"If I wanted to become a medical ninja, would you have a way to help me?"
Konome Taketori went straight to the point.
That was the only way she could think of right now to save herself.
After reading those Yang Release scrolls, she could more or less guess how medical ninjutsu actually worked.
You converted chakra into pure healing life force, then used extremely fine chakra control to slowly infuse that life force into the cells, accelerating cell division and protein synthesis.
To break through the limits of life and create her own Sage Body, she needed to complete two steps.
First, turn external chakra into pure, impurity free life force.
Second, use the Eight Gates technique and, instead of burning her life force, reverse the process and inject external life force back into the Gates.
If she could pull that off, she would not only gain a Sage Body.
Later on, she could even bypass the fragment of Kaguya's will inside the tailed beasts and steal Kaguya's chakra without leaving hidden risks behind.
The life force conversion used in medical ninjutsu might be the key to that first step.
"You want to become a medical ninja?"
Chihaya Tooru's brown hair actually swished a little from how shocked he was.
As a medical ninja himself, he knew better than anyone how hard that path was.
Every medical technique was already difficult to begin with and each one came bundled with pharmacology, pathology, and human physiology.
You had to spend a ridiculous amount of time studying.
It was not that he looked down on Konome's talent.
When your talent reached her level, switching fields still meant progressing faster than most people.
But medical ninjutsu study would eat enormous amounts of time.
Everyone in Konoha knew how monstrous Konome's combat talent was.
Letting someone like that waste years becoming a medical ninja was nothing short of criminal.
"I don't recommend it," Chihaya said, shaking his head.
"The cost of learning medical ninjutsu is very high. Top tier chakra control is a basic requirement.
"If there is something wrong with your body, I'd be happy to help you. There's no need for you to waste time learning medical ninjutsu yourself."
"I don't want to become a medical ninja," Konome replied.
She raised her hand.
A faint violet chakra gathered in her palm.
Crack.
Something on the corner of the desk made a sound like paper tearing.
Chihaya turned toward the noise.
The pale pink succulent in the corner of the desk had sprouted fresh green from its base.
The new leaves stretched open, then curled back in on themselves, bathed in violet chakra and sunlight.
The surface green faded into a delicate pink, taking on an almost glass like luster.
"Wood Release? No, that's Yang Release."
After spending half his life researching medical techniques, Chihaya recognized the nature of that life saturated glow at a glance.
"I've been studying the nature change of Yang Release recently," Konome explained calmly.
"I need medical ninjutsu to get a handle on it from another angle."
She withdrew the life rich chakra from her palm.
After devouring the Nine Tails' power, she had inherited that vitality filled energy.
Not only could it heal flesh.
When she had tried practicing Yang Release nature change two days ago, she discovered that the stray energy actually accelerated plant growth.
Some of the potted plants in Kakashi's house that had already withered had sprouted new shoots and come back to life under that power.
"Yang Release is extremely dangerous."
Chihaya stared at the succulent growing wildly in its pot. His expression turned very grave.
"Life force has a terrifyingly invasive quality.
"It isn't as wild as lightning, and it isn't as explosive as fire, but if you lose control of it, the mutational changes it causes to your body will be permanent, and may even carry on to your descendants.
"Don't go probing into that forbidden power."
You say that, but your hands are literally trembling with excitement, Doctor.
Konome glanced up at the emotional lights above his head.
Excitement, agitation, fear, greed.
All kinds of emotions twisted together, tangled like roots that spread out without end.
His mouth said "don't study Yang Release," but the hunger buried in his heart was so strong even she felt uneasy.
Ever since she obtained the Nine Tails' sense of good and evil, Konome had seen quite a few things she would rather not have.
"Incredible," Chihaya breathed.
He set the apple down on a napkin, picked up the succulent and examined it carefully.
From time to time he looked back at Konome, eyes shining like he was staring at something priceless.
"Doctor Chihaya, about learning medical ninjutsu…"
Watching him sink deeper and deeper into fascination with Yang Release, Konome frowned slightly and reminded him at the right moment.
"Ah, right, sorry."
Chihaya slapped his forehead and put the pot back down.
His expression returned to normal, though there was clearly something new in his gaze when he looked at Konome.
"Developing Yang Release techniques is extremely dangerous.
"Choosing to learn medical ninjutsu is indeed a good option, and much safer.
"How about this. I'll write you a letter of recommendation. You can attend Konoha Hospital's medical ninja training course for a while. It might help you."
