Kiyohara could feel something writhing and spreading beneath his skin.
He lowered his head and looked at the back of his right hand, where black patterns began to surface from beneath the skin, crisscrossing in tangled lines.
These markings climbed upward along his arm, passing his elbow, extending to his shoulder, and finally converging at his neck.
The patterns burned with a crimson glow like flames, then rapidly cooled, turning into a pure, deep black.
Curse Mark, State One!
"So this is the power of the Cursed Seal of Earth?"
Kiyohara murmured to himself.
He could clearly sense the increase in the amount of chakra within his body. His chakra reserves had already far surpassed those of a typical jonin several times over, and now they had risen even further.
His muscles had also undergone changes.
The fibers seemed to have become denser, his bones faintly emitting cracking sounds, and even his five senses had grown significantly sharper.
Moreover, Kiyohara could feel that his chakra itself had changed, as if something had been mixed into it.
He knew what it was.
It was the natural energy present in the earth and the air.
At its core, the logic behind the curse mark was an imitation of senjutsu, so it naturally involved the use of natural energy.
However, unlike true senjutsu, this natural energy was not something he actively absorbed and balanced himself. Instead, it was passively injected into his body through the curse mark, which acted as a kind of container.
It was mixed within his chakra, yet not perfectly integrated, like oil floating on water. Though they coexisted for the time being, they remained distinctly separate.
"The curse mark is just Orochimaru's crude imitation of senjutsu."
The voice of Anbu Kiyohara echoed directly in his mind.
"It can provide power, but it cannot grant the true perception or control of senjutsu. If you use it for too long, your body will gradually be eroded, you will lose control, and eventually you will lose yourself entirely."
"For short battles, it's enough."
Kiyohara clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking sharply.
As long as he did not remain in the curse mark state for too long, it would be fine.
Moreover, once he reached Curse Mark State Two, this issue would be alleviated.
More importantly, although the natural energy could not be actively controlled, it greatly enhanced his perception of the surrounding environment.
The flow of the air, the moisture of the soil, even the faint sound of Tsunade and the others stepping on dry leaves as they retreated in the distance were all clearly distinguishable.
His sensory abilities had improved dramatically.
Then, Kiyohara's nose twitched.
"My sense of smell has also been enhanced."
He frowned.
There were drawbacks to heightened smell, such as the overwhelming scent of blood everywhere.
The metallic stench of blood, the odor of corpses, the dampness of the soil, the scorched smell of flames, all kinds of scents mixed together. An ordinary person would probably have already vomited uncontrollably.
Under Curse Mark State One, this experience became even more intense.
In less than a second, Kiyohara completed his transformation.
Standing within the pool of blood, En Oyashiro watched the black markings spreading across Kiyohara's body, the vertical pupils in his Ketsuryūgan narrowing.
"What kind of technique is this?"
His voice carried a trace of shock and uncertainty.
"It's not a kekkei genkai, nor is it taijutsu…"
But his battle instincts left him no time to think further.
"No matter what method you use, it is useless before the power of the Blood Pool!"
En Oyashiro formed hand seals, and the blood pool began to boil once again.
The remains of the eight blood dragons that Kiyohara had shattered earlier did not dissipate. Instead, they turned into thicker plasma and flowed back into the pool.
Immediately afterward, eight massive bubbles rose on the surface of the blood pool, each one containing a newly forming blood dragon.
But this time, En Oyashiro changed his strategy.
"Merge!"
He shouted loudly.
The eight newly formed blood dragons did not charge toward Kiyohara. Instead, they intertwined with each other.
Under the control of chakra, the plasma and iron elements reorganized, and the eight dragons, each as thick as a water tank, fused into one.
A gigantic blood dragon over three meters in diameter and more than twenty meters long.
This blood dragon was no longer a simple fluid form. Its surface was covered with black scales condensed from iron elements, each scale the size of a palm, with edges as sharp as blades.
At the dragon's head, distinct facial features even formed. Its eyes, made of dark red plasma, locked tightly onto Kiyohara, and its gaping mouth was filled with dense, blood-colored fangs.
"Ketsuryūgan: True Blood Dragon Technique!"
En Oyashiro's face paled slightly, clearly showing the immense consumption of this move.
"The power of this attack is equivalent to eight blood dragons striking the same point at once. Even your defense cannot withstand it!"
This was his answer to Kiyohara's defensive ability.
If scattering the attacks could not break through, then concentrate all the power into a single point.
