A/N - Hello! Sorry for taking so long to update. Before I get into any bad news, let's start with something neat - my car is fixed and I bought a laptop not too long ago! It's sped up the writing process tenfold which makes me incredibly happy. As for the bad news...
My aunt, who is a single mom, needed surgery but the recovery time for her surgery was going to take time. She has two special needs children, one of which can't take care of himself, speak or really walk around - he's ten years old but acts like he's two instead. My aunt has six kids though so trying to take care of that many children as well as special needs ones would be hard on someone recovering from surgery. My mom - my aunt's sister - told her we'd take in the kids for as long as she needed to recover.
We had my cousins for nearly two weeks and it was agony. There are some other things that made it so, but I won't go into all of that for this author's note. I will say that my parents had a lot of financial difficulties during this time taking care of my cousins and, out-of-pocket, I helped my parents as best as I could but I didn't really make a lot to begin with. Everything with my aunt is fine now and my cousins are back in her care - things have finally calmed down at home.
So, thank you for being patient with me, everyone. I really appreciate you all during these times and I hope you all are doing well. Please read the end author's note for stuff relating to my discord server and, if you're interested in speaking with me and other readers of this fanfiction, please follow the link through Wattpad or A03 instead (as Fanfiction doesn't allow links through stories)
It was early the next morning when Naruto made his way through the academy gates and into the courtyard. His eyes lifted from the ground, having been lost in thought after the dream he had the previous night, glancing up to see several of his classmates still outside. It was winter by now and many of the other students were dressed in jackets and long-sleeved shirts. "Seems like we're having class outside today." The blond-haired academy student thought, shivering a tiny bit at the changing wind.
Iruka saw him the moment he walked through the gates, giving the twelve-year-old a smile and a wave before turning back to speak to their other teacher, Mizuki. "Looks like a cross-lesson as well." Naruto mused to himself, moving to sit underneath the lone tree in the courtyard, "Iruka-sensei doesn't usually like working with other teachers much… wonder what the occasion is for?"
Attendance was taken slowly as students started to file in; the school day was about to begin. Only a couple of minutes before the first bell was to ring, the twelve-year-old academy student caught sight of Shikaku who was dropping his son off before leaving to go to work. Shikamaru shrugged off his father's side-hug, moving quickly to make his way over to his best friend. He plopped down on the cold grass beside the blond, immediately moving to lay on his back to stare up at the clouds.
Naruto stared for a moment before snorting at the Nara heir's antics before promptly doing the same, crossing his arms behind his head. A moment passed between them before he tilted his head, a lopsided smile on his face, pointing in a general area, "Doesn't that cloud kind of look like Iruka-sensei?"
The black-haired preteen squinted his eyes, assessing what he was seeing before a sudden chuckle leaving him, "Yeah, it kind of does."
"Naruto! Shikamaru!"
"Speak of the devil…" Shikamaru commented under his breath, getting a slap on his shoulder.
Iruka waved them over, hand cupped over his mouth, "Please gather with the rest of the students, we're about to begin the lesson." Mizuki stood beside the man, eyes narrowed and a clipboard held tightly in his hands.
Naruto hopped up from the grass, hands outstretched for the other teen. The Nara heir reached out, easily grabbing the boy's hand, being pulled up swiftly as the two made their way over to where the class was now gathering. The blond-haired academy student looked around in concern, eyebrows taunt, "Hey?"
"Hm?"
"Where's Choji?" He asked once they were in a large group with the rest of their classmates, Iruka and Mizuki greeting their students politely.
Shikamaru waved a hand roughly in the area of the academy exit, "He ate something last night while I was over that upset his stomach pretty badly. His dad thinks it might just be mild food poisoning. I told him not to try those chips - what a drag. They expired like… three months ago?"
"And you didn't even stop him from eating them?!" Naruto balked, considering whether or not he should smack the other boy again.
He rolled his eyes, "They were barbeque, Naruto. You know how he is with his barbeque-flavored chips."
"I still think you should have tried harder to stop him from-"
"Naruto! Shikamaru!" Iruka called from the front of the sea of kids, "Did you hear anything I just said?"
