AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.

Proofread by: Author

So, first of all, I've changed the summary of this story. I've been considering it for a while, as it truly wasn't my best moment. I wanted something more likely to pull people's curiosity. Hopefully, this change will do just that. It holds the same meaning now but isn't as awkwardly worded as it used to be. Much more clear and to the point I'd say. Now, onto the new chapter!

Chapter 107: An emotional discussion


Turns out, the beginning was a review of what they already knew concerning chakra, its applications, and uses when it came to the Shinobi body. Everything from how chakra was formed, to how one could change the nature of chakra, turning it into something else, like for example water, or lightning.

Sakura and Heikō could recite everything they knew and remember with ease, and what they couldn't tell Tsunade, she filled them in on, taught them, and explained what they didn't understand. Naturally, going through all of their knowledge in one sitting wasn't a pleasant idea for either of them, so the conversation was broken apart across the remaining nights on their way back to Konohagakure. Yet, during their conversations, Sakura and Heikō got an idea, and a question they couldn't resist asking about.

"Tsunade-Sensei, there's something I've been wondering about," Sakura told her teacher as they ended the last session before reaching Konoha.

"Well, shoot. Ask away." Tsunade told her, knowing it couldn't be about all the medical knowledge they had just been discussing. Something she still hadn't explained why she was grilling Sakura and Heikō on when they had decided she wouldn't train to become a medical-nin.

"Well, I was wondering if medical chakra can be used to induce emotions, After all, emotions are a result of changes in the balance of chemicals within the brain, so shouldn't it be possible to manipulate emotions in a patient using medical chakra, if you know what you're doing?" Sakura asked, observing her Sensei who had suddenly frozen, on the spot before settling her eyes on Sakura with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow.

"That is a very delicate topic, Sakura. Why is it that you wish to know?" Tsunade asked, her tone of voice cluing them in that Tsunade would likely refuse to answer if Sakura gave her the wrong answer.

"Well, two reasons, really. One is that I thought it would be an effective method to calm a patient down without using drugs, another, because of something I learned about a problem I'm trying to solve. There is already a possible solution, but it isn't pleasant, and manipulating a willing person's emotions would be far easier, and more ethical than the alternative." Sakura tried to explain, making Tsunade frown.

"And what is this problem? I'm not going to give you an answer until I know why you're interested in messing with someone's head, willing or not. There are reasons why certain practices aren't in use, despite their effectiveness." Tsunade warned Sakura.

"It's… I was entrusted with some knowledge concerning a certain Kekkei Genkai. I was told in confidence, and I'm afraid I've already revealed too much, but I need to know if it's possible to manipulate someone's emotions medically, rather than naturally." Sakura explained, feeling that Sasuke wouldn't really be comfortable with Tsunade knowing without being consulted first, but the idea had been eating away at her mind, no matter how much Heikō had tried to keep it away.

Tsunade sighed and shook her head after hearing Sakura elaborate. "Of course it has to do with a Kekkei Genkai," Tsunade muttered, before focusing back on Sakura.

"There is indeed a way to manipulate a person's emotions using medical chakra. Any sufficiently skilled medical-nin can use chakra to stimulate the receptors in the brain, and the right combination can do more than just manipulate emotions. However, there are some very big risks, not just for the patient, but for the user themselves. The main reason this practice was shut down almost immediately, is because, without perfect chakra control, there's always damage to the patient. One or two uses generally don't show any adverse effects, but with each procedure, it gets worse. In addition to this, even if one knows what they're doing, manipulating emotions is tricky, because the results aren't always as controlled as intended. One example I'd give you was an attempt to make a man feel relieved and safe before a difficult operation, but all it ended up doing was to send him to the afterlife. He became overwhelmed with a euphoric sense of peace, that his heart just stopped beating." Tsunade explained with a grimace.

"Any medically induced emotions generally turn out to be far stronger than intended. Even if the procedure succeeds without any difficulties, the resulting concentration of chemicals from the treatment ends up frying some of the receptors in the brain, making it harder for the patient to feel the targeted emotion from that point on. In addition to this, only very simple understood emotions can be induced this way. The amount of experimentation and control required makes it far too unethical to train medics in it, and so, the practice was forbidden." Tsunade explains although Heikō decides to note something that feels off.

"But, if that's the case, why wasn't it forbidden straight away. You make it sound like they tried to implement it before giving it up. That suggests that the ethical concerns weren't what did it." Heikō pointed out, raking brief control of their shared body from Sakura.

Tsunade frowned as she responded. "You're right, as well as wrong. Ethical concerns were exactly what shut the idea down, but in the beginning, it was allowed, because there was no shortage of test subjects." Tsunade explains, disgust clear in her voice. "You see, during war-time, there isn't such a thing as ethics when it comes to the enemy. These ideas had begun springing up towards the end of the third Shinobi war, as the number of Medical-nin had increased due to my medical reforms. I'm both proud, and ashamed of the ideas that resulted from such knowledge." Tsunade told them, and Sakura couldn't help but feel like Tsunade looked old and tired as she spoke, despite the permanent transformation she wore.

