Even as someone who was about as much of a medical layman as one could possibly be, Hagoromo could clearly tell just how severe Pakura's injuries were.
If a top-tier medical-nin had been present, she might have been saved with proper treatment.
Unfortunately, there wasn't one.
So Hagoromo would have to do it himself.
And he had to act immediately.
Thus, he left his shadow clone on guard while his real body began emergency treatment on Pakura without delay.
While she was still warm.
He first placed two fingers against her carotid artery.
As expected—
There was no pulse.
"…Cardiac arrest."
Strictly speaking, Pakura was already dead.
A single kunai might not be enough to kill a jōnin—but many kunai certainly were. This was the textbook definition of quantitative change leading to qualitative change. Blood loss alone was enough to kill even an elite shinobi.
"At least there was no direct strike through the heart."
Pakura lay on her back, with nearly all her wounds concentrated on her back as well. That made assessment easier. If there had been a through-and-through cardiac wound, Hagoromo wouldn't have wasted his time—he'd have sealed the corpse and left.
"Well then…"
Hagoromo clenched his fist. Crack.
He was ready to use his own "medical" methods—if they could even be called that.
This situation was actually perfect for him.
Testing on a healthy person would be unconscionable.
Working on someone merely near death might mean killing someone who could've lived.
But someone who had just died and might still be salvageable?
Ideal.
If she lived, great.
If she didn't, it wasn't his fault.
"Resuscitating a shinobi involves several steps…"
"First—stop the bleeding."
There was one small issue.
Hagoromo knew absolutely no medical ninjutsu.
He had some basic medical knowledge—but in a situation like this, that knowledge was effectively useless.
So his "treatment" was crude.
Extremely crude.
He held his right hand in a two-finger formation. Lightning crackled faintly at the tips—but instead of shocking anything, he converted the electrical energy directly into heat.
Step one: hemostasis.
Left hand: pull out a kunai.
Right hand: hover two or three centimeters above the wound—
Then immediately cauterize it.
…No one could honestly call this proper medical practice. It was knowledge cobbled together from dubious fictional sources.
Dig a hole, bury the dirt.
Rinse and repeat.
If Pakura hadn't already been dead, she'd have died several more times from this process alone.
Hagoromo was well aware that extensive burns could be fatal—but at this point, she was already dead. What was there to worry about?
Besides—
Shinobi weren't normal humans.
Some had survived with one hundred percent burns.
In under three minutes, Hagoromo had finished cauterizing every wound, like stubbing out cigarettes.
Some medical common sense told him that the brain's tolerance for cardiac arrest was about four minutes. Whether that applied to shinobi, however, was anyone's guess.
After he finished, he looked down at his handiwork—and froze.
"…Whoa."
Five circles and four bars.
In some worlds, that pattern would be equivalent to carving "Serve the Nation with Utmost Loyalty" into someone's back—practically qualifying them for world government membership.
He flipped Pakura over so she lay face-up.
"Next… detoxification."
Objectively speaking, this made no sense. Shouldn't he shock the heart first? Why detox a corpse?
But Hagoromo followed his own internal logic.
His clone had already searched the enemy and found nothing usable for detoxification, so Hagoromo resorted to his own antidotes.
He pried open Pakura's mouth and shoved several pills deep into her throat with two fingers.
Strictly speaking, the visuals were… questionable. Very easy to misinterpret. Certain scenes involving a man named Araragi Koyomi and his sisters came to mind.
But Hagoromo had devoted himself entirely to the god of medicine—
A god who would absolutely deny having such a disciple.
A faint electrical stimulus triggered the muscles of her throat, forcing a swallowing reflex. This high-end method neatly avoided any actions that might be labeled inappropriate.
Next, his right hand moved toward her left chest—
Then stopped.
Nope. Still inappropriate.
So he switched to a V-shaped finger posture instead.
"If I remember correctly… instantaneous cardiac shock shouldn't exceed six hundred joules? For shinobi, doubling or tripling that should be fine, right?"
When it came to shocking people, Hagoromo was a professional.
Turning someone into charcoal or performing delicate micro-control were equally within his skill set.
Two fingers pressed down over the heart.
Electrical defibrillation.
When it was over, Hagoromo genuinely felt qualified to take a shift in Konoha Hospital's emergency ward.
Because—
Her heartbeat returned.
"And next… uh… spontaneous respiration…"
He was still debating whether he'd need to perform mouth-to-mouth—
When Pakura coughed lightly.
Breathing resumed.
"Holy crap—she actually lived?!"
Yes. Hagoromo himself was shocked enough to swear.
Even he wasn't sure whether that entire process had been medical treatment—or corpse abuse.
One could only sigh at a shinobi's vitality.
Sometimes fragile like deep-fried dough twists.
Sometimes resilient like an immortal cockroach.
The moment Pakura opened her eyes, she reacted exactly as a shinobi should—completely ignoring her injuries as she reached for a nearby kunai.
Too slow.
Hagoromo mercilessly stepped on her hand.
"Pakura of Sunagakure," he said coldly,
"I regret to inform you that you are now a prisoner of Konohagakure."
There was no emotion in his voice.
Saving Pakura wasn't an act of kindness. It wasn't about goodwill or forging bonds.
For Pakura, being captured by Konoha was actually worse than dying here.
Because although Konoha and Sunagakure were allies, there was no chance she'd simply be sent home.
That was wishful thinking.
Hagoromo would take her back to Konoha.
What awaited her afterward…
If she fell into ANBU hands, it would be unimaginably grim.
And if she ended up in Root—
Even worse.
So if Pakura had any freedom of choice left—
He would strongly recommend the "merely unimaginably grim" option.
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
complete fic (all chapters ) are already up on Patreon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789