The next day, Seina headed towards the hospital yawning. She had enjoyed the late-night chat with Naruto, but now she was paying the consequences of having slept terribly for two days in a row. When she arrived, she went straight to her office, noticing that the stares had decreased until only a few people were watching her out of the corner of their eyes with curiosity. Her first patient was due in an hour, so she prepared her new operating room to her liking and got ready to restore an eye to her first patient and vocal cords and tongue to the second patient of the day.
A knock on her consultation door brought her out of her daydream.
"Seina-sama," called one of the assistants, surprising her with the new honorific. "Your first patient is here."
"Let him in."
The door opened and the ninja entered. She recognized him from the ninja registration photograph attached to his medical record. His name was Iwana Akame and he had lost his eye years ago on a spy mission.
"Have a seat. Iwana Akame-san, is that right?"
"That's right."
"I've read your medical history. It says here that you lost your eye over 7 years ago, so I'd like to examine you first," she said, as the patient quietly sat on the examination table. "It will only take a moment."
She cast a diagnostic spell, checking that he was in good health and updating his medical record. Then, she analysed his eye, removing the patch to physically examine it as well. As she thought, the wound was completely healed. She would have to reopen it to reconstruct an identical eye to his other one.
"I can reconstruct it," she affirmed, seeing his expectant face. "I'm going to put you under before starting."
"Will I be able to leave the hospital today, or will I have to stay overnight?"
"At most, you'll rest in the hospital for the rest of the day, but I don't think that will be necessary."
They talked for a few minutes about what she was going to do before he consented to the operation. Seina put him under and immobilized him just in case. She had to use iryo ninjutsu to scrape the scar and also the last layer of tissue lining the eye socket. Then, she used chakra mixed with her magic to guide the spell/ninjutsu. She wasn't entirely sure how she was doing it, but it worked last time, so she didn't worry too much about the "how."
The eye gradually began to form under her hand, even though she couldn't see it. She felt the blood vessels emerging, the optic nerve extending, the different chambers forming and filling with fluid. It took her almost 2 hours to complete the procedure, fully concentrated on what she was doing. When she finished, she noticed drops of sweat beading on her forehead and nape. She wiped them away with a spell before blinking and focusing on the patient's new eye.
It was identical to his other eye and, according to her diagnostic spell, in perfect condition. The only problem was that, being new, it had perfect vision while the other eye had suffered over time. The difference was so slight that she knew he could get used to having perfect vision in his left eye. Even so, she put some drops in his right eye to improve its vision. She used iryo ninjutsu to soothe the area she had just treated, reducing any inflammation, and applied eye drops to keep it moist.
"Finite incantatem. Ennervate."
The patient blinked, sitting up suddenly despite the clear grogginess that the stupefy always produced. Then he realized he could see with both eyes. She observed his clear amazement, suppressing a smile.
"The operation was a complete success. I put some eye drops in your eye. I'll give you a prescription to exchange at the front desk," she said, sitting at the table to write down the instructions. "You'll need to put a drop in the new eye every night, or before bed, for a week. If you notice any changes or start seeing blurry, come back to the hospital."
"Thank you very much. I never thought I'd be able to see with both eyes again," he confessed, bowing and taking the prescription.
"I'll give you a couple of days off to rest your new eye. If nothing unusual happens, you can go back to missions on the third day."
She finished the paperwork and dismissed him. She hadn't even needed to use the operating room. The wound had been so small that she had been able to sterilize the area with her spells. Well, that, and the runes she had in her office to make it completely sterile. Her next patient was due in less than an hour, so she took the time to file the documentation and change the paper on the examination table, which was conjured. She studied the profile of the next patient and saw that his injuries were more extensive than Akame's. The only advantage was that they hadn't yet healed.
Hours later, she left for the changing room. That afternoon, when she finished eating alone again, she met Naruto and Sasuke, who had been training with Chouji and Ino.
"Since you and Shikamaru are constantly doing B and A-rank missions, and both teams are missing a member, we thought it would be best to train together a couple of times a week until the chunin exams," explained Sasuke, while arranging his pouch. "Besides, since Kakashi-sensei isn't around much in Konoha lately, we need another jonin to guide us."
"So, you're training with Asuma-sensei?" she asked, sitting in the armchair. "Huh. Did he tell you who the substitute for his team will be?"
"He doesn't know. According to him, he won't know until he registers his team for the exams," Naruto shrugged.
"Then there's no point in asking. The registrations aren't until May or June."
"When do you have to register?"
"In April."
"Not much time left," Sasuke looked at her sideways before turning his attention back to the things he had left on the table. "You're barely going to have time to study and train."
