"I'm a bit more casual with people I'm closer to," Kiyohara said lazily, leaning back on his wooden cot.
"Oh? You mean to say that in your heart, our relationship is closer than yours with Rin?" Kurenai asked, crossing her arms.
"What do you think?" Kiyohara didn't answer directly, simply tossing the question back at her.
Then, under Kurenai's fierce, lion-like glare, Kiyohara reached out and casually ruffled her hair. It was incredibly soft. She had clearly washed it that morning; it still carried the faint, clean scent of soap.
"Hmph, stop it." Kurenai swatted his hand away and took a step back.
'Doesn't he know that being patted on the head too much stops you from growing tall?!' she thought indignantly. If her growth spurt stalled, she was definitely blaming him.
"Here. The Genjutsu notes you wanted." Kurenai pulled a small notebook from her pouch and tossed it onto his lap. It contained her personal insights and foundational theories on illusionary arts.
"Thank you, Kurenai," Kiyohara said, genuinely surprised. He only remembered casually mentioning his interest in Genjutsu to her a while ago; he hadn't expected her to actually hand-write a study guide for him.
'As it turns out, I really am born with a weak stomach,' Kiyohara mused cynically. 'I am perfectly suited for eating soft rice.'
"No reward?" Kurenai stood with one hand on her hip, lifting her chin as if she had just performed a monumental labor.
Seeing her slightly tsundere expression, Kiyohara dug into his ninja pouch and pulled out a hard candy. "Here."
Upon seeing the candy, Kurenai's ruby eyes finally lit up. She snatched it, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. The sweet burst of sugar instantly melted away some of the lingering combat fatigue.
The days at war were entirely too bitter; she just wanted to eat more sweets. 'Next time I deploy, I need to pack better snacks,' she resolved.
"By the way," Kurenai mumbled around the candy. "You're already a Kenjutsu specialist. Now you're learning Medical Ninjutsu and Genjutsu? Can you even handle all that?"
"Maybe," Kiyohara flipped open the notebook.
Compared to Tsunade's notoriously atrocious scrawl, Kurenai's handwriting was elegant and precise.
Kiyohara assessed his own stats. He had inherited the Yang Release (vitality) and Yin Release (spiritual energy) from his future selves, plus the foundation of the S-Rank illusion-sword style, Konoha-Style: Willow.
Because Yin Release governs the imagination and spiritual energy required to cast illusions, Kiyohara knew his latent Genjutsu talent was actually monstrous. Being able to execute an S-Rank technique like Willow was proof of that. The only reason he hadn't branched out earlier was that his past self had focused exclusively on the blade.
The reason he was picking up Genjutsu now was entirely pragmatic: he lacked interrogation abilities. If he knew basic Genjutsu, he wouldn't have had to hand Maki—Pakura's disciple—over to the T&I division. He could have extracted Pakura's location himself.
"Really?" Kurenai clearly didn't believe his nonchalant attitude. She squeezed in beside him on the cot and flipped to a specific page in the notebook.
It detailed a simple D-Rank Genjutsu: the Gen-Light Technique. It allowed the user to condense a phantom point of light on their finger, making an enemy mistakenly believe a bright light was flashing.
"Try it," Kurenai challenged.
"Hmm... so the chakra flows like this," Kiyohara muttered, scanning the page.
His spiritual energy was vastly denser than an average Chunin's. He channeled his Yin chakra, following the theoretical pathway Kurenai had written down. He visualized the light.
Flick.
A brilliant, glowing point of light materialized on his fingertip.
Kurenai's eyes widened in absolute shock.
'Wait, what kind of Genjutsu did you just cast on me?!' she thought, her brain short-circuiting.
How could he learn a Genjutsu in ten seconds? Was he truly an illusionary genius?
'Learning it at a single glance... making him practice Kenjutsu all these years was a complete waste of talent!' "Isn't this the technique?" Kiyohara waved his glowing fingertip in front of her face.
Kurenai's expression stiffened. She felt as though all her years of grueling hard work were being openly mocked. It had taken her weeks to master that exact technique in the Academy.
"Maybe it's because I just work a bit harder than others," Kiyohara consoled her smoothly.
In reality, he was simply stacking the lifetimes of several versions of himself. But in essence, they were all Kiyohara's efforts; he was just collecting the dividends in advance.
"What, afraid I'll surpass you?" Kiyohara joked, seeing her pout.
"Who... who's afraid you'll surpass me?!" Kurenai puffed out her cheeks. "Am I such a narrow-minded person?!"
"Well, that's very generous of you," Kiyohara smiled. He asked her to walk him through a few more advanced Genjutsu concepts. In exchange, he shared some insights on nature transformations he had acquired.
After exchanging notes, Kiyohara bid her farewell and headed toward the dense woods on the outskirts of the camp. It was time to train.
Not long after leaving the tent lines, Kiyohara overheard two passing Medical Ninja talking excitedly.
"Have you heard? Lady Tsunade is arriving at the front lines tomorrow!"
"Really? Thank the Sage! With Lady Tsunade here, the mortality rate will plummet."
"Yeah, command requested her to manage the medical logistics for the upcoming counter-offensive..."
'Tsunade is actually coming?' Kiyohara's heart stirred.
This was critical intelligence. Although Rin's Medical Ninjutsu was excellent, she was limited by her youth and experience. If he could receive even a few casual pointers from the legendary Medical Saint, his survivability would skyrocket.
'But how do I get close to her? She hates teaching,' Kiyohara pondered.
At this point in the timeline, her hemophobia was crippling, and her temper was notoriously violent. But she had one glaring, exploitable weakness.
'Gambling. And money.'
Kiyohara smirked behind his mask. That was a breakthrough point he could definitely manipulate.
Setting his schemes aside, Kiyohara arrived deep in the woods.
'Spirit,' he called internally.
The Radical Spirit manifested in the mental space, arms crossed.
Kiyohara's goal today was specific: he needed to master the repulsive aspect of the Magnetic Field Rotation.
He focused his chakra, drawing the ambient magnetic field of the earth into his coils. He pushed the magnetic force down into his feet, creating a violent repulsion against the ground.
Whoosh!
The output was too high. The repulsive force blasted him upward with zero control, nearly launching him face-first into a massive oak tree. He barely managed to twist his body, landing clumsily on a branch.
'Dial it back. Focus on the polarization,' the Radical Spirit instructed dryly.
Relying on his massive spiritual energy and the Spirit's real-time corrections, Kiyohara gradually found the knack for it. He practiced compressing the magnetic repulsion, using it for explosive, instantaneous acceleration over short distances.
When perfectly executed, the speed briefly surpassed even a full-power Konoha Body Flicker.
But Kiyohara wasn't just doing this to run faster. He was laying the groundwork for the ultimate tactical advantage.
He was trying to achieve true, sustained flight.
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