As soon as his words fell, the gigantic blood dragon lunged toward Kiyohara.
Its speed did not match its size at all. With a single sway of its massive body in the blood pool, it transformed into a crimson afterimage and rushed forward.
Wherever it passed, the air was compressed into visible ripples, and the ground was carved into deep trenches by the pressure waves created by its movement.
If it had been the previous Kiyohara, he would likely have had no choice but to take it head on or barely evade.
But now…
"So slow."
Kiyohara muttered softly.
Under the enhanced dynamic vision and perception granted by the curse mark, the seemingly lightning fast blood dragon moved with a trajectory as clear as if it were in slow motion.
A tomoe emerged in his eye.
There were no others present now, so Kiyohara no longer needed to hide his three tomoe Sharingan.
Nor did he intend to leave En Oyashiro alive.
With this dual enhancement, Kiyohara could see the fusion of every scale and every drop of blood. He could see the blood droplets falling from the dragon's fangs. He could even see the nodes of chakra flow as En Oyashiro controlled the dragon.
He even had the leisure to think about strategy.
Take it head on?
Unnecessary.
The core of the blood dragon lay in the chakra and iron elements infused into it by En Oyashiro. In essence, it was like a puppet. As long as the core point was destroyed, no matter how massive the body was, it would collapse.
Kiyohara exerted force beneath his feet, and the ground exploded.
He charged directly toward the blood dragon.
At the moment the two were about to collide, Kiyohara's body tilted sharply to the side. His feet lightly tapped against the dragon's scales, and his entire body slid along its surface like a feather.
The dragon's head brushed past his back, and the wind pressure tore apart his already tattered shirt.
But that was all.
Kiyohara had already begun sprinting upward along the dragon's body, each step creating ripples on its surface without ever sinking into the thick plasma.
His target was the area behind the dragon's neck, where En Oyashiro's chakra was most concentrated, the control core of the entire blood dragon.
"What?!"
En Oyashiro's pupils shrank sharply.
He had never seen anyone deal with the True Blood Dragon Technique in such a way.
What kind of terrifying speed, balance, and courage did that require?
Before he could react, Kiyohara had already reached the node.
His hand slipped into his tool pouch.
What he pulled out was a "flying shuttle" forged from fragments of the Executioner's Blade, shaped like a long needle.
"Magnet Release: Flying Shuttle."
Kiyohara held the projectile between his fingers and infused it with Magnet Release chakra.
Whoosh!
The flying shuttle shot out of his hand.
Empowered by the curse mark, it broke through the sound barrier the instant it left his fingers. A conical sonic boom cloud blossomed behind it, while the shuttle itself became a streak of black light.
Piercing sound.
A soft, wet impact.
In the next moment, the entire blood dragon froze.
The massive body made of blood began to tremble violently. The scales on its surface peeled away one after another, turning back into viscous blood.
The moment the core node was pierced, En Oyashiro's control over the blood dragon was forcibly severed.
Then, the flying shuttle spun once in midair and continued forward without losing momentum, heading straight toward En Oyashiro.
En Oyashiro's expression changed drastically. He waved both hands, raising three walls of blood from the pool in an attempt to block it.
The first wall was easily pierced, and the shuttle absorbed the iron within it, becoming even faster.
The second wall was just as useless.
By the time the third wall rose, En Oyashiro had already realized something was wrong and retreated rapidly.
But the flying shuttle followed him like a shadow. Under the control of Magnet Release, it bypassed the blood walls and continued its pursuit.
"Damn it!"
En Oyashiro clenched his fist, and more blood vessels seemed to appear within his Blood Dragon Eye.
He spread a layer of blood mist. Within the mist, the flying shuttle's speed clearly decreased, and its trajectory began to waver.
But in that very instant, while the blood dragon collapsed and En Oyashiro was distracted controlling the blood walls and mist, Kiyohara had already circled around the dragon's remains and closed in from the side.
The distance between them was less than ten meters.
For Kiyohara in Curse Mark State One, ten meters required only a single step.
The ground exploded beneath his feet from the repulsive force, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
En Oyashiro felt his vision blur, and Kiyohara had already appeared at his side.
The shinobi blade was drawn once more, its surface coated in the deep black sheen of Steel Release. The edge cut through the air as it slashed toward his neck.
There was no way to evade.
En Oyashiro's eyes flashed with a fierce glint. Not only did he not dodge, he instead moved forward to meet the blade head on.
At the same time, his hands rapidly formed seals, and the remaining blood in the pool surged wildly toward his body, forming a thick layer of blood armor over his surface.
