Because Dosuke had treated the three Uchiha clansmen contaminated by natural energy, he often went in and out of the Uchiha sector of the camp these days.
The Uchiha gradually became familiar with Dosuke. After all, no one wanted to offend a medical-nin with excellent skills on the battlefield.
Moreover, under Uchiha Fugaku's conscious effort to build rapport, the relationship between Dosuke and this branch of the Uchiha grew increasingly familiar. His relationship with Fugaku himself had gradually become a genuine friendship.
After a while, Dosuke appeared at the entrance to the medical department. Uchiha Fugaku, who followed closely behind him, also came to a stop.
"Haven't you already treated the wounded with the solution? Why do you still look so worried?"
Hearing Fugaku's question, Dosuke turned his head. "It's not the same. When the Medical Solution was used on the wounded before, it was in the relatively safe environment of the camp. Its effectiveness during a fierce battle, or when there's no time to use it properly, is still unknown."
"Dosuke, the research on the Medical Solution is already complete. You don't have to put so much pressure on yourself," Uchiha Fugaku said sincerely.
Over the past few months, with Orochimaru's help, Dosuke had made rapid progress in developing the therapeutic agent.
During this time, Dosuke had successively used the Medical Solution to treat the wounded and found that if the solution was used immediately after preparation, the healing effect was optimal. If stored for too long, the therapeutic effect diminished greatly.
Moreover, this therapeutic agent only had a strong healing effect on wounds; it still couldn't counteract toxins.
Aunt Snake truly lives up to being the future's number one ninja scientist, Dosuke thought. With just a few small suggestions, Orochimaru had extended the storage time of the Medical Solution from a few hours to three days.
That's right, three days. Dosuke reached into his pocket and touched a test tube. Inside was the latest therapeutic agent, recently developed. Different from the previous light-green solution, this one was a whitish liquid.
He took out the slightly opaque solution and pressed his thumb against the bottle's stopper. A fine thread of chakra released from his fingertip touched a seal on the stopper. Instantly, a light-green chakra glow suffused the entire test tube, dyeing the liquid within.
This was the solution Orochimaru had provided: using a sealing technique to store the Mystical Palm Technique chakra within the stopper itself. When needed, the user's chakra would activate it, infusing the liquid to create the Medical Solution.
When Dosuke first heard Orochimaru's suggestion, he was baffled. By that logic, they could just seal the healing technique directly into a scroll. Why go through all this trouble?
Later, through experimentation, Dosuke discovered that healing techniques like the Mystical Palm worked by continuously combining the performer's chakra with the cellular energy in their own body to create chakra with healing properties. The application of medical ninjutsu involved releasing chakra combined with Yang Release chakra.
But where did the Yang Release chakra come from? Dosuke theorized that when the caster refined chakra through their body's cells, the chakra carried the life force of those cells, that is, Yang Release chakra. This produced chakra with healing ability, achieving the therapeutic effect.
If medical ninjutsu was sealed directly, the sealed chakra wouldn't interact with the performer's cells and thus couldn't combine with Yang Release chakra. Without that interaction, it wouldn't be a healing technique anymore. So, sealing medical ninjutsu directly into a scroll wasn't feasible.
However, the natural energy in the reconciled pool water of the Shikkotsu Forest could absorb free natural energy from the air. The slug clan was a race naturally suited to medical ninjutsu, and the bodily fluids they secreted also had the property of retaining chakra.
Therefore, activating the seal on the stopper would release the stored healing chakra into the specially prepared liquid, creating a solution with wound-healing effects.
But because the seal was immersed in a liquid containing natural energy, that energy would slowly corrode the seal on the bottle mouth, causing it to fail. The healing chakra would then slowly leak out. This period was about three days. So, if not used within three days, the solution would become inert.
Moreover, the healing technique infused into the solution could be released into the liquid upon activation. It could be taken orally, effectively alleviating and treating damage to internal organs and other tissues.
Uchiha Fugaku stood behind Dosuke, looking at the light-green test tube in the boy's hand. His scarlet Sharingan contracted slightly.
"What an incredible invention, Dosuke. You might change the ninja world someday."
After getting to know Dosuke, Uchiha Fugaku had learned the full story of that day's accident. Initially, he had been dismissive of Dosuke's so-called "Medical Solution." He hadn't quite believed the boy, who was less than ten years old.
It wasn't until a few months later, when Dosuke excitedly ran to his tent to show him the results, that Fugaku realized the boy had actually done it.
Later, he learned that Dosuke had first tested the healing ability of his experimental medicine on himself. Only after those tests were complete did he begin trials on the wounded.
After the wounded were treated, the next step was to verify the solution's preservation ability and its effectiveness on the actual battlefield. The three Uchiha who had been injured last time volunteered to serve as test subjects under Fugaku's instruction.
Each took several different doses of the Medical Solution and headed to the front.
To personally observe the solution's effect in the heat of battle, Dosuke insisted on joining the mission himself. But he was stopped by Orochimaru, who rushed over. The current Dosuke was like a life-giving spring for the Konoha camp. While this spring couldn't resurrect the dead, it had drastically reduced the mortality rate among Konoha ninja.
Because the majority qualified for Dosuke's personal treatment were chūnin or higher, he had gained a formidable reputation within the Konoha forces. Now, when Dosuke walked through the camp, the ninja he had saved often greeted him as "Dosuke-kun."
Not only did Orochimaru forbid Dosuke from going to the front, he also ordered Uchiha Fugaku to protect him, lest any accident befall him. This was why Uchiha Fugaku had been following Dosuke so closely. One had to remember that Fugaku, at this stage, had already earned the moniker "Evil Eye Fugaku" on the Sunagakure battlefield. Having a ninja of such renown personally assigned as his guard showed just how much Orochimaru valued him.
The final field-testing of the Medical Solution was a task Fugaku recommended, and three Uchiha ninja took it on.
"Kotaro, how was it?" Dosuke asked anxiously as he saw the returning Uchiha team leader.