If he were truly moved by that kind of rhetoric, perhaps Danzo would find every possible way to contact him, control him, and use him as a pawn to achieve absolute political authority.
And once he lost his value? He'd probably be kicked aside or used as a stepping stone for someone else.
That kind of routine was honestly just boring.
Thinking of this, Gisei Shiraishi shook his head, unimpressed. "No matter what you say, my mind won't change. As for battling, right now, I'm just a hospital orderly."
Ryoma Aburame wanted to keep talking, but Gisei had already turned and walked away.
People from various wards had been disturbed by the commotion and were starting to peek out into the hallway.
Seeing this, Ryoma had no choice but to call back his kikaichu beetles. He wasn't stupid enough to start a fight inside a hospital.
Back in the office, Anna Takemoto spoke up the moment she saw him walk in. "You seem to have been pestered by a strange person."
Gisei glanced at her, returned to his seat, and immediately buried his face in a book.
It was a book borrowed from the hospital library, detailing the distribution of various chakra meridians in the human body.
Seeing Gisei ignore her to read, Anna hmphed and looked out the window, just in time to see Ryoma's retreating figure on the street below.
She looked thoughtful, her gaze gradually turning cold.
...
Time passed slowly, and Gisei gradually adapted to his work at the hospital.
By the way, he was also a salaried employee now, earning a monthly wage of 20,000 ryo.
It wasn't a high salary; a genin performing a single D-rank mission might get paid more than that.
But Gisei didn't care. He had no real need for money anyway. After keeping a little necessary pocket money each month, he handed everything else over to Eisawa.
One day, a year later, Gisei and Anna got off work and walked home together.
"I'm exhausted today. That old lady on the IV drip was so annoying—so much talk and so many demands."
Anna's routine complaining began.
Gisei walked while reading the medical book in his hand, having absolutely no interest in the conversation.
Seeing he wasn't responding, Anna rolled her eyes and changed the subject.
"Dr. Hikotake said we're almost ready to become full-fledged doctors. Once the new orderlies arrive, he'll arrange our assessment. What do you think?"
Gisei still ignored her.
Anna got angry, snatched the medical book from his hands, and snapped, "Gisei Shiraishi, did you hear a word I said?"
"I heard you, I heard you. Give me back the book."
Gisei looked helpless. He had joined the hospital to learn medical ninjutsu, not because he had some burning desire to cure the sick and save lives.
Whether he became a "real" doctor or not didn't matter to him. He felt being an orderly was fine; he was already familiar with the workflow and could handle things easily.
Becoming a doctor would inevitably mean learning other things, which would be a waste of his time.
Even with the medical books, he studied selectively, only focusing on knowledge related to the human body. As for identifying herbs and mixing medicines? He had absolutely zero interest.
"Since you heard me, are you going to participate in the assessment?"
"Becoming a doctor sounds troublesome. I won't do it; things are fine as they are now."
Anna counted on her fingers. "After becoming a doctor, not only will your salary increase, but you also won't have to do the grunt work serving people. If you perform well, you might even get your own office. And you think that's troublesome?"
Gisei snatched the medical book back while responding with a series of noncommittal "mm-hmm"s.
And then... there was no "and then."
Stomping her foot in frustration, Anna turned and ran to the dango shop on the side of the street to vent her anger on some sweets.
Back home, Gisei sat in the yard and put down the book.
He fished a carp he was raising out of the courtyard pond and placed it on the table.
Using a knife, he made a small cut on the fish's body. Red blood began to flow.
Gisei placed his hand over the wound and began to channel medical ninjutsu.
A pale green light glowed, and the fish, which was already gasping for air, started to flap its tail.
After a short moment, the wound on the fish disappeared.
Gisei marked the fish and put it back into the water, then took out his experimental records and began writing and drawing.
He had completed the medical ninjutsu experiment half a year after entering the hospital. It was surprisingly simple.
Gisei understood that this was due to his precise chakra control.
But he understood even more clearly that this kind of basic medical ninjutsu—which could only heal physical wounds—was meaningless to him.
Eisawa's condition wasn't that simple.
Over the past six months, he had examined Eisawa's body more than ten times.
Except for some adverse effects from excessive drinking, he surprisingly hadn't found any problems with Eisawa's body.
This was very strange. Eisawa wouldn't lie to him about something this serious.
Eisawa had specifically mentioned the "loss of life force," but wouldn't losing life force cause visible abnormalities in the body? Yet Gisei just couldn't find anything wrong.
