Kamishiro had been completely exhausted. Surrounded entirely by his own people, he hadn't kept a single ounce of his guard up. So, when the sudden strike landed, he immediately passed out cold.
He had absolutely no idea what happened next.
The moment he was "assaulted," his brand-new collection of giant mutant pets—the dogs, the ox, the bird—nearly went totally berserk.
With their master suddenly unconscious and seemingly under attack, the Summoning Beasts instantly turned their hostility toward Minato, Kushina, and the Hyuga tracker.
Because these were Kamishiro's hard-earned prizes, the trio couldn't just brutally slaughter them, forcing them into a completely passive, defensive scramble.
Fortunately, Minato was the fastest man alive. He instantly scooped up Kamishiro and teleported all three of them out of there.
The Summoning Beasts probably raged for a while, but as long as they could still feel their underlying contract connection to Kamishiro, they would eventually calm down. When exactly would that happen? Sorry, Minato had no idea.
The important part was that they had successfully evacuated that dangerous dimension.
"Where am I?"
When Kamishiro finally woke up, he realized he was lying in a bed.
His head throbbed, his vision swam, and his brain wasn't processing information as quickly as usual. Still, it only took him a moment to recognize he was no longer in that bizarre, alien landscape.
"You're awake, Kamishiro."
Seeing him stir, Rin Nohara, who had been keeping watch by his bedside, immediately spoke up. Not only that, she waved a hand right in front of his face, as if double-checking that he was actually conscious.
"Rin? What are you doing here? Where is this?"
Following the hand to its owner, Kamishiro recognized her instantly. He had no idea why she was beside his bed, but his priority was figuring out his current coordinates.
Rin had indeed been assigned to watch over him. He was technically considered a severe casualty.
Not far away, sitting on a stool by the window in the same hospital room, was Kakashi Hatake. It was hard to tell if he was spacing out, staring at the scenery outside, or actually reading the book in his hands.
Kakashi was indeed holding a book. Thank God he was still too young to appreciate the artistic masterpiece that was Make-Out Paradise—though it was also entirely possible he was naturally gifted in that area, but Lord Jiraiya simply hadn't written the series yet.
From Kamishiro's slightly tilted angle on the bed, he could just barely read the title on the cover.
The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.
A highly orthodox, extremely unpopular novel about a fictional ninja.
The title sounded vaguely familiar to Kamishiro, but beyond that, he didn't care. In his current state, he didn't have the mental energy to care about Kakashi's reading habits anyway. It wasn't like he was desperate for a book recommendation.
"This is the ninja hospital at the Konoha Frontline Command Base. The same camp you were at before..." Rin explained gently. "Minato-sensei brought you back three days ago. You've been unconscious ever since. They said it was due to extreme blood loss and severe chakra exhaustion..."
Her tone sounded slightly unnatural, though Kamishiro didn't quite catch it.
Some people simply weren't built for lying.
"I'm back? Wait, where is Kushina-sensei?" Kamishiro asked immediately.
If he was back, where did she go? That was his main concern. Before Rin could answer, he grabbed his throbbing head and forced himself to sit up in bed.
As the blanket slipped down, he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. But honestly, wearing one wouldn't have made a difference. He was wrapped in so many bandages he looked like a mummy. The concealment factor was top-tier.
As Kamishiro sat up, he noticed Kakashi's gaze flick away from his book for a split second, glance at him, and then casually flip a page.
"Minato-sensei escorted Kushina-sensei back to Konoha that very same day," Rin answered.
Kamishiro nodded. That made perfect sense. After the near-disaster a few days ago, as long as the Konoha brass still had functioning brains, they were definitely going to recall Kushina immediately. Even if she objected, it wouldn't matter. When it came to her absolute safety, there was no way Minato was going to take her side.
Actually, Kushina had been surprisingly cooperative. Knowing the severity of the situation, she hadn't put up a fight at all and obediently returned to the village. There is a limit to being stubborn, and she clearly understood when things were serious.
Hearing she was safe brought Kamishiro immense relief.
However, on certain other matters, he wasn't so easily fooled.
"I passed out from blood loss? That's weird. Because my last memory is distinctly Kushina-sensei knocking me out."
It was all coming back to him now. His final memory before the darkness took him was the terrifying sight of Kushina's fist rapidly expanding in his field of vision.
He hadn't passed out from blood loss. He had passed out from a massive concussion.
Rin laughed awkwardly, mentally apologizing to Kushina.
She had faithfully repeated the cover story exactly as Kushina had instructed, but she hadn't expected the victim to clearly remember the identity of his assailant.
Kamishiro even remembered the exact trajectory of Kushina's punch!
After thinking about it for a moment, Kamishiro actually understood why Kushina had punched him. From her perspective, he completely deserved it.
His tactical priorities back in that dimension had been entirely irrational. He should have been focusing on finding an escape route, not happily playing Pokémon with giant mutant animals.
Her punch was the classic 'I'm-furious-because-I-care' master-disciple discipline. Most normal people bleeding out in an unknown dimension would only think about running, not turning around to farm rare drops.
Overall, Kamishiro's injuries couldn't be called minor, but they weren't life-threatening either. They were mostly superficial flesh wounds. After a decent period of rest, he would be back to full strength.
Rin then began to fill Kamishiro in on everything that had happened since he and Kushina vanished from the battlefield, as well as the current state of the Frontline Command. While she was mostly relaying second-hand rumors, she knew vastly more than he did.
"Did you know?" Rin leaned in, her face bright with a mix of excitement and mystery. "Everyone outside is calling you the 'White Yaksha'."
"Huh?" Kamishiro went completely blank.
White Yaksha? What the hell? Why does that sound so painfully familiar?
"'That ninja, with white hair stained in blood, galloping across the battlefield like a demon... like a Yaksha.'"