Chapter 15

Seeing that he had taken her words to heart, Dr. Kureha said no more. She turned and headed outside, asking as she walked, "I've shown plenty of goodwill with what I gave you. Isn't it time you handed over your medical books?"

Xunjing followed her and chuckled. "The medical books are all in my head. I've copied out over a hundred recently, so I can give you those first."

"I'll still have to copy out the rest. I hope you'll bear with me."

Well, she wouldn't have much choice either way.

Dr. Kureha paused and glanced at Xunjing, but she didn't question whether he was telling the truth. "All right. A hundred or so books will keep me busy for a while."

"Your memory is even better than I thought."

The two soon returned to the living room.

Under Dr. Kureha's gaze, Xunjing waved his hand, took the hundred-plus medical books he had just copied out from the Space-Time Gate Space, and set them on the table.

He said to Dr. Kureha, "Here. These are the ones I've finished copying. You can read them, but you can't keep them. I don't want to copy them a second time."

"You can make your own copies. That won't be a problem, will it?"

He also planned to take some of the medical books to Tsunade later and trade them for her medical techniques and ninjutsu.

As for dealing with Konoha?

That had never been his intention.

For now, he didn't want to get involved with the Third Generation and his people.

"You little brat. You really know how to work an old woman!"

Dr. Kureha's expression stiffened for a moment. Irritably, she picked up a medical book and began leafing through it.

As for Xunjing producing so many books out of thin air, she was only mildly surprised and didn't dwell on it.

In over a hundred years of life, she had seen far too many bizarre devil fruit abilities.

Spatial storage wasn't exactly common, but this wasn't her first encounter with it.

"Heh!"

Xunjing smiled and spread his hands. "You wouldn't let me take away the originals of your medical books either, would you? I'd have to copy them myself in the end. That makes us even."

Dr. Kureha had over a thousand medical books here. Who knew how long it would take him to copy them all?

So he didn't plan to start writing them out now. He would memorize them all first.

Later, when he needed them, he could choose which ones to copy.

Having a good brain certainly saved trouble.

Next, accompanied by his mother, Xunjing visited a nearby town and bought a large quantity of medicinal herbs.

They would last him quite a while.

Once he returned, he began preparing the medicine.

Dr. Kureha watched as Xunjing's initially awkward movements soon gave way to rapidly improving technique and proficiency, but she wasn't particularly surprised.

Thanks to his medicine-making experience from his previous life, Xunjing could produce a finished product right from the start.

At first, this body simply wasn't used to the movements. A little practice soon smoothed things out.

[You prepared a dose of Conditioning Medicine. Medicine-making proficiency +1, traditional Chinese medicine proficiency +1.]

[You...]

He prepared over twenty doses in one go.

Ten were for his mother, and the rest were all for himself.

"Mom, drink a bottle and see how it works."

Xunjing handed a dose of potion to Uchiha Chisato.

"All right."

Uchiha Chisato tipped her head back and drank it in one gulp.

Before long, she felt wave after wave of warmth coursing through her body.

Her hidden injuries and lingering ailments vanished in an instant, like mist scattered by the wind.

Then her stomach began rumbling, and she felt ravenously hungry.

As though he had anticipated this, Xunjing waved his hand and took the meals he had stored earlier out of the spatial gate, placing them on the table.

He tipped his chin toward his mother. "Eat up. Practice the Life-Nourishing Art afterward for the best results."

With that, he downed a bottle of Conditioning Potion himself, put everything else away, and closed his eyes to carefully feel the changes in his body.

[You drank a Top-Grade Conditioning Potion. Your bodily functions are being restored... Your lifespan is beginning to increase...]

He could clearly feel the problems in his organs, caused by his congenital deficiencies over the years, improving one after another.

By the time he had absorbed most of the medicine's effects, he was unbearably hungry too.

Xunjing opened his eyes, sat down at the table, grabbed some sea king meat, and began taking great bites.

