Naruto: I have an attribute panel

Chapter 21 Hospital Internship and I Am the True Hokage

Konoha Hospital.

Having finished his training, Taiyi arrived at the hospital early in the morning, all dressed up. Watching the crowds coming and going at the hospital entrance, Taiyi couldn't help but sigh; no matter where you are, hospitals are never short of business.

Stepping into the hospital, Taiyi stopped a young nurse and asked, "Nurse, do you know where I can find the hospital director?"

"Little brother, you have such a sweet tongue! Tell me, what do you need to see the director about?"

Taiichi didn't hesitate and took out the internship certificate that Tsunade had given him, handing it to the young nurse.

The nurse took the certificate suspiciously, glanced at it, and then looked at Taiyi in surprise, "This says it's about you?"

"Yes, absolutely genuine!"

The nurse checked the internship certificate again, and after confirming that it was correct, she pointed out the location to Taiyi, "Go up the stairs over there to the top floor, then turn left and the first room is the dean's office. Dean Biwako should be in his office right now."

"Thank you, sister. See you next time!" Taiichi said politely.

……

Upon arriving at the dean's office, Taiichi politely knocked on the door. Accompanied by a "Come in," Taiichi pushed the door open and entered.

As soon as I closed the door, the first thing I saw was a desk piled high with documents, followed by a middle-aged woman sitting behind the desk reviewing files.

"Hello, Dean. I'm Matsushita Taichi. I was introduced here for an internship by Tsunade-neechan. This is my internship certificate." He handed over the certificate in his hand.

Biwako, having finished approving the documents, looked up at Taiichi upon hearing this, casually took the certificate, glanced at it, and then said gently, "It's Taiichi. Tsunade already told me; she praised you so highly! I rarely see her praise someone like that!"

"It's all thanks to Tsunade's excellent teaching!" At this point, Taiichi couldn't bring himself to contradict Tsunade.

"Hehe!" Biwako chuckled softly, as if she had just thought of something.

"Well then, since you were introduced by Tsunade, and the hospital happens to be short-staffed, you can stay. You'll come to the hospital for your internship every morning." Biwako didn't keep him in suspense. "Come with me, I'll show you around the hospital first, and then I'll take you to the department where you'll be interning."

The Biwako director led Taichi through a corridor that smelled of disinfectant. Sunlight streamed in through the frosted glass windows, casting long, thin streaks of light across the gray-white floor tiles. As they passed the infusion room, several bandaged children peeked out from under the door, their eyes fixed curiously on the short sword on Taichi's back.

The sign for the trauma treatment department had three scratches, and the hinges creaked as the door was pushed open. A female ninja, who was tidying up rolls of bandages, turned around, revealing short, neat hair beneath her forehead protector. Biwako patted Taichi on the shoulder: "Chief Fujita, this is the child Tsunade recommended."

Fujita Sana adjusted her round-framed glasses, her gaze sweeping over Taiichi, who barely reached her chest: "Excellent results in the healing technique assessment?" She suddenly grabbed the medical record folder on the table and flung it at Taiichi, the pages scattering in a fan shape in the air. Taiichi instinctively raised his hand to catch the page closest to his face, while the rest fluttered down to his feet.

"Reaction speed is acceptable." Fujita picked up the scattered medical records. "But there's no time for you to slowly tidy up on the battlefield." She kicked aside the transfer bed blocking her way, the metal wheels scraping loudly on the tiles. "The trauma ward handles more than sixty emergency wounded every day. Your task today is to assist Haruno."

A nurse named Haruno was sterilizing wound cleaning instruments. She brushed aside the stray hairs stuck to her neck with sweat and gestured for Tai to come closer to examine the tweezers soaking in the medication: "Soaking them in 75% alcohol for fifteen minutes is much faster than boiling." As she spoke, the sound of stretcher wheels rolling echoed down the corridor. Haruno grabbed a tray and rushed out, reminding him, "Wear your masks!"

The first wounded soldier was a genin whose palm had been cut by a kunai. Haruno cleaned the wound as if dismantling an explosive tag, using tweezers to wipe the turned-out flesh with a cotton ball. Taichi noticed rust deep in the wound and was about to speak up when Haruno unscrewed the hydrogen peroxide: "Press down on his arm."

Amidst the sizzling sound of the medicine contacting the wound, the ninja's screams shook the instrument tray. Haruno seized the opportunity to insert tweezers into the wound and remove debris, turning to find Taiichi already waiting beside her with sutures. Blood-stained cotton balls were continuously thrown into the trash can, and as Haruno cut the sutures, Taiichi timely handed her gauze soaked in anti-inflammatory medicine.

"You've studied battlefield first aid?" Haruno raised an eyebrow as she tied a knot in a bandage. Taichi, who was wiping bloodstains from the equipment table, pointed to the acupressure chart on the wall: "Nono-neechan taught me how to apply pressure to stop bleeding."

The midday sun was starting to get hot, and the newly arrived wounded soldiers bore fresh burns. When Chief Fujita opened the window to let in some fresh air, he saw Taiichi crouching in the corner of the treatment room. The boy was enveloping a crying child in a green light formed from chakra, and the blister-covered knees were visibly scabbing over in the green light.

"Healing techniques aren't for treating scrapes." Fujita appeared behind Taichi with his arms crossed. "A ninja's chakra is limited and should be used where it's needed more. This kind of scrape only requires disinfection."

"Yes, Director." Taiyi replied verbally, but his hands continued performing the healing spells.

Seeing this, Fujita wasn't angry, but instead placed two boxes of brand-new medical gloves at his feet. Suddenly, the cicadas outside the window began to chirp shrilly, the sound of stretcher wheels grew louder, and Haruno's shouts, mixed with the wounded man's groans, flooded the room: "Open fracture! Prepare the splint!"

