This was a great victory.
Fifteen Kirigakure ninja had slipped past the front lines and were sneaking around within the borders of the Land of Fire. Three of them were cut down by their own people first, and then eleven were killed by Konohagakure's reinforcement unit.
There should not have been any survivors, but Higashino Makoto dragged one back from the brink of death.
As for who sent that Mist ninja to the brink in the first place—don't ask.
All of the dead had their heads destroyed. It seemed these people had already steeled themselves for death if the mission failed.
If one wanted to know what kind of scheme Kirigakure was plotting, that lone survivor was the top priority.
Higashino Makoto inwardly wondered—what scheme could there really be?
The restless chakra mentioned by the adult jōnin of the Hyūga clan was something Higashino Makoto had naturally sensed long ago.
Not only that—what he sensed was not just restlessness, but also revulsion, an instinctive rejection.
He understood this clearly. It should be the chakra of the Three-Tails, Isobu, which had died together with Nohara Rin at the beginning of this year.
That chakra had diffused through the rivers, lakes, and sea surface of the southeastern region of the Land of Fire. It was very faint, and ordinary people could not perceive it.
Tailed beasts do not truly die. After death, they revive on their own—but how they revive, where they revive, and when they revive, no one knows.
Perhaps Kirigakure knows something. After all, they had kept it for so many years, which was why they secretly sent people to collect the leaked chakra.
Using tailed beasts sealed into humans as jinchūriki was also something that had only begun in recent decades. Each village both loved and hated its own jinchūriki.
Hold them in one's hands and fear they might fall apart; keep them in the village and fear they might explode. Villages would not lightly use tailed beasts for experiments—let alone kill them.
Perhaps only Kirigakure, which liked to shut its doors and slaughter its own people, had rich experience in killing jinchūriki.
In the future, the Three-Tails would die once more, together with the Fourth Mizukage.
Isobu was truly, damnably miserable.
As for why Higashino Makoto instinctively detested the chakra of tailed beasts—he had not forgotten the scene he had witnessed while in a state of consciousness.
He had absorbed white natural energy that was pitifully weak, squeezed and devoured by other energies—on a daily basis, becoming the runt that got beaten up by its own kind.
And tailed beasts are a part of the Ten-Tails. The Ten-Tails is the body of the God Tree, formed from the God Tree absorbing the ninja world's natural energy and converting it—how could he not hate it?
Therefore, Higashino Makoto knew from the very beginning that it was impossible for him to sign a contract with the summoning beasts of the Three Great Sage Regions, and he would never go and get a tailed beast sealed into his body as a "warm baby."
From the moment he absorbed white natural energy, he stood on the opposing side of all those things—an irreconcilable contradiction existed between the two sides.
Konohagakure's current Nine-Tails jinchūriki was Uzumaki Kushina. This onee-san had a forthright personality, no schemes to speak of, and she wandered around the village every day.
But Higashino Makoto had never thought of getting to know her and swearing sisterhood with her, so that it would be convenient to learn sealing techniques. He even avoided contact with Namikaze Minato.
One reason was that he feared being invited by ANBU to "have tea."
The other reason was that hatred for this kind of thing was mutual: he hated tailed beasts, and tailed beasts would instinctively hate him as well. He was afraid that if he got too close to the onee-san Uzumaki, Kurama would jump out and beat him.
Right now, there was absolutely no way he could beat that fox.
One tailed beast bomb would be enough to send him—together with his parents and Konohagakure—straight up to heaven.
...
At the lakeside assembly point, when Nara Suzaku, the acting commander leading the team, saw Gekkō Kumomi carrying the captive over, he was overjoyed.
He had originally planned to leave a few prisoners alive. Who would have thought these Kirigakure ninja were all lunatics—not a single intact head was left.
Fortunately, the two squads holding the perimeter had better luck and caught a straggler that slipped through the net.
"How are things? Is she still alive?"
Gekkō Kumomi said, "She's still alive. Makoto already treated her—don't worry. She won't die. His medical ninjutsu ability is truly not inferior to his mother's."
Nara Suzaku immediately had someone take the captive away and keep strict watch.
Looking at the six young juniors—these were the village's future—he praised them: "Not bad. You are all very outstanding. You made up for the oversight of us seniors."
"Especially you, the child of the Higashino family—your talent makes even me a little jealous."
"You overpraise me, Suzaku-senpai. This is what we should do."
"Good, good, haha. I'll have to trouble you to go treat your injured companions as well, to prevent any delays to the journey afterward."
