Medical Prodigy

The wounded man before him wheezed like a broken bellows, blood foam bubbling from his mouth, with part of his chest caved in.

Tianyi could see it clearly with his Byakugan: shattered rib fragments had pierced his lungs.

There was bleeding in his abdomen too, and air and blood were trapped in the left side of his chest, compressing his lung flat.

"We have to release the air, stop the bleeding, and move the bone fragments immediately!" Tianyi rapidly reviewed the first-aid knowledge he had just acquired.

The conditions were far too poor for delicate surgery, but if he did not act now, this man would not last even a few minutes.

He glanced at the first-aid kit he had brought from the modern world. It was well-stocked, with disinfectants and bandages, but no scalpel.

He immediately shouted to a companion beside him whose arm was injured, "Brother! Do me a favor and watch him! I'm going to get a knife!"

With that, he rushed toward the nearby medical tent and spotted surgical scalpels and medical gloves at a glance.

That's it! He grabbed a handful, put on the gloves, yanked out several rolls of bandages, and ran back.

He unscrewed the alcohol and poured some over his hands and the scalpel.

"You, hold the fire closer. Don't shake! You, help hold down his arms and legs. Don't let him move!"

He quickly gave orders to two lightly wounded men nearby who could still move. They were stunned by Tianyi's manner and hurriedly did as told.

The wounded man had lost too much blood and was already half-conscious, though his body still twitched occasionally from the agony.

Tianyi murmured, "Bear with it, brother. I'm saving your life!" Then his gaze sharpened.

First, he had to release the trapped air. Based on the location he saw with the Byakugan, it was in the upper part of the wounded man's left chest.

He made a small incision with the tip of the blade, then picked up the largest syringe from the first-aid kit and removed the plunger.

He steadily inserted the hollow barrel into the incision.

"Hiss—"

A stream of dark, bubbling blood immediately surged out from the back of the syringe.

The wounded man's ragged breathing immediately eased a little.

Tianyi then twisted a strip of bandage and stuffed it into the end of the syringe as a drain, lowering the other end.

Next came the deadly bone fragments.

The most troublesome was on the right side of the chest. Tianyi carefully cut an incision along the gap between the ribs.

The flesh peeled back, revealing a bloody mess. Fortunately, he had the Byakugan, like built-in X-ray vision, allowing him to avoid the major blood vessels.

He reached inside and carefully pulled out the shattered bone lodged in the lung.

Blood immediately began pouring from the wound even more fiercely.

"Stop the bleeding..." Tianyi desperately recalled when Mitarai Aoi had treated him.

That warm, gentle sensation of chakra that urged wounds to heal.

He tried his best to shape his own chakra into something similar, attaching it to his fingers and pressing them tightly against the tear in the lung.

The method was crude and mentally exhausting, but with the pressure applied, the bleeding finally began to slow.

Then came the bone fragment that had nearly pierced the heart.

Tianyi did not dare pull it out by force. He used the knife handle as a lever and operated slowly with the aid of his Byakugan.

Bit by bit, he shifted the dangerous shard away from the organs and pushed it somewhere less fatal.

The membrane around the heart had been cut open slightly. He used the suture needle and thread from the first-aid kit.

He quickly stitched it twice, closing the opening first.

The hardest part was finally done!

He then found several relatively flat pieces of wood nearby, along with more bandages.

He wrapped them around the wounded man's chest layer after layer, making a simple chest brace to secure the caved-in area.

This would keep the bone fragments from shifting again. Finally, he threaded the needle and stitched the cut muscles and skin back together layer by layer.

The stitches were not neat, but they were certainly sturdy.

After finishing all that, Tianyi felt like he was about to collapse. He dropped onto the ground, drenched in sweat.

His very first emergency operation had been this difficult. It had drained an enormous amount of mental energy.

Looking at the wounded man again, he was still unconscious and pale as death, but his chest was rising and falling.

His breathing was weak, but much steadier now. The most life-threatening bleeding and pneumothorax had been temporarily brought under control.

The two companions holding the torch and restraining the man were dumbfounded.

They cried out in shock. Some people in the distance had already been curious after watching from afar.

Now they all gathered around.

Where had they ever seen a method of treating the wounded like Tianyi's?

He had not used advanced medical ninjutsu or formed complicated hand seals.

He had simply cut the man open with a knife, rummaged around with his hands, then sewn him up with needle and thread.

The key was that he had actually dragged the man back from death's door!!!

Hearing the commotion and seeing a crowd gathered around Tianyi, the deputy leader of the medical unit hurried over after finishing up on the other side.

He first crouched down to check the wounded man's breathing and pulse, then carefully examined the sutures on his chest and the crude drain.

"..." The deputy leader fell silent for several seconds, then looked up at Tianyi, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"The hemopneumothorax was handled in time. You opened the chest to stop the bleeding. Your technique is a little rough, but at a time like this, it was decisive and effective!

"Especially stitching the pericardium with needle and thread—and with such frighteningly precise placement...

"That really is a genius idea!

"I never expected you to be a medical prodigy.

"And your Hyuga Clan's Byakugan is simply incredible when used for medicine!

"Sending you to the front lines to fight really has been wasting your talent."

He then stood, looked at the wounded scattered across the ground, then at Hinata Tianyi, and made up his mind.

"Hinata Tianyi!" the deputy leader said sternly.

"From this moment on, you are an official member of the medical unit!

"You will choose severely wounded members you are confident you can save. Do not force yourself!

"There are several sets of clean knives and thread in the tent over there. Go get them and use them! Saving lives comes first!"

"Yes!" Tianyi's spirits rose, and he gritted his teeth as he stood.

He knew that with the combination of modern emergency medicine and the Byakugan, he could finally be of great use in this battlefield hospital, where medicine and supplies were scarce.

With this skill, in a place where human lives were as cheap as grass, he had temporarily earned himself a little standing and protection.

He did not rest for long. Taking two assistants with him, he grabbed the medical kit the deputy leader pointed out.

He walked toward the next ninja lying on the ground and groaning.

Tianyi spent the entire day administering emergency treatment to the severely wounded.

Tianyi felt completely hollowed out. By the time the last length of suture thread had been used up,

and the last roll of bandages had been wrapped around the final wounded man's chest,

he practically dragged his feet to the base of a large tree at the edge of the camp. Leaning against its rough trunk, he slowly slid down to sit.

He was covered in blood and sweat, unable to tell whose was whose.

Not a drop of chakra remained, and his head buzzed as his mind went blank.

He could not even keep his eyelids open. Leaning against the tree trunk, he drifted off in a haze.

The evening breeze blew past, carrying a chill and the smell of something burned in the distance. Several leaves rustled down onto him.

Who knew how much time passed before his consciousness slowly returned.

The first thing he felt was warmth—a real body temperature beside him.

Then he caught a faint scent, a mixture of medicinal herbs and clean soap pods.

He moved his stiff neck and slowly opened his eyes.

His vision was blurry at first, then came into focus. At some point, his head had tilted sideways, and he was leaning against Mitarai Aoi's shoulder.

She sat perfectly straight, quietly watching the distant, flickering campfire. Her profile looked peaceful yet tired in the firelight.

Tianyi jolted awake, his face instantly burning hot.

He hurriedly sat up straight and shifted a little farther away.

"Aoi... Sister Aoi? I..."