I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 226 It's best to have surgery under general anesthesia, otherwise you'll hear a lot of things you shouldn't hear.

"I've had some free time lately, so I did a little experiment related to the texture of cooked raw meat. Are you interested?"

The chakra scalpel swiftly sliced ​​through Kato Dan's wound, but Tatsuma's tone was somewhat nonchalant. Biwako sucked blood from the wound, then asked, "Tell me about it?"

"Beef tastes great within ten hours of slaughter, or even seven days later if it hasn't spoiled. What do you think is the reason for this?"

"I usually eat meat that has been slaughtered within four hours, so I haven't thought about this issue."

Biwako chimed in, saying that as a doctor herself, she knew that many doctors would talk about things unrelated to the surgery during procedures, so she didn't find anything wrong with it.

Nono, Jabami, and Minato all looked on with curiosity. Tsunade lowered her head, seemingly still praying. Orochimaru seemed to have understood something and silently turned his head away.

"Because rigor mortis occurs about ten hours after a cow dies, and this process lasts for about three to ten days, but under refrigeration conditions, it usually takes seven days."

During the rigor mortis process, the beef's texture deteriorates and becomes less palatable, while the texture is better during the hot fresh meat stage within ten hours and the maturation stage after seven days.

The aging and maturation processes used in some steakhouses work on this principle; essentially, they alleviate rigor mortis, restoring the texture of the beef and even enhancing it.

After Tatsuma finished explaining, the three who were initially curious now had indescribable expressions. Biwako also laughed and said, "After your explanation, I don't want to go to a steakhouse anymore."

Snake Ci nodded in agreement and said, "My parents said they would take me to a steakhouse once I'm promoted to Chunin, but it seems like that's out of the question now."

After her initial exasperation, Nono started to think that the discounted meat she had bought before didn't taste good. It seemed that she would need to refrigerate the meat she bought from the hospital for a few days in the future.

Minato was somewhat relieved, thankfully his favorite food was ramen, not meat, so the noodles probably wouldn't cause rigor mortis.

"There's no need to be so sensitive; understanding these things simply means eating more wisely."

After disgusting the group, Tatsuma felt no remorse and continued working without stopping. He had already removed the damaged kidney and stitched up the wound.

Biwako loosened the hemostat and, finding no bleeding, breathed a sigh of relief. Tatsuma glanced at the equipment beside him and noticed that Kato's blood oxygen levels were rising, and couldn't help but smile.

"Teacher, Dean, shall we use the regeneration technique?"

Tsunade snapped out of her daze, nodded, and said, "Okay!"

Seeing her like this, Biwako asked worriedly, "Are you alright? Should we transfer her to Konoha Hospital? I'll arrange for medical ninjas to provide joint treatment as soon as possible."

"No need, moving these life support devices is too troublesome. I'll take the lead in this technique. If my teacher hadn't taught me not to use shadow clones, I could have done it myself. However, Minato, I might need your help."

Tatsuma rejected Biwako's suggestion, and upon hearing Tatsuma's words, Tsunade, who had been in a daze, came back to her senses and said, "No need, I'm fine. It was my fault that caused Dan's current situation, and I want to make up for it."

Upon hearing this, Tatsuma nodded. He didn't know exactly what happened during Tsunade's mission, but as long as Tsunade could recover her composure, there was no problem.

The healing and regeneration technique has a very large range when unfolded, and it takes a very long time, so it cannot be directly replaced by chakra. Fortunately, among the equipment and materials brought from Lake Biwa, there is special ink for inscribing the technique.

The complex techniques were almost everywhere in the operating room. The hair, which served as the "medium," was also removed. The regeneration technique required at least five medical ninjas: four to sit at the four corners of the technique and one to lead the technique.

Tatsuma took the lead position, with Biwako, Tsunade, Nono, and Jabami sitting in the four corners. As they formed hand seals, the five of them put their hands together, and the edges of the jutsu began to emit green chakra light.

Tatsuma was somewhat relieved that Kato Dan had a full head of beautiful hair; otherwise, given the size of his wound, it would have been very difficult for it to heal.

The principle of the healing and regeneration technique is to use the injured person's own cells, transform them through a technique into cells that can fill the wound, and then repair the wound through delicate chakra control.

However, this technique also has significant limitations. Firstly, it involves a large number of participants and takes a long time to complete. Secondly, it is difficult to simulate and transform some complex organs.

Muscles, skin, and even bones can be transformed, but internal organs cannot.

If a ninja suffers an injury like Kato Dan's, the village will selectively abandon him and not spend a lot of manpower and time to treat him. After all, losing an internal organ almost makes it impossible for him to continue being a ninja.

Seeing that the five of them were busy, Orochimaru also began to collect the kidney tissue that had been removed from Kato Dan, as he wanted to cultivate a new kidney, and this would be the best material.

Three hours later, both Jabami and Nono were clearly exhausted, and Biwako also looked tired. Minato and Orochimaru quickly replaced Jabami and Nono so they could rest.

Minato and Orochimaru's skills in medical ninjutsu are actually quite average. However, this technique is currently being led by Tatsuma, and they only need to provide precise chakra to break down Kato's severed hair.

