No one liked dealing with Aburame Tatsuma. Takano was no exception.
Tatsuma was not only the deputy head of the Medical Corps, but also second in command of Root.
"I know your health has always been poor, but we're critically short on personnel. The new generation from the Academy isn't ready to take on real missions yet.
And you know how it is, Lord Tatsuma never listens to a mere Chunin like me. He just issues orders and expects everyone to follow them."
Takano was deeply worried about Arata's condition. He always seemed one breath away from death, honestly, most people feared the same every time Arata moved.
And yet, Arata had survived.
"What can I say? Tatsuma is Lord Danzo's right hand man. He doesn't even bother hiding his contempt for the average Konoha shinobi, let alone someone like me, an orphan of the war."
Arata gave a chilling smile, like a grinning skull, death itself in human form.
War orphans were common. Every village, if they had the resources, would take in young children and train them.
In Konoha, this responsibility had now fallen to Yakushi Nono. A few years from now, during the Third Great Ninja War, she would rise to become the head of Konoha's Medical Corps.
Among the many war orphans, the most valuable would undoubtedly be Yakushi Kabuto, whom Nono would personally raise during the war.
From the moment Arata was brought back to Konoha, he was never fully trusted.
The village only trained war orphans like Arata with one goal, to become highly specialized functional ninja, and to be discarded when convenient. A cold logic, but not without reason.
Tatsuma had been the first to scout potential recruits. Spy or not, once you joined Root, all secrets were swallowed.
First, Tatsuma picked out children with unique Kekkei Genkai. Arata had nothing of the sort, barely clinging to life and looking like death warmed over, he was ignored.
Next came intelligence testing, to select those fit to become disposable spies. Arata feigned a high fever and played dumb. Again, not selected.
It wasn't until much later that the actual war orphan handlers arrived and took Arata away with the other "useless" children.
If abandoning Arata hadn't gone against the village's founding principles, and risked sowing distrust in the hearts of other children, he would've been left to die in the wild.
"A country has a village, but a village is essentially a military zone. Even counting the civilian population, the numbers are far too small.
We have to constantly draw manpower from other towns... I was lucky to survive this long. So I should contribute however I can. It's only right."
Arata spoke slowly. There was some sincerity in his words. "I've been practicing a new jutsu lately. I hope I never have to use it."
In this damned world, chakra made the difference.
Even children, if they were shinobi, could massacre normal people without effort. So of course they were sent to war when battles intensified.
In truth, only Konoha would ever have given Arata time to grow. Among all the ninja villages, Konoha was the last to send children to the front lines.
At least, that's how it had been during the Second War.
The village's founding belief had always been to protect its children, Hashirama believed that, Madara acted on it, and Tobirama tried to carry it through.
But by the end of the Second War, even Konoha couldn't hold out. Hiruzen began sending children to perform simple but dangerous missions.
It was during this time that Arata first stepped onto the battlefield. Armed with a pitiful excuse for medical ninjutsu, he did his best to treat the wounded.
Scorned and dismissed, he was eventually assigned to something simpler, body retrieval.
A war orphan, trained by Konoha and cleared of suspicion.
His weak body made him useless in combat, perfect for expendable tasks like transporting corpses, enemy and ally alike, to designated locations.
Naturally, he was never trusted with corpses possessing rare bloodlines. Arata only helped escort the most ordinary, least valuable bodies.
"I'm certain I've passed the breaking point. My condition is finally stabilizing. After years of painstakingly gathering even the smallest amount of chakra and constantly tending to my health, I'm finally seeing results."
Arata moved through the dense forest alongside Takano. He could now leap from tree to tree like a proper Konoha genin.
No one knew the sheer, brutal effort it had taken him to get here.
Each time his foot touched a branch, he instinctively emitted a thin layer of chakra for grip, then launched himself forward. The motions had become second nature.
It had all been worth it. From now on, things would slowly start to change.
