Becoming a Chunin had become urgent.
Kiyohara put the scroll away in his ninja pouch, closed his eyes, and dropped onto the bed to sleep.
There was almost nothing to do for entertainment in a frontline camp. Not that there were truly no distractions at all. If people really wanted to amuse themselves, they would always find a way.
But after traveling all day, Kiyohara was exhausted down to the bone, in body and mind alike. If he still had any energy left, he would rather fool around for a bit and then go right back to training.
Unfortunately, even if he forced himself to keep practicing ninjutsu now, the results would be poor.
Chakra was a mixture of spiritual energy and physical energy. Break it down far enough, and in the end it all came back to the body's raw stamina.
That was why chakra extraction could never be pushed without limits. The body needed time to recover.
Since he could neither cultivate effectively nor find anything worth doing, Kiyohara could only lie there and wait for the order to return to the village.
***
The next day, around noon, while Kiyohara was still asleep, he suddenly heard someone step into the tent.
His body reacted before his thoughts did. His eyes opened to slits, and his hand moved instinctively toward his ninja pouch.
Only after seeing that it was Kurenai Yuhi did he quietly ease his hand back and pretend he was still sleeping.
"He really does look pretty good when he's asleep," Kurenai murmured.
She crouched beside him and studied his face. The more she looked, the more she felt that even Kiyohara's sleeping expression was annoyingly pleasing to the eye.
At the very least, he was on a completely different level from Sarutobi Asuma, who kept hovering around her all the time.
Asuma dressed like a delinquent and had a never-ending father-son conflict with the Third Hokage. And the older he got, the more mature he looked.
Kurenai was honestly starting to suspect that once Asuma was fully grown, he would definitely wear a full beard.
Just as she was about to poke Kiyohara's cheek, Kiyohara opened his eyes and looked straight at her.
"It's not right to secretly take advantage of me," he said.
Kurenai froze, blinking those ruby-red eyes of hers. For a second, she forgot how to react.
She clearly hadn't expected Kiyohara to wake up in time to catch her.
"I-I only came because it was already noon, and I wanted to get you up to eat," she said, fingers worrying at the hem of her clothes as she scrambled for an excuse. "Lord Minato said the transfer order should arrive this afternoon."
"I see." Kiyohara nodded, then sat up and stretched.
If they were really going back to Konoha this afternoon, then he could finally think about how much of his debt he could pay off this time.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, a smile almost rose to his face.
The sealing scroll full of spoils was still with him. Just thinking about all that loot made him feel like an old farmer after a hard year, staring at a full harvest and grinning from ear to ear.
The Iwagakure ninjas really were wonderful people.
Not only had they delivered him results, they had delivered him money too.
"What are you smiling at?" Kurenai asked, suspicious now. "Why does it feel... kind of weird?"
"I'm thinking about you," Kiyohara said casually.
Then he reached for the cup on the rough wooden table inside the tent, took a sip of water, and started toward the door.
Kurenai stared after him. "Where are you going?"
Kiyohara stopped and gave her a baffled look.
"To the toilet," he said.
The first thing a man did after waking up wasn't going to the toilet, so what else was there to say?
"Right. Fine. Go, then," Kurenai said, waving him off.
After speaking, Kiyohara lifted the tent flap and stepped outside.
He was a Sigma man.
A true Sigma ninja would never fall into a woman's trap.
Looking at pretty girls was fine. Getting flustered was fine. But none of that could interfere with something as important as going to the toilet.
"That guy..." Kurenai muttered under her breath, grinding her teeth.
She honestly had no idea why Kiyohara always managed to act so unpredictably.
If she asked Sarutobi Asuma something, he would answer her with that dumb grin of his. But Kiyohara was different. Talking to him always felt like boxing barehanded into empty air.
When Kiyohara came back, he found Kurenai still sitting there.
"Lord Minato asked me to bring you this," she said, holding out a bundle of cash.
At once, Kiyohara felt that Kurenai had become even prettier than before. Her curved brows were lovely. The line of her smiling eyes was lovely. At this very moment, even the way she stood there felt lovely.
If she'd just led with the money, none of the rest of this nonsense would have been necessary.
Kiyohara took the banknotes immediately and started counting them with complete focus.
War was a special period.
There was no need to return to the Hokage Building and report after every single mission. If they had to do that, mission efficiency would collapse.
Very often, the commander at a stronghold had the authority to distribute part of the reward on the spot, both to reward ninjas and to soothe their minds and bodies.
At this moment, Kiyohara felt extremely soothed, both mentally and physically. The thick stack of money in his hand gave him an overwhelming sense of security.
