The escort mission went smoothly, and Kiyohara's team returned safely to the rear logistics base.
The setting sun wrapped the tents in a layer of golden gauze. Ninja finishing their missions trickled back in small groups, adding a bit of life to the camp.
After a simple dinner, Kiyohara headed to Rin's medical tent as agreed.
The air inside carried a faint herbal scent. Medical tools and scrolls were neatly arranged—everything was clean and orderly.
"Kiyohara, you're here," Rin said with a smile, motioning for him to sit.
"Sorry to bother you, Rin," he replied.
She nodded slightly.
They'd agreed that she would teach him some basic medical ninjutsu.
For Rin, it was a good chance to review what she'd learned.
And raising her teammates' capabilities was, in a way, helping herself.
"Learning medical ninjutsu requires a lot of patience and very fine chakra control—especially with Yang-natured chakra. Tonight, we'll start from the very basics…"
She began carefully explaining the principles behind medical ninjutsu.
Kiyohara listened closely. After fusing with Rogue Kiyohara, his spiritual energy was much stronger than before.
The most obvious change was how quickly he could memorize theory. After Rin's first explanation, he'd already absorbed most of it.
"You remember everything?" she asked.
She threw a few test questions at him and found he could answer them all fluently.
"Another review and I should have it all," Kiyohara said.
His head actually felt a little itchy, like it was physically growing more knowledge.
"Eh? That fast?" Rin blinked in surprise.
She hadn't expected his memory to be this good.
It had taken her a lot of time to get this stuff down.
"Then I'll go over it again."
She repeated the explanation and quizzed him again.
Every answer was still spot-on. His memory really was frightening.
"Maybe you're unexpectedly well-suited to being a medical ninja," Rin said softly.
As she spoke, a breeze lifted the flap and stirred her brown hair across her cheeks, making her look even cuter.
Next, she taught him a basic medical technique called Patient Extraction Technique, which could remove a portion of flesh.
It was usually used to cut away tissue that had been badly poisoned when there was no time to detoxify it.
"Too bad I don't know if you have Yang nature," she added with a hint of regret.
Chakra paper could only test the five basic natures. Yin and Yang required other methods.
"Who knows…" Kiyohara chuckled, not pressing the point. Instead, he tried to cast the Patient Extraction Technique Rin had just taught him.
Nothing happened.
So he only had a good memory, after all.
He knew he had Wind and Lightning natures and that his boosted spiritual power had greatly strengthened his Yin-natured chakra.
But whether he had Yang nature was still unknown.
Everyone had some affinity, but you needed to reach a certain threshold before it revealed itself.
Sasuke, for example, had six chakra natures—missing only Yang. Naruto also had six, missing only Yin.
I wonder if I'll ever pull a future me who's already trained as a medic, Kiyohara thought.
Then he might be able to shortcut twenty years of life and inherit medical talent or experience in one shot.
"It's alright, Kiyohara. No one gets medical ninjutsu down right away. It takes time," Rin said gently when she saw him still failing to cast it.
She was worried he might get impatient.
It was normal. Medical ninjutsu was harder than regular jutsu and demanded a lot more control.
She herself had needed quite some time to use it successfully—getting it in one night would be impossible.
"What matters most with medical ninjutsu is a solid theoretical foundation. You can practice slowly afterward."
"I understand. Thank you, Rin," Kiyohara said.
As long as he completed Swordsman Kiyohara's wishes and fused his talent, all this theory he was memorizing now would immediately convert into real ability.
Whether he had Yang nature didn't matter—his future self might.
Night deepened. An oil lamp flickered in Rin's tent as the two of them continued talking.
Outside, a white shape quietly emerged from the ground, watched for a while, then slipped away.
It came silently and left just as silently, not even taking a cloud with it.
Except… Swordsman Kiyohara noticed.
He squatted right in front of White Zetsu, but Zetsu couldn't see him at all.
"Hm… why are all the White Zetsu's hair green, anyway?" Swordsman Kiyohara muttered.
Feeling his energy draining, he drifted back to Kiyohara's side once Zetsu was gone, like a guardian spirit.
"Movement?" Kiyohara asked inwardly.
"Yeah. A White Zetsu. Likely someone Madara sent," Swordsman Kiyohara said.
"Uchiha Madara…"
Kiyohara fell silent.
This was clearly him watching for the right moment.
If he wanted to blacken Obito, Madara would definitely lay a careful groundwork beforehand.
"I'll go sell everything tomorrow and get the sword forged," Kiyohara decided.
...
At the same time, in the Mountain Graveyard—
Beneath the massive Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Madara sat in his chair, eyes closed, listening to the intel flowing back from distant White Zetsu.
White Zetsu could merge into roots and underground waterways—organic networks beneath the earth—and communicate with each other like a psychic radio.
Spread all over the world, the Zetsu formed a giant information net in Madara's hands.
Even hidden away in this dark tunnel, nothing that happened in the shinobi world escaped his gaze.
"Hey, Madara, how long are you keeping me here? I want to go back! I need to go back!" Obito shouted.
Wrapped head to toe in bandages, half his body made of White Zetsu's flesh, he struggled on the simple bed.
The one eye he had left was filled with worry and longing for Rin.
Madara ignored him, continuing to rest with his eyes closed.
Seeing that, Obito turned instead to the White Zetsu that had just emerged.
"Hey, white guy—what were you just telling Madara?" he demanded.
In this dark underground passage, he had completely lost track of time.
He had no idea if it was day or night outside, or how long he'd been here.
He wanted to know everything about what was happening above.
Especially anything about Rin and Kakashi.
"Mm… Obito, I saw one of your old comrades learning medical ninjutsu," White Zetsu said.
"Medical ninjutsu?"
Obito's face lit up.
Old comrade + medical ninjutsu—those tags together could only mean Rin!
~~~
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