How to put it? The current situation was, well, pretty dire.
"Ahh~ ow ow ow~"
Naruto's face had scrunched up like a crumpled dumpling. The nurse holding his right hand wore an expression torn between sympathy and resolve. "Bear with it—there's still iron sand embedded in the back of your hand."
The blond boy's hands were a gruesome crimson, as though an entire layer of skin had been flayed away. Amid the raw, angry flesh, tiny black specks were clearly visible—iron sand particles driven deep into the muscle.
This was yesterday's handiwork. The churning cauldron hadn't just torn away the skin of both hands—it had ground iron sand into the muscle below. The pain was like countless splinters buried under his flesh.
Removing the particles required a needle, picking them out one by one. But every touch sent a fresh stab of agony through him.
"AHHH—!"
Before Naruto could scream again, a sharp cry of pain rang out from the neighboring bed. Sasuke. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke's injuries weren't superficial—his pain came from internal burns caused by accumulated electrical damage.
His cauldron had been wired with a thousand-volt current. Even though each contact was brief, the cumulative harm was severe. And that was with the partial immunity he'd built up during the electric-chair special training. Without it, he'd likely be lying in a morgue.
The nurse treating Sasuke held one palm pressed against the boy's chest, continuously applying the Healing Technique to his damaged organs.
"Hey! Sasuke—screaming like that is pathetic!"
Hearing Sasuke's cry, the pain on Naruto's face instantly morphed into poorly concealed glee. Sasuke ground his teeth. "Shut... up...! You dead-last... you screamed first!"
"Ha ha ha~ But mine wasn't nearly as loud~ If you can't hack it, just give up already~"
"Same... to you!"
Pain stripped away Sasuke's usual composure, and the two boys traded barbs with open relish. Their nurses seized the distraction to work faster.
As for Hinata—she was far quieter. She'd already endured dozens of broken fingers by this point; this level of pain wasn't enough to make her cry out.
Even so, her hands were in terrible shape. The flesh was swollen to an angry, blistered red—muscle tissue cooked nearly through. Burns this severe were practically cooked through. Fortunately, medical ninjutsu in this world was far superior to real-world treatment. The Healing Technique could strip away the dead tissue and stimulate fresh regeneration.
The trade-off, of course, was that accelerating this process meant accelerating the pain that came with it.
"Um, Lady Hinata... are you all right?"
The young kunoichi treating Hinata spoke with a mix of awe and unease. As a medical professional, she could see exactly how severe these burns were. Most adults would have been screaming bloody murder. Yet this Hyuga heiress sat there like a block of ice—not a whimper, not a flinch.
But she wasn't numb to the pain. Cold sweat rolled from Hinata's forehead, dripping steadily from the point of her chin to the floor. She felt every bit of it. She was simply enduring through sheer force of will.
"This... isn't the Mystical Palm Technique, is it?"
Hinata glanced up. From what she recalled of the series, the Mystical Palm Technique was an A-rank medical ninjutsu capable of dramatically faster healing. If these medics were using it, her wounds should be closing much more quickly.
"Oh... I'm sorry—this is just the basic Healing Technique. I... haven't mastered the Mystical Palm yet."
The medic-nin answered with visible embarrassment—she could clearly sense Hinata's displeasure. Hinata shook her head and gestured for her to continue.
So even with preparation, the South Dipper Sacred Fists training she'd cobbled together was proving brutally punishing. But paradoxically, that only reinforced her conviction: if this training was this hard, then the power it yielded was absolutely real.
Still, conviction didn't erase the practical problem. Constant hospital visits would erode morale and might draw unwanted attention from the higher-ups.
No choice, then...
A cold smile flickered at the corner of Hinata's mouth. She remembered clearly—the Mystical Palm Technique's extreme demands on chakra control meant only a handful of people in the original series could use it. Setting aside Tsunade and Shizune, who were currently unreachable, two members of the Konoha 12 were able to use it: Sakura and Ino.
Heh heh heh... If I'm suffering this much, letting those canon characters have it too easy would be distinctly unfair, wouldn't it?
"Excuse me, Nurse. A quick question—the training scrolls for healing ninjutsu are available for purchase at Konoha's library, correct?"
Hinata turned her head, a pleasant smile in place. The nurse nodded eagerly. "Yes—scrolls for both the Healing Technique and the Mystical Palm Technique are sold at the library. But the prices aren't cheap. Were you planning to study them yourself?"
"Not at all. I haven't been short on money lately, and I just remembered two friends who might enjoy learning the Healing Technique. Consider it a gift."
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office.
The Third Hokage stared at his crystal ball with a complicated expression. Beside him, Iruka stood with his head bowed in shame. The children's collapse had nothing to do with him, but his failure to notice the severity of their injuries beforehand weighed heavily on the young teacher's conscience.
"Iruka, don't blame yourself. This is the path those children chose for themselves."
The crystal ball displayed Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke in the hospital. The old Hokage's weathered face carried a note of weariness. All three occupied uniquely sensitive positions within Konoha. When he'd heard all three had collapsed and been hospitalized, he'd been genuinely alarmed—until the diagnosis came back as nothing more than chakra exhaustion and physical overexertion.
"But Lord Hokage, what they're doing is reckless beyond reason..."
Iruka opened his mouth, then closed it again. He couldn't bring himself to argue for stopping their training outright. Deep down, he could sense how much those injuries spoke to the children's ferocious determination to grow stronger.
"You know as well as I do—strength demands sacrifice."
The Third shook his head and deactivated the crystal ball. The old Kage-level ninja studied Iruka carefully. "Besides, you've been hemming and hawing all morning. Is there something else?"
"Oh... actually... yes..."
Caught out, Iruka wrestled with himself for a long moment before producing, with a flushed face, a slim book from the tool pouch at the small of his back. "The thing is... I discovered those three children seem to be involved in..."
"Hm?"
The Third Hokage accepted the book—and went rigid. He slammed his palm on the desk and shot to his feet. "It's them!!"
"Huh? What do you mean, 'them,' Lord Hokage?"
Iruka jumped. What he'd handed over was the copy of Fox Tales that Hinata had flung at him. His intention had been to ask the Hokage to keep an eye on Naruto—after all, both Naruto and Sasuke were still minors. There was always the possibility they were being taken advantage of by some shady publisher.
"Yes! This cover! This description! There's no mistake—this is that best-selling art book I read about in the papers a few days ago!"
The Third examined Fox Tales with grave intensity, then fixed Iruka with a piercing look. "Where did you get this? The papers said it's sold in limited quantities across the entire Land of Fire!"
"Ah... Hinata... the girl gave it to me... No, Lord Hokage, please look closely—what I'm trying to say is that the male and female leads on the cover appear to be—"
Iruka shook his head frantically, trying to steer the conversation back on track. The Third raised a hand with the unassailable authority of a head of state. "Rest easy. I've already dispatched people to investigate this matter. I simply didn't expect to obtain a physical copy from you."
"Lord Hokage—Naruto and Sasuke are just children. Someone must be taking advantage of them. Please, you have to look into this!"
Iruka was startled—his first instinct was that the Hokage intended to crack down on the publication. After all, using Naruto and Sasuke as the male and female leads was going too far, so it made sense that the Hokage would dispatch investigators. Naturally, the kind-hearted teacher moved to speak up for Naruto.
"Calm yourself. Naruto and Sasuke are only children—no one will hold them responsible. Now then, I have some business to attend to."
The Third's eyes never left Fox Tales as he spoke in his measured, official cadence. Iruka nodded uncomfortably and backed out of the Hokage's office.