Chapter 2: Hatake Sakumo's Surveillance
Uchiha Dan, possessing all of Tobirama Senju's talents, naturally had the most supreme sensory abilities in the entire ninja world — perhaps unmatched by anyone.
As a gifted member of the "evil" Senju clan (a title Uchiha Dan bestowed upon them), Tobirama Senju's sensory capabilities were innate.
He could even perceive the number of enemies thousands of miles away by touching the ground with his chakra, and with extreme accuracy.
Before the era of immense power-ups, Tobirama Senju, the ninja world's top sensory ninja, was truly worthy of the title.
"That's enough!" Uchiha Dan called out, seeing that the procedure was almost complete, stopping the process.
He then pulled up the injured ninja's clothes, exposing his chest and abdomen, and skillfully opened his silver needle pouch. He began to apply the needles to specific acupoints in a precise sequence.
As the twelve silver needles were inserted, the injured ninja immediately felt a tingling sensation throughout his body.
At the same time, the chakra within him, seemingly beyond his control, began to circulate, slowly converging on the wound and continuously activating the cells around it.
"This... this..." The injured ninja was stunned, feeling the increased speed of his wound healing.
"Doctor Dan, thank you, thank you!" The injured ninja was so moved he was almost in tears.
With this single treatment, the injured ninja's wound healing speed increased by at least thirty percent. And the faster a wound heals, the fewer complications it leaves behind.
For a ninja operating like a mercenary, strength was everything.
After all, ninjas didn't engage in production. If he couldn't take on missions and earn money due to injuries, what would happen to his wife and children?
So, Uchiha Dan's miraculous medical skills were enough to excite any ninja.
The nurses and medical ninjas observing were also filled with awe as they looked at Uchiha Dan.
No matter how severe the injury or how rare the illness, as long as Uchiha Dan intervened, there was never a problem he couldn't solve.
The people of Konoha now knew that there was a "Doctor Dan" at Konoha Hospital who possessed the ability to bring the dying back to life.
Even Tsunade, hailed as a genius medical ninja, was considered slightly inferior to Doctor Dan.
"No need for thanks. Please pay the treatment fee at the counter," Uchiha Dan said calmly. "Remember to come back for another needle in three days."
Back in his office, Uchiha Dan closed the door and walked to the window.
Sensing the ANBU ninja monitoring him, Uchiha Dan frowned.
Because he had never shown any abnormalities, and his chakra signature had consistently remained at a Genin level.
Perhaps feeling that an entire squad for surveillance was excessive, Hiruzen Sarutobi had withdrawn a few people two years ago.
Although the number of people monitoring Uchiha Dan had been reduced from a squad to just one.
This remaining individual, however, was excessively diligent.
Many times, Uchiha Dan wanted to shout out the window: "Hatake Sakumo, aren't you ever going to quit?!"
"I was the one who saved you when you were injured, you know. Don't you dare come begging me if you get hurt again. If you do, I'll stab you to death, you bastard!"
But he could only think it.
Feigning a nap, he drew the curtains, blocking Hatake Sakumo's view, then quickly formed hand signs.
Feeling the flow of chakra within him, Uchiha Dan nodded with satisfaction.
"Not bad. Close-range offensive B-rank ninjutsu, Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"
After performing this jutsu, water could be compressed into blocks, with high-speed rotation applied to increase their destructive power, allowing attacks from various angles.
It seemed that the injured individual just now was quite strong; judging by the amount of chakra in his body, he should be a Tokubetsu Jonin.
Over the years, Uchiha Dan had quietly learned hundreds of ninjutsu through this method.
Whenever he thought of this, Uchiha Dan felt even more frustrated.
With his current talent, if he hadn't stopped cultivating, his strength would likely have already reached Kage level.
Seven years!
What precious, golden seven years!
Most ninjas who missed these seven years would probably have become useless.