The moment he swallowed a mouthful, warmth surged through his stomach and quickly spread throughout his body.

Compared with his first time eating sea king meat, his digestive capacity had improved far more than tenfold.

This was all the accumulated result of practicing the Life-Nourishing Art, eating sea king meat, restoring his life origin, and strengthening his constitution over the past few days.

After polishing off an entire plate of sea king meat, Xunjing slipped over to a nearby open area and began practicing the Life-Nourishing Art.

[You ate sea king meat while practicing the Life-Nourishing Art. Proficiency +7, lifespan +7, life origin +0.025.]

[You ate sea king meat while practicing the Life-Nourishing Art. Proficiency +7, lifespan +7, life origin +0.025.]

"Heh, it really is working even better. Nice!"

Looking at the notifications, Xunjing broke into a broad smile.

At this rate, he would definitely recover completely within a month.

"Brat, if you make that many potions at once without a good way to preserve them, they'll lose all their potency!"

Dr. Kureha occasionally glanced their way, offering the casual reminder as she read.

Privately, she wondered, So this is what they used to restore their bodies before? Some sort of conditioning and health-nourishing practice? It certainly has its merits.

She wanted to learn it too. It might benefit her as well.

But this wasn't the time to bring it up. She had nothing worthwhile to offer.

She planned to spend a little more time with them and prepare something to bargain with before discussing the Life-Nourishing Art with Xunjing.

It was clearly an important secret tradition. Asking too abruptly would only be inappropriate.

"Thanks!"

Still practicing, Xunjing replied, "I have a special preservation method. The medicine won't lose its potency."

"Then I was worrying for nothing!"

Dr. Kureha glanced at him, then at the steaming food on the table that looked freshly cooked, and immediately understood.

Uchiha Chisato hadn't paid attention to this before. That had been an oversight on her part.

"Not at all. We appreciate you being kind enough to remind us!"

Uchiha Chisato picked up the conversation with a smile.

This witch was much easier to talk to than she had expected.

Most importantly, her skills spoke for themselves.

Uchiha Chisato considered how she ought to build a good relationship with Dr. Kureha.

A medical expert of this caliber was a rare find.

[You exchanged medical insights with Dr. Kureha. Traditional Chinese medicine proficiency increased by 15 points.]

[You finished reading Dr. Kureha's collection. Traditional Chinese medicine and medical arts merged into a single skill. Proficiency increased by another 12 points.]

For the next ten days, Xunjing settled into a remarkably regular routine.

Every morning, he first drank a bottle of Nourishing Potion, then ate plenty of sea king meat before practicing the Life-Nourishing Art.

He only stopped when his body could no longer endure it.

In the afternoon, he read Dr. Kureha's medical books, then spent an hour or two discussing medicine and exchanging experience with her.

Whenever he had time, he also copied out the traditional Chinese medical texts he remembered and gave them to Dr. Kureha.

With this routine, his body not only recovered but grew stronger than before, and the days flew by.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

"Phew..."

After completing a round of the Life-Nourishing Art, Uchiha Chisato felt unbelievably light and relaxed, as though she had shed a burden that had weighed on her for years.

She could clearly feel that her body had returned to its best condition.

"I feel like I've completely recovered!"

Uchiha Chisato finished her movements and turned to Xunjing and Dr. Kureha.

"Oh? Then let's take a look!"

Hearing that, Dr. Kureha set down her book, and Xunjing stopped practicing as well.

The two took turns examining Uchiha Chisato.

Then they both nodded. "Yes, you've fully recovered!"

Dr. Kureha added, "What's more, the Soul-Nourishing Potion is still working. Your damaged soul origin has recovered by one percent too."

"If you want your soul injuries to heal completely, you'll need to keep drinking the Soul-Nourishing Potion every day."

"And don't stop practicing the Life-Nourishing Art either. Keep at it."