The Situation Shifts Dramatically, the Hand Behind the Scenes

"The most urgent matter now is for you to teach the Medical Corps ninjas the detailed process step by step.

As long as we hurry and produce the first batch of Medical Scrolls, the pressure on the front lines will be greatly reduced.

Whatever you need in this regard, we will do everything in our power to provide!"

Mitokado Homura said.

"Yes." Shiraha accepted the order.

"The method for producing Medical Ninjutsu Scrolls shall be classified as an S-Rank secret of the village! Anyone who leaks it will be charged with the Crime of Treason Against the Village." Lord Third Hokage immediately issued the order.

"Yes!"

The Medical Ninjas naturally understood the significance of the Medical Scrolls.

"Shiraha, you have rendered great service to the village this time. Once this matter is concluded, you will be rewarded. No matter what you ask for, the village can grant it."

Lord Third Hokage continued.

"Thank you, Lord Third Hokage. This is merely what I should do as a Konoha Ninja," Shiraha said respectfully. Yet inwardly, he cursed the Third Hokage for being so pragmatic, insisting on seeing results before offering a reward.

Still, he had achieved his goal.

Once the arrangements were complete, Shiraha, Tsunade, and the Medical Ninjas left the conference room.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, the two advisors, went with them as well.

They needed to see whether the Medical Corps had any additional requirements so that resources could be mobilized as quickly as possible.

At that point, only Danzo and the Third Hokage remained in the conference room.

"Hiruzen, Root needs talents like him. Root has suffered considerable casualties while carrying out special missions, so..."

Danzo made no attempt to hide his desire for Shiraha.

"Danzo, once the Medical Scrolls are produced, I can equip Root with a sufficient quantity.

But you had better not set your sights on Shiraha!

You should be able to see Tsunade's attitude toward him.

Even if I agreed, could you persuade Tsunade?"

The Third Hokage refused without hesitation.

Because of his indulgence, Root had already become difficult to control. Even he, the Hokage, could no longer command Root's ninjas freely. How could he possibly hand a talent like Shiraha over to Danzo?

"Besides the Medical Scrolls, Yakushi Nonō should join Root as a supplementary member."

Danzo spoke in a deep voice, his attitude rather firm.

"That is acceptable." The Third Hokage hesitated slightly before finally nodding in agreement.

They still needed Root's strength for now. Once the war ended, the first thing he would do would be to restrict Root's development.

Danzo said, "Once she learns how to produce Medical Scrolls, have her report to Root."

Yakushi Nonō had been his original target. Given Shiraha's performance, the Third Hokage would never let him go, so Danzo could only settle for the next best option.

Yakushi Nonō was also an elite of the Medical Corps and had previously studied Medical Scrolls. She was a rare talent.

"Hiruzen, what do you intend to do about the Wood Release Experiment?"

Danzo abruptly changed the subject.

The Third Hokage frowned slightly. After pondering for a moment, he answered, "Looking back, making that decision before the technique had matured was indeed somewhat rash. It caused so many ninjas to die in vain. That was a failure on my part as Hokage."

Hypocrite. Danzo cursed inwardly. They were the only two people left, yet Hiruzen was still spouting such platitudes. If Wood Release could truly be recreated, Hiruzen would likely continue the experiment no matter how many people died.

Danzo had proposed the Wood Release Plan, and Hiruzen had made the final decision. It seemed he would have to bear most of the blame.

Hiruzen clearly did not want to offend Tsunade, so he was preparing to put the Wood Release Experiment on hold for the time being.

However, with the Medical Scrolls now available, the village's combat strength could indeed be enhanced. There was no need to rush into continuing the Wood Release Experiment.

After all, Tsunade's contributions in this war were in no way inferior to Orochimaru's or Jiraiya's, perhaps even greater. Her prestige had now risen to the point where she showed signs of surpassing Sakumo.

Shiraha's accomplishments this time could also be counted as part of Tsunade's credit, adding another bargaining chip for her future bid for the position of Fourth Hokage.

There were even more variables now!

"I understand." Danzo left the conference room expressionlessly.

Over the next few months, Shiraha remained at Konoha Hospital.

Basic Sealing Jutsu was not difficult for Medical Ninjas with a certain level of skill. With Shiraha personally teaching them and repeatedly demonstrating the Chakra ratios needed to produce Medical Scrolls, the more capable Medical Ninjas quickly mastered it.

With Shiraha's help, Tsunade also developed a more advanced Medical Ninjutsu Scroll—the Mystical Palm Technique Scroll.

It was extremely difficult to seal Rank A Medical Ninjutsu, and within the entire Medical Corps, only Tsunade, the Medical Corps Captain, the vice captain, and Yakushi Nonō could produce Mystical Palm Technique Scrolls.

Konoha was still primarily producing Healing Jutsu Scrolls, but Jōnin teams carrying out important missions could generally receive one Mystical Palm Technique Scroll.

Shiraha did not want a bounty on his head to appear in the Black Market, nor did he want to draw the attention of other nations.

Therefore, the fact that he had invented the Healing Jutsu Scroll and assisted Tsunade in developing the Mystical Palm Technique Scroll was kept secret among the village higher-ups. The official story presented to the outside world was that Tsunade had led the Medical Corps in creating them.

This epoch-making Medical Ninjutsu invention directly elevated Tsunade's prestige by another level.

In any case, Shiraha's contributions had already been recorded. To him, tangible benefits were far more important than empty fame!

Especially since he was not powerful enough yet, it was better to keep a low profile.

Because Shiraha had invented the Healing Jutsu Scroll, the village higher-ups even began considering whether ninjutsu could be sealed away to create Ninjutsu Scrolls.

Naturally, it ultimately ended in failure. However, the higher-ups clearly had not given up. They had merely suspended the project, and it would likely be restarted after the war.

It had to be said that although the higher-ups were ugly, they had beautiful dreams.

Shiraha had succeeded in creating the Healing Jutsu Scroll mainly because he had drawn inspiration from the methods used to create Demonic items.

Furthermore, while experimenting with whether Natural Energy could be absorbed and preserved, he realized that specific Chakra ratios could form more stable structures. That was what made it possible to preserve Medical Ninjutsu within scrolls.

Perhaps Ninjutsu Scrolls would truly appear in the future, but not now.

Simply stabilizing Chakra and finding the correct ratios would require an unknown number of experiments.

Naturally, Shiraha would not devote his main efforts to that.

The reason he had drawn attention this time, besides wanting to obtain Hashirama cells, was to build momentum for Tsunade.

In the original story, Tsunade successfully became the Fifth Generation. If she were to compete for the position of Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya would certainly support her. Given Orochimaru's feelings for Nawaki, he would at least not oppose her or turn against her.

Shiraha had a harmonious relationship with Tsunade and Nawaki, with Kushina serving as a link between them.

If Tsunade took office, many of the village's bad practices and systems might be changed.

For now, Shiraha had adapted fairly well to life in Konoha. If Konoha could undergo reforms in the future, he would be willing to remain in a reborn Konoha.

PS: Thanks to Yuanlai Shi Xifeng Ya and Hell Batman for their 1,500-point donations; thanks to Unloved Little Pig, Mortal Many Troubles, Qingzhi Youming, Zero Someone, Laughing East Wind, Pretending Not to Be a Tycoon, and Time Never Returns for their 1,000-point donations; thanks to Uchiha Luo, Used to Lurking, reader 20190807121558735, Can Shi, and Zhongyue Chushan for their 100-point donations; thank you all for your support.