"That's…" Sakura began, only to realize she didn't know what to say. She knew that war, as well as life or death battles, could do a lot to a person, especially someone desperate to find a solution. She, together with Heikō had experienced it multiple times after all, so it made sense that people would have a similar train of thought during war-time, and use all applicable knowledge they could to give them an edge. Weaponizing medical procedures was a logical if regrettable conclusion.

"Once the war was over, there was no longer a way to ethically train medics in such methods, and the practice was abolished. I can do it, but I'd rather not unless you can give me a good reason to." Tsunade told Sakura pointedly, to which she nodded in understanding and agreement.

"I'll see if I can get permission to explain it to you. I think it's better if you hear the reason from the source, as it isn't my explanation to give." Sakura told her, to which Tsunade nodded in acceptance and got up from where she had been sitting on the floor.

"Well then, if that's all, I'm going to retire for the night. We're going to reach Konoha tomorrow, and I'd rather not make a fool of myself when we face my old Sensei." Tsunade told her with an amused chuckle, before bidding Sakura goodbye and leaving.

"Well, we might have a more pleasant way for Sasuke to get his Sharingan to evolve. Hopefully, he won't be too mad with us, almost telling Tsunade." Heikō told Sakura, who let out a sigh and let herself fall onto the bed she had been sitting on.

"Hopefully. We might not have a crush on him anymore, but he's still our friend and teammate. I don't want him upset with us, and we did it for him after all. If the Sharingan can evolve with nothing but a chemical reaction, it'll save us a lot of trouble, like asking Kakashi to subject him to a mentally scarring Genjutsu that might not even work." Sakura started with a frown.

It was one of the reasons why they hadn't asked for Kakashi's help already. They had theorized that only a Sharingan could be used to create a Genjutsu powerful enough to trigger the necessary reaction in another Sharingan user, but it was nothing but speculation, and there was already a flaw in that reasoning. If it was that simple, it stood to reason that Sasuke should already have awakened his Sharingan to such a level, considering the traumatic memories Itachi had forced upon him during the Uchiha massacre. There was a possibility that it hadn't happened because Sasuke hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet, but it was also possible that no matter how convincing, a Genjutsu just didn't cut it. Considering what the Genjutsu would need to contain, none of them were willing to experiment with the idea. Besides, Kakashi would never agree to do it unless they could tell him for certain that it would work.

Inducing the necessary reaction medically, however, that held promise. Certainly, Tsunade had pointed out just how dangerous even attempting it could be, and if possible, they wouldn't even entertain the idea, but they knew that Sasuke would. If viewed from Sasuke's perspective, they felt that the option with medically induced emotions was far less risky than Genjutsu, even if failure would have a physical effect on the brain in addition to just a potential, mental one.

"Meanwhile, our abilities seem to come from both physical and mental trauma," Heikō tells Sakura jokingly, making her wonder what Heikō meant.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, not sure what Heikō had been referring to exactly.

"Well, there's the mental battle with Orochimaru that was the catalyst to me becoming… well, more present I suppose. Then there's the fact that Natural energy has something to do with it, and when our Human-Sage-Mode failed, it propelled us even further into the mess, not to mention how each life-and-death battle has us advancing and becoming better and better. Even Kabuto's torture netted us with an incredible understanding of medical chakra and our own body." Heikō explained her reasoning, while Sakura shuddered at the reminder of Kabuto's torture. She was glad he was dead and could never again subject someone to that kind of treatment. "It stands to reason that we'll have more moments like that going forward, so we can't relax for even a moment. Shinobi life is messed up." Heikō tells Sakura, although there is no real discontent present in her statement.

Sakura chuckles in response. "Well, I guess we wouldn't want it any other way. We'd end up being civilians if that was the case." Sakura concludes, amused, before thinking over everything they had spoken about with Tsunade. It had resulted in some new ideas as to how to proceed with their personal training. They'd need to run some of them by Tsunade first, however, and they might end up being redundant anyway because Tsunade was going to end up training them anyway.

"Doesn't matter if it's redundant. Our method might be better, or even better, compatible with her own training. Besides, no way are we stopping with what we've discovered on our own. We still haven't asked about our external chakra molding. Tsunade and Jiraiya seemed pretty shocked when we explained it was how we managed to escape." Heikō pointed out, and Sakura sighed.

"Yeah, we need to get a hang on it first I think. If we can properly demonstrate it and prove how useful such a skill is, they'll be more inclined to listen and entertain the ideas we have for it. Otherwise, it's nothing more than an idea." Sakura reasoned as she sat up and resumed her attempts at molding chakra outside of their body, challenging her control by working through the chakra control exercise at the same time, something they had begun to do after deciding that their chakra control needed to be improved in not just peaceful settings, but more stressful and distracting ones as well. As it stood, it had done wonders for their control when they didn't have to worry about it, yet it seemed that the more they advanced in the area, the more room for improvement they discovered as if there was no end to just how much one could improve their chakra control. Yet, having decided to perfect it, Sakura and Heikō pushed on, undeterred.


AN: So, another possibility has been pondered and presented. What do you think? Are ways around the horrible conditions for evolving the Sharingan possible, or is it a lost cause? Sakura isn't studying medicine under Tsunade, but a certain level of understanding is still required to learn Tsunade's style of fighting, which is why theoretical learning is first on the list here.