave as you please?" Danzo seized the opportunity to question Tsunade.
But Tsunade ignored him completely, focusing on examining Taiichi's injuries. She even sent Chakra into his body to check for internal wounds.
Seeing the situation, Chi Xiao quickly said to the Hokage, "Hokage-sama, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
"Alright. Go get some rest as well. You've been busy all night, so you must be tired," the Hokage said with concern.
"It was my duty." With that, Chi Xiao left the Hokage's Office.
Tsunade finished examining Taiichi as well, and she could not help frowning. "How did your Chakra pathways get injured so badly? Don't you know how dangerous this is? Do you not want to be a ninja anymore? And you still came here to give a report!" Tsunade scolded him harshly.
Taiichi was startled by her words. Are my internal injuries really that serious?
Hiruzen Sarutobi also asked anxiously, "What is it, Tsunade? Is it serious? Taiichi looks perfectly fine to me."
Danzo sneered inwardly. If I can't have him, then it would be better to destroy him.
"The external injuries are all minor. The serious damage is internal. He used ninjutsu at high intensity for too long, overloading his Chakra pathways. They're already on the verge of collapse." Tsunade's expression was grave. "I need to take him to the hospital for treatment immediately."
"Then hurry and go!" The Hokage no longer concerned himself with anything else and urged Tsunade on. Such a promising talent could not be ruined over something like this.
Watching Tsunade lead Taiichi out of the office, Sarutobi spoke first. "What do you all think about this incident? Any leads?"
"I think it was most likely Cloud Village. Last time, they failed to abduct Kushina. This time, they came to steal children from other bloodline families. Sarutobi, we absolutely cannot let them off this time."
"No matter who it was, we must retaliate." x2
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura also supported retaliation. If something like this could happen to the Kurama Family today, it could happen to the Hyuga Family tomorrow, and perhaps to their own families the day after.
If they did not retaliate, every other family would be terrified once they heard about it. Once people's hearts scattered, the group would be difficult to lead.
Besides, the current Konoha was not the Konoha that desperately needed to recover after the Third Shinobi World War. Konoha's current leadership consisted of ninjas in their prime, all of them full of spirit and ambition.
"Then it's settled. We'll wait for the Interrogation Department's final confirmation and see which village dared to do such a thing!" Hiruzen Sarutobi made the final decision.
Below the Hokage Building.
"Tsunade, is my injury really that serious?" Taiichi finally asked after holding it in for so long. He was beginning to wonder whether he had learned Medical Ninjutsu wrong.
Tsunade rolled her eyes at him. "If I hadn't said that, would you have been able to get out of that quagmire? Would Danzo have let you go?" It turned out that Tsunade had heard the conversation inside before entering the room, which was why she had devised this excuse to take Taiichi away.
"Thank you, Tsunade." Taiichi was deeply grateful that she had considered him so carefully.
"Don't be happy too soon. Your Chakra pathways really are injured badly. You'll definitely need to stay in the hospital for a few days to recover. And who did this bandaging? Aside from serving as an emergency measure, it's utterly useless." Looking at the bandages wrapped around Taiichi, Tsunade mocked them without mercy.
"Ah, I still have to be hospitalized?" Taiichi immediately became a little dejected. Being admitted meant wasting several more days.
Konoha Hospital was as crowded as ever. After arriving, Tsunade personally helped Taiichi complete the admission procedures and brought him to the Trauma Department.
This was the same department where Taiichi had once interned. Yet this time, he had not come as a healer, but as a patient. Life truly was unpredictable.
The person receiving Taiichi was still Director Fujita. When she saw Tsunade leading in Taiichi, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages, she was greatly shocked.
"Taiichi, I never expected we'd meet again this way!" Director Fujita teased.
"Director, please don't laugh at me. I'll have to trouble you with all these injuries," Taiichi said awkwardly.
"Alright, sit over there." Director Fujita pointed to a nearby chair. "Nanako, bring over all the wound-cleaning tools."
"Then, Fujita." Tsunade pointed outside. "I'll leave Taiichi to you. I'll wait outside."
"Alright, don't worry!" Fujita replied without turning around, already cutting away Taiichi's messy old bandages.
"Ah—It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" Taiichi wailed miserably. He had not felt it during the battle, but now the pain was almost unbearable. "Director, be gentler! I'm injured!"
"You're already a ninja, yet you're still so afraid of pain. Aren't you embarrassed to scream that loudly?" Director Fujita reprimanded him.
But as the bandages were removed one after another, Fujita fell silent. There were simply too many wounds.
