To balance out the sudden surge in spiritual energy, Kiyohara had started training his body.
But neither he nor Rogue Kiyohara were true taijutsu specialists, so he could only do simple conditioning.
"Uh, you…"
Kurenai just realized he was only wearing a pair of shorts, bare-chested, sweat tracing along the faint definition of his muscles.
How could he… be this casual?!
Well-raised Kurenai quickly lowered her gaze, not daring to look again.
Being shirtless was one thing—but paired with Kiyohara's handsome face, it suddenly felt very different.
Her heart thumped once.
"What's wrong?" Kiyohara lifted a brow.
His build was only average, maybe a little on the thin side.
But ninja trained constantly; a decent physique was almost a given.
"It's nothing," Kurenai said, biting her full lower lip. She forced herself to imagine his bare torso was just… a radish.
"The mission is to the eastern front of the Land of Fire," she finally said after steadying herself.
"The east?"
Kiyohara rubbed his chin.
To the east of Fire Country were the Lands of Lightning and Water.
"Southeast?" he asked.
"Mm," she nodded.
At that, his brows knit slightly.
Southeast meant Land of Water.
If Madara wants to make a move, it'll be a few more months at least—time enough for me to grow a bit, he thought.
The original never spelled out the timeline, but you could tell from Obito's hair that at least several months had passed.
During those months, once Obito regained basic mobility, Madara would likely stage his "fishing operation," sending Zetsu to lure him out.
Before that happened—that window would be Kiyohara's opportunity.
Just over twenty days and it'll be a month. Hopefully the next Willbook comes, he calculated.
He kept his face neutral, and asked for more mission details.
This time things were much lighter than before—they'd be handling transport.
Kiyohara nodded. This was more appropriate for their strength.
Going straight to Kannabi Bridge had basically been like finishing the newbie tutorial and then walking directly into a raid boss.
"I'll meet you at the meeting point tomorrow," he said.
"Don't forget," Kurenai replied, then hurried off.
"No time to grind, huh…" Kiyohara muttered.
After thinking it over, he decided to save the money for now and, the next time he returned to the village, go straight for a higher-end build.
Until then, kunai would have to do.
Even if he had a custom blade made now, he didn't know kenjutsu yet; it would only be more durable—and maintenance alone would cost a lot.
...
The next day.
Kiyohara packed his gear and headed to the meeting point.
It was Konoha's main gate again; two shinobi were on watch.
They weren't the future "Twin Gate Guardians" of legend, though.
The mission would use their previous squad, and Minato was still the team leader.
Their original squad jōnin had died after stepping on an exploding tag.
The ones who arrived ahead of him waved when they saw Kiyohara.
He spotted Kakashi, Rin, Kurenai, and Genma already geared up and waiting; only he'd been missing.
"Kiyohara, I heard about your performance this time. You did very well. This ninjutsu scroll is a reward from the village—an extra bonus," Minato said, pulling a scroll from his bag.
"A scroll?"
Kiyohara took it and unrolled it. It was a Wind Release technique called Wind Release: Gale Palm.
Like his Great Breakthrough, it was a C-rank—typical chūnin-level difficulty.
These letters marked training difficulty, not power. But the harder something was to learn, the stronger it usually was.
"Thank you, Minato-sama," Kiyohara said.
He hadn't even spent war merits on ninjutsu yet; this was completely free. No reason to turn it down.
He also knew it meant the higher-ups now saw him as worth investing in.
At least he wasn't one of those "inherently evil" clan kids everyone distrusted…
"Let's move," Minato said once Kiyohara had stowed the scroll.
Their destination: the eastern front.
...
A few days later, Kiyohara noticed more and more Hyūga shinobi on the road.
They were close.
Most of Konoha's main force and the Uchiha clan were tied up fighting Kumo; the Hyūga and remaining main units were dealing with Kiri.
Soon, Ao from Kiri would steal a Byakugan from a Hyūga main family member—Konoha's first Byakugan leak.
Which would only make Hyūga rules even harsher, once everyone realized that while Sharingan transplants needed "high specs" to sustain, Byakugan transplants were almost plug-and-play. A whole new world unlocked overnight…
"From here on, your task is to garrison this base—guard duty, nearby transport runs, that sort of thing," Minato said after conferring with the logistics commander.
"Understood," Kiyohara answered first.
It was perfect for him.
If he could hole up here for two weeks, he'd see whether another Willbook came.
He also had time to train Gale Palm.
Once a second future appeared, he'd feel a lot more secure.
Right now, he was anything but calm.
"This kind of mission, huh?" Genma scratched his head. It felt pretty easy.
"This is what 'normal difficulty' looks like," Kiyohara said.
Without Rogue Kiyohara, Kannabi Bridge would've ended with him collecting bodies—or becoming one.
Kurenai and Genma's chances of surviving that mess had not been high.
...
Time flew; two weeks passed in a blink.
They went by quietly for Kiyohara.
After fusing with Rogue Kiyohara, his Wind aptitude had improved a lot.
Even without a teacher, he'd quickly mastered Wind Release: Gale Palm on his own.
By the stream near camp—the place where ninja took water, cooked, bathed, and washed clothes—
Kiyohara faced the water and formed hand seals: Dog, Dragon, then clasped his hands together and struck.
A blast of wind shot from between his palms and slammed into the stream.
Whoom—
The water's surface caved inward, exposing the layer of smooth river stones below.
A fish that hadn't reacted fast enough was caught in the blast and flung onto the bank, flopping helplessly.
"Looks like dinner just got upgraded," he thought.
He was about to grab the fish and go make soup for himself when that familiar synthetic female voice echoed in his head:
[Please receive your last will and urn. Lay the relics to rest properly.]
It was here.
Kiyohara's eyes lit up.
Counting the days—it was exactly one month.
~~~
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