"That would be great. Thank you for your help."
Konome feigned delight when she saw his attitude flip after examining the succulent, but her wariness deepened.
She glanced up again.
The light of friendliness above his head was getting brighter, but after her experience with Hiruzen, Konome no longer trusted this ability completely.
Looking with her Byakugan, she checked his body.
Muscles tensed, heartbeat speeding up, that abnormal excitement simmering in his chest.
Something about this Doctor Chihaya was… off.
Scratch scratch.
Pen tip rasped over paper.
Chihaya bent over the desk and quickly wrote the recommendation.
"By the way," Konome asked casually, "who teaches this medical training course?"
"The classes rotate between each department head," Chihaya replied.
"The current batch of students is under my instruction."
Click.
The pen cap snapped into place.
Chihaya folded the finished letter and pulled out a red seal from the drawer, stamping it.
"When I get off work, I'll give this to the doctor in charge of the training.
"Starting this weekend, you can come to the medical course and study the basics.
"As for Yang Release, don't experiment on your own. If there's something you don't understand, you can come to me."
Friendly concern was written all over his face, but seeing the hunger burning above his head, Konome only felt a chill.
"Thank you."
Her goal achieved, she stood up and quickly said goodbye to the strange doctor.
She definitely needed to learn medical ninjutsu.
As an elite jonin and the disciple of the Third Hokage, ninety percent of the danger in Konoha could not truly threaten her.
Besides, from now on only her shadow clones would be attending class at Konoha Hospital.
No matter what Chihaya was plotting, he would never have a chance to touch her real body.
She was already on invincible ground.
The door closed behind her.
Tap tap tap…
Listening to the footsteps fade away down the corridor, the kindly smile on Chihaya's face grew more and more unrestrained.
Crunch.
He picked up the red apple and bit off a huge chunk.
Sweet and sour juice trickled down the corner of his purple tinted lips.
Head lowered, he went back to the medical report on his desk.
It was only a single sheet.
The professional data was dense and complex.
At the top of the page was a photo of a girl.
The silver haired, glass eyed girl in the picture lay on a hospital bed, her face covered in blood, a gaping hole in her chest that could not close, breath hanging by a thread.
"What terrifying recovery."
Chihaya shook his head in awe, folded the report and slid it under the flower pot.
He pulled out another blank sheet from the stack and began to write quickly.
Out in the hallway, a white haired girl walked slowly by.
A faint violet light flickered beneath the black cloth over her eyes.
Two days later.
Five thirty in the afternoon.
The Hatake clan's training ground was a bare open space in the center, with several scarred round wooden targets standing to the southeast.
On the opposite side, a thunder rod-like device stood ready for Lightning Release training.
Because the training equipment was so sparse, the grounds looked even more empty.
In the middle of the field, Konome sat cross legged in a black short sleeved shirt, brows knit.
Her Byakugan turned inward.
From her head down to her chest, five shining green points of light connected in a thin line.
After her life and death fight with Yotsuki Isamu, the fifth Gate had already seemed a little loose.
She had spent extra time these last few days on the Eight Gates in order to practice reversing them, and had successfully opened the Gate of Limit.
Rock Lee, with only chunin level strength but that gate open, had been able to kick Gaara around like a ball.
Once Konome opened it, her chakra had indeed surged.
At the same time, she could feel that bone deep fatigue that came from burning her life force.
A trickle of life force flowed toward her heart, making the violet chakra core there grow denser.
The spotted Shikotsumyaku seemed stirred up by that power and began greedily trying to siphon chakra to grow stronger.
Konome's eyes hardened.
Her Byakugan flared.
The chakra core in her heart that devoured life force froze in place like a jammed machine.
The bones creaked and groaned in complaint, but under her ocular power they could not absorb any more chakra and sank back into silence.
Sealing both the chakra seed in her heart and the Shikotsumyaku, Konome pushed the life force stirred up by the Gate of Limit out of her heart and circulated it through her meridians, forcing it to flow along the Eight Gates path in reverse.
Boom.
The life energy ran backward in a rush and collided head on with the life force flowing out from inside each gate.
Sharp pain lanced through her meridians.
Konome calmly shut off her sense of pain, wrapped her meridians in a layer of violet chakra, and let the two streams of life force grapple inside her body.
Minute by minute passed.
The amount of life force inside her meridians grew thicker and heavier.
The backlash grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, the flows from inside the Gates dried up.
