After looting for a while, Kiyohara found five shuriken, two kunai, a map, and a compass.
"Looks like this map is encrypted," he muttered, staring at the cryptic symbols.This was standard practice for ninja—never mark sensitive info directly. One misstep, and the enemy could obtain crucial intel.
"Encrypted?" Namikaze Minato rubbed his chin."Kurenai, you're good at genjutsu. Try interrogating him."
Unfortunately, no Yamanaka clan member was around. Their secret techniques were best for extracting intel. For now, Red's genjutsu would do.
"Alright, I'll try."
Yūhi Kurenai nodded and cast a genjutsu on the captured Iwagakure ninja. Under its influence, he revealed some intel:Their squad was just one of many.To protect the crucial Kannabi Bridge, Iwagakure had hidden numerous outposts, all within sight of each other.If the bridge was attacked, reinforcements could arrive immediately.
'No wonder after Kakashi transplanted the Sharingan and barely defeated the enemy, the next wave of Iwa shinobi stormed in,' Kiyohara thought.
Back then, Kakashi passed out from chakra depletion and only survived thanks to Minato's timely arrival—made possible by a Flying Thunder God kunai he had gifted Kakashi beforehand.
It meant Minato had been tracking them the whole time.
Then, Minato pulled out that same kunai."Today marks Kakashi's first mission as a jonin. This is my gift to you."He handed him a special three-pronged kunai, engraved with the words Sword of Shinobi Love.
"Though a little heavy and unbalanced, it'll feel just right once you're used to it."
'Here it comes,' Kiyohara thought as he watched a familiar scene from the original play out.
Next, Rin smiled and offered Kakashi a specially modified medical kit."Thanks," Kakashi said, then turned to Obito and extended his hand expectantly.
The meaning was clear—your turn.
"Wha–what? I don't have anything for you!" Obito blurted.
Kakashi shrugged."Didn't expect much from you anyway. Whatever you'd give would just be dead weight."
Obito's pride ignited. He declared he was an Uchiha and swore he'd surpass Kakashi.
Kiyohara rubbed his chin. 'Too bad neither Obito nor Rin ever lived to return the favor. They stayed forever at the chunin level.'
'Speaking of which… when I get promoted to chunin after this mission, should I accept gifts too?'
"Hey," Kiyohara asked his future self, "did anyone give you presents when you made it as a chunin?"
"I didn't have time for that kind of nonsense," the rogue Kiyohara replied. "Training was the only thing that mattered."
Clearly, he'd chosen power over everything else.
"Alright, that's enough. We'll be crossing into the Land of Grass soon," Minato said.
At the edge of the grasslands loomed the towering mushroom forest—giant mushrooms growing on trees, each larger than a house.
"We'll rest here for now. I'll stay with you today, but tomorrow I'll be heading off to the frontlines."
The situation up ahead was grim. Minato had to move quickly.
After setting up camp, Kiyohara resumed practicing the two basic medical ninjutsu: Wound Sealing Technique and Detoxification Technique.
The first was fairly simple—suturing wounds and using chakra to keep them from reopening during combat.
The second was trickier, requiring the user to manipulate chakra to isolate toxins in the bloodstream.
To train, most ninja use two liquids of differing density.Kiyohara used coffee and milk.
Swirling the mix in a cup with chakra, he felt like he was doing cell membrane separation.
The rogue Kiyohara watched silently from behind. These two jutsu were a bargain, picked up from Tsunade.
"Hey, Kiyohara, you're learning medical ninjutsu too?"
Rin looked over from her rest spot.
"Just starting," he nodded.
As a trained medical ninja, Rin had done all of this before.
"You're off to a great start. Let me show you a few tricks."
She came over and began helping him refine his control.Thanks to the forbidden drug, Kiyohara's chakra reserves had doubled.He could afford to use some on training.
'If only I could get more of those drugs…'
According to his future self, there were several varieties of these forbidden elixirs that could safely unlock one's full potential with minimal side effects.
Sasuke probably used some version of them too.
The only problem—rogue Kiyohara never got access to the formulas. He wasn't in the inner circle.
It reminded Kiyohara of the bodybuilder scandals back on Earth—Nine Dragon Muscle Pills and steroid heaven.If you wanted that thick muscle build, you had to juice.
Same rules applied in the ninja world.
And the most legendary roid-user?Kabuto Yakushi.Guy was chugging pills by the bag and even injected Orochimaru cells.In the end, he literally mastered all of Orochimaru's techniques.