"Sorry, sir, I got distracted watching the clouds." The Nara heir yawned, considering sitting down in the grass and taking a nap.
Their teacher shook his head, "No, you two were busy talking. Keep it up and I'll have to separate you two for the remainder of the day."
"Yes, sir." They responded automatically.
"Now, for those who were not paying attention, I will repeat myself once more. Today, we will be participating in one-on-one spars to practice your taijutsu. In less than four months, you all will be taking your academy graduation exams which will decide whether or not you will become a genin." Iruka explained loud enough for everyone to hear, "For those that have listened over the years, to become a genin, you all will have to pass three tests. Who can name the three tests? Sakura-"
"You must get a seventy-five percent or higher on your written test." The pink-haired girl commented.
"Correct. Kiba, do you know one?"
"Yep!" The Inuzuka heir gave his teacher a thumbs up, "You must perform well during the taijutsu test."
"Also correct, however, what is the key feature of this test? Does anyone know?" Iruka's eyes scanned the class, "Hinata?"
"Y-You don't have to win your f-fight to, um... pass?" She said quietly, voice losing its confidence.
The brunette smiled brightly, "Good job, and the final test?"
Ino raised her hand, getting a nod from the older man, "You must be able to perfectly perform a randomly selected E-ranked jutsu - a bunshin, a kawarimi, or a henge."
"Very good everyone. I'm glad to hear that you've all retained this information after all these years." Iruka smiled softly, lifting his own clipboard and flipping through some of the papers on it, "To begin our lesson today, I will first be going over some rules and regulations of your spars. So to begin, no jutsus will be allowed in- Ouch!" He flinched, pulling his hand away from the papers, staring in disdain at the deep papercut traveling down his finger.
"Are you okay?" Some of the students asked the man.
The man hissed, waving his hand in the air hoping it would ease the sting traveling up his hand. He was about to wipe away the rising blood on his pants when Naruto stepped out from the sea of children. "Can I heal it, Iruka-sensei?" The academy student asked politely, head tilted in question.
Iruka blinked in surprise before chuckling, shaking his head in disbelief. "I don't see why not. Plus, you can show me what you've learned so far." He waved his student over, giving the blond-haired boy his hand. His classmates watched in awe as Naruto pulled out an antiseptic tissue from one of his pockets, wiping down his teacher's finger to make sure that bacteria didn't get into the wound. Iruka hissed at the feeling, huffing out a laugh to cover the sound, "You could just heal it without the stinging-menace."
"If you mean antiseptic when you say 'stinging-menace' then the answer is no, I cannot just heal it." Naruto held a palm out over Iruka's find, green chakra pouring out of his hands. "If I tried to heal it without this antiseptic swab, then there is a good chance of you getting an infection." Everyone watched in bated breath, watching as the papercut disappeared completely.
"I doubt I would get an infection from a papercut." He chuckled softly, pulling his hand back once the boy's chakra had dissipated. He smiled gratefully, ruffling his student's hair, "Thank you, though." The blond-haired academy student merely nodded, turning back to stand beside Shikamaru once more. With that out of the way, their teacher began to read off students' names, pairing them together to spar against one another while their classmates watched.
As the first sparring match began, Shikamaru turned his head towards the blond beside him, smirking, "Troublesome brat, you just had to show off." The comment might've seemed snarky to someone else, but Naruto knew his friend was merely being sarcastic.
"Me? Show off?" He gawked, pointing at himself for emphasis, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
The Nara heir chuckled quietly, not intent on drawing Iruka's attention back onto them for fear of being split up for the rest of the day; he would not last if he was sent to stand beside any of the Uchiha fan club members. Shikamaru nudged the other boy with his elbow, "Healing a papercut is considered showing off."
"Yes, but Dr. Yiruma said that I should be practicing my medical ninjutsu all the time at any given moment since we'll be graduating soon. I was merely just practicing." The Uzumaki preteen stated, arms crossing over his chest, "I was not showing off."
"That's what a show-off would say." Shikamaru snickered before shrugging his shoulders.
"You're so annoying." Naruto huffed.
The black-haired teen snickered, "Whatever you say." He turned away from his best friend to continue watching the spars between their classmates.
