In truth, comparing the bone cell medicine and the vitality enhancement medicine, the genuine underlying value of both medicines lay in their capacity to extend the overall lifespan and physical ceiling of ninja and civilians alike.
These two medicines could essentially be understood as taking the abilities of two bloodline limits, stripping away their exclusivity, and compressing their effects down to a level that any physique could absorb and benefit from.
Bone strengthening increased bone density and bone recovery speed. But for people lacking the Kaguya clan's bloodline, simply increasing bone density was not straightforwardly beneficial. Greater bone density required correspondingly greater muscle strength to support it. Without that balance it became a burden rather than an advantage.
This was the genuinely difficult part of developing gene-modifying medicine.
In other words, purely in terms of replicating the concept, it was not impossible for other forces in the ninja world to attempt something similar. What was nearly impossible to replicate was making it accessible to ordinary people without side effects.
From the elderly down to young children, all could receive the injection without harm. That was not something just anyone could achieve.
Absorbing any bloodline power without consequences was never simple. Furthermore, every bloodline limit was different, and the destructive potential of bloodline genes on an ordinary body varied considerably. Not every bloodline limit could be processed into a medicine.
Strictly speaking, the Kaguya clan's bone cells, without applying specific technical methods to neutralize the harmful elements, still carried significant side effects for ordinary people.
But the vitality medicine developed from Ayame's cells was entirely different. Her cellular genetic profile was extraordinarily gentle in nature, which was not difficult to infer from her abilities themselves.
The cell-based medicine had actually been successfully developed earlier. Its production difficulty was relatively lower and had originally been planned for release first. But after consideration, the decision was made to wait until the vitality enhancement medicine was also successfully completed and release them together.
Up to this point, although two types of gene-modifying medicine had been developed, the third type currently under research, based on Hashirama cells, remained unfinished.
This third medicine was also the most difficult to create. And even if it were successfully manufactured, there was no intention of selling it to the outside world.
Just as pharmaceutical resources had once changed the ninja world's ecosystem, gene-modifying medicines would sooner or later do the same again. With widespread use of these medicines, the baseline combat power and civilian lifespan across the entire ninja world would rise collectively.
But everyone improving equally was equivalent to no one gaining a meaningful advantage.
After all, the primary purpose of these two medicines was still to generate revenue.
The current period was one of peace, unlike the war era before. This gave the Sand Village time to slow down competitors who might want to replicate their approach. The most capable of doing so was still Konoha, but in the specific domain of gene-modifying medicine, Tsunade was not the right specialist.
Orochimaru was the true professional in this area. But that individual had now become a rogue ninja.
The research capabilities of other ninja nations should not be underestimated either. But unlike pharmaceutical manufacturing, even if they could replicate the concept and conduct independent research, at minimum it would take them ten years.
After seeing off the Land of Lightning's delegation, Yuji returned to his office in the Kazekage building, his mind turning through various thoughts.
Knock knock.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Yuji called out.
Pakura entered, carrying a stack of documents.
"Hm?" Yuji was slightly surprised.
"Why is it you? Where is Shimizu?"
"Lord Kazekage. From today onward, I will be taking over Shimizu's role as your personal guard and handling your administrative duties," Pakura said, setting the documents on the desk with a formal expression.
Yuji processed this for a moment.
"Alright. I'll be relying on you then."
"Understood. If you need anything, just let me know," Pakura said, looking at him with a nod. Then she turned and left to take up her post outside.
Yuji let out a quiet sigh after she had left the room.
Shimizu was no longer young. He had been serving since the era of the Third Kazekage, and with time having passed, he was now past forty. Although still in his prime, he naturally needed to begin stepping back and training a successor.
The successor.
And that successor was clearly Pakura.
Making Pakura his personal guard was without question an expression of Chiyo and Shimizu's intentions. They had not even consulted Yuji about it, knowing he would not be troubled by such a matter.
But what concerned him more was their deeper underlying intention in placing Pakura at his side.
He was now twenty-one years old. Pakura had grown up. And as the Fourth Kazekage, looking around the ninja world, every other hidden village Kage had long since settled down, married, and had children.
He remained alone, without even a partner.
Chiyo and the others had all noticed this.
And it was not just Chiyo. In truth, the Sand Village's entire senior leadership was quietly anxious about it.
Because in the ninja world, ninja tended to marry relatively young. Facing the unpredictable reality of life and death on the battlefield, people wanted to have children while they could.
By this age, marriage had become an unavoidable topic that every ninja eventually had to face. But even the Sand Village's senior leadership did not know what kind of person Yuji preferred, or who he had genuine feelings for. They only knew that Pakura's feelings toward him were something beyond ordinary.
So Chiyo and Shimizu had taken it upon themselves to act as quiet matchmakers, subtly trying to bring the two together.
Previously Chiyo, Ebizo, and others had hinted at this matter to him several times, but he had never taken it to heart.
Because love and romance were not things he had ever pursued. They were not part of his plans, nor were they among his goals. From his perspective, having a family meant having attachments, and attachments were equivalent to having weaknesses.
But he was not oblivious. He understood Pakura's feelings toward him clearly.
Previously Pakura had been throwing herself into missions at a relentless pace, but now that the peace period had settled in and no village had that many commissioned tasks available, she had found herself with free time. And her drive to become stronger, to keep closing the distance with his own pace, was in its own way her method of drawing closer to him. He could see that clearly enough.
"I want to refuse," he thought.
"But why?" he then asked himself with a deep internal sigh.
He genuinely did not know how to handle this kind of situation. He felt that if he explained everything honestly to Pakura, it would inevitably hurt her. And given Pakura's personality, after such a conversation she would likely never entertain thoughts of marriage again.
Turning this over in his mind, he reached into his things and produced an object.
A small delicate dried bitter gourd.
It was a gift Pakura had given him back when she was still at the ninja academy.
He turned it over in his hands, lost in thought for a long moment. His mind drifted entirely away from the work on his desk.
He put the bitter gourd away and called out.
"Pakura."
Hearing him, Pakura opened the door and stepped inside.
"Lord Kazekage."
Because he was working, Pakura maintained a relatively formal manner.
"Ah..." He cleared his throat first, then looked Pakura over from head to toe.
His gaze made Pakura's face flush slightly, because she noticed something unusual in his eyes that she had not seen before.
"Ah... The weather is quite nice today, is it not?"
"Ah..."
"Um..."
Pakura blinked slightly.
"Would you like to take a walk with me? Now that I think about it, it has been quite a long time since we just strolled around and talked the way we used to when we were younger."
He scratched his cheek and said this.
"Alright," Pakura said, her face going red as she gave a somewhat stiff nod.
...
STONES 💎
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