Kurotsuchi walked along the street, her thoughts spinning at high speed.
From Konoha detecting Kumogakure's abnormal movements at the border to relaying that intelligence back to the village would take at least a full day at the fastest. Even if the Hokage made a decision immediately and dispatched Hyūga Kiyonari to Iwagakure, the trip alone would still take two to three days. Then Iwagakure would need another day to reach a final decision—meaning tomorrow.
By that math, Kumogakure would very likely make its move within the next one or two days.
Time… was far too tight.
Before tomorrow, she had to figure out whether Hyūga Kiyonari was genuinely stupid through and through—or hiding behind a carefully constructed act.
As she walked, Kurotsuchi repeatedly tested possible approaches in her head. Without realizing it, her steps carried her to the entrance of Iwagakure's hospital. Staring at the gray-white building, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
"He's that miracle medic's student… right…?"
Kurotsuchi entered the hospital and asked the medical-nin on duty if there was any case they couldn't handle.
"Three days ago, a squad clashed with Sunagakure shinobi during a mission. Jōnin Iwata was poisoned and is on the verge of death. We've tried every detox method we know, and none of them worked."
"Take me to him."
The medic-nin led Kurotsuchi to the intensive care unit.
The shinobi on the bed had a sickly wax-yellow complexion, and purple vascular patterns spread across his skin. Even though he was unconscious, driven by the instinct to live, blood kept spraying from his mouth and nose.
Whenever the blockage in his airway was expelled, his breathing would briefly sound clearer—only to soon return to that hoarse, rasping gasp.
"We're out of options. Even with every treatment method we have, at this rate… he can hold on for at most two more days."
"I understand." Kurotsuchi turned to leave. "Get the surgical equipment ready. I'll go find a doctor to try."
She hurried out of the hospital, found Akatsuchi to confirm directions, then went straight for Hyūga Kiyonari's lodging.
"Kiyonari-kun."
Hyūga Kiyonari looked up. When he saw Kurotsuchi, his face immediately broke into a smile. "Oh—it's Kurotsuchi-onee-san."
Kiyonari-kun… so she needs something from me.
"What is it?"
Kurotsuchi's cheeks warmed. She spoke, a little embarrassed. "A shinobi in our village was poisoned with a lethal toxin during a mission. You—you're that miracle medic's student, right? So… so I wanted to ask you to take a look, see if there's any way to save him."
As soon as she finished, Kurotsuchi bowed deeply—her upper body almost parallel to the ground, her head dipping even lower.
Before coming here, she'd kept telling herself: It's a mission. It's for the village. But when she actually said the plea out loud—lowering her head to ask help from this "lewd little brat"—it wasn't as unbearable as she'd imagined.
What rose in her chest instead was worry—worry that he'd refuse because of how she'd treated him earlier. And if that happened, Mr. Iwata lying in that bed—
"Of course. Please lead the way."
"Thank goodness—!"
Relief loosened in Kurotsuchi's heart. She straightened up—only to see the smile had vanished from Kiyonari's face, replaced by a calm, serious stillness.
The sudden change made her freeze for a moment.
Was this… really the same person?
A few minutes later, Kiyonari stood outside the ward, activated his Byakugan, glanced inside, then dismissed the jutsu.
"Treatable."
"So fast?" Kurotsuchi was startled, then quickly asked, "Do you need anything? Any conditions?"
Kiyonari didn't answer. He simply held up two fingers.
"Two conditions?" Kurotsuchi's heart tightened. She had no idea whether Iwagakure could meet what he wanted.
Kiyonari continued, "The poison was left too long. His heart and lungs are on the verge of collapse. Treatment plan one—I'm ninety percent sure I can save him, but the price is… he probably won't be able to remain a shinobi afterward."
"Treatment plan two—I'm only sixty percent sure, but if it succeeds, he can keep being a shinobi. The downside is his lifespan will be shortened by a few years. Also—this plan is expensive."
Not only Kurotsuchi—even the medical-nin gathering nearby to watch were stunned.
So it wasn't "two conditions." It was: you took one look and came up with two complete treatment plans.
