"Souma-kun, you're back!"
"Souma-kun, finally! About the improved soldier pills—"
"Baicao, wait your turn. Modified soldier pills aren't as important as my chakra syringe prototype."
"What do you mean 'not important'?!"
"Enough! All of you are crowding Souma, but he's only one person. He can't split himself into clones!"
The group fell silent instantly at Kitayama Suzu's sharp rebuke.
She grabbed Souma by the arm and pulled him toward her office.
Behind them, Baicao muttered resentfully under his breath:
"'He can't split himself' she says… yet she's the one dragging him away. Isn't she the one hogging him?"
"Baicao, what was that?"
"Ah—! I said, 'Captain, brilliant as always!'"
Kitayama Suzu stared at him for several uncomfortable seconds, forcing him to lower his head like a child caught misbehaving, before she finally dragged Souma off.
Inside the office, she pressed her fingers to her temples, visibly exhausted.
"Before you arrived, Souma, no one in the medical corps had any real ambition. Half of them were just coasting by. But after you joined… everything changed."
"…?"
Souma blinked.
People competing, pushing harder—
Wasn't that a good thing for her?
"Our people's skills can't keep up with their expectations. Overall, the medical corps is still weak. Take the cooperative healing technique—yes, what you gave us is amazing, but we just can't digest it properly yet."
She handed Souma a notebook.
He flipped through it.
It recorded their research progress on cooperative healing jutsu—some results, but not much.
"So the multi-surgeon operation technique has finally been refined?" Souma asked.
"Right. There are improvements—the lead surgeon can stay more focused and stable. We've already begun implementing it," Suzu nodded.
"But as for your 'Telescope Technique' suggestion… we're completely clueless."
"I told you before," Souma said, tapping the notebook.
"The Telescope Technique detects a specific type of chakra. Long-distance surveillance like that isn't something medical ninjutsu requires right now. You're skipping steps."
He flipped another page.
"You're too eager. Jutsu creation must go one step at a time. You can't swallow the whole meal in one bite."
Kitayama Suzu stared at him.
"…For example?"
"Take this goal—you want to detect the exact location of a pathogen inside a patient, and then monitor its movement inside their body, right?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
"Then split it into two steps," Souma said.
"First, create a jutsu that identifies the location.
Once that's done, you refine it into a monitoring jutsu.
Step one, then step two."
"The worst thing you can do when creating a jutsu… is rush."
Kitayama Suzu felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment.
At this moment—
Souma looked more like the teacher.
"D-did the teacher understand?" Souma teased.
"N-No, I mean—yes! Yes, I understand perfectly!"
She lowered her head, thinking deeply.
After a long pause, she said, "Locating pathogens isn't that hard… Detection is the foundation of medical ninja training."
"Right. Then just improve its speed and efficiency. That part is simple."
Simple?
Suzu pressed her lips together.
To him maybe…
Souma glanced sideways and quickly realized he needed to simplify further.
"You can also borrow from barrier techniques," he added.
"Perception barriers…?"
Her eyes lit up instantly.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"
With the direction pointed out, she immediately understood how to proceed.
As expected of Souma.
She continued asking questions—
mostly ones from the other medical-nin.
Souma had already delegated soldier pill improvements to the others; he rarely involved himself now.
Until Suzu flipped to another page.
"About this drug… Baicao's group hit a wall. You'll need to check it."
Souma leaned in.
It was the special soldier pill he had modified using knowledge from the Akimichi clan's secret medicines.
He'd only made version one last month—and like the Akimichi pills, the side effects were enormous.
Without their monstrous constitution, ordinary shinobi couldn't endure it.
Then—
"What's this? Version two… the effect is stronger? And the side effects are also stronger?"
Souma's eyelid twitched.
What was Baicao trying to make?
A suicide buff pill?!
Looking closer, Souma saw Baicao had swapped in several milder herbs.
Yet the result was more intense.
"How did he manage that…?"
Suzu sighed.
"To be honest, I don't have a good solution either. But aside from the dangerous side effects, the version itself is fairly impressive."
Cheap ingredients, potent effect—
Amazing cost-performance.
If only it didn't nearly kill the user.
"Did you ever test lower dosages?" Souma asked.
"You can't talk about side effects without talking about dosage. That's like arguing medicine without science."
"Uh…"
Suzu froze.
Lower dosage?
Everyone had been obsessing over the formula—
no one had tried simply reducing the amount.
It sounded almost stupid…
But thinking about it carefully—
it actually made sense.
Maybe a smaller dose would be manageable.
They'd gone down the wrong rabbit hole and never noticed.
She slapped her forehead.
"I'll have them test it immediately."
Souma smiled.
"They're just starting to innovate, so their thinking is still narrow. It'll broaden over time."
The medical corps used to follow the rules step by step.
The fact they could even attempt original research now was already a huge leap.
They would grow.
One day, Souma thought, there would be entire teams helping him push research forward.
He could already imagine it—
Konoha as a whole, powered by knowledge and competition, thriving and outpacing all others.
Leaving the office, he examined his Bodhi imprint.
The pattern tied to the Absorption Barrier had deepened in color, glowing faintly with golden specks.
The other four patterns had also advanced—
each emitting their own faint light.
The medical corps had contributed massively to this progress.
"But what exactly does the fifth pattern do…? What changed after it lit up?"
Souma frowned.
There was a difference—
he just hadn't pinpointed it.
So he began jogging around the village.
Halfway through—
"Not bad! One more time! Handstand for fifty laps! If you fail, run a hundred laps around Konoha!"
Souma turned his head.
Sure enough—
Might Guy.
But this time it wasn't just Lee.
Mami was running normally beside them.
And right next to Lee, a boy in white robes was doing a handstand run.
He noticed Souma looking and briefly showed a trace of embarrassment—
quickly swallowing it and returning to training with stoic determination.
Even Neji…
Souma's expression turned strange.
Thinking of Neji opening the Eight Gates made him feel an indescribable sense of wrongness.
What kind of timeline monstrosity did I create…?
A sin. A giant sin.
Still—
Pretty faces don't win battles.
Strength mattered far more.
If Neji could cast aside his pride and learn from Guy, Souma was genuinely happy for him.
Unfortunately…
The Caged Bird Curse was too insidious.
Even if Neji grew strong, he would probably never break free from it.
Souma doubted even the Hyūga Main Family themselves had a countermeasure.
They had never intended for it to be undone in the first place.
Why would they ever think about how to release it?
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