NOVEL WEB Chapter 71: Treating Hinata
The head released Hinata after a moment and tried to retract back outside the window. Hiashi was there in the next moment, furious, as he pierced his head with a single move. It was merely a shadow clone, however. Orochimaru's voice rang out surrounding the building.
"I am Orochimaru... When you find yourself in the need of the power to take control of your life, come and find me. I will help you with whatever you seek..."
Hiashi turned back to see Hinata, his daughter, in the arms of Saul as he began first aid treatment. A red shining seal formed at her neck where Orochimaru bit. It consisted of 3 tear drops that swirled into a circle. The Juinjutsu was his curse mark. Hinata groaned in pain.
Hiashi was filled with rage, pain, and anger as he watched his daughter suffer in pain. He had been incredibly happy and proud of her for making it this far in the Chunin exams despite being a rookie Genin. He could not show it, but he loved both his daughters even more than he loved himself. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the open wound close and her expression stabilize.
Hiashi stepped forward. "Genin Saul. Your service is no longer needed. Please surrender Hinata to me, so she can get the treatment she needs."
Saul would normally acquiesce to a demand like this, especially involving Hinata's safety. However, considering she was now marked with Orochimaru's Juinjutsu, her relative risk had shot up a hundredfold to the current Hyuuga clan. He was afraid if he let her go now, she'd return branded with the Caged Bird Seal for her own 'protection.'
"To you, or to the Hyuuga clan?"
Hiashi paused. "Is there a difference? I am the clan head of the Hyuuga. Step aside! Let my Daughter get the proper treatment!"
"Clan Head." Saul bowed, "Hinata no longer bears the Hyuuga surname. Respectfully speaking, as Clan Head of the Hyuuga, you no longer dictate her life. She would not wish to be branded with the Caged Bird while she lies unconscious. If you bring a professional here who is not a member of the Hyuuga, I will happily step aside. Otherwise I will continue to help and take care of her as I always have. Unlike the Hyuuga."
Hiashi's eyes smoldered with rage as his anger towards Orochimaru found an outlet, Saul. Who was this man? Why did he think he could talk to him like this?
Still he was not angry enough to ignore the logic hidden behind his words. In the end concern for his daughter's continued well being, extending even after tonight, won out over anything else.
He turned around without another word and sped off into the night.
Saul continued to release the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu in bursts, keeping her condition stable. Throughout her entire body a strange chakra had invaded. Like a virus it hopped from point to point within her body, changing her, making her create more of itself. He could do nothing but repair her body wherever it passed if he could.
Saul's knowledge of medical ninjutsu was limited at this point to skin, blood vessels, and muscles. These were what was most important after all to aid his physical training. For bones he had rudimentary knowledge, enough for first aid treatment.
But for everything else Saul was clueless. He had to intimately understand exactly what he was healing, otherwise he might instruct his chakra to do the wrong thing and worsen things rather than help. He could do nothing to alleviate the pain that wracked her body.
Saul looked up. Hinata was not the only one who needed his attention.
"Yakumo. Are you alright?"
The woman was sitting there hugging herself, shivering. Orochimaru's bloodlust must have done a number on the girl. She didn't answer.
"Come here."
Yakumo huddled up to his side. Just then, a couple of people entered the entrance room to see what all the commotion was about. A red haired, green eyed man lugging a gigantic gourd around his back looked at them and scoffed. A blonde haired woman wearing fishnet stockings was next, followed by a hooded fat dude with face paint.
"Weaklings."
One word was all he said, before Gaara turned back around. The other two glanced at their brother before following him back out.
Yakumo whispered up to him. "W-what was his problem?"
Saul gave the girl a one armed hug causing her to smile softly. "Who knows Yakumo? I'm just glad you're ok."
"Saul... That woman... I'm sorry. I froze up and caused you all so much trouble."
"You did your best, Yakumo. If anything, this situation is more of my fault."
"How? You couldn't have predicted someone like that would show up during the Chunin exams!"
