Chapter 303: Sakura: Speak Up for Me
"What do you mean 'a tendency to faint at any moment'? Maybe your sister used the Byakugan and accidentally saw something she shouldn't have, got embarrassed, and fainted."
Fū complained from the side.
"Stop making sarcastic remarks. Hurry up and pinch the philtrum. Once Kushina-nee wakes up, we'll know what happened."
Rin stood nearby, wanting to step forward, but the others were blocking the space, so she could only try to persuade them verbally.
"Leave it to me~"
The enthusiastic girl Fū immediately squatted down when she heard that and reached out to pinch a certain place on Kushina.
"Fū, what are you doing?"
Rin and Hanabi were both stunned.
"Isn't this the philtrum?"
Fū looked up in confusion.
"…Are jinchūriki all idiots?"
Rin suddenly realized that the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki in front of her had a level of intelligence oddly similar to Kushina-nee's son, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
"Fū, don't tell me you think 'pinching the philtrum' literally means pinching the middle of the philtrum."
Hanabi asked carefully.
Although Hanabi was the youngest, as the second daughter of the Hyūga clan leader she had been taught a lot since childhood, so she naturally knew what it meant.
As for Rin, there was even less to say. She was older and a medical ninja, so there was no way she wouldn't know.
"Isn't that what it means? Karin told me that."
Fū looked completely innocent as she pointed at Karin behind everyone.
"I..I learned it from my mother."
"People in Kusagakure treated my mother like a medical supply pack. But only someone who's conscious can bite her to recover, so they had to keep pinching the philtrum to wake injured people up."
Karin also looked innocent.
"Then you should know it properly, right?"
Rin was puzzled.
She came from a medical background. How could she not know?
"Yeah. Doesn't pinching the philtrum hurt people awake?"
"Yes."
"I once saw my mother pinch a ninja's philtrum so hard that it burst, and then he woke up from the pain."
"..."
"Karin, the philtrum is actually here."
After a moment of speechlessness, Rin pointed to the spot beneath her own nose and patiently explained.
Then she looked helplessly at Kushina lying on the ground.
"Luckily Kushina-nee has an Impure World Reincarnation body. Otherwise that pinch just now would've swollen badly."
Just split open.
Eh?
Wait.
"Impure World Reincarnation bodies don't even feel pain. Pinching the philtrum won't work."
Rin finally realized this and stopped Hanabi, who had been about to replace Fū and pinch the correct spot.
"Oh, right."
Hanabi nodded after hearing Rin say that.
"Eh? Wait. If Edo bodies don't even feel pain, then why did she faint?"
Hanabi suddenly realized something.
"…I'm not sure either. Maybe it's psychological?"
Rin looked confused.
Impure World Reincarnation bodies couldn't be injured and didn't even feel fatigue. They didn't need sleep.
A situation like fainting really didn't make sense.
With no other choice, the group carried Kushina to the medical department.
"Eh? Hikari-nee, why are you in the medical department? Did you get hurt?"
Hanabi noticed Uchiha Hikari standing in front of Yakushi Nono, receiving a diagnosis and prescription, and asked curiously.
In Hanabi's eyes, Hikari was the strongest female ninja.
Who could possibly injure her?
As for getting sick?
Would a ninja at her level really catch a cold or get a fever?
"If it's inconvenient to talk about, that's fine. I was just curious."
Hanabi quickly added, worried she might have touched on something private.
"It's nothing. Ever since I woke up, all the so-called bonds in the ninja world have been constantly annoying me."
Uchiha Hikari didn't mind. She pointed at Yakushi Nono.
"The director reminded me that constantly being angry and unhappy can cause breast nodules, so I came to get checked as a precaution."
"Eh? That's actually a thing? Good thing I'm usually pretty happy."
Hanabi was startled.
"Of course it's real."
Yakushi Nono said gently with a warm smile.
"You know that Tsunade-sama has taken two disciples, right? Those two kids keep going to her asking for the 'secret technique to make them bigger.'"
"The girl from the Yamanaka clan is doing alright. She recently entered puberty, so she's already starting to develop."
"But the other child…"
"That child gets angry and hits people often. Seeing her best friend develop earlier than her made her upset. Recently, one of her teammates also went missing, so she's been very unhappy."
"Then suddenly, she noticed she seemed to have developed too. She happily ran to show off to Tsunade-sama, but after examination it turned out to be breast nodules. Tsunade-sama performed surgery on the spot."
"The surgery went perfectly. There were no side effects, and not even a scar remained."
"…That's way too tragic, isn't it?"
Hanabi's mouth hung open.
She was still young. Meaning she was still young in age, so she didn't have that kind of worry.
Besides, looking at the development of her older sister, she believed she wouldn't turn out badly either.
But the person Yakushi Nono mentioned was truly pitiful.
She was already flat. Then she finally thought she had started developing, only to discover it was a nodule.
What kind of blow must that have been?
What was even more terrifying was that the cause of the condition was apparently "being unhappy."
In other words, that person had practically been deprived of the right to feel upset about it, because doing so might cause it to relapse.
Too tragic.
"Stop daydreaming. Why did you come here? Where's the patient? Where's the injured person?"
Yakushi Nono's voice snapped Hanabi back to reality.
"Quick, quick. Bring Kushina-nee over so the director can take a look."
Hanabi's voice also snapped the others out of the shock caused by the story they had just heard. They carried Kushina over and placed her on a hospital bed.
"Another Impure World Reincarnation body?"
Yakushi Nono, herself an Impure World Reincarnation body, was surprised to see that the patient was also in the same state.
An undead Impure World Reincarnation ninja… fainting?
"Yeah. Kushina-nee was shopping with us, and she suddenly fainted while walking."
Rin briefly explained what had happened.
"No one attacked her, and she suddenly fainted… then it's probably a chakra disorder…"
Yakushi Nono stroked her chin as she analyzed the situation, while her other hand began examining Kushina.
Bang!
Uchiha Hikari had just finished her own examination and was about to leave. When she heard that everyone was troubled by Kushina's condition, she immediately turned around and enthusiastically helped solve the problem.
With one swing of a Susanoo blade, she chopped Kushina's head clean off and then stomped it to pieces.
Everyone froze in shock.
Because of the Impure World Reincarnation characteristics, Kushina's crushed head quickly gathered back together.
"What just happened?"
Kushina opened her eyes in confusion and sat up on the hospital bed.
"I feel like I just saw something even more terrifying than the scenes in the Infinite Tsukuyomi world…"
Uh.
Everyone snapped out of their daze.
It seemed…
This treatment method was actually pretty effective?
"Kushina-nee, just now you..mmph…"
Rin had just begun to say something when Yakushi Nono covered her mouth from behind.
As the current director of the medical hospital in Amegakure, Yakushi Nono also handled psychological counseling duties.
She had already noticed earlier that Kushina's fainting was definitely caused by psychological shock.
This was not the moment to stimulate her again.
(End of this chapter)