After nearly two and a half hours, the taijutsu practice had finally been completed. Iruka gathered all his tired and dirty students together once more, "Alright everyone, great work out there. I saw a lot of improvements from all of you today. Take this next hour to rest, drink some water, and eat something, okay? After the hour is up, we'll head inside to finish the rest of our lessons." The class visibly relaxed at the man's words, dispersing into their own respective groups, chatting among one another as they ate and unwind.
Naruto was already underneath the same tree he found himself at earlier that morning, pulling out a paper bag from his backpack. He lifted his head, watching his best friend sluggishly make his way over. Shikamaru groaned loudly. After getting beaten twice over by Sasuke in their spar and then twisting his wrist while up against Kiba, he was tired. He plopped down unceremoniously down in front of Naruto, his hand going up to his ponytail and undoing the hair tie, holding it over his shoulder and waving it in front of the blond's face. Getting the hint fairly quickly, the academy student gathered Shikamaru's hair into a fist, pulling the other boy's flyaway back and retying his ponytail.
"How's your wrist?" Naruto asked after a moment of concentration, pulling away so that the Nara heir could turn around to face him.
"It stings…" He admitted begrudgingly, holding out the already bruising appendage out for the medic-in-training. The blond-haired preteen held Shikamaru's arm gently in his hands, watching the boy flinch.
"This might hurt a bit, okay?" The Uzumaki boy warned, letting his palm hover over his friend's wrist as the familiar green chakra started to flow out.
Shikamaru watched for a few moments, already feeling significantly better as the ache in his wrist started to subside little by little. "It always amazes me how effortless you can do this now…" The black-haired boy mumbled out, completely entranced with what his friend was doing.
Naruto could already feel his face heating up at the praise, "It's really nothing…"
"If it was really nothing, you wouldn't be looking like a tomato every time someone complimented you on your medical ninjutsu skills." Shikamaru snorted, feeling a lot better now, watching as the bruising was starting to finally disappear, "It's good practice for you, right? That's what you were saying when you healed Iruka-sensei's papercut."
"Yeah. Because I'm not an official medic yet, I'm not really allowed to participate in a lot of medical procedures-"
"Um, excuse me?" A voice called out, interrupting the two boys.
Naruto tilted his head, staring up at a group of girls, "Hi?"
One of the braver ones took a step forward, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, "H-Hi… we were just wondering if you'd, um… heal us?"
The blond-haired teen gave the girls a warm smile, finishing up with Shikamaru's wrist, "I'd love to! Where are you hurt?" The group of girls sat around him and, one by one, the twelve-year-old boy used his medical ninjutsu to heal his classmates' wounds they'd gotten from the spars. This seemed to attract the attention of the other students who started to flock around the medic-in-training. Naruto smiled at his classmates' enthusiasm and surprise when he healed them.
He tilted his head in shock, an elusive face appearing in front of him, "Hey, Sasuke." He gave the other boy a soft smile, only getting a traditional 'hn' in response. Naruto shifted a bit from where he was sitting in the grass, "Did you need any healing?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I don't need anything… I'm just curious to see if this actually works." He sat down in front of the blond-haired teen, holding out his scrapped arm. The Uchiha tensed slightly when the other boy grabbed it.
He smiled, trying to be as gentle as possible, "You might feel a burning sensation, but just know that it's normal." With a slow wave of his hand over the length of Sasuke's arm, the scrapped skin was starting to disappear. It took another pass over which didn't last longer than another fifteen seconds. "There, all done." Naruto nodded, pleased with his work.
The Uchiha boy looked at his healed arm, eyes narrowed in suspicion, "How were you able to do that?"
"Medical ninjutsu." Naruto's hands turned a soft green, turning his arm around a few times to give his classmate a better look, "Doctors and medics use it all the time, though, it takes years to get to the point where I'm at, but I would say it's worth it!"
"Sasuke-kun!" Two bubbly voices came from behind the dark-haired boy - Ino and Sakura. The two girls were fighting each other to see who was able to get closer to him. However, they quickly stopped their approach when they saw their class's resident medic-in-training sitting in front of Sasuke.
