"This is…" Waking up, Mikoto slowly opened her eyes, revealing a pair of scarlet pupils. But just as quickly as they appeared, the scarlet light faded, and her eyes returned to their natural shade of black.
Still, Aoshi had clearly seen it—what Mikoto had just revealed was a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
A year ago, she had only reached the two-tomoe stage.
"This is Konoha Hospital. Mikoto, your injuries have been treated, but you'll still need a few days of rest before you can be discharged."
"Aoshi, huh? Thank you." Now aware of her situation, Mikoto gave Aoshi a gentle smile.
Her weak, graceful demeanor made one instinctively feel a sense of tenderness toward her.
"Oh, and congratulations on becoming a medical-nin."
Having experienced the loss of both her instructor and teammates, Mikoto had naturally become concerned about Aoshi—the last of her former classmates. So when he expressed his desire to become a medical ninja a year ago, she had supported him wholeheartedly.
After all, becoming a medical-nin meant he could work at Konoha Hospital in the future, avoiding the constant dangers faced by field ninjas.
Of course, even while working at the hospital, one could still accept missions if they wanted.
After chatting for a bit, Aoshi left the operating room and returned to his office.
---
While recovering his chakra, he checked the reward he had just received. Genjutsu: Tree Binding Death. It was a high-level genjutsu.
In the original story, Genjutsu Jonin Yūhi Kurenai had used it on Uchiha Itachi. Although she had been easily countered, the issue wasn't with Kurenai or the genjutsu—it was simply that the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan was far too overpowered.
Using genjutsu against a Uchiha? That was like trying to teach woodworking to the man who invented the chisel.
Objectively speaking, it was still an advanced and powerful illusion technique.
When cast, the user vanishes, tree-like constructs—appearing similar to Wood Style—bind the enemy. Then the user emerges from the trees to land a killing blow.
This genjutsu originated during the era of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. It tricks the target into believing the user is wielding Wood Release, thereby inducing fear.
"It must be because Mikoto's power increased dramatically that such a high-level genjutsu was unlocked."
Once someone awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, their strength was elite-Jonin level.
That's the Uchiha for you. Aoshi couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.
Wait… what am I even jealous of? I have a system.
According to the system's rules, every successful treatment Aoshi performed earned him a Reward Orb, ranked by grade, from lowest to highest: White, Blue, Gold, and Rainbow.
The higher the grade, the more valuable the reward contained within.
And even within the same grade, the difficulty of the treatment directly affected the quality of the reward. The more challenging the treatment, the greater the reward.
If the patient's strength was at Genin level or below, only White Orbs would be awarded. Chūnin and Special Jonin patients yielded Blue Orbs.
Once the target reached Jonin level, Gold Orbs could be earned—elite Jonin counted as well.
And only by healing someone at Kage-level strength could one obtain the highest grade: Rainbow Orbs.
In short, the stronger the patient and the more severe the injury, the greater the reward Aoshi would receive.
His chakra reserves were still on the low side and depleted quickly—but fortunately, his recovery rate was unusually fast.
After taking a short break to restore his chakra, Aoshi completed another three treatments, earning one White Orb and two Blue Orbs for his efforts.
The patients were a Genin, a Chūnin, and a Special Jonin, respectively.
The White Orb granted him 10 chakra points, while the Blue Orbs gave 30 and 50 chakra points.
Although there were no ninjutsu rewards, Aoshi was quite satisfied. After all, increasing his chakra capacity was currently the most valuable reward.
"Looks like White and Blue Orbs mostly boost chakra, and Blue Orbs give significantly more."
"Alright then, let's set a small goal—get my chakra to 10,000, reaching C-rank."
Even in the most powerful village, Konoha, Jonin were the backbone of military strength and relatively few in number.
Therefore, the majority of Aoshi's patients would naturally be Genin or Chūnin. This conveniently aligned with his goal of raising his chakra reserve.
---
Meanwhile, a red-haired girl burst into Konoha Hospital in a hurry.
If Aoshi had seen her, he'd have recognized her immediately—it was Uzumaki Kushina, one of his close friends.
Kushina had come to visit Mikoto. The two of them were best friends. And Aoshi had gotten to know Kushina precisely because of Mikoto.
"Mikoto, Mikoto! Are you okay?!" Looking at the flustered Kushina, Mikoto felt touched inside, but still scolded her with a tired voice.
"Why are you yelling so loudly? Keep your voice down—this is a hospital. Don't disturb others."
Kushina only chuckled awkwardly. "I was worried about you! When I heard you were injured, I was terrified!"
Seeing that Mikoto's complexion was still a little pale, but otherwise clearly fine, Kushina finally relaxed.
"You…" Mikoto shook her head helplessly at her friend. But thanks to Kushina's noisy arrival, some of the sadness in her heart had been swept away.
She had been injured while leading her three students on a mission, ambushed by a group of rogue ninja. In order to protect her students, she had been wounded.
Although she ultimately wiped out the entire enemy force, she failed to save her team—only one girl survived. That girl had carried her to Konoha Hospital.
Mikoto had already sent her home.
"Oh, right, Kushina—guess who I saw?"
"Who?"
"Aoshi. He's a full-fledged medical-nin now. He's the one who treated me."
Kushina was shocked.
Aoshi was her friend too, and she knew him well—especially his strengths, and more importantly, his lack of talent. In the beginning, she hadn't believed he could even grasp the basics of medical ninjutsu, let alone master them.
"If I remember right, he only started learning a year ago, didn't he?" she muttered, still a little incredulous.
After arriving in Konoha, Kushina had been placed under the care of Uzumaki Mito and Tsunade, residing within the Senju compound. So she was also well aware of how difficult it was to become a medical-nin.
Normally, it took years, sometimes even over a decade, to qualify.
"I know, right? I was surprised too. Turns out Aoshi has amazing talent in medical ninjutsu."
Kushina nodded in agreement, feeling genuinely happy for Aoshi. After chatting with Mikoto for a while longer, Kushina finally left.
But instead of heading home, she went straight to find Aoshi.
"Well, well, Aoshi—you became a medical-nin and didn't even bother to tell me?" Kushina crossed her arms, pretending to pout. "Do I even count as your friend anymore?"
"I just got promoted today! I haven't even had the chance to tell you yet!"
At Aoshi's explanation, Kushina let out two annoyed humphs, pretending to be angry.