"Let's see..." he murmured while counting. "It was a joint A-rank mission. After the village took its commission, my share comes to one hundred and thirty thousand ryo."
After doing the numbers, he found it was just about right.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't originally been qualified for this mission at all. They had simply been too short-handed and had no choice but to use him.
After all, the real goal had been to act as bait. Minato Namikaze was the one who had made the greatest contribution.
They hadn't needed anyone overwhelming. They had only needed someone who could draw attention and buy time.
Just as Kurenai seemed about to say something, the flap of the tent was pulled aside again.
"Let's go," Genma Shiranui said, senbon shifting at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. "The transfer order's here. We're heading back with Kakashi and the others."
Kurenai pressed her lips together, then followed him out.
***
After several more days of travel, Kiyohara finally returned to Konoha.
Rin looked at the village gates ahead of them with a dazed expression.
They had left in high spirits, almost like they were heading out on an adventure. But they had returned carrying a weight too heavy to put into words.
Obito would remain forever in a foreign land.
"I have something to take care of, so I'm leaving first," Kiyohara said after exchanging a few routine words with the others.
Then, carrying his sealing scroll, he headed straight for the ninja tool shop.
The newer the ninja tools, the more they could fetch when resold. The older and more worn they were, the less they were worth.
Kiyohara was desperately short on money now. He needed to repay his loan, and he also needed to have a ninja weapon forged.
He had already made up his mind to reforge the chakra metal taken from Hikari's corpse into a long blade.
Something roughly like Sasuke's Kusanagi sword would do just fine.
Of course, Kiyohara was fully aware that Sasuke's Kusanagi in the future would likely be made from exceptionally high-grade material. Even after that absurd grind of a war in the future, there would be no sign of the blade breaking.
That alone was enough to prove how outrageously high its quality was.
"Alright, Kiyohara. See you next time," Rin said, lifting a hand in farewell.
Kakashi cast him a strange glance, one that made Kiyohara feel like he was silently saying they should talk again when there was time.
"Ah... finally, I can go home and collapse," Genma said, scratching his head. He looked like he intended to spend the next few days doing nothing but sleeping.
Then he noticed Kurenai still staring at Kiyohara's retreating back.
"Kurenai, where are you headed?"
"My father said he'd teach me some stronger genjutsu," she replied. "I'm going home to train."
"Shinku-senpai, huh." Genma nodded.
It was said that Kurenai's father, Yuhi Shinku, was exceptionally skilled at genjutsu.
There were even rumors that despite lacking any bloodline limit, he could contend with the Uchiha clan in illusions and refuse to be suppressed by them.
You could say he had already become one of the representative figures of civilian-style genjutsu in Konoha.
"Then I'm off too," Genma said.
Soon, the little group that had returned together dispersed completely, swallowed up by the busy streets and the ordinary noise of village life.
***
"This shop really knows how to fleece people," Kiyohara muttered, clutching the bag of money he had gotten from selling off shuriken, kunai, explosive tags, and other odds and ends.
"My professional evaluation is that next time, I should shop around first." He shook his head.
The owner had kept pushing the price lower and lower. If Kiyohara hadn't needed cash so badly, he would never have sold in the village at that rate.
He would rather have taken the goods outside Konoha and found another buyer.
"No merchant is without tricks," the rogue ninja Kiyohara remarked.
Kiyohara had to admit that was true.
If their positions were reversed, he would also try to drive the price down. He had absolutely no faith that his future self would behave any more generously than that shop owner had.
"Forget it," Kiyohara said, waving the matter off.
In the end, he had sold everything for seventy thousand ryo. Considering the circumstances, he decided that wasn't too bad.
That amount alone was already more than half the reward from his mission.
As the saying went, those who killed and burned wore golden belts, while those who repaired bridges and roads died unnoticed.
Kiyohara felt that if he wanted to make money, he still had to rely on methods like this.
Once he grew stronger, wouldn't that just mean he could loot even more corpses?
Minato Namikaze had already said that his Chunin application had been submitted. That meant the evaluation would be held within the next few days.
Normally, internal recommendation exams were little more than a formality. But Kiyohara still intended to keep training, just in case.
What if the cart overturned at the last second?
When it came to survival and advancement, caution was always the wiser path.
"Looks like you're even more cautious than I was," the rogue ninja Kiyohara sighed.
If he himself had been this careful in the past, maybe he wouldn't have blundered into an explosive-tag trap and died.
"Well, once I know that one of my future deaths involves explosive tags, I won't be surprised by any other way I might die," Kiyohara said.
High-end ingredients only needed the simplest cooking methods.
Every will he received represented one more possible way he could die in the future.
An infinite future meant infinite ways to die.
