[I... saw it!]

  Link jolted awake, sitting up abruptly in bed.

  What the hell did I even see?

  He instinctively stretched his neck, letting his shadow quietly wipe the sweat from his face. Sliding into the slippers that the shadow had ly pced by the bed, he made his way to the bathroom.

  Taijutsu training... it’s really a bit much.

  Beied with stones by a taijutsu expert of Might Guy’s caliber, it had taken him a full month to traverse just teers toward his teacher—only to get beaten up at cle.

  That’s just how taijutsu training worked. Even in the manga, when Tsurained Sakura, she emphasized that "mediin must never be hit" before relentlessly attag her to train her evasion skills.

  Maybe I should be grateful that the persoing me up isn’t one of those crazy strong women.

  As Link brushed his teeth, he absentmindedly ran a hand over his sore muscles. Though the pain lingered, his injuries were long gone.

  Mediinjutsu wasn’t something to be casually used. Excessive chakra stimution to rapidly regee cells could shorten a person’s lifespan. Fortunately, his Delicate Illness Extra Teique filled this gap, allowing him to recklessly use chakra to heal his body during training—a luxury no one else had.

  Without this teique, he wouldn’t have had the time to bance work, taijutsu training, and the intensive practice required for mediinjutsu.

  With this skill, he was a certified grind master.

  With Guy-sensei off on a mission and Naruto and other's out of the vilge...

  "Ptui!" Link spat out the rier. Watg time slip by so quickly always left him with an inexplicable sense ency.

  After breakfast, he jogged two ps around Konoha to warm up, packed a bento prepared by his shadow, and headed to the medical division building.

  "Three left... I’ll o grab a few spares soon."

  He scooped up the fish from his tank, watg as it thrashed violently before slowing, its mouth opening and closing as it neared death. Only then did he pce it oable.

  Fog his chakra, his haed a soft glow as he pressed it against the fish. The influx of chakra quickly revived the dying creature—though it seemed to revive just to endure suffog again.

  "Spt!" The fish spped his hand with its tail.

  "Spsh!" Link casually tossed it bato the tank, a satisfied look on his face. His reflexes and speed had steadily improved thanks to taijutsu training, while his chakra trol, hohrough medical practice, was also advang.

  Being able to easily revive a fish on the brink of death roof of his growth. After years of accumuting knowledge and months of focused training, his chakra trol had already surpassed the level Sakura achieved three months into Tsuraining.

  "I wish Tsunade could traioo..."

  Link sighed wistfully. As a master mediinja, Tsunade’s chakra trol was unparalleled.

  Her legendary super strength was the ultimate testament to this skill—trating an immense amount of chakra into her fists or feet in an instant required absolute precision. For others, such trol took signifit time and effort, but Tsunade audents executed it fwlessly in battle.

  After tormenting the fish a bit more, Link spent the m in the library studying medical texts. By noon, he finished his bento and headed to the hospital.

  "Good afternoon, Link-san."

  "Thank you for your hard work."

  Link greeted the departing ninja with a smile. His reputation had grown beyond the jōnin circle and into the wider unity.

  Much of this fame stemmed from his work at the hospital. A young mediinja with a calm and kind demeanor, Link was well-liked—especially by ninja who often danced with death.

  The hospital wasn’t busy today, so after making his rounds, Li for Nara Ensui’s apartment.

  "Ding-dong."

  "ing!" Nara Ensui opehe door with a smile. He looked much healthier. "You’re here early today."

  "Yeah, the hospital wasn’t busy at all..." Link’s tone was calm as he gestured for his teacher to sit on the couch.

  Fog his chakra, he activated the Delicate Illness Extra Teique.

  "Whew." Ensui’s breathing grew heavier as his bones and muscles realighough he ehe disfort in silehe process left him visibly drained. Ohe session ended, he said, "I heard that Iris and Ami will participate in this year’s in Exams..."

  "They’ve already decided?" Link observed his teacher’s dition while steadily outputting chakra. "Another five to ten sessions, and you should be able to extract chakra and perform ninjutsu normally again."

  "They have," Ensui replied, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "They don’t want to fall too far behind you."

  He paused before adding, "Thank you. And... about this teique—"

  "I haven’t told anyone."

  Even the Nara wasn’t aware of the near-plete recovery Ensui had achieved.

  The value of this teique surpassed all of his previous achievements. By rest any cellur damage, it essentially offered a pathway to immortality. If wot out, it would bring unimaginable danger from both Konoha’s leaders and the Land of Fire’s elites before he could fully develop his abilities.

  "..."

  After a moment of silence, Link softly replied, "Uood."

  Switg topics, he lightehe mood. "This year’s in Exams are going to be tough. I hear the Sunagakure is gearing up to make a big impression..."

  The Sunagakure had secured ownership of the Gold Mihrough a fake Land of Fire mert, sparking fierce protests and underhaactics from the Land of Fire. While the two nations were locked in a bitter dispute, Amegakure ninjas exploited the chaos to openly ihe Land of Rivers and begin mining operations, disregarding both Fire and Wind’s protests.

  The situation had devolved into a tangled mess, with the allied nations uo risk war to resolve it.

  With tensions high, the uping in Exams promised to be explosive.

  Bleam