Several more hours passed, and Chenma finally breathed a sigh of relief. All the required cells had been converted, and the rest would be simple.

With Tatsuma's control, the transformed cells approached Kato Dan's wound, and like a 3D print, they imprinted layers of muscle, fascia, fat, and skin onto Kato Dan.

When Tatsuma stopped the chakra transfer, the light of the technique disappeared, and Kato Dan's original wound became smooth and even. From the outside, no one could tell that he was missing a kidney.

Looking at Kato Dan, whose eyes were still closed, Tsunade opened her mouth several times but dared not ask. Tatsuma and Orochimaru looked at the screens of the two life support devices. Seeing the stable data, Orochimaru said:

"Stop life support?"

Tatsuma thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Let's give it a try."

Orochimaru shut down the life support function of the device, but the monitoring function remained on. As the life support function was shut down, Kato Dan's various values ​​began to drop again, and Tatsuma became nervous. Orochimaru even wanted to turn the life support function back on.

However, when the value dropped to a certain level, it suddenly stabilized. In an instant, Tatsuma's straight back bent down, and he let out a long sigh of relief. Orochimaru also opened his mouth slightly, and there seemed to be tears in his eyes.

A few days ago, the village rejected all of his work over the past two years, but only now does Orochimaru truly believe that his past two years were definitely not the "waste" they claimed.

His research had saved a life that even Tsunade couldn't save! And this was only a tiny fraction of all his research achievements over the past two years.

The mere thought that his and Tatsuma's access to the base had been revoked left Orochimaru feeling empty inside, devoid of the joy he should have felt after the successful surgery.

Orochimaru stared blankly at the two life support devices. Tatsuma, however, was less affected and began checking on Kato Dan's condition. Seeing that Kato Dan's breathing and heartbeat had returned, he finally smiled and removed the mask that had severely restricted his breathing.

Tsunade, who was about to cry again after seeing Orochimaru's dejected expression, suddenly noticed the completely opposite expression on Tatsuma's face. For a moment, Tsunade was unsure which emotion to follow.

"The surgery was successful. Now, all we need to do is wait for Senior Duan to wake up on his own. But this is only the first step. Senior Duan will only be able to regain his strength after the kidney is cultivated and transplanted."

Seeing his teacher's panicked expression, Tatsuma smiled and said something. Upon hearing this, Tsunade barely got up, crawled over on her knees in a disheveled state, hugged Tatsuma, and burst into tears.

After a long while, Tsunade gradually calmed down and recounted their mission to Tatsuma.

They found the culprit behind the missing Konoha ninjas: a group of Iwa ninjas. Konoha's swordsman and Smoke were in charge of the frontal combat, while Kato Dan used the Spirit Transformation Technique to give his body to Tsunade, while his soul went deep into the camp to assist in the battle from afar and to investigate whether any Konoha ninjas were still alive.

However, a small squad of Iwa ninja broke through the blockade of the Mokumo sword and smoke. Tsunade mistakenly chose to pursue them, leaving Kato Dan unprepared on the spot. Then, the unexpected happened.

They annihilated the enemy, but at the same time, Kato Dan, whose soul had left his body and who was left unprotected, suffered a fatal attack.

If Tatsuma hadn't arrived in time and brought Kato Dan back for treatment, Kato Dan would have had no chance of survival. Even Tsunade couldn't do anything about Kato Dan's injuries at the time.

She could certainly remove a kidney and suture a wound, but she couldn't restore Kato Dan's heartbeat and breathing. Without Orochimaru's two life support devices, which had only been used for experiments on piglets, no amount of medical ninjas would have helped.

Orochimaru held the test tube containing Kato's severed kidney tissue, feeling utterly dejected. He could cultivate the kidney, but only if he used the equipment in this base. However, Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude clearly indicated that he intended to shut him out.

"Revoking your and Tatsuma's permissions was a mistake in the teacher's instructions. Can you forgive the teacher?"

Suddenly, a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar voice rang out behind Orochimaru. Orochimaru wiped the expression from his face, turned around, calmly looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had arrived unnoticed, and smiled, saying:

"Teacher, I think you did the right thing. Perhaps I should relinquish control of the Wood Release experiment and let it return to the right track you want."

Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi pursed his lips, as if to explain something, but Orochimaru raised the test tube in his hand and said, "I have something I want to accomplish now. I need to return to the base. Sensei, is that alright with you?"

Looking at his disciple, who was now completely different from the boy he remembered, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time before nodding and saying, "Just as I promised beforehand, go and do the research you want to do."

Meanwhile, in the makeshift ward, Kato Dan, whose blood oxygen levels had returned, slowly opened his eyes and saw Tsunade's face. Kato Dan stared blankly for a moment, then said sadly:

"How come I saw you so soon?"

Before Tsunade could answer, an unexpected face squeezed into Kato Dan's line of sight. As his groggy mind struggled to process who this face belonged to, he spoke:

"You're awake? The surgery was a success. You're no longer a complete man."

"Jade-Striking Hand? Me? Hmm?"

(End of this chapter)