“You’re saying a Kumogakure infiltrator hid inside Konoha for an entire year, attacked Danzo, and then escaped without a trace?”
Inside the Hokage’s office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the ANBU operative in front of him in disbelief.
When he’d first heard that Danzo had been attacked, Hiruzen’s feelings had been somewhat complicated.
He certainly hadn’t been happy.
But he hadn’t exactly been devastated either.
Now, however— after hearing ANBU’s full report, all he felt was anger.
If the infiltrator truly escaped after all this, what would the other villages think of Konoha?
Would clients begin reducing the number of missions entrusted to them?
On the surface, this was only one enemy spy escaping.
In reality, the consequences could be much more serious.
A village’s ability to defend itself was part of its strength.
An infiltrator had attacked one of Konoha’s highest-ranking officials.
Danzo hadn’t been killed— but he’d effectively been crippled on one side.
And after accomplishing that, the attacker had still managed to break through Konoha’s pursuit and disappear.
If news of this spread across the shinobi world, nobody would care how terrifying some nameless Kumogakure infiltrator was.
He was an unknown.
The story people would remember was much simpler.
Konoha had failed.
Other villages would inevitably begin testing Konoha more aggressively.
And if Konoha showed even the slightest weakness during those probes…
someone ambitious might decide that war was worth the risk.
“According to the autopsy performed by Konoha Hospital, we can confirm that the burned corpse was not the Kumogakure infiltrator.”
The ANBU captain continued his report.
“It was most likely a Root operative whose identity the infiltrator had assumed.”
The dead man’s identity had not yet been formally confirmed.
But only one Root operative had disappeared during the incident.
The answer was obvious.
Hiruzen’s expression darkened.
“Mobilize ANBU.”
“Search the routes leading from Konoha toward Kumogakure.”
“If that infiltrator is still within the Land of Fire, find him before he crosses the border.”
Complaining wouldn’t solve anything.
The incident had already happened.
The only meaningful response now was to minimize the damage.
If ANBU could capture or kill the infiltrator before he left the Land of Fire, the political consequences could be reduced drastically.
Perhaps even eliminated altogether.
Unfortunately for Hiruzen— the Kumogakure infiltrator he desperately wanted to find was currently sitting openly inside Konoha Hospital.
And rather than fleeing toward the Land of Lightning…
Koji was studying the formula structure of the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique.
Yuya Kudo had given him her full support.
Inside the small training room were not only the technique’s official scroll, but also its original development notes and every book the hospital possessed that might be remotely relevant.
With all of that material available, Koji could learn and understand the technique far faster than someone starting from nothing.
He carefully worked through the development records.
And before long— he noticed something interesting.
Although the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique was classified as medical ninjutsu, the Mystical Palm Jutsu wasn’t actually its most important component.
The true core was the construction of the formula— and the extraordinarily precise chakra control required to operate it. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
The formula transformed the healing chakra produced by the Mystical Palm Jutsu into an entirely different form of chakra.
One with a very specific function.
Koji considered it for a moment.
If he had to give it a name…
dedifferentiation chakra seemed appropriate.
This chakra forced ordinary mature cells backward— returning them to a stem-cell-like state.
Then, through the reverse action of the technique’s formula, those cells were rapidly differentiated again into whatever type of tissue the damaged area required.
Because the new cells originated from the patient’s own body, there was essentially no rejection reaction.
Once the newly produced cells filled the damaged area, all that remained was to use the Mystical Palm Jutsu to heal the interface.
No.
Calling it “fusion” wasn’t quite right.
It was more like…
ordinary healing.
Koji’s gaze sharpened.
So that was the real key.
Not the Mystical Palm.
Not the number of medical ninja.
The most important component was the formula responsible for creating dedifferentiation chakra.
Koji turned back to the beginning of the scroll.
There— spread across the opening section— was the complete structure of the technique’s formula.
What he needed to do now was simple to describe.
Break the entire thing apart.
Identify every individual formula.
Then understand exactly how chakra flowed through each component.
Actually doing that, of course, was another matter entirely.
Formulas were ultimately another method of manipulating chakra.
Some looked like meaningless scribbles.
Yet the moment chakra entered them, they produced specific effects.
From Koji’s perspective…
it was ridiculous.
He had no idea where this entire system of formula-based techniques had originally come from.
But if there was one clan that had pushed the field to a terrifying level, it was undoubtedly the Uzumaki.
Their sealing formulas were the most obvious example.
Didn’t like something?
Seal it.
Couldn’t deal with something?
Seal that too.
Simple and absurdly effective.
Which meant Koji’s study of fūinjutsu wasn’t merely useful for restraining Danzo.
It could directly assist his current research.
And the reverse was also true.
If Koji completely understood the formulas used in the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique…
he might be able to apply what he learned to improve his own fūinjutsu.
The problem was that this would be difficult.
Very difficult.
Everything was hardest at the beginning.
And this wasn’t something that could be solved through theoretical understanding alone. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
He needed experiments.
Lots of them.
Even Konoha didn’t possess some convenient encyclopedia explaining exactly what every individual formula did.
Most ninja knew how to use formulas.
Fūinjutsu.
Summoning techniques.
Other formula-based ninjutsu.
But if you grabbed one of those ninja and asked them to explain exactly why a particular formula worked…
most would stare at you blankly.
It was no different from hand seals.
Everyone knew which seals were required for the Clone Technique.
But ask them why those specific seals produced a clone?
Very few people could explain it.
Fortunately, Koji had access to one resource Konoha Hospital was never short of.
Unfortunate fish.
If he wanted to understand what each section of the formula did, the most straightforward approach was experimentation.
Alter one component.
Observe the result.
Then repeat.
One formula at a time.
Over the next several days, Koji practically lived inside Konoha Hospital.
He hadn’t returned to his run-down house in quite some time.
Yuya had only freed his evenings for research, so Koji still needed to perform surgeries during the day.
He didn’t mind.
Treating patients continued increasing the proficiency of his medical ninjutsu.
And during those surgeries, Yuya noticed something that genuinely surprised her.
Koji’s Chakra Scalpel had become noticeably more precise.
Again.
To Yuya, it was simply further proof of her student’s frightening talent.
The truth was less innocent.
Koji had deliberately hidden the true level of his Chakra Scalpel before attacking Danzo.
There had always been a possibility that he would need to use it during the operation.
Showing an absurdly high level of mastery beforehand would’ve created unnecessary suspicion after the assassination attempt.
Now, however—
Danzo had already been attacked.
The supposed infiltrator had supposedly escaped.
There was no longer any reason to keep hiding his progress.
After all, Koji’s movements on the day of Danzo’s attack had briefly overlapped with the Root operative who later turned up dead.
And yet no one suspected him.
Perhaps ANBU and Root simply hadn’t considered the possibility.
But even if they had—
Yuya and the other medical ninja could testify that Koji’s Chakra Scalpel at the time had never demonstrated the degree of precision required to create that fatal wound.
Which meant Koji was safe.
If his Chakra Scalpel became terrifyingly precise from this point onward?
That was perfectly reasonable.
He was a genius.
He had simply improved.
What happened after Danzo was attacked could not prove what Koji had been capable of before the attack.
And that distinction— was all the protection he needed.