"You... you weren't caught in my genjutsu?"
The Iwagakure chunin checked again and again, almost frantically. He had clearly poured Yin Release chakra into Kiyohara's body. The illusion had taken hold. By all logic, Kiyohara should have frozen up on the spot.
So why was he still moving as if nothing had happened?
An instant release? No, that wasn't right either. The chunin hadn't seen Kiyohara make any move to dispel it, and the chakra inside Kiyohara's body was still flowing with eerie stability. There was none of the violent turbulence that should come with breaking a genjutsu by force.
"There are a lot of things you don't understand."
The rogue-nin Kiyohara, borrowing Kiyohara's body for that heartbeat of motion, smiled at him.
In the next instant, he pulled a kunai from the ninja pouch and blurred forward. He moved so quickly the Iwa chunin never even had time to lift his weapon. He only felt the impact, then the ground slammed into his back.
A thin line of blood appeared across his throat.
His eyes stayed locked on Kiyohara, wide and unwilling to close. Even while dying, he still couldn't understand how a kid in a genin's uniform had crossed that distance and killed a chunin in one stroke. For a wild second, he even wondered if this was some kind of jonin playing bait in disguise.
But blood loss swallowed the thought before it could fully form. Darkness washed over his vision, and then he went still.
Body Flicker Technique.
"So fast..."
Kurenai stared at Kiyohara, her ruby-red eyes widening. To her, it had looked as if he'd simply vanished and reappeared. She knew that was just speed creating the illusion, but knowing it and seeing it were two very different things.
"Red, use genjutsu on the other chunin."
Kiyohara dropped back into control of his own body, crouched down, and dragged the corpse into the brush. The smell of blood was already spreading. If they didn't eliminate the second Iwa chunin before the others reacted, the whole outpost would erupt.
"Got it."
Kurenai nodded and slipped into position with him.
Because the first chunin had gone down too quickly, the second one hadn't even realized anything was wrong yet. By the time he sensed danger, he only managed to glance up and see a young woman with black curls weaving hand seals toward him.
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique."
Kurenai's signature genjutsu descended in an instant.
"Aaaah!"
The scar-faced Iwa ninja let out a ragged scream. Horror exploded across his face. Whatever he saw in that illusion, it wasn't something he could bear. He stared straight ahead, but his pupils had already lost focus.
He was seeing the thing he feared most.
Maybe it was a comrade dying in front of him while he stood powerless. Maybe it was the day he'd lost someone precious and learned how small a single person really was in wartime. Whatever it was, it pinned him in place more effectively than ropes ever could.
"Done. He's in it."
Kurenai exhaled softly.
The Hell Viewing Technique dragged up the deepest terror buried in a target's heart and forced them to relive it. Once it worked, most people lost the ability to resist at all.
Kiyohara didn't hesitate.
He flicked out a shuriken.
Slash.
The metal bit into the man's throat. Blood sprayed across the leaves behind him, hot and sudden.
When a person was killed, they died. The truth of the ninja world was that plain. If Kiyohara didn't kill these people, then sooner or later they would kill him.
These weren't harmless bystanders. They were invaders pressing through the Land of Grass, aiming straight for the Land of Fire. Kiyohara felt no urge to show mercy once blades were drawn.
He'd lived in this world long enough now. Bit by bit, he had started to grow used to its cruelty.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Captain Hikaru and Captain Daichi are dead!"
The remaining two genin finally spotted Kiyohara and Kurenai.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spear!"
One of the Iwa genin slammed his hands through a sequence of seals. A long spear of hardened earth shot out from the ground and lunged at Kiyohara like a mud-forged pike.
The second genin did the same, launching another spear from the other side.
Two jagged lances of earth came tearing toward them.
"Lightning Release: Earth Walk."
Kiyohara formed his sign, and blue-white arcs exploded over the ground in front of him.
Crackle!
The lightning spread low and fast. In an instant, it shattered through the incoming Earth Release, tearing apart both muddy spears before they could reach him.
"Damn it. He's a lightning user."
Otani Teruya's face darkened.
There was a natural restraint relationship between chakra natures. Earth Release was weak against Lightning Release. Against Kiyohara, they were already fighting uphill.
"Demonic Illu—"
Kurenai started another genjutsu.
"Retreat!"
Teruya didn't wait for it to land. He barked to his companion, turned, and fled straight into the bamboo forest. The other genin followed without looking back.
"Red, don't chase."
Kiyohara stopped Kurenai before she could complete the technique.
Kurenai blinked in surprise. "You're letting them go?"
"Aren't we supposed to leave no survivors?"
"Our mission isn't to wipe them out in one sweep," Kiyohara said, already scanning the surroundings. "Our job is to draw Iwagakure's attention. Letting them run is better than killing them here."
He spoke calmly, as if the answer were obvious.
"Even if we kill one or two more, it won't change the overall situation. But if they carry the news back, more Iwa ninja will start focusing on us. That means we've done our job."
Kurenai paused, then slowly nodded.
So that was his angle.
Kiyohara didn't just know how to fight. He knew where to stop.
With the rogue-nin Kiyohara roaming around him like an invisible scout, Kiyohara wasn't particularly worried about being ambushed on the way out. In that moment, he understood even more clearly just how terrifying Kato Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique had once been.
