Kaede left the Sekkotsu Forest with Rin.
However, he left behind one of his Flying Thunder God coordinates within the forest.
Because having too many Flying Thunder God coordinates could overwhelm him, his spatial talent wasn't strong enough to handle it, he only left one coordinate in each of the Three Great Sacred Grounds.
Counting the one Kakashi took to Rōran and the one remaining in Konoha, that made five in total. Five coordinates wouldn't cause him confusion.
It's worth mentioning that Rin had formed a contract with the slug, making the slug her summoning beast.
Even Shizune, Tsunade's student, hadn't managed to contract with the slugs, but during those two months accompanying Kaede in Sekkotsu Forest, Rin got along very well with them and ultimately earned the recognition of the Slug Sage.
Rin's strength improved during this time, stabilizing at the Kage level, and she began to further refine her medical ninjutsu skills.
In her free time, she would consult Kaede about medical ninjutsu and human anatomy questions.
Kaede taught her without reservation.
His medical ninjutsu was inherited from Tsunade and had reached an advanced level. He had mastered the chakra scalpel, being only one rank below Tsunade herself, fully capable of instructing Rin.
After two months of hard work, by the time they left Sekkotsu Forest, Rin had mastered the Mystical Palm Technique, a medical ninjutsu considered a true breakthrough in the field.
In fact, not many ninja manage to master the Mystical Palm Technique. Rin's innate talent in medical ninjutsu wasn't exceptional, so about one and a half months of those two months were spent training inside Kaede's time domain, where the passage of time differed from the outside world.
So, at present, Rin was roughly the equivalent of a fourteen-year-old.
Thanks to training within the time domain, she finally understood why Kaede's body developed so fast, despite being only slightly older than her, he already looked like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old. It wasn't just from cultivating sage techniques and physical training.
About half a month later…
Kaede and Rin arrived not far from Konoha.
"Finally back," Rin said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Without realizing it, we've been out almost half a year… no, counting actual training time, it's probably been nearly a year."
"Mm…" Kaede nodded lightly.
Rin walked beside him, her fingers slightly intertwined, a bit nervous. Her eyes flickered with hesitation as if she was about to say something.
After a short while, she finally mustered up the courage, stepped in front of Kaede, and stopped, preparing to speak.
But,
At that moment, Kaede's expression suddenly changed.
He turned his head toward a direction not far away.
Rin was startled, too. She looked toward the same direction and saw a figure appearing at the far end of the road leading into Konoha.
The distance was too great to make out the person's features, but Rin could sense the chakra and presence, familiar, unmistakable, the legendary Sannin of Konoha: Orochimaru!
Whoosh!
Kaede vanished from where he stood.
After a brief pause, Rin quickly followed.
Orochimaru was leaving Konoha. After taking a few steps, he sensed something and stopped, turning to look in a direction, where Kaede had just appeared.
"Didn't expect to run into you when I left, Kaede," Orochimaru said with a slight smile.
Kaede approached and asked, "Sensei, you're… leaving Konoha?"
Orochimaru nodded. "Yeah, I probably won't be back for a while. I have some experimental data from over the years to sort through at my base, along with some secret ninjutsu techniques you might find useful. I'm entrusting those to you for the time being."
At that, Orochimaru shrugged with a grin and added, "...And I'm also leaving Mitarashi Anko with you temporarily. I don't want to bring her along on this trip."
Kaede looked at Orochimaru curiously. "Why the sudden decision to leave?"
Orochimaru didn't seem injured or pursued by Konoha's forces, his departure appeared normal. But his words suggested this wasn't just a short trip. He intended to be gone for a long time.
"I'm off to find some interesting things," Orochimaru chuckled. "Until fate brings us together again. I assume you've finished training your sage techniques. I'm curious to see how far you'll ultimately go."
Unlike the usual storyline…
Danzo was dead.
Orochimaru hadn't worked with Danzo and therefore didn't conduct experiments on Hashirama Senju's cells. Instead, he had started research into immortality and anti-aging early on.
That research had progressed significantly. Considering Konoha's current state and Kaede's existence, Orochimaru didn't want to continue his experiments in Konoha.
After speaking, Orochimaru turned and walked away.
Kaede stood watching until Orochimaru was far away, then said, "In the Land of Water, there are survivors who have inherited the Ice Release kekkei genkai, and there's a sole successor to the Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai as well."
"That information is very useful to me."
Orochimaru paused, then disappeared into the forest.
Kaede stood still for a moment. Rin approached and he turned around.
"Let's go."
Kaede took Rin to Orochimaru's base, asking her to wait outside while he inspected inside. Nearly all the experimental materials and equipment had been cleared out.
The entire base was empty except for one sealed room deep inside, which contained Orochimaru's research data from recent years, including his studies on souls.
Kaede examined the data briefly and took it with him.
Most of the experimental data wasn't very useful to him, but the soul research was significant, at least it offered some references for strengthening the soul.
….
Konoha.
At home.
Kakashi, having long since returned from Rōran, opened the door and saw three new people in his living room, Kaede, Rin, and for the first time, Mitarashi Anko.
"Why did you bring back another girl… and one so young?" Kakashi glanced at Mitarashi Anko, then Kaede, muttering to himself before giving Kaede a look that seemed to say, So you really are a perverted lolicon, huh?
"What kind of look is that?" Kaede glanced at Kakashi, uninterested.
He introduced, "Mitarashi Anko, Orochimaru-sensei's student… and this is my little brother, Kakashi. Mitarashi Anko, you should know him."
"Nice to meet you!" Mitarashi Anko smiled brightly at Kakashi.
At first, when she heard Orochimaru was leaving Konoha and wouldn't be back soon, she was a bit down. But once she learned that Kaede would be looking after her, her mood improved immediately.
She had admired Kaede as her senior for a long time and had heard countless stories about him from Yūhi Kurenai.
However, their encounters had been rare and distant, always just a quick glance, never close contact.
This time,
She finally had the chance to learn directly from her senpai!
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