"Look, this is Sister Tsunade's current experiment update."
Misaki took out a petri dish, inside of which the flesh was already showing signs of forming.
"This is Orochimaru-sensei's own experiment update."
As Misaki said this, she opened another petri dish and secretly glanced toward the room where Orochimaru was staying.
In this petri dish, there wasn't even the earliest sign of flesh formation—cell fusion itself looked extremely weak.
Clearly, Orochimaru's tissue cultivation experiment was far behind Tsunade's.
At this rate, he wouldn't be able to attempt Hashirama cell fusion until after Tsunade succeeded.
"Is it because our teacher's wife has a blood relation with the First Hokage?"
Nagato asked a perfectly reasonable question, but Misaki couldn't help letting out a sudden laugh.
"Why are you laughing?"
Nagato felt increasingly confused—he hadn't said anything strange at all.
"Orochimaru-sensei suspected that too."
As Misaki recalled Orochimaru's envious expression, she couldn't help laughing again.
Well, she really did have a blood relation—that was just a natural advantage. There was nothing Orochimaru could do besides envy her.
"Haha."
Imagining Orochimaru's resentful face, Nagato also burst into laughter.
"Shh, don't let Orochimaru-sensei hear us."
Misaki gestured for Nagato to lower his voice. If Orochimaru found out, both of them might suffer consequences.
"Yeah yeah, I know."
Nagato quickly suppressed his laughter, as the two placed the petri dishes back where they belonged.
"You really think I can't hear you?"
Inside the room, Orochimaru smiled wryly and shook his head. Later, he'd show them what happens when they mock their elders.
Unaware of what awaited them, Nagato and Misaki continued chatting more and more energetically in the laboratory.
They were getting more and more excited.
After an unknown amount of time, Orochimaru finally came out after finishing his work inside the room.
He pretended to be casual and started assigning tasks to the two.
For the entire day, Nagato and Misaki worked nonstop, busy as spinning tops.
It felt like they had completed a week's worth of work in one single day.
When they finally left the hospital and bid farewell to Orochimaru, both of them were so exhausted they could barely stand upright.
Of course, they knew exactly why.
"We should be careful from now on," Misaki muttered bitterly—this mess was all her fault.
"A lesson hard-earned."
Nagato completely agreed with Misaki's view. They exchanged glances before parting ways.
During the following vacation, Nagato showed up at the lab right on time every day.
Before officially joining Anbu, he had finally confirmed which tissue was the cornea.
"I found it!"
Excitedly, Nagato shouted in the lab.
"Hard work always pays off. Good job."
"Tomorrow, I'll have the hospital admit several patients with nearsightedness."
Orochimaru casually arranged for the next step. Once a few cases of nearsightedness were cured, this research would be considered a complete success.
Although not groundbreaking research, it had been an invaluable learning experience for both Nagato and Misaki.
Throughout the process, he hadn't interfered at all—it had been entirely completed by Nagato and Misaki themselves.
"Thank you, Orochimaru."
Admitting patients gave Nagato hands-on practice. Even if failures occurred, eye replacement was always an option if things went wrong.
But there was no risk of medical accidents, so Nagato could boldly perform the surgery.
"Don't forget to call me when it's time."
Misaki was also happy for Nagato from the sidelines.
"Of course, this success is thanks in part to you."
Nagato immediately agreed. Even if Misaki hadn't mentioned it, he wouldn't have forgotten.
Without Misaki's help, he wouldn't have progressed this quickly alone.
"I know you would."
Misaki looked delighted, more playful than usual.
"I'm heading off for today."
"Tomorrow I need to return to Anbu. I'll request time off once the patients arrive."
Nagato tidied up a bit and prepared to leave.
"Sure, go ahead."
Orochimaru waved him off casually.
"See you."
With visible joy, Nagato left confidently.
If he hadn't remembered the surprise, he would've already run to Nonou's apartment and shouted her name.
That very day, Konoha First People's Hospital began recruiting patients suffering from nearsightedness.
The hospital established by Hokage-sama still had great credibility within the village.
Even though this surgical procedure had never been heard of before, many villagers suffering from nearsightedness came seeking treatment.
Without exception, they all registered first and then went home to wait for notifications.
After returning to Anbu, Nagato was immediately assigned a mission by Sakumo.
Sakumo always followed through on his words. He disbanded Nawaki's squad, merging Minato's squad with Nonou's team.
Minato and the others understood the situation well. During the mission, they kept casting odd glances at Nagato.
It made Nagato feel awkward whenever he was with Nonou, almost afraid to meet her gaze directly.
As if he had orchestrated this chance just to be near her.
Luckily, the mission wasn't difficult, and these two teams weren't strangers to working together.
They completed the task easily and returned to the village. Soon afterward, Nagato requested time off to go to the hospital for surgery.
Up until now, he hadn't mentioned a single word about this to Nonou.
He truly was someone who could keep secrets within his heart.
...
"How is it?"
As soon as he removed the bandages from the patient, Nagato eagerly asked.
"I can see the painting on the wall clearly now."
"And I can even read the signature at the bottom."
The patient was a middle-aged woman around forty years old—Nagato's very first patient.
Once the bandages were removed, she strained her eyes wide open, as if trying to see even more clearly.
"Why don't you take another careful look outside the window?"
Standing beside Nagato, Misaki watched closely while several nurses also remained inside the ward.
The moment wasn't over yet—more excitement was coming!
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"Okay."
The middle-aged woman turned her head toward the window.
"Yes! I really can see clearly now. Before, everything looked blurry."
Her voice betrayed her uncontrollable joy.
"That's good to hear."
"Go home and make sure to rest well."
Though Nagato kept his face calm, he was bursting with joy inside.
He had fulfilled the promise he made to Nonou.
Now, he could finally prepare to perform surgery on Nonou herself.
"All right, thank you so much."
Overcome with excitement, the woman grabbed Nagato's hand and shook it vigorously.
"You're welcome. It's my duty."
"I still have other patients to operate on, so I'll let you go now."
Nagato pulled his hand away and shot Misaki a knowing look.
"We'll take our leave first. If you're in a hurry, you can go ahead and get discharged."
Misaki exchanged a few words with the old lady before following Nagato out.
"When are you planning to tell Nonou?"
Misaki had already figured it all out. She knew Nagato wanted to give Nonou a surprise.
"Not in a rush yet. Let's finish today's surgeries first."
"I'll get more familiar with it too."
Nagato held back his eagerness. The more cases he did, the more confident he would become.
"You've actually become quite mature."
Misaki covered her mouth and smiled.
"Let's start the next one."
Truth be told, Nagato didn't know the hospital as well as Misaki did. His job here was simply to perform surgeries.
"No problem. You can head to the operating room first."
With that, Misaki left alone to arrange the next patient.
The entire day, Nagato and Misaki were holed up in the operating room.
They not only completed over a dozen nearsightedness surgeries together, but also trained others in the procedure.
Of course, they couldn't stay at the hospital doing this forever.
Fortunately, the surgeries weren't especially difficult, though they required extreme attention to detail.
The assigned Medical Ninjas who had been sent here quickly grasped the essentials of the procedure.
That way, even if Nagato and Misaki weren't around in the future, nearsightedness surgeries could still proceed normally.
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