"Yo, Orochimaru! I heard you're having a tough time here? Don't worry, because I'm here now!"
Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru sitting in the main seat and teased him with exaggerated facial expressions.
Facing Jiraiya's sarcasm, Orochimaru didn't respond at all. Based on his years of experience dealing with Jiraiya, the best approach was simply to ignore him.
Then, Orochimaru turned his attention to Tsunade.
"Tsunade, you've come at the perfect time. Many injured in our camp have been poisoned by Hanzo's toxin, and so far no medical ninja has been able to develop a cure."
Tsunade nodded and immediately responded:
"Leave this matter to me. I'll develop the antidote as soon as possible."
Orochimaru nodded.
"Then I'll leave it in your hands."
Seeing that neither Orochimaru nor Tsunade showed any intention of acknowledging him, Jiraiya instantly became agitated.
If Namikaze Minato hadn't been holding him back, Jiraiya would probably have rushed forward to fight Orochimaru right then.
Concerned about the poisoned ninja, after briefly exchanging information with Orochimaru, Tsunade took Hayato Ren to the temporary medical base.
Though called a medical base, it was actually just a simple camp made of several large tents.
Even from outside, one could clearly hear the painful moans coming from within.
So under normal circumstances, ordinary ninja generally avoided this area.
Tsunade pushed open the tent door and walked inside.
The patients lying on beds, their expressions gloomy as if waiting for death, suddenly became excited when they saw Tsunade's figure.
It was as if their savior had arrived.
The medical ninja caring for the patients also surged forward as if they had seen their salvation.
Looking at their worshipful eyes, Tsunade nodded and spoke:
"Have you collected blood samples from the poisoned ninja?"
One of the medical ninja immediately responded:
"Yes, we've collected samples. The toxin appears to be a natural toxin found in nature, but we haven't been able to develop an antidote yet."
Tsunade nodded and continued:
"Give me all your research reports, and also draw several tubes of blood from the poisoned ninja."
At Tsunade's command, the medical ninja on site immediately began working in an orderly manner.
After making simple arrangements, Tsunade took Hayato Ren to her own tent and brought out a microscope to begin her research.
Hayato Ren assisted by her side. Although his medical knowledge was far inferior to Tsunade's, as an excellent medical ninja, he was more than capable of assisting her.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye, during which neither Tsunade nor Hayato Ren had closed their eyes.
While this was quite normal for ninja,
Tsunade had been concentrating all her mental energy, fully focused on researching Hanzo's toxin throughout these two days.
The mental energy consumed was simply incomparable to what Hayato Ren could handle.
However, it was all worth it.
Before he could even catch his breath, Tsunade and Hayato Ren returned to the medical base with the newly developed antidote.
As everyone watched Hayato Ren steadily push the needle forward, the scene fell into complete silence. No one dared to breathe loudly, fearing they might disrupt his movements.
Not long after, the ninja who had fallen unconscious due to poisoning suddenly twitched his eyelids.
He then slowly opened his eyes, looking around in confusion, and asked in a weak, hoarse voice:
"Where is this? What happened? Why are so many people gathered around me?"
After a brief moment of silence, the area erupted into thunderous cheers.
The antidote Tsunade had developed proved highly effective. The next step was to disseminate the formula and mass-produce it.
Although Hanzo's toxins were renowned throughout the Shinobi World, even Chiyo had managed to create an antidote. For Tsunade, it was hardly a challenge at all.
After completing the most urgent task at hand, Tsunade took a quick shower and then collapsed onto her bed, falling into a deep sleep.
Since Hayato Ren hadn't been particularly busy over the past two days, he was still in fairly good spirits.
After tucking Tsunade in, he stepped out of the tent and began surveying the camp.
The layout of this camp was similar to the one Hayato Ren had stayed in before. However, due to Rain Country's unique weather conditions, the tents here were specially waterproofed, and there were numerous drainage ditches scattered throughout.
As Hayato Ren wandered around, an enthusiastic call suddenly rang out from behind him.
"Ren! Over here! Over here!"
Hayato Ren turned to see Nawaki, whom he hadn't met in a long time, running toward him.
Although it wasn't raining at the moment, the ground was still littered with puddles of various sizes.
Unsurprisingly, given Nawaki's personality, he paid no attention to the puddles underfoot.
By the time he reached Hayato Ren, the lower half of his pants were already soaked.
But such trivial matters were hardly worth Nawaki's notice.
Instead, he proudly fiddled with the Chunin Vest he was wearing, boasting excitedly:
"Ren, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm a Chunin now! And I didn't get promoted through the exams—I was specially promoted after completing an A-rank mission!"
Although Nawaki usually acted like a hot-blooded fool, he was far from being a failure.
On the contrary, his skills were quite impressive, ranking among the top five in Hayato Ren's class.
Moreover, with the direct lineage of Hashirama Senju and the resources of the Senju clan, it was unlikely they would produce anything less than a capable ninja.
Thus, Nawaki's promotion to Chunin held considerable merit.
Nawaki had initially come to flaunt his new Chunin status, but when he noticed the Jonin Vest Hayato Ren was wearing, his expression immediately fell.
"Ah? Ren, you're already a Jonin? Your promotion speed is way too fast! That's just not fair at all."
Looking at the somewhat dejected Nawaki, Hayato Ren continued to add fuel to the fire:
"Minato has also become a Jonin. Haven't you seen him these past few days?"
"What? Even Minato has become a Jonin? How come all of you have left me, the future Hokage, behind? No, I need to ask Teacher Orochimaru to assign me missions right now. I want to become a Jonin too. Goodbye, Ren."
After saying this, Nawaki ran off in the direction of the command center.