A sharp slicing sound rang out.
The collision echoed.
The shinobi blade struck the blood armor, yet it only cut halfway in before becoming stuck.
The hardness of that blood armor far exceeded imagination, and its surface continued to writhe, attempting to wrap around the blade and corrode the metal.
"Useless!"
En Oyashiro sneered.
"Even chakra metal cannot possibly…"
Before he could finish speaking, his expression froze.
Because Kiyohara had released his grip on the sword.
Then his left hand rose, his palm aimed directly at En Oyashiro's forehead.
The distance between them was less than half a meter.
At such a distance, for a shinobi, it was nearly impossible to evade.
"You…"
En Oyashiro tried to retreat, but the blood pool beneath his feet suddenly became extremely viscous. It was no longer under his control, but Kiyohara's.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Binding.
At some unknown moment, fine iron sand particles had already mixed into the blood pool, and now, under Kiyohara's control, they tightly locked En Oyashiro's feet in place.
Although it would only restrain him for an instant, it was enough.
At that very moment, the "flying shuttle" that had originally been blocked by the blood walls suddenly accelerated.
A soft piercing sound rang out again.
En Oyashiro's body trembled, and at the center of his forehead, a black flying shuttle was deeply embedded, leaving only its tail trembling outside.
Shock appeared on his face, and the vertical pupil within his Ketsuryūgan began to lose focus.
Yet the vitality of a Chinoike Clan person far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Even with his brain pierced, En Oyashiro did not die immediately.
A strange gurgling sound came from his throat as his hands trembled, still attempting to form seals. The blood within the pool surged wildly toward the wound on his forehead, trying to repair it.
"It's not over…"
he rasped, his voice like a broken bellows.
Kiyohara's gaze turned cold.
He could not give him the chance to recover.
The shinobi blade was still stuck in the blood armor, and pulling it out would take time.
Meanwhile, En Oyashiro's blood armor was thickening, attempting to force the flying shuttle out of his forehead.
In that case…
Kiyohara took a deep breath, his chest expanding as fire attribute chakra gathered within his lungs and throat.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!
Three fire dragons burst forth from Kiyohara's mouth.
When the fire dragons collided with the blood pool, the expected sound of evaporation did not occur.
Instead, a sizzling sound spread.
When the flames touched the blood, they did not instantly vaporize it. Instead, they spread across the surface of the pool and burned.
The fire clung to the blood, continuously scorching it, yet it could not rapidly reduce the total volume of the pool.
Kiyohara's Sharingan sharply captured the anomaly.
Deep within the blood pool, there was a special chakra circulating.
It functioned like a self sustaining system, dispersing the heat of the flames throughout the entire pool, while simultaneously drawing moisture from underground and absorbing water vapor from the air to replenish what had been evaporated.
"So that's how it is…"
Kiyohara understood.
The reason En Oyashiro dared to use such a large scale blood pool technique in an arid region was because he had already explored the underground water veins, mixing blood with water to create a greater volume of blood fluid.
Kiyohara's gaze shifted to a point three meters beneath En Oyashiro's feet.
There was a fist sized mass of chakra there, constantly pulsing and maintaining the stability of the entire blood pool.
As long as that was destroyed, the blood pool would lose its supply and rapidly evaporate under the flames.
But En Oyashiro clearly realized that Kiyohara had discovered it.
"Don't even think about it!"
The flying shuttle embedded in his forehead had already been pushed halfway out by the blood, and the wound was rapidly healing.
Although his face was pale as paper and the consumption was clearly enormous, the vitality of the Ketsuryūgan still allowed him to retain combat capability.
The blood pool churned violently, and eight columns of blood rose once more. This time, they did not transform into dragons, but condensed into eight massive blood spears that stabbed toward Kiyohara.
At the same time, En Oyashiro himself retreated rapidly, trying to widen the distance while forming hand seals to prepare an even stronger technique.
There was no time to delay further.
Kiyohara had no intention of wasting time.
The previous Fire Release had merely been a test of how much this state enhanced his ninjutsu.
From the results, there was some enhancement, but it was not particularly high.
That was normal. After all, this was only Curse Mark State One, not State Two, and Kiyohara had not actively infused it with natural energy.
In the next moment, lightning began to crackle in Kiyohara's palm, blue white arcs hissing as they gathered. This time, however, he did not stop there.
He attempted to mix the curse mark chakra, which contained a large amount of natural energy, into the lightning nature chakra of Chidori.