Seeing that the Eight Gates' power was exhausted, Konome seized the opportunity, pushed the viscous life energy in her meridians and little by little forced it back into the Gates.
The glowing green acupoints flared brighter.
The sticky, glue like life force split into five portions that compressed back into each gate.
Glug.
Life returned to its source.
The empty feeling in her body vanished in an instant.
Warmth filled her limbs like she was sinking into a hot spring.
The exhaustion from burning her life force disappeared without a trace.
She had reversed the Eight Gates.
And it worked.
Konome shut down the technique and stood up, patting the dust from her pants.
She had confirmed it now.
She could absorb external chakra, convert it to pure life force using medical techniques, then inject that life force into the Gates.
If she repeated the process over and over, a Sage Body should naturally form.
Of course, there were still plenty of unclear details.
Like how to absorb chakra from others, whether the life force converted from someone else's chakra would be pure enough, whether she could directly assimilate it, and so on.
But at least she had sketched out the structure of the jutsu.
The remaining branches and leaves could be handled one by one.
The time Shikotsumyaku would give her was not generous.
Her earlier estimate of five years had actually been a bit optimistic.
Judging from how fast the grey spots on her bones were spreading, at most two and a half years from now her entire skeleton would be steeped in that power.
Thinking of that kunai that had crumbled like a cracker after touching Ash Bone, she had no idea whether her body would be able to bear such a force.
If only she had Hashirama cells.
Konome sighed inwardly.
Hashirama cells could fix the problem in one move.
Even if her body could not handle direct modification, she could still study them and speed up her work on the reverse Eight Gates.
But she had no way to obtain them.
Even more importantly, her new teacher Hiruzen would absolutely not permit her to dabble in something so dangerous.
Standing in the middle of the training ground, Konome looked up at the blood red clouds smeared across the sky.
As Hokage, Hiruzen's schedule was packed.
He could only carve out two hours a week to teach her ninjutsu.
Today was their set lesson day.
She had stared enviously at the Lightning Release chakra mode in her hand for days now, with no guidance on how to develop its nature change.
Her impatience had already hit its limits.
It was not even five yet when she came early to the training ground, practicing the Eight Gates while she waited for him.
By her count, he should be here any moment.
Konome activated her Byakugan and looked through three walls all the way into the bedroom, where the alarm clock by the bed read five forty.
Was he held up by something?
As soon as the thought formed, a bright chakra cluster flashed in the distance, moving toward her at tremendous speed.
The chakra volume was three or four times greater than hers.
There were not many people in Konoha with reserves like that.
She waited as the chakra signature closed in.
Once she had confirmed the identity with her Byakugan, Konome stepped forward.
"Lord Sarutobi, you are la…"
Swoosh.
Before she could finish the greeting, a kunai whistled through the air and cut her off.
Her Byakugan tracked the spinning blade.
The gleaming kunai came straight for the center of her forehead.
Chakra surged through her body, undergoing Wind Release nature change, and a tearing gale burst from her mouth in an instant.
Clang.
Like two swords colliding, the kunai was blown back, spinning end over end, its edge chipped in a dozen places by the Wind Release chakra.
Clack.
Rustle.
The Hokage robes snapped in the wind as Sarutobi Hiruzen vaulted the wall and landed together with the rebounding kunai.
"Wind Release without seals. Not bad."
Seeing Konome effortlessly undo the surprise attack, Hiruzen nodded his approval.
"You're late," Konome said flatly.
She had waited half the afternoon and been greeted with a sneak attack the moment he arrived.
Her mood was anything but good.
"Sorry. Work has been particularly heavy these two days."
A hint of apology flashed in his eyes.
He recovered quickly and fixed his gaze on her.
"Before we begin, I need to assess your fighting style.
"We will have a practical bout first. Based on how you fight, I can tailor the rest of your lessons.
"Our time is very precious. We shouldn't waste it on unnecessary emotions, don't you agree, Konome?"
"I agree."
Blub, blub.
Transparent chakra bubbles rose around her.
A blood red cloak bloomed across her body, darker than the setting sun.
The girl's features blurred under it.
Even her trademark silver hair was dyed crimson.
Watching that familiar tailed beast cloak, Hiruzen could not help but recall a loud, cheerful red haired girl from the past.
So similar.
"Can we start?"
"Begin."
Boom.
The ground shook.
A crater opened at the center of the training field, dirt erupting in all directions.
The crimson figure shot out like a shell and slammed straight into Hiruzen's arms.
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