Daichi quietly stepped out of the chamber, sliding the door shut behind him. 'Twenty-four to thirty hours. That's the margin I bought us. I can't afford even a single miscalculation.'
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood with Tobirama, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Shizune at his sides. All conversation stopped the instant Daichi walked out the treatment room.
The Genin paused for a moment and steadied his breath as he felt everyone's eyes lock onto him. The atmosphere was filled with concern and expectation but no one spoke until Daichi broke the silence himself.
"She's stable, for now," Daichi finally said, directing his words toward the Hokage. "We've bought ourselves roughly a day."
Hiruzen let out a small breath of relief. His weathered expression, however, revealed his understanding that they were not out of the woods yet. "What exactly are we dealing with, Daichi?"
The boy hesitated to answer for a moment.
Seeing that, Jiraiya spoke up. "Just give it to us straight, kid. What's happening inside her? What did Orochimaru's serum do?"
"It created a cellular storm," Daichi replied with a grim expression. "Orochimaru forced modified foreign cells into sensei's body and they're aggressively grafting onto her tissues. They're competing with her original cells for oxygen, glucose, and – most critically – chakra. The clash is triggering internal lacerations, micro-aneurysms, and multi-organ stress. Her body is practically tearing itself apart from the inside."
"Lord First's cells…" Hiruzen murmured, crossing his arms. A flash of bitterness crossed his face. "Orochimaru's obsession with those cells already caused a disaster that took nearly 60 lives. I just never thought…" He sighed and shook his head to get rid of the horrible memories.
Tobirama's gaze narrowed and looked at the boy. "So the serum you gave her earlier—the Life Blood was to repair internal organ damage, correct?"
Daichi nodded. "Yes. The Life Blood serum is stabilizing her internal organs by rapidly repairing tissues and mitigating cell damage. Think of it as chakra-infused haematopoietic stem cells plus accelerated clotting factors. It's knitting the worst micro-tears across her heart and lungs and keeping the kidneys perfused."
Tobirama's brow rose. "And the other vial? The one you called Booster Shot. That's providing the energy needed to sustain her recovery?"
Daichi confirmed. "Yeah. Her pituitary–adrenal axis switched to a metabolic blackout to conserve resources – classic severe-injury coma physiology. That serum temporarily jump-started cortisol and epinephrine analogues, giving the body enough energy to re-establish perfusion without shocking the system."
Shizune quickly understood what Daichi did and her eyes slightly widened in surprise. "You reignited her hormonal pathways giving her body the needed energy for the metamorphosis."
"Yup."
Kakashi glanced between them and then turned to Daichi. "What about her chakra reserves? Lady Tsunade's Strength-of-a-Hundred Seal gives her vast amounts of chakra. Won't that sustain her?"
Hiruzen nodded with Kakashi. "Yes. The chakra stored in her seal is immense."
Daichi exhaled sharply, frustration evident for a brief moment. "Normally, yes. But it's not infinite. Right now, incompatible foreign chakra is coursing through her system, directly clashing with her natural chakra flow. Her Strength-of-a-Hundred Seal is robust, but her chakra is draining at an alarming rate, much faster than it would even in a prolonged battle."
Seeing the doubtful look on some of their faces, Daichi began to explain again. "Imagine two electrical grids wired together out of phase – you waste double the energy just fighting entropy. Tsunade-sensei is burning chakra at five to six times the battle rate merely to keep her cells intact."
Kakashi's lone eye narrowed. "Can you reverse the graft? Or remove the foreign cells?"
"Reversal would be lethal," Daichi said flatly. "The donor DNA is already intercalated into her genome. Removing it now is like yanking rebar from curing concrete – the whole structure collapses. Letting it run its course is equally hazardous. One transcription error and we get uncontrolled mitosis – cancer – or complete organ failure."
Hiruzen stood straight and contemplated the whole scenario. "So at this stage, reversing the cellular integration is impossible without killing her outright. And letting it run unchecked is also dangerous. Arrhh… We're in quite the predicament now." The Hokage rubbed his forehead in frustration.
Shizune, who had been silently absorbing every word, spoke up shakily, her voice strained with desperation. "Daichi, you must have some way to help her, right?"
Daichi turned to Shizune, his eyes softening with empathy. "I do have a few ideas, but they're theoretical. I need to examine the First Hokage's blood to find the precise genetic markers. If I can analyze that, it might give me the key to waking her up safely."
