The wheels crushed through the muddy road with creaking sounds.
A caravan of four horse-drawn wagons moved forward slowly in the light rain, the accumulated rainwater on the canvas roofs occasionally dripping down along the edges.
Kiyohara sat by the window of the wagon, gazing outside through the rain-blurred glass.
The carriage jolted slightly, prompting Kurenai and Rin to let out small gasps before quickly settling down again.
The two girls sat on the other side of the carriage, whispering to each other in low voices, with occasional soft laughter drifting over.
Orochimaru sat diagonally across from Kiyohara, his back against the carriage wall, hands crossed on his lap, eyes half-closed as if resting.
Yet Kiyohara could sense that those golden slit pupils would occasionally open just a crack, sweeping over everyone inside the carriage, and always lingering on him for an extra moment.
Minato sat near the door, holding a map and studying it carefully.
Kakashi sat beside him, his mask covering most of his face, with only his single exposed eye vigilantly watching the scenery outside the window.
After some time, Orochimaru began talking with Kiyohara again.
"I remember later on, I followed Sarutobi-sensei on an escort mission, protecting a noble lady from a daimyō's household. We were also riding in a carriage, but that one was far more luxurious than this with silk cushions inside, with incense burning."
Kurenai and Rin stopped their conversation and listened with curiosity.
Even Kakashi and Genma turned their heads to listen.
"That lady cried the entire way, saying she was being forced to marry a man she didn't love," Orochimaru continued.
"When the mission ended, she secretly asked me whether I could take her away with me. I said no, because a mission is a mission."
The carriage fell silent for a few seconds, with only the sound of rain and wheels rolling along.
"What happened after that?" Rin couldn't help but ask.
"She married him," Orochimaru replied. "Three years later, I passed through that country on another mission and heard that she had given birth to a son and was living quite well."
Orochimaru opened his eyes, his golden pupils sweeping over everyone present.
"So emotions are sometimes just temporary obsessions. Time changes everything."
Only immortality would never be eroded by time.
That was what Orochimaru thought.
The remark came rather abruptly, and the atmosphere inside the carriage became subtly delicate.
Minato spoke up at the right moment, breaking the faintly awkward silence.
"Orochimaru-senpai is right. A mission is a mission. But everyone has their own choices, as long as they don't violate the shinobi code."
He folded the map and smiled gently.
"Speaking of which, Kiyohara is about to be promoted to jonin this time—truly impressive. Kakashi was promoted only about half a year earlier than him. You two are both geniuses."
Kakashi replied in a low voice, "I was just lucky."
In Kakashi's view, Kiyohara had simply been quiet and low-key in the past, not displaying his talent openly.
"Kakashi-kun is being too modest," Orochimaru said, licking the corner of his lips.
"I've observed your Chidori. Your lightning chakra's shape transformation has already reached a very high level. As for Kiyohara-kun's Magnet Release, his uniqueness lies in nature transformation and combined application. You're walking different paths, but both of you have great potential."
"Oh, right—Kiyohara-kun," Orochimaru suddenly changed the topic.
"I noticed that when you were organizing your equipment yesterday, you replaced all the ordinary silk threads with copper wire. Was that to enhance conductivity?"
"Yes," Kiyohara admitted openly.
"A very correct choice," Orochimaru nodded approvingly.
In every aspect, Kiyohara was becoming more and more satisfactory to Orochimaru.
This made him start to consider whether, after Anko, he should take on another disciple.
…
On the evening of the third day, the caravan finally reached the border region of the Land of Rain.
The rain was heavier now.
Bean-sized raindrops pounded densely against the wagon roofs, reducing visibility to less than ten meters.
Through the curtain of rain, the caravan leader Jirobo shouted loudly, "Honored shinobi, we can't keep going! It's getting dark, the road is slippery, and there's a dangerous mountain path ahead!"
Minato leaned out to check the sky, then glanced at the map and nodded.
"Let's find a place to camp."
However, finding a suitable campsite in such heavy rain was no easy task.
The terrain here was low-lying, and many areas had already begun to flood.
After searching for nearly half an hour, they finally found a barely usable flat area on a relatively higher hillside.
"This is bad, the tents are all soaked. We can't set them up," Jirobo said after checking the supplies, his face looking grim.
The ordinary people in the caravan began to panic.
Spending the night outdoors in such heavy rain would mean getting sick even if they didn't freeze to death.
Kiyohara surveyed the surroundings and suddenly had an idea.
He walked over to Orochimaru and Minato. "Orochimaru-sama, maybe I can try using Earth jutsu to make a temporary shelter."
"Earth jutsu?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.
"I know some basics," Kiyohara said, already stepping into the center of the open area and beginning to form hand seals.
Tiger–Ox–Dragon–Bird–Monkey–Hare.
Standard Earth jutsu hand seals.
Kiyohara's chakra poured into the ground. He could feel the amplification brought by the White Snake Power—his chakra was thicker, and his control felt a bit more precise.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Rumble—
The ground shook violently as earthen walls rose from beneath the surface. Kiyohara cast it four times in succession, forming a square enclosure.
The walls were over twenty centimeters thick and about three meters tall, with the top still open.
But that wasn't all. Kiyohara formed seals again, changing his hand signs.
"Earth Release: Earth Rise!"
The tops of the walls extended and closed in, forming a slanted roof. The entire structure now looked like a crude square house—rough, but sufficient to block the rain.
The caravan members stared in shock.
They had seen shinobis fight before, but this was the first time they had seen someone use ninjutsu to build a house.