No... He could have. His newfound power had gotten to his head; his future knowledge had made him grow complacent. It was still a valuable tool, but it was not one to trust blindly. He must not make a mistake like this again.
The cursed seal was mainly a benign tool. A fake Sage mode designed by Orochimaru for those with bodies too weak to handle the full thing. Sure he could activate the mark with a Jutsu to cause pain, but it was much better than the Caged Bird Seal. That Juinjutsu only showed any good effect after its target was either killed or died.
Saul healed Hinata again to ease the pain in her body. There wasn't much more he could do now; the chakra was now mainly attacking her organs. He just had to hope now that she would pull through.
A little while passed before Hiashi showed back up with an entire team of medical-nin, Kurenai, and Anko. The man had clearly gone all out. Saul stepped back with a nod, and the team went to work.
At first they put the Mystical Palm onto her core, investigating. The Mystical Palm Ninjutsu had two functions - first introspection. It could investigate the inner workings of the body based on the chakra flow and send it back as an image to the mind. Using it, you could literally see into the body of your patient without having to do something invasive like an incision to cut them open. This ensured the accuracy and helped with the practitioners visualization of every treatment.
The user had to be careful to avoid overloading the body with their chakra at this stage. Too much foreign chakra would not result in a greater clarity of what was within. Rather, it would fuzz out and blur certain details, even more would cause harmful effects to the recipient. One had to have extremely good chakra control for this first stage.
"Hiashi-sama. What is affecting her body is a very unique chakra, akin to a poison of some kind. Since it is not a physical poison, we cannot extract it with the delicate illness technique."
"I expected as much. Just treat the symptoms first. After that is done, I have brought experts on the matter to seal it."
"Yes!"
The medical-nin changed the nature of the Jutsu, shifting hand seals. The nature of the chakra changed as well. Rather than a dim, faint light, the green grew more vibrant as chakra was pumped into the technique.
The second function of the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu was obvious, healing. This was the chakra intensive part of the jutsu. It promoted cell growth. Under the influence and help from the chakra, the body would rapidly grow in the direction and form desired by the user of the medical ninjutsu. This had to be visualized directly by the practitioner. The body would take the form of said visualization.
Saul had considered using this to skip training and reshape his body directly, but restoration / merely patching up torn fibers was much, much easier than playing god. Although still niche, medical ninjutsu was not seen as something taboo or something to be suppressed. Rather, ninja actively had vested interests towards gaining strength and power. The fact there were no success stories of such a thing made him incredibly cautious. He fully relied on his body to respond to the training he did and grow naturally. The only thing he did was speed the natural processes of his body up.
Right now, he and the medical-nin were basically doing the same thing in concept. Whatever damage the curse mark did, they immediately healed it up. This rapidly caused Hinata's body to adapt to the curse mark, growing more and more stable with every breath.
The leading medical-nin got up. He bowed towards Hiashi.
"The young lady here is mostly treated. She will now be stable in the near future; her body merely requires rest now to recover. May I ask who was the medical ninja who already treated her to this extent before us? She was mostly stable because of it, so our treatment was able to proceed smoothly without any risk."
He was curious. Proper medical ninja were rare. Nobody bothered to take the time to even try to learn it, much less to be able to use something as complicated as the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu.
The current medical-nin were either sentimental fools like him who took to learning healing after losing someone they cherished or talentless Ninja just trying to ensure their safety within the backlines. Most of them were at the Konoha Hospital at this time. They were always overworked, doing everything they could to save as many people as possible.
He had only brought such a huge task force now due to the walking fortune that was the Hyuuga Clan Head. The funds he secured now could be used to save many more than would be hurt by the lack of staff tonight. He personally knew almost every medical ninja in Konoha, yet he saw no one he recognized. Who could have done the first aid treatment on Hinata? With the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu no less!?
The corners of Hiashi's lips twitched upwards. "That is good. However, it was not a full-fledged medical-nin, but a medical ninja in training." He placed his hand on Saul's shoulder. "Genin Saul. Care to introduce yourself?"
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