"I know," she frowned. "Studying doesn't worry me. Whenever I have a free moment at home, I use clones, but training… I need to find other opponents since Kakashi-sensei is very busy with the Danzo thing and his missions."
"Didn't Bushy Brows-sensei recommend a dojo where only jonins go? You could go there more often."
"That's not a bad idea. Also, Genma and Raido said they would help me train, and I think Hayate is more available than Yugao to help me with my kenjutsu."
They talked for a while while waiting for Sasuke to finish before heading to the training ground. They fought with everything they had for a couple of hours, Naruto and Sasuke against her. She quickly noticed how much they had improved while she was away, but still saw that she could easily defeat them. Sasuke's sharingan was useless against her spells since he couldn't copy them or anticipate her attacks, while Naruto was so unpredictable that he became predictable to her, being his sister and part of his team.
"Ugh! It's impossible to land a single punch on you!" Naruto yelled, throwing himself on the grass.
"Did you think a couple of genins would be able to defeat a tokubetsu jonin with a new kekkei genkai, dobe?" Sasuke sighed, catching his breath. "It's like fighting Kakashi-sensei."
"How did you improve so much?" Naruto asked, unable to let it go.
"My opponents in combat aren't genin, nor are they always the same jonin," she shrugged. "The more fights with different people, the better you become. It's just experience."
"She's right. We're used to doing low-rank missions that don't challenge us. Even when we train, we do it with the same people," Sasuke frowned. Then he looked directly at her. "What advice would you give us?"
"Join me at the dojo. They might be much higher level, but we'll have different opponents every time we go to train. I would also keep training the ninjutsus that Kakashi-sensei left us. What's more… Mmm… I could create a fake Forest of Death here inside."
"No! Why don't you make a desert?" Naruto requested, standing up suddenly. "The chunin exam is in the desert, so we could get used to it."
"I don't see why not. I could modify the climatic conditions to resemble the desert, turn everything into sand, create oases and areas full of dunes, hidden fake creatures, etc."
"Really?" Sasuke asked with a small smile. "It would be perfect to prepare us."
"I could make some human-shaped dummies to fight against you. Although I'd have to think about how to do it. I wouldn't want them to be so strong that they end up hurting you."
As soon as she thought about it, she remembered the Room of Requirement. If she could create something like that... It would be amazing. She would need to build another training hall just for that, while the others used the main one for training. Great. More things to do. She also had to finish dealing with Danzo. She mentally noted to go to his base again on Saturday.
She went to shower, feeling the day's fatigue and sweat, leaving her clones to study and cook. She also needed to replenish the bentos kept under stasis that they had been consuming during missions. She showered leisurely, using one of the luxurious, perfumed shampoos she reserved for when she knew she wouldn't be going on a mission.
"Do you know when Kakashi-sensei will be back?" Naruto asked when she came down to the kitchen, dressed in her pajamas.
"He was hunting one of Danzo's new recruits. I don't think it will take him much longer to return."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. She explained what she had found at Danzo's base, which she hadn't told them about due to her mission.
"I can't believe he has so many people," Naruto frowned, setting the table with Sasuke. "Can you imagine having to reintegrate all of them into Konoha's forces?"
"Maybe it's impossible," Sasuke said. "Many of them only know Danzo... They might resist being absorbed by Konoha."
"Right now, it doesn't make much sense to think about that. More than the ninjas, the main problem is Danzo. His future is either death or life imprisonment. Do you think he's going to allow that after all the trouble he's gone through to have a secret army?"
She shook her head while thinking about it. She didn't envy the Hokage or the other high-ranking officials at all. She already had enough to do as a simple tokubetsu jonin. With everything she did, she felt exploited. At least they recognized her work with a great salary, though she hardly spent it on anything. Now she understood why Kakashi-sensei bought her something so expensive. It was clear he must have had enough savings not to think twice about buying gold jewellery. The same happened to her. She had no children, no family except Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, so she saved everything she earned, except for some gifts.
"Can we keep training together tomorrow after the hospital?"
"Sure."
She went to bed shortly after. She needed to digest what her 20 clones had studied, rest her mind, and get back to a normal rhythm.
She woke up the next day feeling almost more tired than when she went to bed. She needed a second shower and a good breakfast to wake up. Luckily, she only had one patient that morning and would be assisted by the team provided by the Hokage. She arrived at the hospital a few minutes early.
"Today's patient has a right arm amputation," she said while briefing her two assistants, handing them the medical history. "The amputation occurred two months ago, so it will be easier to remove the scar tissue than in a fully healed amputation. First, I will remove the tissue, so it will start bleeding. You two will manage the bleeding and monitor his vitals."