"It still needs a door and windows," Kiyohara said.
He walked to one wall, drew his shinobi blade, and cut out a rectangular doorway.
The entire process took less than two minutes.
A temporary shelter capable of housing over forty people was complete.
"Hah…"
Kiyohara let out a light breath.
These ninjutsu were ones he had exchanged for some of his battle merits before departure. He also had other techniques he hadn't revealed yet, planning to use them against enemies under the pretext of improvisation.
Originally, his chakra reserves were three times that of an average jonin. After consuming the White Snake Power, his chakra recovery speed had increased significantly.
His total chakra capacity had also improved somewhat, reaching about 3.6 times that of a normal jonin.
Therefore, using Earth Release: Earth Style Wall four times and Earth Release: Earth Rise once—for a total of five Earth Release techniques—was not particularly difficult.
"Th-this is amazing!"
Jirobo's eyes widened.
Shinobis were a violent profession.
At least, that was how Jirobo saw it—mercenaries by nature, either assassinating or protecting clients by killing attackers.
Using ninjutsu for production like this was truly rare.
The caravan members cheered as they moved their supplies into the earthen shelter.
Though the floor was still bare earth, it was dry, they could light fires, and they could rest.
Since the soil had been lifted from underground, it had only been touched by a little rain.
Orochimaru walked into the shelter, running his fingers across the wall's surface. The earthen walls had been compressed by chakra, smooth and hard, with good water resistance.
"A very practical application of Earth Release," Orochimaru commented.
"Though it's just a combination of C-rank techniques, it demands a high level of chakra control and precise timing. Kiyohara-kun, your proficiency in Earth Release exceeds my expectations."
Minato also took a look and nodded slightly.
Many shinobis could think of such a simple combination, but actually executing it required extremely precise control over Earth Release techniques.
"It's just basic application," Kiyohara said modestly.
Internally, he knew that it was the talent of Magnet Release Kiyohara and Steel Release Kiyohara in chakra nature and shape transformation that gave him an understanding of Earth Release far beyond that of ordinary shinobis.
Everyone began organizing the temporary camp.
Minato and Kakashi set up perimeter traps, while Rin and Kurenai helped distribute dry rations and blankets to the caravan members.
While sorting the blankets, Kurenai accidentally scraped her finger on a splinter along the edge of a wooden crate.
"Ah!"
She cried out softly as a bead of bright red blood seeped from her fingertip.
"Let me take a look," Kiyohara said, walking over and taking her hand.
Rin also hurried over with the medical kit. "Kiyohara, let me—"
"I'll do it," Kiyohara said.
He held Kurenai's wrist with his left hand, bringing together the index and middle fingers of his right hand. A gentle green glow of chakra lit up at his fingertips.
"Regeneration Technique…"
The green light covered the wound.
Kurenai felt a warm flow of chakra enter her finger, and the pain quickly faded.
After a few minutes, only a small patch of newly grown pink skin remained at the wound site.
Kurenai's face turned red.
Not from pain, but because Kiyohara was holding her hand so close, she could clearly see his focused profile from such a short distance.
"I-it's fine now. Thank you," she said softly, her eyelashes trembling as she pulled her hand back.
Rin looked at Kiyohara in surprise.
"Kiyohara, your medical ninjutsu… you've improved so fast."
Kiyohara withdrew his chakra. "Maybe it's because Lady Tsunade taught me for a day."
"Eh—Lady Tsunade taught Kiyohara?"
Rin's voice was filled with astonishment and thick envy.
Lady Tsunade!
If she herself could receive even a single day of instruction from Tsunade, she didn't know how happy she would be.
Orochimaru observed the entire scene, the interest in his golden slit pupils growing stronger.
He walked over to Kiyohara and lowered his voice.
"Earth Release, Wind Release, Lightning Release, medical ninjutsu, kenjutsu, Magnet Release… the sheer variety of abilities you've mastered reminds me of someone."
"Who?" Kiyohara asked.
"The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju," Orochimaru said, licking his lips.
"He was also proficient in many types of ninjutsu and excelled at combining them, though Lord Tobirama's specialties were Water Release and the development of forbidden techniques."
"You flatter me, Orochimaru-sama. I just think there's no harm in learning more," Kiyohara replied.
"Indeed," Orochimaru nodded, then suddenly asked a question.
"Then, when you use Magnet Release, what kind of chakra are you using?"
Here it comes.
Kiyohara knew this question would eventually be asked, especially by a curiosity-driven scientist like Orochimaru.
He had already prepared his answer.
"A combination of Earth and Wind," Kiyohara said.
"Earth plus Wind…"
Orochimaru pondered thoughtfully.
"That does align with the theoretical basis of Magnet Release. However, being able to independently fuse two chakra natures and stabilize them requires extremely high chakra control talent and a great deal of luck."
Orochimaru gave a slight nod.
The so-called luck referred to whether the body could undergo mutation and awaken or synthesize this bloodline limit at all.
Whether this step would succeed was something no one could predict.
Back then, Hashirama Senju's Wood Release had been something his clan members tried to imitate, yet none could learn it.
Meanwhile, the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, surpassed ordinary bloodline limits and successfully passed down the bloodline selection beyond bloodline limits, the Dust Release to the unrelated Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
Orochimaru stared at Kiyohara and suddenly said half-jokingly,
"Kiyohara-kun, perhaps you could also try other bloodline limits? As far as I know, a shinobi doesn't have to be limited to just one."
(End of Chapter)