Hokage Tower
Sakura carried Karin to the resting room next to the Hokage's office. It had to be said, the Hokage Tower was remarkably well-equipped, with rooms for practically every purpose.
She laid Karin on the bed. Seeing the look of contentment on Karin's face, Sakura felt a pang of something she couldn't quite name.
Karin had only been living in Konoha for a little over a month, and she was already satisfied. Meanwhile, the children of Konoha enjoyed peace every moment of their lives. Even Naruto, ostracized by the entire village, had a better life than Karin had known.
This is what war does...
Click
The door to the resting room opened, and Tsunade entered, her expression much improved.
"Sakura, what happened?" Tsunade asked, looking at the unconscious Karin.
"Yes, Sensei. Karin seems to be under a genjutsu, but I couldn't detect any signs of one, yet she remains unconscious," Sakura replied, her words a jumbled mess.
"Tell me what happened, slowly," Tsunade scolded, placing her hand on Karin's forehead to begin her examination.
"Phew..."
Taking a deep breath, Sakura organized her thoughts. She started from the beginning of their mission that day, describing in detail everything she had seen within the genjutsu.
"....." Tsunade listened silently, without interruption. After a while, she finished her examination and sat down on a nearby sofa, lost in thought.
"Sensei, what's going on with Karin?" Sakura asked impatiently.
Tsunade, seeing Sakura's anxious expression, said, "Karin's body is fine. She's not currently under a genjutsu. The reason she's unconscious is likely related to the genjutsu she was under."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Sakura was confused.
"Karin isn't under a genjutsu now, but her current state is connected to the genjutsu she experienced earlier," Tsunade explained again.
"Sensei, just tell me already, stop beating around the bush," Sakura pleaded, grabbing Tsunade's arm and shaking it. It was a rare display of childishness, and directed at Tsunade, no less.
"Hmph, now you realize the importance of medical knowledge?!" Tsunade retorted coldly, unimpressed.
"Hehe," Sakura giggled awkwardly, sticking out her tongue.
"It's because of that genjutsu that Karin's brain has activated a protective mechanism. Based on your description of what happened in the illusion, Karin believed she was fatally injured. To prevent further damage, her brain chose to shut down," Tsunade explained.
Sakura understood. She'd heard of similar cases in her previous life, though the most common term she'd heard was "vegetative state."
"Ka... Karin... she won't become... a vegetable, will she?" Sakura stammered.
"A vegetable? What's that?" Tsunade asked, giving Sakura a strange look.
"Uh..." Sakura suddenly realized that in all her years in this world, she'd never heard of anything resembling a vegetative state. In this world, injuries were almost always traumatic; she'd never heard of cases of brain damage leading to prolonged unconsciousness...
"You don't need to worry. With the help of the Yamanaka clan, Karin will wake up soon," Tsunade said.
"Uh..." Sakura was speechless again. This truly was a wondrous world. Chakra was seemingly omnipotent. The seemingly unsolvable medical problems of her previous world were apparently not a major issue in this world of chakra.
"Alright, hurry up and take Karin to the hospital. I'll arrange for someone from the Yamanaka clan to meet you there," Tsunade urged.
"Yes," Sakura bowed slightly to her master and, lifting Karin onto her back, headed for the hospital.
Watching Sakura's hurried departure, Tsunade sighed wearily.
She'd given up on lecturing Sakura about her medical skills. Sakura was quite proficient with medical ninjutsu, but when faced with complex cases, she was clueless.
A medical ninja wasn't just someone who could use medical ninjutsu; they needed to learn a wide range of medical knowledge.
However, since Sakura didn't seem interested in becoming a full-fledged medical ninja, Tsunade had stopped forcing the issue. Based on Sakura's description of the encounter, it seemed she had quite a talent for combat.
She'd remained calm in the face of two S-rank wanted criminals, patiently waited for an opportunity to strike a decisive blow, and successfully brought back her teammates without any casualties. This demonstrated the qualities of a mature chunin. With a little more strength, she'd be at jonin level.
