“Are you really all right?”
Inside the scheduling room, Yuya Kudo looked carefully at Koji.
Something still felt strange.
She simply couldn’t figure out what.
She had personally examined him not long ago and found absolutely nothing wrong.
It was almost as though the person who had collapsed earlier hadn’t been Koji at all.
“I’m fine.”
Koji gave her his usual mild smile.
“Maybe I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
Naturally, he had no intention of telling Yuya that Danzo had anything to do with it.
The old man still had considerable value.
And more importantly—
Koji had just thought of another possibility.
There was an exceptionally absurd group medical ninjutsu used by Konoha.
The Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
It required at least four medical ninja to activate, with another group of medical ninja rotating in to replace them during the procedure.
In the original story, Neji Hyuga had returned from the mission to retrieve Sasuke with a massive hole punched through his chest.
And yet— with the help of this technique, he had still recovered.
That alone demonstrated just how ridiculous the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique was.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t purely medical ninjutsu.
It combined medical ninjutsu with a specialized formula resembling fūinjutsu, together with the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
Through the formula’s transformation process, the healing chakra generated by the Mystical Palm Jutsu was converted into a very unusual form of energy.
The patient’s hair was then used as biological material to reconstruct cells corresponding to the damaged tissue.
At least— that was how Koji understood it.
He hadn’t specialized in cellular biology in his previous life.
But even he knew that the human body contained cells capable of continued differentiation.
From Koji’s perspective, the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique essentially took cells that could no longer normally differentiate…
and somehow reverted them into a state where they could.
Then those cells were differentiated again into whatever type of tissue the injured area required.
Completely unreasonable by the standards of his previous world.
Which was precisely why Koji found it so fascinating.
And exciting.
If this medical ninjutsu could be pushed through enough Limit Breaks…
could he use it to extract the purest possible Hashirama cells from Danzo’s severed arm?
No.
At that point, calling them ordinary Hashirama cells might not even be accurate anymore.
They would be closer to—
Hashirama stem cells.
Then…
what if those cells were transplanted into the parts of his own body responsible for blood production?
Allow them to integrate gradually.
Allow the transformed blood to circulate throughout his entire body.
Over time— every cell in his body could potentially undergo a transformation.
In his previous world, there was a common claim that the human body’s cells were largely renewed over a period of roughly seven years.
But in the Naruto world, Koji didn’t need to wait anything close to that long.
All he had to do was repeatedly damage his body— then heal it.
Injured tissue naturally received increased blood flow during recovery.
Which meant that if the rest of his theory worked…
his existing body-tempering routine might actually accelerate the process.
Eventually— Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
his entire body could undergo a fundamental transformation.
Perhaps the final result wouldn’t equal Hashirama Senju himself.
But surely it would surpass the crude manner in which Danzo or even Obito Uchiha utilized Hashirama cells.
There was just one problem.
Actually— there were several.
First, the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique wasn’t designed for one person.
It was a large-scale cooperative medical ninjutsu.
Even with eight medical ninja rotating throughout the procedure, it could still take half a day to complete.
Koji’s current chakra reserves couldn’t possibly sustain something like that.
At best…
he possessed enough chakra to count as one and a half medical ninja.
So the next stage of his plan became obvious.
Understand the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique completely.
Then— find a way to simplify it into a version that could be performed by a single person.
Even if the modified version took longer, that didn’t matter.
Of course, accomplishing that would be extraordinarily difficult.
But Koji had already studied fūinjutsu.
And that gave him some hope.
At its core, the original technique relied on a formula receiving Mystical Palm chakra from four different directions while simultaneously controlling cellular regression and differentiation.
Replicating all of those functions alone…
would be a serious challenge.
Then there was the second problem.
Cellular compatibility.
Hashirama cells were absurdly invasive.
Danzo needing to keep his arm permanently sealed was proof enough of that.
And Koji wasn’t planning to use ordinary Hashirama cells.
He wanted to refine them even further into something resembling stem cells.
One mistake after transplantation— and instead of transforming his body…
he might simply turn into a very healthy tree.
If Koji wanted this theoretical evolution to work, both problems had to be solved.
Otherwise— he wouldn’t be researching immortality.
He’d just be researching new ways to kill himself.
“What are you thinking about?”
Yuya’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
She had been waiting for Koji to respond, only to watch him abruptly sink into a long silence.
What kind of person started daydreaming in the middle of a conversation?
If Koji weren’t her student, she would’ve happily reminded him what the authority of Konoha Hospital’s director felt like.
Koji looked up.
Then his eyes suddenly brightened.
“Instructor Yuya.”
“What if we improved the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique?”
Yuya paused.
Koji leaned forward, his expression becoming noticeably more animated.
“If we could develop it further, couldn’t it solve the problem we’re facing right now?”
“For example…”
“Could we use an improved version to regenerate the right eye and right arm Lord Danzo just lost?”
Yuya had been preparing to lecture him.
Now she simply stared. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
For a moment— she had no idea how to answer.
Theoretically…
if the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique were significantly improved and perfected, something like that might indeed become possible.
But that possibility existed only in theory.
Konoha Hospital currently had barely ten medical ninja capable of participating in the technique.
And because it was a cooperative medical ninjutsu, it demanded not only exceptionally precise chakra control but also enormous stamina and concentration from everyone involved.
Even ignoring the difficulty of improving the technique itself— suppose Koji succeeded.
Would they even be able to gather enough medical ninja capable of using the improved version?
Yuya remained silent for a while.
Then she sighed.
“If you really want to try…”
“I won’t assign you any evening duties.”
“You can use the training room to research it.”
Koji’s eyes sharpened slightly.
Yuya knew exactly how difficult the project would be.
But she still didn’t tell him to give up.
She knew his talent too well.
And if he somehow succeeded— the benefits wouldn’t belong to Koji alone.
Medical strength was part of a village’s military strength.
Every year, countless shinobi were forced to retire because of injuries.
Some simply died.
Every improvement in medical ninjutsu increased the chances that Konoha’s ninja would survive and return to active duty.
If Koji truly managed to advance the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique…
his name could someday be carved into the history of Konoha’s medical system.
Future generations of medical ninja might remember him forever.
It could mark the beginning of an entirely new era.
Konoha’s medical capabilities would leap several stages ahead of the rest of the shinobi world.
And with stronger medical support— the village itself would become stronger.
“I understand.”
Koji nodded.
By “evening,” Yuya essentially meant anything after five o’clock.
Normally, Koji would still be treating injured ninja during those hours.
With a single sentence—
Yuya had just freed that entire portion of his schedule for research.
“Since you’re fine, head down to the basement.”
Yuya returned to business.
“Because of what happened to Lord Danzo, practically everyone else in the hospital is occupied.”
“You’re the only ‘patient’ around here who still has free time.”
Treating Danzo had consumed an enormous amount of manpower.
Even Yuya herself would be working late today.
Normally, there was no chance she would let someone as useful as Koji disappear from the treatment rooms.
But since he’d collapsed earlier…
she could at least assign him something unlikely to go wrong.
After all— the supposed Kumogakure infiltrator was already dead.
What could possibly happen while examining a corpse?
It wasn’t as though the body was going to get up and start walking around.
“Okay…”
Koji clearly wasn’t enthusiastic.
But he obediently accepted the assignment anyway.