Inpatient Ward
Kitada Aina's shift today ran from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next morning—night duty.
At this hour, there weren't many patients in the first-floor lobby, but it wasn't empty either. Quite a few ninja had come in on emergency cases and were now handling admission procedures.
"Good evening, Doctor Aina~"
Bai Xing waved cheerfully at the injured chūnin ahead and the members of his squad.
"Good evening, everyone~"
When he noticed the bloodstains on the chūnin, Bai Xing instantly switched on his award-level acting. He stepped forward gently and asked with concern:
"Sir, you're still bleeding. Let me help stop it first, shall I?"
The chūnin's thigh—wrapped in white bandages—was seeping blood. He was gripping a metal forearm crutch, balancing himself on one leg.
"Is that okay? Our paperwork is still being reviewed."
—During wartime, beds in the ninja ward were tight. Whether a patient could be admitted depended on the severity of their injuries.
At present, the inpatient ward reserved beds only for ninja.
Meanwhile, on the second, fourth, and fifth floors of the Medical Department, both civilians and ninja could be hospitalized—but at night, only regular doctors were on duty for rounds.
"It's fine."
Bai Xing's hands flashed through seals. A warm green glow—the basic medical ninjutsu Hemostasis Technique—appeared instantly over the "girl's" palms.
The light landed on the wound on the man's right leg. It felt warm and comfortable. Coupled with the sight of "Kitada Aina's" pure, gentle face bathed in that glow, the injured chūnin suddenly felt like… he might have fallen in love.
The light faded in just a few seconds. Bai Xing wiped a faint sheen of sweat from his brow—channeling chakra steadily through bandages to stop bleeding was no easy feat.
"All done, sir. Once you're admitted, remember to have your attending physician replace the bandages. The medicine in these isn't strong enough—you'll need better ones, okay~"
The young chūnin flushed and nodded vigorously.
"Thank you, Doctor Aina."
"Um—"
"Doctor Kitada, we need you over here to examine another ninja. Could you come for a moment?"
"Yup yup yup~ Coming right away~~"
My little experience pack—here I come~
By the way, the two medical ninjutsu Bai Xing currently knew—Hemostasis and Chakra Scalpel—were skills he'd "borrowed" over the past half year by sneaking looks at books his excellent disciple Nono was reading.
=￣ω￣=
Bai Xing skipped toward the nurse who'd just arrived on the first floor, leaving behind a slightly crestfallen chūnin standing there dazed.
His teammate elbowed him and waggled his eyebrows, signaling that there'd be plenty of chances later—and that now wasn't the right time anyway. When the real Kitada Aina later came by during discharge and faced the chūnin's confession with zero memory of him, the poor guy would suffer ten thousand times the emotional damage.
Besides, with the hospital seeing so many people every day, no matter how good her memory was, there was no way she'd remember everyone's name.
The next morning, around nine o'clock.
Yawning hugely, Bai Xing dragged his utterly drained body—both stamina and chakra—to a corridor path in the forested area behind the village.
This was a main route leading either to the back mountain forest or to the Memorial Stone honoring Konoha's heroes.
The bridge here was sturdy, with stone railings designed to keep children from climbing over. Below, the river roared as it rushed past.
Past this point lay the red torii gate in traditional Japanese style that marked the entrance to the back mountain—though they weren't going in, just lingering on the outskirts.
"Eh? Bai Xing, you're early today~ But you look like you didn't sleep much. Nervous, maybe~?"
"Not really."
Leaning against the railing, Bai Xing looked down at the rushing water below, a wave of melancholy passing through him.
So… am I really going to the battlefield after all?
Around seven in the morning, Tsunade had told "her" to head home early and rest. He'd planned to sleep in—but then his shadow clone's memories returned, carrying a summons from Orochimaru via one of his little white snake summons.
Time: 9:30 a.m. today.
After staying up all night, he'd only managed to splash his face, rest for an hour, and then rush over.
"Yo~ everyone~ good morning~!"