"But honestly, compared to me, even Hayate Gekko is a goddamn powerhouse." Arata paused on a branch, coughing and gasping as he gave his body a moment to recover.
"Hang in there, we're almost at the target location."
Takano's expression shifted. He suddenly signaled with his hand. Arata and another medic-nin stopped at once, hiding themselves as best they could.
"I see three comrades. One with minor injuries is carrying two critically wounded toward the village. No sign of enemy presence for now."
Takano observed a moment longer, then exchanged a coded signal with Arata and stepped out to coordinate medical aid.
"Captain Takano, I'm so sorry. We were on a routine patrol when Mist ninja ambushed us! Please, help my comrades. I think they're dying!"
The young genin looked like he'd barely survived a savage battle. Tension bled from his posture, but upon recognizing Takano, he visibly relaxed.
Takano was relatively well-known, after all, not just anyone had the chance to serve under Jiraiya himself.
Arata examined the scene, inspecting tracks on the ground and injuries on the three ninja before asking.
"You're a standard four-man squad, right? What happened to your medic-nin?"
"Dead. Mist may not have launched a full-scale war with us, but they clearly understand our one squad one medic strategy. They always go for the medical-nin first."
The genin's grief was palpable.
During the Second War, Tsunade and Kato Dan had fought tooth and nail to implement that system, overcoming shortages of personnel and instructors to gradually elevate the role of medical-nin, even if most were barely trained genin with only the basics.
Konoha's leadership didn't really know the best way to build a cost-effective system. There was a lot of trial and error.
Take Arata, for example, barely any chakra, yet still labeled a "medical-nin."
Now, with the heavy losses across all villages, large-scale battles had dwindled.
Infiltration missions by small squads had become the norm, making it more feasible to assign a medic to each unit.
Arata knew that in just a few more years, once the Third War began, most four-man squads, led by experienced Jonin, would be assigned fully trained medic-nin.
Like the team of Minato, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin.
"The Mist, huh... That's going to be a tough one," Takano said as he started stabilizing one of the unconscious wounded. He gestured to Arata and the other medic to treat the second.
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, shinobi who survived near-death situations often underwent massive mental growth.
They became calmer, more adaptable, and more driven to improve. Every veteran was valuable.
Everyone present was tense. If Konoha, battered and bloodied, was forced into an all out war with a fresh and ready Mist Village, the casualties would be beyond counting.
"The Third Hokage will probably try to negotiate... Trade some concessions for peace.
From his perspective, it's the best choice for Konoha, which has the deepest reserves and the fastest recovery rate."
Arata couldn't help thinking of what was to come, Kushina was almost kidnapped, Hiashi and Hizashi forced to make cruel sacrifices.
Then he looked down at the wounded.
"There's a penetrating wound on the left abdomen, edges are irregular, likely caused by a kunai.
A three-centimeter tear on the outer right thigh, and swelling around the left shoulder... Patient's breathing is rapid, pulse is weak, and consciousness is fading."
The other medic-nin said quickly, "I'll use the chakra scalpel on his leg, "
"No. Save your chakra. Use Healing Jutsu to treat the abdomen first. If I'm right, there's liver or intestinal damage. That's the real threat. Healing Jutsu is extremely chakra intensive as it is."
As for the vein in the right thigh, Arata simply rolled up his sleeves and reached into the mangled flesh.
With no hesitation, he fished out the vein and tied it off with a perfect surgical knot. "That should buy him some time."
The medic stared, stunned, even as he healed the abdominal wound.
In this era, medicine was nowhere near what it would become in Naruto's time.
Systems were underdeveloped. Chakra and drugs were the go to solutions. No one thought to use old-fashioned surgical methods.
"As for his fading consciousness... Captain Takano, you only carry one dose of adrenaline, right? I suggest using it on your patient."
"What? Then what about him? They're both my comrades, how can I choose to abandon one of them? Dammit..." The genin broke down, clutching his head in despair.
"Calm down. We medic-nin never abandon a comrade. You're Fuji Hotaru, right?"
