After Sunagakure temporarily ceased hostilities due to logistical issues, Genji and the others began to focus all their efforts on treating the poisoned ninjas in the medical camp.
Although there was no antidote, they could save as many people as they could using Medical Ninjutsu. While they had saved quite a few, the number saved was still far from the number of people who needed saving. Research on an antidote was ongoing, but they had hit a bottleneck and were struggling to make a breakthrough.
While Genji Ryōma and the others were still worrying about the antidote, Kōki was secretly making some underhanded moves.
At that moment, he was in his room arranging various medications.
In front of him was a notebook filled with writing, containing a lot of information about herbs.
This medicine notebook was a trophy that Kōki obtained from a Sunagakure invading the Land of Fire during his first Anbu mission.
He glanced at it a few times and then put it directly into his pocket, paying no further attention to it.
It wasn't until he encountered Chiyo's poison incident and tried to find a solution that he remembered he had such a related thing.
After carefully examining the book, Kōki discovered that it contained many unique poison-making techniques from Sunagakure, although these techniques were relatively basic, along with the medicinal ingredients required.
Although the poisons on this plate are unique, most of them have already been countered by Konoha, with only a very few remaining uncounted by Konoha.
These very few poisons are not lethal to humans, but only have a powerful torturous effect.
Upon reading the last part of the record, Kōki realized that this poison was specially developed by Sunagakure to pry open the enemy's mouth; it was designed to cause as much pain as possible while ensuring the enemy's survival.
This effect immediately reminded Kōki of the poison used by Sunagakure this time. The two had very similar effects, the only difference being that Chiyo's poison was lethal, and had already killed many Konoha Ninja in the past few days.
Upon discovering this, Kōki did not submit the record but instead attempted to develop it himself. Because he was worried there might be something wrong with the record, he planned to test it himself before reporting back to his superiors.
And so Kōki began to painstakingly study the techniques of making poisons in Sunagakure.
Kōki quickly created the corresponding toxin using the methods in the notebook.
However, due to the rudimentary conditions and the lack of on-site testing of the poison's effects, Kōki still couldn't determine the authenticity of the records.
Therefore, relying on his body's powerful regenerative abilities and profound Medical Ninjutsu, he injected himself with the poison he had created, experiencing its effects through his own body. After confirming the poison's effects, Kōki finally affirmed the authenticity of the record.
But now there's another problem: even if I submit the records, the higher-ups won't be able to develop an antidote quickly.
Because the medical personnel could not personally experience the effects of the poison like he could, and thus could not develop an antidote based on their physical sensations, the medical personnel were not Kōki himself in developing an antidote.
After much deliberation, Kōki decided not to hand over the records and instead develop the antidote himself.
Then, with the help of his notes Sunagakure Kōki adjusted the poison he was currently using, and injected himself with it every time he made one.
Of course, the poison he injected himself was specially modified, with only a slight lethality. The lethality would only increase after he gradually adapted to it. After all, he was trying to save people and didn't want to put himself at risk.
Through these painful experiments over the past few days, Kōki finally created a poison with effects similar to Chiyo's poison, and also successfully developed an antidote.
However, Kōki, who was well aware of the complex properties of poisons, could not be sure whether the poison he made was the same as the one made by Chiyo, or whether the antidote he made would be effective against Chiyo's poison.
Therefore, the only way to resolve this speculation is to test the drug on oneself.
Today, he successfully stole a small drop of Chiyo's poison, which Genji Ryōma had collected, from the camp, and prepared to try it on himself.
Kōki took out a Kunai, poured poison onto Kunai, spread the poison evenly, and then gently ran it across his finger before closing his eyes to feel the poison invading his body.
As expected of Chiyo's poison, the effect was indeed strong. In just a few seconds, Kōki felt intense pain, as if countless insects were frantically tearing at his body.
Faced with such intense pain, Kōki frowned deeply. He wasn't frowning because of the physical pain, but because he suddenly remembered that the poisoned ninjas in the medical camp didn't take as long to develop the poison as he did; the other ninjas took several hours to develop the poison, while he only took a dozen seconds. This was clearly not right.
Then he remembered that the poison he stole was collected and gathered together by Genji Ryōma, and it had been concentrated to a certain extent for the convenience of research. In other words, the poison he obtained was more than ten times more toxic than normal poison.
This left Kōki somewhat dumbfounded; he hadn't realized that the poison he'd stolen was concentrated. It was his own fault, though, because he'd been so overjoyed after discovering the antidote that he'd forgotten such a crucial detail.
Now that the poison has already entered his body, and there's no time to start over, he can only make the best of a bad situation, inject the antidote, and wait for the outcome.
After the antidote was injected, Kōki closed his eyes and felt the changes in his body. First, the pain in his body began to decrease little by little. Second, the toxins that had been lingering near his heart were directly neutralized after encountering the antidote and then disappeared from his body. The organs that had been damaged by the toxins were also restored to their original state thanks to the body's regenerative abilities.
Upon sensing the changes in his body, Kōki suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes filled with excitement and anticipation.
If a poison ten times more potent than itself can be neutralized by its own antidote, then normal poisons are even less of a problem.
Thinking of this, Kōki excitedly slapped his thigh. He knew he had succeeded; after three days of effort, he had finally cracked Chiyo's poison.
Kōki sighed inwardly, "This is no easy feat. Chiyo's poison is indeed potent; breaking it is even more difficult than learning Medical Ninjutsu."
If Genji Ryōma could hear Kōki's thoughts at this moment, he would probably be so frustrated he'd vomit blood. They had painstakingly researched a way to counteract the poison, only for Kōki to crack it in three days. The worst part was that he wasn't even satisfied with just three days. This was a complete mockery of their group.
At this moment, Kōki felt a sense of relief and his expression was very pleasant. He thought that with the antidote, Konoha would no longer be able to hold back against the Sunagakure's attack, and the situation on the front lines would change accordingly.
However, his carefree expression quickly vanished as he realized that delivering the antidote to Genji Ryōma was also a problem.
Although he had good medical talent, in Genji Ryōma's eyes he was a young ninja who lacked medical experience and was not capable of independently developing an antidote. He thought that if he rashly went over there, he would only be ignored.
Even if Genji Ryōma had a very good relationship, it was impossible for him to risk the lives of ninjas for such an experiment.
Therefore, he wanted to convince Genji Ryōma that the antidote he had made was real and effective.
There must be a person of considerable authority and status to testify for him. And what this person says must be believable to Genji Ryōma.
Another crucial issue is that such a person must be familiar with Kōki himself; otherwise, who would listen to a child like him?
So Kōki started brainstorming, thinking through his social circle, and finally came up with a candidate.
There was only one person who possessed both status and authority, and whose words were listened to by Genji Ryōma: Rin Takakura, the only medical-nin on the front lines who was both proficient in Medical Ninjutsu and of extraordinary status.