The escort mission ended without incident, and Kiyohara's group returned safely to the rear logistics base. The glow of sunset washed the rows of tents in gold, and ninjas who had finished their assignments trickled back in twos and threes, bringing a little life back into the camp.
After a simple dinner, Kiyohara headed to Nohara Rin's medical tent at the agreed time. A faint herbal scent drifted in the air. Inside, everything was neat and orderly, with scrolls, medicine bottles, and surgical tools arranged with the kind of care only a real medic would bother with.
"Kiyohara, you came," Rin said with a smile, lifting the curtain for him and motioning him inside.
"Sorry to trouble you, Rin," Kiyohara replied as he stepped in.
Rin only shook her head. For her, teaching Kiyohara some basic medical ninjutsu was not a burden. Going over the theory again would help reinforce her own understanding, and strengthening a teammate was just another way of protecting herself and the team in battle.
"Medical ninjutsu demands patience," she began, her voice soft but serious. "More than ordinary ninjutsu, it depends on precise chakra control, especially the use of Yang-aligned chakra. Tonight we'll start with the basics. If the foundation is crooked, the rest won't stand."
She started with theory, explaining the structure of chakra flow, the importance of stability, and the difference between healing techniques and ordinary ninjutsu that simply released power outward. Kiyohara listened more seriously than he usually looked, and once he focused, his attention was hard to shake.
Ever since he had fused with the rogue ninja Kiyohara, his spiritual energy had risen sharply. The most immediate effect was obvious: his memory had become much stronger than before. After Rin explained a section once, he had already retained most of it.
"You remembered all that?" Rin asked in surprise after quizzing him on several points.
"If you go over it one more time, I should have all of it," Kiyohara said honestly.
Rin blinked, then repeated the explanation from the top. When she asked him again a moment later, he answered each question smoothly, not missing even the smaller details she had slipped in the second time. That made her look at him with a little more amazement.
"Kiyohara... you might actually be unexpectedly suited for medical ninjutsu," she said with genuine feeling.
As she spoke, a breeze lifted the edge of the tent and ruffled her short brown hair, making a few strands fall across her face. In the warm light of the lamp, she looked softer than usual, almost delicate.
After the theory lesson, Rin moved on to a practical example and taught him a basic medical technique known as the Patient Extraction Technique. It was not a healing skill in the traditional sense. Rather, it was a harsh emergency procedure used to remove infected or poisoned flesh when there was no time to fully detoxify the body.
"It's a pity I don't know whether you have Yang affinity or not," Rin said with a small sigh. "The five basic natures can be tested with chakra paper, but Yin and Yang need other methods. They're much harder to pin down."
"Who knows," Kiyohara said with a smile, not committing to anything.
Then he tried to perform the technique she had just demonstrated. He focused, adjusted his chakra the way she had described, and attempted to release it according to the method she had outlined. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Not even a flicker.
He was not too disappointed. Better memory did not mean instant mastery. What he had gained from the rogue ninja Kiyohara was heightened spiritual strength and a better head for understanding things, but talent in medicine was another matter entirely.
Kiyohara knew he possessed Wind and Lightning affinities. His strengthened spiritual power also made his Yin aspect much clearer than before. But whether he had sufficient Yang nature to properly perform medical ninjutsu was still uncertain.
A thought rose quietly in his mind. I wonder whether one of my future selves will end up being a medical ninja.
If that happened, then he would not need to stumble through years of study from scratch. He could simply inherit the experience, the instincts, and the practical skill directly. That would save him twenty years of detours in one stroke.
"It's alright, Kiyohara," Rin said gently when she noticed he had gone quiet. "Everyone starts out like this. Medical ninjutsu is harder than ordinary ninjutsu to begin with. The control requirements are much stricter."
She was clearly worried that he might get impatient after failing to release the technique once. To her, his result tonight was perfectly normal. She herself had needed a period of study and practice before she could use medical ninjutsu successfully. It was never something that could be mastered in a single sitting.
"The most important thing is laying a good theoretical foundation first," she continued. "Once that foundation is stable, the actual practice becomes much easier later."
"I understand. Thanks, Rin," Kiyohara replied.
In truth, he had already recalculated the whole thing in his head. If he could fulfill young Kiyohara's last wish in the future and successfully integrate that talent as well, then the knowledge he was memorizing right now would immediately become useful. Whether he had Yang nature at this exact moment mattered less than whether he might possess it in another branch of possibility.
That was the real strength of the Last Will. He did not have to build every road with his own hands. Sometimes he only needed to prepare the materials in advance and wait for another version of himself to bring the missing piece.
Night gradually deepened. The oil lamp inside the medical tent cast a warm glow, and the two of them continued talking for a long time, one explaining carefully, the other listening with unusual seriousness.
Outside, a pale white figure slipped soundlessly up from the soil, watched the tent for a while, and then withdrew just as quietly. It came without a sound and left without taking so much as a cloud with it.
Except, of course, for one thing. It had been seen by the young Kiyohara.
The young man floated crouched right in front of White Zetsu, staring at the intruder from close range, but White Zetsu could not see him at all. When the thing finally slipped away, the spirit returned to Kiyohara's side like a wandering soul finding its body again.
"Anything?" Kiyohara asked inwardly.
"A White Zetsu," the young Kiyohara confirmed with a nod. "Probably one of Madara Uchiha's eyes."
Kiyohara fell silent for a moment. Madara again. That meant the old monster was indeed watching the timing carefully. If he wanted to corrupt Obito, then he would have prepared every step in advance, including observation and interference.
"I need to sell the spoils and get the sword forged tomorrow morning," Kiyohara thought to himself. The sooner he finished young Kiyohara's second dying wish, the sooner his strength would rise again.
***
At the same time, deep within the mountain graveyard, beneath the colossal Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Madara Uchiha sat on his branch-woven seat with his eyes closed, listening to the information relayed back by White Zetsu from far away.
White Zetsu could merge with roots, underground waterways, and all kinds of organic networks hidden beneath the earth. Between themselves, they shared a peculiar kind of mental connection, something like a living radio web. With countless White Zetsu scattered throughout the land, Madara had woven an enormous intelligence network. Though he remained buried in darkness underground, almost nothing happening in the shinobi world could escape his awareness.
"Hey, Madara, when are you letting me go back? I have to go back!" Obito shouted again from the makeshift bed where he lay swathed in bandages. Half his body had already been rebuilt from White Zetsu cells, but his mind was still consumed by only one thing: returning.
Madara ignored him and kept his eyes closed.
Seeing that, Obito turned to the White Zetsu that had just emerged and demanded, "You, white guy—what were you just talking to Madara about?"
Obito's impatience was impossible to hide. In the dim underground chamber, he had lost all sense of time. He did not know whether it was day or night outside, nor how many days had passed since he had been brought there. What he wanted most was information—especially anything about Rin Nohara and Kakashi.
"Hmm... Obito, I saw your old comrades learning medical ninjutsu together," White Zetsu said.
"Medical ninjutsu?" Obito's face lit up at once. In his mind, those words pointed to only one person.
Rin.
To him, it could only be Rin.