Besides seeing Jiraiya, Kano also went to find Ino Yamanaka to hang out.
Initially, Ino felt it might interfere with Kano's training, but after Kano herself said it was fine, she stayed at Ino's house until nightfall.
It had been a long time since she had played with Ino; even a simple dress-up game brought them great joy. They exchanged their usual outfits and dressed each other up, their relationship growing ever closer. Ino still couldn't keep her hands to herself while changing Kano's clothes, feeling her up all over. Kano retaliated in kind, giving her a taste of her own medicine. Judging by the feel of it, Ino had already started to develop~
By the time she left Ino's house, the sky was already dark, and Kano rode Shadow Deer home alone.
On her way home, she heard the sound of fighting in the distance. Kano didn't know what was happening, so she searched her memories and quickly ran toward the scene.
When Kano arrived, she was already a step too late.
"Is he that proctor, Gekkō Hayate?"
Kano didn't feel particularly regretful about his death; after all, he was someone who was supposed to die in the original work. However, she did feel a bit sorry for his girlfriend.
Having lived as a young girl for over ten years now, she could more or less understand the girlfriend's feelings. But it was limited to sympathy; she couldn't resurrect Gekkō Hayate.
In that case, she might as well extract his shadow. Although his Transparent Release wasn't exceptionally strong, it was still somewhat useful.
Kano bent down to extract Gekkō Hayate's shadow.
"Huh? Why can't I extract it?"
It wasn't a failure; it simply couldn't be extracted.
Does that mean he still has a breath left?!
If the person was still alive, she wouldn't do something like finishing them off. If she could save him, she definitely would!
Shadow Deer Tube and Shadow Haku instantly emerged from the shadows on either side of Gekkō Hayate. Since Shadow Deer Tube had inherited a vast amount of Ninja experience, he knew a bit of basic Ninjutsu.
As expected, a green Chakra light emanated from Shadow Deer Tube's palm; he indeed knew the Mystical Palm Technique, though it was a bit weak. After all, a Genin's Mystical Palm Technique wasn't strong to begin with, and since he was just upgrade material, being able to use it at all was good enough.
Next, Shadow Haku used needles to precisely strike Gekkō Hayate's acupoints, putting him into a state of suspended animation to reduce metabolic consumption and help stop the bleeding.
However, this only served to delay his death. If he wasn't saved within this timeframe, the suspended animation would become actual death!
Shadow Zabuza carried him and moved quickly, while Shadow Haku and Shadow Deer Tube followed to provide treatment. It was practically a Hokage-style ambulance, though the journey was quite bumpy.
Kano then utilized her long-hidden life-saving ultimate skill.
Shadow Exchange!
It allowed her to swap positions with any shadow, with a thirty-minute cooldown.
This was why Kano always kept one shadow slot open specifically for a teleportation shadow—shadow bug—even when she only had fifteen slots. This was a skill she had only used twice so far, one of those times being when she took Mizuki's life.
The next second, Kano was back in her bedroom at home. She didn't have time to change her clothes and rushed to find her father.
He was a high-level official in Konoha Village; it shouldn't be a problem for him to find some skilled doctors to save a person. However, whether the doctors could save him was one thing, and whether they would be in time was another.
"Kano-sama, what happened?"
Seeing Kano's panicked state, running toward Shikaku's room in high heels without even changing her shoes, Karin stepped forward with concern to ask.
The moment she saw Karin, Kano remembered—what Medical Ninjutsu could possibly compare to Karin's special constitution!
"Karin, I want to ask you to save someone. I'll compensate you afterward and unconditionally grant you any one request!"
Seeing Kano bow her head, Karin was beyond terrified and quickly helped Kano up.
"You've helped me so much; it's only right for me to repay you. There's no need for compensation. I'm very satisfied with my life now. Where is the person who needs saving?"
Kano led Karin to her room and opened the window.
"Wait a moment, he's almost here."
A short while later, Shadow Zabuza jumped through the window carrying Gekkō Hayate on his back.
"This is him. He's dying right now. I've temporarily sealed his acupoints to delay his death. However, he'll truly die before long. Please, save him."
Karin nodded; she trusted Kano deeply. So, she held out her arm and supported Gekkō Hayate's chin, letting him bite her arm.
As the Chakra within Karin's body drained, Gekkō Hayate's injuries gradually subsided. Once Kano determined he was out of mortal danger, she immediately had Karin stop.
"Alright, Karin, that's enough. He's out of danger now; no need to consume any more of your Chakra. It's all thanks to you this time. If it weren't for you, he definitely wouldn't have made it back."
System, exchange various pills for me, one or two of each kind.
[Hmph, now you realize how useful this System is, don't you? (˵¯͒♦¯͒˵)]
"Yes, you're the most useful!"
"This is your compensation. These are specially made pills, including one that can restore your skin so no bite marks are left. There are others with various effects; in short, they're all good things."
Karin looked at the colorful candies; she didn't doubt Kano's words in the slightest. After all, she had truly experienced the effects of that skin-beautifying pill before.
With just three pills, all the bite marks and scars across her body had vanished without a trace, and even her skin had become fair, tender, and delicate.
"Thank you, but isn't this a bit too much?"
"Take them all. This is the best thank-you gift I can offer. Also, I need to ask you to keep this a secret. For now, don't let anyone else find out he's alive. Let him recover here temporarily.
And don't use your constitution to treat him anymore, otherwise, it'll be impossible to explain when he wakes up. We'll just look after him here until he wakes up on his own."
Over the next few days, because she was busy taking care of Gekkō Hayate, Kano didn't go out to play much. Although she had lost a Shadow Ninja who could use Transparent Release, one less regret weighed on her heart.
Additionally, there was the work arranged by the Hokage.
"So, Kano, I've heard you have a very beautiful singing voice. I'd like to ask you to give a performance at the opening of the third round of the Chunin Exams. After all, the Daimyo will be there to watch that day..."
"No problem, Hokage-sama! It's my honor to contribute to Konoha Village."
"What a good child. You'll be well-compensated afterward; I'll count this as a B-rank mission for you."
Actually, the money didn't matter. The main thing was that there would definitely be a crowd that day, so earning some popularity points would be nice.
The prices in the shop were just too ridiculous; the price of an item she had already bought had actually increased tenfold.
[There's nothing I can do about that ( p′︵‵.). Copying rewards from other systems is illegal to begin with. Every time you buy an item from another system, I have to pay a fine, and it gets bigger every time. Besides, I'm the one bearing most of the fines, okay? ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚]
She had originally planned to become a popular Idol in the future and use the 0.3 units of Chakra from the shop to stack herself up into a Tailed Beast.
The remaining days were quite ordinary. Kano didn't go for special training or cause any trouble; she just honestly took care of Gekkō Hayate and sang for the villagers daily.
Then, one day, Naruto suddenly came to find her, with Jiraiya accompanying him.
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