[Lightning-Nature Transformation — Limit Break +2 (1%): Body Tempering +2, Paralysis +1]
The information on the system panel made the breakthrough perfectly clear.
At the same time, Koji felt his understanding of Lightning-nature chakra deepen once again.
His Body Tempering trait had strengthened.
More importantly, he had gained an entirely new trait.
Paralysis +1.
Now this was much more useful than what the Healing Jutsu had given him.
After all, Lightning-Nature Transformation was one of Koji’s primary combat methods.
It was also one of the foundations upon which he intended to steadily strengthen his body.
“Not bad.”
Koji studied the panel for a moment.
“Unfortunately, I’m still nowhere near accomplishing what I actually want.”
He allowed the notification to fade away, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted to sleep.
When Koji returned to the training room the next morning, he immediately noticed that there were fewer people than before.
He had no idea exactly what had happened.
Most likely, some of them had simply given up.
After watching someone else successfully learn the Healing Jutsu yesterday, some trainees would naturally become more determined.
Others would inevitably become discouraged.
The shinobi world might have been enormous, but ninja had never made up the majority of its population.
Civilians did.
None of this mattered to Koji.
He simply found himself a quiet corner and continued practicing his body tempering and Healing Jutsu.
That was far more useful than worrying about everyone else.
The three medical ninja supervising the room today weren’t the same instructors as yesterday.
Naturally, they were somewhat curious about the unfamiliar face.
They observed Koji for a while.
Then they saw him sitting there motionlessly, seemingly staring into space.
The three quickly lost interest and moved on.
There were plenty of people who came to Konoha Hospital hoping to coast through the training program.
Most of them didn’t last very long.
And Koji was already a genin.
Even without a permanent team, he could still take individual D-rank missions and earn enough money to support himself.
If medical training didn’t work out, he had other options.
Unfortunately for the instructors— their first impression was completely wrong.
Half a month passed.
And Koji was still there.
Still sitting in the same corner.
Still seemingly staring blankly into space.
Well…
not entirely.
Every now and then, he would raise one hand as though he were practicing the Healing Jutsu.
The medical ninja supervising the room gradually began to find this strange.
Until recently, Koji had barely moved at all.
Many of them had assumed that he still hadn’t recovered emotionally from losing his teammates.
Koji naturally noticed the occasional looks directed his way.
He lowered his right hand and glanced around the training room.
Fewer than ten trainees remained.
And among them, only three or four were still seriously trying to master the Healing Jutsu.
Over the past half month, including the girl who had succeeded first, seven people had successfully learned it.
Four of those seven were already genin assigned to permanent teams.
Most of the others had left.
Apparently, they had completely abandoned the path of becoming ninja.
Koji quietly assessed the situation.
Plans really can’t keep up with changes.
The people still struggling here probably just don’t have the talent to become medical ninja.
And the people running this place aren’t idiots…
He couldn’t keep waiting forever.
After thinking it over briefly, Koji raised his right hand once again and began forming the Healing Jutsu.
One of the nearby medical ninja noticed.
“Even if you start practicing seriously now, there’s no way you’ll learn the Healing Jutsu within three days…”
He shook his head helplessly.
Any ninjutsu required time to learn.
If Koji had actually spent the previous days seriously thinking through the technique and experimenting with it, then perhaps he might still have had a chance.
But remembering that vacant expression Koji always wore…
No matter how he looked at it, the kid hadn’t seemed like he was thinking about anything at all.
Then— green light appeared around Koji’s hand.
The medical ninja froze.
It was unmistakably the Healing Jutsu.
“I see.”
Koji watched the technique form successfully and allowed the corners of his lips to rise into a gentle smile.
Then he turned toward the nearest medical ninja.
“I should count as having passed now, right?”
His voice was perfectly calm.
The medical ninja, meanwhile, looked as though someone had just slapped him across the face.
Before he could even respond, a clear female voice came from nearby.
“Congratulations. You passed.”
The young woman who had handed Koji the Healing Jutsu scroll on his first day slowly walked over.
“Thank you, Instructor.”
Koji gave an almost embarrassed nod.
The woman, Rie Shibata, immediately looked even more pleased.
Who wouldn’t like a polite student?
“Since you’ve succeeded, come with me.”
Koji smiled and nodded.
Then he followed Rie out of the large training room.
She was fairly easy on the eyes, so at least the walk wasn’t unpleasant.
As they left, Koji clearly noticed that almost every trainee in the room was staring at him.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Frustration.
Those were probably the emotions running through their heads.
Not that any of it mattered to him anymore.
Rie led him down a long corridor before stopping in front of another training room.
Koji hadn’t even stepped through the door when the strong smell of fish reached him.
That alone gave him a fairly good idea of what happened inside.
This was probably the next stage of Healing Jutsu training.
After all, successfully activating the technique and actually using it to save someone were two completely different things.
And from the bits and pieces Koji remembered from his previous life, fish were among the most common practice subjects used for medical-ninjutsu training in Konoha.
Sure enough, the room was smaller than the previous one.
Six treatment tables had been arranged inside.
Four were currently occupied.
The students standing behind them were obviously people who had already succeeded in learning the Healing Jutsu, though none appeared to be active genin assigned to squads.
Each trainee was desperately using green chakra on a red fish that looked as though it barely had any life left in it.
Koji had no idea what species they were.
He was, however, reasonably certain that at least four fish were going to die today.
And four was probably the optimistic estimate.
A medical ninja supervised every pair of treatment tables.
It still wasn’t genuine one-on-one instruction, but compared with the previous training room, the teaching conditions were considerably better.
“You’ll carry out the next stage of your training here.”
Rie led Koji to an empty table beside the window.
She took out another scroll, spread it across the table, and then simply turned around and walked away.
Koji obediently remained behind the treatment table and waited.
The other students stared at him curiously.
The two medical ninja merely looked surprised by the newcomer before returning their attention to their work.
The four trainees, unfortunately, weren’t quite so fortunate.
The moment they turned their heads to look at Koji— all four successfully sent the fish in front of them to the afterlife.
“Focus.”
One of the medical ninja’s mouth twitched as he surveyed the damage.
If these people were treating actual patients, they would probably send those patients straight to the afterlife too.
“Yes! Yes!”
The four students hurriedly nodded.
The two instructors then got up and left the room, apparently to fetch more fish.
Once only the students remained, all four of them turned toward Koji again.
One boy standing nearby glanced at the Konoha forehead protector Koji wore.
“You’re already a genin. Why are you training here?”
Koji looked at him.
“Because my teammates all died.”