"Seina-sama, your patient has arrived," called the assistant. "Should I let him in?"
"Yes, go ahead."
Seina had him sit on the examination table and explained what was going to happen. The ninja was so excited to get his lost arm back that it took them less than five minutes to start the procedure. They laid him on the metal table, unconscious, while Akane monitored his vitals and administered anaesthesia. She would have immobilized him, but since it was his arm, she needed to move the limb as she regenerated it. She began removing the tissue while her other assistant, Yue, controlled the bleeding.
"Vitals stable," murmured Akane to her left.
"Bleeding stable."
"Good. I'll start the regeneration."
She molded her chakra along with her magic and initiated the ninjutsu. They spent nearly five hours reconstructing the arm, stopping the bleeding as the blood flowed freely through the new blood vessels. Thanks to Merlin, they didn't start bombarding her with questions when they saw the tissue growing from the amputated limb.
"Vitals stable."
"He's lost 10% of his blood."
"That can be fixed easily," she said, pulling out a vial to boost his blood reserves. "He'll need rest today. The anaesthesia should wear off in half an hour. I'll have a nurse check on him every hour after he wakes up."
She also prescribed painkillers and everything needed for him to recover without discomfort, but she was sure that once the anaesthesia wore off and his blood levels normalized, he could go home. She saw that she had stayed past her departure time, so she headed straight to the locker room. Just as she was about to head home, she received a visit from a Hokage's assistant ninja. She suppressed a sigh and a groan, realizing she was being summoned to Tsunade-sama's office.
To her surprise, Tsunade-sama was waiting for her, standing in her office.
"Finally. You finished later than expected."
"Last-minute paperwork. So?"
"Not here. Come with me."
As soon as she led her to her personal and private space, she knew why she was there. The first person they saw was, surprisingly, Kakashi-sensei. He wore his uniform a bit dirty, so she deduced he had just returned from the mission with his prisoner. When he saw her, he smiled in her direction.
"Seina."
"So, you've finally brought the guy."
"That's right. Kakashi managed to capture Danzo's recruit and fake his death. Shizune has him sedated to the brim," Tsunade-sama informed, walking to the room she had sealed days before. "As we suspected, he has a seal on his tongue, so it's going to be impossible to get anything out of him until we remove the seal. Inoichi tried to use his dojutsu on him, but nothing."
"You want me to try."
"Yes. If you see you're going to harm him, stop. We want him with all his mental faculties intact."
"Besides, we don't believe he knows much about Danzo's movements," said a voice behind her. It was Shikaku, sitting in a chair. "We just want a test subject to study the seal."
"Alright. Let's see what I can do."
She leaned over the ninja and opened one of his eyelids. She easily entered his mind. Not only did he lack any magical barriers to stop her, but his brainwashing had also removed the natural protections of his mind. At that moment, she felt pity for the boy. She quickly noticed the seal because it was everywhere. Curiously, it seemed to prevent her from analysing his memories with chakra and also from Sai, as the boy was supposedly called, speaking about them. What the seal couldn't recognize was her magical presence, so she rummaged through his mind with impunity. Half an hour later, she knew everything.
As soon as she exited his mind, she couldn't suppress a sigh.
"What did you see?" asked Shikaku, who, as expected, had realized she had infiltrated the ninja.
"His name is Sai. It's a new name. He's had it for barely a year and a half. Until then, he was identified as Saitama by another slightly older boy named Shin. Shin and Sai were very close, practically brothers. Danzo made them fight to the death so the winner would be indoctrinated into Ne and leave the orphanage. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Shin had a degenerative disease that ended up killing him during the fight. Sai, at Shin's request, made their recruiter believe he had killed Shin, and so he was inducted into Ne. Sai suppressed these memories with the help of the training. Danzo granted him the name Sai, leaving behind the name Shin gave him before he died."
"And what about the mission?"
"He doesn't know anything else about Unmo Samidare. He was just following orders. Nothing more."
"That was to be expected," sighed Tsunade-sama. "But you've given us quite a bit of information."
"In the worst case, we can ask Seina for help in interrogating all of them."
"It would be better if Jiraiya-sama manages to destroy the seal," Shikaku rejected Shizune's proposal. "Seina is already doing too many things. Also, leaving so many high-calibre ninjas with an unknown seal can be dangerous."
"He's right. Once you finish mapping out the base, consider yourself removed from this mission regarding Danzo," Tsunade-sama ordered. "At least until further notice. Let's go, leave the prisoner alone."
