"Voluntarily poisoning oneself? Hah, that's actually… quite an idea."
The Third Hokage pondered for a while, unable to hide his admiration for Chiba's quick wit.
To come up with such a feasible plan in mere seconds—
Impressive!
"Oh, right, Third Hokage—this is the written proposal Chiba came up with. Please take a look."
Aburame Shibi handed over a report.
Chiba's proposal?
The Hokage raised an eyebrow. If it were simply an improvement to the Aburame clan's insect techniques, there'd be no need to show him.
Curiosity piqued, he opened the document.
After scanning a few lines, the Third lifted his gaze toward Shibi, expression slightly incredulous.
This kind of idea…
Only Chiba could have thought of it.
Ordinary people would never even consider such a bizarre medical approach.
He took a slow drag on his pipe.
"Using insects… as treatment."
Could that actually work?
After a moment of thought, he looked at Shibi. "You may proceed with trials, but remember the rules of research—no live human experimentation. If I hear otherwise, don't expect me to show mercy."
"Understood."
Shibi nodded firmly.
He'd come to the Hokage precisely because he didn't intend to take that darker path. If that were his goal, he would've gone straight to kid.
And Chiba—Shibi was certain—understood that perfectly. Otherwise, the boy would've approached kid himself.
Shibi might be quiet, but he wasn't stupid. He knew exactly where the Third's bottom line lay.
"The Medical Department will assist your research," the Third continued. "If this proves workable, your clan's members can participate directly in treatment."
After some thought, he realized why Chiba would encourage the Aburame to get involved in medicine.
With insects performing the treatment, many deep or internal wounds wouldn't need to be surgically opened. The kikaichū could simply enter the wound and release healing chakra from within.
That would make the treatment faster and less invasive—and recovery quicker too.
Indeed, the concept of medical kikaichū had genuine potential.
Moreover, as he thought further, an image of Chiba's chakra-storage tools surfaced in his mind.
If those chakra-storing devices were perfected, the Aburame clan would essentially become an all-purpose support force—capable of attack, defense, reconnaissance, and now healing.
Who wouldn't want a teammate like that?
Just imagining it, the Third could see how vast the Aburame clan's potential truly was.
With the Uchiha clan gone and only the Hyūga left as a major family in Konoha, kidning another strong clan could only be beneficial.
Tch!
The Hokage smirked slightly, his mood lifting.
"Lord Hokage, I'll take my leave."
"Go ahead. If you need assistance, don't hesitate to ask. The village will provide full support."
The Third smiled.
"Yes, sir."
Shibi bowed lightly and turned to leave.
He could more or less guess what the Hokage was thinking, but he said nothing. Was the Third's favor toward the Aburame a good thing or not?
Hard to say.
Still, in the short term, his clan would certainly benefit greatly.
That was one heavy favor Chiba had just earned them.
The next day, Chiba headed to the Medical Department.
kid should've been discharged by now.
He was mainly there to collect the data from kid's surgery, to evaluate just how effective his own technique had been.
But—
As soon as he entered the hospital, everyone started giving him strange looks.
Hmm?
What's going on?
He looked around, puzzled. The medics he passed—like Baicao and the others—avoided eye contact and hurried away the moment they saw him.
"Chiba? What brings you here?"
Kitayama Xu walked out holding a folder, and upon spotting him wandering near the Medical Department, immediately called out.
Chiba approached. "Kitayama-sensei, did something happen? Everyone's acting… weird."
"This…"
Kitayama hesitated, clearly struggling to find the right words.
Chiba frowned. Definitely something was up.
After a moment of thought, he relaxed his expression and asked lightly, "Is it about the Aburame clan?"
"Mm. The Third ordered us to cooperate with their research, and word is, it was your suggestion to get them involved in medical work."
Kitayama didn't bother hiding it.
Chiba couldn't help but chuckle. "What, are you all afraid they'll take your jobs?"
"That's not it," she said quickly, shaking her head. "No matter what, insects can't replace medical-nin. But still… those kikaichū—well, you know."
"You're scared of bugs?" Chiba looked at her oddly.
As medical-nin, they handled corpses regularly. And yet they were squeamish about a few insects?
He didn't even know what to say.
"Corpses are one thing! Corpses don't crawl! Those insects are swarming, squirming—ugh, just thinking about it makes my skin crawl!"
Kitayama visibly shuddered, goosebumps breaking out on her arms.
"Ahem. You'll get used to it," Chiba said diplomatically.
Ah. So the teacher has trypophobia.
Yeah… there's not much he could do about that.
"Why don't you pick someone else to handle it then?"
"That's why everyone's avoiding you," she admitted. "They're afraid you'll volunteer them."
Chiba scratched his head.
Was he really that intimidating?
Come on, he was barely a provisional member of the Medical Department—hardly anyone with authority.
He cleared his throat. "Well, honestly, I do think there's room for research, so I suggested it to Shibi-senpai."
"Wait—Shibi-senpai?"
Kitayama's expression darkened immediately.
She remembered vividly how she'd ranted about the Aburame clan in front of Aburame Shibi after that surgery.
Right. Time to find a scapegoat.
"What's wrong?" Chiba asked.
"Nothing. You're right—the research is worth pursuing. It's just… my health isn't great, so I'm not really fit to, uh, communicate directly with Shibi-senpai."
She clasped his hands solemnly. "As my half-disciple, surely you wouldn't want to see your teacher suffer, would you?"
"Uh…"
Doctor, please calm down. I'm still just a kid!
Chiba wiped the sweat from his brow, utterly lost for words.
"Don't you want to share your teacher's burden?"
"You could always have your subordinates help, right? Baicao and the others aren't that busy. I heard the two jutsu they've been working on are nearly done."
As he said that, he suddenly slapped his forehead.
Ah, right! Thanks to Kitayama's sidetrack, he'd completely forgotten why he came here in the first place.
He quickly pulled out his notebook.
"Anyway, Kitayama-sensei, let's talk about the main issue."
"This is my main issue," she muttered—but her eyes still drifted curiously toward the notebook.
Page after page was filled with neat sketches and notes—concepts for jutsu, tool designs, sealing techniques…
Kitayama couldn't help but feel a swell of admiration.
So this was what separated geniuses from ordinary people.
Success didn't come from nowhere. Without the habit of constantly recording inspiration, even someone like Chiba couldn't possibly come up with ingenious new techniques on the spot.
Maybe… they weren't unable to create new jutsu because of talent alone. Maybe attitude played a big part too.
She reflected silently.
"This one."
"Hmm? A barrier technique? That looks like a component of some kind of barrier formula."
Kitayama recognized the symbols even if she didn't know the specific technique.
"Yeah. This formula can identify a single chakra signature. I modified it based on the Third's barrier jutsu—so it can extract a patient's chakra and analyze it."
"In that case… just by passing through the barrier, we could pinpoint where the abnormal chakra flow or infection source is!"
"Exactly."
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
https://www.patreon.com/Mindsmithstudio