"You won't be able to learn Medical Ninjutsu, which is more difficult than the Mind Body Switch Technique for now." Kitazawa shook his head and instructed, "Learning medical ninjutsu should be gradual—you mustn't rush it."
Although Sakura had exceptional talent in the field, she was still young, and her foundation wasn't as solid as it would be in the original timeline. To expect her to quickly master advanced medical ninjutsu was simply unrealistic.
"Yes, Mr. Kitazawa." Haruno Sakura suppressed her excitement and replied obediently.
"Then you definitely won't be able to catch up to me!" Ino grabbed Kitazawa's arm, poked her head out, and made a triumphant face at her.
"Hmph, childish!" Haruno Sakura rolled her eyes at her rival's teasing expression and stuck out her tongue in return.
"That's it for today's training. Head home and get some rest." Kitazawa smiled as he reached out and patted Ino's head.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Haruno Sakura asked eagerly, "What medical ninjutsu will I be learning tomorrow?"
"You..." Kitazawa was about to answer when a sudden system notification interrupted him.
[You and Haruno Sakura are both medical ninjutsu geniuses in the same class. You should compete with each other.
Current Task: Learn a medical ninjutsu faster than Haruno Sakura.]
[Task Reward: Skilled-Level Yang Release Chakra Nature Transformation.]
[Do you accept?]
Kitazawa's eyes lit up.
In theory, once you master both chakra form transformation and chakra nature transformation, any ninjutsu becomes learnable.
Up to now, Kitazawa had achieved master-level chakra form transformation, but had always lacked chakra nature transformation. Now, the first one had finally arrived, although it wasn't an all-attribute Chakra Nature Transformation.
The system categorized mastery into three levels: Entry, Skilled, and Master.
So, what did the Skilled-Level Yang Release transformation mean? Roughly the level of Shizune.
The one who had reached Master-level Yang Release was, of course, Tsunade.
If Kitazawa could be called a Medical Ninjutsu genius because of his Master-level Chakra Shape Transformation before, now he was an enhanced version of a genius.
Now, he didn't need to establish his persona as a Medical Ninjutsu genius, because he already was one.
"I'll keep it a secret for now. I'll tell you tomorrow." Kitazawa said with a smile, changing the subject.
"Huh?" Sakura blinked in confusion. Now she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Seeing this, Ino felt like she'd finally gotten her revenge. She dragged Sakura along with her as they walked away. After a few steps, she turned and shouted back, "Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Kitazawa smiled faintly.
He wasn't trying to help Ino get back at Sakura; he simply wanted to adjust the training difficulty for the next medical ninjutsu based on Tsunade's teaching structure.
After all, his goal was to defeat Sakura and complete his mission.
If he missed out on Skilled-Level Yang Release, he might just have to wake up in the middle of the night yelling, "I'm such an idiot!"
---
Kitazawa returned to Kurenai's home. Just like the day before, Tsunade and Shizune were already waiting for him.
Compared to her frequent tardiness before, Tsunade was undoubtedly very punctual these past two days. It had to be said—when it came to medical ninjutsu, she did maintain a certain level of seriousness.
The only downside: she left the teaching to Shizune.
"Kitazawa." Shizune pulled out the same fish from yesterday. "Did you practice during the day?"
"I squeezed in about three hours today," Kitazawa answered honestly.
"Then you'd better keep working hard." Shizune smiled. "Two days will pass in the blink of an eye."
"I won't even need two days. I'll definitely master the Healing Jutsu today." Kitazawa said with full confidence.
"Really? I don't believe it." Shizune shook her head in disbelief. Three hours yesterday, three hours today—that was just six hours in total.
"Senior Sister Shizune, just wait and see." Kitazawa deliberately emphasized the word 'Senior Sister.'
"Then bring it on!" Shizune snorted, not backing down. Though usually mild-tempered, even she couldn't tolerate being provoked like that.
Kitazawa placed his hands forward and began practicing the Healing Jutsu. Just like the previous day, Shizune stood by to offer guidance.
Except... she realized she had nothing left to teach. Something felt off. After just a few minutes, it became obvious that Kitazawa's Healing Jutsu was no longer flawed.
Two hours passed.
Under the soft green glow of medical chakra, the knife wounds on the carp's body healed, and it began swimming again—vigorously.
It was nothing short of a medical miracle.
Ordinarily, a carp could survive only three to five hours outside water. But with proper medical treatment, its life could be extended—sometimes up to a full day.
"You... you actually mastered the Healing Jutsu?" Shizune gaped at him in disbelief. "Only eight hours total?"
Tsunade sat upright, her expression turning serious. It had taken her nearly eight hours to learn the Healing Jutsu. In other words, Kitazawa's talent wasn't inferior to hers.
"This is all thanks to Senior Sister Shizune's excellent guidance," Kitazawa replied with a smile.
"…" Shizune's smile froze.
Did she guide him? Yes, but not much.
What an annoying genius! Being a genius was good in every way, except that as a teacher, it lacked a sense of accomplishment.
"Shizune, you keep teaching him." Tsunade crossed her arms. She was beginning to wonder if Kitazawa really was a medical ninjutsu genius.