Sakura blinked in surprise, motioning between the two of them, "Sasuke-kun, why are you hanging out with Naruto?"
"I'm not hanging out. I was merely just seeing if he was strong…" The raven explained rather emotionlessly.
Ino furrowed her eyebrows, huffing out a laugh, "Seeing if he was strong? Sasuke-kun, that doesn't make sense. He's obviously not strong so why are you wasting your time trying to see if he is?"
"If Naruto's not strong, then why couldn't you defeat him in your spar, hm?" Shikamaru piped in from beside the blond's side, watching the clouds.
The blond-haired girl was absolutely shocked, "W-What?"
He peeked open an eye to stare at her baffled expression, "While you were fantasizing the rest of your life in an Uchiha's arms, Naruto's been spending years honing his craft and becoming stronger. But, if that doesn't make him strong, then I'd love to hear an explanation as to how he won against you in the taijutsu practices."
"It's because I…" She couldn't find her words, so instead, she rolled her eyes, "Well, you didn't win your spar either! Sasuke-kun literally floored you!"
"I know. Taijutsu is not my strong suit, nor is it Naruto's. We both excel in ninjutsu. So, why'd you lose your fight if Naruto's not strong?" Shikamaru kept pressuring, sitting up to stare at her from lidded eyes.
"Okay, I think that's enough." Naruto raised a hand in the air, turning his head to mouth out an 'it's okay' to his friend, "Ino, I was just healing a scrape that Sasuke got during his spar. If he wanted to see if that made me strong, then so be it." She rolled her eyes again but didn't say anything else.
Sakura waved a hand, gathering the attention on her once the tension had died down, "You know, Naruto…"
"Hm?"
"Three years ago when Iruka-sensei gave you that medical ninjutsu book, we all thought you were joking about wanting to learn." She admitted, Ino giving her a pointed look that clearly said 'don't tell him that!', "We thought you were just going to use it for a prank, to be honest."
"Oh…"
The pink-haired girl quickly waved her hands in an apology, "I didn't mean it in offense! I brought it up because, well… I think it's really cool to see you do something you love. "
Naruto flushed in surprise, "A-Ah, well, thank you." He scratched the side of his face as if it would get rid of the redness, "Would you like me to show you how I do it?"
"Really?!" Sakura beamed, moving to sit on her knees to get a closer look.
"Sure!" Naruto pulled his leg out from his crisscrossed position, showing a bruise on his calf, "Ino got me pretty good in that side-swipe, but it'll be a good way to show you how medical ninjutsu can get rid of bruises." He lifted his pant leg a bit, revealing the bruise before running a glowing hand over it. Within seconds, it was gone. "See?" He questioned, glancing at those surrounding him, "I used healing chakra to get rid of the bruise."
Ino nodded, "That's kind of cool."
"Yeah!" Sakura cheered out.
The blond-haired preteen rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Thanks."
Iruka watched from across the grass with a soft smile on his face. "Although it's slow, you're finally getting acknowledged, Naruto." He looked down at his clipboard where the scores for the spar were scribbled onto it, "You're going to do so many great things. I know you are."
The following weekend, Naruto found himself at the hospital once more. Usually, he doesn't work on Sundays, but his and Shikamaru's plans to hang out got canceled due to something on the Nara heir's side. Instead of sitting around his apartment bored all day, he decided to go back to the hospital and finish some paperwork he hadn't gotten around to as well as maybe get some more study sessions with Kaiya or Yiruma. He paused in his writings, "It's been a while since I've seen Dr. Rikitake in a while… I wonder if she's finished analyzing my soldier pill yet to see if it would work in combat."
Naruto resumed with the paperwork in front of him, analyzing the notes he'd written about a poison victim he'd encountered yesterday night. He'd never seen the effects of poison before and was thoroughly intrigued if not a little disturbed by how painful it was to his patient. He flipped the man's medical chart, still completely baffled as to why nearly seventy-five percent of his records were blacked out with a thick 'REDACTED' printed on the top. The blond-haired preteen had not seen many documents that were sanitized to this degree in his three years working at the hospital, but this was probably the worst of the few he'd seen.
One thing was clear, though - he was not to snoop or else.