It was a dangerous attempt.
The mixture of natural energy and chakra required delicate balance. Even a slight mistake could cause the technique to collapse or even backfire.
But at this moment, the spiritual presence of Anbu Kiyohara was attached to him. That familiarity with the power of the curse mark gave him the confidence to try.
"Help me stabilize the ratio of natural energy,"
Kiyohara said within his mind.
"Understood,"
Anbu Kiyohara replied.
In the next instant, Kiyohara felt a gentle guiding will directing the natural energy, slowly mixing it into the lightning chakra of Chidori.
At first, the two energies repelled each other, and the arcs of Chidori became chaotic, crackling violently.
But soon, under the precise control of Anbu Kiyohara, the natural energy was tamed.
It did not perfectly fuse with the lightning chakra. Instead, it wrapped around it like a shell, forming a stable energy structure.
The color of Chidori began to change.
From blue white, to deep blue, and finally…
It turned into a pure, jet black.
The black lightning flickered in Kiyohara's palm, its crackling sound becoming deeper and more dangerous.
"This…"
Even Kiyohara himself was surprised.
He could feel that the destructive power contained within this black Chidori had increased significantly compared to before.
But it was still not enough.
En Oyashiro had already retreated to the edge of the blood pool, and the eight blood spears were about to reach him.
Kiyohara needed a form capable of long range attack.
Chidori Sharp Spear.
This transformation technique, originally developed by Kakashi, had already been mastered by Kiyohara.
The black Chidori in his palm began to stretch and deform.
The lightning chakra was elongated into a straight line, extending continuously in length.
A piercing sound tore through the air.
Sage Art Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear!
Kiyohara softly spoke the name of this improvised jutsu.
In the next moment, a beam of black lightning shot out from his palm like a laser, directly piercing through the incoming blood spears.
En Oyashiro's expression changed drastically. He frantically waved his hands, raising layer upon layer of blood walls from the pool.
Unfortunately, this time, they were completely useless.
Because Kiyohara had no intention of continuing to test his abilities.
He only wanted to end En Oyashiro as quickly as possible.
The black Chidori spear cut through the blood walls like a hot knife through butter, pierced the chakra core beneath the ground, and with a soft popping sound, it burst like a bubble.
Immediately after came the collapse of the entire blood pool system.
Without the support of the core, the chakra circulation within the pool was broken.
The blood began to separate, moisture evaporated, and iron elements settled.
The once viscous blood pool rapidly thinned, eventually turning into ordinary blood water that seeped into the ground.
Meanwhile, after destroying the core, the Chidori spear still retained nearly half of its chakra.
Kiyohara waved his hand, and the black lightning changed direction, locking onto En Oyashiro.
At this moment, true fear finally appeared on En Oyashiro's face.
His greatest support, the blood pool, had been destroyed.
Now, with his forehead injury not yet healed and more than half of his chakra already consumed, facing this black lightning spear, he felt the threat of death.
"Can we make peace?"
En Oyashiro shouted hastily.
He regretted it. He regretted provoking Kiyohara.
He had never imagined that Kiyohara would be this powerful.
"You must be joking."
Kiyohara said coldly.
After wasting so much of his time, how could there possibly be any reconciliation?
"No!"
En Oyashiro roared, attempting to unleash his final life saving technique.
But it was too late.
The black Chidori Sharp Spear tore through the air, flashing past his waist in an instant.
En Oyashiro's expression froze, and he slowly lowered his head to look at his own waist.
A thin black line appeared there, stretching from his left abdomen across to his right side.
In the next moment, that line split open, and blood burst out.
His upper body slowly slid downward, separating from his lower half.
He had been cut cleanly in half at the waist.
"Aaaah!"
A miserable scream echoed throughout the entire outpost.
En Oyashiro's upper body fell into the blood soaked ground, his hands clawing wildly at the earth as he tried to pull his lower half back toward himself.
The power of the Ketsuryugan allowed him to remain alive even under such a fatal injury. Blood gushed from the severed section, attempting to reconnect his body.
But at the wound, the residual senjutsu chakra from the black Chidori Sharp Spear continued to erode his flesh and block the regeneration of blood.
Every time he tried to heal himself with chakra, arcs of jet black lightning would leap out and tear apart the newly forming tissue.
"Wh… what is this…"
En Oyashiro widened his Ketsuryugan, staring fixedly at Kiyohara as he approached.
"What kind of power are you using… that is not a kekkei genkai… and not ordinary ninjutsu…"
Kiyohara did not answer.
