Setting aside their status as members of the Fourth Hokage's Guard Platoon, Makoto and the others were still members of the Anbu. Their missions came directly from the Hokage and they were responsible only to the Hokage.
If a Konoha jōnin encountered them outside during a mission, that jōnin had no authority to command them. If unexpected changes occurred during their operation, the team captain decided everything.
In other words, if Anbu encountered a Konoha squad in danger while outside, and helping them would affect the success of their own mission, they could choose to ignore it.
Afterward, they would not be held accountable by the Hokage.
However, under normal circumstances, most standard Anbu would still rescue comrades from their own village who had fallen into danger. Only those fellows from Root would act like machines, standing by and watching someone die, with nothing in their eyes except the mission.
Jōnin Sarutobi Hiyoma had probably already explained this common knowledge to Tokuma and the other three. That was why earlier, when the husky recognized Makoto's identity, they did not step forward to greet him.
Now that the dog had exceptionally run over, something must have happened and it needed their help.
The husky Rocky twitched its nose. "Anbu aren't that professional either. I can still identify who you are by smell."
Yūgao pushed the dog's head away. "You think everyone has a sense of smell as sharp as yours?"
Anbu shinobi usually used special solutions to minimize the scent on their bodies as much as possible. The reason Rocky could still smell them was simple: it was a dog, and aside from Yamato, Makoto and the other two were already very familiar to it.
Makoto said, "Enough nonsense. What do you want from us?"
"Well… something unexpected happened over at the palace. Our protection target is about to die."
"I understand. Let's go."
"It won't affect your mission, right?"
"It's fine. If the mission fails, I'll just shift the responsibility onto you."
Rocky: "…"
"And you three—haven't you relied too much on my perception ability all this time? That dead dog managed to get close so easily. Your vigilance is terrible."
Yamato, Hayate, Yūgao: "…"
...
After arriving at a certain hall inside the daimyō palace of the Land of Hot Water, Makoto saw Hyūga Tokuma and the other three already waiting there. Accompanying them were a team of shinobi led by Yugakure's Chikura, along with several richly dressed ministers.
There was no anxiety on Hiyoma's face.
Although the death of the protection target would mean their mission failed, the daimyō had plenty of sons. They could simply find another one to inherit the position. It would not affect the bigger picture.
The ministers looked anxious on the surface, but inwardly they were calm. After all, whoever became the daimyō made little difference—their own positions were very secure.
Only Chikura's expression was gloomy. He was clearly quite unhappy.
After Makoto arrived, he wasted no time. Someone led him into the inner bedroom, where he saw the young lord of the Land of Hot Water—the future daimyō, Genko.
This fellow was about the same age as his younger brother Genshin, yet at this moment he was lying in bed, unconscious, looking as though he were already dead.
Makoto examined him and found that he had already fallen into a deep coma.
There was only one wound: he had been stabbed in the lower abdomen. But by the medical standards of the shinobi world, that was not fatal.
The real trouble was the potent poison smeared on the blade, which was dragging him step by step toward the Pure Land.
Although preliminary treatment had already been administered, it could only keep him alive for another half hour. That amount of time was obviously not enough for an ordinary doctor to come up with the corresponding antidote.
Even if Makoto used Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, time still might not be enough. That ninjutsu required delicate control, drawing the toxin little by little out of the body's cells, which took quite a bit of time.
This was where the difference between ordinary people and shinobi became apparent.
Shinobi might be fragile, but their resistance to blunt force was still very strong. Even if their bodies crashed through several large trees, they would not die on the spot. Chakra could not expel poison, but it could allow shinobi to survive longer after being poisoned.
That was why Sunagakure's poisons were only a nuisance to the other four great shinobi villages and could not affect the balance of power between them.
Ordinary people in the shinobi world also had chakra in their bodies, but without training, they could not endure like shinobi could.
At this moment, a certain ninjutsu happened to be just what was needed.
Sage Art: Fūinjutsu: Two Forms Seal!
Makoto first used fūinjutsu to stabilize the patient's life, then fed him several antidotes matched to the symptoms to slow the potent poison's erosion of his body. After that, he immediately had Yūgao begin preparing the sterile toxin-separating medicinal solution required for the ninjutsu.
