As a side note,
in Yuu's view, the relationship between Nohara Rin and Obito was actually somewhat like "mother and son."
Obito was also the type who lacked affection. Although he was born into the Uchiha clan, he was not much different from an orphan, so he was especially sensitive to kindness from others. Rin's gentleness and kindness were not aimed specifically at him, but Obito had misunderstood them as love.
If one observed carefully, they would find that Rin's attitude toward Obito was closer to that of an older sister toward a younger brother, rather than romantic affection between a man and a woman.
Looking at it this way…
Rin was actually quite suited to being the director of Konoha's orphanage.
What a "natural-born loli-mom holy body"…
"Yuu?"
Rin had already settled Kabuto down and walked back. She tilted her head and looked at Yuu.
"Why are you standing there without moving? Is there something dirty on me?"
"No. It's getting late. Let's clean up and head back."
Yuu smiled and said.
A few minutes later,
Yuu and Rin finished tidying everything up and left the medical team's tent area, heading back toward their lodging.
By now, the night was deep.
Most of the noise in the camp had already quieted down. Only a few patrol ninja were still moving around. Among them were several members of the Hyūga clan, their Byakugan open as they scanned the surroundings, guarding against infiltrators with ulterior motives.
At a sheltered spot,
Yuu stopped and turned to look at Rin beside him.
"Rin, wait a moment."
"Hm?"
Rin turned her head. She seemed to have vaguely guessed something, and anticipation appeared on her face.
Under her gaze, Yuu raised his right hand. Chakra surged in his palm, gradually condensing into a diamond-shaped object only the size of a fingernail. It glowed with a soft emerald-green light and pulsed faintly, as if it possessed life.
"This is…"
Rin leaned closer curiously and looked at the strange seed.
From the outside, the Seed of Vitality did not look especially unusual. It was almost like a glowing green watermelon seed, only with sharper edges, shaped like a regular polyhedron.
But as a medical ninja, Rin could clearly sense the pure life energy contained within it—gentle yet resilient, like a star brimming with vitality.
"This is the gift I mentioned earlier. You can consider it a small result of my recent research into medical ninjutsu and Yang Release."
Yuu said.
He did not explain much about the origin of the Seed of Vitality.
After all, this involved the existence of the galgame system, the deepest and greatest secret on Yuu's body. It was not suitable to tell others, even someone relatively trustworthy like Rin.
Besides, walls had ears.
Around this camp, there were definitely Black Zetsu or White Zetsu clones. Although Hyūga clan members were patrolling all around, and theoretically, if a White Zetsu were hiding nearby, the Byakugan would notice something, it was still better to be careful. He could not reveal unnecessary information through his words.
At this moment,
Yuu reached out and gently placed the softly glowing green seed into Rin's open palm.
The instant they made contact, the emerald light on the seed's surface faintly flowed. Then it sank through Rin's fair palm and into her body, making her cry out softly in surprise. She thought something had gone wrong, but then felt a stream of information flow into her mind.
This information had been preset by Yuu. It was a simple explanation of how the Seed of Vitality worked, so Rin would know how to use it.
Soon,
Rin finished digesting the information. Her eyes suddenly widened, and disbelief appeared on her face.
"Yuu, this seed actually… This gift is way too precious!"
It could actually… rewind the body's condition? It was equivalent to gaining an extra life at a critical moment?
How was that possible?!
Could it be Lady Tsunade's secret teaching?
At this moment, Rin's little head was filled with huge doubts. In her understanding, only the First Hokage's legendary physique, which could heal without forming seals, could compare to this Seed of Vitality in terms of mechanism. This was simply beyond the realm of conventional medical techniques.
"Shh—"
Yuu raised his index finger and made a shushing gesture.
"It's enough that you know how to use it. You don't need to say it out loud. You also know that ninjutsu intelligence is very important to ninja. For now, let's treat this as a little secret between the two of us."
"…Okay."
Rin felt the Seed of Vitality inside her dantian, then looked at Yuu's particularly serious face under the dim light. Complicated emotions quietly surged in her heart. In the end, she nodded firmly.