"Alright." Shizune nodded after thinking briefly. "The second medical ninjutsu I'll teach you is the Anesthesia Technique."
She formed a seal and pressed both hands on the struggling carp. In the next moment, the fish calmed and fell into a deep sleep.
"The Anesthesia Technique is a D-rank jutsu. Its difficulty lies in targeting the right area for anesthesia." Shizune explained slowly.
Kitazawa understood immediately— this was like general versus localized anesthesia in his previous life.
Since the system hadn't granted him this jutsu, he'd have to learn it the old-fashioned way.
After an hour, Kitazawa still hadn't grasped the key points of the anesthesia technique. Shizune couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at this.
His speed was slightly slower than when learning the Healing Jutsu, so it didn't seem as abnormal—though it was still a bit faster than hers.
Even so, Shizune felt her confidence take a hit. She had always believed she was a genius in medical ninjutsu, especially as Tsunade's apprentice—the most renowned medical ninja in the shinobi world.
And yet, here was Kitazawa.
Tsunade rubbed her temples. Kitazawa's talent had far exceeded her expectations, and that troubled her.
She had originally stayed in Konoha just to make some money. Now, a medical ninjutsu genius had appeared out of nowhere.
Tsunade wasn't sure how much longer she could stay in the village. Then again, wherever there was a casino, that was her home.
For now, the most urgent matter was to finalize Yakumo's fourth ninjutsu.
As a high-ranking official in Konoha, Tsunade had access to all records related to memory-sealing techniques. After countless rounds of discussion and deliberation, her fourth technique was finally nearing completion.
If all went well, it would be finished this week.
After Tsunade and Shizune left, Kitazawa spent some time with Kurenai before heading home.
During the day, he taught at the Ninja School; at night, he studied and worked on creating new ninjutsu. As a result, his grocery store hadn't opened in quite a while.
Thankfully, between his Ninja School salary and Hinata's generous gift, he didn't really need the extra income from the store.
Kitazawa took a long bath and went to sleep.
---
The next day: Wednesday.
As soon as Kitazawa arrived at school, he was summoned to the vice-principal's office by Sarutobi Hisao.
"It's nothing urgent," the vice-principal said bluntly. "Just letting you know that the final exam is scheduled for July 29th."
He added, "Since you're now the Director of Academic Affairs, the final exam will be your responsibility."
"Understood, Vice-Principal." Kitazawa nodded calmly.
In truth, this was something he had been looking forward to. After all, one of his system tasks required him to rank first in a practical exam—and now he had a reason to participate.
Thinking it over, Kitazawa made his way to the training grounds.
"Teacher Kitazawa!" Sakura came running up, eyes shining. "What medical ninjutsu will I be learning today?"
"D-rank medical ninjutsu: the Blood Coagulation Technique."
Kitazawa had already decided on this yesterday while practicing anesthesia. Since it shared the same D-rank difficulty as anesthesia, it would be a fair next step.
Of course, calling it fair was a stretch—Sakura was still too young, with an undeveloped chakra system. But that didn't matter. The system believed Kitazawa was also her age.
"For this technique, we won't be using a carp," Kitazawa said. "Today's training subject is a rooster." He paused and added, "Wait a few minutes. I've sent a shadow clone to buy one."
Ino's face twitched slightly.
Taking over the consciousness of a rooster was obviously harder than taking over a carp's. If things went sideways, she'd be stuck with double the homework again tonight.
"Shikamaru," Kitazawa suddenly turned, "Don't forget your special combat training at noon."
"Yes, Teacher Kitazawa…" Shikamaru sighed heavily. Clearly, it was going to be another exhausting day.
Not long after, Kitazawa's shadow clone returned with a rooster. Just like yesterday, he demonstrated the technique first, explained the key points, and then let Sakura begin practicing.
After ensuring she understood the fundamentals, he left a shadow clone to supervise and found a quiet corner to continue practicing anesthesia.
Even though he was confident he would win the system task, it didn't mean he could afford to be careless.
---
Noon arrived.
Kitazawa gave a quick and effortless lesson to Naruto and Shikamaru.
Though Shikamaru tried using his Shadow Imitation Technique in battle, Kitazawa had studied it thoroughly and now knew more about the technique than Shikamaru himself.
In the end, it felt more like Shikamaru was showing off in front of an expert—and got beaten down hard.
After the training session and a short break, Shikamaru began practicing Yin Release chakra nature transformation. He was gritting his teeth and pushing himself now.
Kitazawa returned to the office feeling refreshed and resumed practicing the Anesthesia technique.
At 5 p.m., a crisp system prompt finally rang in his ears.
[Current Task: Learn a medical ninjutsu faster than Haruno Sakura.
Task Reward: Skilled-Level Yang Release Chakra Nature Transformation.]
[Host has completed the task. Reward has been issued.]
Kitazawa exhaled slowly. A flood of information poured into his mind, and he could feel a distinct change. He had taken another step forward—this time, a big one.
With Skilled-Level Yang Release chakra transformation under his belt, he was now officially a true medical ninjutsu genius.
--
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P@atreon/Arvinstorm (45+ Advanced Chapters)