Shiraishi carefully read the application form for medical ninja training.
It not only contained the details of applying for medical ninja training, but also clearly outlined the village's subsidies and resource allocation for medical ninjas once they became one, including their salaries.
It also stated that on the battlefield, medical ninjas were the type of ninja least likely to die.
This was because medical ninjas would all be stationed at the main base camp, where they would be responsible for treating the wounded.
Even if a squad had a medical ninja and needed to go to the front lines to fight, if they were accidentally captured by the enemy, the enemy would most likely not kill the medical ninja, but instead imprison them.
Whether it was to use them as leverage or to have the imprisoned medical ninja help treat their own wounded, these were considerations for all major ninja villages.
The reason was simple: there were too few medical ninjas in the ninja world right now.
Every medical ninja was a valuable resource to the village.
Even if an enemy captured a medical ninja, they would be reluctant to kill them.
With all these benefits, medical ninjas indeed had the lowest mortality rate among all ninja types.
The prerequisite for becoming a medical ninja was to undergo a test; only those with Yang-attribute chakra could be trained.
Without Yang-attribute chakra, even with a strong desire to become a medical ninja, one would be turned away, at most serving as an assistant or nurse, commonly known as a helper or doing odd jobs.
Two days later, Shiraishi submitted his application form to his homeroom teacher, Fujimura Oga.
Along with Shiraishi, several other people also wanted to become medical ninjas.
After school, Fujimura Oga took them to an empty classroom where several ninjas wearing ninja uniforms and animal masks were present; they were members of the Anbu, directly under the Hokage's command.
There were about thirty to forty students gathered here, and they were inspected in order by these Anbu ninjas. Those with Yang-attribute chakra were kept, and those without were excluded.
Twenty-three people were selected, and Shiraishi was one of them. All twenty-three possessed Yang-attribute chakra.
The Anbu ninjas then informed Shiraishi and the others that they would be the first batch of officially trained medical ninjas at the Hidden Leaf Village Ninja Academy. Previously, medical ninjas were not trained from a young age at the academy; most came from informal backgrounds, and their abilities varied greatly.
The class established this time was the first official experimental class for training medical ninjas—
The First Medical Ninja Training Experimental Class.
Shiraishi and the others in the First Experimental Class attended lessons daily from 3 PM after school until 5 PM.
They had nearly two hours of training every day.
Because they were medical ninjas, the difficulty of their graduation exam would be significantly reduced, and they would receive many additional subsidies each year.
The instructor for Shiraishi's First Experimental Class was a Special Jonin from the Anbu, highly skilled in medical ninjutsu, and specially promoted to Special Jonin for this reason.
In terms of medical ninjutsu proficiency, this Anbu Special Jonin was one of the most renowned in Konoha.
According to him, he was also responsible for the basic medical theory knowledge within the Hokage's direct Anbu. Therefore, it could be said that the Konoha leadership placed immense importance on the results of this first medical ninja training experimental class, hoping to produce dozens of excellent medical ninjas in a few years to reduce the mortality rate on Konoha's front lines.
In the first class, the Anbu ninja handed out several textbooks to each student and requested that they master all the important knowledge points in these textbooks within half a year. There would be a theoretical exam every week, and those who excelled in the exam would receive rewards.
The rewards could be ninjutsu or financial subsidies.
Shiraishi quickly scanned the textbooks; they contained information he already knew. However, to avoid drawing attention, it was better to be ordinary.
His grades... not too high, not too low would be fine, slightly above or slightly below average was also acceptable.
However, maintaining a middle position was actually very difficult to do.
Because he had to consider that some questions could not be answered by an average student, he had to study the questions: which ones he could answer, which ones he couldn't, which ones he could only answer halfway, and which ones, even if answered correctly, would not arouse suspicion. These were all incredibly profound skills.
Fortunately, Shiraishi had already accumulated a wealth of experience over the past two years, so handling this was no problem at all.
He needed to create the illusion that he had a solid foundation but could only answer a small portion or half of the advanced questions, like an average student.
Sigh... he was getting better and better at disguising himself.
