The two-month medical ninja training program passed in the blink of an eye as Tachibana Kenji buried himself in his studies day and night.
If they hadn’t been reminded yesterday that the training was over and that they needed to pack their belongings, Tachibana Kenji might not even have realized that two whole months had passed.
“Ju, what are you planning to do now that the training is over?” A genin only a few years older than Tachibana Kenji greeted him and asked.
A genin only a few years older than Tachibana Kenji greeted him and asked.
“You ninja are obviously going back to your original teams.
Ju will probably return to the hospital with the rest of us and wait for the village’s assignment, right?” The young man beside them, dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and looking neither like a doctor nor a ninja, answered on Tachibana Kenji’s behalf.
“What do you mean, ‘you ninja’?
You’re a ninja now too.
Don’t disgrace us ninja of the Bloody Mist.” Seeing that the two were about to start arguing, Tachibana Kenji quickly stepped in to stop them.
“I’m planning to go home first.
I haven’t been back in two months, after all.
After that, I’ll go to the village administration to register as a ninja.
What happens next will depend on the village’s arrangements.” Before coming here, Tachibana Kenji hadn’t expected this training program to be a closed residential program.
On the first day, all the trainees had been taken to a tiny island near Kirigakure.
Apart from the participants and a handful of supervisors, there had been no one else on the island.
In truth, much of the training involved the doctors and ninja learning from one another.
Several experienced doctors and jōnin were then responsible for teaching the designated courses.
At first, everyone had looked down on Tachibana Kenji because he was still technically a Ninja Academy student.
But after a few days of training, they discovered that this nine-year-old boy had considerable ability in both ninjutsu and medicine.
Later, everyone was even more shocked to learn that Water Release: Aqua Ring, one of the medical ninjutsu techniques being taught during the program, had actually been developed by this boy who hadn’t even graduated from the Ninja Academy.
Kirigakure naturally had no rule requiring ninja to hand over every ninjutsu they developed to the village.
Otherwise, the clans that possessed secret techniques would probably rebel on the spot.
However, Tachibana Kenji didn’t consider Aqua Ring to be an especially profound technique.
After discussing it with Saionji Keiko, he decided to contribute it to the village as a basic medical ninjutsu for others to learn.
It would also serve as a useful stepping stone for him.
After that, Tachibana Kenji suddenly became much more popular with everyone on the island.
Whether they were ninja or doctors, those who had come to participate in the medical ninja training were, to some extent, different from the cold and indifferent atmosphere that permeated Kirigakure.
There was no competition between them during the training.
Instead, they had to learn from one another, and after two months together, everyone had gotten along quite well.
“I’ll stop chatting now.
I’m heading out first!” The moment the small boat carrying the trainees back to the harbor docked, Tachibana Kenji hurriedly scooped up Lan and ran home.
“Is the kid really that desperate to get home?” …
Of course Tachibana Kenji was in a hurry.
He still had 4,120 coins waiting to be spent on two ten-pulls the moment he got home.
Because the training on the island had been completely closed off, Tachibana Kenji had only dared to perform one ten-pull shortly after arriving, when he had finally saved enough coins.
Although the Normal-type pool contained plenty of good things, it also had its fair share of utterly useless items and moves.
If he pulled something as inexplicable as Tail Whip or Clap, he might actually cough up blood in frustration.
At his current level of strength, the Water-type pool offered much more reliable improvements, so Tachibana Kenji decisively chose it.
Only after completing the draw did he realize that if he hadn’t gone anywhere, it would be rather difficult to explain why he had suddenly acquired a pile of strange and miscellaneous items.
In the end, he only claimed a Rare Candy, which he immediately ate.
He didn’t rush to claim any of the other rewards, since once a reward had been materialized, there was no way to put it back into the system’s inventory.
And as long as he had unclaimed rewards, he couldn’t perform another draw.
Fortunately, his daily missions and achievements weren’t affected.
The system had even thoughtfully provided tasks such as Chop Down Five Trees, Catch One Jin of Fish, training, and studying—tasks that could easily be completed even on the island.
For the past two months, Tachibana Kenji had been forced to watch his coin balance grow while being unable to immediately convert it into greater strength.
