"Failure."
Watching Bai Mo disappear around the corner, Naruto and Konohamaru dispelled their Transformation Jutsu, slumping together dejectedly.
"At least there's a consolation prize. Konohamaru, come on, I'll treat you to ramen."
Naruto looked at the money in his hand, his mood recovering.
"No thanks, Big Brother Naruto, I need to go home for dinner."
Konohamaru, however, wasn't happy at all.
After all, his usual allowance was quite generous; he didn't care for the little bit Kurotsuchi gave them.
After parting ways with Konohamaru, Naruto, money in hand, prepared to go to Ichiraku Ramen to order a deluxe ramen as a reward for himself.
Halfway there, he was stopped by someone.
"Young man, your ninjutsu just now showed me your exceptional talent…"
"Who are you?"
Naruto, his mind full of ramen, looked unhappily at the person who stopped him.
"A good question! I am the legendary Sannin, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku—"
—
Bai Mo was unaware of Naruto and Jiraiya's premature meeting.
Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
He and Konan came to Konoha with only two main objectives.
One was to re-recruit Orochimaru into the organization.
The other was some of Konoha's "resources."
Beyond that, it was for their allies, Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī, to use the Chūnin Exams as a training exercise.
Kurotsuchi brought Bai Mo and Mei Terumī to her residence.
As Kage, Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī naturally had the most top-tier arrangements.
After Kurotsuchi entered the house, she began to loosen her clothes.
After stripping down to just an undershirt, Kurotsuchi took a bottle from her pocket and tossed it to Bai Mo.
"You really want me to apply it?"
Bai Mo took the bottle; upon opening it, a herbal scent wafted out.
"Oh right, I remember you know Medical Ninjutsu now. Come on then."
Kurotsuchi misunderstood, turned around, took back the medicine bottle, and sat down on the table, presenting her back to Bai Mo.
"Medical Ninjutsu?"
Mei Terumī looked at Bai Mo in surprise.
She had never seen Bai Mo fight, and now hearing Kurotsuchi say this, she wondered if Bai Mo was a Medical Ninja.
"Yes, back then, the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki's skin was scorched by Tailed Beast Chakra, and he just touched her, and it healed.
The level of his Medical Ninjutsu is many times greater than even our Iwagakure's most powerful Medical Ninja."
After Kurotsuchi finished telling Mei Terumī, she looked back at Bai Mo in confusion, "What's wrong? Why aren't you moving?"
"I don't think I ever said I was a Medical Ninja, did I?"
Bai Mo smiled helplessly, took the medicine bottle back from Kurotsuchi's hand, poured out some ointment into his palm, slapped it onto Kurotsuchi's waist, and began to apply it.
"Ah!"
Kurotsuchi trembled when Bai Mo slapped her, but she didn't pay attention to Bai Mo's action. Instead, she was very surprised and puzzled: "You're not a Medical Ninja? Then how did you heal the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki back then?"
"I just repaired Fū's body. If I were present when you got injured, I could also heal you instantly, but it's not possible now."
Bai Mo explained, while helping Kurotsuchi apply the medicine, then extended his hand towards Kurotsuchi.
"What?"
Kurotsuchi was still pondering what 'repair' meant, and seeing Bai Mo's gesture, she didn't react immediately.
"New, clean gauze bandages. Didn't you bring any?"
"Oh, oh, yes, I do. They're over there. Mizukage, please grab them for me."
Kurotsuchi pointed to a small bag she had left on the corner of the table, stretched out her hand, found she couldn't reach it, and could only ask Mei Terumī for help.
Mei Terumī got up, walked over, picked up the small bag, and handed it to Bai Mo.
After Bai Mo finished treating Kurotsuchi, Kurotsuchi put on her clothes and patted her waist: "This should be the last dressing change; it's almost healed."
After speaking, Kurotsuchi sighed again: "If only our Iwagakure had a Medical Ninja like Tsunade."
Tsunade, as the pinnacle of Medical Ninja in the Ninja World, not only possessed powerful support abilities herself, but most importantly, she had inherited knowledge.
The famous ninjutsu within Medical Ninjutsu all had a considerable degree of difficulty.
Mystical Palm Technique is an A-rank ninjutsu, requiring precise chakra control, and its learning difficulty is on par with the Rasengan.
The remaining ones, simply emitting green light from the hands, used by ordinary medical teams, only served auxiliary purposes like stopping bleeding and sustaining life.
If Medical Ninja could directly heal like priests in online games, then the major ninja villages would not have hospitals at all.
Injuries like those sustained by Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī, even after treatment by Medical Ninja, still required other methods for auxiliary healing.
"What you said actually reminded me. What do you think if we were to establish a High-Level Ninja Research Academy?"
Bai Mo said, stroking his chin.
"High-level? Academy?"
Mei Terumī and Kurotsuchi exchanged glances.
Before, they would certainly have questioned the rationality of Bai Mo's idea.
But now, they had both been… educated by Bai Mo.
The ninja village system, the Ninja Academy system, they all learned from Konoha. Why couldn't they proactively propose new systems for Konoha to learn from?
Just like their current system of a unified military and political Kage, Kumogakure was diligently learning from it. If Konoha didn't want to be left behind by the times, it would have to change sooner or later.
"Tell us in detail."
Mei Terumī looked at Bai Mo expectantly, while her clothes were half-undone, revealing the bandages wrapped from her shoulder to her back. She took out a box of ointment, indicating for Bai Mo to apply it for her while he spoke.
Bai Mo untied Mei Terumī's bandages and gauze, explaining as he applied the ointment:
"The current Ninja Academy, to put it plainly, is to give children who know nothing the most basic ninja qualities, raising the upper limit of Genin, but it's limited to Genin.
The High-Level Academy I envision is to raise the upper limit of Jōnin, or rather, geniuses.
After leaving the Ninja Academy, if a Genin wants to improve their strength, they either train themselves, rely on guidance from their Jōnin team leader, or are lucky enough to find other teachers.
If they're unlucky, they can only keep learning some basics.
There's a saying that a thousand-mile horse is common, but a true judge of horses is rare.
A Genin with Medical Ninja talent, following a Jōnin skilled in Fire Release, will, without accident, have their talent buried for a considerable period.
Of course, their talent will eventually emerge.
But once they reach the Jōnin stage, they'll get stuck again.
Just as Kurotsuchi said earlier, at this point, there are some things that simply no one can teach.
So, let's consider another idea.
What if we could invite Tsunade to be a lecturer for Medical Ninja?
She wouldn't need to truly treat these students as disciples and impart all her knowledge; just seriously teaching some knowledge would be better than the situations I just described, wouldn't it?
Whether it's young geniuses whose talents are buried, or Jōnin whose strength has long been stagnant."
After saying all this, Bai Mo had already re-bandaged Mei Terumī and even helped her pull up her clothes.
"There are no problems between us; it's like expanding the scope of the 'Mutual Aid Alliance.' Besides mutual assistance in economic development, it also includes mutual assistance in ninjutsu exchange.
But what about Konoha of the Land of Fire? They haven't joined us. Will Tsunade, whom you mentioned, choose to impart her knowledge to us, her enemies?"
Mei Terumī raised a crucial question.
....
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