Three months had passed since the supposed Kumogakure spy made another move.
And strangely enough— the infiltrator had never appeared again.
It was as though they had simply vanished from Konoha.
That was exactly what made the situation so confusing.
ANBU patrolled the village every day, yet they hadn’t discovered anyone suspicious.
Even Konoha’s barrier system had failed to detect anyone leaving the village.
The entire situation eventually led Hiruzen Sarutobi to suspect that the Kumogakure infiltrator might have somehow found a way to bypass Konoha’s barrier.
Because of that, the Barrier Corps spent quite some time strengthening the village’s defenses.
After roughly a month of improvements, the modified barrier actually did uncover quite a few spies.
Some came from Kumogakure.
Others came from Iwagakure.
Unfortunately…
not a single one of them was the person who had killed the ANBU operative.
For a while, that left Konoha extremely uneasy.
But as more time passed without another incident, the matter gradually faded from everyone’s attention.
During those same three months, however, something else happened that left the village stunned.
Konoha Hospital had a new chief medical ninja.
And the person who took the position…
was a teenage genin.
The news caused quite a commotion at first.
Eventually, though, people began accepting it.
Koji’s reputation among shinobi patients hadn’t started out particularly well.
In fact, many ninja actively hoped they wouldn’t be assigned to him.
Medical ninjutsu was the kind of profession where experience usually mattered.
The older the medical ninja, the more skilled people assumed they were.
So when they saw a teenager waiting to treat them…
their confidence naturally wasn’t very high.
Unfortunately for those patients, Konoha Hospital only had so many medical ninja.
Sooner or later, someone was bound to end up on Koji’s operating table.
And then one particular story began spreading.
A jonin had been carried into Koji’s treatment room.
Half an hour later— the same jonin walked back out under his own power.
His face was filled with disbelief.
According to him, he only remembered his vision going dark.
Then, when he opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was Koji’s smiling face.
And that was it.
There hadn’t even been bandages wrapped around him.
Other than feeling somewhat weak, he had experienced almost no unusual discomfort.
At first, some people assumed the story had been exaggerated.
Perhaps even staged.
But then more shinobi began having similarly absurd experiences.
Eventually, everyone understood.
That ridiculously young medical ninja…
really was that good.
Of course, there was a downside.
At least for Koji.
Who could possibly understand the suffering of being forced to work overtime every day?
Fortunately, the increased number of patients also meant an increased number of experimental subjects.
And with those cases— the proficiency of Koji’s medical techniques steadily rose.
The Mystical Palm Jutsu, in particular, improved enormously.
Over the course of three months, nearly all of his abilities underwent significant improvements.
A familiar panel appeared before him.
[Skill List]
[Chakra Refinement — Limit Break +4 (5.4%): Recovery +4]
[Chakra Control — Limit Break +4 (14.1%): Precision +4, Stability +1]
[Lightning-Nature Transformation — Limit Break +2 (18%): Body Tempering +2, Paralysis +1]
[Transformation Technique — Limit Break +2: Authenticity +2]
[Substitution Technique — Limit Break +2: Speed +2]
[Shadow Clone — Limit Break +4 (10.4%): Authenticity +4]
[Mystical Palm Jutsu — Limit Break +2 (56%): Rapid Healing +4]
[Delicate Illness Extraction Technique — Limit Break +2 (10%): Purification +2]
[Chakra Scalpel — Limit Break +2 (26%): Precision +2]
[Fūinjutsu — Limit Break +2 (44%): Stability +2]
[…]
Compared with everything Koji had gained during his first two years in this world, the improvements of the past year were almost overwhelming.
His strength had changed completely.
If nothing else— when it came to medical ninjutsu, Koji was confident that he was now the best medical ninja currently in Konoha.
Perhaps Tsunade was still better.
But Tsunade wasn’t in Konoha.
So did that really matter?
And even then…
perhaps was the important word.
Who could say for certain without actually comparing them?
More importantly, after his fūinjutsu underwent its second Limit Break, Koji had begun deliberately gathering information about Root.
The blade meant for Danzo had finally been sharpened.
In a battle between ninja, intelligence was extraordinarily important.
And as a transmigrator—
Koji knew practically all of Danzo’s important secrets.
Before the fight even began, that knowledge alone meant Koji had already won half the battle.
The remaining half depended on whether he could successfully deceive Danzo using a Shadow Clone.
If that worked…
then Danzo could practically be declared dead in advance.
Unfortunately, there was still one major problem.
How was Koji supposed to get close enough to him?
Root’s headquarters was exceptionally well hidden.
Even after spending three months looking for it, Koji still hadn’t managed to determine its exact location.
Frankly…
that was somewhat embarrassing.
But Koji wasn’t impatient.
Opportunities always appeared eventually.
And Danzo had spent years enduring the constant strain caused by Hashirama cells and Sharingan implanted into his body.
How could someone like that possibly ignore what was happening at Konoha Hospital?
If Koji could meet Danzo even once under the perfectly legitimate identity of a medical ninja…
then countless possibilities would open up.
Koji hadn’t considered Danzo at all when he’d originally chosen to become a medical ninja.
Looking at things now, however— his profession seemed to possess benefits he hadn’t anticipated.
Of course, with Danzo’s level of caution, there was always the possibility that the old man would simply use Kotoamatsukami on him the moment they met.
So if Koji ever encountered him…
he would need to be extremely careful.
…
Yuya Kudo’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
“Today, you’ll be responsible for the patient in Treatment Room One.”
Koji was sitting obediently inside the scheduling room, waiting for his assignments.
Yuya’s tone immediately caught his attention.
“That patient’s identity is somewhat special.”
She looked directly at him.
“If anything seems wrong, terminate the procedure immediately.”
Koji’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
For Yuya Kudo—the director of Konoha Hospital—to speak this cautiously…
there weren’t many people in the entire village who could inspire that kind of concern.
Only a handful of old monsters at Konoha’s highest levels qualified.
The clan heads?
They had status, certainly.
But before the director of Konoha Hospital, they were essentially peers.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane?
They were technically elders, but in terms of actual authority, neither compared with Hiruzen or Danzo.
If either of them were the patient, Yuya might simply tell Koji to be careful.
She wouldn’t sound this severe.
And if the patient were Hiruzen Sarutobi…
that made even less sense.
Whatever the Third Hokage might be like behind closed doors, publicly he maintained the image of a kind and respectable Hokage.
Some of his decisions were baffling, certainly.
But Yuya wouldn’t warn Koji like this before treating him.
Eliminate all the wrong possibilities— and only one remained.
The person Koji had been waiting for.
Danzo Shimura.
“I understand.”
Koji nodded without asking any unnecessary questions.
Yuya looked at him with a complicated expression.
In the end, she said nothing else.
After leaving the scheduling room, Koji didn’t immediately head toward Treatment Room One.
Instead, he turned and entered the restroom.
Perfectly normal behavior.
Even the Root ninja secretly watching him from nearby found nothing suspicious about it.
Koji, however, had already noticed them.
So it really is Danzo.
Several hidden gazes had followed him from the moment he left the room.
That confirmed everything.
Koji walked into the restroom as though nothing were wrong.
Then— he froze.
There was a Root operative in here too.
Apparently, the man had just finished and was preparing to leave.
Koji’s mouth twitched.
Seriously?
Danzo even stationed someone in the restroom?
What, is he afraid somebody’s going to steal his shit?
The Root operative walked toward the exit.
Koji walked inward.
The two were about to pass each other.
And at that exact moment— the corner of Koji’s mouth slowly rose.