Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 124 Transcending Time and Space (Part 1)

Aokiji nodded slightly, then eagerly drew his sword from its sheath, the gleaming blade emitting a cold, eerie light under the sunlight.

"So this is the Kusanagi Sword, it's really nice..."

Aokiji originally intended to give this sword to Orochimaru as a gift for his recent promotion to Jonin.

However, during this mission, Aokiji unexpectedly acquired a Kusanagi sword, Ame no Habakiri.

The process of acquiring it is unimportant; it would be a waste to leave it in a run-down place like Wano Country anyway. In short, now both of them have the Kusanagi Sword.

Once Orochimaru has recovered from his serious illness, he plans to give him the Ame no Habakiri as a gift for his recovery.

Aokiji examined the weapon, then turned and sheathed it, carrying Enma on his back: "I will not let Elder Itachi down."

After saying that, he left the Uchiha clan's territory. Before starting his formal training, he wanted to go to the hospital to check on Orochimaru and Jiraiya's recovery.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya were placed in separate hospital rooms.

Aokiji went to Orochimaru's hospital room first. The room was clean and tidy, with simple and elegant decorations. There was a bouquet of flowers on the bedside table. Orochimaru was lying on the hospital bed, and next to him was a middle-aged man in a white robe.

Aokiji addressed him respectfully as "Hokage-sama..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded: "So you've come to see Orochimaru again."

Aokiji hummed in agreement, walked straight to the bedside, sat down beside him, and looked at Orochimaru, whose hands were in casts, expressing his concern: "Are you feeling better?"

The giant snake shook its head in frustration.

"Don't worry, our Konoha's medical ninjas are the best..."

At this point, Aokiji could only offer these meaningless words to comfort Orochimaru.

Orochimaru forced a smile and nodded faintly.

After chatting with Orochimaru for a while, Aokiji stood up and said, "You should rest now. I won't disturb your rest any longer."

He left Orochimaru's room and went straight to Jiraiya's room, where he happened to see Tsunade coming out. It seemed that she had just finished visiting him, just like him.

"How is it going?"

Aokiji stepped forward and asked.

Tsunade is an insider, so she knows more about the situation than I do.

"It's not convenient to talk about it here."

Tsunade spoke softly, afraid that the people inside might overhear their conversation.

Aokiji frowned, followed Tsunade onto the rooftop, and then asked, "How are things going with the two of them?"

Tsunade sighed, "The hope is slim."

Aokiji looked into the other person's eyes and said in a deep voice, "The hope is slim. Can I say there is no hope at all?"

Out of humanitarian considerations, hospitals generally don't give definitive answers and usually offer patients' families some hope.

Tsunade avoided eye contact, not daring to look Aokiji in the eye.

Aokiji asked in a deep voice, "What are the difficulties in treating these two?"

Tsunade let out a breath and said calmly, "The injuries of these two are simply incurable with current medical methods."

Upon hearing this, Aokiji frowned.

Medical technology in this era is still very backward and far from reaching the future. Even in the future, Lee, who had a similar condition to the two of them, was only cured by Tsunade, the top medical ninja at the time.

Tsunade's current level of healing is far from what it will be in the future.

Thinking of this, Aokiji glanced at Tsunade. She was too small, far too small…

Unless there's some kind of ninjutsu that can directly summon the future Tsunade, there's simply no way to heal her.

Aokiji continued, "Is there any external force that can reduce the difficulty?"

Tsunade thought for a moment: "Legend has it that there is a plant called Xu Fu Flower. If it is made into pills, it will be very effective for recovery and treatment."

"Xu Fuhua?"

"Yes, but this Xu Fuhua is now extinct and can't be found at all," Tsunade sighed.

In Aokiji's memory, this thing wasn't in the Land of Fire, but in Xu Fu's Forest? How did it become extinct?

After a moment of thought, Aokiji had a clue: perhaps there was no such thing as Xu Fu Forest at this time of time, but rather that someone later brought the flower seeds to Xu Fu Forest and planted them, which is how the Xu Fu Flower came to be.

