Chapter 405: Haku's Report
Konoha Hospital.
Haruno Sakura was lying on the bed, naked... undergoing a physical examination by Tsunade.
Tsunade had a habit of giving Haruno Sakura a physical examination and deep treatment after every big battle, fearing she might be left with hidden injuries.
As a Hokage who attached great importance to the role of medical treatment, Tsunade once envisioned that all subordinates could receive an examination and treatment after completing missions, and even wanted to popularize such medical services to Genin—of course, this whimsical idea eventually came to nothing. However, applying it to her own disciple was no problem.
Such a habit was naturally excellent. Sakura could still be lively and vigorous after fighting strong enemies successively, and her strength grew with each fight. Tsunade's meticulous and superb medical ninjutsu absolutely contributed greatly.
As soon as Tsunade lifted Haruno Sakura's right arm, she frowned. The deeper the examination, the darker her face became.
"Really reckless! Do you not want your right hand anymore? The bones aren't even set properly!" Tsunade's tone was heavy.
"I was still fighting at the time..." Haruno Sakura explained with an apologetic smile.
Nerves, muscles, bones, joints—these human parts are precisely combined. A slight error will affect the whole, but how could one care so much during battle? Sakura's right hand was severely injured in the battle with Kisame, and then she quickly healed it with powerful healing ninjutsu, but obviously, Tsunade looked down on her rough battlefield healing technique very much.
Haruno Sakura's medical ninjutsu was not bad. In fact, being able to heal a mangled right hand broken into several segments and restore combat power in a short time was enough to mock most medical ninja. But in Tsunade's view, relying on powerful medical ninjutsu to force out a massive amount of vitality to heal wounds was crude, simple, and wasteful. More importantly, it would leave a lot of hidden injuries. Everything seems normal now, but if handled improperly, there will be backlash sooner or later.
"Hmph... If you could spare a sliver of your mind focused on offensive ninjutsu for medical ninjutsu, I would thank heaven and earth!" Tsunade was also helpless. Haruno Sakura, who was regarded as her successor, had little interest in her true specialty, medical ninjutsu. Instead, her head was full of fighting and killing, not like a girl at all.
Although the girl's medical skills looked decent, they couldn't fool Tsunade.
"Your medical ninjutsu is just like my granduncle's. It looks very powerful, any wound can heal quickly, but in reality, it's nothing more than relying on brute force," Tsunade continued to criticize her. "Miracles from great strength, overdrawing the body's potential, forcibly prolonging life with Yang Release, and finally the body suddenly collapses after a big battle. If you don't want to end up like that, you'd better honestly learn medical skills from me."
She was referring to the First Hokage, who, after a big battle with Madara, although clearly victorious, died from serious injuries despite his chakra and vitality not being exhausted.
Sakura shrank her head sheepishly.
"Mmph..." The girl groaned, severe pain coming from her right hand.
"Bear with it," Tsunade didn't look up, her gaze wandering up and down the radius, ulna, and humerus, "I'm re-breaking your hand bones to reset the poorly set parts. And the nerves too. So no anesthesia."
Listening to it felt terrifying, Haruno Sakura complained silently in her heart, but she had encountered even more terrifying situations. As long as she was mentally prepared, this pain was just child's play.
Although she would still tense her muscles in pain and sweat uncontrollably—she wasn't a pervert who enjoyed pain.
When Shizune and Haku came in, they saw such a scene: the girl lay arched on the bed, looking like a fish being pan-fried in a pot.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune stepped forward and said, "Haku brought back a new report."
"Wait a moment, almost done."
Before long, Tsunade completed the final treatment. The white light on her hand faded. Sakura let out a long sigh of relief, her tense body suddenly softened, collapsing onto the hospital bed soaked with sweat.
Tsunade also breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from her forehead, turned around, and took the report handed over by Shizune.
"Why have you lost so much weight?" Haku walked over and touched the girl's clearly defined lower abdomen on the bed. Lacking the filling of fat, the streamlined abdominal muscles were almost turning into a grid, which made him a little distressed.
"It's okay, just lost a little bit, body fat percentage dropped by at most two percent." Haruno Sakura smiled faintly and said while panting slightly, "After the big battle, the Yin Seal can quickly restore energy by breaking down fat, so I'll be a bit thinner. It will recover soon."
Her current body fat percentage could be roughly seen without calculation, around 17; this number is slightly chubby for boys, with a not-so-prominent spare tire, but for girls—even female ninja—it is skinny. Being any thinner would affect health.
If the weight loss effect of the Yin Seal were placed on Earth in her previous life, it would definitely cause a crazy pursuit by women all over the world. Unfortunately, in the Naruto world, this effect could only be called tasteless; as a ninja, Sakura engages in a large amount of high-intensity exercise every day, so there is no worry about fat accumulation or body shape distortion.
No, thinking carefully, this should be called a side effect!
Haruno Sakura calculated that during this period she must eat more to gain some weight. She rested for a while, sat up from the bed, and saw Tsunade looking at the report in her hand with a gloomy face and cold expression.
"What's wrong, Master?" She asked.
"Nothing major..." Tsunade casually explained the reason for the report: previously, a ninja contracted a contagious strange disease after a mission, so she sent Haku with a medical team to investigate the root of the disease.
Flipping through several pages continuously until the final conclusion part, Tsunade read quickly, then turned to Haku: "So according to your judgment, this is not something done by hostile ninja?"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Haku answered solemnly, "According to our investigation, this disease is very common in the northwest of the Land of Fire. Locals call it Big Belly Disease. It is actually a parasitic disease, an incurable disease with a history of at least several hundred years. It's just that because the place has been extremely poor for a long time and rarely issues ninja missions, we didn't know about this disease at all. During the investigation, we found a large number of infection sources in the local water sources. The sick ninja probably contracted this disease because his body resistance dropped after being injured and he was successfully parasitized after contacting the infection source."
"In other words, this disease has been ravaging the Land of Fire for many years, but we never knew?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"I remember, this disease doesn't affect healthy ninja, right?" Tsunade sneered and casually put the report aside, "The Daimyo of the Land of Fire has never mentioned this to Konoha... Since the Daimyo doesn't care about his people, there's no need for us to overstep our authority!"
Kind-hearted Haku's body shook visibly, murmuring as if wanting to say something, but stopped.
Instead, Shizune frowned and said hesitantly: "Are we really going to ignore it? I've read the report, this disease is terrible. Every time it becomes epidemic, locals die in patches. Many villages even die out completely, people and cattle alike..."
"We can't manage it." Tsunade shook her head, "I've seen worse than this. Do you know how many people die in each Ninja World War? Besides, the threat of the Akatsuki is getting closer, where do we have the leisure to manage such things? Moreover, matters of ordinary people shouldn't be interfered with by ninja in the first place."
The citizens of the Land of Fire outside Konoha belong to the government of the Land of Fire Daimyo. Rash interference by Konoha Ninja Village could easily cause a political uproar, and the consequences would be far more serious than the parasitic disease continuing to spread. Tsunade had to explain.
Of course, she also sympathized with the citizens of those areas. But as a Kage, Tsunade must avoid being controlled by emotions and issuing wrong orders.
"I also think it's inadvisable to divert strength to deal with this matter before dealing with the crisis brought by the Akatsuki. But Master," Sakura's clear voice rang in the ward, "Should we really not interfere in such things?"
"Oh?"
Tsunade turned her head and looked at her disciple with interest.
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