"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. Please stay safe."
Kiyohara carefully stowed the scroll.
Without it, leaving could easily be labeled desertion.
Even a retreat must be orderly.
Panic only increased casualties.
"Go."
Orochimaru waved them off casually.
With his strength, even if all Seven Ninja Swordsmen showed up, he had the means to escape.
"Got it."
Kiyohara nodded and led Kakashi and the others westward.
He had full faith Orochimaru would be fine.
If nothing else, Orochimaru had maxed out his survivability stat.
No matter who died here at the former Land of Whirlpools—Orochimaru almost certainly wouldn't be one of them.
—
As the group sprinted westward, Orochimaru bit his finger and formed hand seals, using his blood as a medium.
Summoning Technique!
Boom!
A cloud of smoke erupted—
and a towering, purple-scaled serpent emerged in the clearing.
From a distance, Kiyohara turned at the sound and saw the massive snake towering over the treetops.
That was Orochimaru's summoned beast: Manda.
Among them, only Kakashi had his own summon.
"Lord Orochimaru's summon?"
"So huge… it must be insanely strong."
Genma muttered in awe.
He had heard of it, but never seen it in person.
"Mm-hmm."
Yūhi Kurenai nodded in agreement.
Their brief exchange helped cut through the tension.
Constant psychological pressure made it easy for shinobi to fall into PTSD after war.
Small talk could help offset that edge.
But while they walked, Rin's face was growing increasingly pale.
The jostling of the run was aggravating her wound.
She had only performed a simple [Medical Technique] to stop the bleeding.
The gash had closed—barely.
But it still needed proper medical treatment.
With each step, the pain worsened.
If she kept going without tending to it, the wound could tear open again.
And worse—it hadn't been disinfected.
With stone grit still embedded in the flesh, closing it improperly could cause infection.
Kiyohara noticed her expression tightening and the pallor creeping into her face.
"Let's find a place to rest. Rin needs her wound treated."
he said calmly.
"Agreed."
Kakashi nodded.
Now that he took a good look, he could see she wasn't doing well.
They'd been running for a while—
and still had several hours to go before reaching the western coast.
If they were ambushed in this condition, they'd be at a major disadvantage.
The group decided to take a short break—about 30 minutes—
to recover some chakra and rest.
"Rin, let me take care of your wound."
Kiyohara offered, glancing at the dimming sky.
Only distant flames still lit the horizon—
probably left by Fire Release techniques or explosive tags.
"If we don't treat the wound, it could reopen.
And it hasn't been properly cleaned."
he added, already pulling out a compact medical pouch.
Kiyohara always prepared for emergencies—especially those involving his own survival.
"You'll help me?"
Rin hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Kiyohara was the only one with basic medical ninjutsu among them.
He also silently asked Magnet Kiyohara to scout the area one more time.
That spirit had been floating nearby the entire time, scanning for hidden Mist shinobi.
This usage, however, was speeding up the ghost's dissipation.
Whether Magnet Kiyohara was possessing him or traveling outside the urn, any activity sped up the fading process.
That's why, unless summoned, they all remained sealed inside the ash urn—
to conserve energy, like a state of deep sleep.
Within the urn, time felt blurred, and they couldn't see, hear, or feel the outside world.
Over time, Kiyohara had discovered he could even forbid certain versions of himself from leaving the urn,
in case some "weird future Kiyohara" turned out to be unstable.
In a world of infinite possibilities, there were bound to be a few… strange iterations.
This system became a form of insurance.
"No enemies nearby."
Magnet Kiyohara returned after a few breaths—his body even more translucent now.
Without delay, he dove back into the urn to slow the dissipation.
These days, unless Kiyohara personally summoned him, he wouldn't appear again.
Reassured, Kiyohara turned to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, Rin's wound needs more attention.
This spot's too exposed. Could you make a temporary earth wall for privacy?"
Kakashi immediately understood the request.
With three guys and one girl, it wasn't ideal to treat her in the open.
He nodded and made quick hand seals.
"Earth Style: Earth-Flow Wall!"
A thick wall of solid earth rose up, its surface smooth—
separating Kiyohara and Rin from the others.
The makeshift space wasn't large,
but just big enough to conceal two people.
It gave them a much-needed sense of privacy and safety.
Kiyohara noticed the wall lacked Kakashi's usual carved dog head on top.
Guess he's running low on chakra…
"Rin, sit down. I'll take a look."
"Thanks, Kiyohara-kun."
Rin gave a soft "mm" and sat down, her back to him.
Though she knew this was necessary,
just the thought of showing her bare back to a boy—
especially out here in the wild—made her cheeks flush with shyness.
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
'It's wartime. No room for modesty…'
Still, the moment felt intimate.
She slowly removed her outer shirt, leaving only her bandaged undergarments.
Her smooth, fair back was exposed to the evening air—
soft and delicate, but marred by a harsh red gash.
Though roughly closed, it remained swollen and inflamed.
Tiny bits of embedded stone glittered faintly in the wound.
"It's starting to tear again.
And there's still foreign material inside."
Kiyohara crouched to inspect it carefully.
"Mystic Palm Technique will speed healing…
but it can't remove debris embedded in the flesh.
If we don't clean it manually, it could get infected—or worse."
He rolled out a compact leather medical kit from his ninja pouch.
Inside were cleanly arranged, pre-sterilized tools: tweezers, scalpels, antiseptic alcohol, and fresh gauze.
"This might sting. Hang in there."
He picked up the tweezers and gently disinfected them with an alcohol-soaked cotton pad, then leaned closer to her back.
Rin could feel his warm breath brushing against her skin.
Her entire body tensed involuntarily.
Her face flushed even redder.