WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch⏰ Resets Monday!
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"Nohara Hiroshi here. Medical Team Thirteen is on site. Where are the wounded?"
"You're finally here?! Follow me, quick! So many brothers need help!"
By the time Chiba and the others arrived at the battlefield, the fighting was over. The wounded had been gathered into a cluster of tents.
Moving the wounded could cause secondary injuries, even death. But it was better than leaving them on the battlefield to die. At worst, they'd get a proper burial, right?
Phew… Good, good. Don't have to save people while dodging jutsu.
Many of the medical ninja, Chiba included, breathed a secret sigh of relief.
"It hurts… it hurts so much…"
"My arm… my arm is gone! AHHHHH!"
Chiba followed Hiroshi into the tent. The chorus of agonized cries around him didn't weaken his resolve. It hardened it.
To survive this chaotic world… To not be slaughtered like livestock… I need power. Real power.
"Let me see…"
Chiba's gaze swept over the injured men, searching. Was there someone worth using his Spring Touch on? He desperately needed to boost his survival skills, right here, right now!
His eyes scanned, dismissed, moved on.
Then they locked onto a stretcher. Stopped.
His breath hitched.
"That's…?!"
The boy on the stretcher was charred black, almost burnt to a crisp. But Chiba still recognized him.
Senju Nawaki.
That unlucky kid from the original plot—the only one ever killed by a simple exploding tag!
Chiba's heart hammered against his ribs.
Nawaki had a quarter of Hashirama's bloodline! And he was hanging on by a literal thread! Wasn't this the perfect candidate he'd been looking for?!
Mangekyō! Sage Body! I'm coming for you!
Chiba strode toward Nawaki's stretcher, eyes practically glowing.
A figure stepped in front of him. "Chiba," Hiroshi's voice was low, urgent. "Pick another target. Leave him for now."
Hiroshi, a veteran of this bloody business, had spotted Nawaki the moment they entered. He'd already checked the boy's condition.
80% body surface burns. Internal organs pulverized by blast shockwaves…
The fact the kid was still breathing was a miracle. There was no saving him.
If he weren't… special, they wouldn't have even bothered carrying him back. They'd have bagged him on the spot.
"Listen to me, Chiba." Hiroshi's voice dropped to a whisper. "There are plenty of wounded here. Pick someone else. Don't invite trouble."
Nawaki was a live grenade. Hiroshi didn't want his team touching it.
"Team Leader Hiroshi, I know you're worried about me. But I really think I have a chance to save him. Please, let me try."
Chiba offered a bitter smile. He didn't want some cliché "face-slapping" drama. He just wanted to get his reward and live. But his damn age kept getting in the way.
"You… sigh…"
Hiroshi looked at the determined boy before him. He saw a younger version of himself—stubborn, refusing to back down until he hit a wall. After a moment's hesitation, he stepped aside.
"Thank you, Team Leader!"
Chiba moved past Hiroshi, walked straight to Nawaki's side. He opened his medical kit as a prop, then focused his entire mind on the system.
"Team Leader, he's just a rookie! What 'chance' could he possibly have? Why are you letting him fool around?!"
Another medical ninja, Wugang, sidled up to Hiroshi, his voice tight with displeasure.
Obviously, more people had noticed who was on that stretcher. They just kept quiet about it.
When Hiroshi didn't reply, Wugang pressed on. "If Lady Tsunade gets angry because of this… our whole team will be implicated! When that happens—"
"Shut up, Wugang!" Hiroshi snapped. "Healing the wounded is our duty. Our foundation! If you lack the courage to do it, don't stand in the way of someone doing theirs!"
"Do you see all these men waiting for treatment?! Do you have time to stand here gossiping?!"
"… Yes, sir. Understood."
Wugang's face flushed, then paled. He slunk away to treat other patients. Hiroshi snorted and left the tent too, clearly having other matters to handle.
Meanwhile, Chiba was mentally fumbling, figuring out how to activate Spring Touch.
A voice, cold as a grave, slithered from behind him.