"I will. I won't tell anyone."
The two looked at each other under the streetlamp for a moment, then smiled at the same time and turned into the tent.
At this time, Obito was already fast asleep. Kakashi was half-lying on another bed nearby, reading Icha Icha Paradise by the light of an oil lamp. Seeing Yuu and Rin come in, Kakashi casually glanced up, then looked away again.
The two washed up briefly, then each went to bed to rest.
…
A night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, faint light filled the sky.
Yuu gave his ninja pouch one final check, confirming that everything inside was intact, and that he had enough soldier pills and clean water. Only then did he carry both the White Fang short blade and the Sword of the Thunder God on his back, preparing to leave.
At that moment, Obito had only just woken up. He rubbed his eyes groggily and looked at Yuu.
"Huh, Yuu? Why are you going out so early… Are you coming back for lunch?"
"…"
Kakashi closed the little yellow book in his hands and glanced at Obito with a dead-fish eye.
"Idiot. He's taking leave and going out. He won't be back for at least several days… Don't worry, Yuu. During this time, I'll act as temporary captain and protect Obito and Rin."
"Huh? Leave? Where are you going?"
Obito instantly woke up. First, he expressed confusion about Yuu's trip. Then dissatisfaction appeared on his face.
"Wait, why is Kakashi temporarily acting as captain? Why can't I do it? Aren't we all chūnin now? And I'm also an elite of the Uchiha clan!"
"…Heh."
Kakashi curled the corner of his mouth, disdainful.
"What, now that you've become a chūnin, you don't even recognize your 'assistant instructor' anymore? Want to go to the training ground and practice?"
"Exactly what I wanted!"
Obito rubbed his fists together, excitement appearing on his face.
"Perfect. I'll show you the taijutsu I copied two days ago! Starting today, the name 'Copy Ninja' Uchiha Obito will echo throughout Konoha! Hehe!"
The two forgot their earlier argument and ran out one after another, disappearing down the camp path.
Only Rin was left. She looked at their backs and shook her head helplessly. Then she walked up to Yuu and helped straighten his collar.
"Yuu, be careful on the road. You must come back safely."
"Don't worry. I will."
After waving goodbye one last time,
Yuu turned around, passed through layers of sentry posts and the gradually waking camp, and left Kikyo City under the gazes of Gekkō Shigure and the others who were on patrol.
He exited the city.
Then he traveled west for several dozen li.
He arrived at a dense mountain forest far from the main road.
According to Konoha's division of the border region, this area was numbered 7-10. It was precisely the place where Yuu and the others had stayed when they first followed Namikaze Minato to the southwestern front and carried out their first patrol mission.
Yuu stopped beneath an especially massive banyan tree, sat cross-legged, and activated Summoning Technique: All-Spirit Perception.
As chakra stirred faintly, a spherical field with a radius of 500 meters silently spread out, capturing the subtle movements of every bird, beast, scale, and feather in the surrounding forest, then feeding that information back to him.
Although All-Spirit Perception was not as convenient to use as the Byakugan, which could directly see everything within range, it was enough to form a rough map in Yuu's mind. It marked each chakra fluctuation within 500 meters and categorized them by strength.
Among them, a chakra fluctuation located several dozen meters underground especially caught his attention.
If nothing unexpected was happening…
that chakra very likely belonged to a White Zetsu.
After all, ordinary ninja beasts could not burrow that deep, and plants could not grow in such an awkward place between layers of earth.
However, Yuu did not expose it casually. Instead, he slightly withdrew his perception, pretended not to know he was being watched, and closed his eyes to rest while waiting for Pakura's arrival.
A while later,
a somewhat familiar chakra source appeared at the edge of his perception and rapidly approached.
Not long after, Pakura's figure appeared at the end of the forest path.
At this moment, she was not wearing Sunagakure's standard flak jacket. Instead, she wore a dark brown combat outfit suited for movement, with a loose sand-colored cloak over it. The hood was pulled low, covering most of her face and revealing only a cleanly lined jaw and the tips of her orange-red hair.
"…You're pretty fast."
