Chapter 87

I was hoping to have fire and water, as my ninjutsu arsenal would have been much larger then, considering where I am, but this will do. It's already good that I have a large number of Suiton techniques from the Water Vortex.

As for Raiton, I'll have to settle for what I have—besides Chidori and various variations, I can't recall more than a couple of techniques, excluding Kirin. But these elements suit me—calm and powerful water, wearing away everything in its path, and small sparks of lightning, occurring completely spontaneously.

And now the main question—what would be more advantageous to master first? Suiton will come to me more easily, and I have techniques and several training methods from the Uzumaki—acknowledged experts in this element. Raiton will be harder, but I have some experience in mastering it; I can work on creating and using Chidori variations, which is very appealing, especially with the bonus of learning Sai's techniques.

After some thought, I decided—I'll focus on honing my lightning skills, as they'll be more useful to me, while clones can work on memorizing a few simple Suiton ninjutsu. Besides, I recently saw a seal that will be quite relevant.

"Ryo! We've got an emergency!" The door, swinging open with a shout, crashed into the wall, breaking the silence of the busy hospital with its noise and startling me considerably.

Minami, one of last year's interns, burst into my office, out of breath.

"What happened?" I asked calmly. Despite the night shift, the rotation had been relatively quiet, and I had started to fill out paperwork for the patients who had accumulated over the past few days.

"The patrol teams brought them in. Out of eight people, three have already died from their injuries on the way to the village, and three more are in critical condition!" the kunoichi blurted out. "Among the most suitable medics present now, there's only Yoshi-sensei and you!"

"Patrols?! Again!?" My heart gave a warning thud, and I leaped out from behind the desk, pushing the paperwork aside. As far as I knew, there were no more than twelve patrols in constant rotation, as there weren't enough personnel due to the war, which had almost halved the available forces.

Last time, two teams ran into a whole group of missing-nin and lost half of their members, barely making it to the village with just four of them!

"Yes, the survivors say that at least two more teams have been completely wiped out," the intern turned for a moment as she hurried down the corridor in front of me. "They just arrived to help the ambushed team and there were already bodies of our own."

This time, my heart skipped a beat, and a heavy knot of foreboding settled in the pit of my stomach. Almost half, or maybe even more, of the patrol units had been attacked... And what were the chances that Saya would end up among the dead or wounded?

"The ANBU team who picked up the wounded ran into a real massacre. There were a bunch of dead Iwa shinobi along with ours and a small number of wounded, who were rushed here at full speed, but three died on the way," Minami continued to unload information.

Damn it! Fear and concern from the girl's words soared to the sky, and cold sweat began to trickle down my forehead. Just not Saya, just not Saya! Running up the stairs, we dashed to the end of the corridor, maneuvering among the bustling staff.

"Where?" "Rooms 219 and 218! Sensei is already in the nearby ward, and the others are being taken care of by the other medics."

"Kage Bunshin!"

Nodding to two clones for room 218, I rushed to the one opposite. Opening my senses, I detected a familiar chakra, barely noticeable, mixed with mine.

Realizing that it was Saya with an active seal, I almost stumbled at the realization, but quickly suppressed the panic that was starting to rise, replacing it with anger at the bastard who left the hospital undermanned!

Damn it, besides me, there are only twelve fourth-degree medics left in the whole hospital, and right now, only two are on duty, including me; the rest are either fifth degrees or interns! What was the Hokage thinking, taking so much staff to the front lines?!

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