"Who gave you… permission… to touch Nawaki-kun?"
DANGER.
Cold washed over Chiba's skin. His focus snapped back to reality. He felt like a mouse pinned under a serpent's gaze. The pressure was physical, a weight between his shoulder blades.
It can't be…?
Chiba turned, slowly.
A pale, sharp-featured face filled his vision. Golden, slitted eyes held pure ice. The stench of blood—thick, metallic, fresh—rolled off the man in waves.
O-Orochimaru!
Seeing one of the most terrifying figures from the series step out of memory and into reality—alive, breathing, glaring at him with palpable malice—made Chiba's heart skip a beat.
"Lord Orochimaru, I—"
"Step away," Orochimaru's voice was ice. "Get away from Nawaki."
Nawaki's condition was beyond even Tsunade's reach. This pathetic creature before him just wanted to use the boy's body for a performance.
Orochimaru had seen too many opportunists like Chiba. He would not allow such vermin to defile Nawaki's remains!
Hah! Now the show starts!
Wugang watched from the side, glee flashing in his eyes. He wasn't the only one hoping to see Chiba crash and burn.
Chiba was just too young. A teenager claiming he could do what seasoned medics couldn't? No one believed it. They felt only disgust, resentment toward the upstart kid.
KILLING INTENT.
Orochimaru had just slaughtered over a dozen Sand ninja. His murderous aura was tangible, a suffocating blanket pressing down on Chiba, crushing the air from his lungs.
Damn it!
Chiba gritted his teeth. He didn't move an inch.
He knew. If he backed down from this once-in-a-lifetime chance… he might never get another. He might not even live to see another. He couldn't give up!
"Oh?"
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed a fraction. The boy hadn't flinched. He was standing his ground, bearing the pressure.
Even a regular Jonin might buckle. Yet this boy…?
"The first rule of a medical ninja…"
Chiba clenched his jaw, fighting to keep his body from trembling, forcing his voice steady.
"The first rule… is to never stop treatment until you've confirmed your comrade is dead."
He met Orochimaru's cold gaze head-on, each word deliberate.
"So, Lord Orochimaru… please don't interfere with me saving a life. Okay?"
(òwó?)! What the—?!
Silence. Deafening, stunned silence.
Some wounded men forgot their pain, eyes wide, staring at Chiba in disbelief.
One thought echoed in all their minds: Is this kid suicidal?! He dares talk back to Lord Orochimaru—the man with no human feelings?!
Even Orochimaru himself seemed momentarily taken aback.
Then Chiba spoke again. "I know what you're thinking of me. It doesn't matter. I can't just watch a comrade die without trying something."
With the system as his safety net, Chiba decided to go all in.
After throwing down that defiant statement, he turned his back on Orochimaru. Walked straight back to Nawaki's stretcher.
He was afraid if he waited any longer, Nawaki would be cold…
That reward is mine today. Not even the damn system admins can stop me. I said what I said! Chiba thought, teeth gritted.
"..."
Orochimaru fell silent. In Chiba's eyes, he saw a reverence for life. It struck a chord deep within him.
A man who could read hearts saw the truth: this boy genuinely, desperately wanted to save Nawaki.
"This is entirely your personal undertaking!"
Wugang's voice cut through the quiet, trying to distance himself from the coming disaster. "If anything happens to Lord Nawaki because of you, you—"
"Silence. Do not disturb him." Orochimaru turned his head, the command frost-laced.
Wugang: "???."
Wugang's brain short-circuited. Lord Orochimaru wanted to kill Chiba a second ago! Why the sudden change?!
They say women are fickle… but Lord Orochimaru… Damn you, Chiba! This is all your fault!
Wugang's face twisted, as if he'd bitten into something foul.
He didn't dare be angry at Orochimaru. So, all his resentment poured onto Chiba's head.
If not for Chiba, he wouldn't have been scolded by Hiroshi and Lord Orochimaru!
Nawaki is dead for sure. Let's see how you clean up this mess.
Wugang glared venomously at Chiba's back, thinking dark, hateful thoughts.