As Taiichi rushed out, he saw the ninja transporting the wounded covered in his comrades' blood. A broken shinbone pierced through his combat trousers, and Haruno was trying to straighten his twisted leg. Taiichi's hand moved faster than his thoughts, pressing it against the wounded man's bleeding groin. The green light emanating from his palm turned the spurting blood into seeping droplets.

"Blood pressure!" Chief Fujita's voice was like a taut steel wire. Taichi continued to output chakra until Haruno put a splint on the fracture. When the injured man was wheeled into the operating room, Haruno pulled off his blood-stained rubber gloves and found that the hem of Taichi's white coat was still dripping blood. The boy stared blankly at his trembling right hand—the continuous output of chakra had made his fingertips twitch slightly.

When the cafeteria delivered the boxed lunches, Taiichi was practicing knot tying in the break room. Haruno broke open a disposable chopstick and poked him: "Sewing knots are different from ninja knots; you have to leave room for swelling." The square knot she demonstrated bulged into a small mound on the gauze, and Taiichi's third knot, which he followed, was already quite good.

Chief Physician Fujita returned from the X-ray room, chewing on a rice ball, and caught a glimpse of the anatomical diagram Taiichi had drawn in the patient's medical record. The boy's charcoal pencil was outlining the lacerations caused by kunai, the marked blood vessels so precise they reminded her of a certain blonde woman. When Taiichi handed her a neatly prepared list of sterilized medical supplies, she finally pointed to the locker and said, "Starting tomorrow, you'll be in charge of replenishing the supplies."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. Tai's white coat pockets were already stuffed with fruit candies the nurses had given him. When Haruno pinned the new name tag to his chest, she noticed the boy was asleep against the wall, clutching a broken hemostatine in his hand—something he'd secretly salvaged from the scrap bin that morning to study. The cicadas outside were still chirping, but no one bothered to wake the child, whose eyelashes still clung to blood.

……

Taiyi spent his first morning of internship in this busy atmosphere. The hospital internship was much more difficult than he had imagined, but the rewards were also much greater than expected. In just this one morning of internship, Taiyi received a constant stream of notifications from the control panel.

[Your practical medical experience will enhance your understanding and skills!]

[You performed a healing act, and your related understanding has increased!]

Your Healing skill has been upgraded; experience points increased by 1.

[You have used the Palm Immortal Technique, and your related understanding has improved!]

Your skill "Palm Magic" has been upgraded, experience points +1.

[Your focus on medical practice has earned you +1 Ninja Apprentice experience point.]

In just one morning, he not only pushed his already proficient healing technique to LV7, but also directly pushed the palm magic he had just learned to LV2.

In the afternoon, Taiichi dragged his exhausted body home. The morning's internship had depleted his chakra. Now, thinking back, Director Fujita was right; ninjas indeed had too little chakra and should use it where it was needed more. But Taiichi never regretted treating the child that morning; he would simply be more careful in the future.

The Hokage's office.

The door was flung open, and Danzo's wide sleeves billowed up in a gust of cold wind. Hiruzen Sarutobi put down his pipe, and the smoke curled between the two men like a spiderweb.

"Give me that orphan." Danzo's fingers, gripping his cane, turned white. "Flowers grown in a greenhouse can't withstand the wind and rain."

Sarutobi slowly and methodically arranged the internship certificates under the crystal ball. These were the internship certificates and reports that Biwako had just delivered, with Tsunade's delicate signature spreading across the parchment. "Director Biwako praised that child's skillful suturing technique this morning," he blew away his cigarette ash, "The medical team is in dire need of such talent."

The cane slammed heavily on the ground, causing ripples to spread across the cinnabar in the inkstone. "Your so-called training is just having him bandage people's wounds?" Danzo's single eye flashed with a cold light. "The Root's training camp will allow his blade to be coated with real blood!"

"What he needs now is to build deeper bonds with everyone, not to immediately draw his sword. Besides, he just used healing jutsu to save three burned ANBU this morning." Sarutobi stood up, the flame patterns on his Hokage cloak rising and falling with his movement. "Do you know how that kid trains? He uses chakra to set the bones of stray cats every day."

The smell of disinfectant wafted in from outside the window, and the sound of an ambulance wheel rumbled through the silence downstairs. Danzo suddenly grabbed a ninja academy report from the table; the photo of Taichi and Kakashi sparring was cracked from being squeezed. "This kind of terrifyingly disciplined brat will be the next Orochimaru in twenty years!"

"So what he needs is the ginger soup Nonou makes, not your cursed seal." Sarutobi's hand, gripping the edge of the table, bulged with veins. "Back then, Nawaki..."

The teacup swept away by the cane shattered into pieces in the corner, and a faint chakra glow flickered in the dark pattern on Danzo's sleeve. "Womanly compassion! When the enemy's sword is at his throat, you'll regret not letting me saw off those weak branches!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!" Sarutobi's suddenly raised voice shook the windows, and a scene of a hospital corridor appeared in the crystal ball—Taiichi was squatting down handing candy to a crying child, with a short sword on his back wrapped in cotton cloth to prevent accidental injury.

Danzo remained silent for a long time after hearing this, as if suppressing his anger. It was unclear whether he was angry at Hiruzen Sarutobi's indecisiveness or at his own hesitation.

Danzo sneered, and as he turned, his sleeve knocked over the bonsai Tsunade had brought. The purple clay flowerpot rolled across the red carpet, leaving a wet trail, and the roots of the half-withered pine seedling were covered in soil. The slamming of the door sent documents flying across the table, and the internship application stamped by the medical department fluttered about, eventually obscuring the child's face in the crystal ball, which had gone from tears to laughter.