Fifty-Ninth Medical Reform

After listening to the entire lecture, Yuehua Ai had to admit that Yamazaki Kazuna's teaching ability was quite impressive.

Tsunade was hailed as the best medical ninja in Konoha, and as her close friend, Yamazaki Kazuna naturally possessed a high level of expertise.

Although he was a latecomer to the field, Yuehua Ai's foundation from his previous life allowed him to understand seventy percent of what she explained. The remaining thirty percent he found confusing was due to two reasons: ten percent was because some technical terminology differed slightly from his past life, and the other twenty percent concerned the binding effect of chakra on cells. Lacking the accumulation of foundational knowledge from her previous lessons, he struggled, as this touched upon the unique aspects of the medical system in the Naruto world.

These unique aspects were tied to the existence of chakra—how chakra transformed into different types of energy to stimulate cells, and how cells behaved under varying densities of chakra. He was completely in the dark regarding this intersection of chakra and cells; after all, there was no such thing as chakra on Earth in his previous life!

Although there were parts he did not understand, this did not stop Yuehua Ai from recording those questions. Before coming here to report, he had made preparations, so despite his many confusions, he was able to remain calm. With the books he had borrowed from the library, he was confident that he could resolve these issues quickly, even without private tutoring from Instructor Yamazaki.

The Medical Study Class that Yuehua Ai was currently in was significantly different from the institutions that had trained ordinary medical ninjas in the past.

Previously, medical ninjas trained by the village worked at Konoha Hospital, and even during wartime, they were strictly protected by the village. Their duty was to treat the wounded sent back from the front lines.

However, now that the Second Shinobi World War had ended, the training of medical ninjas had changed. While there were still many departments specifically training healers to serve at Konoha Hospital, the class Yuehua Ai was in was designed to cultivate battlefield medical personnel.

As it happened, this shift in the training of medical ninjas was the result of Tsunade's proposal.

Before the end of the Second Shinobi World War, medical ninjas did not appear on the battlefield.

A medical ninja's unique healing abilities could greatly reduce the mortality rate of ninjas, so as a branch of the ninja profession, they held an irreplaceable strategic value in any era. However, because previous medical ninjas generally lacked combat ability and had no means of self-preservation, they were not allowed on the battlefield and were always strictly protected even within Konoha.

But after experiencing the Second Shinobi World War and losing her beloved younger brother, Senju Nawaki, along with many comrades, Tsunade finally reached a realization.

She believed that if medical ninjas could accompany mission teams, it would not only increase the mission success rate but also improve the survival rate of ninjas, thereby avoiding tragedies to the greatest extent possible.

Therefore, during an important wartime meeting, Tsunade submitted a proposal to the Konoha high command for medical ninjas to enter the battlefield, which included reforms to the medical ninja training system and the three principles that medical ninjas must abide by.

At the meeting, Tsunade proposed that every mission squad should be equipped with a medical ninja. To make this feasible, she also put forward two suggestions for analysis.

First, establish professional medical ninja training classes to teach them strong battlefield survival skills, dividing them into "frontline battlefield medical ninjas" and "logistics battlefield medical ninjas," with different training methods based on their respective environments.

So-called "frontline battlefield medical ninjas" would involve gathering certain sensory ninjas and training them as auxiliary medical ninjas. They could sense and avoid danger while performing emergency wound treatment, then hand over stabilized casualties to professional "logistics battlefield medical ninjas" for treatment, preventing deaths caused by delayed care.

Second, the Konoha Logistics Department could create specialized "ninjutsu scrolls" to be given to "frontline battlefield medical ninjas" as a secret weapon for self-preservation. For example, "defensive ninjutsu" or "control ninjutsu" could be sealed within the scrolls, to be released by injecting chakra when needed.

This would effectively improve the self-preservation ability of medical ninjas and provide offensive support to the mission team. Imagine an enemy offensive ninja targeting one of our medical ninjas; even if our medical ninja did not know offensive ninjutsu, they could inject chakra into a scroll to release a Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique to wash the enemy away. This would not only alleviate the pressure on the mission ninjas but also buy time to protect the medical ninja.

These two suggestions, or requirements, were built upon the medical ninja training system. For the medical ninjas themselves, the most important aspects were the three principles governing their conduct.

The first principle: A medical ninja must never give up on treatment until the team member's life has completely faded.

The second principle: A medical ninja must never be on the front line of the battlefield.

The third principle: A medical ninja must never die before all other members of the squad.

These three principles not only set requirements for medical ninjas but also provided them with their most important protection.

Whether it was the two suggestions or the three principles, the underlying implications of Tsunade's proposals were truly ahead of their time. Every suggestion in the proposal deserved to be held as a golden rule.

During that meeting, Kato Dan was the most supportive of Tsunade's proposal because he had just lost his younger sister in the war and shared similar feelings to Tsunade. It was this support from Kato Dan that led to him getting to know Tsunade, which became the catalyst for them becoming a couple.

Regarding the greatness of Tsunade's proposal, the Konoha high command recognized it in principle, but unfortunately, such an idealistic concept did not fit the situation at the time. With the Second Shinobi World War raging, even as the premier hidden village, Konoha could not meet the theoretical standards for medical reform in terms of manpower or technology. Thus, after deliberation, Tsunade's proposal was ultimately rejected by the Third Hokage.

Of course, such a plan would not be forgotten just because it was temporarily rejected. After the Second Shinobi World War ended, Tsunade brought it up again, and this time, the Third Hokage did not dismiss it; instead, he gave Tsunade full authority to proceed.

Thus, the Medical Study Class was established. Everything trained here was aimed at cultivating medical ninjas capable of going to the front lines.

The plan to establish the study class began the year before last, and it took Tsunade a full year to complete its formation. During that year, she not only recruited medical ninjas with battlefield experience but also organized professional medical knowledge into a systematic curriculum.

Consequently, after a year of preparation, the Medical Study Class finally held its first enrollment last year, targeting outstanding genin who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.

By this year, the first batch of battlefield medical ninjas had graduated. Among these newly graduated medical ninjas was a young girl named Nohara Rin, who had already integrated into a mission team as a medical ninja.

This year was the second year of the medical training class, and the current batch that Yuehua Ai and the others belonged to was the second group following the medical reforms.