After a brief hesitation, Kurotsuchi answered, "Iwagakure isn't short on money."
"Good."
Kiyonari nodded and pushed open the door.
Kurotsuchi and several medical-nin followed close behind. Whatever Kiyonari did, their eyes never left him.
Kiyonari reached over to the instrument tray and picked up a scalpel. The tip lightly traced the skin and opened a tiny blood vessel.
Dark purple blood welled up at once—and within it, you could even see black, flocculent strands floating.
He pulled out a test tube from his ninja pouch and collected a sample. As he did, he explained to the "students" beside him.
"The toxin has invaded every corner of the patient's body through the circulatory system. Simply using the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique won't clear it completely—we need a targeted antidote."
Then he took out several test tubes filled with different special solutions and dripped the blood sample into each. The liquids reacted immediately—rolling, changing color, giving off faint hissing sounds or forming sediment.
Finally, to everyone's shock, Kiyonari brought a trace of blood from his fingertip to his mouth.
"This compound toxin contains three different components: a neurotoxin and a hemolytic toxin—both common. The third is more unusual. Current methods can't identify it, but my Byakugan can see the patient's lung structure has been damaged… Looks like Sunagakure has cooked up something nasty again."
"How do you know it was Suna—"
The moment the words left her mouth, Kurotsuchi realized how stupid she sounded and cut herself off.
Kiyonari didn't bother with the small interruption. Like reciting a menu, he rattled off a long list of medicinal ingredients. Kurotsuchi didn't dare delay and immediately signaled the medic-nin beside her to prepare them.
"These are for the late-stage antidote. Now—surgery begins. Step back to prevent infection."
Before his words even finished, his hands had already formed seals. White smoke rose, and a slug the size of a fist appeared by the bed.
"Katsuyu-sama, we're starting surgery. Please maintain the patient's vital signs."
"No problem." Katsuyu's feelers swayed, and she slowly moved onto Iwata's chest.
Kiyonari took out a small vial, carefully unscrewed the lid, and poured nearly invisible tiny granules into his left palm. Then he released chakra to wrap them up.
Kurotsuchi couldn't help asking, curious. "What is that?"
"Bugs."
With a scalpel in his right hand, Kiyonari cut decisively into Iwata's chest.
The blade opened flesh and blood surged out. Katsuyu immediately split into smaller bodies, her soft form deforming to block vessels while holding the incision open.
Kiyonari never paused. Skin, muscle, fascia—layer by layer, he opened the body, until Iwata's trachea and lungs were clearly exposed. The whole process flowed in one continuous motion, leaving the watching medic-nin slack-jawed.
"So this is…"
"The miracle medic's…"
"…student?"
"And the Byakugan helps, too."
Kiyonari carefully cut a tiny opening in the trachea, then discarded the scalpel. His left hand moved in, feeding all the bugs inside, while his right used the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique to gather and draw out toxin buildup in the lungs.
The entire process lasted ten minutes. The purple-black lungs visibly returned to a bright, healthy red.
"Haa…"
He let out a small breath. Seeing that, Kurotsuchi stepped forward cautiously and used a handkerchief to dab the sweat on his forehead.
"The toxins pooled in the lungs are cleared. These bugs will eat the dead, inactive cells. After that, we finish with the Mystic Palm Technique, and the surgery is done."
"As I said before, this plan is expensive—because these bugs are difficult to cultivate."
About half an hour later, bugs began crawling out through the airway. The instant they left the body, they lost all signs of life.
Kiyonari used forceps to collect them, planning to dispose of them together later.
At that moment, the medic-nin sent to gather ingredients hurried back with the required herbs.
Kiyonari checked them quickly, then distributed tasks to everyone present and instructed them how to process each ingredient—
until finally, in his hands, they became a small bottle of pale-gold antidote.
After injecting it intravenously, Kiyonari immediately activated his Byakugan to observe.
Even without Byakugan, Kurotsuchi and the others could clearly see changes happening in Iwata's body.
The purple-black vascular patterns covering his body gradually faded—deep purple to light purple, then to a faint bluish-green, and finally disappearing completely. The wax-yellow pallor regained color. His breathing became steady and strong, and his chest rose and fell in a normal rhythm.
