When Akira Sato and his team left the Hokage's office,an ANBU wearing an animal mask appeared before them.
"This is the secret medicine!""This is the chakra refinement technique!""And this is the borrowing permit — you can use it to check out related books from the hospital library!"
The masked ANBU handed the items to each of the three.
Once they'd carefully stored their respective items,the ANBU gave a final warning:
"Neither the secret techniques nor the knowledge you gain may be taught to others!"
His cold, sharp tone left no doubt — he was not joking.
That's why there were so few cases of jutsu leaking from one ninja village to another.All the great villages took this extremely seriously.
Once the reminder was given, the ANBU silently turned and disappeared.
"I'm heading to the hospital!"
Akira gave the permit in his hand a little wave before heading off.
It's important to note:medical knowledge wasn't something that could be packed into a single scroll.It required systematic, structured study.
The hospital —essentially the Hidden Leaf's money-making machine.
Nobles and wealthy merchants from far and wide flocked there, drawn by its reputation.It was their contributions that allowed the village to train so many medical ninja.
Every fully trained medical ninja was worth more than their weight in gold.Even on the battlefield, they were usually kept safely at the rear camp or behind the lines, often with dedicated guards assigned.
Also, Akira's interest in learning medical ninjutsu wasn't on a whim.It was because he'd learned his chakra nature.
Earth, Water, Fire… and Yang!
Sure, it was nowhere near as impressive as someone like the Third Hokage or Kakashi, who could use all five elemental natures,but it still gave him solid development potential.
The Yang nature —that was the real foundation of his confidence in pursuing medical ninjutsu.
Without Yang-nature chakra, it was practically impossible to master healing jutsu.
Compared to the five elemental natures, Yin and Yang chakra were much rarer.The Uchiha clan, for example, mostly carried Yin,while the Senju clan historically had the most Yang-natured chakra.
But now, with the Senju nearly extinct, there were few people left with the right affinity.
If it weren't for that limitation,even though medical ninjutsu was hard to learn and resource-heavy,surely the Hidden Leaf — the greatest of the Five Great Villages — would have more than just about a hundred trained medical ninja.
Before long, Akira arrived at a large, elongated building marked with the character for medicine ("医") above its entrance.Villagers came and went constantly.
The sharp, sterile smell of disinfectant in the air made it unmistakable what kind of place this was.
By pure medical standards, the Hidden Leaf was absolutely unmatched.Even the capital city of the Land of Fire couldn't compare.
And it wasn't because of superior hardware —it was the software side where they dominated.
Why?Because no capital hospital could possibly employ medical ninja.
In the realm of medical ninjutsu, the Leaf was in a league of its own,largely thanks to Tsunade, who had pioneered and formalized the field.
Soon, Akira located a civil service ninja.
These were ninja who specialized purely in administrative work —some of them didn't even have chakra, and that was considered perfectly normal.
Originally, if Akira hadn't been forced by circumstances (thanks to Danzo's interference),he'd planned to become this type of ninja after passing his exams.
Seriously, Danzo really was the worst!
Pushing those thoughts aside, Akira gave the civil service ninja before him a bright, polite smile.
"Excuse me, sir! I'd like to borrow books related to medical ninjutsu — could you please tell me how to go about that?"
One thing Akira could never understand about other transmigrators was:why did they always walk around with a sour, arrogant attitude when asking for help?
Probably because they didn't even see the people of this world as real humans.
As far as Akira was concerned,until he gained the ability to flip the whole table,he was perfectly fine following the rules of this world.
Maybe that's the key difference between anime and real life.
"So, you want to study medical ninjutsu?"The middle-aged ninja in a flak vest glanced at Akira's permit, then explained:
"You can borrow the foundational books, but the actual medical techniques cannot be taken off-site.The hospital also has free training rooms available…"
The Hidden Leaf Hospital wasn't called a money pit for nothing —and it wasn't just about paying staff salaries (that was the cheap part!).
