Not doing missions is impossible; Ninja currently operate under this work model, unless Ino betrays the Village.
Lady Tsunade's learning tasks are also very heavy.
Ino's solution is to be a "day student"!
She would do missions for two days, then use her vacation time to study with Tsunade, and when the vacation ended, she would return to Konoha to be a tool.
The Third Hokage nodded with relief when he heard that Ino had become Tsunade's disciple.
Although she wasn't someone he had "Yuan Guidance" himself, since she had apprenticed with Tsunade, she could be considered a direct descendant of the Hokage's side.
The Third Hokage's nose twitched twice, and he could vaguely smell alcohol.
Good heavens, she drank quite a bit, didn't she?
He knew his female disciple, Tsunade, too well, and he couldn't say anything. What could he say? That the First Hokage taught her? That he, the Third Hokage, taught her?
He could only say, "Good! Drinking is good! It can prevent cardiovascular diseases, it's very good! You all just keep drinking!"
Tsunade's whereabouts were uncertain, and Ino now had a reputation as a genius. To prevent hunting Ninja from killing her, she needed a flexible pass to leave the Village.
In the future, she would not use the main gate or go through official procedures to leave the Village, but rather exit through the ANBU Ninja's secret checkpoints.
The Third Hokage agreed on the spot, but with one condition: she must achieve good results in the Chunin Exams.
What exactly constituted good results? Ino didn't know, but it was also the expectation of Inoichi and Rino, so she readily agreed.
For this exam, and to obtain the certificate for free Village exit, she would give her all.
The two chatted briefly about everyday matters at the end.
"Are Tsunade and Jiraiya doing well?" the old man asked.
Ino thought seriously for a minute, which made the Third Hokage puzzled. Such a simple question and she still needed to think?
"...I don't know if you'd call it well, but as soon as I walked in, I saw Lady Tsunade hitting Lord Jiraiya!"
The Third Hokage nodded stiffly. "That's right, my disciple is exactly like that. It seems you didn't find the wrong person."
The water transformation content involved in Steam Impurities Explosion was ultimately incomplete. Ino patched it up, but could only achieve partial water transformation for now. Coupled with the fact that this Ninjutsu was naturally countered by Lightning Release, her first choice for a life-saving skill remained Medical Ninjutsu.
According to Tsunade's requirements, while studying basic theoretical knowledge, she also didn't give up on observing surgeries at Konoha Hospital.
Even if she didn't get to perform them, just watching from the side could still increase her experience somewhat.
Konoha Hospital still treated her as a transparent figure; it wasn't to the point of outright ignoring her, but it certainly wasn't enthusiastic.
She couldn't loudly proclaim her relationship with Tsunade, and only the "perpetual Genin" Yakushi Kabuto was willing to chat with her.
Medical Ninja were very busy, and often she couldn't help much, only watching from the side. Over time, in Konoha Hospital, where most Ninja were at least Chunin, the two "Genin" naturally became acquainted.
"Ino, you're also preparing for the Chunin Exams, aren't you?" Kabuto asked kindly.
This 'Actor' liked to put on a show, so Ino played along with him.
"Yes, Senior Kabuto, are you participating this year too?"
"Haha, actually, I don't want to participate. In four years, I've participated in the Chunin Exams seven times. I know my limitations; I really don't have much talent on the path of a Ninja. But my two companions are encouraging me, so I haven't made up my mind yet."
"Senior, you can definitely do it. When we get to the exam, I'll still need your guidance as a junior. I get nervous just thinking about the exam now."
"Hahahaha, let's help each other. I hope we can both pass the exam!"
The two chatted idly, without a single word of truth.
Yakushi Kabuto was mostly reading, and when he occasionally went onto the operating table, he appeared very clumsy. When Ino asked, he would say that his talent was limited and that he planned to put more effort into theoretical research.
Ino could only respond with, "I don't believe a word of it!"
The seemingly peaceful Ninja World was actually not peaceful at all. The Village might appear tranquil, but that was because someone was silently bearing a heavy burden in the shadows. These Ninja might not possess earth-shattering Ninjutsu, but it was precisely because of their sacrifices that the younger generation had enough time to grow.
After a series of rescue efforts by the Medical Ninja, one of the three injured Ninja, who was severely wounded, still could not be saved.
Ino arrived too late; there wasn't even time to summon the Slug.
Watching the body covered with a white sheet being wheeled out of the operating room, all the Medical Ninja paid their respects, and even Kabuto, who had been reading nearby, stood up to show a certain degree of respect for the deceased.
As the body was wheeled away, Ino looked at Kabuto: "Compared to the living, I find that Senior seems to respect the dead more?"
This was indeed her observation. Not just for Ninja, but for the deaths of civilians and merchants, Kabuto would show a certain degree of respect. Ino felt there was some pretense in it, but also, to some extent, some genuine emotion.
She was quite curious about Kabuto's mindset.
Kabuto pushed his round glasses up his nose with his left hand. The lenses reflected the light, preventing Ino from seeing his eyes clearly.
"The more you see, the more you realize that many things are meaningless. All beings struggle in a sea of suffering, rising and falling... Perhaps only at the moment of death can they find true meaning." Seemingly feeling that his words were a bit inappropriate, he changed the subject and resumed his gentle smile: "Actually, there's a lot I don't understand either; I just read about it in books."
"Meaning?" Ino lowered her head and pondered for a while. The word 'meaning' sounded ordinary at first, but in the larger context of the Ninja World, this word was unusually heavy.
Haku said he was a tool, and so on. Weren't others the same? Everyone was a tool, so what meaning was there?
"Fifteen years old, I joined the army; eighty years old, I finally returned." The environment described by the poet already seemed tragic enough, but in the Ninja World? It was even more tragic than he described.
Kakashi started going to the battlefield and killing people at six years old. Ino and her peers graduated from school at twelve and participated in various battles, which was even later than those who joined the army at fifteen. The Third Hokage was sixty-nine and wanted to live out his old age peacefully, but his most valued and beloved disciple said, "No! I will never allow you to live to eighty; I will definitely kill you!"
In the entire Ninja World, more than half of the people had mental illnesses. Ino even suspected she was sick herself. She pathologically pursued all sorts of powerful Ninjutsu, initially for her life, but was it still for that now? Seeing Takigakure Jonin Suien blown to dust by Steam Impurities Explosion, her heart felt no disgust or discomfort; instead, she gained immense satisfaction. She had changed, and she was sick, just not as severely as these people.
Ino spoke from the heart, unable to resist saying a few more words: "People are sick, and the whole world is sick."
Seemingly finding her words particularly childish, Yakushi Kabuto retorted with a hint of sarcasm: "Then have you found the cause of the illness?"
Ino gave him a strange look. "You're the one who told me to trick you! Don't regret it!"
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