He had proposed many hypotheses, flipping through the books in the hospital library over and over again, but he couldn't find any answers.
Just as he was pondering this, a fish in the pond floated up, belly-up.
Seeing this, Gisei's pupils suddenly contracted.
This is...
He hurriedly scooped the dead fish out and placed it on the table, casting medical ninjutsu on it.
As the pale green light flared, the fish—which could still blink its eyes moments before—never moved again.
Cold sweat broke out on Gisei's forehead. He frantically rummaged through his experiment records.
Soon, he found the log for this specific fish.
Incisions made on the body three times, on the belly once; treatment showed no abnormalities.
If he remembered correctly, this kind of fish could live for at least three years. But now, it had died in just six months.
It was treated to death by his medical ninjutsu.
Gisei examined the fish and found that, apart from the healed wounds, there were no abnormalities.
Which meant this fish had died of natural causes. Old age.
Could it be...
Gisei thought of a terrifying possibility, and his hands began to tremble.
Does medical ninjutsu consume lifespan?
He fished out another fish from the pond—one that had never been experimented on.
He made three cuts on the fish's body with a knife and began using medical ninjutsu.
Soon, the three wounds healed. He made three more cuts.
This time, the wounds healed much slower. And by the end, the fish simply died—treated to death, alive.
After confirming the fish was dead, Gisei clenched his fists tightly, his face full of uncertainty.
He wanted to use medical ninjutsu to treat Eisawa, but the result was running in the complete opposite direction.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Something as convenient as medical ninjutsu couldn't possibly be without consequences.
Using chakra to stimulate cell division was, in the final analysis, accelerating the consumption of lifespan.
He should have thought of this earlier.
A wave of nameless rage instantly rose up, and Gisei smashed his fist fiercely onto the table.
The table shattered into pieces, wood splinters scattering all over the ground.
Gisei slumped to the floor with a thud, staring blankly at the debris.
Medical ninjutsu was a failure. Was there any other way?
Thinking it over and over, Gisei couldn't come up with a solution.
Sighing, he felt he had reached a dead end.
Perhaps he shouldn't have worked alone. If he had dragged Tsunade along to research this...
Tsunade's brain was very useful. Whether it was learning or fighting, she could always figure out what worked best for her.
But just thinking about Tsunade's terrible temper made Gisei feel blocked up inside.
Eisawa didn't have much time left. Did he really have time to fuss over losing face?
There was no other way.
Gisei stood up, prepared to go find Tsunade.
It would be best if he could persuade her. If not...
It shouldn't be that hard, right? Tsunade, after all, is the woman who would later be called the Medical Saint. She should be very interested in this.
Gisei took two steps and stopped again, his expression turning ugly.
That woman has a really terrible temper.
Maybe she would be interested in medical ninjutsu, but she absolutely wouldn't want to research it with him.
If he went to find her, there was a high probability he would be rejected. Then she would definitely research it secretly on her own.
Once her research bore fruit, she would one hundred percent bring it out to show off and mock him.
Just thinking of that scene made Gisei feel like he had eaten shit.
No way!
Absolutely cannot go find that woman!
Gisei sat back down.
Should he try a roundabout route?
First, go find Orochimaru and reveal that he was researching medical ninjutsu. Then let Orochimaru inform Tsunade, waiting for Tsunade to come to him herself?
This might be feasible, but there was still uncertainty.
Because that guy Orochimaru was also difficult to deal with!
As for Jiraiya, he was directly ignored. It was already a miracle if the two didn't fight the moment they met.
Gisei was worried.
He began to recall all of Tsunade's interpersonal relationships, but...
Wait!
Gisei's expression became strange. He suddenly remembered that in the plot, every time Tsunade released the Yin Seal, she would eat a massive amount of food.
Who knew how many battles Tsunade had experienced in her life? She must have used medical ninjutsu constantly.
But this woman not only became Hokage, she lived until the grand finale. Even after Naruto became Hokage, she was still kicking around.
Medical ninjutsu reduces lifespan, but this side effect wasn't visible on Tsunade at all.
Why?
Gisei muttered, "Dietary therapy?"
Everyone needs to eat. If you don't eat, you won't grow, and you'll die. Even a three-year-old child understands such a simple truth.
Gisei reached up to cover his face, a strange, choked laugh escaping his throat.
"Ha... hehe... I really am a stupid... guy!"