Chapter 47: Still Didn't Use Shadow Clones
"It failed."
Watching Shiromo's figure disappear around the corner, Naruto and Konohamaru released their Transformation Technique. The two of them leaned against each other, heads hanging low in disappointment.
"At least we still got a consolation prize. Konohamaru, come on, let's go eat ramen. My treat."
Looking at the bills in his hand, Naruto's mood quickly recovered.
"Forget it, Big Brother Naruto. I'm going home to eat."
Konohamaru didn't look happy at all.
After all, his usual allowance was already quite generous. He couldn't care less about the small amount Kurotsuchi had given them.
After parting ways with Konohamaru, Naruto took the money and headed toward Ichiraku Ramen, planning to order a deluxe bowl as a reward for himself.
Halfway there, he was stopped by someone.
"Young man, the ninjutsu you just used showed me your outstanding talent…"
"Who are you?"
With ramen filling his thoughts, Naruto looked at the person blocking his way with clear annoyance.
"Good question. I am one of the legendary Sannin, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku..."
—
Shiromo was unaware that Naruto and Jiraiya had met ahead of schedule.
Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.
He and Konan had come to Konoha with only two main objectives.
One was to bring Orochimaru back into the organization.
The other was to acquire certain "resources" from Konoha.
Everything else, such as letting their allies, Kurotsuchi and Terumī Mei, use the Chūnin Exams as a chance to train their forces, was secondary.
Kurotsuchi brought Shiromo and Mei to her lodging.
As Kage, both Kurotsuchi and Mei naturally received the highest-level accommodations.
As soon as Kurotsuchi entered the room, she began removing her clothes.
After stripping her upper body down to just an inner layer, she took a bottle out of her pocket and tossed it to Shiromo.
"You really want me to apply it?"
Shiromo caught the bottle. When he opened it, a strong herbal scent wafted out.
"Oh right, I just remembered you know medical ninjutsu. Then come on."
Kurotsuchi misunderstood his words. She turned around, took the bottle back, plopped herself onto the desk, and stuck her rear toward Shiromo just like that.
"Medical ninjutsu?"
Mei looked at Shiromo in surprise.
She had never seen him fight before. Hearing Kurotsuchi say this, she wondered if Shiromo was actually a medical ninja.
"Yeah. Back then, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki had her skin burned by tailed-beast chakra. He touched it once and it healed."
"That level of medical ninjutsu is way beyond even the best medical ninja in Iwagakure."
After explaining to Mei, Kurotsuchi turned back toward Shiromo in confusion.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you moving?"
"I don't remember ever saying I was a medical ninja."
Shiromo gave a helpless smile, took the bottle back from Kurotsuchi, poured some ointment into his palm, and slapped it onto her waist before beginning to apply it.
"Ah!"
The sudden slap made Kurotsuchi's body tremble, but she didn't care about the action itself. Instead, she asked in confusion: "You're not a medical ninja? Then how did you treat the Seven-Tails jinchūriki back then?"
"I only repaired Fū's body. If I'd been present when you were injured, I could've restored you immediately as well, but now I can't."
As he explained, Shiromo finished applying the medicine and then extended his hand toward Kurotsuchi.
"What?"
Kurotsuchi was still thinking about what "repair" meant and didn't react in time to his gesture.
"Clean gauze and bandages. Don't tell me you didn't bring any?"
"Oh, oh, I did. They're over there. Mizukage, can you grab them for me?"
Kurotsuchi pointed to a small pouch she had tossed into the corner of the table. She stretched her arm, realized she couldn't reach it, and had no choice but to ask Mei for help.
Mei stood up, picked up the pouch, and handed it to Shiromo.
After Shiromo finished treating her, Kurotsuchi put her clothes back on and patted her waist.
"This should be the last time changing the dressing. It's almost healed."
Then she sighed.
"If only our Iwagakure had a medical ninja like Tsunade."
As the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu in the shinobi world, Tsunade didn't just possess powerful support abilities herself, the most important thing was her knowledge and legacy.
Every named medical ninjutsu had a high level of difficulty.
The Mystical Palm Technique was an A-rank ninjutsu, requiring extremely precise chakra control. Its learning difficulty was on par with the Rasengan.
As for the kind where green light simply glows from the hands, the sort used by ordinary medical teams, it could only stop bleeding or keep someone alive temporarily.
If medical ninja could really heal people the way MMORPG priests directly restore HP, then none of the great villages would need hospitals at all.
For injuries like those suffered by Kurotsuchi and Mei, even after treatment by medical ninja, additional recovery methods were still necessary.
"What you just said gave me an idea. What do you think about establishing an advanced ninja research academy?"
Shiromo stroked his chin as he spoke.
"Advanced? An academy?"
Mei and Kurotsuchi exchanged glances.
If this had been earlier, they both would have questioned whether Shiromo's idea was realistic.
But now, they had both already been thoroughly "educated" by him.
The ninja village system and the ninja school system were things they had copied from Konoha in the first place. If that was the case, why couldn't they be the ones to propose new systems and let Konoha learn from them instead?
Just like the current single-leader, military-administration-integrated system they had implemented, Kumogakure was already copying it quite convincingly. If Konoha didn't want to be left behind by the times, it would have to change sooner or later.
"Go on. Explain in detail."
Mei looked at Shiromo expectantly. At the same time, she loosened her clothes, revealing the bandages wrapped from her shoulder down to her back. She took out a box of ointment, clearly signaling for Shiromo to help her apply it while he talked.
Shiromo removed Mei's bandages and gauze. As he applied the ointment, he explained: "Current ninja schools, put bluntly, are just there to give children who know nothing the most basic shinobi qualities. They raise the ceiling of genin, but only for genin."
"The advanced academy I'm imagining would exist to raise the ceiling of jōnin, or rather, of geniuses."
"After leaving the ninja school, if a genin wants to improve, their options are limited: self-training, guidance from their team's jōnin, or sheer luck in finding another sensei."
"If they're unlucky, all they can do is repeatedly study the basics."
"There's a saying: fine horses are common, but good judges are rare."
"A genin with talent for medical ninjutsu, following a jōnin who specializes in Fire Release, will have their talent buried for quite some time, barring accidents."
"Of course, that talent will eventually reveal itself."
"But once they reach the jōnin stage, they'll get stuck again."
"Just like what Kurotsuchi said earlier, at that point, there are simply things that no one can teach them."
"So let's think differently."
"What if we could invite Tsunade to be a lecturer for medical ninjutsu?"
"She wouldn't even need to take students as disciples or teach them everything she knows. Just seriously passing on some knowledge would already be far better than the situations I described earlier."
"Whether it's young geniuses whose talent was buried, or jōnin whose strength hasn't improved in years."
By the time Shiromo finished speaking, he had already rewrapped Mei's bandages, and even helped pull her clothes back into place.
"There's no problem among us. It's basically just an expansion of the 'Economic Mutual Alliance', helping each other not only in economic development, but also in ninjutsu exchange and mutual support."
"But what about Konoha of the Land of Fire? They haven't joined us."
"Would Tsunade, the one you mentioned, really choose to pass her knowledge to us, her enemies?"
Mei raised the key question.
(End of this chapter)