He simply walked over and stood above En Oyashiro, looking down at this once arrogant collector of bloodline abilities.
At this moment, En Oyashiro had completely lost the calm elegance he had shown at the beginning.
He lay in a pool of blood in a miserable state, half of his body twitching uncontrollably, his face filled with pain, anger, and deep seated fear.
"Answer me!"
En Oyashiro coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
Kiyohara simply kept his distance and watched him.
Anbu Kiyohara also observed the scene.
"This version of me from is much stronger than I was."
He spoke with a hint of emotion.
"His genjutsu does not work on me, that is all. Without a counter, he would have been very difficult to deal with."
Kiyohara and Anbu Kiyohara casually continued their conversation.
"The Chinoike Clan… will not end like this…"
Seeing that Kiyohara completely ignored him, anger rose in En Oyashiro's heart. Gathering his last strength, he forced out his words.
"My daughter… Chino… she will inherit my will… she will…"
Before he could finish, his head dropped weakly, and his pupils lost all focus.
This man who had roamed the black market for years, collected countless bloodline abilities, and even once coveted the Sharingan, ultimately died in this inconspicuous medical outpost village at the border of the Land of Grass.
Kiyohara stood quietly for more than ten seconds, confirming that En Oyashiro was completely dead.
Then he cast another ninjutsu toward the corpse.
Half of the body was destroyed, yet there was still no movement.
Seeing this, the black curse mark patterns on Kiyohara's body slowly began to fade.
The spiritual form of Anbu Kiyohara also separated from the possession state and floated nearby once again.
As the power of the curse mark receded, a strong wave of weakness washed over him.
Kiyohara could feel that his body had suffered slight damage from forcibly bearing natural energy. There were many tiny tears in his muscle fibers, and his chakra pathways carried a faint burning pain.
"This is the side effect of forcibly using the curse mark,"
Anbu Kiyohara's voice sounded.
"I see."
Kiyohara nodded.
Then he looked at Anbu Kiyohara and asked, "Does this count as completing the first mission?"
"Of course. I thought you would complete this Anbu's final will first, but instead you killed En Oyashiro first."
Anbu Kiyohara shook his head.
To be honest, he had not expected things to develop this way.
After that, a cluster of light emerged from his body.
The light merged into Kiyohara.
Everything happened as if it were perfectly natural. Kiyohara absorbed a portion of Anbu Kiyohara's power.
A flood of knowledge regarding infiltration and assassination techniques used by Anbu poured into his mind.
These were all experiences that Anbu Kiyohara had accumulated over many years.
Espionage and counter espionage… very reasonable.
Kiyohara reviewed the newly acquired knowledge in his mind.
These things would be extremely useful for his future.
After all, to complete the second final wish, he would have to join the Anbu.
And once he joined, this knowledge would save him a great deal of time.
Then came another increase in spiritual energy.
Kiyohara could clearly feel that his thinking speed had become faster and that retrieving memories was smoother.
At the same time, the sudden increase in spiritual energy also drove changes in his physical body.
His chakra reserves increased, breaking through a bottleneck.
The chakra he had just expended began to slowly recover.
"My chakra has increased again… it might already be greater than that of a typical Uzumaki clan member."
Kiyohara stroked his chin.
At the same time, he felt that his affinity for fire nature chakra and lightning nature chakra had improved.
Many fire and lightning jutsus suddenly became clearer to him. If he practiced them now, he would achieve results with half the effort.
Simply put, many techniques that once required repeated training could now be grasped with just a bit of practice.
"So this is the effect of stacking talent…"
Kiyohara clenched his fist, lightning flickering in his palm.
This time, the lightning chakra was denser and his control more refined.
Beyond that, there were also changes in the power of the curse mark.
Kiyohara raised his right hand and focused his thoughts.
On the back of his hand, a black pattern of three slender tomoe, resembling a magatama design, slowly appeared.
"So this is the power of the curse mark?"
Kiyohara could feel that some kind of chakra was being stored within it.
Once it recovered, he would be able to enter the curse mark state again.
"That's right. The curse mark is actually very similar to the Strength of a Hundred Seal, except it allows the user to passively absorb natural energy."
"I see…"
Kiyohara nodded.
Sasuke had always been able to activate his curse mark at will, without any visible prerequisite.
Most likely, the necessary conditions were already met during normal times, allowing him to draw on it directly during battle.
Kiyohara then began to test the power within it. Sure enough, the curse mark patterns spread across his body once more.
