Chapter 68

"All right, stay still! I'll patch you up a bit now, and it'll lighten up," I frowned, ignoring Shikaku's hesitant objections and using my Mystical Palm.

I managed to completely heal wounds that had just started to close on their own in just half an hour, but my cousin asked to leave the scars, now diminished in size and faded, as a reminder.

"By the way, a competent medical ninja could have done all this in about the same time," I remarked, "and you wouldn't have had to endure pain because of the clumsiness of the idiot who patched you up."

"Where can we find such a normal medic," sighed Shikaku, "the field hospital was located right in the main camp, where all the decent specialists were wiped out in one fell swoop, turning the fortified building into dust."

Damn, did Tsuchikage really not spare himself?

"So it turns out that we're left with only those medics who were in small support points and the second camp. They can patch up a wound in battle or afterward, but they no longer have the skills to fully heal. They've pulled them all here now, leaving just a few or none in other places," I cursed. "And after all this, they still don't want to increase funding for training new staff at the hospital! At this rate, we'll only have a couple of trained medics for every five hundred shinobi, and only one of them will be capable of anything serious!"

"Do you think anyone cares? Certainly not the Hokage and his advisors," Shikaku grimly smirked. "On the front lines, they always have a personal medic ready to tend to the smallest scratch, while the rest have to fend for themselves."

"When I return to Konoha, I'll raise the issue in the clan about creating our own hospital department for clans and allies," I said darkly. "Let anyone try to object—there will be a fuss over taijutsu! Hospital provision is getting worse every year, and with the loss of competent specialists, the quality will noticeably decline."

"I don't think Oto-san will object—during the war, he felt firsthand the need to have some medic nearby. Just like me. So you can count on my support in this matter."

Great! And the fact that I can later slot in the necessary people into this department—that's another matter. For example, we can pick up Nono (or Momo?) and no Danzo will dare to approach the kunoichi working for the clans. Eventually, the one-eyed old man will find something else to occupy himself with, rather than trying to recruit back a former employee who's settled into a comfortable position. And wherever this woman is, Kabuto will sooner or later appear.

Without Orochimaru's influence, we can turn him into quite a decent person and a brilliant medic, simultaneously removing a huge threat from the horizon if that snake somehow gets Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei. Actually, Obito isn't familiar with that technique, and the snake Sannin is too possessive to share such a dangerous technique with temporary allies.

So only the owners of the Sharingan and Rinnegan will remain with a horde of clones. Definitely better than a crowd of invincible S-class shinobi and former Kage of all villages," I sighed, putting off such musings for the future. We still have two wars to survive, not to make plans for the Fourth Shinobi World War.

"By the way, since your sensei died, who's in charge of your team now?" I asked my cousin, who was starting to doze off again.

It couldn't be that no one was looking after the heirs of the clans.

"We've been taken under the wing of Kato Dan, one of the strongest unaffiliated shinobi, if you've heard of him," Shikaku sighed.

Of course, not at the level of the Hokage's or Sakumo's students, but stronger than Sarutobi-sensei.

"Got it," I nodded. "When are they planning to send you back to the village, anyway?"

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