"I'll go right away."
Nonō responded immediately. She turned and left, then soon returned in a hurry with a small bundle in her arms, containing the items Shinichi had just mentioned.
Shinichi thanked her, took it, and immediately began preparing the medicine. His movements were calm and unhurried—his rhythm could even be described as elegant.
Standing at the side, Nonō watched him, but the strange feeling in her heart only grew stronger.
Because the more she looked, the more she felt that Shinichi wasn't compounding medicine—he looked like he was preparing ingredients.
In his hands, those medicinal substances seemed to turn into scallions, ginger, garlic, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
A moment later, Shinichi finished the mixture. He gently set the prepared liquid aside, then looked up at Nonō.
"Nonō-neesan, I'll handle the incision personally later. You assist me from the side."
"Understood!" Nonō nodded.
Two hours later—
When the surgery ended, Nonō finally let out a long breath. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the injured man on the bed.
The right arm was gone—along with most of the shoulder, it had been completely amputated. But the patient's breathing had stabilized.
The other medical staff in the tent noticed this as well, and couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
As expected of Shinichi.
When this patient had been brought in, all of them had been completely helpless.
They had no choice but to hand him over to Nonō, the most skilled medical ninja present—but even she could only keep him alive for two or three days at most.
"Good thing you were here, Shinichi," Nonō said softly.
She looked at the patient, then at Shinichi, and that strange thought surfaced again in her mind.
How could the medicine Shinichi prepared just now be so effective?
Blood-restoring agents, hemostatic powders, high-concentration nutrient fluids—these were all the most common medicines in the hospital. She had used them countless times, yet had never seen results like this.
It was as if those ordinary medicines, after passing through Shinichi's hands, had become something entirely different.
She shook her head, suppressing the thought for now.
"Although the arm couldn't be saved, at least the person survived," Nonō said quietly.
Shinichi looked at the injured man and asked, "Was he wounded by Sunagakure's Scorch Release user, Pakura?"
"Yes, it was her."
Nonō nodded, then added, "I heard she used a very strange ninjutsu at the time—she controlled a special kind of scorching fireball. Once it hits, all the moisture in the body evaporates instantly. Anyone struck head-on turns into a dried corpse on the spot. He was only grazed on the arm, and it still ended up like this."
Shinichi said nothing, only narrowed his eyes slightly.
Nonō hesitated for a moment, then spoke again: "But she's not just 'Scorch Release Pakura.'"
"Oh?"
"The people of Sunagakure also call her 'Swift Release Pakura.'"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise appearing on his face. "Swift Release?"
…
"Swift Release?"
Inside the command tent, Tsunade raised an eyebrow and looked at Jiraiya in front of her, her tone filled with doubt.
"Yes, Swift Release. That's what Sunagakure calls it," Jiraiya nodded.
"What kind of Kekkei Genkai is that? Why have I never heard of it before?"
"It's my first time hearing of it too," Jiraiya gave a wry smile, then asked, "Tsunade, you should know about Steel Release, right?"
"I do," Tsunade nodded. "It's like Earth Release's Hardening Technique—enhancing parts of the body to resist physical attacks. But it doesn't require a specific chakra nature, nor hand seals. That samurai from the Land of Iron named Isshin was suspected of having mastered it."
"If Steel Release enhances defense," Jiraiya continued, "then Swift Release enhances speed."
"Likewise, it requires no hand seals, and not even any buildup—purely relying on the power of the Kekkei Genkai itself to push the body's speed to an unbelievable level. That's how Pakura's Swift Release works."
"Scorch Release plus Swift Release…"
Tsunade fell silent for a few seconds before slowly speaking. "Jiraiya, it seems this Pakura has caused you quite a bit of trouble lately."
"Quite a lot of trouble indeed."
Jiraiya nodded, then a trace of regret appeared on his face.
"It's a pity Minato isn't here, otherwise…"
At that point, Jiraiya didn't continue. His disciple, who had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, had more important duties and couldn't come to the southwestern battlefield.
"There's something else."
Jiraiya pointed toward the Land of Earth on the map, his expression turning even more serious.
"Just yesterday afternoon, Iwagakure's Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, suddenly made a high-profile announcement that they would be conducting a large-scale routine troop rotation along their southeastern border. He directly pulled back a large number of border shinobi."
Hearing this, Tsunade let out a cold laugh.
"As expected! Exactly what that kid predicted! That old fox Ōnoki is making his stance clear—he'll sit back, let both sides bleed each other dry, then step in and take everything."
Iwagakure's intentions couldn't be more obvious.
By proactively withdrawing and showing goodwill to Sunagakure, it was practically the same as saying: "Go ahead and fight Konoha. We won't interfere."
They were encouraging Sunagakure to intensify their offensive and wear Konoha down.
"That's right."
Jiraiya nodded, his finger moving toward the northeastern region of the Land of Wind as he said in a low voice: "Iwagakure reducing pressure on Sunagakure's northeastern border means Sunagakure can redeploy the forces that were originally stationed there to guard against Iwagakure. Especially Chiyo, who has been stationed there all along, along with her elite unit specializing in poison techniques and puppet combat—they'll likely free up their hands very soon and fully commit to the front against us."
In the war against Konoha, the Sunagakure elder Chiyo had not joined immediately.
Instead, this master renowned throughout the shinobi world for poison techniques and puppet mastery had personally led a heavily armed force to hold the northeastern border of the Land of Wind at the beginning of the war.
The reason was simple.
Sunagakure was also wary of its longtime rival, Iwagakure.
The two sides had formed deep grudges during the last Great Ninja War, and their missions frequently clashed even in peacetime. Their resentment ran deep. Sunagakure would never dare to leave its northern flank wide open while fully committing to an attack on Konoha.
"Then let her come."
Tsunade said coldly.
…
'So it's a composite-type Pakura with both Scorch Release and Swift Release…'
At night, Shinichi sat inside his temporarily assigned tent, looking at the fine snow being blown sideways outside by the cold wind, lost in thought.
Shinichi had never assumed that just because this was a world from a work he was familiar with in his previous life, he knew everything.
Nor had he stubbornly believed that everything in this world would follow the "official canon storyline" from his memory, with all "non-canon side stories" simply not existing.
On the contrary, from very early on, he had consciously and systematically gathered, organized, and verified all kinds of information about this world.
He verified whether the traces of the past and the direction of the future in this world belonged to the official canon—or to the side stories.
And what he discovered was—
It was both.
This was a composite world that fused canon, side stories, and even extras together.
Then, in such a world—
Pakura.
A character who, in his previous life, first appeared in side stories (movies), then later entered canon (manga); who possessed Swift Release in the side stories and Scorch Release in canon—
In this composite, hybrid world, what kind of existence would she be?
Shinichi had once been curious about this.
And now, reality had given him the answer.
She had both.
'No wonder her speed was so fast during last year's Chūnin Exam finals…'
Shinichi's thoughts shifted, and his brows furrowed slightly.
No, wait.
If Pakura is like this, then what about the other three? Are their situations the same as hers?
Forget it. No point overthinking.
Still, speaking of side-story characters, Konoha actually has the most of them—and quite a few are powerful. It's just that many of them appear in later generations.
He wondered if he would have the chance to meet a few of them in the future—especially that girl who could switch between illusion and reality, turning the false into the true.
Shinichi shook his head, casting aside these tangled thoughts.
Rising to jōnin as soon as possible—that was the real priority.
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