Kōki Orochimaru had been longing for, was on his way to the logistics medical unit. Oblivious to Orochimaru's Orochimaru feelings, he was replaying the scene of their first meeting in his mind.
He noticed that Orochimaru's gaze was a bit strange, but he wasn't afraid. With his Wood Release, he had a natural advantage over Orochimaru.
His only worry was how to obtain the Second Orochimaru's research records from Orochimaru. He had always wanted to improve his research on Yin Release.
Obtaining the Second Hokage's research records from Orochimaru was one of the methods he had previously envisioned.
He had previously considered exchanging the information he knew with Orochimaru, but after meeting Orochimaru today, he realized how naive he had been.
Orochimaru's inner and outer confidence and his feelings for Konoha during this period made him realize that the Orochimaru of today was not the Orochimaru would defect from Konoha more than ten years later.
Orochimaru might also be interested in Kōki's information at this point, but it's uncertain whether he will ultimately agree to the Kōki. Orochimaru knows that Kōki is someone Hiruzen Sarutobi values, and he might not make any deal with Kōki before Hiruzen Sarutobi agrees.
Because he still clearly cares about Konoha, he won't betray it until Hiruzen Sarutobi completely gives up on him.
Orochimaru, who later defected from Konoha, had severed all ties in his heart; only the obsession with immortality drove him. With such an obsession, Orochimaru was the best candidate for a deal with Kōki.
Lost in thought, he soon arrived at the medical unit's camp, which wasn't far from the combat troops—just a short walk away. Just as he was about to ask someone who the medical unit's leader was, an acquaintance called out to him, " Kōki, you've come to the front lines too?"
A female ninja in a white medical uniform appeared beside him. "You came with the thousand-strong force today, right? The Lord Hokage is really going too far, sending someone as young as you to the battlefield. You must give the teacher a good talking-to after the war."
Kōki hadn't expected to run into an acquaintance at the medical camp. He replied to the female ninja, "Yes, Sister Rin. But it's not the Lord Hokage's fault; I came to the front lines voluntarily. And the Lord Hokage assigned me to join the front-line medical unit to contribute to Konoha as a medical-nin."
Rin Takakura, an elite medical-nin of Konoha Medical Team, is 23 years old and a beautiful and elegant ninja. The teacher she refers to is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the wife of Biwako Sarutobi.
She originally worked at Konoha Hospital, but now that she's on the front lines, Kōki realizes the shortage of medical personnel there.
It turns out that Rin Takakura and Kōki met by chance.
At that time, Kōki had just arrived in the Hokage world and woke up as Wood Release experimental subject. For more than a month after waking up, he was examined Tenten.
Even after leaving the hospital, he was required to return for a follow-up examination. Rin Takakura, who possessed superb medical skills and was a disciple of Biwako Sarutobi, was appointed by Hiruzen Sarutobi to be responsible for examining Kōki's body. It was through this back and forth that Kōki got to know Rin Takakura, who had examined him at the time.
Because Kōki was young at the time and had a sweet tongue, he easily got along with Rin Takakura. Then, taking advantage of his status as someone valued by Hiruzen Sarutobi, he asked Rin Takakura to teach him Medical Ninjutsu.
Kōki realized that experiencing Medical Ninjutsu as an experiment would greatly benefit him. Furthermore, Medical Ninjutsu isn't something anyone can learn easily; if it weren't for his current status, most people wouldn't be willing to teach it.
When asked to learn Medical Ninjutsu, Rin Takakura initially refused.
She knew that Kōki was someone who knew about Yuki's awakening of Wood Release.
She was also well aware of Hiruzen Sarutobi's interest in Kōki, so she dared not teach Kōki Medical Ninjutsu indiscriminately, for fear of disrupting Hiruzen Sarutobi's plans.
Unable to endure Kōki's persistent pleading any longer, she had no choice but to back down and teach Kōki a simple and practical Medical Ninjutsu. This Medical Ninjutsu would neither disrupt Hiruzen Sarutobi's plans for Kōki nor fail to meet Kōki's small request.
Moreover, she played a little trick back then; she simply handed the medical scroll to Kōki but didn't give him any guidance, leaving it entirely up to Kōki to learn how well he could.
Although she eventually passed on the Medical Ninjutsu to Kōki, she was confident that Kōki so young, would never be able to learn the Medical Ninjutsu in the scroll. If Medical Ninjutsu were so easy to learn, there wouldn't be a shortage of personnel.
So at that time, she thought that doing this would both make Kōki back down and avoid being blamed by Hiruzen Sarutobi two birds with one stone.
However, she did not expect that the day after she gave the scroll to Kōki, Kōki learned it, and even mastered it better than she had, who had practiced for more than ten years.
Seeing Kōki's smug expression, she couldn't contain her Kōki and handed him an even more difficult medical scroll, declaring that Kōki would never be able to learn this technique.
However, the result was beyond her expectations, and she was proven wrong again. In just two days, Kōki proudly ran up to her and said that he had learned it, asking her if there was anything more difficult.
Those few days were so frustrating that she could hardly sleep. She realized that people with talent are truly unreasonable; they learn anything given to them, and they master everything they learn without any bottlenecks.
Then she thought again, it's good that he has such high medical talent, maybe Konoha will produce another great medical-nin like Lady Tsunade. She felt that with Kōki's talent, he might really be able to reach the same level of medical skill Lady Tsunade.
So she didn't resist anymore. She continued in the same way, only giving him the scrolls and not teaching him the principles. Those who could learn it could learn it, and those who couldn't could leave it alone. This way, she wouldn't be disobeying Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders, and she could still provide Kōki with opportunities to grow.
Even though she left Kōki to fend for herself, Kōki still managed to learn all the Medical Ninjutsu she gave him. This talent made her unable to resist suggesting to Hiruzen Sarutobi that Kōki formally learn from her.
Perhaps it was because Kōki's talent in Medical Ninjutsu was simply too extraordinary, Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude changed this time. He didn't stop Kōki from learning Medical Ninjutsu, but instead told Kōki to focus on Wood Release and learn Medical Ninjutsu when he had time.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi letting go, Rin Takakura could finally teach Kōki with peace of mind.
However, before the course started, she suddenly realized that everything she knew, Kōki also knew, and some things she didn't Kōki also knew.
For a moment, she didn't even know what else she could teach Kōki.
After much thought, she felt that Kōki had no weaknesses in technique, only in practical experience, but she couldn't solve that problem.
The patients at Konoha Hospital are not children as young as Kōki who can handle them.
Thus, Kōki's Medical Ninjutsu was of no use in Konoha; he could only treat minor injuries to himself or his teammates.
When Rin Takakura saw Kōki at the medical camp, her first reaction was worry.
But her second thought was happiness. She had been incredibly busy lately, and with Kōki's help, the pressure of her treatment would be relieved.