Thinking about this, Aokiji couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. This was the downside of traveling to the beginning of the story; a lot of information from the original work was simply unusable.

Aokiji grabbed his hair: "Is there any other way?"

Tsunade racked her brains: "Legend has it that there's something called the Box of Elysium, which can grant any wish. Do you think we could go find it to heal Orochimaru and Jiraiya?"

The Box of Bliss?

Aokiji was taken aback and quickly warned him not to do anything foolish: "You actually believe in such legendary things? You're a medical ninja, don't forget the consequences of grasping at straws when you're desperate."

In the original story, some idiot spread the news that this thing could grant any wish.

Furthermore, to enhance the credibility of the legend, it was even labeled as belonging to the Sage of Six Paths, claiming that these were his ninja tools.

Based on Aokiji's understanding of the Sage of Six Paths, how could this thing possibly be one of his ninja tools?

Although that's how it's described in the original work, who knows if this thing is similar to the Uchiha stone tablet that was altered by Kuroko, designed to lure ignorant people into opening the Box of Elysium.

This thing releases a monster called Jue, which then grabs people and keeps stuffing them into boxes. It's hard not to believe the purpose of doing this.

Perhaps, there is a super monster locked inside this Box of Bliss. Once "Awakening" has sent people into the Box of Bliss and accumulated enough, the seal might be broken.

"This won't work, that won't work," Tsunade said, growing impatient. She grabbed Aokiji by the collar with both hands and treated him roughly: "Then tell me what to do?"

"You're asking me? I don't know either."

Aokiji sighed helplessly as his collar was grabbed.

Unless he brings a larger version of Tsunade, he doesn't know of any sure way to treat the two of them.

The problem is, where can he call for a larger version of Tsunade?

Ten years of rocket artillery?

No, it might take twenty or even thirty years for rocket artillery to work...

Tsunade realized she had been too hasty, so she calmed her temper and released her grip, saying, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper..."

"Don't take it to heart. You were just concerned about your companions. Actually, I was also at fault in this matter. If I hadn't been so greedy, this wouldn't have happened." Aokiji also felt guilty about this.

"well……"

Tsunade had lost count of how many times she'd sighed today; she felt she'd sighed more in the past year than in the entire year combined. "Anyway," she said, "let's go find Sarutobi-sensei and see what he thinks. He's the Hokage; he should have far more connections than I do."

"This is the only way."

Aokiji and Tsunade went to find Hiruzen Sarutobi, intending to see if he had any connections to treat them.

The Hokage's office.

The Third Hokage clasped his hands together and placed them on the table, his expression solemn. He had been troubled lately because of his two disciples: "Tsunade, Aokiji, I have two tasks for you two."

Tsunade looked displeased, refusing to carry out a mission for the first time in her ninja career: "With Orochimaru and Jiraiya in this state, how can I be in the mood to carry out any mission?"

"Tsunade, let the Hokage finish speaking first." Aokiji glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi: "This mission must be related to healing Jiraiya and Orochimaru, right?"

"Yes."

Upon hearing this news, Tsunade felt slightly better: "Honestly, you should have said so earlier, Sarutobi-sensei."

"You didn't give me a chance to speak at all."

"..." Tsunade coughed. "So what kind of mission is it?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a drag of his cigarette: "To treat Orochimaru and Jiraiya's injuries, I used all my connections to find renowned doctors. Among them, Chiyo, a high-ranking official in Sunagakure, seemed the most reliable. She's a master of poisons and also the best medical ninja in the world. So I plan to ask her to treat Orochimaru and Jiraiya. If even she can't do it, then there's probably no one else in the world who can."

When Sunagakure was mentioned, Tsunade remembered it; it was a village on par with her own Konoha, belonging to one of the Five Great Nations, but a rival faction.

"The Sand Village of the Land of Wind? They seem to have frequent conflicts with our Land of Fire, so why would she be so kind as to help us?"

"Of course, we can't be that kind. So, our Konoha Village needs to do something for her and the village she represents."

"What's wrong?"

"Assist the ninjas of Sunagakure in arresting a person. The mission location is in the Land of Wind, in a country called Loulan."

(End of this chapter)