When he released it, both the patterns and the mark on his hand disappeared together.
"Your curse mark also disappears?"
Kiyohara asked.
"No, mine does not."
Anbu Kiyohara nodded and showed his own mark.
His curse mark remained visible on the surface of his skin at all times.
Perhaps because Kiyohara had inherited it, his own mark remained hidden normally and only appeared when he activated the curse mark state.
"And as your strength increases, the amount of curse mark power stored within that pattern should also grow. Once you complete my second will, you should be able to attempt Curse Mark State Two."
"If you try it prematurely, the corrosive effect on your body will be too strong, since you have not taken the Mind Awakening Pill."
Anbu Kiyohara reminded him.
"I understand."
Kiyohara clenched his hand.
Even Sasuke had only obtained Curse Mark State Two after coming extremely close to death.
After all, the Four Black Mist Formation would create a barrier that sealed the person inside in their pre casting state. Those who were injured remained injured, those who were alive remained alive, but they would not die, instead being held in a state close to death until the technique was released.
The Sound Four had relied on this to allow Sasuke's body to adapt to the curse mark's erosion.
Likewise, it was how they obtained Curse Mark State Two.
"I'll go check the spoils."
With those words, Kiyohara stepped forward.
Cleaning up after battle had already become a habit for him.
The most important thing was En Oyashiro's corpse.
Kiyohara crouched down and examined his belongings.
There was an exquisite shinobi tool pouch. Inside, aside from standard kunai, shuriken, and smoke bombs, there were also two specially made sealing scrolls.
Kiyohara opened the first one. The space inside was quite large, containing various items he had collected in the Land of Grass. Most of them were strange and miscellaneous objects.
Kiyohara discarded the useless items and kept the valuable ones.
The second scroll contained information about "Onigashiro."
This was a city built on an offshore island, serving as En Oyashiro's secret base.
It was also where he kept bloodline shinobis and forced them to slaughter one another.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara stored both scrolls in his pouch.
At the very least, the storage space inside was far greater than what he had used before.
And he could visit that Onigashiro later to see if there were any worthwhile gains.
Next were En Oyashiro's eyes.
Kiyohara took out a preservation container.
As a medical shinobi, he naturally carried such things.
Since he always kept sealing scrolls with him, he stored various items inside, and now was the perfect time to use them.
Using a chakra scalpel, he carefully removed the Ketsuryūgan along with the optic nerves, placing them into the container and injecting nutrient fluid.
"If I bring these back for research, there should be plenty to gain."
Kiyohara thought to himself.
If he could not fully understand them, he could take them to Orochimaru, who would surely offer him some benefit in return.
After gaining those benefits, he could then assist as an aide and obtain additional information, making it a double gain.
Of course, if he could study them himself, that would be best.
Next were the corpses of the other Grass shinobis.
Kiyohara quickly searched through them and obtained a fair amount of cash and shinobi tools.
Although each individual did not carry much, together they amounted to a considerable sum.
Finally, he arrived at the earthen hut where the red haired woman, Uzumaki Kyoko, had once stayed.
The interior was heartbreakingly simple. A worn straw mat, a chipped clay bowl, and a few faded clothes stacked in the corner.
The only valuable item was probably the old medical notebook on the table, filled with neat handwriting detailing the effects of various herbs and basic treatment methods.
Kiyohara picked up the notebook and flipped to the last page.
In trembling handwriting, it read: "Today I treated seventeen people again. I am so tired, my chakra is almost depleted, but they said if I work a little harder, they will give me more food… I will hold on a bit longer…"
Kiyohara silently closed the notebook and placed it into his clothes.
This belonged to Kyoko and should be returned to her.
From the description, her early life had indeed been quite miserable.
After cleaning the battlefield, Kiyohara used fire release to burn all the corpses, eliminating any traces.
Then he used earth release to overturn the ground of the entire outpost, concealing the signs of battle.
By the time he finished everything, the sky had already darkened.
Kiyohara estimated the time. It had already exceeded the ten minutes he had agreed upon with Tsunade.
He guessed that Tsunade was likely already on her way back.
Without further delay, Kiyohara's figure flashed as he rushed toward their previous campsite.
At his speed, it would not take long to return.
Meanwhile, at the temporary camp five kilometers away.
"Kiyohara hasn't returned yet. We need to go back and find him,"
Tsunade said.
The agreed time had already passed, and something might have happened to him.
As his teacher, she had to go back.
(End of Chapter)