Tobirama nodded his head as he thought about that strategy. "So you want to identify what trigger modifications Orochimaru made to the original blood sample and you want to use that information to coax her immune system to tolerate the graft and stop the cellular war. Is that right?"
Daichi was slightly surprised that the second Hokage immediately understood his plan. "Yeah. That's right." 'I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. This is the guy who came up with a number of forbidden jutsus.'
Tobirama exchanged a glance with Hiruzen. "The vault should still hold several vials of my brother's blood in cryo. I can retrieve them in minutes."
Hiruzen shook his head. "I moved them from the vault after finding out about Danzo. But they're still secure and safe."
The old kage then turned to the Genin in the room. "An auxiliary lab is being arranged on the floor above with whatever equipment you need."
Daichi released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Thank you, Lord Hokage. I'll need cold centrifuges, sterile growth chambers and everything we took from Orochimaru's lab. I'll draft the full requisition."
Hiruzen nodded. "Everything will be ready by sunrise."
Daichi nodded.
"You should get some rest now," Hiruzen added kindly but firmly. "You'll need to be at your absolute best when you continue Tsunade's treatment. Her survival rests largely on your shoulders now."
Daichi met Hiruzen's gaze, understanding the gravity of his responsibility. "Yes, Lord Hokage. I'll be back in 4 or 5 hours. It'll give sensei's body some time to stabilize further and give me clarity on the next step."
Hiruzen agreed. "Of course."
Kakashi stepped forward, offering Daichi a tired but sincere smile. "I'll escort you home. The village isn't exactly calm tonight."
But Daichi shook his head. "Actually, if it's alright with you sensei, I'd like to go alone. I need to clear my head."
The silver haired Jonin looked at his student for a few seconds and then nodded in silence. 'After everything that's happened, I don't blame him. Even I'm overwhelmed.'
With a final, affirming nod from Hiruzen, Daichi turned away, walking steadily towards the staircase that led back to the surface.
As soon as Daichi was out of earshot, Jiraiya sighed heavily, running a hand over his face. "Even with Daichi's skill, will this be much for him? He knows Tsunade's future now depends on him. I can't imagine the pressure he must be feeling."
Tobirama folded his arms and had a calm expression. "He's already demonstrated exceptional capability. He's managed to find her against impossible odds and is keeping her alive this far. Now we have to trust him with her recovery as well."
Hiruzen silently agreed with Tobirama, but worry still lingered behind his steely gaze. "Come. There's a lot we need to discuss. My office is more suitable."
As they turned to leave, Shizune spoke up, stepping forward nervously. "Lord Hokage, would it be alright if I stayed here, to keep watch over her? I know I can't do much right now, but..."
Hiruzen placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, offering a reassuring smile. "Of course, Shizune. Tsunade would want you by her side. Stay here and rest. Alert us immediately if there's any change."
Shizune nodded, tears of gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you."
As Hiruzen led Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Tobirama upstairs toward his office, Shizune settled into a nearby chair, her gaze never leaving Tsunade's medical room.
'Please, Daichi.' she thought desperately, eyes closing briefly in exhaustion and hope, 'keep your promise.'
—-
After leaving the tower, Daichi quickly made his way to his home. Once inside the safety of his sanctum he sat down and immediately used Parallel processing skill. He wanted to know the best move he could make as quickly as possible.
'Right now, I have a shadow clone disguised as Kimimaro in the Land of Sound. But he's already taken everything of value from there. So it won't be much use to keep him at that location… No, there is one more thing he needs to do.'
Daichi immediately contacted his clone. "Hey. Has there been any suspicious movement on your side?"
"No boss. But I killed Kimimaro and just now finished off Kidomaru."
Daichi internally nodded with satisfaction. "Good. Finish off Jirobo as well. Don't let any of them live. And make sure to seal their bodies and store them in the inventory."
"Yeah. I know… So how is she?"
"Stable for now. I can know more after a few hours."
"Got it. So what are we doing regarding the Land of Earth? Manipulating the intelligence minister is important. Now that Dragon is gone, do you need me to head there?" The shadow clone enquired.
"No. Your chakra might be restored near full, but your Mana is near empty right?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so. Just finish off Jirobo and destroy the base. After that, dispel yourself."
