A new arrival and it's about Itachi God. So, do give it a go.
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***
"Why did this happen?"
Shisui Uchiha looked at Itachi, his face trembling.
The latter had no serious injuries.
However, there was no trace of chakra flowing through his meridians.
"It's like this again."
Minato Namikaze clenched his fists tightly.
Itachi had placed all his trust in him, yet while he had prevented Kushina from being ripped from the Nine-Tails, he had failed to protect Itachi.
Itachi had sacrificed his life to protect the village.
He must have exhausted all his chakra in order to break the masked man's control over the wooden figure with his eye power.
These were Minato's responsibilities as Hokage.
As a teacher, he had failed to protect his student, and as Hokage, what had happened again?
Shisui's eyes gradually became bloodshot.
Although he had known Itachi only a short time, he had already considered the five-year-old boy a friend.
He didn't understand what had caused Itachi to exhaust all his chakra.
"I can't save him," Tsunade said, lowering her eyes.
Although she was the strongest medical ninja in the current ninja world, that didn't mean she could save everyone.
She couldn't save any of the people she loved most.
"What a shame!"
The resentment and humiliation in her heart ultimately turned into a sigh.
Tsunade's hand slowly left Itachi's body.
"Bang!"
The chakra glow from her palm, pressed against Itachi's heart, faded.
Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, she suddenly felt a faint heartbeat.
An ordinary ninja, or even a medical ninja, would hardly have been able to detect it.
Tsunade's expression suddenly changed, and chakra radiated once again from her palm.
"Tsunade-sama!?"
Minato's face flickered with surprise at Tsunade's sudden use of medical ninjutsu.
"To think it could be like this, this is unbelievableâŠ"
Tsunade exclaimed in surprise a few seconds later, her eyes filled with shock as she looked at Itachi.
"Is there a chance things will turn around?"
Tsunade's reaction brought a hint of anticipation to both Minato and Shisui's faces.
Tsunade raised her eyes, filled with astonishment, and glanced at the two of them, saying, "There's still chakra in his body!"
"What!?"
Minato and Shisui were both startled.
Just now, they had indeed sensed and observed Itachi and found no chakra.
But with Tsunade's words, their senses and gazes were focused on Itachi.
Shisui could see strands of chakra, finer than a single hair, slowly flowing through Itachi's meridians.
Minato then sensed the chakra fluctuations, which were almost fading.
These two, usually extremely rational, didn't consider why their previous judgment had been wrong.
Their faces instantly lit up with ecstasy.
"Minato, take me to the Konoha hospital quickly. His vital signs are very weak. Medical ninjutsu alone won't be enough."
Tsunade looked at Minato, her eyes filled with surprise.
Minato noticed that, faced with Itachi and the blood on his face, Tsunade's trembling and panic gradually subsided.
"Hmm!"
Minato nodded, not caring about Shisui beside him.
He placed his hand on Tsunade's shoulder, and the two of them vanished.
Swish!
Shisui scanned the devastated surroundings and, with a swift movement, he too headed towards Konoha Hospital.
Near Konoha Hospital, the previous wooden figure rampage hadn't significantly affected the hospital.
Tsunade and Minato, holding Itachi, appeared near the hospital.
They didn't bother to go through the door; they leaped up and broke through the window.
They reached the hospital's medication room.
Though Tsunade had traveled extensively, she was still incredibly familiar with everything about Konoha Hospital.
She quickly scurried past the medicine cabinets, grabbed some, and went to the operating table, mixing the liquid medication.
Minato followed Itachi closely.
"Hold his hand out to me." Tsunade said, turning back after she finished mixing the medication.
Minato nodded, grasped Itachi's arm, and held it towards Tsunade.
Tsunade immediately extended her right index finger and slashed Itachi's wrist.
She slit the vein in Itachi's wrist, then poured the liquid from the vessel in her other hand onto the slash.
A soft green light once again emanated from the palm of Tsunade's hand, the one that had slashed Itachi's wrist.
A green glow of chakra enveloped the liquid medicine, flowing through the lacerated veins and into Itachi's body.
Meanwhile, as this light permeated, no blood flowed from Itachi's wound.
As the medicine rapidly flowed into Itachi's body, his pale lips regained some color.
Minato sensed that Itachi's faint chakra fluctuations were gradually returning.
Clearly, the liquid Tsunade had given Itachi was primarily composed of medicine to restore his strength.
Swish!
A moment later, Shisui darted in through the window that Minato and Tsunade had broken.
His gaze immediately fell on Itachi, whose chakra meridians had already recovered significantly.
Tsunade's tense expression gradually relaxed.
Minato then looked at her and asked, "Tsunade-sama, what exactly happened to Itachi?"
He couldn't believe that his perception and Shisui's Sharingan had been mistaken at the same time.
At that moment, Itachi had indeed been completely depleted of chakra.
By then, the entire liquid in the vessel had been transferred into Itachi's body.
Tsunade put it down and pressed her other hand, which was performing a medical ninjutsu, to the wound on Itachi's wrist, and the scratch quickly disappeared.
She then raised her eyes and said, "It's actually very simple. His body is automatically hiding a trace of chakra."
"The body is hiding it automatically?"
Minato and Shisui raised their eyebrows.
Tsunade looked at the two and explained, "Every living thing has the instinct to seek good fortune and avoid danger, and the body is even more so."
"Ninjas refine their physical and mental energy into chakra. Once the chakra is exhausted, they will die."
"So, when a ninja uses chakra beyond their own ability to withstand, the body's instinct will prevent this."
"This kid, I wonder what kind of ninjutsu he wants to use that exceeds his own limits."
Tsunade looked at Itachi, her eyes full of surprise and doubt.
