"Thanks, Rin."
With Rin Nohara guiding him step by step, Kiyohara finally pushed past the last barrier and mastered the Detoxification Technique. He had already been close, but that final layer of understanding only clicked once she corrected the way he circulated his chakra. Sometimes that was all it took - a tiny adjustment, and a technique that had felt slippery suddenly settled into place.
"I didn't expect you to be interested in this too, Kiyohara," Rin said with a faint sigh.
Among everyone present, she was the only true medical ninja. Kiyohara had only just started dabbling in medical ninjutsu, and even that was a recent development. To her, his interest was a genuine surprise.
Then she seemed to think of something. "By the way, Kiyohara, did you enroll in Konoha Hospital's medical ninja program too?"
"No." Kiyohara shook his head. "I learned these techniques from Lady Tsunade."
"Lady Tsunade!"
Rin let out a soft gasp, and the admiration in her eyes was so bright it was practically shining. For any medical ninja, Tsunade was a towering figure - the summit of the field, the woman every healer looked up to. One glance at Rin's expression was enough for Kiyohara to understand: she clearly had no idea what Tsunade was really like.
He thought about it for a moment, then decided against destroying her illusion. Better to leave some dreams intact. There was no need to tell Rin that her revered idol was also the legendary fat sheep of the gambling tables.
"Rin, when you use the Detoxification Technique, which chakra points do you release it from?" Kiyohara asked instead.
That was the part he still hadn't fully grasped.
Releasing chakra through chakra points wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded. Even jonin could usually only release chakra from specific parts of the body - the hands, the feet, sometimes the torso. That was why most ninjutsu came out through the mouth or the hands. You almost never saw someone casually launch a Great Fireball from their forehead or their knee.
The Uchiha's Sharingan could create special exceptions. The Hyuga were even more extreme - only those with the Byakugan could truly release chakra from all the body's chakra points. Techniques like the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven were possible precisely because of that.
That was also why Gentle Fist belonged to the Hyuga clan alone. Without the Byakugan, other people usually gave up on that path and stuck to ordinary taijutsu.
"These ones," Rin said after a moment of thought.
She lifted her hand and held it close to Kiyohara's face, patiently indicating the chakra points she used when performing the technique. Her explanation was careful and detailed, but Kiyohara still felt like something was missing. Hearing it was one thing. Feeling it was another.
So he reached out, took Rin's hand, and lightly pressed his fingers against her palm to confirm the position for himself.
The instant her hand was caught, a flicker of panic flashed through Rin's mind.
Kakashi is still right here!
But when she looked at Kiyohara's face, all she saw was absolute concentration. His expression was serious, intent, utterly devoid of any crooked thoughts. That made Rin realize she had been overthinking things.
To a doctor, there was no distinction between male and female patients. Medical ninjutsu was medical ninjutsu. If they were exchanging technical knowledge, then gender shouldn't matter either.
So despite the strange sensation of his fingers brushing her hand, Rin forced herself to stay calm and continued explaining.
"Here, and here. If the flow is even slightly off, the detoxification speed drops. You need to keep the chakra thin and steady, not push too hard all at once."
Kiyohara listened with unusual seriousness, adjusting his understanding on the spot. Every word Rin said slotted neatly into the framework in his head, helping him smooth out the rough edges of the technique.
At that moment, Obito - who had been unable to sit still any longer - finally strode over.
"What are you two talking about?" he asked, trying hard to sound casual even though his eyes were already fixed on Rin and Kiyohara.
"You wouldn't understand even if we told you, Obito," Rin said gently. "We're discussing academic issues."
"I-I wouldn't understand?"
Obito's face changed instantly. No way. Since when was there something Kiyohara could understand that Obito Uchiha couldn't? His theory scores might not be great, but they weren't so bad that he lacked basic common sense. Once he awakened the Sharingan, learning anything would be easy for him.
Then he noticed the real issue.
Rin was facing away from him, and her hand was still in Kiyohara's grasp.
Obito's eyes widened. "Rin... why is your hand in Kiyohara's hand?"
"Obito, don't misunderstand," Kiyohara said solemnly. "Me and Rin are only studying medical ninjutsu. We're basically learning a foreign language here."