A soul leaving the body to gather intelligence, slip through defenses, and assassinate targets was absurdly dangerous. The only weakness was that the user's real body became defenseless.
But Kiyohara didn't have that weakness.
The rogue-nin Kiyohara floating around him didn't leave Kiyohara himself helpless. It was like having an extra pair of eyes, an extra hand, and sometimes an extra life.
"Now then..."
Kiyohara clapped his hands together lightly and looked around the outpost. "Time to divide the spoils. No—time to inventory the assets."
Kurenai almost laughed.
Even at a time like this, he still corrected himself with a straight face.
The outpost stored a fair amount of grain, but that wasn't something they could realistically take. Sealing scrolls had limited capacity, and food was too bulky. Still, there were plenty of useful things here besides grain—ninja tools, armor, supply pouches, and other compact equipment that was perfect for sealing away and carrying off.
A moment later, Genma Shiranui emerged from outside, clearly having realized the fleeing genin had gone around rather than through his ambush point.
"Come on out, Genma," Kiyohara called. "I only had you cover that side in case the chunin didn't go down cleanly and someone broke through. Since the two genin escaped, let them escape."
As he spoke, he lifted his shirt, pulled a sealing scroll from inside, and unfurled it with practiced familiarity.
"Don't be polite," he added. "Take a little of everything."
Genma stared.
Only now did he realize Kiyohara had been planning around the chunin from the start. That ambush position hadn't been random at all.
"Kiyohara... you brought a sealing scroll?" Kurenai asked, unable to hide her surprise.
Most ninja didn't carry one for normal field work. A standard ninja pouch was enough for everyday combat. Bringing a sealing scroll meant extra weight, extra bulk, and slightly less mobility. Their chainmail and vests were designed for speed, not for hauling half a warehouse around like some armored soldier from the Warring States era.
Kiyohara looked at her as if the answer were self-evident.
"If I didn't bring sealing scrolls, wouldn't all of this go to waste?"
That was his logic, plain and shameless.
He still had debts piled over his head.
Seven hundred thousand ryo in total. One hundred thousand had already gone to Tsunade. Of the remaining six hundred thousand, most had been burned on medicinal herbs. What little he had left over, after buying essential ninja tools and materials for the forbidden medicine, had gone into purchasing this sealing scroll.
How could he not loot properly after paying so much up front?
As Kiyohara moved through the outpost, his hands worked with startling efficiency. Armor. Sealed. Shuriken and kunai bundles. Sealed. Spare wire. Sealed. Compact medical supplies. Sealed. Anything that looked useful and portable, he took.
If he was already risking his life on the battlefield, then he would squeeze every bit of value out of it.
Genma watched him for a moment before finally crouching down as well. "You really thought this through."
"Of course I did," Kiyohara replied without looking up. "Ninja equipment doesn't grow on trees."
Actually, some of it probably did once you counted the paper tags, wooden handles, and bamboo shafts. But the point stood.
Kurenai moved in to help sort the supplies. Her first impression of Kiyohara had been that he was cautious, maybe even overly cautious. Now she was starting to realize something else.
He was practical to the bone.
He didn't fight recklessly, didn't waste chakra, didn't pursue flashy kills, and didn't leave valuable resources behind out of false pride. On a battlefield where most people died because of emotion, ego, or one wrong gamble, that kind of practicality might actually be what kept someone alive.
The bamboo forest around them was hot and damp. Sweat clung lightly to Kurenai's temple, but Kiyohara's focus never shifted.
For a moment, she glanced at the side of his face.
He really did feel different lately.
Not just stronger. Sharper. Calmer. Like someone who had already crossed a battlefield much larger than this one and come back with the edges burned clean.
Of course, she had no way of knowing that wasn't entirely wrong.
Inside Kiyohara's mind, the rogue-nin version of himself drifted nearby and clicked his tongue. "You really are treating a warzone like a place to get rich."
Kiyohara answered inwardly without any shame. "If I die, the debt disappears. If I live, then this is startup capital."
The rogue-nin Kiyohara was silent for a second.
Then he said, "That sounds exactly like something I'd say."
Kiyohara almost snorted.
Once they'd collected everything worth taking, the three of them pulled back from the outpost without lingering. The dead Iwa ninja remained where they had fallen, and the two escaped genin were now racing off to spread the alarm.
That was exactly what Kiyohara wanted.
Soon, more Iwagakure ninja would start converging on the area. Their attention would be dragged toward this side, away from Kakashi's route and away from Kannabi Bridge.
It was only one tiny disturbance in the middle of a war. One outpost. A few dead men. A handful of stolen supplies.
But sometimes that was all it took.
A few stolen breaths. A few diverted eyes. A few extra seconds bought for the people moving elsewhere through the forest.
Kiyohara rolled up the sealing scroll again and tucked it away.
He still had loans to repay.
He still had to become a chunin.
And above all else, he still had to survive.
"Let's move," he said.
There was no triumph in his voice, only urgency.
Behind them, the ruined outpost sat in the humid bamboo shadows like an open wound. Ahead of them waited the real battlefield.
Kiyohara did not fool himself into thinking this small victory meant safety.
If anything, it only proved how little room there was for mistakes from here on out.
Still, as he stepped back into the forest with Kurenai and Genma beside him, his gaze sharpened instead of wavering.
The enemy had come to split the spoils of war.
Fine.
Then Kiyohara would take his share too.