As the looting finished, the spirit of Young Kiyohara dissolved into a speck of light. It drifted into the mental space, settling into a new urn right next to the Rogue Ninja's.
Kiyohara looked at the two urns in his mind's eye.
'Naruto has a zoo of Tailed Beasts in his gut. I have a mausoleum of dead versions of myself.'
He shook his head, pushing the morbid thought away.
He turned back to Ao's body.
Schlick.
He drove a Kunai through the skull, destroying the brain.
'Dead men tell no tales,' Kiyohara thought cold-bloodedly. 'But in the Ninja World, their brains do.'
Intel corps could extract memories from a corpse. By scrambling the brain, he protected the secret of the Konoha-Style: Willow.
Kiyohara stripped the body with practiced speed.
* The Sword: Ao's blade. High quality.
* The Armor: Standard Mist Jonin vest. Sellable.
* The Pills: A bag of military-grade rations.
He sniffed them.
'Forbidden Drugs.'
These weren't standard soldier pills. They were stimulants that forcibly extracted chakra at the cost of cell life.
'Useful for emergencies. Deadly for longevity.'
He sealed them away.
* Exploding Tags: Over twenty.
* Intel: Map and telescope.
Total looting time: 30 Seconds.
Kiyohara's movements were so fluid it looked like a choreographed dance of greed.
On the edge of the battlefield.
The fog was thinning.
Mei Terumī ran, dragging the pale, exhausted Ranmaru. The boy's Red Eye usage had drained his stamina completely; he was dead weight.
"Don't stop," Mei urged, her breath ragged.
Suddenly, a shadow blocked their path.
Kakashi.
He stood with a Kunai in hand, his lone Sharingan spinning.
"Stay."
Mei's heart hammered.
She was tired, injured, and burdened with a non-combatant. Kakashi was fresh enough to kill them.
"Lava Release: Melting Apparition!"
Desperation fueled her chakra. She spat a massive glob of acidic mud.
Boom!
Kakashi didn't engage. He leaped back, throwing a Kunai with an exploding tag to diffuse the acid mist.
Smoke and steam filled the air.
Mei didn't wait to see the result. She grabbed Ranmaru and vanished into the deep mist.
Kakashi landed on a branch.
His Sharingan pierced the gloom. He saw them retreating.
He could chase. He should chase. The boy was a high-value asset—a counter to the Hyūga.
But he hesitated.
He looked back toward the deep forest where Kiyohara had lured Ao.
Rin and the others were injured. If he chased, he left them vulnerable.
'Those who abandon the mission are scum,' his father's voice whispered.
'But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum,' Obito's voice answered.
"Prioritize the comrades."
Kakashi sheathed his Kunai. He turned his back on the enemy and sprinted toward his team.
Throb.
His left eye ached. For a second, a dark vision flashed—a cave, a rock, a boy doing push-ups in the dark.
Kakashi shook his head. 'Hallucinations again.'
The main battlefield was silent.
The smell of blood and ozone hung heavy in the air.
Rin stood on her tiptoes, clutching her hands to her chest, staring into the fog.
Hyūga Ginka shivered nearby. Her white uniform was soaked through, clinging to her skin and outlining her curves, but no one was looking. She was too busy scanning the mist with her naked eyes, feeling the humiliation of her blindness.
Genma cleaned his senbon, trying to look casual, but his shaking hands betrayed him.
'Please come back,' Rin prayed. 'Not like Obito. Not again.'
The silence was suffocating.
Every second felt like an hour.
Rustle... rustle...
Footsteps.
A figure emerged from the white void.
Disheveled. Covered in mud. Blood splattered across his cheek. Clothes torn.
But walking.
Kiyohara.
"Kiyohara!" Rin gasped, her knees nearly buckling with relief.
"Are you okay? Is it bad?"
"I'm fine," Kiyohara waved a hand, looking like he'd just walked out of a meat grinder. "Won't die. just tired."
Kakashi walked over.
He scanned Kiyohara with his dead-fish eye. No missing limbs. Chakra low, but stable.
The tension in Kakashi's shoulders finally broke.
"It's good that you're back," Kakashi said softly.
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