"Got it."
Daichi was still in his Yin seal release state. 'I'll have to go to the Land of Earth and return as quickly as possible. But for that...'
Daichi took out a Gold card from his inventory. One of the rewards he got for killing Kakuzu and Hidan.
[Gold Skill Upgrader Card: Use this card to increase the Level of any skill, or technique by 50. Almost all restrictions needed to increase the skill are bypassed. This Card is a one time reward for the player.
Note: Can only be used on skills or techniques that have not reached Level 100.]
'I'm going to use this on my Flying thunder God Jutsu. That way traveling between countries will be much easier.'
Daichi had contemplated saving this card for future skills that would be more difficult to upgrade but he decided otherwise. 'I could use the dungeons to quickly increase the level of my teleportation jutsu. Even though only a few seconds would pass here but I'm in no mood for that.'
[Would you like to use the Gold Skill Upgrader Card - Yes/No]
'Yes.'
[Select the skill you wish to upgrade]
The skill list opened in a new window and Daichi immediately began scrolling down. Soon he saw the skill he was looking for and clicked on it.
[You have selected 'Flying Thunder God Technique(Active) - Lv. 03'.]
[Confirm - Yes/No]
'Yes'.
The gold colored card in his hand immediately turned into golden dust particles and within moments, disappeared.
[05:00 minutes before the selected skill is upgraded.]
[04:59]
[04:58]
'A five minute waiting window? That's unexpected. It's a good thing I didn't use this in the middle of a battle or something. Does this mean the Diamond card also has a waiting period? Is it five minutes or is it more? I guess I'll find out when I use it.'
Daichi waited patiently but each second felt like minutes for him. Soon the clock reached zero.
Suddenly a new system message showed up.
[Skill has been upgraded]
[Flying Thunder God Technique - Active(Lv. 53)]
[Current Grade: Advanced]
'Time to get into disguise. Transform.'
With the transformation seal, Daichi transformed into 'Dragon'.
Seeing that everything was ready, the boy vanished from his home a moment later with his leveled up teleportation jutsu.
He quickly arrived in the Land of Earth near a rocky valley and away from any villages. 'It's a good thing I placed my markers during my travels through this land.'
The Genin used Mana Sense and made sure he was the only one present. 'Always take the most extreme precautions. If any Zetsu is around, that'll ruin everything.'
The Genin immediately made a seal and created a shadow clone that immediately transformed into another Dragon.
Daichi then took out a scroll from his inventory and gave it to the clone. "That contains the evidence collected from the Finance Minister."
The clone nodded. "Yeah. I'll get it done."
At that moment both of them got the memories of the clone from the Land of Sound.
"Looks like his work is done. I better get to mine." The shadow clone spoke and vanished a moment later.
Daichi sighed and closed his eyes. He went through the new memories and saw how his clone sent a powerful wind bullet through the back of Kidomaru's skull and how he brutally broke Jirobo's hands and legs before cutting off his head with a wind blade.
'You ants had the audacity to attack and torture my teachers. If I hadn't done this much, I wouldn't be satisfied.'
Daichi then saw the last memory and he was surprised. 'Hmm… It seems my clone made contact with that Anbu ninja. This got interesting…'
The disguised Daichi looked around and a second later vanished as if he was never here.
The moment he got home he let out a deep breath of air and made several hand seals.
[You have deactivated Skill Strength of the Hundred Seal: Tier 01.]
[You have used 474563 Chakra points from the Tier 01 seal.]
'That much? I suppose, using all those high intensity jutsus and the chakra dispersion between the shadow clones after activating the seal… Makes sense.'
[474563 Chakra points will be allocated from Tier 03 seal to Tier 01 seal]
[The system will resume allocating chakra to the Tier 03 seal after two hours.]
'So that's how it is… And there is a cooldown time huh. Good.'
Daichi closed the notifications windows that showed the skill level ups and sighed.
But suddenly he swayed where he stood. 'Whoa'. He took a deep breath and focused as he slowly made his way to his bedroom. 'Man, I'm exhausted.'
The Gamer ninja hit the hay and gazed up at the ceiling. 'So much has happened these last few days… I wonder where the old man is…?'
With that thought Daichi closed his eyes and quickly went to sleep.
—---------------
Author's Note:-
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