They left, letting Shizune adjust Sai's medication and anaesthesia. He was wearing special shackles, so he couldn't use his chakra, even if his life depended on it. They went to the living room to continue the meeting more comfortably. Seina sat on the sofa, and Kakashi-sensei immediately sat next to her. She looked him up and down, seeing his somewhat disheveled appearance, and extended her hand. While she healed the few scratches he had, Tsunade-sama served them tea and coffee with some cookies. The Hokage, seeing her master's hand in hers, chuckled.
"It must be a plus for you to have an expert medic on the team, Kakashi. Now you don't have to go to the hospital like a condemned man."
"No comment," said the jonin, taking the cup of tea.
"What can you tell us about Sai's mission?" Shikaku asked, cutting straight to the point.
"As Seina reported, Sai was sent to kill Umno Samidare. The mission was risky since he wasn't alone. Unfortunately for Sai, it didn't seem like Samidare was going to leave his team anytime soon, so he tried to eliminate them all with an ambush. It went wrong," sighed Kakashi-sensei. "He killed Samidare and one of his companions but at the cost of ending up badly injured. I had to intervene and finish off the third member of the group. Fortunately, the scene was perfect for faking Sai's death, so I left some clues for Kiri's hunters and took Sai hidden away. If not for Tsunade-sama, Sai would have died, so I'm sure Danzo will believe he was killed in combat against a full group of Kirigakure ninjas."
"I don't like that investigating Danzo is affecting us this way," Tsunade-sama frowned, angry. "I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if Sai had been captured, alive or dead. Sooner or later, they would have known who he belonged to."
"True, but the problem has been solved. Danzo believes he's dead, Sai is our prisoner, Kiri doesn't know who attacked them, we can study Danzo's seal calmly, and Seina has been able to read Sai's mind... Actually, this is a great victory for us," Shikaku reminded her.
"I'll send a messenger to Jiraiya to return to the village as soon as possible. I want him to study this seal immediately," she turned to look at her. "When can you finish mapping the base?"
"Tomorrow is a good day. If Danzo is far from the base, I could do it in a few hours."
"Perfect. Do you need assistance?" Shikaku asked. Both he and the Hokage looked at Kakashi-sensei, and Seina knew what they were asking.
"Not necessarily, but if it makes you feel more at ease, Kakashi-sensei can serve as a lookout if he wants to."
"I'll go with you," her master assured.
"Great. Another thing about to bear fruit," Tsunade-sama smiled, rubbing her hands. "Oh, by the way, Seina. I have a list for you. It's in order of priority, but there's no rush. Take the breaks you need."
She took the scroll the Hokage handed her and opened it, taking a quick look. It was a list of things they wanted her to invent. So far, as far as she knew, none of her inventions except for the medical items had been distributed to the public or to ninjas outside of ANBU. She wasn't surprised. If a magical tent fell into the hands of their enemies, it would be a real nightmare. They could have a combat battalion in the middle of Konoha without anyone noticing. The only items some jonin had were the ones she had personally given them, and she had given them to loyal ninjas sparingly.
She left the Hokage's residence accompanied by Kakashi-sensei.
"Ah... I can't wait to take a good bath," he sighed. "I've spoiled myself."
She knew he was talking about the magical tent with its own bathroom. Seina smiled. He didn't even pretend to feel bad about being able to shower or bathe during missions. Hygiene was essential. In fact, it should be a priority, especially on missions, since wounds from combat could get infected if not cleaned in time.
"You can take a bath while we train."
"Are you planning to train this afternoon?"
"We're all home, so yes. In fact, we're going to train in the dojo Guy-sensei recommended. I'm sure Naruto, Sasuke, and I will gain experience."
"It's a good idea. If anyone knows about taijutsu, it's him, but don't tell him I said that," Kakashi-sensei requested with a mischievous smile.
"I don't think he'd believe me if I told him," she laughed, imagining Guy-sensei's face.
When they got home, Naruto and Sasuke were waiting impatiently in the kitchen.
"Kakashi-sensei! We thought you had died," her brother smiled, the troll.
"Hello, Naruto. We should work on those manners."
"Set a plate, dobe," Sasuke elbowed him.
Kakashi-sensei decided to eat first before taking his long-awaited bath, so for the first time in several days, they ate together as a team like before. He touched her foot with his while they explained what they could about his last mission, making her smile. When Naruto learned that he would take the afternoon off to relax, he couldn't help but cross his arms with a pout on his lips.
"Stop complaining, Naru. We won't die from not training with Kakashi-sensei for one day."
"I know, but it's been a long time since we trained together."