Once all the extra bandages had been cleared away and Taiichi's wounds were visible, Fujita and the young nurse Nanako both drew sharp breaths.
Taiichi had no fewer than eleven cuts of varying sizes across his body. The most dangerous one had passed near an artery in his arm. Just a few millimeters closer, and it would have caused massive bleeding.
They hurriedly cleaned the wounds with great care and stitched up the larger ones. It took nearly an hour of work before all his wounds were finally treated.
At that point, Fujita and Nanako looked at Taiichi with admiration. Not every ninja could endure injuries like these. From the placement of the wounds, it was clear that Taiichi had received them while fighting his enemy face-to-face.
Taiichi finally breathed a sigh of relief as well. It was not that he could not endure the pain; watching someone sew needles and thread through his own body was simply torture.
After saying goodbye to Director Fujita, Taiichi met up with Tsunade outside and headed to the inpatient ward.
Lying on the bed, Taiichi began receiving Tsunade's specialized treatment. Her gentle Mystical Palm Technique settled over him like a warm spring breeze, soothing his Chakra pathways and easing their pain.
Taiichi hummed comfortably as he told Tsunade everything that had happened that day in detail.
When Tsunade heard how Taiichi had devised a plan to defeat the first Special Jonin, she could not help sighing in relief. But when she heard that a badly injured Jonin had appeared afterward, her heart immediately rose again.
After finally listening to Taiichi's account, Tsunade felt even more exhausted than if she had fought herself.
Tsunade's treatment ended at that moment. After giving Taiichi some instructions, she prepared to leave as well.
She had plenty of her own affairs to deal with. If she had not heard about Taiichi's situation, she would already have been dominating the gambling house.
Just as Tsunade stepped out the door, Taiichi stopped her. "Tsunade, please help me find my Jonin instructor. His name is Masasuke Yamaguchi. We were supposed to gather at nine tomorrow morning for a mission, but I'll probably need to take leave now."
"Alright, I got it. What a hassle..." Her voice drifted in from afar.
Once Tsunade left, Taiichi was alone in the ward. At last, he could check what he had gained from this battle after filtering out the unimportant system notifications.
[Your Constitution attribute +2] [Your Hatake Style Kenjutsu skill has improved. Experience +500] [An epiphany in battle. Your Fire Nature Transformation +500] [An epiphany in battle. Your Wind Release Nature Transformation +500] [A stroke of inspiration in battle. Your Water Nature Transformation +1000] [Breakthrough in battle. You combined Water Style: Water Formation Wall and Water Style: Water Prison Technique, elevating them in battle and creating the A-rank Water Style: Great Water Prison Technique] [Water Style: Great Water Prison Technique: Creates Water Walls around the place where a distant enemy stands, surrounding the enemy until they are trapped within a Water Prison formed by the enclosing walls] ... Name: Taichi Matsushita Class: Genin Lv2 (45/200) Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Mediocrity, Academic Overachiever, Potent Age: 8 Constitution: 21 Strength: 20 Agility: 18 Spirit: 23 Chakra: 14000 (16400) Attribute Points: 12 Skill Points: 14 Fire Nature Transformation Lv7 (350/1200) Wind Release Nature Transformation Lv7 (412/1200) Water Nature Transformation Lv6 (812/1000) Yang Release Nature Transformation Lv6 (459/800) Chakra Shape Transformation Lv6 (467/1000) Chakra Control Lv5 (476/800) Skills: Advanced Taijutsu Lv0 (976/1000), Advanced Meditation Lv0 (934/1000)), Hatake Style Kenjutsu Lv10 (1478/2000) [Fire Style: B-rank Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Lv7 (777/1200), B-rank Searing Migraine Lv3 (357/400)] [Wind Style: C-rank Air Palm Lv8 (724/1400), B-rank Pressure Damage Lv4 (26/600)] [Water Style: B-rank Water Formation Wall Lv9 (453/1600), C-rank Water Prison Lv6 (124/1000), C-rank Water Clone Lv6 (153/1000), B-rank Water Dragon Bullet Lv3 (275/400)] [Medical Ninjutsu: Mystical Palm Technique Lv9 (329/1600), Delicate Illness Extraction Technique Lv8 (463/1400), Chakra Scalpel Lv6 (464/1000)] [Max Level:...] Evaluation: You have passed a trial of life and death. The growth in your strength was bought with your life.
Just as the evaluation said, every brush with death brought a rapid surge in strength. But Taiichi still hoped to improve step by step rather than face blades and swords every day...
Before you continue