The medical monitors improved in sync—heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation—every indicator steadily climbing back into the normal range.
When the last bug crawled out, Kiyonari used the Mystic Palm Technique to heal the incision, then announced:
"Surgery complete."
Though the operation had lasted nearly two hours, the medic-nin watching felt like they'd barely gotten enough.
"Kiyonari-kun, there was a step just now I couldn't fully grasp—please advise!"
"Get lost! 'Kiyonari-kun' is what you call him?!"
"Sir! Doctor Kiyonari! Teach us!"
Kurotsuchi looked at Iwata on the bed. It was her first time watching surgery in a hospital—and she'd been lucky, watching with her own eyes as Kiyonari pried someone back from death, inch by inch.
It was less a surgery and more a breathtaking performance.
After leaving the hospital, Kurotsuchi moved at a near-run and charged straight into the Tsuchikage building.
"What is it?" Ōnoki looked at her with a bit of anticipation. Already? Did she get an answer that fast?
Kurotsuchi strode to the desk, took a deep breath, forced down her excitement, and clearly reported everything that had happened.
"—And Kiyonari even took the initiative to explain to our doctors, in detail, some of the toxins Sunagakure commonly uses and how to formulate targeted antidotes."
"And how to quickly identify toxin types through symptoms. Even if there were parts I didn't understand, I know those insights are priceless."
"If we clash with Sunagakure again, we'll have the advantage. The value this brings to increasing Iwagakure's overall combat strength is immeasurable."
Sunagakure: So noble of you. So impressive.
The most expensive thing in the world… is free.
Ōnoki's expression grew serious. "Konoha and Iwagakure aren't on good terms. He has no reason to help us for nothing."
"Right," Kurotsuchi said. "Even if—this was against Sunagakure."
She fell silent for a moment, then continued, "I want to say… I feel like he might just be that kind of person. But I also know—given our positions—I can't say something like that."
Ōnoki smiled with some relief. "No matter what his real goal is, one thing is certain: Iwagakure owes him a favor."
And favors… are the hardest debts to repay.
"Grandpa, should we proactively bring up an alliance with Konoha?" Kurotsuchi understood: if you can repay a favor, you should do it quickly.
An alliance was something Konoha needed right now, and it wouldn't cost Iwagakure much in concrete terms. If anyone questioned it, they could say openly that Iwagakure was returning Hyūga Kiyonari's goodwill.
Seeing Ōnoki still not answering, Kurotsuchi let out a long sigh and started "chanting" dramatically:
"Deidara-niisan ran off to play, Uncle Rōshi left the village too, and Grandpa, you're getting old—"
"What do you mean, old?! Back in my day—ow!!"
Ōnoki stuck his neck out to argue, but the moment he lifted his head, his back seized sharply, and he yelped in pain.
"Look at you and you still won't admit it." Kurotsuchi chuckled and stepped in to support him.
"Honestly… I'm not ready to face a war yet. The village probably isn't either. If we can ally with Konoha, push back Kumogakure's threat, and make them retreat without fighting, that would be even better."
"Heh." Ōnoki gave a cold snort. "With those barbarians from Kumo, if you don't fight them blade to blade, they'll never admit defeat."
Kurotsuchi nodded. "Then the Two-Tails jinchūriki they pushed to the front line is both a threat—and a breakthrough point."
Ōnoki fell silent for a while. In the end, he sighed as if conceding. "Go bring Hyūga Kiyonari here. I'll draft the reply to the Hokage right now."
"Okay!"
Kurotsuchi's eyes lit up, and she jumped out through the window.
Even if Hyūga Kiyonari was a chatterbox, naive, and perverted—he was also a talented, capable pervert. He'd proven his sincerity with actions, and Iwagakure had to respond in kind.
About ten minutes later.
Kiyonari tucked Ōnoki's letter safely inside his clothes, then formed hand seals.
"Then—we part ways here."
Poof!
White smoke rose—yet his figure was nowhere to be seen.
"Reverse Summoning Technique? That guy really stopped acting the moment he got the letter?!"