The door slammed open, nearly scaring the academy student to death, Kaiya waltzing through with two bento boxes from the hospital cafeteria, "Lunchtime!"
"What is it?" He questioned cautiously, remembering how she'd nearly fed him tuna the other week which turned out to be the one food he absolutely loathed.
She rolled her eyes, handing over the box, "It's tempura, kid."
"Oh!" Naruto grinned in delight, "I love tempura!"
The older woman sat by her desk, opening her bento and taking a few bites before looking over to her charge, "Hey, I just remembered something."
"Hm?" He hummed around a mouthful of rice.
"Didn't you have some questions yesterday before you left?" Kaiya motioned vaguely in his direction with a wave of her chopsticks, "I can't remember exactly what it was about because that code blue went out earlier last night."
The blond-haired teen swallowed, thinking for a second before it clicked, "Oh, yeah. It was kind of a curiosity-filled question…" He scratched his cheek.
"Aren't all questions curiosity-filled?" She smirked, taking a bite of her rice which was absolutely drowned in soy sauce - Naruto doesn't know how she can eat like that.
"I suppose you're right." He stated, leaning back in his chair, "Well, I was going over my personal notes again and I came across some really old ones - like back before I started working at the hospital! It was from that book my teacher gave me - 'Introduction to Medical Ninjutsu' - and the notes talked about one of the few sections that went over… well, Orochimaru."
Kaiya leaned forward in surprise, "Orochimaru?" She eyed the room cautiously. "Since when was there a section on him in any book…" Her words were hushed and frankly shocked, "What was the section about?"
"It is about his proficiency in poisons and how his scientific discoveries helped the medical community… even if the method was horrid. I thought about asking the Hokage about his student but… well, you know what's been going on between us. I tried to see if the library had any more information about Orochimaru's poison types." Naruto explained shyly, knowing that talking about a traitor in any sense was seen as taboo in Konohagakure, "I was just wondering if you have anything that would give me a little bit of insight."
Kaiya tapped her chin in thought, "Naruto-kun, why do you want to know so much about his poisons? You are supposed to heal not harm. You know that, right?"
"Of course!" He exclaimed frantically, although, granted, he should have expected the question, "Orochimaru was one of the few ninjas in Konoha who was able to use poisons as an essential part of his fighting kit - he was even able to make them from scratch and mass-produce it. He has dozens of toxin recipes; we don't know what any of those are capable of. When someone like that is on your side, you don't have to worry about what they're creating."
"But Orochimaru is a traitor." She started, waving her chopsticks again.
"Yeah, and we already don't have good ties with Iwa or Suna right now. It would be nothing for Orochimaru to sell these recipes to villages who hate Konoha to make some extra cash to fuel his experiments. I just want to know if there is a way for me to combat poisons I've never heard of before." Naruto sighed deeply, "I want to be good at healing but there's still so much I don't know."
"It comes with time, kid." Kaiya smiled before her face morphed into something more serious, "If I have to be honest, though, Orochimaru-sama is an enigma to most doctors here. He didn't share much about his works - like his corrosive poison that could eat through steel. Scientists and medical staff still haven't identified the contents of it yet, so we don't exactly know much about it, but you already mentioned this."
The blond-haired academy student was about to respond to further her observation but stopped himself, "Sama?"
"Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"You called him Orochimaru-sama… why such an honorific for a traitor?" He sat back in his chair, his tempura forgotten for a moment.
"A-Ah… Shit." The older woman rubbed her temples, "It was a slip-of-the-tongue, okay?"
Naruto tensed up, "That's not much of an answer, Dr. Teruya…"
"I know… Look, almost thirty years ago - way before you were born - I actually worked under Orochimaru after he'd become a Jounin and I had decided to go into the medical field. This was several years before he was exiled after it was discovered that he'd been experimenting on humans." Naruto's eyes widened at that, unable to say anything as she continued, "For someone who was hurting people in all unimaginable ways, he was a really good teacher. He taught me a lot about the human body and how to notice the unnoticeable… It's one of the reasons I am as good of a doctor as I am. Although I was older than him, as someone who was just jumping into the medical field, I genuinely appreciated him teaching me as well as seeking out his knowledge relating to our field."
