Chapter 1286: Exploration

Land of Tea, Inn.

In the room with the heating device installed, Tsunade suddenly sneezed.

“Did you catch a cold, Lady Tsunade?”

Shizune, who was reading a medical book, heard Tsunade’s sneeze and immediately looked up and asked.

Beside her, there was a pink pig sleeping soundly, named Tonton, an adopted ninja pig with a highly sensitive sense of smell, not weaker than the ninja dogs bred by the Inuzuka Clan.

“Ah, it’s nothing, maybe someone is missing me too much.”

Tsunade instinctively rubbed her nose, not feeling any discomfort, and replied to Shizune.

Then, she returned her attention to the various books in front of her, all intelligence and information she had painstakingly gathered from various countries in the Ninja Realm over the past few months, which she was reviewing and analyzing.

The more she read, the heavier Tsunade’s mood became.

“Shizune.”

After a long time, Tsunade called out to Shizune.

“What is it, Lady Tsunade?”

Her gaze moved away from the medical book again, and Shizune looked at Tsunade in confusion.

“What kind of person do you think that boy Hakushi is?”

Tsunade asked.

“Eh? Why bring up Master Hakushi now?”

Shizune felt even more puzzled.

“Isn’t it just too boring? I just found a random topic to talk about.”

Tsunade organized the books in front of her again and said with a smile.

“Is that so? But suddenly asking me what kind of person Master Hakushi is… Hmm, I feel it’s a bit difficult to explain.”

If it were Hakushi during his time in Konoha, she could definitely explain.

At that time, Hakushi was undoubtedly an outstanding medical ninja and a notable medical ninjutsu assistant. He worked diligently under Tsunade, being loved by many students. Furthermore, he never tired of tutoring students after class, treating everyone equally regardless of their talent.

Thus, during Konoha’s Third Ninja War, countless excellent medical ninjas emerged, reducing the casualty rate significantly, which Hakushi greatly contributed to. Even though he later defected from Konoha, this contribution cannot be erased.

The strength of a medical ninja is not about physical power, but logistics. Every additional medical ninja can reduce the village’s losses significantly. Because of this, medical ninjas nowadays are no longer undervalued as they were before; their status is increasingly enhancing. More and more students in schools are applying for the medical ninja specialty.

As for later Hakushi, Shizune doesn’t know how to evaluate him.

In terms of attitude, he wasn’t cold towards her or Tsunade. Also, because of Tsunade, he spared Jiraiya’s life, although there was an intent to trade with Konoha.

But ultimately, they already belong to two different factions.

As an enemy, he should be quite a headache.

Especially having established various medical industries in the Land of Demons, their medical system is not weaker than Konoha, and in certain aspects, such as pharmaceutical research, it even surpasses Konoha Village. After all, being able to set up pharmacy branches in other countries is no simple task.

At least Konoha can’t achieve this.

As a medical ninja, Shizune also greatly admires Hakushi as an enemy.

He achieved what many medical ninjas dream of accomplishing.

If Tsunade proposed the initial idea of medical reform, then as Tsunade’s disciple, Hakushi is the one who further perfected this system. The Land of Demons’ medical system benefits not only its own people but also reduces the mortality rate in other countries.

Thus, the medical industry of the Land of Demons was able to open branches in various countries. This success was driven by hard strength, not entirely due to opportunism during the Third Ninja War.

Tsunade roughly understood Shizune’s thoughts, and like Shizune, her impression of Hakushi also evolved from initial admiration and trust, to later confusion and resentment, and finally to helplessness and complexity.

However, unlike Shizune, who is purely a medical ninja, Hakushi’s most terrifying aspect is not merely the perfection of the Land of Demons’ medical system.

“There are many things in the Land of Demons which Konoha, and even the Land of Fire, lack. If Konoha and the Land of Fire don’t change in the future, they will eventually decline.”

Conservatism isn’t necessarily bad, but complete conservatism is equivalent to abandoning the hope for the future.

Just like her teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi’s habit of using balance policy.

Using the power of Hokage to balance the interests of various ninja clans, while also promoting Danzo to form Root, to secretly extract part of the clans’ achievements to further stabilize Konoha’s internal situation.

The initial intention was good, but the problem is that this policy led to the expansion of Root, while also obstructing new reforms.

Uchiha… Tsunade sighed.

She didn’t know what kind of mood Uchiha Itachi had when he destroyed his clan.

Because of this unwillingness to change the conservative atmosphere, Konoha Uchiha walked towards their demise.

If everyone remains conservative, naturally no change in the Ninja Realm’s pattern will occur.

The Five Great Nations will always remain the Five Great Nations, high above the rest.

The key issue is that at this moment, the Land of Demons has already made changes, with its influence starting to radiate towards surrounding countries.

She doesn’t know where the ultimate endpoint of the Land of Demons’ transformation will be, but at present, it’s undoubtedly becoming stronger.