Chapter 70: The Medical Audit
Konoha General Hospital was still a war zone.
Two weeks after the Nine-Tails attack, the emergency wards were overflowing into the hallways. The funerals had ended, and the rubble had been cleared from the main streets, but the medical crisis was hitting its peak. The air was thick with the smell of iron, antiseptic, and sheer exhaustion.
Tsunade Senju stood in the center of the main lobby, her white coat stained, barking orders at a squad of panicked nurses. Her legendary chakra reserves were keeping her on her feet, but the hospital’s physical inventory was completely tapped out.
"Lady Tsunade!" a frantic medical ninja called out, running up to her with a clipboard. "Ward C is completely out of coagulants! The quartermaster says the village’s emergency reserves are entirely empty!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, rubbing her temples. "Use physical pressure and standard sealing tags! Keep them stable until I can get over there. Go check the secondary storehouses!"
"They burned down on day two," a smooth, distinctly arrogant voice echoed through the chaotic lobby.
Tsunade turned around.
Ren Uchiha strolled through the sliding glass doors of the hospital. He was dressed in a pristine, charcoal-grey suit that looked entirely out of place amidst the blood and bandages. Walking right behind him was Kakuzu, who was scowling behind his mask, and half a dozen heavy-lifters from Ren’s corporate security firm.
They were pushing four massive, heavily reinforced steel crates.
"Good thing my warehouses are fireproof," Ren smirked, gesturing to the crates. "Fifty thousand yards of sterile gauze. Two thousand vials of premium coagulants. And enough high-grade anesthetics to put a Tailed Beast to sleep."
The nurses in the lobby let out collective gasps of pure relief.
Kakuzu, however, looked like he was attending a funeral. "This is a gross misallocation of highly profitable inventory," the treasurer grumbled, clutching his ledger tightly. "We are completely out of stock now. The markup on medical supplies during a crisis is historically over three hundred percent! We are literally giving away gold!"
"It’s called a tax write-off, Kakuzu," Ren corrected effortlessly. "And it secures us the exclusive logistics contract for the hospital’s reconstruction. Think long-term."
Tsunade didn’t care about the corporate maneuvering. She stepped forward, letting out a heavy sigh of genuine relief. "Ren. You have no idea how much we needed this. You just saved dozens of lives."
"Just make sure I get a plaque in the new wing," Ren replied casually, pulling a shipping manifest from his jacket.
He held the paper out for her to sign. But as Tsunade reached for the clipboard, her eyes darted up, locking onto Ren’s face.
The Sannin froze.
Her sharp, unparalleled medical instincts instantly bypassed his expensive suit and arrogant smile. She stared directly at his right eye. It was noticeably clouded, a milky, faded film dulling the dark iris, sitting in stark contrast to his pristine left eye.
"What happened to your eye?" Tsunade asked, her voice dropping all of its previous warmth, instantly shifting into her terrifying, clinical Jonin tone.
Ren blinked, offering a dismissive wave. "Just some dust from the construction zones. It’s fine."
"Bullshit," Tsunade snapped.
Before Ren could even react, Tsunade’s hand shot out. She grabbed him by the lapels of his suit and practically hoisted him off the floor, completely ignoring Kakuzu’s warning growl.
"Hey! Watch the silk!" Ren protested as Tsunade marched him straight through the crowded lobby, dragging him down the hallway and shoving him into her private office.
She kicked the door shut behind them and pointed a glowing green, chakra-coated finger at an examination chair. "Sit. Now."
Ren sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to talk his way out of this one. He brushed off his suit and sat down.
Tsunade leaned over him, her thumbs gently but firmly pulling his right eyelid open. She channeled her medical ninjutsu, casting a highly concentrated diagnostic light directly into his pupil.
For ten seconds, the office was dead silent.
Then, Tsunade sharply pulled her hands back. She looked at him, her amber eyes wide with a mixture of shock and sheer professional horror.
"Micro-tearing across the entire optic nerve," Tsunade whispered, leaning back against her desk. "Severe chakra burns deep in the ocular pathways. Cellular degradation in the retina. What the hell did you do, Ren?"