"H-How…"
She raised her hand, "If you really want to know about Orochimaru's poisons, I still have a lot of my old notes from that time I worked under him… if you would like to borrow them for a few weeks, make your own observations and experiment on your own time." At the look the blond gave her, she rolled her eyes, "I didn't mean experiment… like that, sorry."
Naruto glanced away, "How long did you work under him?"
"Seven years."
"And you never noticed he was experimenting on humans?!"
Kaiya folded her hands over her lap in the same way she does when she's distressed, "Unfortunately, no, because if I did, I would have reported him long before he got caught by Hiruzen-kun. I thought he was a strange but intelligent man… I cared a lot about him and, in my youth, I think I would've done everything he asked of me."
The academy student shifted in his chair, "Those notes… None of it is about human experimentation right?"
"Kami, no!" Her hand pressed against her chest in shock, "Anything that could've been related to him or his experiments was confiscated by ANBU agents well before you were born. What I have left is strictly medical-related."
"Okay… that makes me feel a little better." He sighed out a breath of relief.
Kaiya pulled on a handle attached to her desk, fingers skimming the titles of folders until she reached a scroll. The old doctor bit into her hand, swiping it across the seal, both watching as the paper unrolled from the scroll. She reached for her ink and brush, writing down Naruto's name and sliding it towards him. Realizing what she was doing, the blond swiped a bloody finger on the page, solidifying his access to the scroll. Kaiya gave a sheepish chuckle, "I do hope you'll be able to read my handwriting from that many years ago. If I remember correctly, it's quite bad."
"Your handwriting has always been bad, Dr. Teruya," Naruto smirked, rolling the scroll up and putting it in his backpack.
"Oh, don't sass me." She huffed out a laugh, "Did you have any other questions since we're still on the topic? There's still another thirty minutes left on my lunch break." Naruto nodded, reaching into his backpack for a notebook, flipping to a page near the end before handing it to the older woman. Kaiya read the contents, eyebrows furrowing the longer she kept reading, "Naruto-kun, what is this?"
"So, Dr. Rikitake-"
"Chakochi-chan?"
"Yes, her. After you introduced the two of us, I sought her out for her pharmaceutical research because I had an idea about six or seven months ago about whether or not there was a way to create something similar to a soldier pill but without so many of the bad side effects." He motioned to the notebook, "Inside that notebook is all the research Dr. Rikitake and I made it in hopes of testing the first batch out. Dr. Rikitake said I should bring this to you since we'd like to have this product tested in the field as soon as possible and, as you're one of the few doctors who have any leeway here, you'd probably be able to get the higher-ups to approve of our research."
Kaiya's eyes scanned the notebook carefully, processing what she was reading and having to adjust between two different people's handwriting. "This… might actually work, Naruto-kun. " She nodded, a soft smile on her face, "Although, I can't believe some of our seasoned medics haven't thought of something like this before. It's amazing that a kid who's only spent the past four years in this field has come up with something this unique. I knew introducing you and Chakochi-chan was the right idea. Mind telling me how all this works?" The older woman giggled, waving a hand at the notebook.
Naruto scratched his cheek sheepishly, "Well, I've only got a few samples right now that Dr. Rikitake and I need to test out in a few days, but it basically is nearly identical to its predecessor and shares most of the same capabilities as well. It gives the needed nutrients to the body for it to keep going on longer as well as boosting the amount of chakra in a patient's body and increasing their stamina for a short time period."
"So, what's the difference if it's 'nearly identical'?" She quoted.
"The only thing different with my version of the soldier pill is that, for one thing, it allows you to keep going even longer than the original one which only allowed a patient to keep going a maximum of three days and three nights - I theorize that my pill will keep you going for almost two weeks!" The blond-haired academy student leaned forward in excitement, finally being able to share his creations with someone other than Chakochi and Shikamaru who had already had an earful of the subject for the last month, "While the original not only tasted awful, the side effects of using a soldier pill isn't really worth the pain as it leaves patients completely exhausted to the point of almost passing out. In long-term fights or even wars, this would make a ninja useless."
