What's at Stake

Five in the afternoon, conference room at Konoha Hospital.

The five current jonin of the Mental Therapy Department: Tsunade, Naraku, Fugaku, Kurama Ryota, and Yuhi Shinku.

The first day of patient trials had yielded promising initial results.

Anbu would secretly observe these ninjas afterward to see whether the episodes of madness had stopped for good and whether their spirits had recovered.

Except for Tsunade, the other four had each treated between five and ten patients.

The four took turns. When their chakra ran low, they switched out, and by the time they had recovered, it was nearly time for their next shift.

With staffing like this, it seemed Konoha's genjutsu masters and the Mental Therapy Department would be unable to do without Uchiha support.

Kurama Ryota was the head of the Kurama Clan and a Konoha jonin. The Kurama Clan had once been a major clan, no smaller than the Uchiha or Hyuga.

After being secretly suppressed by a shinobi known as the Darkness of the Shinobi, the clan had dwindled. It now had only five jonin and dozens of chunin and genin.

The abnormal rate at which his clan was dying out had caught Kurama Ryota's attention.

It was good to contribute to Konoha, but his clan's numbers were falling so quickly, while other shinobi clans, like the Sarutobi and Ino-Shika-Cho, never suffered any serious losses.

Kurama Ryota felt uneasy. He wasn't sure whether someone was behind it, and he had no evidence.

Naraku looked at the Kurama jonin, feeling a little puzzled.

Naraku remembered from the anime that by the later years of Sarutobi Hiruzen's rule, the Kurama Clan seemed to have been reduced to just a few ordinary shinobi.

But what he'd learned of the clan now was that it had five jonin and over a hundred chunin and genin—and that was after suffering heavy losses in the First and Second Shinobi World Wars.

The clan had had even more jonin before. It was truly strange.

"Thanks for all your hard work today. Once we get through these busy first few days, the workload at the Mental Therapy Department should drop considerably. I hope you'll all stay at your posts and complete the Third Hokage's initial assignment."

"Yes!"

The four people below all answered in unison.

Tsunade was captain of the Medical Corps and Konoha's foremost medical authority. What she'd witnessed today had opened up a whole new world for her.

Tsunade knew quite a few genjutsu, but she was only average at using them and was better at dispelling them.

What she'd seen at the Mental Therapy Department today had sparked a deep interest in genjutsu.

"That's it for the day. You're all dismissed!"

Konoha Military Police Building

After work at Konoha Hospital, Naraku and Fugaku still couldn't neglect their duties with the Military Police Force. They worked overtime at the building that night, reviewing the day's reports.

"Lord Naraku, it looks like the Mental Therapy Department really has achieved the results you expected."

"That's right, Fugaku. It's a shame the Third Hokage put Tsunade in charge of the Mental Therapy Department and left us as mere advisors. We get two million ryo each per year, but this isn't about money. What I want is the authority to lead the department and appoint its personnel."

"Lord Naraku, serving Konoha is only right. We shouldn't be so petty about it. Seeing those Konoha shinobi regain their spirits today gave me a real sense of accomplishment."

"Heh."

Naraku gave a quiet laugh and said no more.

Establishing the Mental Therapy Department was absolutely necessary, but Fugaku had only seen the doctors' side of things. He hadn't considered the deeper implications.

Shinobi falling into madness was no small matter. It took a jonin, more or less, to subdue one.

Konoha was vast. It clearly wasn't practical to have jonin from the Police Force handle every case.

Besides, missions to subdue shinobi were extremely dangerous. Anything involving shinobi was dangerous, and these missions started at B-Rank.

Most importantly, they couldn't just hurt these shinobi for no reason. They could only subdue them.

If these rampaging shinobi damaged villagers or buildings with their jutsu...

The villagers wouldn't hate the shinobi in question most of all. They'd hate the Police Force.

The famous Uchiha Police Force couldn't even subdue a shinobi like that? No wonder they were too scared to go to the battlefield.

Naraku could easily imagine how the villagers would view the Police Force after an incident like that.

But if the Police Force hurt such a shinobi or wounded him, the villagers would say, "That's how the Police Force treats the heroes who bleed for Konoha."

No matter what they did, they'd be in the wrong. Working for the Police Force was just that difficult, and it made enemies of people.

As the head of the Police Force, Naraku obviously wouldn't let something like that happen. He'd established the Mental Therapy Department so that anyone who fell ill could be sent there for treatment.

In the past, people hadn't recognized psychological trauma as an illness.

Now, the Mental Therapy Department Naraku had proposed had made them realize that psychological disorders were a real thing.

That meant the Police Force could shift the blame. There were no rampaging shinobi—only shinobi suffering episodes caused by psychological trauma.

The villagers couldn't blame the Police Force. If they suffered property damage or physical injury, they could only accept their bad luck.

Second, by sending the shinobi they subdued to the Mental Therapy Department, Naraku could avoid offending shinobi forces or being accused of harming Konoha's heroes.

Instead, the Police Force would earn a reputation for protecting the village, helping the people, and doing good deeds—all of which would greatly improve its standing.

Third, this was the perfect opportunity to gain a foothold at Konoha Hospital. The Mental Therapy Department was part of Konoha's Medical Department, and it treated patients with genjutsu. There were plenty of Uchiha shinobi skilled in genjutsu.

Konoha had two renowned clans with a tradition of genjutsu: the Uchiha and the Kurama.

This was nothing like Sasuke's time in Konoha, when the tradition had been lost and Sasuke wasn't skilled in genjutsu at first.

Nowadays, any Uchiha shinobi who had awakened the Kekkei Genkai Sharingan and mastered its use had combat ability at least on the level of an elite chunin.

Uchiha shinobi with the Three Tomoe were elite jonin—the best of the best.

The best doctors for the Mental Therapy Department would be Uchiha shinobi.

Of course, the Mental Therapy Department was still in its infancy, and there was plenty to improve. For instance, they needed to develop and research sleeping pills and other drugs that regulated the brain's hormone secretions.

But if they wanted the Mental Therapy Department to be reliable and earn the trust of Konoha's shinobi, the easiest way was to have Uchiha shinobi work there.

The Sharingan was a genjutsu-based dojutsu. Its tremendous advantage lay in being able to trap someone in a genjutsu with just a glance—a feat other genjutsu users couldn't match.

After all, having to mold chakra and form Hand Seals would put patients on guard, making it much harder to catch them off guard.

Although Naraku hadn't achieved all his original goals yet, he'd still gained quite a bit. At the very least, he'd made a connection with Tsunade.

The Konoha Sannin had immense prestige in Konoha, especially Tsunade, the medical saint, who had the highest standing among them.

Countless shinobi wanted to become her students, but had no way to do so.

Naraku also wanted to get closer to the Sannin. But approaching them or visiting them without a reason would make prominent figures wary and guarded.

There was no such thing as a free lunch. If Orochimaru suddenly handed Naraku a business card and said he wanted to visit, Naraku would be just as suspicious. In a cautious, guarded frame of mind, he might not even agree to meet him.