Medical S-Rank Secret

"Ohayo Gozaimasu Hokage-sama" I formally greet Hokage with a low bow. Hokage takes a deep breath from his smoking pipe, exhales, and gave me a nod, acknowledging my greeting. He then put forward a file and gestured me to read it.

I inwardly roll my eyes. 'Intimidation tactics on a ten-year-old. Have some shame.' I pick up the file and read a single-paged report regarding the cell culture I was given to study. It appeared the imbeciles in the R&D department could not even determine if the cells were of human origin or not. Granted the excess Yang chakra and cellular regeneration might off-putting for a single gene-based test is all that is required. At the end of the file, it was mentioned the cells were last given to me for study, where they were lost due to an accidental fire in my lab last night. I almost laughed at the last part.

"Genin candidate, Itsuki no surname, you were the last person in contact with these cells. By record, you had one day to work with these cells and I would like to hear what you could find on the cells." Before deciding your punishment was left unsaid.

I nodded. They were in for a shock if they think they could corner me that easily. By just calling me here alone and ordering me to explain they were breaking some serious protocols which even Hokage could not carelessly break. They can easily justify their actions if they state I lost First Hokage's cells which, despite not being mentioned in the file, I am pretty sure both Hiruzen and Danzo know.

"For the full report, I need the removal of anyone with less than S-Rank clearance and the presence of Senior medic Mogusa." That took them by surprise. Despite showing no change on their faces, their chakra clearly conveyed their surprise upon me calling upon an S-Rank secret disclosure procedure.

In less than a minute an old man wearing standard Medic garbs with markings that cover the upper half of the left and right side of his face entered the office. Mogusa is the de facto leader of Medics in absence of Lady Tsunade and the only person with the power to declare a medical record as an S-rank secret. Before leaving, I knew Danzo would try something so I showed my findings to Mogusa, and given that the cell belonged to the First Hokage, declaring any research pertaining to them an S-rank secret was a given.

Mogusa face was rigid and he could guess why he was being called. Seeing me, he gave a nod and a shallow bow to Hokage. Hokage explained why he was brought here and he looked positively livid for breach of protocol for calling me as a typical request had to go through him before calling me. Hokage, ignoring Mogusa, made a hand sign and all Hidden Anbu left the office and an isolation seal formation activated.

Mogusa came forward and started the proceeding " Konoha S-rank archive, ID One One Four Three, Archived by Senior Medic Mogusa, the primary participant- Genin Cadet Itsuki, no surname Subject-Immortal Cells." Hokage nodded and I came forward to give my report.

"On January 11, I was delivered a cell culture by Senior medic Kito under direct orders of the Hokage office to analyze the sample. Cell culture was highly concentrated with Yang chakra which interfered with normal medical procedures to identify the cells. So procedures were performed by killing a small cell sample to remove interference." At that Mogusa who was reading the R&D department's report nearly laughed. This was the problem that interfered with R&D's work for years. But he did not believe it was that easy for cells showed remarkable vitality. Killing them without damaging them would have been challenging on its own.

I continued."The procedures showed properties of cells similar to human flesh cells and according to the protocol, the cell's genetic makeup was cross-referenced with the genetic database of the Konoha Medic department which came as a Null. So further tests were performed and cells showed a capability to infinitely replicate despite not being cancerous in nature. Further testing revealed the subject had a Kekei Genkai of water and earth nature along with being a practitioner of senjutsu." At this, both Danzo and Hiruzen perked up a little.

"Cross-referencing the data, only first Hokage, Hashirama Senju matched the description. At this point, I classified cell culture as a class S genetic material and according to procedure tapped it with grade 3 incendiary charge seal." Danzo's eyes twitched. His Root Anbu must have tried to temper with my research when the charge blew up leading to fire in my office.

"Two samples of said cells were delivered to the cold vault for safekeeping before I reported my findings to Senior medic Magusa."

Hiruzen looked deep in thought while Danzo directly asked what he wanted to know the most.

"Orochimaru was trying to integrate cells with humans to give them Wood Release. What do you think are the chances this procedure could be successful"

I tried not to focus on the fact that Danzo just spoke what most likely an A-rank secret in front of Hokage and replied after thinking a little "Negligible, at best one in thousand if we ignore external factors. Any and all failures would die so I do not recommend this course of action not to mention if any experiment was a success, the prowess of Wood release would be very weak."

Danzo showed no facial expression at my explanation but his chakra conveyed his frustration. It was understandable as he has a lot of personal stake in it. Danzo always revered wood-style since he saw the first Hokage use it and wanted it for himself. It is also the reason Yamato was only Root Anbu he personally trained.

Hokage's face, on the other hand, was impassive as always. Even his emotions were way too calm for me to get a read on him and that scares me more than anything.

"Genin Cadet Itsuki, you are dismissed." Hokage spoke. As samples were preserved and I followed all protocols, Hokage had no premise to punish me.

I bowed and went out of the office. I appeared calm on the surface but every second in Hokage's office felt like walking on a tightrope. It was a close miss with Hiruzen but Danzo will probably not leave me alone. He will still go with implanting Hashirama's cells to balance the Sharingan. And then he will need an expert medic to keep them on balance and what better medic than me for this job. He will be docile now but if and when his Root gets disbanded he will get desperate.

I directly skip Academy for the day and went straight to the orphanage. As I opened the door, a red-colored messenger toad was sitting on the desk. Giving him the necessary code, I took the scrolls sent by Jiraiya from him. There were two sealing scrolls of Uzumaki origin and a letter addressed to me. Since our last meeting, Jiraiya has been on a hunt for anything even remotely associated with Uzumaki legacy and has been collecting and sending any sealing scrolls among them to me. At the same time, his contacts inside the Konoha's Ninja forces have started to actively look into Danzo's activities but it has been a futile endeavor but other than Danzo actively marginalizing the Uchiha Clan, not a whiff of his activities was uncovered. And considering what little I know of Jiraiya's network, that is damn impressive. Say what you want about Danzo, but he is one sly fox. Sly but predictable when you know what he wants. The same could not be said for Hiruzen but thankfully I am not under his radar.

I write a letter to Jiraiya about Naruto's progress and today's meeting with Danzo and warn him about a possible connection between Orochimaru and Danzo. Giving it to the toad, who vanishes in a puff of smoke after receiving the letter, I open my notes on Hashirama's Cells.

Working with Hashirama's cells has given me a lot of insights into healing using Yang chakra and I immediately started to work on creating a yang based healing technique.

Itsuki had little idea that he had stumbled upon the path to creating what would end up known as the Greatest Ninja technique to ever grace elemental nations.