Ordinary people were not as tenacious as shinobi. If this situation had happened in the past, Makoto truly would not have been confident of clearing the poison before the other party breathed his last.
However, times were different now. After a careful round of ninjutsu treatment, he finally managed to save the patient's life, and even healed the knife wound on his abdomen in passing.
The other party's body had had its foundation damaged by the potent poison. In the future, he might often feel weak in daily life, and his lifespan had probably been cut by at least five to ten years. But that was no longer the concern of Konoha's shinobi.
After finishing the treatment, Makoto removed the Two Forms Seal.
The doctor who had been waiting nearby envied the shinobi's miraculous methods, though he could not perform them himself. He only asked, "How is the young lord's condition now?"
"No problem anymore. Just pay attention to recuperation in the future."
"Thank you, thank you, ninja-sama."
After Makoto came out, he nodded to Hiyoma's team.
Several of them all let out a sigh of relief. The mission had finally not failed.
"I remember that the group who attacked the palace never got close to the young lord, and when they fled, none of them stayed behind. So how did he end up injured?"
Hiyoma looked toward Yugakure's strongest shinobi, Chikura. The latter appeared somewhat embarrassed and explained, "It was done by our own people. Among the shinobi protecting the young lord, someone had been bribed by Kumogakure."
So it had been the work of an insider.
See—sometimes the real danger does not come from the outside, but from within, from those traitors whose loyalties are crooked.
After thinking for a moment, Hiyoma still asked, "What about those wandering ninja?"
"We have already dealt with them. However, I'm afraid we still cannot relax here. Who knows how many hidden traitors might still be lurking among Yugakure's shinobi?"
Upon hearing this, Chikura immediately assured them, "Don't worry, friends from Konoha. We will launch an investigation and purge to make sure something like this never happens again."
Neither Makoto nor Hiyoma believed his words at all.
After all, in the previous battle outside Yugakure, quite a few of their people had shed blood and given their lives for Kumogakure. How many relatives and friends of those people were still inside Yugakure? Could they really purge everything clean?
Besides, the way small shinobi villages survived was by playing both sides. They would never allow their internal forces to completely lean toward a single power.
Instead of spending time carrying out purges, it would be better to think carefully about how to face the future daimyō's anger.
After all, the shinobi village he had spent money building had nearly taken his life. No one could tolerate that.
No wonder that broken shinobi village would later decline to the point where Hidan plowed through it alone from beginning to end.
Since the problem had already been resolved, Makoto and the others naturally would not waste time staying here.
At this moment, the Minister of Defense of the Land of Hot Water suddenly spoke and asked, "Um, friends from Konoha, since you were able to save the young lord, you must be a very skilled medical shinobi, right?"
Makoto said, "Are you sick?"
"Ah? No, no. I was hoping to ask you to—"
The Minister of State Affairs beside him tugged hard at his sleeve and said to Makoto, "We're fine now. Thank you for the help from our friends of Konoha. The Land of Hot Water will remember it."
Makoto nodded and paid no further attention. He left with his team.
He knew the Minister of Defense had wanted him to save the daimyō of the Land of Hot Water. But that person—how to put it—in Makoto's perception, was already at the end of his life. There was no saving him.
This was a normal human death from old age, something outside the scope of ordinary medical ninjutsu.
But the shinobi world was not an ordinary world like his previous life. There were supernatural powers here, and there were still ways to extend a daimyō's life for several more years.
He could simply infuse him with life force, but the cost was extremely high. One's Own Life Reincarnation and Dragon Life Reincarnation both required exchanging one life for another.
Although Makoto did not know these resurrection-type ninjutsu, with his current near-extreme Yang Release and vigorous life force, he could still extend the other party's life by a few years.
Unfortunately, he was not so noble as to waste his own life force to save an old man who was destined to die. The daimyō was not his parents—why should he?
Didn't you see the Minister of State Affairs stopping it?
Right now, everyone was hoping the old man would hurry up and die so that the new ruler could ascend the throne.
Wouldn't the ending be perfect—white cloth covering the body, while the young lord's ministers wept loudly amid cheerful laughter?
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---