"Generally speaking, if the ninjutsu is interrupted midway or fails, some of the forcibly extracted chakra will remain in the body."
"If it succeeds, the person will die from chakra depletion."
"I've never seen a body that hides such a tiny amount of chakra like him, so at first I thought he was dead."
"That's really strange."
...
---
"So, how's he doing now?"
Minato Namikaze looked at Itachi.
His chakra and vital signs had clearly recovered, but there was no sign of him waking up.
"Physically, a few days of rest should be fine," Tsunade said.
While chakra depletion was dangerous, it wasn't something she considered difficult to resolve.
"But even more seriously damaged than his body is his mental strength."
Mental strength is spiritual energy.
While chakra is composed of both physical and mental energy, most ninjas are unable to utilize it.
Mental damage is even rarer, typically only seen by ninjas skilled in genjutsu.
"Could this kid have already opened his Sharingan?"
Tsunade stared at Itachi in astonishment.
Besides overuse of the Sharingan, she couldn't imagine anything else that could have damaged Itachi's mental strength to such an extent.
But he was only five years old, could he have already opened his Sharingan?
Although Minato and Shisui knew Itachi had opened his Sharingan, they had promised him not to tell anyone else.
Tsunade didn't dwell on the question.
She looked at Itachi and said, "To my shame, with my medical skills, I can't figure out how this kid got himself into this state."
"Since you've seen his mental damage, there should be a way to treat it, right?" Minato asked.
"General mental damage, no problem."
Tsunade's brows furrowed again.
"But I can't do anything about this kid's condition."
"I can save him, but I can't say when he'll wake up, or even if he'll ever wake up."
"Is that so?" Minato's face was heavy.
He could already confirm that Itachi had used his eye power to break the masked man's control.
"Please think of a way. He must be healed, no matter what," Minato said solemnly, his eyes pleading as he looked at Tsunade.
As Hokage, he couldn't show such an attitude in front of anyone.
But Itachi paid a huge price, not only saving the village but also changing the fate of the two most important people in Minato's life.
As Hokage, a husband, and a father, Minato was deeply grateful to Itachi.
Tsunade cast a suspicious glance at Minato's unusual reaction and sighed.
"His mental strength is damaged, making medication nearly impossible to treat. Even with my current medical ninjutsu, I can only provide a supporting role."
"I can promise you, I won't leave the village until this boy wakes up."
Her original plan was to continue her travels with Shizune after Naruto's birth and the village's crisis was resolved.
However, after the recent incident, with the numerous casualties, Tsunade naturally couldn't leave.
Although Tsunade didn't know the true nature of Minato's relationship with Itachi, she couldn't sit idly by when Minato, as Hokage, had already revealed his stance.
Among the medical ninjas in the ninja world, if there was anyone who could even remotely guarantee a cure for Itachi, it was none other than Tsunade.
"Then I'll trouble you."
Minato nodded at Tsunade, then glanced sideways at Shisui and said, "Then you will stay here and take care of him for the time being."
Logically, Minato should have been the one to stay.
But even though the enemy had been driven back, the village still had a multitude of issues that needed his attention as Hokage.
And Tsunade's medical skills needed to be used to treat more wounded.
"Yes!"
Shisui Uchiha took the unconscious Itachi from Minato's arms.
Two dried bloodstains marked the boy's face.
He had experienced the pain of using his eye power and the resulting damage to his mental strength.
But Itachi's face showed no sign of pain.
The corners of his mouth curled up slowly, as if in a smile.
Just as Minato was about to leave, he suddenly sensed something and glanced at the window.
Swish!
Kushina Uzumaki leaped in from the window, having followed Minato's chakra.
Her expression was filled with confusion, as Minato hadn't said a word when he appeared beside her earlier, and his subsequent reaction was also very unusual.
Before Kushina could say anything, Minato appeared beside her, concern in his azure eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yes," Kushina replied, stunned.
While her chakra was a little weak, she was fine.
"The Uzumaki clan's vitality is truly astonishing," Tsunade sighed.
Kushina had just given birth, and then used the chakra chains to restrain the wooden figure, consuming a vast amount of chakra.
An ordinary person would have died long ago.
"Where's Naruto?" Minato asked again.
Kushina replied, "I gave him to Biwako-sama. Oops!"
She suddenly spoke in a flustered panic.
"Naruto, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Mommy is such an unfit mother."
She had only abandoned the child when the village faced a grave crisis.
As she spoke, Kushina saw Itachi in Shisui's arms, and her expression immediately changed.
"Isn't that Itachi from Mikoto's family? What happened to him?"
"Let's not talk about this for now."
Minato, unsure how to explain, reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Kushina."
"Why are you bringing this up so suddenly?" Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"Naruto was just born. He needs his parents' company right now, but I can't be there for him."
Hearing this, Kushina placed her hand on the back of Minato's and smiled.
"I'll take good care of Naruto. The village and everyone needs you as Hokage right now."
"Naruto is our child. I'm sure he understands," she said, looking back at Itachi in Shisui's arms.
"Is Itachi injured?"
She looked at Minato again and said, "But first, I'll have to trouble you to take Naruto over. I'll stay here and take care of him until Mikoto arrives."
"But you need plenty of rest right now," Minato said.
Kushina shook her head.
"You don't understand a mother's feelings. Mikoto would be very sad if she saw Itachi like this."
"As her good friend and for your sake, I have to stay here."
"KushinaâŠ"
Minato glared.
He didn't offer any explanation, but no one in the world knew Minato better than her.
Minato's previous reaction was enough for Kushina to see how much he cared for Itachi.
Seeing Kushina's resolute gaze, Minato nodded.
He turned his gaze and said to Shisui, "In that case, let Kushina stay and take care of Itachi. You go inform his parents of Itachi's condition."
....
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