Natsuo arrived at the orphanage and headed towards his room.
Last month, Natsuo received his own room at his own request and the matron agreed.
Because he needed to practice his medical Ninjutsu on rats or other small animals, Natsuo wanted his own space and didn't want to disturb his roommates.
He told that to the matron and she understood, giving him a room that had recently become vacant after its previous occupant became a ninja and moved out.
Since the orphanage didn't have many rooms, the younger children shared rooms while the older ones had their own.
As every so often the older children became ninjas or received a job in the clan, they moved out and the remaining rooms were enough for everyone.
In the privacy of his room, Natsuo had kept several cages with rats that he used for his medical Ninjutsu practice.
After changing his clothes, he went to get a rat to continue his medical ninjutsu practice.
Although he was cruel to rats, Natsuo had to practice somehow.
Natsuo's efforts paid off as his progress advanced rapidly.
Natsuo's progress was demonstrated when he took a rat out of the cages and was able to knock it unconscious with a single touch and application of Yang chakra.
She learned this skill after reading a book in the hospital library about manipulating the body with Yang chakra. Combined with her knowledge of human anatomy, it was easy to render someone unconscious.
Natsuo not only knocked the rat unconscious, but also turned off its pain receptors.
As a thank you to the rats, Natsuo set them free after a while.
Of course, I set them free after rendering them sterile. I didn't want to cause a plague in the clan or the village.
With one hand on the rat's unconscious body, green chakra formed and entered the rat's body.
If someone saw Natsuo perform medical ninjutsu without hand seals, they would be surprised because that was a skill that only the most experienced medical ninjas could do after much practice.
Natsuo's ability is partly due to his constant practice of chakra control, giving him an almost innate sense for manipulating his chakra.
Of course, many had practiced chakra control exercises and hadn't achieved the same results. This was because Natsuo always increased the difficulty of the chakra control exercises.
For example, while several of their tenketsu held a leaf, figures were formed on their hands with sand of different colors.
The sand was very fine and easily slipped out of his control, making it a great way to practice his chakra control.
As his chakra control increased, Natsuo increased the difficulty by attaching more leaves to his body and increasing the amount of sand he had to control.
In that way, Natsuo's chakra control was terrifying. In that way, it was very easy to form and manipulate his chakra.
While connecting to his chakra, Natsuo also patted himself on the back for having practiced his mental techniques.
By being able to manipulate his mind and create his mind palace, he was able to create an interface that showed him the inside of the bodies where he injected his chakra.
Although he did not have the Byakugan and had not yet activated the Sharingan, this interface that only he could see allowed him to progress rapidly in his Medical Ninjutsu.
The reason he didn't accidentally kill any of the rats was because of this interface, which showed him the inside of the bodies and prevented him from doing anything wrong.
Natsuo's Yang chakra coursed through the rat's entire body, and the rodent's body appeared in Natsuo's mind.
As they stimulated every part of the rat's body, every reaction was recorded in Natsuo's mind and he saw it on his interface.
For every organ modified or enzyme produced, Natsuo stored all the data of these reactions in his mind palace.
And he quickly realized what had happened that time when he first learned the mystical palm jutsu.
As he had become accustomed to circulating Yang chakra throughout his body after each physical training session, his Yang chakra had become accustomed to 'feeding' his cells instinctively.
Now that he knew the reason why that mouse's cells kept multiplying, he could prevent it.
Natsuo spent the rest of his vacation in this way, analyzing the bodies of mice and learning the functions of each organ.
And when he saw fit, he released them after sterilizing them.
Because he had an apprenticeship at the hospital, he could get more mice for his tests.
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Year 31 since the founding of the Leaf Village
Time passed and Natsuo began his second year at the academy.
Similarly, he continued to go to the clan hospital to continue receiving teachings from Uchiha Toki and other medical ninjas.
After his first practice closing a small wound, Natsuo was among his group who were now helping at the hospital by closing much larger wounds.
For now, they still didn't see them as ready to heal broken bones, muscles, and tendons.
Of course, Natsuo already did that with the rats he practiced on and was completely sure he could do the same with people, but he wasn't going to open his mouth and draw attention to himself.
Coward?
Of course, Natsuo knew he was being too cowardly or paranoid.
And you know what?
Natsuo was proud to be one.
Natsuo preferred being called a coward and underestimated so he could live to the end of his natural life. Otherwise, he might be killed on a mission, in the war, or end up on an operating table at a Root base, his eyes perhaps even in Danzo's arm.
After finishing his shift at the hospital, Natsuo spent the rest of the morning in the hospital library while reading about advanced techniques that he will practice on various mice.
Natsuo was grateful that the Uchiha hospital library had books with advanced techniques, otherwise he would be forced to demonstrate his skills to learn these same techniques.
As for academia?
Natsuo could miss the academy because of his training at the hospital.
Since the academy's teachers knew about his studies, they didn't mind Natsuo missing classes.
Furthermore, Natsuo was able to pass all the exams at the academy, so no one had any reason to avoid his behavior.
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Of course, Natsuo sometimes attended the academy.
"Thank you"
Like right now, when he healed Minato's wound after the latter was injured by one of the Uchiha children during Taijutsu practice.
Unlike last year, this time the Taijutsu practice allowed the use of ninja weapons and everyone used Shurikens and Kunais.
Some used small swords, but they receive sword training from their respective clans or parents.
"It's nothing," Natsuo said.
"Minato, you're amazing!"
"¡Minato!"
Of course, Minato's new fans screamed his name after he defeated a member of the Uchiha clan.
The second year of the academy was about to end, and Minato had been attracting attention after showing off his talent.
The girls in the class split into 2 groups, supporting Minato or Nawaki.
What about Natsuo?
Natsuo's name had long since disappeared from conversations about the academy's geniuses, and they only mentioned Nawaki and Minato.
As long as they forget his name, Natsuo will be happy and thanked Minato for his sacrifice by healing the wound he received from his opponent with a kunai.
As he listened to everyone praising Minato, Natsuo did not deny their words because Minato's improvement was evident.
There were even rumors that the Third Hokage's disciple, Jiraiya, had taken Minato as his disciple.
Natsuo knew it was true because Minato had secretly confirmed it to him. Jiraiya spent time away from the village, but he would officially take Minato as his disciple when he graduated from the academy.
Seeing Minato's awkward smile at the praise from others, Natsuo smiled because the boy deserved it.
Although Minato had not defeated Nawaki, he received more support because he was an orphan and did not receive as much training compared to Nawaki.
From a distance, Nawaki frowned at Minato.
Did Nawaki harbor resentment towards Minato?
Not at all.
What bothered Nawaki was that he had wanted to graduate from the academy for a long time, but his sister wouldn't allow it.
Nawaki thought the academy was holding him back, and now he proved he was right.
Minato, who did not receive as much training as him, was catching up.
Sure, he hadn't lost to Minato yet, but with the kid's improvement, he could tell it would happen eventually if he didn't do something.
With a clear purpose in mind, Nawaki planned to go and ask for early graduation and wouldn't back down no matter what her sister said.
When classes ended that day, Natsuo returned to the orphanage to continue his medical Ninjutsu practice.
Regarding Nawaki's actions?
Natsuo didn't know when Nawaki would die, and with his mind occupied thinking of ways to become stronger, he paid no attention to the actions of the First Hokage's grandson.