Pakura came closer and glanced at Yuu, who was still sitting with his eyes closed.
"How long have you been here?"
"I just arrived not long ago."
Yuu opened his eyes and met the Suna woman's gaze.
"Did you explain things clearly on your side before coming? Are you sure that old woman Chiyo won't suspect you?"
Although he did not know Sunagakure's leave system, Chiyo was definitely not as easy to talk to as Jiraiya. On top of that, Pakura's position in Sunagakure was not as legitimate as Yuu's in Konoha. If she left for too long and was considered a deserter, it would cause quite a lot of trouble.
Pakura's tone was calm.
"No need for you to worry. I have my own methods."
As she spoke,
Pakura took a neatly folded sand-colored cloak and a pair of goggles from her backpack, then casually tossed them to Yuu.
"This set is prepared for you. Most regions in the Land of Wind are deserts, and the Death Desert is filled with wind and sand all year round. Without these, you won't be able to move properly."
"…"
Yuu caught the cloak. It was made of thick, rough, durable fabric.
After roughly checking it over, he put it on, pulled up the hood, and covered his conspicuous white hair. Then he took off his Konoha forehead protector, put it into his ninja pouch, and slowly stood up from under the banyan tree.
"Set off?"
"Set off."
The two looked at each other, then stepped forward at the same time, their figures shooting into the depths of the forest like arrows leaving the string.
Yuu's current strength was already close to Kage level.
Pakura was also a genuine Sunagakure jōnin.
Now that they were traveling at full speed, they looked like two low-speed sports cars moving side by side. The wind roared beside their ears, and the scenery on both sides rapidly retreated. Their travel efficiency was astonishing.
Naturally, they passed several Konoha and Sunagakure patrol posts along the way.
However, Yuu and Pakura had already done their homework. They both knew where the ninja from the two villages might appear. So after several turns and detours, they nimbly avoided several patrol areas, gradually leaving the Land of Rivers behind and drawing closer to the border of the Land of Wind.
During this process, the air clearly grew drier.
Tiny grains of sand began appearing in the wind, like fine snow in early winter.
By afternoon, a horizon of endless rolling sand dunes came into view. The damp, lush forest scenery of the Land of Fire was left behind, replaced by the golden sea of sand of the Land of Wind.
"Let's rest here. Past this point, there won't be anywhere to rest for a long time."
Pakura spoke first.
"Alright. I'll listen to you."
Yuu nodded.
The two sat down in front of a huge sand-colored rock sheltered from the wind and began replenishing water and food. Yuu took out rice balls Rin had made for him. Pakura took out a water pouch and a packet of rough, hard-looking flatbread wrapped in oil paper.
"Huh, is this what you Suna ninja usually eat?"
Yuu asked casually as he watched Pakura tear off small bites of flatbread and eat them with clean water.
"Mm. Want to try?"
Pakura asked. After receiving Yuu's agreement, she broke off a piece of flatbread and handed it to him.
Yuu tried a bite. It felt dry, and the taste could not be called good. It could only be described as edible and filling.
Then he also split off a piece of his rice ball and handed it to Pakura.
She ate it in small bites, and her expression became somewhat complicated.
How should one put it…
People do not resent scarcity so much as inequality.
Although the causes of the ninja world's many wars varied, in the end, they all came down to this one sentence. Compared with the Land of Fire, with fertile soil and abundant rainfall, the Land of Wind might be large, but seventy to eighty percent of it was desert. It lacked water, lacked food, and had very limited crops that could be planted.
This could be seen from the dry rations of both sides.
If this were modern society, they could use technological methods, such as seawater purification, and build some oases.
But in the ninja world, if one wanted to change the situation quickly, the only option was to rob.
The saying "poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people" described exactly this situation.
Seeing Pakura look emotional,
Yuu casually said, "Well, there's nothing to be done about it. Different regions have different conditions. Your side has too much desert and lacks water sources. The Land of Rain has so much water it's almost overflowing and causing disasters… Speaking of which, why don't you go discuss with Hanzō and create a 'North Water to South Transfer' project?"
"…What does that mean?"
Pakura looked confused.
~~~
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