Chapter 209: Gloom
The first treatment room was a spacious room of over a thousand square meters.
A giant sealing formula with a diameter of forty meters was drawn on the floor. Esoteric and complex runes filled the floor, leaving not a single gap.
This was Konoha's most powerful surgical treatment room. The extremely complex medical sealing formula could meet the needs of almost any Yang Release medical ninjutsu. And in the hands of the current number one medical expert in the ninja world, Tsunade, its function could be brought to an effect that was close to reviving the dead and regenerating flesh from white bones.
This was not an exaggerated literary rhetorical device, but...
What was happening right now.
Yūgao Uzuki was lying quietly on her back in the middle of the giant sealing formula. The clothes on her chest had been cut open, and the terrifying bloody hole in her chest had been temporarily filled with a heart and flesh simulated by ninjutsu. At this moment, it was rising and falling slightly, indicating that this ninja still retained a trace of life.
Haruno Sakura's desperate measure had ultimately hung onto Yūgao's life, successfully bringing her before Tsunade.
"Before the surgery begins, I will repeat the main process of this surgery one more time. This ninjutsu is not an ordinary healing and regeneration jutsu, so you must all listen carefully."
Tsunade's voice echoed in the empty medical room.
This broad-minded woman was standing at the very top of the sealing formula, directing everyone's movements from above. More than a dozen medical ninja were squatting on the ground, their eyes wide as they carefully inspected the giant eight-trigrams sealing formation on the floor. Occasionally, they would write, adding or erasing a wrong formula.
"First, we will use medical ninjutsu to stimulate the cells in her hair and other body hair, causing them to re-differentiate into myocardial stem cells."
And there were several senior medical ninja who were carefully drawing small and complex formulas, extending from the sealing formation on the floor to Yūgao's body, forming a circle around the wound, connecting the heart with the black hair on the ground.
"Then, we will use the Creation Rebirth technique to make the stem cells multiply in large numbers. Finally, we will use the Healing Rebirth Jutsu to make this mass of cells differentiate into myocardial tissue and assemble into a new heart."
The woman cast her gaze to the medical ninja standing at the other seven top corners of the sealing formula, meeting their eyes one by one.
"Is everyone ready?"
Seeing that everyone was in their positions and ready, Tsunade asked one last time.
Seeing the rest of the people nod solemnly, their medical ninjutsu chakra beginning to circulate naturally, she reached out and swung her hand down sharply, saying in a loud voice.
"Let the surgery begin!"
Haruno Sakura's sleep was extremely restless.
The floor outside the treatment room was icy cold. No matter how she sat, she couldn't get warm.
She was exhausted. She curled into a ball, trying to warm herself.
Her head was pillowed between the chair and her thigh. The chair was cold and hard, making her head ache. On the other side was just her thigh, which didn't have much flesh either. Leaning on it, she could feel the firm muscle and the hard leg bone, which made it very uncomfortable.
She was dreaming the whole time.
In her dream, one moment the scene of the battle with Kakuzu would replay. The next, Yūgao's bloody figure would appear. Then she would find that she had already recovered and been discharged, and Squad 14 was continuing to carry out missions.
She had always been a person with a rich imagination and an active mind.
Her dreams were even more splendid and colorful, with all sorts of content.
She finally dreamed that she was tightly bound by Kakuzu's tentacles, unable to move. She wanted to get free, but she couldn't remember which ninjutsu she had used to escape from the tentacles' binding during the battle yesterday.
Then she thought of using the Wind Blade Raging Stream to cut the tentacles, and by the way, to cut Kakuzu to death along with them—this was a good idea! The conscious part of her mind agreed with this idea, and then she began to regret why she hadn't done this in the previous battle.
But in her dream, she could never mobilize her chakra and could not complete the ninjutsu. She had no power to resist and could only watch as Kakuzu got closer and closer.
And then he reached out and patted her heavily on the shoulder.
"Sakura!" Her shoulder was patted like this, and she suddenly heard someone call her. In a daze, she couldn't quite distinguish between reality and dream.
"Wake up, Sakura! Don't fall asleep here."
Feeling someone pushing her shoulder, a gentle female voice sounded by her ear.
"Kakuzu...?" Sakura murmured, her eyes still sleepy.
"It's me, not some messy Kakuzu," a cool, slender hand patted Sakura's cheek. Sakura tried hard to open her eyes and saw a hazy figure swaying in front of her. "Wake up, Sakura!"
She blinked hard, and the blurry image became clear.
A pretty, black-haired girl was leaning over and looking down at her, their foreheads touching. The cool, smooth sensation instantly woke her up a lot.
It was Yuki Haku.
"You're awake," the black-haired girl said with a smile, straightening her waist.
Sakura shook her head, looked at her surroundings, and then suddenly remembered what had happened before.
Yūgao was being rescued in the treatment room.
