Assuming that all of the example player-characters we use are fairly intelligent and aware in combat....
....I'd still have to answer with "It depends".
It depends; Will the majority attempt to go toe-to-toe with other shinobi, or will they instead use more deceptive maneuvers to counter an enemy's brute strength? It depends; Will they be able to heal themselves capably (outside of combat, at the very least), or will they only be able to heal others? Assuming you can get to Chunin just off of a relatively good level of awareness, tactical foresight, and prowess with regular weapons and basic/intermediate Tai-Jutsu, then I'd say the only things limiting them from getting to Jonin and above are:
~~How far they can progress in Medical Proficiency, and whether or not they are able to use their knowledge of the body to knock out chakra-points for small periods of time
~~How they will be treated as a part of a squad; if it's anything like how healers are treated in Dungeon-Runs on most other MMOs, there's no fucking way a Medical Shinobi is going to be effective
~~How limiting the study of Medical Jutsu and 'Other' Medical/Biological-related subjects will be, and whether or not this will allow them to study in other fields, so as to be at least moderately effective in combat
...But that's all me on theory again. If anyone has any hard proof/minute details of how Medical Shinobi are going to work, I'd be all ears for it.
[Edit: I don't think they'll ever be "...as effective..." as other, more on-the-field type shinobi will be --in terms of maximum damage potential-- but I'll at least say that any intelligent Medical Shinobi will be able to take on up to 2-3 average/sub-par opponents with the right conditions. Really, the deal-breaker here is how well Min-Maxers make use of the jutsu available to them, and then how well the hordes use those "Builds" afterwards.]
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