i am kimimaro

The medical room was filled with injured participants from the Chunin Exams. Konoha's medical ninjas were busy treating their wounds.

Kimimaro arrived with Suigetsu and Jugo, standing before the Sound Ninja trio.

Among the three, Kin was the least injured, having only been knocked unconscious. He was now awake and unharmed.

Dosu, however, had been severely beaten by Kabuto, suffering from broken bones and internal injuries. Although he was conscious, it would take months for him to fully recover.

Kabuto had truly been ruthless, releasing all his pent-up resentment. The Sound Ninja trio had no idea about Kabuto's true identity, or they wouldn't have provoked him.

But the most tragic was Zaku. His air holes had been blocked by Shino's insects, causing his Decapitating Air Wave technique to backfire, severing both his hands. He lay on the bed, his severed arms beside him, a picture of misery.

Konoha's medical ninjas were powerless to heal such an injury.

"Lord Kimimaro..." Zaku struggled to sit up, his respect for Kimimaro unwavering even in his crippled state.

"Lie down, you're in no condition to move." Kimimaro shook his head slightly, looking at Zaku's bloody arms. Shino was also a ruthless one.

Zaku lowered his head, filled with frustration. He had finally achieved his current strength, only to be crippled overnight. Among the injured, he and Lee were the most unfortunate.

"Don't worry, I won't let you become useless."

Zaku's head snapped up. "Lord Kimimaro, you have a way?"

Kimimaro nodded slightly, picking up Zaku's severed arm and examining it.

"The cuts are clean, reattaching them shouldn't be too difficult. Don't move, I'll be quick."

Zaku dared not move.

Kimimaro aligned Zaku's left arm, and chakra needles condensed.

Ninja Art Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Technique!

The chakra needles shuttled between Zaku's arm. Countless chakra threads formed as the needles moved back and forth. Blood vessels, meridians, bones! Everything that was broken was reconnected by Kimimaro in an instant!

Suigetsu and Jugo's eyes widened. They had never seen Kimimaro perform this technique.

"Boss, your medical ninjutsu is this amazing now? Reattaching limbs like it's nothing?"

Kimimaro didn't answer, as he still had another arm to reattach.

Ninja Art Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Technique activated again!

The same smooth and skillful movements as before.

Everyone around was stunned. What kind of technique was this? Was there such a medical ninjutsu?

The genin were shocked, but didn't understand the complexity of it. The medical ninjas, however, were dumbfounded.

"Who is this Sound ninja? How does he know such medical ninjutsu?"

"I... I don't know."

"We must inform the director about this."

Kimimaro was unaware of their thoughts, nor did he care. He never intended to hide his medical ninjutsu skills. A powerful healer would be respected in any world.

He didn't have to worry about being targeted by other forces because of his strong medical ninjutsu. They would all want to win him over.

Killing a healer was a taboo among ninjas. No one could guarantee they would never get injured.

Tying the last thread, Kimimaro's treatment was complete.

"Try it, how does it feel?"

Zaku looked at his reattached arms in disbelief, moving his hands and finding no difference from before.

"It's healed! It's really healed!" Zaku was ecstatic, jumping to his feet.

Seeing the two small holes in his palms, he knew his power was still there.

"Decapitating..."

He wanted to test his strength, but Kimimaro pressed his hand down.

"This isn't the place to test your techniques."

Zaku realized his recklessness and quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Lord Kimimaro."

"Alright, your injuries are healed, let's go back to the hotel. You may not have passed the exam this time, but at least you know your weaknesses. Go back and train hard."

The Sound Ninja trio was completely won over by Kimimaro and nodded repeatedly.

"What did you say? Lee can't be a ninja anymore?"

At that moment, Gai's horrified voice rang out.

Everyone looked over.

"He used the Eight Gates Released Formation, his muscles are torn all over, that can be repaired. But his left arm and leg's meridians are filled with sand. We can't clean the sand out of the torn muscles."

The medical ninja looked guilty.

Gai was stunned. Tenten and Neji's expressions were also grim.

They all knew how much effort Lee had put into becoming a ninja. Now, he was being told he could no longer be one.

One could only imagine how devastated Lee would be when he woke up and learned of this.

For a moment, the Konoha genin were silent. Seeing their peer suffer such a fate, they felt downcast.

"Kimimaro, can you take a look at Bushy Brow's injuries? You can reattach arms, maybe you can help Bushy Brow too?"

Naruto approached Kimimaro and said.

Kimimaro's impressive skills had shocked everyone, and although Naruto didn't understand the intricacies, he instinctively felt that Kimimaro's medical skills were exceptional.

"Let me take a look."

Kimimaro didn't refuse, walking over to Lee and taking his injured left hand to examine it.

"Congratulations, tourist, you have successfully taken a photo with the character Rock Lee and received the reward Eight Wine Cups."

Eight Wine Cups, a skill of Yagami Iori. It releases purple flames from the palm, and upon hitting the enemy, the flames' power creates a sensation of time stopping for them. It was a powerful control skill. It was said that when mastered to its peak, it could control time.

Kimimaro was slightly taken aback. With this reward, it seemed inappropriate not to help this inspiring young man.

Moreover, if he performed surgery on Lee, he was confident he could deduce the Eight Gates Released Formation training method through his injuries. This deal wouldn't be a loss.

Seeing his strange expression, Gai grew worried.

"How is it? Is there a way?"

Kimimaro came back to his senses and smiled. "Yes. But it requires surgery, and I can't guarantee 100% success."

"What's the success rate?" Neji asked.

"Sixty percent. If it fails, Lee might die."

Although the success rate was over half, the consequence of failure was death.

Neji and Gai fell silent. They couldn't make this decision for Lee.

Kimimaro naturally understood this.

"Wait until he wakes up, then ask him what he wants. Of course, you can also ask other Konoha medical ninjas, maybe there's another way."

In the original story, Tsunade's success rate for this surgery was only fifty percent.

The reason Kimimaro's success rate was ten percent higher than Tsunade's wasn't because his medical skills surpassed hers, but because of the Byakugan he had just obtained.

(End of chapter)