"We can train tomorrow afternoon if you want and if we're all available," the jonin said as a peacemaker. Then he looked at her. "We need to talk about what you've discovered so far about Danzo's base. Come see me after training."
She nodded. Sasuke and Naruto asked curiously what they were talking about. They explained how the next day, precisely the first day of February, they would infiltrate Danzo's base. That afternoon, while the jonin rested, they trained ninjutsu in the shed. 50% of the ninjutsu she had learned were already of water, as it was the element most akin to her, so she wanted to take advantage of increasing her fire ninjutsu. It was a shame that living in the Land of Fire, her least-used jutsus were fire jutsus.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu."
The flames shot out of her mouth toward a large steel bucket she had conjured to test it. She could see how it melted quickly as the torrent of fire impacted its surface. She cut the flow of chakra and molded her reserves again using new seals.
"Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu."
She blew in front of her, but immediately saw that something was wrong. Supposedly, the jutsu was the equivalent of the mist jutsu used in Kiri to hide, but with ashes. Even so, her breath contained more flames than ashes.
"You're molding too much chakra to create fire," said Kurama, who had been watching somewhat bored, as always. "You need enough flame to create ash, but not so much that you turn the jutsu into another fire jutsu. Try using only 50% katon nature mixed with your normal energy."
Seina tried following Kurama's directions. Instantly, she noticed the difference. If before it was 75% fire and 25% ash, now the percentages had reversed. It made sense. The jutsu didn't have enough "force" to be a complete fire jutsu. This made her realize something. What would happen if she did the same with a water jutsu? The mist ninjutsu she had learned months ago didn't follow the same procedure since the mist curtain was composed of tiny droplets, not vapor.
"I have to try this," she thought to Kurama, who had been following the thread of her thoughts.
"You better move away from your clown brother and the emo."
She jumped to the side, leaving even more space between herself and her team, who were also practicing ninjutsu individually. She molded the chakra using the first water jutsu she had learned. Instead of transforming all the chakra into water nature chakra, she mixed half transformed with half untransformed chakra. To her surprise, she created mist.
"What? Why did I just recreate the mist jutsu?" she asked herself, and Kurama. "They're two different jutsus!"
"Mmm… What did you think would happen?"
"Vapor? I wasn't really sure, to be honest."
"Vapor needs a source of energy, like fire, and you didn't use any."
"But how did I recreate the mist jutsu if that's NOT how you mold chakra to use that jutsu?"
"Did you think there's only one way to do each jutsu?" Kurama mocked, with a laugh. "If that were the case, there wouldn't be so much ninjutsu, and so many people wouldn't be able to use the same jutsu without access to the necessary scrolls."
Seina blinked. It was true. Ninjutsus weren't like spells. Spells were very specific. You couldn't kill someone with an alohomora, but you could use a water jutsu to kill and to hide because its particulars were much more general than an enchantment. Could it be that her previous experience as a witch had limited her in terms of ninjutsu? While it was true that she had researched a bit on how to create a new jutsu by combining various chakra natures, that had been because she already knew it was possible. She wasn't doing anything new.
"Of course! If I mold water nature chakra plus fire nature chakra, it should create vapor, right? And if I mold earth nature chakra with normal chakra, it should create sand or dust."
She spent the whole afternoon testing different types of chakra nature combined with her normal energy. She quickly realized that not all tests were equally successful. In some cases, mixing 50% chakra nature and 50% untransformed yin-yang energy was enough to create mist or ash. In other cases, like when she tried to create dust, that proportion was not correct. Still, she found she could create different elements using an unknown combination of X nature chakra plus normal chakra. That meant that many people who could naturally use certain elements weren't the only ones who could, in theory, create new elements. She had already tried it before with her boiling water, but by mixing several chakra natures in equal amounts.
"This means you have two ways to create the same thing," thought Kurama. "One would be using an identical mix of different chakra natures and the other combining a chakra nature with normal chakra, in unknown proportions."
"Exactly. That means, in principle, EVERYONE could use ALL the elements. And what's better, if I could figure out how to replicate these jutsus without having to mold so much chakra of different natures, it would take less time to use ninjutsu."
"If I were you, I would keep quiet about this... Let them think it's another one of your peculiarities."
Seina sighed. She knew why Kurama was saying it. Not only would it make the target on her head bigger, but it would give an advantage to Konoha's enemies. No, better to keep it to herself.
"I have a lot of work ahead of me," she thought, sitting on the grass. "It will take me months, maybe years, to know exactly how to mold chakra to recreate all the elements."
"Luckily for you, you have time."