"I'm more casual with people I'm closer to."
Kiyohara said this calmly.
"So, what you're saying is, in your heart, I'm closer to you than Rin is?"
"And what do you think?"
Kiyohara didn't answer directly, instead tossing the question right back to her.
Then, beneath Kurenai's eyes that seemed to hide the sharp alertness of a lion, Kiyohara reached out and gently rubbed her head with his hand.
Her hair was soft and smooth, she had probably washed it that morning—and it carried a faint, clean fragrance of soap and bathwater.
"Hmph, knock it off."
Kurenai took a step back.
Didn't this guy know that if you touched someone's head too much, they wouldn't grow taller?!
If she ended up not growing tall in the future, she would definitely blame Kiyohara for it.
"Here, this is the genjutsu you wanted."
Kurenai took out a notebook and handed it to Kiyohara. Inside were her own notes and insights on genjutsu.
"Thank you so much, Kurenai."
Kiyohara clearly remembered that he had only mentioned casually that he wanted to learn genjutsu. He hadn't expected her to actually prepare an entire notebook for him.
Sure enough, he was born with a weak stomach.
He really was suited to living off soft favors.
"No reward at all?"
Kurenai put one hand on her hip, striking a pose that clearly said she'd worked very hard.
Seeing her slightly tsundere expression, Kiyohara reached into his shinobi pouch again and took out another piece of candy.
"Here you go."
When she saw the candy, Kurenai's eyes immediately lit up.
Looks like next time she should bring some snacks to the battlefield too.
After taking the candy, she peeled off the wrapper and lightly licked it with her soft, pink tongue. Almost instantly, she felt some of her exhaustion melt away.
Life on the battlefield was really too bitter—right now, Kurenai just wanted to eat something sweet.
"By the way, you were originally good at kenjutsu, right? And now you're learning medical ninjutsu, and genjutsu on top of that. Can you really handle learning all of it?"
With the candy in her mouth, Kurenai asked casually.
"Maybe," Kiyohara replied.
He opened the notebook and began reading through the contents.
Compared to Tsunade's messy handwriting, Kurenai's script was much neater and more refined.
He had inherited both Yang-release chakra talent and Yin-release chakra talent from the Youth Kiyohara version of himself, along with an S-Rank genjutsu-type kenjutsu like Leaf-Style Willow.
Kiyohara felt that his talent in genjutsu was probably quite good now.
Being able to master techniques of S-rank difficulty was itself a manifestation of talent, and all of that had truly stacked onto him.
It was just that, in the past, Kiyohara had devoted far more time to swordsmanship training.
The reason he was now training genjutsu was because he had realized a problem.
That was—he lacked interrogation abilities.
If he could use genjutsu to interrogate enemies, then Maki, the disciple of Pakura, could be kept for him to interrogate personally.
TN: Changed the name of Pakura's disciple from Masha to Maki.
"Seriously?"
Kurenai clearly didn't believe him. She squeezed in beside Kiyohara and flipped open to a certain page in the notebook.
On it, she had recorded a simple D-rank genjutsu.
"Try this one," Kurenai said.
This genjutsu was called Illusion Lamp Technique. It simply condensed a small point of light in the user's hand, making others mistakenly believe there was a light source there.
"Hmm—this should be how it works."
Kiyohara studied it for a moment.
His current mental energy far exceeded that of ordinary shinobi. In other words, his Yin-release chakra was also much stronger.
After trying to circulate his chakra once, he successfully learned it.
So from Kurenai's perspective, it looked like Kiyohara only glanced at it once, pondered for a few seconds—
And then, suddenly, a point of light appeared in his hand.
"Wait—what kind of genjutsu did you use on me?!"
Kurenai couldn't help but widen her eyes.
How could she possibly accept that Kiyohara had learned the jutsu in such a short time?
Could it be that Kiyohara really was—
A genius in genjutsu?
Learning it just by looking once?
Letting him train in kenjutsu was completely wasting his talent, wasn't it?!
"Isn't this just genjutsu?" Kiyohara said.
He waved his glowing fingertips in front of Kurenai's eyes. She could see the light clearly.
He had truly learned the jutsu.
Kurenai's expression stiffened slightly. It felt like all the effort she had put in over the years was being questioned.
When she had trained back then, she had spent far more time than Kiyohara did just now.
"Maybe I'm just a little more hardworking than others."
Kiyohara tried to comfort her.
In reality, he had simply stacked together several versions of his own effort.
But fundamentally, they were all versions of Kiyohara's future self—he was just collecting a little bit of the benefits in advance.
"What, are you afraid I'll surpass you?" Kiyohara joked when he saw that Kurenai still seemed a little downcast.
"W-Who's afraid of you surpassing me?! Do I look like someone that narrow-minded?!"
Kurenai puffed out her cheeks. She definitely wasn't the type to feel jealous just because someone else progressed faster.
"Mm, very generous indeed," Kiyohara said with a smile.
After that, he asked Kurenai to take out a few more genjutsu techniques.
In exchange, Kiyohara shared some of the ninjutsu he knew.
"You actually know this many ninjutsu?" Kurenai said in surprise.
"Some of them I only know about, but can't actually use," Kiyohara replied.
Many of those jutsu were recorded by his future self—he hadn't personally learned them yet.
Only the jutsu he had inherited directly came with proficiency; all that remained was for him to truly integrate and master them himself.
After exchanging a few more basic genjutsu techniques and some practical ninjutsu insights, Kiyohara bid farewell to Kurenai and headed toward the forest at the edge of the camp to train.
He needed to become proficient in Magnet Release as quickly as possible and integrate his existing abilities.
The upper and lower limits of Magnet Release were actually both very high—it all depended on how it was developed.
Not long after he left, Kiyohara overheard several passing medical shinobi chatting excitedly.
"Have you heard? Lady Tsunade is about to arrive at the front lines!"
"Really? That's great! With Lady Tsunade here, the wounded will finally be saved."
"Yeah, I heard it's to prepare for the medical work after a possible large-scale conflict—"
"Tsunade is really coming?"
Kiyohara's heart stirred.
This was undoubtedly important news.
Although Rin's medical ninjutsu was excellent, her age and experience limited what she could teach him.
If he could receive guidance from Tsunade, the top medical shinobi, even just a fraction of her knowledge—it would greatly improve both his medical skills and his self-preservation abilities.
But how should he approach her and get her willing to teach him?
Kiyohara pondered quietly. Tsunade's hemophobia should already be quite severe by now, and her temper—
Well, it was… distinctive.
This would require careful planning.
At the very least, gambling and money would be an excellent breakthrough point.
Suppressing those thoughts for now, Kiyohara arrived in the forest and began focusing on his Magnet Release training.
He summoned Magnet Release Kiyohara, occasionally asking himself questions when doubts arose.
After that, he decided to focus on developing repulsion-based applications.
As he increased the output of magnetic force, the repulsive force beneath his feet became increasingly difficult to control.
Several times, he nearly launched himself flying, ending up covered in dust and dirt.
But relying on his powerful spiritual energy, the talents he had inherited, and Magnet Release Kiyohara's explanations, he gradually found the trick.
He was now able to achieve explosive, instantaneous acceleration over short distances.
His speed could even briefly surpass his full-power use of the Konoha Body Flicker Technique.
All of this was preparation for the next step.
That step was—
Flight.
(End of Chapter)