…
After entering his home, Tachibana Kenji first took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
“First, let’s claim the rewards I left unclaimed last time.” Aside from the Rare Candy, which he had already claimed and eaten, the other nine rewards were: [Sonic Bomb] (Blue-tier item: Throw it onto the ground to produce a tremendous noise, disrupting enemies and dealing minor sound-based damage.) [Big Pearl], [Rattata Fang], [Vulpix Fur], [Blue Mail], [Yarn Ball], [Orange Teacup], and [Oil] ×2 After claiming the rewards, Tachibana Kenji merely glanced over them and set them aside, intending to organize everything after completing his two ten-pulls.
After all, he had already examined those unclaimed rewards countless times during his boring days on the island.
After rubbing his hands together and silently offering a prayer, Tachibana Kenji opened the Water-type rate-up pool once again.
One click.
Twenty pulls!
The glowing spheres he had seen during his previous three draws now appeared in pairs, bouncing simultaneously.
However, the purple glow this time was noticeably weaker than during his previous lucky haul.
Streams of light in three different colors shot outward and transformed into twenty rewards, which appeared before him one by one.
[Move Learning Scroll: Water Release: Water Shuriken] (Purple-tier item: A Water Release ninjutsu.
After forming hand seals, the user condenses a shuriken of water and launches it at the enemy at extremely high speed.
Using this technique in an environment with abundant water reduces its Chakra consumption.) [Move Learning Scroll: Water Release: Aqua Jet] (Purple-tier item: A Water Release ninjutsu.
After forming hand seals, the user generates a powerful jet of water beneath their feet, allowing them to move at high speed.
Using this technique in an environment with abundant water reduces its Chakra consumption.) [Power Anklet] (Blue-tier item: When worn, it reduces the user’s Speed but increases the efficiency of Speed training.) [Antidote] (Blue-tier item: Removes most harmful poisons when consumed.) [Sealeo’s Whiskers], [Goldeen’s Horn], [Repel Herb], [Bamboo Shoot], [Honey], [Wood] ×2, [Energy Root] ×3, [Berries] ×6 After claiming all the items, Tachibana Kenji’s eyes curved into happy crescents.
He picked up the still-bewildered Lan and, without giving him any choice in the matter, grabbed one of the little frog’s hands and gave him a high-five.
“Hahaha!
I’ve got offense, mobility, and healing now.
From now on, you can call me an all-rounder!” “And Lan, I actually learned one of your signature moves before you did!
So?
Jealous?” “┑(￣Д￣)┍Croak~” Watching Tachibana Kenji lose his mind with excitement, the little frog could only humor him with a croak.
Once his emotions had finally settled down, Tachibana Kenji decided to learn the two ninjutsu from their scrolls first.
Although the system only instilled the basic usage of the techniques into him, leaving him to practice and improve them on his own, it was still far more convenient than learning ninjutsu from scratch.
It also gave him a general understanding of any ninjutsu he obtained.
As for the rest, the Power Anklet was an excellent training tool.
It was somewhat similar to the leg weights Lee wore, and although it was only a Blue-tier item, it should still provide considerable benefits.
Tachibana Kenji immediately fastened the item around his ankle to test it out.
His speed was indeed reduced, but it didn’t interfere with his everyday activities.
Since that was the case, he planned to wear the anklet at all times.
When it came to anything that could improve his strength, the more the better.
What a shame.
I’m basically a textbook Water Release ninja now.
Once I leave an area with water, my combat ability drops dramatically.
With my current Chakra reserves, I probably can’t use these techniques more than a few times if I’m nowhere near a source of water.
Although Tachibana Kenji had already eaten two Rare Candies, he estimated that his Chakra reserves still hadn’t reached the level of an average chūnin.
As expected, without any special physique—and at my current age—my Chakra reserves are bound to be a weakness.
I should learn another ninjutsu that can create water.
A technique like the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave is probably far too extravagant for my current Chakra reserves, but perhaps I could find an opportunity to learn Water Shockwave or Wild Water Wave.
Tachibana Kenji somewhat regretted not exchanging Aqua Ring for another ninjutsu when he had contributed it to the village.
At the time, he had felt that the C-rank techniques offered by the village weren’t particularly appealing.
He could obtain Water Release techniques through the system’s draws, while Saionji Keiko could teach him medical ninjutsu.
In the end, he had simply chosen financial compensation instead.
Who would have thought that he would now happen to be lacking a ninjutsu capable of creating water?
But I don’t even have a teacher right now.
I won’t officially become a ninja until tomorrow, and I don’t even have a way to learn new ninjutsu.
Tachibana Kenji continued organizing his other belongings as he thought to himself.
“Still, even with all these shortcomings, this agonizing wait of nearly two months definitely didn’t disappoint me.”