"Are you excited to meet some of the people I grew up with, Hinata?"
"En!"
She hobbled over with her cane to come give him a big, warm hug.
"Thank god you're alright! It was such a surprise to hear you had somehow become such an accomplished medical-nin out of nowhere. When the director tried to teach everyone at first, you never showed any interest."
Saul smiled. "It's funny how life changes your perspective on things."
Keiri grinned, "Tell me about it. So who are your two companions?"
He pointed to the black haired woman, staring at him with adorable white eyes. "This is Hinata. She's my companion from the Ninja academy, who's stuck with me through thick and thin." Then he pointed to Yakumo, who openly waved politely. "And this is Yakumo. She's the Heiress of the Kurama clan and former disciple to the best Genjutsu practitioner in Konoha, Yuuhi Kurenai."
"Isn't she a part of that one clan, the Hyuuga? I wouldn't expect those kinds of eyes on anyone else."
"Well you see, Hinata-"
The black haired woman hugged his arm and gave him a light squeeze. She didn't want him to talk about such things. Saul respected her desires.
"Mother should be expecting us, by the way. Why don't we head inside?"
"...Sure."
The orphanage caretaker led them inside the orphanage. It was a small building, akin to a daycare of some kind. They walked through a couple of hallways until they reached a room somewhere at the end. There was a bald old man and Yakushi Nono, the man being on the bed unmoving while Nono attended to him.
"Saul... Is that you?"
His eyes were cloudy. The man clearly had cataracts, something that Medical Ninjutsu could also do little about. Despite its almost miraculous ability to rejuvenate and heal the body, it did so through causing the cells to divide and replenish themselves. Old age however limited the body's ability to replenish itself effectively.
Every time your cells divided, the ends of your DNA would be truncated. They could not divide forever. Forcing cell division would result in the body destroying itself from its roots. The very information that made you, you, was no longer carried on in its entirety from cell to cell. This decided the limit of human lifespan. Even with cell division stemming from completely natural causes, the absolute limit was calculated to be around ~120 years.
The man named Kanpu, who lay on the bed in front of them, was clearly advanced in his years. He was not far from death's door.
"It's me, Kanpu."
His words came slowly, as every utterance took effort.
"Saul... Saul. Show me your tongue."
Saul was confused, but opened his mouth anyway. The old man observed quietly, then he gave off a toothless smile.
"You've grown to become a fine ninja, Saul. I am glad you followed my advice. Never... Join root. The Darkness of the Shinobi may have had his claws taken away after what happened to the Uchiha, but that man, Shimura Danzo. He is a cunning tiger. One day he will return to power. At that time, I hope you may live in peace outside of his reach..."
Kanpu closed his eyes, at peace with the knowledge that Saul was not marked with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
Nono pulled up some covers back over the man, letting him rest.
"I am sorry. Kanpu has been worried for the longest time about you, Saul. He would not believe me until he saw it with his own eyes."
Saul scratched his chin. His mind raced, understanding many things in an instant.
"I get it." Now for the final verification, "Mother, what's Danzo like for Kanpu to be so concerned about him? Isn't he the Hokage advisor?"
The woman smiled in silence. She would not speak. She could not speak. The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, placed on all members of root, prevented its members from even having thoughts of revealing any information, positive or negative, about Danzo or the Root. It was a permanent Juinjutsu that paralyzed one from making any movements if they even had the slightest of such intentions.
"Saul, why don't you introduce me to your company?" Nono asked, completely ignoring his earlier question.
Hinata pursed her lips, a little confused and bothered at the apparent disregard to her beloved. Saul stroked her hair calmingly.
He introduced both women to the apologetic Nono, who showed them around the orphanage. They made small talk for a while until the woman stopped outside a door.
"Wait here. I have something I wanted to give you, child."
Nono entered her office and came back out with a few scrolls. She handed them to Saul.
"I heard earlier from Himari that you've been learning Medical Ninjutsu purely from the public materials available. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more, but here are some techniques from my personal collection." She smiled, "I've already learned everything there is to know on these already. They'll be of much more use to you rather than just gathering dust on my shelves."
Saul looked through the titles.
"On Repairing Organs within the Chest," "Thoughts on Nerve Repair and Growth," "Connection between the body and soul," "Delicate Illness Extraction Technique," "Chakra Scalpel," and "Infusing Vitality after Healing."
He was ecstatic. These scrolls were exactly what he needed! These could save months, even years of experiments! Saul bowed.
"Thank you, Mother. I will not disappoint you."
Nono smiled. "As long as you can save even one more life with these techniques, it will have been completely worth it. I'd suggest you start with the Connection Between the Body and Soul. I've seen it from your healing in Sayuri. Your healing is very structural, very principled. It shows a deep understanding and adherence to the books on anatomy.
But you're missing something crucial a lot of medical nin learn instinctively to make up for their gaps in knowledge. Your methodical approach of stably learning everything step by step has allowed you to reach great heights of medical ninjutsu at a young age, but it has also crippled your future progress. Once you learn it, a whole new world of healing will be opened up to you."
"I understand. Thank you for your wisdom, mother."
Nono chuckled, "Why are you being so formal? It is my duty to take care of you, Child, no matter what. Remember, you always have a home here at the orphanage."
Author's Note: Alright I've set things up and foreshadowed some future events in the story. The final stage of the Chunin exams is beginning come next chapter! Hope everyone's looking forward to the Gauntlet!
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