Kaiya raised an eyebrow, "And the side effects of your new pill?"
"Just mild fatigue and hunger - it was the only thing Dr. Rikitake and I discovered, to be honest." He smiled, hands folded in his lap, "I was kind of the lab rat for our experiments. I took our soldier pills for the past month while working here, going to school, training, and studying and I didn't experience anything too traumatic."
The older woman groaned, palming her forehead, "I knew you were going to say that because how else would you get results as good as these. Still, though, I'm impressed. How do you make one of these pills? The original soldier pills are made from a synthetic powder that is easy to reconstruct."
"Well," The twelve-year-old teen started, "they're made with sun-dried rice that's been crushed into a powder. Dr. Rikitake suggested turmeric which gives the body the necessary nutrients and a boost in energy. We collaborated in picking out different types of vegetables and seeds as well as powdered milk and water is used to mold them into chewable pills. Oh, I almost forgot, I added coffee beans to it!"
"Coffee beans?" She raised an eyebrow.
"We found that it made the pills taste better." He shrugged as Kaiya handed him back his notebook.
The dark-skinned woman crossed her arms, glancing at the clock to see how much time she had left of her lunch break, "Alright, I'll see what I can do with the higher-ups - I doubt they'll deny you any outside experiments as this is such an incredible advancement. When you get the chance, could you photocopy your research from that notebook so I can have formal documents to show the higher-ups?"
"Yeah, of course."
"How soon do you think you and Chakochi-chan will be able to create a large batch - probably three cases worth - of this product?" Kaiya questioned, grabbing a sticky note to write his answer down.
"Three cases…? Probably two weeks at least. We don't have any large machines to create that many at one time - we still have to hand-craft each one. Plus, I still go to school and Dr. Rikitake has her hospital duties." He explained slowly, still mulling over if two weeks would even be enough time.
She nodded, "Noted." The doctor checked her wristwatch, sighing deeply when she realized her lunch break was nearly over. "Alright, last call for any questions." She chuckled at her wording.
"Any idea how to use the 'no hands healing technique' that the First Hokage and Tsunade used?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, the question has been an apparent conversation topic for the past three years.
"You're funny." Kaiya stood up, dumping her lunch in the trash, "If you think I know how to use that technique, then you're out of your mind." She laughed loudly. "Though, you could always check with Yiruma-kun to see if he'd learned anything on his four-year tour around the world. Hell, maybe he came in contact with Tsunade-sama once and asked her about it."
The blond blinked, getting up from his chair, intent on going to the printer room to photocopy his research for the woman, "You're kidding right? You don't think Dr. Hana actually spoke with Tsunade Senju… right?"
"It's a possibility - you never know." She shrugged, taking a step out into the hallway, "Doctors and medical researchers still have no idea how Tsunade-sama or her grandfather was able to heal themselves without hand signs - not even I have any notes about that. Sorry, kiddo."
"That's fine." Naruto smiled half-heartedly, "You've already helped me enough for today. Thank you." He bowed.
"Oh, stop that!" Kaiya laughed, smacking his shoulder, "I will speak with you later. And don't stay at the hospital all night - I want you out of here by this afternoon, alright?"
"Yes, ma'am." He watched her off for a few moments before turning around and heading to the printer room.
A/N - This chapter is dedicated to all my wonderful discord server members:
Lucifer, TheSevenCodex, Lafolia Aldegyr, Bread Turtle :D, Zorania, grizzlyflwr, Beacker, coffee_dog50, Z, Sky, KAI._.VANIA, 3Alex3, Analu, BobRoss14, gobble_Hoblin, Comblebomble, Wildfire_Plume, dahyunsinsomnia, De'Janae, dxbrxa, favour_kat, frozen_cradle, HQ, Janae Writes, jura_mirahe0791, Kayla, madahashiizutobi, moony, roxNsticks170, Sadie101, Sanj, Seishin, Shadows Brightside, Silent gamer, and xsthx_r
I cannot begin to thank you all for how wonderful you all have been. To the four to five people who are as active in the server as I am - you know who you are - you are my inspiration and I appreciate you guys so much 3 I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I await to hear what you think about it in chat!