"The people behind me are now under your arrangement. The medical team goes to the field hospital, and the logistics team goes to the supply warehouse. Have some of your people lead the way and get them into position as soon as possible. The wounded need treatment, and the supplies need to be checked."
Jiraiya nodded and turned to give a few instructions to several ninjas beside him.
Those few immediately ran to the front of the group and began directing the crowd to split.
"Medical team, follow me."
"Logistics team, come this way."
The group quickly split into two and moved in different directions deeper into the camp.
Tsunade stood in place and watched for a moment. Only after confirming that the handover was going smoothly did she withdraw her gaze.
"What are you still standing there for?"
She glanced at Jiraiya and said irritably, "Hurry and take me to the command center. You also need to clearly explain the situation on the frontline to me."
…
This time, Shinichi came to the frontline in the capacity of a professional Medical Ninja, so naturally, he followed the medical team to the field hospital.
Deep within the camp, dense rows of tents stretched endlessly. Medical staff moved hurriedly in and out at the entrances, stretchers came and went, and the air was filled with the mixed smell of blood, medicine, and disinfectant.
Inside each tent was a scene of busyness bordering on chaos. Beds were lined up one after another, filled with wounded transported down from the frontline.
Some groaned softly, some lay unconscious while Medical Ninjas moved back and forth among them, the green glow of chakra in their hands almost never ceasing.
Shinichi quickly received his task assignment. He passed through the crowded passage, lifted the flap of a tent labeled intensive care unit one, and walked in.
It was equally busy inside. Seven or eight Medical Ninjas were each treating the wounded before them. Some had sweat on their foreheads, some were speaking in low voices to those beside them.
Shinichi's gaze swept across the tent and suddenly stopped somewhere.
A familiar figure was standing by a hospital bed, head lowered, brows tightly furrowed.
She wore the standard uniform of a Medical Ninja, with round-framed glasses. Her short tea-colored hair looked slightly messy under the dim light of the tent, and the lines of her side profile were gentle and focused.
At this moment, she was looking at the wounded person lying on the bed, with a look of hesitation on her face, as if unsure where to begin.
"Big sister Nono."
Shinichi walked over and spoke softly.
Nono Yakushi froze for a moment, then raised her head, blinked, and her eyes widened.
"Huh? Shinichi!?"
A look of surprise appeared on her face as she looked him up and down uncertainly. "Why are you here? You… shouldn't you still be in the village?"
Nono Yakushi was also a child who came from that orphanage.
However, before Shinichi was even born, she had already become an official ninja.
It was said that she had excellent aptitude. While still at the Ninja Academy, she was noticed by seniors from the medical department, began training in Medical Ninjutsu early, and quickly became a formal Medical Ninja.
However, she did not work at the Konoha Hospital. Instead, she had long served as medical personnel in patrol teams along the borders of the Land of Fire.
And she had never forgotten the place that raised her. Whenever she returned to Konoha and had time, she would go back to the orphanage to help, bring candies and snacks, chat with the children, and help the director organize accounts.
When Shinichi was little, he had even received candy from her.
This time, she was one of the earliest Medical Ninjas to arrive at the frontline, directly following Jiraiya's Konoha southwestern army.
"I'm part of the logistics medical unit sent by the village to support the front line. I just arrived today."
Shinichi explained.
Nono Yakushi opened her mouth, wanting to say that he was still too young and should not have been sent here, but the words stopped at her throat and were swallowed back.
She looked at the boy in front of her. He had grown quite a bit taller since the last time she saw him; the childishness on his face had faded significantly, and those eyes were still as she remembered, gentle and bright.
But there was now an additional sense of steadiness and reassurance.
Thinking of Shinichi's achievements over the years, independently developing the Rasengan, winning the Sunagakure Chunin exams, fighting a powerful samurai from the Land of Iron to a draw, and recently even giving a speech at the village assembly…
Nono Yakushi suddenly realized that this child was no longer the little boy who quietly said, thank you, big sister while accepting her candy.
"I see."
Her thoughts surged, but in the end, Nono Yakushi only nodded, and a familiar gentle smile appeared on her face. "With you here, Shinichi, it does make me feel more at ease."
Although she had long served on the border and occasionally had to follow that person's orders to act as a spy gathering intelligence from other countries, she still often heard about Shinichi's deeds and knew that his medical skills were extremely high.
Shinichi smiled slightly and turned his gaze to the unconscious wounded person on the bed, his expression becoming serious. "What's the problem?"
Lying on the bed was a young ninja, looking just over twenty. His right arm, along with most of his shoulder, was wrapped in bandages, but even through the layers of gauze, it was clear that something was wrong with that arm.
It was much thinner than the normal left arm, shriveled as if all moisture had been drained from it.
Occasionally, the skin exposed through gaps in the bandages showed a strange, withered, brown color, wrinkled and clinging to the bone, as if it were a piece of dead wood dried in the desert for many years.
With Shinichi's medical expertise, he only needed a glance to shake his head inwardly.
There's no hope, just wait to die.
Nono Yakushi's voice was very low as she quickly explained, "The moisture in the skin, muscle tissue, and even the bones in his right arm and most of his right shoulder has completely evaporated, causing irreversible withering necrosis in that entire area."
"I considered emergency amputation to stop the necrosis and possible infection from spreading to the rest of the body, but the affected area is too large. If we remove it, the wound surface would be enormous, and he would definitely not survive the blood loss on the spot. Right now, I can only use the Healing Jutsu to maintain the vitality of the healthy areas above his shoulder…"
At this point, Nono Yakushi sighed and continued, "But this… this is only delaying time. A systemic infection caused by the necrotic tissue is almost inevitable. He probably won't last more than a few days…"
"Shinichi, you…"
After finishing her brief explanation, Nono Yakushi looked at the boy beside her and asked with a faint trace of hope.
"Is there any way?"
Shinichi was praised by everyone at Konoha Hospital as a medical genius, and he was also the direct disciple of Tsunade, the best Medical Ninja in the world.
Maybe he had a way?
Maybe…
In truth, Nono Yakushi did not hold much hope. In this situation, even if Tsunade herself took action, she might not be able to save the person in front of her.