Chapter 595: Chakra Pathways
Yoshi finished his cup of tea and got up. He said, "I hope you know that you'll have to memorize a lot of books in order to learn Medical Ninjutsu."
Fujin sighed and answered, "Yes. That was a big reason why I didn't try to do it when I was busy."
Yoshi nodded and said, "Alright. Come with me."
He led Fujin to the library inside the Hospital while saying, "I'll personally guide you to ensure that you get the best guidance and become a very capable Medical Ninja. In addition, I'll ask Isamu and a few other experienced Medical Nins to guide you as well in some aspects."
Fujin nodded. He had expected as much considering how much Yoshi had pestered him. They reached the library. Yoshi immediately grabbed half a dozen thick books, placed them on the table in front of Fujin and said, "These books have the basics of the human body. Even though we taught you a bit while teaching you the Mystical Palm jutsu, you'll be learning everything in far more depth."
Fujin looked at the books and asked, "It's cool if I take them and any other books in the library with me, right?"
Yoshi nodded and said, "You should. I'll discuss with Isamu to come up with a schedule for you."
Fujin nodded while thinking, 'Good luck trying to stick to any schedule.' He said, "Alright. I'll see you later then."
Yoshi nodded and said, "Just come find me in my office. If I'm not here, you can visit my home as well."
Fujin smiled and said, "I will."
Yoshi felt that Fujin's smile was slightly strange, but he didn't think much of it. The pitiful old man was completely unaware of how crazy the next couple of months would be for him. Unfortunately, he didn't have the same experience as Hiruzen, or he would have raised his guard several times! He left the library to share the good news with Isamu.
Meanwhile, Fujin stayed in the Library and grabbed 6 more sets of those books and stored them in a storage scroll before returning to his home.
In his basement, 72 Shadow clones were working on a new seal. He immediately said, "Other the ones who are close to a breakthrough, dispel yourselves."
70 Shadow Clones dispersed themselves. Fujin planned, 'I can't stop working on the seal. It is far more important than Medical Ninjutsu. However, there is no need to have too many clones working on the seal as that is rather redundant.
I'll have 30 clones work on the seal and have 42 go through the medical books. That won't leave me with much chakra, but I guess I can still continue experimenting with fusing the Fire and Wind elements. If I run low on chakra, then I will focus on physical training.'
Having made his decision, Fujin created Shadow Clones and assigned them the work. The clones working on the seal continued as usual.
As for the ones reading the medical books, they had additional tasks. The first was obviously to get the knowledge. The second was to recreate the books through his own understanding.
Fujin planned to place the books he wrote in the library of the Phantom Haven Society. The main reason why Fujin created that organization was information. Now, his second goal was to make the organization extremely advanced in Medical Ninjutsu. Unlike what every member of the Phantom Haven Society thought, Fujin had no interest in their individual strengths for the time being.
Of course, creating a team that was excellent at medical ninjutsu and good at research was easier said than done and would take a long time. Luckily, Fujin wasn't bothered by the time required as he knew that he had no hopes of creating a good Medic unit before the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Fujin got busy with his new schedule. In the Land of Wave, Team 7 faced Zabuza and Haku. Even though Naruto had learnt the Great Breakthrough jutsu and other Wind jutsus and was quite creative with them, they weren't at a high enough level to make much of an impact against Haku's Ice Kekkei Genkai.
In the end, Sasuke got heavily injured, resulting in Naruto releasing Kurama's chakra for the first time and defeating Haku. He still was unable to kill Haku, who sacrificed his life to save Zabuza and give him a chance. Unfortunately, even with that opening, Zabuza wasn't a match for Kakashi and was defeated almost immediately following Haku's death.
Like in the original story, he killed Gato for disrespecting Haku's dead body, before joining Haku in the afterlife. Team 7 waited for another week for the bridge to be completed before starting their return journey.
During this time, Fujin's clones were done with the 6 books. Not only that, they had written 6 books of their own based on their understanding of the knowledge in the books.
Fujin stored the books from the library back in the scroll while storing the books he had written in a different scroll. As he did so, he thought with a sigh, 'Biology is as tedious to learn as I remember. This won't be fun like Fuinjutsu…
That said, it isn't something I should skip. I was reluctant to study this due to how difficult it would be, but just these 6 books taught me so much about human biology. Even though the basic human body in this world is quite similar, the existence of the chakra network brings about a qualitative change. Of course, it also makes biology even more complicated.
There is an entirely different branch of biology that focuses just on chakra pathways. Just like the blood vessels in our body, the chakra network is enmeshed within the body, connecting to each and every cell.
Apart from the ones who have weird biologies, the chakra in every ninja's body travels through these chakra pathways. It's eerily similar to the meridians in the cultivation novels I read in my previous world…
Almost makes me wonder if the chakra pathways can be strengthened or widened to increase the quantity of chakra in my body or to allow me to use it more freely…'
Fujin stored the scrolls while thinking. After a couple of minutes, he chuckled, 'I shouldn't count on something like that. There isn't any known record of someone doing something like this. Even though Tsunade could store her chakra, she did it with the help of Fuinjutsu and not with just her medical knowledge. So, I'll be starting entirely new research. Who knows how many decades of work will be needed to complete it?
Besides, even though there are similarities, they end with the chakra pathways. Unlike the power system in cultivation novels, there is no such thing as a Dantian in this world. And, even though everyone speaks about chakra reserves, there aren't any chakra storage tanks or reservoirs in our body as chakra isn't exactly stored in the body in the form of chakra.
Instead, it is continuously produced by the body depending on the person's needs. And this is done with the help of the chakra network as well. Since the chakra network is connected with each and every cell in the body, it is able to draw out the physical energy in each cell.
It transfers this physical energy and spiritual energy to the organs inside our body. These organs, along with doing their normal functions, are also responsible for combining physical and spiritual energy into chakra.
Under normal circumstances, the amount of physical energy that gets drawn out is very negligible. When a ninja tries to use chakra for something, only then does it extract more physical and spiritual energy. This is also the reason why exhausting all chakra results in coma or death. It is because all the physical energy in the ninja's body is consumed.
In addition, if the chakra is created but the ninja decides against using it, which happens quite frequently with the Shadow Clones, the chakra just gets converted back into physical and spiritual energy with negligible losses for creating and deconstructing the chakra.
This nature of chakra is also why the amount of chakra in a ninja's body is directly related to his physical energy and spiritual energy. Even if one is lacking, then the amount of chakra they can create will be severely restricted.
Of course, that is unless one is born with a special physique, like the Uzumakis, or have their physiques tempered by the Tailed Beasts sealed inside them or other methods. In those cases, the physical and spiritual energy of the ninjas improves at a rapid rate.
So, even if I manage to widen or strengthen my chakra pathways, it won't help me to increase my chakra reserves. Instead, the only advantage might be that they will be able to extract physical energy fractions of seconds quicker and supercharge my jutsus more quickly…
Hmm, on second thought, that's not a bad buff at all. Especially while dealing with ninjas who move too quickly. Perhaps I'll ask Phantom Haven's future research team to work on this after all…'
Fujin stretched his body and muttered to himself, 'Regardless, learning medical ninjutsu will likely bring me some surprises. Though it might not be very useful before the Fourth Great Ninja War, it might be the most important thing for me once I become old.
There is no harm in working on it for a few months and building a good base right now. It'll also help me create a bond with Tsunade rather easily. Even if that doesn't happen, I can just bribe her to teach me the stuff that is beyond Yoshi. Now then, I hope Yoshi has created a good training plan for me and got a lot of good help.'
With a smirk on his face, Fujin disappeared from his house.