"I'm going back to train," Kiyohara said.
After buying some daily necessities, he carried everything back to the old, crumbling place he still called home.
***
Inside the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the intelligence reports on his desk.
One was a report of victory. The other was a Chunin recommendation letter personally submitted by Minato Namikaze.
The name at the top was Kiyohara.
Underneath it lay a thick stack of documents, yet Kiyohara's file had been placed in the most prominent position.
Above it were his family background, a formal blue-background portrait, and all the ordinary details—personality, habits, and basic personal information.
"Kiyohara," Hiruzen murmured. "It seems another promising civilian talent has emerged this time."
He gave a slight nod.
Compared to members of the great ninja clans, Hiruzen had always preferred to promote civilians.
The reason was simple. Unless a clan ninja was exceptionally loyal, he was far too likely to be swayed by the interests of his clan.
When the interests of village and family came into conflict, which side would he choose?
"Purple Deer," Hiruzen called.
An ANBU operative wearing a mask with purple markings like antlers appeared instantly, kneeling on one knee in the office.
Within ANBU, everyone discarded their real names. During missions, only code names were used.
"Arrange Kiyohara's Chunin assessment," Hiruzen said. "Three days from now. He'll take the selection together with the other outstanding Genin who emerged from this major battle."
"Yes, Lord Hokage," Purple Deer replied.
She took the application form from Hiruzen and withdrew to make the arrangements.
ANBU was a force directly under the Hokage's command, and much of its work dealt with classified internal matters.
Something involving rank advancement naturally fell within that scope.
After Purple Deer left, Hiruzen rubbed at his temples.
There had been good news, yes—but there had also been bad.
The situation on the other fronts of the war was still unclear.
More importantly, something extremely sensitive had happened to Kakashi.
An outsider had received a transplanted Sharingan.
The Hyuga clan had gone as far as creating the Caged Bird Seal—a system so extreme it could practically be called a form of slavery—just to keep the Byakugan from falling into the wrong hands.
Hiruzen had no idea how the Uchiha clan would react to what had happened with Kakashi.
He could only hope they wouldn't choose this critical stage of the war to stir up trouble.
"The younger generation in the village still needs to be cultivated further," Hiruzen said softly.
He picked up his pipe, drew on it, and slowly let the smoke out.
Minato Namikaze had used lavish praise throughout Kiyohara's file.
That had given Hiruzen an idea.
If Kiyohara truly proved outstanding enough, could he be groomed into the next Minato Namikaze?
After all, for a Genin to shine this brightly in an A-rank mission was no small thing, especially compared to the other Genin now applying for Chunin.
***
Back at the Kiyohara residence, the place was still old, still shabby, and still tiny.
But at least there was a little courtyard.
At that moment, Kiyohara stood there holding a shuriken. A length of nearly invisible thin wire was tied to it.
"Copper wire still isn't as good as rubber cord," he muttered.
He was currently practicing an advanced shurikenjutsu technique: tying a line to the shuriken so it could be reeled back in.
In certain situations, that line could also be used to alter the trajectory of the weapon, making the shuriken far more flexible and deceptive.
"This is just preparation for the technique that comes afterward," the rogue ninja Kiyohara said.
Normally, shuriken were tied with rubber cords or metal wires. The rubber cords used by shinobi were specially made and extremely tough.
The problem was that most of them weren't heat-resistant.
"You haven't forgotten the Uchiha clan's Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique, have you?" the rogue ninja continued.
"No," Kiyohara said, shaking his head.
He remembered it clearly.
In the original story, Sasuke had used that technique during the Chunin Exams.
By using the wire held between his fingers as a guide, he had launched flame straight along the line itself.
"Right," the rogue ninja said. "That same idea can be used not only with fire, but with lightning too."
Copper wire was an excellent conductor with very low resistance.
If he used it as a medium to guide chakra, then he could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
"Alright. I'll try it," Kiyohara said.
He threw the shuriken at the wooden target in the courtyard. The shuriken flew past the edge of the board without hitting it, and then Kiyohara flicked his wrist.
Instantly, the shuriken changed direction.
Following the line of copper wire, it looped around the wooden post several times and bound itself tightly to it.
In the next moment, Kiyohara formed hand seals, and lightning chakra flowed down the copper wire.
Crack.
Faint arcs of electricity sprang up along the line and scorched black marks into the wood.
"What should I even call this technique?" Kiyohara wondered aloud.
After thinking for a moment, he made his decision.
"Lightning Release: Guiding Lightning with Manipulated Shuriken."
He nodded to himself, very satisfied.
As expected, his naming sense was far superior to Minato Namikaze's.