Another Visit to the Inuzuka Clan

Shadow Clone No. 1 was still nearby, practicing Hand Seals.

Shisui came back to his senses. "I hope things don't go in the worst possible direction."

Qingfeng didn't know how to answer Shisui's naive self-deception.

Shisui casually formed a seal, and the Crow in the tree vanished in a puff of white smoke.

So the Crow really was Shisui's Summoning Beast. The Crow Clone Itachi would often use to show off in the future was probably something Shisui had taught him too.

"I made plans with Itachi to visit the Inuzuka Clan. Want to come with us, Qingfeng?"

With the Shadow Clone, he could indeed train with Shisui for two days. It would be best if he could learn the Body Flicker Technique. As for a Crow Summoning Beast, forget it. It wasn't strong enough.

The ideal Summoning Beast would be a large bird capable of carrying people. Flying and giant mecha were a man's romance.

I'm counting on you, Shadow Clone No. 1. Hang in there.

The two met up with Itachi and headed straight for the Inuzuka Clan.

"Big Sister Inuzuka Tsume, long time no see."

Shisui greeted Inuzuka Tsume with practiced familiarity. Had they been classmates before? Or teammates?

"Oh, so it's Shisui. Are you here to pick out some reconnaissance Ninja Hounds?"

"No. Several Ninja Crows were poisoned by Sunagakure during a battle. Konoha Hospital has no experience with this, so I wanted to ask the Inuzuka Clan's Veterinarian to take a look and see whether they can be cured."

Inuzuka Tsume put down her work. After all, she was the finest Veterinarian in the Inuzuka Clan. No matter how many Ninja Hounds Inuzuka Hana had tormented, she had always managed to save them.

"Let's try it first!"

Shisui formed a summoning seal, and a Crow appeared before them. It was clearly in terrible condition and could barely stand.

Qingfeng compared it briefly. This one was clearly larger than the ones he had seen in the woods before. It was probably from the first batch of Crows Shisui had raised.

Inuzuka Tsume took the poisoned Crow into a room for a thorough examination.

Inuzuka Hana rode out from inside on a large dog. Unfortunately, when Black Maru saw the three Uchiha before it—especially the Uchiha carrying a Short Sword—its canine instincts screamed, "Danger!! Danger!!!"

Black Maru refused to come closer no matter what, and Inuzuka Hana had no way around it.

"Xiao Hei, you're not getting dinner tonight."

Inuzuka Hana could only leap off the dog and walk over alone.

Inuzuka Hana was wearing new clothes today. Perhaps her previous outfit had been ruined from riding dogs.

There was even no Face Paint on her face. He really didn't know where the Inuzuka Clan had picked up the terrible habit of smearing paint all over their faces. Without it, she was actually quite a cute girl.

When Inuzuka Hana came closer, Uchiha Qingfeng realized that she was actually quite a bit taller than both him and Itachi. He had never noticed before.

"What are you looking at?"

It was the first time she had gone without Face Paint at home, and outsiders had actually seen her. It was really a little embarrassing.

It was like someone who normally only let others see them in long pants suddenly had people barge into their home when they were wearing nothing but shorts.

"Why does everyone in your clan paint Face Paint on their faces?"

Damn it, Qingfeng must have noticed that she wasn't wearing Face Paint and deliberately asked that question. How awful!

Feeling as though something embarrassing had been exposed, she was already thinking about how to get back at Qingfeng. But she answered, "That's the symbol of our Inuzuka Clan. Every member of the Inuzuka Clan wears it."

Since it was a tradition, it definitely had something to do with dogs.

Perhaps she truly couldn't bear Qingfeng's gaze any longer, but Inuzuka Hana eventually ran back inside to reapply her Face Paint.

In truth, Uchiha Qingfeng had mainly been looking at Inuzuka Hana's height, but she mistook it for him staring at her face the whole time.

After Inuzuka Hana left, the remaining three silently sat in the reception room and drank tea.

When Shisui had first returned, he and Itachi had talked, and they had also discussed the Sharingan.

But the answer Itachi received was, "These are eyes of hatred and loathing."

It was roughly the same as the answer Qingfeng had given, but neither of them explained how to awaken it.

At last, Inuzuka Tsume returned with the Crow.

It appeared that the Crow had been treated, but it was still listless.

"I'm sorry, Shisui. This seems to be a new poison developed by the Sand Ninja. I can only suppress it temporarily. As for curing it completely, I'm afraid the Inuzuka Clan is powerless. Perhaps only the Slug Princess among the Sannin can cure it."

Tsunade, who suffered from hemophobia, had long since left Konoha to travel the Ninja World. She wasn't even in the Land of Fire. Finding her would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And judging by its condition, the Ninja Crow would not last much longer.

"So it still won't work?"

From the moment it had been poisoned, he had sought treatment from Medical Ninja, but the results had been minimal. After returning to the village, he discovered that Konoha Hospital was helpless as well. This was the last place Shisui could think of that might have had a chance of curing it, but it still didn't work.

This was already the last Ninja Crow from the first batch he had raised. The rest were descendants of that batch.

"Thank you, Big Sister Tsume. We can only look elsewhere."

Inuzuka Hana had finally finished applying her Face Paint and ran over again, hearing their discussion. "Ninja Crow? Poisoned? Nothing can be done?"

Inuzuka Hana glanced at the Crow in the hands of the one carrying the Short Sword.

Listless, unwilling to move, wanting only to lie on the ground—wasn't that exactly the same state as her Ninja Hound Hai Maru had been in before?

She glanced at Uchiha Qingfeng. Wasn't there already a highly skilled Veterinarian right here? Why had they come all the way to her house?

"Qingfeng can treat it! He's the one who cured the Ninja Hound that was just as listless!"

The moment Inuzuka Hana said that, Qingfeng suddenly felt that things were going badly. That dog had clearly been pretending, and his treatment had been giving it a beating.

But this Crow was genuinely poisoned. If he gave it a beating, it would probably die before he was done.

But Shisui had suddenly found hope, and his eyes looked at Qingfeng expectantly.

Itachi's gaze seemed to say, You've been hiding your talents. You can even treat dogs.

How was he supposed to refuse now?

"Want me to give it a try?"

"I'm counting on you, Qingfeng."

The three left the Inuzuka Clan and returned to Qingfeng's Pharmacy.

Inuzuka Hana followed along like a little lackey.

Qingfeng went upstairs alone with Shisui's Ninja Crow. Shisui and Itachi wisely did not follow.

But Inuzuka Hana acted as though she had returned to her own home. She didn't treat herself like an outsider at all. She wanted to see how Qingfeng treated Ninja Beasts.

Qingfeng had no way to deal with this girl. After all, she had helped him quite a bit, so he could only let her stay.

Looking at the Crow on the table, he lightly patted it a few times, but it showed no reaction at all.

Conventional methods clearly wouldn't work. He could only try several System potions he had on hand.

While Inuzuka Hana wasn't paying attention, he secretly took out a Body Strengthening Potion and fed the Crow a drop.

As everyone knew, as long as the body was strong enough, it could resist many viruses. He could only do his best to save it.

In Qingfeng's perception, the Crow showed no reaction at all after drinking the potion. It remained completely motionless.