Hakushi's room was simple and unadorned.
Apart from the essential living necessities, the most eye-catching piece was a large, wall-spanning bookshelf that nearly took up half the house.
The shelves were filled with books.
All sorts of kinds.
Including basic physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and mechanics from the Ninja Realm.
Some of the content wasn't something people their age could even comprehend.
Ruri believed that even among the adults of the Uchiha Clan, few would bother with this sort of reading material.
They only cared about studying more practical and powerful Ninja Techniques and couldn't be bothered to spare a glance at these kinds of books.
Ninja Techniques were the mainstream of the Ninja Realm; things like mathematics and biology were so niche that even in Konoha's bookstores, they barely sold at all.
The Ninja School taught them, too, but most people just weren't interested.
"What's the point of reading these? You'd do better spending more time reading up on Ninja Techniques,"
Ruri looked at Hakushi, clearly dissatisfied.
Hakushi smiled confidently and said,
"Ruri, that's a bit prejudiced, don't you think? Chakra is a limitless power, but the power of science is nothing to scoff at either. Anything that can be done with Chakra, science can manage too."
Especially when science and Chakra are combined—Hakushi felt that was the right way to open up science in this world.
Sooner or later, the people of this world would come to realize it.
As for integrating science with Chakra, Hakushi was willing to be a pioneer and was very excited about the future of Chakra Science.
"Is that so? Well, did you notice that giant forest outside Konoha Village? The one Lord Hashirama, the First Hokage, created in an instant with Wood Style Ninjutsu. Can your science do that?"
Ruri immediately raised a counterexample.
"..."
Uh... Yeah, that's really not possible.
Creating a forest with science was feasible, but to conjure such a massive forest instantly—at the present, science truly couldn't do that.
Even with the scientific level of his previous life, pulling off something so miraculously immediate was impossible.
Not to mention the First Hokage's epoch-defining power—even a run-of-the-mill ninja could create water, fire, or lightning out of nothing. That already violated everything Hakushi understood about normal scientific principles.
This was exactly where the wonder of Chakra lay.
"So that's why your so-called science, compared to powerful Ninja Techniques, is still just an insignificant, unconventional path. It's fine to study it, but don't go too deep. A ninja ought to act like a ninja."
Ruri hoped Hakushi would focus his energy on mastering strong Ninja Techniques and improving his own strength. It's not that science couldn't be learned—it was just a matter of priorities.
They were ninjas.
The destiny of a ninja was to fight.
To survive in battle, and to fall in battle.
If you want to live well, power is the key.
"I get it, I'll seriously think it over."
Hearing that Hakushi was truly considering her advice, Ruri felt deeply relieved.
After all, she didn't want to see such a genius as Hakushi fall by the wayside.
Days without a worthy opponent were exceptionally dull, leaving her feeling lonely and isolated.
When Ruri learned Hakushi was qualified to be her rival, she genuinely felt elated back then.
Ruri didn't stay at Hakushi's place for long; after chatting for a while, she left.
Once Ruri left, Hakushi threw himself into studying.
To him, Ruri's speech went in one ear and out the other.
Hakushi felt that, as someone once highly educated, he ought to focus on developing his own specialties.
It's crucial to know oneself.
Besides, while doing research, he could use his free time to strengthen himself too.
After all, carefree days would grow increasingly scarce; if he didn't supplement his knowledge now, trying to find a quiet time to study in the future would be much more difficult.
Unfortunately, he didn't have a lab where he could actually run experiments—otherwise, he could test out some of his ideas. It would also help both his studies and his Ninja Technique training.
"Hmm... Now that I think of it, there are lots of empty labs at school, all not being used..."
Mostly because hardly anyone took the medical support classes, and most students found them dry as dust. That left many labs idle and unmanaged.
By contrast, students were much more interested in flashy kinds of Ninja Techniques.
That was something he could make use of.
If you don't get caught, it's not really breaking the rules.
◎
A few days later.
Hakushi sectioned off a twenty-square-meter compartment in his house, and his already cramped home grew even more crowded with so little space to rest.
Inside the partition, tightly packed experimental apparatus filled the area. The setup couldn't fully meet Hakushi's needs, but should suffice for initial research.
Whether learning Medical Ninjutsu or researching other things, he couldn't do without these instruments.
Some of this equipment and materials were, let's say, "borrowed" from the school's labs—ordinary, easily lost or unimportant items without much labeling. Since those labs had long been locked up, and Hakushi's actions were kept secret, the odds of discovery were low.
That would save Hakushi some money.
Most, though, were bought from village stores—secondhand, or cheap stuff.
The era now already had some scientific foundation, but there wasn't yet a complete or unified concept of science—after all, Chakra-based applications dominated the Ninja Realm.
Science was like a destitute samurai—it just didn't fit the mainstream of the current age.
Yet, after this period of investigation, he found that taking Medical Ninjutsu as Chakra Science's entry point might just make the path a little smoother.
With his hand resting on the cold equipment, a trace of nostalgia showed in Hakushi's eyes.
Back in his past life—high school, university, even working formally at the hospital—he'd often dealt with these odd little devices due to his specialization.
These things felt as familiar as old friends to him.
The types and purposes of the apparatus differed from what Hakushi knew, but as long as he'd read the instructions, he could easily sort and categorize them, organizing a systematic research plan.
The only real pity was that his budget was pretty tight.
The inheritance from his parents in this life wasn't scant, but it could hardly be called ample either.
Hakushi knew research couldn't get far without funding.
Looks like he'd have to go hunt for raw materials himself.
Thankfully, there was lots of freely available material in Konoha Village's forests—he'd deal with that later; for now, he'd focus on learning Medical Ninjutsu.
Days of learning were always fulfilling and joyful. Hakushi had a big leg up on his peers since childhood: he'd been a seasoned physician in his previous life, and much of the medical theory in both worlds was basically the same—just with different terms and expressions.
The only real difference was the use of Chakra.
That was the part Hakushi focused on solving.
With a rock-solid foundation in medical knowledge, Hakushi didn't have to start from scratch; he could pick out the core points and unfamiliar areas to study.
Sorting out that section didn't take much time—he mastered it in just a month.
If he'd tried to learn it all from beginning to end, he'd probably need at least a year or several years to firm up the theory.
To think of finishing all the theory in one month—now, that would be pure fantasy.
The Medical Ninjutsu scroll Ruri gave him was filled with several useful Medical Ninjutsu techniques, plus lots of notes and insights from Medical Ninjas. When it came time to self-learn Medical Ninjutsu, these helped Hakushi avoid plenty of unnecessary detours.
Hakushi felt very grateful to Ruri for that.
If it weren't for her help, he wouldn't have grown this quickly.