"Not bad. I've got the basics down," Kiyohara said.
He walked over to a small wooden tub nearby. Inside were a few fish he'd caught from a nearby stream. One fish had a clear cut along its side fin—an injury from earlier, likely an accident.
Kiyohara extended his right hand, palm down, hovering above the injured fish.
A moment later, green chakra slowly flowed from his palm and covered the wound.
Under the green chakra's glow, the pale cut on the fin visibly stirred and began to knit closed.
After a few minutes, the injury had healed noticeably.
He picked it up that fast… Shizune thought, startled.
If she remembered right, Tsunade-sama had only just given him those medical scrolls not long ago.
And he'd self-studied to this level already?
That meant Kiyohara had Yang affinity—and not a weak one.
"By the way, when do we leave?" Kiyohara asked.
"In three days," Shizune replied.
"I understand."
Kiyohara nodded slightly.
So he'd likely receive the next Willbook on the first day of the escort mission.
Good—this escort job wasn't high difficulty.
Fire Country's interior hadn't been penetrated by Mist yet, and clashes with Suna and Kumo were still mostly along the borders.
If Fire Country ever got invaded deep into its heartland, that would probably be around the time of the Kikyo Pass battle with Suna.
"Who are the other two escorts?" Kiyohara asked.
"Tsunade-sama chose Kakashi and Rin," Shizune answered.
"Rin…" Kiyohara nodded.
Familiar faces were easier to work with.
Madara will probably start setting up Rin's abduction within the next few months. I need to keep an eye on Mist's movements, he thought.
A storm was coming.
...
The next day, with three days still remaining, Kiyohara kept training.
Today's focus was genjutsu.
After fighting Shisui, he'd realized genjutsu was now his biggest weakness.
If Shisui had used Sharingan genjutsu on him, Kiyohara would've had a rough time.
Normal shinobi didn't have Uchiha or Kurama-style bloodlines to boost genjutsu.
What they relied on was getting caught in genjutsu repeatedly until they developed resistance.
In short: getting beaten up.
Genjutsu was fundamentally mental attack—manipulating chakra flow through the brain's nervous system.
So shinobi genjutsu could affect any creature with chakra.
Even ordinary civilians had chakra, just extremely little—just enough to sustain life.
The Sage of Six Paths' early ninshū was, at its core, about sharing chakra—using his chakra as a seed and key so others could awaken their own.
That was why Kaguya used Infinite Tsukuyomi thousands of years ago—to harvest chakra and convert people into White Zetsu.
"I'm going now, Kiyohara," Kurenai said, holding a seal.
"Go ahead," Kiyohara nodded.
She began to cast.
Invisible Yin chakra spread outward, and her chakra invaded Kiyohara through his eyes.
Most genjutsu used one of the five senses as the entry point—vision was the most common.
Kiyohara's vision wavered. The trees around him seemed to come alive, thick branches like giant serpents whipping up and binding him tight. A powerful sense of restraint crushed down.
Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!
"A B-rank genjutsu…" Kiyohara was surprised.
Great. Now it was bondage play.
Kurenai was only a chūnin, yet she could use a genjutsu most illusion specialists didn't master until jōnin.
Having a genjutsu lineage—especially with a father who was a genjutsu master—really was unfair.
"Alright… time to break it."
Kiyohara forced his chakra to surge and disrupt its flow.
His mental power—several times stronger than normal shinobi—converted into dense Yin chakra and smashed through the false sensory construct.
"Release."
The warped scene shattered like glass. The binding branches vanished, and Kiyohara stood in place, unharmed.
Kurenai panted lightly, eyes wide in shock.
"Y–you broke it already? That's too fast!"
She'd only just learned this technique, and her chakra pool wasn't enough to bring out its full power—but still, escaping should've taken effort.
"Hm… maybe my mental strength is just naturally higher than most people's," Kiyohara said.
In other words: mine's big, deal with it.
With multiple futures feeding him mental energy, unless he ran into Uchiha Sharingan-level genjutsu, most illusion users probably couldn't threaten him much.
Kurenai tried several other genjutsu—Hell Viewing Technique among them—but the result was the same.
Kiyohara broke them quickly, every time.
"Yeah… that really is fast…" Kurenai finally stopped, drained, leaning against a tree.
She stared at Kiyohara, who looked normal aside from sweat on his forehead, and muttered under her breath.
No bloodline, yet genjutsu resistance this absurd—it went against common sense.
