"What the hell are you doing?" Mitsuru was the first one to ask the question going through the minds of both of them.
Kaida, who was so focused that he hadn't even paid attention to his surroundings, kept making notes about how he would proceed with the next operation. When he heard Mitsuru's voice, he was brought out of his flow-like state.
"Sensei, Lord Third, I am sorry I was... busy with something," Kaida said, standing up to greet them.
"No problem, Kaida, but can I ask what you are doing so extensively? Seeing a Kumo jonin on your table like that is a little... confusing," Hiruzen said. His heart was still a little worried, but from seeing Kaida's reaction, which was not like a thief caught in the act, he knew that even if Kaida was doing something... illegal, it was not intentional but just an honest mistake. Mitsuru had similar thoughts.
"I have been researching about the disease Chakritis, Lord Third. One of my friends is suffering from this disease, so I wanted to see if I could do anything about it," Kaida said, keeping his reply straight, not hiding anything as there was no need for it in the first place.
Both Mitsuru and Hiruzen understood that Kaida was talking about Itachi and appreciated the sentiment of helping a friend in need, but that still didn't explain the jonin in the room.
Seeing the eyes of both Mitsuru and Hiruzen heading toward the jonin, Kaida understood what they wanted to hear, so he continued.
"From my research, I found out that the medicine from Howling Wolf Village will make all of the chakra veins in the patient's body very loose, which in turn helps during the operation, increasing the chances of success.
But that leads to another problem," Kaida said, taking out a plethora of papers from the stack and placing them on the table one by one. Hiruzen and Mitsuru went through each of them slowly, wondering about the various notes and reports Kaida had gotten his hands on.
"The ninja will have a very bad chakra network inside their body after the surgery and will need at least six months to get back in shape. Even then, they will have to relearn many things from scratch because the chakra network required for a jutsu is not the same as before," Kaida said, presenting the reports of previous patients who went through similar surgery.
At this point, Mitsuru was really impressed by all of the research Kaida had presented. From this, Kaida knew about this disease as much as she did, if not more, which was impressive considering she was among the best medical ninja in Konoha, if not the top in Tsunade's absence.
"So they will have to waste one year of their life, but I don't think it is a big problem since they will be able to keep their lives, right?" Hiruzen asked, wanting to see how deeply Kaida had researched. By now, his earlier worries were all but gone.
Kaida nodded, then took out the list of patients who had this disease. "It would be, but we are not thinking about one important part here... all of the people who get this disease are talented beyond measure, almost certain to be S-rank.
If they have to waste one year of their prime time, it would be detrimental to their future, and for sure they will not be able to reach their full potential."
A slight smile came to Hiruzen's face because this was the same question his student had raised once, but she couldn't find any answer at that time.
She was not the Tsunade then, but a beginner who was just starting to learn medical jutsu, and the person got treated before she could do anything. Considering how rare this disease was, there was no need to bring this discussion up again, until now that is.
That's why Hiruzen was able to see Tsunade in place of Kaida for a second before smiling slightly and continuing the discussion.
"Then what do you suggest we should do?" Hiruzen asked. When it was said Hiruzen knew every jutsu in Konoha aside from the Flying Thunder God Technique, it was not a lie in the slightest – he truly knew every jutsu, medical jutsu included.
"Since the problem is just in these two areas, why are we altering the whole chakra network of the patient? We can just operate this..." Kaida then started going through an extensive procedure, which was taxing just to discuss, let alone apply.
"This is possible, but the chance of things going wrong is very high in such an operation. Our worry about the ninja not achieving their full potential may shift to them dying or not being able to use chakra in their life," Mitsuru said, shaking her head just thinking about how difficult this whole operation would be.
Kaida just smiled at that and presented a file to Mitsuru about his previous twenty trials, all of them being successes with proficiency increasing every time. After reading the file, she gave it to Hiruzen, who was also shocked about the findings.
"You did all those operations alone?" Mitsuru asked in shock, at which Kaida nodded his head with a smile, getting a sigh from both Hiruzen and Mitsuru.
"I can see that the last three operations were almost perfect, then why is an actual ninja of Kumogakure in your office?" Hiruzen asked the next question going through his mind.
"Because all of that operation data was of chunin level, and Itachi has above jonin level chakra. I wanted to be sure before presenting this idea," Kaida replied like he did nothing wrong.
Hiruzen could only sigh at that since finding a jonin level ninja as a bandit is almost impossible unless the enemy village actively plants them. But capturing an enemy jonin like this – Hiruzen could only sigh at that, but considering the relations between these two villages at this point, there was nothing wrong he could point out.
"What are you going to do with him after that?" Mitsuru asked.
"The village is planning something, and his memory will be important for that, so I will do the same thing I did to the other twenty ninjas," Kaida said.
Mitsuru didn't know about the village plan, but Hiruzen knew. It was true that these memories might get them some additional points in their plan to attack two outposts of Iwa and Kumo.
"Since you have everything planned, I don't have any problem with this. Just make sure you don't do anything like this again, or be noticed by someone if you do. I don't want a brute wanting explanations about my ninja," Hiruzen said, which Kaida replied to with a smile.
"So you are going to do the last test on him?" With all formalities out, Hiruzen asked the question he was curious about, because even he was not confident about performing the operation Kaida had specified.
Though he was not a genius in the field, he could be considered at a level above specialist medical ninja, just below chief medical ninja. Mitsuru had the same thought of wanting to see the operation herself.
"Yes, I was about to proceed. If both of you could spare a few moments to guide and point out some of my mistakes, I would be extremely grateful," Kaida said, understanding their thoughts.
"Sure, sure, I have all the time in the world for a child like you," Hiruzen said, liking the respect the boy provided to him, while Mitsuru also nodded her head.
Kaida smiled and then went toward the sleeping beauty in the room, who was about to get the shock of his life when he woke up.
***
(A.N: Sorry for the Break, I was... am a moron, and This break wasn't because of any major reason—just a small health issue I had one day, and then I didn't feel like working at all. It was silly of me, and I'll try not to repeat it. TT)