Chapter 40

— … when she came into my hands, she resembled more of a skin-clad skeleton than a person. So, after patching her up a bit, I thought — why not use the girl as my exam for the first rank? After all, if Akiko survived in such a condition for three years, she deserves a chance at a normal life, and I'd rather not send another child to an orphanage.

— Three years? — Hishi whistled and squinted. — Is that why you were putting up those posters?

— Yes, given the general reluctance of our fighters of both sexes to voluntarily come to the hospital except in extreme cases, it's better to plaster warning posters for women everywhere than to pull them out of their graves later, — I grimaced, — I don't think such cases are rare.

In fact, I drafted the text, and it was Ma who drew the characters, so I only had to put up a dozen posters near the entrance to all hospital departments and regular hospitals. I hope it helps even a little.

— I see, I'll check the papers, so get ready — I'll personally review them if I'm still in this position by then, — the old man nodded and explained at my questioningly raised eyebrow, — they're pushing me hard to retire due to age, but who am I supposed to leave you bastards with? The Hokage will put some idiot in charge, and everything will fall apart.

— As if there's anything left to fall apart, — I snorted derisively and quickly ducked, avoiding a quartet of senbon that whizzed through the space where my chest had been a moment ago.

— Get out of here, you scoundrel, — Hyuga waved his hand, — I don't want to see you.

— Huh? Did you get a new eye, sensei? I didn't notice…, — I asked with a smirk and prudently stepped back to the door.

The one-eyed veteran jerked his hand, but I had already slipped out of the office and managed to get away from the doorway when eight more senbon embedded themselves into the opposite side. The old man may be old, but he hasn't lost his skills!

— Ryo!

— Huh? — Ignoring the staff frozen in the hallway and a few visitors, I risked peeking into the hospital head's office with one head.

— Don't forget that for promotion you need to work with the central nervous system and the brain, not just be able to grow new chakra channels, — Hishi reminded me seriously.

— Will sealing techniques work?

— With sealing techniques, even a mule could manage, but try doing everything with your hands rather than with tools, — the old man shook his head.

And before I could slip away, he waved his hand, and more than a dozen chakra threads pulled the senbon stuck in the walls and returned them to their owner. Ha, show-off! I can do that too, though not with just one tenketsu yet. But comparing the senbon-throwing, sky-reaching Hyuga in his nineties to my fifteen-year-old self is just laughable. If I live to his age, I'll be able to do even more.

Since I was officially given time off, I decided to make good use of it and visit the Uzumaki women, especially since Kushina was supposed to be resting today. And if I know anything about Mito's character, she'll be working up a sweat right now. No matter how formidable a teacher Hatake was, he couldn't compare to the former jinchuriki — I felt that firsthand.

When there's no need to conserve chakra, moving around the village is very quick, so within a few minutes, I was on the Senju clan's territory and, not in a hurry, made my way towards the Uzumaki home, responding to the greetings of acquaintances.

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