Uchiha Dan hadn't become useless, but now only his chakra reserves were noteworthy, surpassing those of an average elite Jonin.
One had to admit, the "evil" Tobirama Senju's talent was truly astonishing.
Uchiha Dan had never openly practiced for a single second during these seven years, but he had mastered the chakra extraction method since he was young.
Six years ago, after researching a ninjutsu to conceal his chakra signature, Uchiha Dan finally dared to extract chakra again, and even improved the extraction method.
However, apart from his chakra reserves, all of Uchiha Dan's combat and training remained at the conceptual level.
Therefore, his actual combat ability was a sorrowful topic.
This was also why, despite always wanting to escape Konoha, he had remained obedient until now.
Fortunately, five years ago, Uchiha Dan had developed a method to stimulate acupoints with chakra and circulate chakra throughout the body to slowly increase physical strength.
Uchiha Dan called this the Chakra Forging Method.
For five years, Uchiha Dan's physical constitution had been improving daily.
Coupled with his daily mental simulations of taijutsu training and combat, once he had the opportunity to truly begin cultivating, his strength would undoubtedly advance by leaps and bounds.
The prerequisite was having the opportunity!
So, he had long stopped planning to stay in Konoha. If there was even the slightest chance, he would immediately escape, as far as he could go.
"To hell with Konoha, to hell with Tobirama Senju, to hell with Hiruzen Sarutobi, to hell with Hatake Sakumo... to hell with so many people!"
Just as Uchiha Dan was about to feign a nap, continue cultivating his Chakra Forging Method, and resume his mental simulations, the office door was roughly thrown open.
"Uchiha Dan, get out here!"
An enraged Tsunade stormed in, utterly disregarding all civility, and grabbed Uchiha Dan by the collar, dragging him out.
"You barbaric brute, let go, or I'll make you regret it!" Uchiha Dan struggled incessantly. "Idiot, barbarian, baboon, gorilla, monkey, Tarzan..."
But Tsunade's strength was immense; even with Uchiha Dan's full effort, he couldn't break free, let alone when he had to feign weakness.
Tsunade seemed to ignore Uchiha Dan's furious curses, directly dragging him into a hospital room and to a patient's bedside.
The patient, glared at fiercely by Tsunade, shivered and cautiously asked, "Lady Tsu-Tsunade, what are you doing?"
"Hmph, shut up!" Tsunade rudely cut him off, saying coldly, "Last time, I lost to this guy in a medical competition. Today, I'm going to compete with him again. Just lie there obediently!"
Seeing Uchiha Dan carefully trying to sneak away, Tsunade snatched his wrist.
"Still trying to run?" Tsunade tightened her grip on Uchiha Dan's hand, immediately causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
Being manhandled by Tsunade like this, Uchiha Dan's temper flared.
Despite trembling all over from the pain, he remained silent, simply glaring coldly at Tsunade.
"You savage brute, didn't you eat today?" After a while, Uchiha Dan gritted his teeth and glared at Tsunade fiercely, practically daring her to kill him right then and there!
Seeing Uchiha Dan's defiant expression, Tsunade felt a little guilty. Her gaze flickered, and she unconsciously loosened her grip.
She merely tried to save face by saying, "You're not allowed to leave, or I'll never forgive you!"
However, the force behind her words was clearly much weaker.
The stark contrast in her demeanor made it sound almost like she was pouting, sending shivers down Uchiha Dan's spine.
Tsunade's beauty was self-evident; at 17, she was already as graceful as a lotus emerging from water.
Although her figure hadn't yet reached its peak, her clothes could no longer conceal the perfect, alluring curves she possessed.
Uchiha Dan wasn't blind and naturally noticed.
Her noble status, stunning beauty, and perfect figure had captivated countless peers.
The line of people in Konoha secretly infatuated with Tsunade could stretch from one end of the village to the other.
Yet, Uchiha Dan had never been willing to speak nicely to Tsunade, nor even to give her a direct look.