Under the shocked and numb stares of everyone present, Arata strode over and stomped repeatedly on the patient's inner thigh.
Bam… Bam…
He crushed the man's pubic bone with brutal precision. The half-conscious ninja screamed like a dying animal, far louder than an adrenaline shot ever could provoke.
Whether this would cause permanent damage or complications... Arata didn't care.
His priority was saving lives. And given his frail body, he always used the most chakra-efficient methods available.
Having fulfilled his sacred duty as a medic-nin, Arata looked at the moaning, semi-conscious patient, who still instinctively reached to shield his groin, and felt a flicker of satisfaction.
"Wonderful. So full of life. I've saved another comrade today," he murmured, moved by his own actions.
Takano wiped the sweat from his brow and managed a smile. He was one of the few who had worked with Arata before, and had learned to tolerate his unorthodox methods.
"Now both comrades have a chance to survive. But we have to stay alert. Even though we're far from the border, enemy infiltration isn't uncommon. In fact..."
In fact, some enemies would deliberately let wounded survivors escape, just to lure out Konoha's medical-nin.
Killing a medic-nin cost Konoha far more than killing a regular shinobi. It was the best return on investment.
Fuji looked at his now-stabilized comrades, then turned to Takano with reverent eyes.
"Captain, I can't guarantee that I can get both of them back safely on my own. May I request your assistance?"
"No. We still have to carry out Lord Tatsuma's orders. Unless Lady Tsunade herself calls off the mission, we can't turn back," Takano replied, shaking his head.
The Medical Corps' structure was still chaotic at this point, barely even functioning as a proper unit.
Both Takano and Arata had only recently returned from deployments with Jiraiya, where they had fought in the Amegakure campaign.
Last year, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had joined forces but were defeated by Hanzo the Salamander.
Though it earned them the title "The Sannin," it also marked the end of the war with Amegakure.
Tsunade and Orochimaru had returned to assist with other battlefronts. But Jiraiya never came back. No one knew where he had gone.
Many questioned his absence, how could a high ranking officer go missing during wartime? Unless he was dead, he should've returned. Comrades were dying every day.
Even now, over a year later, Jiraiya was still missing. It was baffling, and frustrating.
Arata silently calculated the timeline. By now, Jiraiya had definitely stayed behind in the Land of Rain, carefully training Nagato.
From Jiraiya's perspective, guiding the Child of Prophecy was more important than fighting in the Great Ninja War.
No number of ordinary deaths could outweigh the importance of nurturing that child.
'Madara awakened the Rinnegan during the Second War, didn't he? Right now, he's probably still hiding in the Land of Iron mountain graveyard, searching for a suitable successor.'
So many seeds of disaster were planted during the Second War, Nagato was one, and Obito's descent into darkness during the Third War also had roots here.
Suddenly, Arata spoke up. "We do have our orders, and we can't disobey them. But if we encounter a crisis, then that's a different story."
"What kind of crisis?"
"This is a crisis. You're a genin, and after being ambushed, you still managed to drag two comrades this far on foot. That's pretty damn unusual."
Arata shifted his stance, positioning himself between his team and any potential danger.
Takano's expression sharpened. He began scanning the surroundings.
Rustle...
"So we've been found out after all. But it doesn't matter. Our goal is complete.
You medical-nin must've burned through quite a bit of chakra by now, haven't you? You're far more valuable prey than regular ninja."
Three Mist shinobi emerged, spreading out and surrounding Arata's team.
Infiltrating the Land of Fire was a huge risk. Losing people was expected.
But if they could kill a few medical-nin, maybe even go back and finish off the wounded they'd let escape, then the payoff would be enormous.
"Three medical-nin... Not quite the Hyuga I was hoping for, but still worth the trip."
The lead Mist shinobi drew a kunai.
"Remember this, Konoha shinobi. The man who killed you is Ao, Jonin of Kirigakure. Don't forget that, even in the Pure Land."