"Ah? Let me be the proctor for the third round of the exams?"
Aoki Yoru widened his eyes, looking in shock at the Third Hokage, who was leisurely smoking a pipe.
"No, shouldn't this kind of thing be done by someone more senior? Besides, my age isn't quite appropriate, is it?"
The Third Hokage took the pipe out of his mouth upon hearing this and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. "Jonin Aoki, you're being too modest. Age isn't an issue at all. Your strength is sufficient to serve as a proctor; I doubt anyone would object."
He then sat up straight and stared at him with a serious expression. "You also know that Gaara is the Ichibi Jinchuriki. If something goes wrong, an ordinary Jonin won't be able to suppress him. Although Rasa says he wants him to see the world, no one believes that. Jonin Aoki, your task is heavy."
Seeing the determined look in the Third Hokage's eyes, Aoki Yoru knew he couldn't refuse. He sighed helplessly. "Alright, I'll take this on."
Hearing this, a gratified smile appeared on the Third Hokage's wrinkled face. "Then I'll leave it to you."
Aoki Yoru then took his leave.
After leaving the Hokage Building, Aoki Yoru looked back meaningfully at the Hokage Office.
There was one thing the Third Hokage hadn't told him: when he stood on the field as the chief proctor, the contrast between him and the Genin of the same age would create a massive impact on the audience.
And this impact was the Third Hokage's true intention—
To use Aoki Yoru, the brightest rising star, to announce Konoha's strength to the Daimyo and the Ninja World. This would help secure more funding and a larger share of missions from the Daimyo, while also attracting merchants and surrounding small nations to post missions and invest in Konoha.
Upon returning home, Nao was doing her homework. She would be starting school in two years, so Aoki Yoru was teaching her how to read and write first so she wouldn't fall behind.
Seeing Aoki Yoru enter, she immediately pounced on him. "Brother Yoru, you're back!"
"Yes, has Nao been studying hard?" Aoki Yoru pinched her cheek. After a period of nourishment, she was no longer the malnourished and scrawny girl from before; she had developed a bit of baby fat.
"Mm-hmm! Nao has been studying hard. I've learned all the words Brother Yoru taught me!" she said, proudly lifting her small head.
"Nao is so smart. Come, I'll take you to eat super deluxe ramen."
"Mm-hmm!" She nodded frantically. Ichiraku Ramen was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
Just as Aoki Yoru was taking Nao out to head toward Ichiraku Ramen, he was stopped by the sudden appearance of Guy.
At this moment, Guy lacked his usual sunniness and instead looked anxious. "Yoru, Lee's injury is very troublesome. I want your help."
Aoki Yoru was confused. He wasn't a medical Ninja; shouldn't this matter be taken to Yui?
As if sensing his confusion, Might Guy explained directly, "Yui told me to come find you."
Hearing this, Aoki Yoru nodded. If Yui asked for his help, there must be a reason.
"Wait a moment."
He then took Nao to Grandma Chiki's house, promising to double her reward. Under her reluctant gaze, he rushed toward the hospital.
When he arrived at the hospital, Lee was on the operating table, his body covered in bandages. His face was as pale as paper, and he was in a deep coma, with the remnants of a painful grimace still etched on his brow.
Several medical Ninjas were using medical Ninjutsu to treat him with all their might, their expressions incredibly solemn.
When Yui saw Aoki Yoru, she immediately stepped forward. "Yoru, you're just in time. We need your help."
Aoki Yoru was full of confusion, unable to imagine what he could do. "What can I do?"
Yui explained directly, "Lee's injuries are a bit complicated. If it were just the aftereffects of the Eight Gates, we could still treat him."
She paused and looked at his crushed left hand and foot, saying solemnly, "But the bones in his left arm and left leg were long ago crushed into powder by the Sand Binding Coffin."
"Countless tiny bone fragments are embedded in the soft tissue, large areas of surface muscle are torn and necrotic, the connecting ligaments are all snapped, and blood vessels of all sizes have been crushed and ruptured."
She then turned to look at him. "I know your Spiritual Energy is very strong. I want you to try using it to separate the tangled bone shards, meridians, blood vessels, and muscles one by one. We'll handle the remaining restoration and healing!"
Now Aoki Yoru knew what he was there for. Indeed, he was likely the only one in Konoha who could do this job; otherwise, they would have to ask Tsunade to use her superb and delicate methods to separate them.
He nodded solemnly. "Alright, when do we start?"
"Right now. Follow me." Saying that, she led Aoki Yoru toward the operating table.
"Director, this is my teammate Aoki Yoru. Given Lee's current situation, we can only let him try," Yui said to the middle-aged woman at the operating table.
She glanced at Aoki Yoru and nodded. "Fine. We'll start with the left foot. Yui, you come with me; the two of us will work in turns."
Aoki Yoru looked at Yui in surprise. She was being asked to help with such an injury? It seemed she hadn't wasted the past year; she had at least become a backbone of the hospital.
With a thought, Aoki Yoru's vast yet extremely delicate Spiritual Energy transformed into countless imperceptible threads wrapped in minute amounts of Chakra. Under the Director's guidance, he began separating from the toes first.
His Spiritual Energy carefully pried apart the clumped, necrotic bone fragments and separated the tangled and torn meridians, blood vessels, and tendons one by one, organizing the originally chaotic and heavily injured areas into clear order.
Yui and the Director were responsible for the splicing and organizing, rejoining the broken meridians and blood vessels one by one.
After an hour of intense effort, the treatment was finally barely completed. Although the meridians and such were only tentatively pieced together, at least there was now a direction for follow-up treatment, and they were no longer so helpless.
"Phew—"
Aoki Yoru let out a long breath. The prolonged high concentration had left him somewhat fatigued.
After relaxing his body slightly, he focused his attention again to continue with the next part.
After a day and a night of intense work, Aoki Yoru finally completed the entire separation of the left hand and left foot.
At this point, his face was pale. Even though his Spiritual Energy was indeed powerful, a full day of such high-intensity work was still a bit much for him to handle.
"Thank you for your hard work, Jonin Aoki." The Director wiped the sweat from her forehead and thanked him with a smile. She and Yui had taken turns treating the patient, so their condition was slightly better than Aoki Yoru's.
Creeeak—
The operating room door was pushed open, and Aoki Yoru and Yui walked out.
"Yui, how is Lee's condition?" Guy, who had been pacing anxiously in the hallway, immediately stepped forward to ask.
Yui smiled. "His life is not in danger. We have already pieced his crushed left foot and left hand back together."
"But the current situation is like broken porcelain; although it's barely glued together, there are cracks everywhere. The probability of a full recovery is fifty-fifty. Of course, if Lady Tsunade were to step in, Lee would be bouncing around again in no time."
Hearing this, Guy instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was his life saved, but the possibility of his limbs recovering was also very high. If the hospital couldn't do it by then, he would carry Lee on his back to find Lady Tsunade.