Without even turning his head, Bai Xing knew there was an over-enthusiastic youth standing on a higher spot to the side, striking what he thought was a very youthful pose while greeting him and Nawaki.
Nawaki's mouth twitched.
"Aren't you afraid you'll fall?! Don't expect me to save you if you do."
On the railing, a green-clad arm shot skyward.
"Today's the day we head to the battlefield, right?! I'm ready to burn my youth!!"
"Yoo-hoo~!"
"..."
Bai Xing stared deadpan.
Why don't you go in my place?
The battlefield was no joke. He wasn't an Edo Tensei body—once chakra and stamina ran dry in a large-scale fight, he'd end up like Tobirama Senju: dead.
"You're all quite punctual."
"Orochimaru-sensei!" x3
Even though Orochimaru hadn't really taught Might Dai any ninjutsu—only given him a few words of guidance about forbidden techniques—Dai still acknowledged him as a teacher.
As for Bai Xing, of course he'd sweet-talk his way through calling him "Sensei."
Nawaki ran up excitedly to Orochimaru, who had just appeared in the middle of the corridor via Body Flicker.
"Sensei, are we going to the battlefield today?!"
Facing Tsunade's younger brother—his favored disciple—Orochimaru naturally showed a gentle smile. His pale right hand reached out to ruffle the boy's hair.
"Nawaki."
"Sensei knows your strength is already quite solid, but you still lack real combat experience."
"And I'm about to head to the front lines. I'm afraid I won't be able to take you with me to gain experience."
"Huh?! I think I'm already really strong! If Uncle Hokage hadn't stopped me from entering this Chūnin Exam, I'd have wiped the floor with those genin!"
Nawaki raised a small fist.
Bai Xing and Might Dai: "..."
Sorry—almost beat you half to death.
Orochimaru knew perfectly well that during that period, he'd been splitting his time between developing his own techniques and occasionally teaching Nawaki. He'd even sent out a shadow clone during the Chūnin Exams to observe and gather intelligence.
Then, over the next half year, he'd taken in Bai Xing and Might Dai to fill the vacant slots in his team—only to receive an A-rank mission from the village that later escalated to S-rank, nearly costing both him and Jiraiya their lives.
A squad of three jōnin and three chūnin—only two jōnin and two chūnin returned.
Upon returning to the village, he'd immediately gone to Tsunade for treatment, saying nothing to his three disciples, and spent a long while recuperating at home before reappearing.
And now, not long after recovering, he was heading back to the front lines.
That place was not somewhere genin belonged.
Go there, and death came easy.
Rain Village ninja were especially adept at traps.
Explosive corpses. Poison mist corpses.
Even explosive tags were used excessively.
For example, the hard-to-detect, multi-tag A-rank technique Fire Release: Explosive Flame Formation—even Nagato with the Rinnegan had fallen for that one in canon. Fortunately, he'd reacted in time, using repulsion to block most of it and save Konan.
Ordinary Rain ninja could also set up more common explosive tag arrays.
Chakra contact—like when chakra-enhanced feet landed on them—or sufficient weight pressure could trigger detonation.
—On this point, Nawaki should have very deep impressions, canonically speaking.
The former was the deadliest, since the moment chakra touched it, it exploded.
So Orochimaru would rather have Nawaki train safely in the village than risk that hellish battlefield.
Compared to his talent, Nawaki actually didn't surpass Uchiha Mikoto. In the class, he was only upper-middle tier.
What Orochimaru valued more was—
Something he himself had once possessed.
—Innocence and kindness.
"Nawaki, be good. Your sister wouldn't want you stepping onto such a dangerous battlefield so early."
"And besides—"
Still resting his hand on the boy's head, Orochimaru's gaze shifted from Nawaki to Bai Xing and Might Dai.
"Your teammates' overall strength isn't enough."
"On the battlefield, they'd easily become your burden."
Hearing this, the brown-haired boy struck a flashy pose, one hand pressed to his forehead.
"Eh~ that's just the problem with being too outstanding. I get it."
Bai Xing and Might Dai: "..."
Really want to expose all my strength / open the Eight Gates and beat him senseless.
...
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