If he kept up this act, he felt like he truly wouldn't be any different from an average student.
The dismissal bell rang, and Shiraishi emerged from the First Experimental Class classroom; it was already five in the afternoon.
Students in the First Experimental Class had two more hours of medical ninjutsu study each day than regular students.
But the benefits were also clear, especially for civilians who were not from ninja clans; becoming a medical ninja was a good path.
Seeing that it was almost time, Shiraishi quickly ran towards the forest behind the school.
Ruri was already waiting for him there.
This was a training ground shared by Shiraishi and Ruri.
Few people passed through here, ensuring a certain level of secrecy.
As their strength grew, ordinary ninjas would trigger the traps set around the area before even getting close, alerting the two of them.
Not only did Shiraishi not want to be disturbed, but Ruri also disliked interacting with irrelevant people.
Since they were in the village, these traps were only meant to imprison those who triggered them, not to kill.
"You're late."
Ruri was wearing only a black bodysuit, her long, straight black hair gently swaying in the breeze, her arms crossed over her chest, and an expression of annoyance on her face.
Shiraishi didn't mind, or rather, he was already used to it.
He looked around; a large number of scattered shurikens lay on the ground, and there were many charred craters, indicating that Ruri had been training her shuriken throwing and Fire Style ninjutsu here after school.
Judging by the number of shurikens, their degree of damage, and the extent of the charred areas in the craters, Ruri's shuriken throwing and Fire Style ninjutsu had become even more refined.
"What are we playing today? Free sparring?"
"No, this time we'll play a game where we fight with our eyes closed. The loser cleans up the training ground."
Shiraishi nodded, agreeing to this way of playing.
Ruri occasionally suggested some rather peculiar combat games.
For example, they once played a game where they stood still and continuously shot shurikens at each other, and whoever moved their feet first lost. Shiraishi had lost by a single move that time.
Thus, without any preamble or atmosphere setting, both of them closed their eyes simultaneously and instantly dispersed from their original positions. By the time the sound of the wind picked up, their fists had already collided.
"Sorry, Ruri, you can't use your Sharingan this time. Although it's a bit unfair, these are your own rules, so I'm definitely going to win."
Shiraishi grabbed Ruri's slender leg as she kicked, a confident smile on his closed-eyed face.
"Didn't anyone tell you that insubordination comes with a heavy price?"
"I only know that a man can't always be on the bottom!"
He had an adult soul inside him, yet he was being dominated by an eight-year-old girl, and it had been going on for two years.
One of his greatest aspirations in this life was to successfully overpower Ruri just once.
"What a boring sense of pride!"
Ruri snorted coldly, but her face had already become serious.
Even though she always managed to suppress Shiraishi, his growth rate was also very fast, always nipping at her heels, making her constantly feel the crisis of being surpassed.
Most importantly, Shiraishi's energy wasn't entirely focused on training; a portion of it was dedicated to research.
If she wasn't careful, he really might succeed in his insubordination.
Shiraishi knew that in an actual fight with Ruri, he wouldn't gain the upper hand in many aspects.
Especially the difference in chakra. Shiraishi's chakra wasn't strong enough to be wielded casually, but Ruri was different. As a genius of the Uchiha clan, especially after awakening her Sharingan, her chakra had suddenly entered a phase of explosive growth.
This was the biggest difference between bloodline ninjas and ordinary ninjas.
Ninjas with bloodlines were truly amazing.
Ninjas with bloodlines who also worked hard were even more amazing.
Sure enough, just as Shiraishi was trying to figure out how to win the battle, his shoulder was grabbed. After an over-the-shoulder throw, his body was inverted, and then his hands were locked behind his back. He could feel Ruri's soft body sitting on his back, pinning him down.
"..."
Shiraishi opened his eyes, filled with humiliation. He had been pinned down again.
When would a transmigrator truly stand up?
In the end, Ruri still helped Shiraishi, the loser, clean up the training ground.
A sharp tongue but a kind heart.
Actually, if one ignored Ruri's slightly unfeeling way of speaking, her personality was quite gentle... right? Probably.