"About that sensei, I will need your help with something," Kaida said with an awkward smile on his face.
"What is it?" Mitsuru asked. Seeing Kaida doing everything alone, she felt like she had neglected her student because of extra work, so she was happy when Kaida asked for help.
"You really want my help for this?" Mitsuru asked, standing in front of the Uchiha headquarters. Since it was almost afternoon, this was the only place they would find the clan leader of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha.
"Unfortunately, I am still a child, sensei. No sensible person will put their child's life at risk on the words of a child, but you are the chief medical ninja of Konoha, almost head. Your words will have much more weight and credibility than mine," Kaida said.
"Sigh Maybe this is the loss of having a genius disciple; there is not much to teach them at all," Mitsuru said.
"Thanks for the compliment, sensei," Kaida replied with a smile.
After finishing their talks, they finally entered the headquarters. Hiruzen had taken his leave since he had no role here.
"Sir, Mitsuru-sama and Kaida Uchiha are here. They want to have a meeting with you regarding Itachi..."
"Send them in," Fugaku closed the file while his secretary was speaking. Without even letting him complete his sentence, he gave his order. As a father whose child's life was in danger, 50 percent of his thoughts in the day were filled with concerns about his son.
So even though he was going to have a meeting with the merchants responsible for all of the sales related to the Uchiha clan, he didn't think twice before canceling that and letting the two figures sitting in front of him take his time.
"Did something happen?" Fugaku asked, getting straight to the point.
"Fugaku-sama, I will let Kaida explain about the treatment we are going to follow with Itachi before we proceed further," Mitsuru said, sitting relaxingly on her chair while holding a cup of tea in her hands. Fugaku turned to Kaida for further explanation.
"Uncle, as you know, the main problem with Itachi is his infected chakra pathway. At his stage, they will only affect these two areas, so what we initially planned to do was..." Kaida started explaining everything from the beginning to Fugaku about how they would normally treat Chakritis disease, how it would affect the potential of the ninja, and all.
"I assume you are not just telling me this to scare me and have some alternative as well?" Fugaku, being the sharp-minded person, was able to guess this much.
"That's why we are here, Fugaku-sama. I was just planning on going with this method because even if Itachi may not be able to achieve his full potential because of this, he will be alive and from his talent still above elite jonin level. But this boy was not satisfied with that and had done something surprising," Mitsuru said, giving Kaida a look to continue.
"So rather than waiting for six months and damaging his chakra pathway structure as well, we can just operate now," Kaida said, presenting a file to Fugaku about his recent operations.
"I have performed them on perfectly fine ninja who had not taken those medicines at all, and the results were more than satisfactory, without a single failure."
"How sure are you about the success of the operation if we follow this way?" Fugaku asked, not to Kaida but to Mitsuru.
"First of all, this boy here did all those operations alone, so even if he did all of the procedures of your son's operation by himself, the chance will still be above 90%. If we get a team to help him, 99%," Mitsuru said, still maintaining her relaxed posture while sipping her tea leisurely.
Sigh A long sigh came out of Fugaku's mouth. After a long pause, his eyes became serious.
"I will hold you accountable if anything happens during the operation," once again his target was Mitsuru rather than Kaida. But there was no change in Mitsuru's expression because of that.
She placed her tea on the table, sat straight, looking directly into Fugaku's eyes.
"I am taking full responsibility for this," she said, at which Fugaku finally relaxed.
"So when do we have to start the procedure?"
"As soon as possible," Kaida said.
"That is tomorrow. We need time to prepare for the operation. We can't operate on him like you were doing, and the team will also need some time to prepare for the operation mentally," Mitsuru chimed in, because Kaida's tone was like he wanted to start in one hour only.
"Fine, I will tell Itachi about this. We will come to the hospital tomorrow," Fugaku said.
"Then we will take our leave; we have much to prepare," Mitsuru said and stood up from her chair, followed by Kaida.
"Kaida, stay for a minute. I have something I want to discuss with you," Fugaku said.
"Yes, Uncle," Kaida said while Mitsuru looked back, then left, having no interest in the following conversation.
"Thank you for doing so much for my son," Fugaku said. He could easily see that all of the reports were prepared by Kaida alone, and to compile this concise report, an enormous amount of research had to be done.
"No problem, Uncle. I did it because I am his friend and brother as well; there is no need to thank me," Kaida said with a big smile.
"No, there is, and I don't know how I can repay you for saving my son, but if you have anything you want, just tell me," Fugaku said, this time really wanting to do something for Kaida.
"Uncle, I don't want anything... for now, but in the future, there will be a time when I will need your help. Please listen to my request at that time," Kaida said with a soft smile on his face.
These types of requests are most critical for a person, especially if they have the role of clan head and S-rank strength, but Fugaku knew Kaida would not ask anything absurd from him.
"Unless it is something very absurd, I will agree to any of your requests."
"Thank you, Uncle," Kaida said, bowing a little. Then he remembered something.
"Uncle, I forgot to tell you this, but I have awakened Mangekyo Sharingan recently too."
"I know, Kaida. I would have congratulated you for it if not for the absurd condition you awakened it," Fugaku said in a somber tone.
"I am fine now, Uncle, so please don't worry," Kaida said, once again giving a soft smile, but this was the reason Fugaku had said those lines. He could see through the smile of Kaida; the pain he was trying to suppress was peeking out a little from his smile.
"Then I will take my leave too, Uncle. I should be in peak condition for tomorrow," Kaida also took his leave, leaving behind Fugaku alone in his office.
'Maybe my clan is truly cursed, to gain power after losing someone so close to us. sigh'
"Naruto, I think this much is enough for us. I can't run anymore! If I keep going, all my hard work of eating and getting bigger will be wasted!" Choji huffed and puffed, struggling after just one lap around the training ground.
"Come on, Choji! If you can't even run, how will you get strong? We have to train, or how else will we protect the people we care about?" Naruto pouted, his enthusiasm dimming a little.
"Ugh... I get that you wanna train, but why do we have to do it too?" Shikamaru grumbled, already sitting down after barely running half a lap. "I'm just gonna stay in the village my whole life with my family anyway."
Naruto crossed his arms and frowned. "Because you're gonna be a ninja! I need you to be strong enough to at least hold on until I come save you! I'm not losing any more friends, ever!" He struck a heroic pose, full of determination.
Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag..." But he still got up, stretching lazily before starting to jog again.
"Well, what are you waiting for, Choji? Start running, or I'll have to come save you too!" he called over his shoulder.
Naruto grinned wide, his energy coming back in full force. "Yeah! Let's go!" He dashed forward at full speed, already on his third lap. While someone else looked toward him only shaking his head, and than continuing training alone