Obito stared at him in disbelief.
No, what kind of medical ninjutsu required holding hands? What kind of foreign language needed this kind of contact? He wasn't smart enough to top the class, sure, but he definitely wasn't stupid enough to fall for something that ridiculous.
"Idiot," Kakashi said flatly from the side. "Kiyohara's checking Rin's chakra points."
He shook his head as though the whole thing was beneath comment. Obito really was beyond hopeless. Kakashi genuinely couldn't understand how a clan filled with elites had somehow produced such a bizarre outlier.
"Yeah, Obito, what exactly are you thinking?" Kurenai asked, sounding puzzled.
From her point of view, Kiyohara looked perfectly upright and proper. There wasn't even a trace of impropriety in the air. He was clearly just learning how chakra moved through the body. That was all.
Minato Namikaze also gave a small nod. "They're right, Obito."
Obito froze.
For a moment, he began to seriously doubt himself. Had he really been the one overthinking it? Was this actually some advanced medical-ninja discussion that he, Obito Uchiha, simply couldn't understand?
The thought made him feel strangely wronged.
He had never even properly held Rin's soft little hand before. And yet here was Kiyohara, already doing it under the banner of scholarship, while everyone else looked at Obito like he was the one being unreasonable.
It felt like someone had climbed onto his bicycle and started pedaling away - a bicycle he himself had never even had the courage to ride.
"All right, pack up," Minato said, rising to his feet. "We should continue moving."
They had only taken a brief rest, and every minute now was precious. Time wasted here could easily become bloodshed later.
"Yes."
Everyone answered and started putting their gear back together. Only Obito sounded distracted, as though his soul was still stuck somewhere in the conversation from moments ago.
Minato took the lead again while clarifying the next stage of the mission. "I'll accompany you a little farther toward the border. After that, we split. I'll head for the front to reinforce our forces. Kakashi, you continue the main advance. Kiyohara, you'll lead the other team and harass Iwagakure to draw away their attention."
Kiyohara's sensory ability happened to be stronger than Kakashi's at the moment. That meant he had a better chance of detecting enemy movements early and seizing the initiative. Once his group stirred up enough trouble, they could withdraw before getting locked into a drawn-out fight.
"Understood," Kakashi replied succinctly.
The group moved out once more.
For roughly half an hour, they traveled through the forest in tense silence. Branches swayed overhead, shadows shifted underfoot, and only the faint sounds of movement passed between them. Everyone knew they were getting closer now. The farther they advanced, the more dangerous every step became.
Then Kakashi suddenly stopped.
He raised a hand and signaled to the people behind him not to come any closer.
Kiyohara's gaze sharpened at once.
This scene unfolded exactly like the one from the original story. That meant only one thing - they had run into the Iwagakure jonin assigned to reconnoiter the area. Demon Leech.
The name flashed through Kiyohara's mind together with what he knew of the man. Fast. Skilled with the sword. Capable of using the Shadow Clone Technique. Not an opponent to underestimate.
The rogue-nin Kiyohara, who had been hovering nearby, stared at the hidden enemy for a moment as though a memory had surfaced.
"What is it?" Kiyohara asked inwardly.
"I fought him once in my future," the rogue-nin Kiyohara replied. "He didn't die here. He survived by luck, later crossed paths with me, and I killed him myself. Pity I never managed to pry his swordsmanship out of him."
"I see."
Kiyohara filed the information away, but he wasn't especially tempted by the man's swordsmanship. At least, not now. Sword training took too much time to show returns. Even with guidance, it wasn't something he could turn into immediate strength. At this stage, ninjutsu and shuriken skills were far more cost-effective for survival.
Hidden behind the tree, Demon Leech had already sensed something was wrong.
The moment those two boys in front of him stilled their breathing and lowered their bodies, he understood. That wasn't random caution. That was preparation for combat.
So he took a covert glance from behind cover.
One of them was a handsome black-haired boy. The other had white hair and a short sword strapped across his back.
Then his gaze moved past them and landed on the team leader behind them.
In an instant, Demon Leech's pupils shrank.
Cold sweat slid down the side of his face.
"That man... no. Impossible..."