This unexpected skirmish encountered by the reinforcement unit—because Konoha's side had discovered the target early, and with the advantage in numbers—did not result in any ninja casualties. There were not even any seriously injured.
There were only a few lightly injured personnel.
However, their unit did not have a professional medical ninja, so Higashino Makoto became the only field medic.
He took out a small scroll from his ninja tool pouch, spread it out on the ground, and formed seals to perform an unsealing technique. With a "bang," a backpack-sized medical kit appeared on the scroll.
A simple non–blood-contract inanimate-object seal was something he naturally knew. This also counted as a type of summoning technique.
His space–time talent was not particularly good, but at least he had some. He just could not, like Tenten in the future, turn himself into a walking warehouse.
Inanimate-object seals occupy extradimensional space. The size of that space is another manifestation of space–time talent. Without this limitation, he—or anyone else in the ninja world—could completely stack quantity to compensate for quality.
After all, scrolls are quite long, and there can be many sealing slots inside them.
After handing the medical kit to Uzuki Yūgao, Higashino Makoto transformed himself into a medical ninja. Yūgao automatically switched roles and became a nurse, while Hayate consciously took on the job of bodyguard.
As for the Hyūga Tokuma squad, they were already hopelessly immersed in the envious, jealous, and resentful gazes of the other genin squads.
Did Aburame Muta not care about such things? Impossible—you just do not understand what it means to be quietly competitive.
Most of the injuries were impacts from ninjutsu and cuts from ninja blades, none of them serious.
Higashino Makoto took disinfectant from Yūgao's hands and carefully wiped the wounds clean. After finishing the cleaning, he used ninjutsu to heal the injuries.
When there are no conditions, treatment is applied directly. That is the usual approach on the battlefield when time is tight. If conditions allow, however, the wound should still be wiped clean and disinfected. Otherwise, invisible foreign matter may remain, and after healing, the original wound will have an itchy sensation for two or three days.
This kind of itch does not affect combat strength; it just makes people a bit uncomfortable.
Thanks to his improved control over the yin–yang balance of his own chakra, the vitality of Higashino Makoto's medical chakra was astonishing, making the treatment speed extremely fast.
Many people quickly returned to normal, and their wounds had no abnormal sensations. One after another, they expressed their gratitude to Higashino Makoto.
When you make a living as a ninja, strength is what matters. If your capability is great enough, others will not look down on you because of your age. On the contrary, they will consider you trustworthy—and when danger comes, there will be more people willing to step in front of you and take the blade than for anyone else.
The last injured person was an elderly ninja whose hair had already begun to turn gray. He was about the same age as the Third Hokage. Moreover, he had an iron pot strapped to his back.
With that getup, there was no mistake—this was the perennial genin, Maruboshi Kosuke.
However, his title as a "perennial genin" was just a label. As for his real strength, any veteran jōnin understood it well. Otherwise, Nara Suzaku would not have let him charge in with the first team.
During the battle, Higashino Makoto had sensed things very clearly from the outer perimeter. This old man's Water Release was both fast and ruthless, beating even Kirigakure ninja who specialized in water into confusion.
"Old sir, you must be very strong. How did you end up injured?"
Maruboshi Kosuke narrowed his eyes and chuckled. "Not strong at all, not strong at all. I'm just a genin. It's just that I'm old now—when I see reckless juniors, I always feel like I can help block a hit for them."
"You're being far too modest. Genin is only a rank; it doesn't represent strength. Otherwise, Suzaku-senpai wouldn't have allowed you to take part in the first wave of combat."
"Oh? Very sharp observation—and your medical ninjutsu is excellent as well. I heard you were also the first to spot the enemy, weren't you? Very good. You really are Konoha's future!"
"Not at all. We still need to learn much more from seniors like you."
"I can't really teach you much. But since your two companions both seem to use swords, I do have some insight in that area. I could teach you a few practical techniques. Young juniors—I hope you can survive every mission you take on."
Higashino Makoto gave Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao a look.
This was an opportunity they absolutely had to seize. The man in front of them was a master-level figure who combined genjutsu and swordsmanship—perfectly aligned with the fighting styles of his two friends' clans, and something that could greatly enrich their skill sets.
As for himself, he could fully take the chance to ask about training in Water Release.
With Higashino Makoto's current level of mastery over Water Release nature transformation, there were actually many techniques he could already develop on his own. Still, exchanging insights with others always revealed knowledge he had overlooked.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---