Even though she was still wearing undergarments, the thought that Kakashi was right behind the wall while she had her shirt off made Rin feel… weird.
"I'm fine, Kiyohara-kun. Go ahead,"
Rin said at last, eyes closed as she nodded.
Kiyohara brought the tweezers to the edge of her wound and began carefully extracting the embedded debris—
tiny shards of grit and rock that had lodged beneath her skin.
Each motion tugged at torn flesh and sent sharp jolts of pain through her back,
but Rin bit down hard on her lip,
sweat beading on her brow.
She didn't make a sound.
Kiyohara's hands were swift, precise—doing all he could to minimize her pain.
Soon, a pile of small debris clinked down onto the clean gauze beside him.
Then came the alcohol.
Soaked cotton pressed against the open wound—cold and stinging.
Rin inhaled sharply.
"All done. The debris is out, and the area's disinfected."
Kiyohara exhaled, relieved.
"Rin, finish it with the Mystic Palm Technique."
Rin nodded and began concentrating.
A soft green glow rose from her palms.
She reached back, pressing them gently to her wound.
Under the warmth of A-rank medical ninjutsu, the wound began visibly closing.
Redness faded, healthy new tissue grew,
until only a faint pink scar remained—
soon to vanish entirely with time.
Rin rolled her shoulder.
The stiffness and soreness were gone.
She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"Thank you, Kiyohara-kun."
She turned around quickly and re-dressed, face still flushed.
But her voice was calm again, and her eyes soft and grateful.
"If it weren't for you, the wound might've gotten worse."
"Don't mention it."
Kiyohara smiled lightly as he packed up his tools.
"We're comrades. Looking out for each other is what we do."
From the other side of the earthen wall, Kakashi called out:
"Rin? You alright?"
"I'm good now, Kakashi!"
Rin answered, her voice sounding much stronger.
Hearing that, Kakashi released the [Earth-Flow Wall].
The mud wall slowly crumbled back into the ground—
without chakra to sustain it, it became just dirt once more.
Kurenai and Genma looked over with concern but saw that Rin's complexion had improved noticeably.
"Rin's patched up and we've rested enough…"
Kakashi glanced at the darkening sky.
"Let's get moving."
The group didn't linger.
In a blink, they disappeared into the forest, dashing west toward the coast.
—
Luckily, the rest of their route was smooth.
No ambushes. No Mist patrols.
Just wind in the trees and their footfalls on the branches.
While moving, Kakashi stole a glance at Kiyohara.
After learning about his potential Bloodline Limit,
he couldn't help feeling a growing sense of kinship.
It reminded him of Obito.
"So… your power—it's magnet-based?"
Rare for him, Kakashi initiated a conversation mid-jump.
"According to Lord Orochimaru, it's called Magnet Release,"
Kiyohara replied.
"I can feel it has to do with magnetism."
He'd been preparing for this reveal for some time—
studying Earth Release in public just to lay the groundwork.
And now, under the pretense of protecting Rin,
he'd unveiled the power with perfect timing.
Even Orochimaru hadn't questioned the method—
only cared about the result.
"Magnets, huh…"
Kakashi murmured, thinking.
"What can you actually do with it?"
Genma chimed in.
"Something like this."
Kiyohara infused chakra, drawing a few grains of iron sand from the ground—
and gently pulled the senbon from between Genma's lips.
"Huh?!"
Genma startled, quickly grabbing it back with his hand.
Kiyohara let the sand fall and ended the technique.
The farther the distance and the more sand involved, the heavier the chakra cost.
—
A few hours passed as they chatted.
Eventually, they caught up to the team escorting the Hyūga clan's main family.
There were many ordinary shinobi.
Of the Hyūga, at least thirty were branch family members—
but only three were from the main family.
Among them were familiar faces: Hyūga Ginka and Hyūga Nobuhiko.
Their arrival drew cautious stares,
but when Kiyohara produced Orochimaru's sealed scroll, the tension eased.
"Join us,"
said Takada Kenya, a Konoha jōnin.
"This isn't a place to linger. The Mist won't be far behind."
"Right."
Kiyohara nodded quickly.
He couldn't wait to get out of this cursed battlefield.
If he were unlucky enough to run into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—
he had no idea whether Might Duy would arrive in time.
And this time, there was no Might Guy.
—
As the group moved on, the air was heavy with the pressure of war.
"That's him… that shinobi from before,"
Ginka murmured, her large chest straining against her green flak vest.
"Looks like him,"
Nobuhiko replied.
Honestly, they'd assumed Kiyohara had died already.
The death rate in this war was absurd.
People you greeted in the morning were buried by nightfall.
"Hm?"
Ginka's Byakugan was active, scouting for ambushes.
She noticed something odd about Kiyohara's chakra.
It had changed—
a new element, dark and unfamiliar, threaded into his flow.
Something unique.
More than that, his chakra capacity had grown.
Significantly.
Was he one of those geniuses shaped by war?
Like Minato Namikaze…?
She wasn't sure what to make of him now.
"What's wrong?"
Nobuhiko noticed her staring.
"Nothing."
Ginka shook her head.
'Better not to antagonize him,'
she thought.
'If we can befriend him—great. But even staying neutral is safer.'
As the main family of the Hyūga, she had to prioritize the clan's interests.
If they could win over a rising talent early, it would benefit them all.
—
But just as they ventured deeper into the woods—
A massive surge of chakra exploded in the distance.
The earth shook.
The entire group felt it—trembling ground, suffocating presence.
Kiyohara whipped his head in that direction.
There was only one person in this warzone capable of that kind of release at this moment.
Might Duy.
The ultimate Taijutsu.
[The Eight Gates] — The Gate of Death.