"What's the situation?" Haruno Sakura suddenly stood up and said. Then she felt her legs go numb, and she couldn't stand, about to fall to the ground. Fortunately, Haku caught her in time.
"Don't worry, she's out of danger," Haku said, shaking her head.
The stone in Sakura's heart immediately fell to the ground. When she relaxed, she felt a fiery sensation extend from the soles of her feet to her knees. Half of her leg was so numb she couldn't move.
"You must have pressed on your thigh when you were sleeping, so the blood circulation was poor, and your leg went numb," Haku said with a faint smile, gently placing Sakura on a chair. A blue light of medical ninjutsu appeared on her hands as she massaged the pink-haired girl's leg a few times.
Sakura immediately felt the numb part of her thigh become much more comfortable.
"Thanks, Haku," she said. Just then, the door to the treatment room opened again, and the figure of her master, Tsunade, walked out.
The blonde, mature beauty turned her head and gave a few instructions to the people inside the treatment room, then closed the door.
She glanced at Yuki Haku and Haruno Sakura, her gaze falling on the faint dark circles under Haku's eyes. Tsunade said, "Haku, you've also worked hard for several hours. Go and rest first."
Sakura followed her master's gaze and saw that although Haku's dark circles had been treated with an ice pack, they were still faintly there, and the weariness in her eyes could not be concealed. Only then did she realize that this close friend of hers had just been working continuously in the treatment room for several hours.
"You go and rest. My leg is fine here."
The black-haired girl smiled apologetically, gently covered her mouth with her left hand, and let out a small yawn. "Then I'll go and rest first... See you later."
"See you later."
The master and disciple watched as Haku left. Tsunade turned her head and said.
"As for Yūgao's condition... let's talk in my office."
She gave her disciple a look, signaling for her to follow, and then strode out of the treatment room.
Konoha Hospital, Tsunade's Office.
"Yūgao's condition... has temporarily stabilized. She even woke up for a while just now, was lucid, and spoke with Hayate Gekkō for a bit," the Fifth Hokage said, sitting down heavily in the luxurious swivel chair behind her desk, letting out a sigh, and rocking the chair. "So you don't have to worry about her for now."
"Hn... that's good."
Haruno Sakura sat on the sofa, smiled, and breathed a sigh of relief.
This sofa was very soft and comfortable. After relaxing her mood, she no longer tensed her body. As soon as she sat down, her whole person sank into it.
"So, when can Yūgao recover and return to the team?" she asked casually, closing her eyes and lying on the sofa.
But she received no answer for a long time.
The girl was slightly surprised and raised her head to look at Tsunade's expression.
The Fifth Hokage was leaning back in her swivel chair, her head tilted up, silent, with a trace of fatigue.
"Return to the team..." Tsunade finally spoke, paused for a moment, and said softly, "She probably won't be returning to the team."
Haruno Sakura was shocked and subconsciously stood up.
"What did you say?"
The Fifth Hokage sat up straight and let out a long sigh.
Her expression was serious as she looked at Haruno Sakura and said, "After Yūgao Uzuki recovers, she will be withdrawn from the Anbu and will no longer carry out such dangerous missions."
The girl was instantly stunned.
An arrangement like this meant that Yūgao would be retiring from then on.
"...Why?" she asked hesitantly.
"Because of the problem with her heart," Tsunade said, looking into Haruno Sakura's eyes and coldly stating the facts. "We used her hair to transform into her current heart."
"The method we used was to use medical ninjutsu to induce her hair into stem cells, and then differentiate them into myocardial cells, form tissues, and finally grow a new heart. However, the medical ninjutsu for stem cells is far from perfect, so the new heart is far from being as functional as a normal heart. It can be said that the treatment was only half successful. Although it can cope with her daily life, once it is used in battle..."
"What will happen?" Haruno Sakura asked, her eyes wide as she stared at Tsunade, waiting for her answer.
"She will die again."
Tsunade said cruelly.
Sakura was silent for a moment, then lowered her eyelids, avoiding Tsunade's pressing gaze.
She understood what Tsunade meant.
From then on, Yūgao could only retire.
Perhaps she could still be called a ninja, but she had to retreat to the second line and become a non-field ninja in the Ninja Academy or a clerical organization.
She could no longer fight on the front lines and display the peerless style of a female swordswoman.
The girl was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Although she had seen many ninja who had retired due to disability, such as the owner of the beef ball shop from when Sasuke had been discharged from the hospital, this was the first time that such a thing had happened to someone close to her.
It was like when you see a disaster in a distant place on the news and see how many people have died, you will sigh with emotion. But your feelings will never be as strong as the emotions you feel when your deskmate or your roommate dies in a car accident.
"I'm very sorry, Sakura," Tsunade said softly, lowering her eyelids. "We couldn't completely heal her."
Yes, Yūgao Uzuki had survived.
But the powerful ninja of the Anbu, with the codename "Xi," had died.
"Squad 14 will probably have to be reorganized."
Tsunade's calm words echoed in the spacious office.
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