Ren looked away, adjusting his cuffs. "I had a disagreement with an assassin. It got complicated."
"Don’t play games with me," Tsunade warned, her voice deadly serious. She crossed her arms. "I am a Senju. I grew up reading my grandfather’s private combat logs. I know exactly what cellular degradation of that specific nature looks like. It’s Mangekyō strain. You unlocked it."
Ren paused. There was no point in denying it to the best medic in the world.
"Yeah, well, it doesn’t exactly come with a user manual," Ren muttered, leaning back in the chair. "And the specialized ocular drops I’ve been using cost a literal fortune. I am practically bleeding money out of my tear ducts just to keep the vision from blurring completely."
"Money isn’t going to fix this, you idiot," Tsunade scolded, walking around her desk and slamming her hands down on the wood. "This isn’t a simple injury. The Mangekyō consumes the user’s light. It’s a genetic flaw. If you keep using that eye, the cellular degradation will become permanent. You will go blind, and no medical ninjutsu in this village can reverse it."
Right as Tsunade finished her sentence, a familiar, translucent blue screen flickered to life directly in Ren’s field of vision.
[SYSTEM NOTICE] Host has suffered advanced Ocular Degradation. Unlocking Interface: [Ocular Strain Ledger].
Ren’s good eye narrowed slightly as a new, highly detailed menu expanded in his mind. It displayed a terrifyingly accurate biological breakdown of his optic nerves, showing a red progress bar slowly filling toward ’Absolute Blindness.’
He scrolled down to the medical shop interface, looking for a quick, expensive fix.
[Eternal Evolution Protocol] Status: LOCKED. Requirement: Integration of high-level biological research data (Uchiha / Senju). Note: This upgrade cannot be purchased with Business Coins alone. Host must acquire proprietary genetic research to formulate the stabilization cure.
Ren’s heart sank slightly. The System was a capitalist tool, but it had strict rules regarding bloodlines. He couldn’t just throw his billions at the screen to buy an Eternal Mangekyō. The System demanded actual, raw biological data to process the cure. He needed genetic research.
"Tsunade," Ren said, snapping out of his internal menu and looking at the Sannin. "Can you cure it? If I fund a private lab for you, can you synthesize a biological stabilizer to stop the degradation?"
Tsunade frowned, shaking her head. "Ren, you are talking about genetic manipulation. To stabilize an Uchiha’s optic nerve, you would need to introduce highly volatile regenerative cells into your system. It’s forbidden because the rejection rate is completely fatal. The cells overtake the host and kill them. It’s a dead end."
Ren stared at her for a long moment. A slow, highly cynical smile spread across his face.
Tsunade was a healer. She was bound by ethics, morality, and the Hippocratic oath. She couldn’t do the dark, twisted, highly lethal cellular research required to trick his genetics.
But Ren knew exactly who could.
"Fatal," Ren mused quietly, standing up from the examination chair and buttoning his suit jacket. "Also known as an R&D problem that just needs more funding and disposable test subjects."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, not liking that tone at all. "Ren. I am dead serious. Do not use that eye. I will prescribe you a heavy pain-management serum to stop the agonizing migraines you are undoubtedly hiding from me, but that is all I can do."
"I appreciate it, Tsunade," Ren said, flashing her his usual confident smirk as he walked toward the door.
Tsunade watched him open the door, a deep sense of unease settling in her chest.
"Ren," she called out, stopping him in the doorway. "You saved this hospital today. You saved Nawaki. I owe you. I don’t want anything bad happen to you. As a doctor I am saying, just... don’t do anything stupid with that eye."
Ren paused. He looked over his shoulder, his one clear eye meeting hers.
"I am a businessman, Tsunade-sama," Ren smirked. "I don’t do loss-making deals. The eye will get fixed. Just make sure Kakuzu gets that logistics contract signed."
He stepped out into the chaotic hallway, the door clicking shut behind him. As he walked past the rushing medics, Ren’s mind was already calculating his next move.
He needed forbidden research. He needed a scientist with zero morals and an unquenchable thirst for funding.
It was time to buy a Snake.
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