The real expense lay in the resources required to train medical ninja.
Just covering the cost of materials for practice could bankrupt an ordinary ninja.
But with the permit in his hand, Akira would be allowed to use some of those precious resources in the training rooms.
If he hadn't asked,he might never have learned about these hidden rules.
"Thank you, sir!"
With a polite nod, Akira made his way to the hospital's library.
This internal library was only open to hospital personnel —just like the academy library was only open to academy students.
In the shinobi world, knowledge was an incredibly precious resource,and jutsu knowledge even more so — absolute top-level secrets.
To protect against leaks,villages were even willing to go to war if necessary.
The library was located on the top floor.
Although Akira didn't spot any guards along the way,he knew perfectly well:without his permit, he wouldn't have been able to set foot here.
If it were truly this easy to access,medical ninjutsu wouldn't be such a rare skill.
This level of access was only possible in the Leaf.
In other villages, obtaining medical jutsu was almost as difficult as obtaining forbidden jutsu.
Inside the massive library, row upon row of bookshelves stretched into the distance.
"Detailed Human Meridian Guide!""Battlefield Emergency Care Manual!""Medical Ninjutsu: From Beginner to Mastery!"
There it was — the knowledge Akira had been searching for.
Sure, he'd read some of this material already,but many of these titles hadn't been available in the academy's library —he could only access them here.
An ordinary person might instinctively flinch at the sheer amount of dense material.
But Akira was different!
What he saw wasn't dry, complicated knowledge —he saw the power to protect himself,the guarantee of his future peace and stability.
His dream had always been to live a carefree, low-stress life,and that hadn't changed.
But to achieve that dream,he needed strength.
And strength required effort and hard work.
That said, he wasn't without some shortcuts.
If not for those,no matter how much of a genius he was,there's no way he could've absorbed all the foundational knowledge from the academy library so quickly.
For example: the Clarity Elixir —a byproduct of his own experiments.
It wasn't something he ever stocked up on;he brewed it fresh when needed.
Its effect was simple but powerful:calm the mind, focus the thoughts.
Many ninja clans had similar things,whether incense, rituals, or meditation techniques —so it wasn't anything shocking.
But Akira's Clarity Elixir worked several times better than those traditional methods.
The only downside was the mental strain it placed on him,and the difficulty of gathering the materials (in the past, he hadn't had the time or space to collect them).
Otherwise, he'd definitely be using it constantly.
As they say,if your brain isn't good enough,you can always spend resources to make up the difference.
When it came to pure genius,Akira knew he couldn't compare to someone like Orochimaru.
But with the right "purchased" tools,he just might be able to close the gap.
Aside from the foundational knowledge,there were also three D-rank medical jutsu available to learn:
Hemostasis Technique, Healing Technique, Detoxification Technique!
The Mystical Palm Technique you saw in the anime?That was already an A-rank jutsu,only mastered by medical jonin.
In fact, once you mastered it,you could be promoted to jonin automatically — no need for additional exams.
Why?
Because the A-rank healing technique was so absurdly complex,and medical ninja were so critically scarce,that such a rule had been put in place.
Just know this:fewer than five people in the entire Leaf Village had truly mastered the Mystical Palm Technique.
Akira wasn't in a rush to start learning the medical jutsu yet.
Why?
Because he hadn't even mastered the foundational knowledge.
Trying to jump straight to techniques?Did he think he had some kind of protagonist cheat aura?
No — first, he carefully selected ten books to take home for study.
Borrowing them was straightforward:he simply registered the permit and was allowed to carry the books out.
Ten books, each as thick as a dictionary —and this was just entry-level knowledge for medical ninja.
It was no wonder so few people wanted to walk this path.
But Akira had confidence that he could master it in a short timeand step through the gates of the medical field.
In fact,even without learning the actual techniques,the knowledge alone would already bring him considerable benefits.
With a stack of books in his arms,Akira left the hospital library in high spirits —only for a small, unexpected event to occur as he exited.
(To be continued)