Chapter Fourteen: Treatment
The autumn sunlight was warm and gentle. On the streets of Kikyo Mountain City, Ryuya and his two companions walked side by side at an unhurried pace.
They had just finished dinner in the city and were heading back to the inn to rest.
"Hey! Ryuya, look over there!"
Suddenly, Ryuya—who had been a little distracted—heard Sagawa's exclamation.
Ryuya and Yūhi Teru immediately followed the direction Sagawa was pointing toward.
"Huh?"
Ryuya let out a soft sound of surprise and immediately quickened his steps in that direction.
Not far away, at the corner of the street, a wounded brown ninja dog lay collapsed against the roadside.
The ninja dog was about one and a half meters long, extremely emaciated, clearly having suffered from long-term malnutrition.
Several bloody wounds marred its body. Large patches of fur were matted together with dried blood, forming thick scabs. It lay on the ground, breathing faintly.
"Brownmaru! Brownmaru!"
Reaching its side, Ryuya quickly checked the dog's condition and couldn't help calling out anxiously.
All three of them recognized this ninja dog. It was one they had encountered in the wilderness before entering Kikyo Mountain City—a dog that had miraculously survived the Third Shinobi World War. After its master had died on the battlefield, it had wandered around the war-torn area ever since.
When Ryuya had first seen it, the dog had been fighting a pack of wild wolves for food and had been bitten until it was covered in wounds.
In his previous life, Ryuya hadn't been an extreme dog lover, but he had always liked dogs—animals known for their loyalty to humans.
So he had decisively intervened, saved Brownmaru, and asked Shennong to treat its injuries.
However, since they were still on a mission, and for safety reasons, Ichikawa Shin had not allowed Ryuya to keep the dog with him. Once Brownmaru's condition improved slightly, it had been left behind in the wild to fend for itself.
Ryuya hadn't expected it to appear in Kikyo Mountain City.
As for the name "Brownmaru," Ryuya had casually chosen it based on his memory of Inuzuka Kiba's ninja dog, Akamaru.
Woof—woof!
Hearing Ryuya's voice, Brownmaru struggled to rise but failed.
It could only weakly rub its head against Ryuya's right hand and let out two soft whimpers. Its eyes, as it looked at him, were filled with gratitude and reluctance.
In an instant, Ryuya felt his eyes grow warm.
"These wounds look like they were caused by kunai. They avoided vital points, but it's been dragged out for too long. I'm afraid it won't make it."
After examining Brownmaru's injuries, Yūhi Teru spoke in a subdued tone.
Although Brownmaru wasn't fully grown yet, it was already a qualified ninja beast.
Its injuries were likely inflicted by ninjas in Kikyo Mountain City who had discovered it and tried to capture it. Brownmaru had managed to escape, but its severe wounds eventually caused it to collapse here.
"I'm taking it to see Uncle Shennong!"
Unwilling to give up, Ryuya lifted Brownmaru in his arms and ran toward the city hospital.
The human-like look in Brownmaru's eyes when it tried to stand had deeply shaken him.
Moreover, Ryuya had a strong feeling that Brownmaru had appeared in Kikyo Mountain City precisely because it had followed him.
He had to save it!
This wasn't saintly compassion.
It was simply that Ryuya hadn't yet lost his former-life reverence for life—
Nor had he fully adapted to the cruel rules of this world.
"Uncle Shennong! Uncle Shennong! Please help me save it!"
Carrying Brownmaru into the temporary hospital, Ryuya urgently called out.
Sagawa and Yūhi Teru followed closely behind.
Seeing Ryuya's anxious expression, Shennong was slightly taken aback.
To someone like Shennong, who was accustomed to the brutal survival laws of the shinobi world, he couldn't understand why Ryuya would place such importance on a stray ninja dog.
However, the Ryuya standing before him now—without any pretense—seemed far more sincere.
"It's too late. Its life energy has already drained too much. It can't be saved."
Still maintaining the image of a benevolent physician, Shennong stepped forward to examine Brownmaru and shook his head.
"What? Even you can't save it, Uncle Shennong?"
Ryuya's face fell, disbelief clear in his voice.
He trusted Shennong's medical skills. Otherwise, Shennong wouldn't have been able to hide in various hidden villages for so long under the identity of a doctor—let alone create powerful forbidden techniques like Body Activation and Body Regeneration.
If even Shennong said Brownmaru couldn't be saved, then it truly might be beyond hope.
"Its body was already extremely weak. Now, with such severe injuries, its life energy has been overconsumed. Unless a massive amount of life energy can be replenished immediately, no one can save it."
Shennong shook his head decisively.
"Life energy?"
Ryuya's heart stirred at those words.
He immediately thought of the Yang-attribute chakra produced by the Akimichi clan's chakra refinement technique.
No time to hesitate.
I'll try first!
His thoughts racing, Ryuya gently laid Brownmaru down and prepared to attempt treatment himself.
Nearby, a barely perceptible trace of disdain curved Shennong's lips.
He had absolute confidence in his medical skills and didn't believe that a mere Konoha genin like Ryuya could possibly save a ninja dog already beyond recovery.
In truth, Shennong could have saved Brownmaru—but he didn't want to expose his true strength for the sake of a dog.
Placing both hands on Brownmaru's body, Ryuya began transferring his chakra into it.
After months of efficient training, the amount of chakra within Ryuya's body had already reached the threshold of a chūnin.
As soon as the large quantity of Yang-attribute chakra entered Brownmaru, it rapidly spread throughout its body. Faint white mist began to rise, and the wounds slowly started to heal.
As a summoning beast—whether combat-oriented, sensory, or support-type—a ninja beast always possessed chakra.
Though Brownmaru hadn't fully matured, it still had chakra, and its physique far surpassed that of an ordinary wild animal.
To the side, Sagawa and Yūhi Teru stared at Ryuya as if he were a monster.
Was this… medical ninjutsu? Ryuya had only studied medicine for a few days—had he already become a medical ninja?!
Wasn't this talent a bit too outrageous?!
Meanwhile, Shennong's gaze flickered.
As an outstanding medical ninja, he had already guessed that this phenomenon was related to Ryuya's chakra attribute.
It seemed the Akimichi clan's secret techniques truly had their merits—the recovery effect on the body was astonishing.
He had been lurking in Konoha for years and had never realized that the Akimichi clan's techniques possessed such effects.
Several minutes later, Ryuya finally stopped.
In those short minutes, he had transferred nearly all the chakra in his body into Brownmaru.
Sensing carefully, Ryuya found that Brownmaru's breathing had stabilized.
"The rest… I'll leave to you, Uncle Shennong."
After stopping, Ryuya once again handed Brownmaru over to Shennong.
What he had done was only stabilize its life—its injuries still required treatment by a professional physician.
"Hm."
Shennong gave Ryuya a curious look and responded indifferently.
Deep down, however, his interest in the Akimichi clan technique Ryuya had just used had been thoroughly piqued.
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