Chapter 42

"Well, and if you end up spending the night at a brothel, it'll be even better," I added, pulling out several large bills from my pocket and handing them to the genin who blushed beet red, "this is a gift from me and a congratulations on entering adulthood. Go on, pick a couple of the prettiest girls and have a good time, make it a night to remember. No refusals accepted!"

Chuckling silently, I used Shunshin, leaving behind Ishi, who was left staring dumbfounded.

  ***

"Hmm, so our young genius successfully went hunting. Although, one couldn't expect less from Mito-sama's student," muttered the ANBU commander, carefully reading Hughie's report as she stood rigidly at attention before his desk. "Anything else not reflected in the report?"

"Perhaps just how easily Ryo handled the killings," Kanade replied after some thought. "No stomach-emptying in the bushes like Rotaro or disgusted grimaces like Tsume's, as if it were a routine action for him. Like a veteran of war. Certainly not the behavior of a normal genin."

"He is indeed a veteran, just not a shinobi but a medical-nin," the man smirked, "he's seen as many corpses, particularly of allies he couldn't save, as you've never seen. And believe me, that's much worse. So he won't be shedding tears over a dead bandit."

"Is Ryo so inexperienced that a lot of people are dying?" the kunoichi asked with interest.

Given her student's discretion and aversion to unnecessary chatter, any information about Ryo's life outside the team had to be obtained with effort. She hadn't even seen Nara's open face once, let alone his partners.

"If that were the case, Hishi-san wouldn't have clung to the boy with a death grip, buying time for the hospital even during training. Ryo has healed twenty times more people than he couldn't save. And that, given the severe shortage of medicines in recent years of war, is a real feat. His colleagues can boast much more modest results. Essentially, at this point, Nara is one of the best medical-nin of his rank and could very well be promoted within a year."

"You're starting to believe the rumors that Ryo-kun is growing into another brilliant medical-nin like Tsunade," sighed Hughie.

"I don't know about brilliant, but we could certainly use more field medics like him," the shinobi squinted cunningly, "where one iryo-nin can't handle it, three or four won't have any problems."

"Considering Ryo's abilities, keeping him at genin rank is just a pointless waste of resources," Canada shook her head, "if he can handle jonin already, what will he grow into in a few years?"

"And that's why from now on, you'll be hunting bandits and not the strongest nuke-nins, gaining experience and team coordination," nodded the commander, "then Hokage-sama might just grant all three of you field promotions. Maybe you'll benefit from her generosity too."

***

"Phew," practically crawling out of the room, I wiped the sweat pouring down my face with my sleeve and looked with disgust at my slightly trembling fingers.

Forget the fingers! I'm going to have nightmares about this at night! At least now I understand why they make men wait outside the delivery room and don't drag them to their wives for moral support. Damn it, I wasn't this nervous even during my most difficult surgery!

"Well, caught the jitters, newbie?" Garo, the iryo-nin, stepped out after me and sympathetically patted my shoulder, pulling out a cigarette from his robe pocket and enjoying a smoke. "After my first delivery, I was out for two weeks and my hands stopped shaking only the next day."

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