"A man can't be 'fast' like that," Kiyohara said, shaking his head as he rested too.
He needed to get even faster at breaking genjutsu.
In shinobi combat, one second decided everything.
...
After training with Kurenai until afternoon, Kiyohara said goodbye and headed to the nearby transit town.
"Boss. I'm here to pay back part of my loan," Kiyohara said, placing a stack of bills on the counter.
The payment date was around now—he needed to pay five man.
This was the village loan he'd taken out before to fund the Rogue Kiyohara's drug-making supplies.
The merchant in front of him was basically the local loan company's manager.
They did business here too.
The shopkeeper, with a goatee, smiled as he counted the money.
"Kiyohara-kun, looks like you've been doing well lately."
Kiyohara didn't reply, just let his gaze sweep the shelves.
"I also want a blank summoning scroll, and a high-capacity sealing scroll."
The shopkeeper's eyes lit up.
"Oho, now that's big spending!"
He turned and pulled two scrolls from a cabinet behind him.
"Summoning scroll: ninety thousand ryō. High-grade sealing scroll—"
Kiyohara's mouth twitched.
That was nearly the majority of what he'd saved from months of missions and looting.
But he knew these were necessities.
With a summoning scroll, he could try forming a contract with a summon.
And a high-capacity sealing scroll directly affected his earning efficiency.
Sometimes the most painful thing was standing over a field of loot… and not being able to carry it.
After paying, Kiyohara looked at the few ten-thousands left in his wallet and sighed.
"Anything connected to space-time really is insanely expensive."
He couldn't even imagine how much a rich girl's stash of sealing scrolls and tools cost.
The shopkeeper wrapped the items and chuckled.
"Space-time techniques and sealing arts are the highest tier. These scrolls aren't easy to make, so of course they're pricey."
Kiyohara nodded, put the scrolls away carefully, and accepted it.
In this world, space-time tech was basically black tech.
This investment was unavoidable.
...
Three days later, early morning, Kiyohara arrived at Tsunade's tent on time.
Kakashi and Rin were already waiting outside. Rin had a medical pack on her back and a bright smile on her face.
"Kiyohara-kun, morning," she greeted softly.
"Morning," Kiyohara replied.
Rin nodded, excitement on her face.
Tsunade had specifically asked for a medical ninja to accompany them, and Rin had made progress recently—so she'd been chosen.
For her, Tsunade was an idol.
Getting to work with her up close on a mission… how could she not be thrilled?
"Looks like it's us again, Kakashi," Kiyohara said.
That was how war worked—teams were constantly reshuffled into temporary squads.
"You're strong. That's probably why we're grouped together," Kakashi said, then crouched down to check the tools in his pack.
"Since you're all here, come in," Shizune called from inside after noticing them.
Kiyohara and Rin lifted the flap and entered—while Kakashi stayed outside.
He told them to go in first and get Tsunade ready; he'd be in right after.
Inside, Tsunade was still lying in bed, long blonde hair scattered across the pillow.
One pale, lush leg stuck out from the blanket, ankle slender and gleaming faintly.
"Tsunade-sama, it's time to go," Shizune reminded her gently.
She'd been waiting in here for a while already.
"Mmm… five more minutes…" Tsunade mumbled, burying her face in the pillow.
Shizune looked helplessly at Kiyohara and Rin, then raised her voice slightly.
"Tsunade-sama—Kiyohara-kun and the others are here!"
Only then did Tsunade sit up with a grudging groan, rubbing sleepy eyes and yawning.
"Yeah, yeah… I was up earlier. Took a little second nap."
She ran a hand through her messy blonde hair.
After Tsunade finished getting herself together, she handed Kiyohara a large sealing scroll to carry.
"It's the supplies we need to transport anyway. Might as well bundle it."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Kiyohara said, slinging the large scroll across his back.
It was about the size of the scroll Naruto carried behind him in Sage Mode.
Kiyohara guessed it contained lab instruments and medical supplies.
Kakashi entered a moment later—he'd only delayed outside for a few dozen seconds.
Tsunade glanced at him and thought privately that Kakashi was starting to look more and more like Sakumo.
But Sakumo's death had been a complete mess.
In Tsunade's view, if the old man had controlled public opinion in time, maybe it wouldn't have happened.
"Alright. Let's move," Tsunade said.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," the three answered together.
The four of them left the camp and set out toward a rear-line outpost deeper inside Fire Country.
~~~
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