Tsunade had initially thought it was too early to promote Sakura to chunin, but now it seemed Sakura was fully capable of handling the responsibilities.
Originally, Tsunade had assigned Sakura to D-rank missions with Karin to train them both. She'd been worried about Sakura's lack of leadership experience as a newly promoted chunin. Now, it seemed it was time to start giving Sakura access to higher-ranked missions.
Knock knock
"Come in."
"You're still here."
The person who entered had a head of white hair. The headband on his forehead, however, didn't bear the Konoha symbol, but the character for "Oil."
"What do you want?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya irritably.
"I just came back to report on my mission to the Hokage-sama," Jiraiya said playfully.
"How did it go?" Tsunade ignored Jiraiya's teasing and asked directly.
"There were two of them. Their identities have been confirmed. One is the Konoha S-rank wanted criminal, Uchiha Itachi. The other is the Kirigakure S-rank wanted criminal, Hoshigaki Kisame," Jiraiya said seriously.
"Uchiha Itachi? Who's that?" Tsunade asked, puzzled.
Having been away from the village for so many years, Tsunade hadn't kept up with village affairs or the ninja world. Shizune usually kept track of these things, and sometimes tried to tell Tsunade about them, but Tsunade always got impatient and didn't want to listen. Added to that, she'd only been in office for a short time, so there were still many things she hadn't learned.
"Sigh!" Jiraiya facepalmed. "Please, try to catch up on village affairs."
"Alright, alright, I get it. Just tell me already," Tsunade said impatiently.
"Uchiha Itachi is the one who slaughtered..." Jiraiya slowly explained the situation regarding the Uchiha clan to Tsunade.
After listening, Tsunade pondered, "What was his purpose in returning?"
"Rather than saying he had a purpose, it's more accurate to say his organization has a purpose," Jiraiya interjected.
"Organization?"
"Yes, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame both belong to the same organization. We don't know their objective yet. I've been watching this organization for a long time, but apart from making money, they haven't done anything. They're more like a mercenary group," Jiraiya shared the information he'd gathered.
"Is it really necessary to pay them so much attention?" Tsunade scoffed. Such an organization wouldn't be taken seriously by any of the Five Great Nations. Hearing Jiraiya's description, Tsunade also assumed it was just a money-grabbing mercenary group, unlikely to have many truly powerful members.
"No, Tsunade. This organization has more than one member as strong as Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame," Jiraiya said. "Even after all these years, I haven't been able to uncover the organization's true face."
"What?" Tsunade was shocked to hear that Jiraiya hadn't been able to figure out the organization after so many years.
"That's why I believe this organization isn't just about money," Jiraiya said, looking at Tsunade seriously.
If you asked what Jiraiya's greatest strength was, some might say it was his combat prowess. But as his longtime teammate, Tsunade knew that Jiraiya's greatest strength was his information-gathering ability.
Jiraiya was a fairly traditional ninja. His fighting style was to engage in combat, gather information if he couldn't win, retreat, and then engage again. Jiraiya was strong, yes, but his information-gathering ability definitely contributed significantly to his overall strength.
This, in turn, demonstrated how formidable Jiraiya's intelligence network was. Yet, even with that, he hadn't been able to uncover the true nature of a mercenary organization after all these years. This was what truly surprised Tsunade.
Tsunade fell silent...
"By the way, did you find out who was attacked in the village?" Jiraiya asked, remembering something.
"It was Team Seven," Tsunade said.
"Team Seven? Naruto's team, huh?" Jiraiya immediately thought of Naruto.
"If it weren't for Sakura, Naruto would have been captured," Tsunade said with a hint of mockery.
"Hey, do you have to compete even in this?" Jiraiya retorted, realizing Tsunade was showing off her disciple.
"Wait...!" Jiraiya suddenly seemed to have a thought. He paced around the room for a few moments, then voiced a rather uncertain speculation. "Could this organization's goal be to collect the Tailed Beasts?"