Some things came from experience. Some came from bloodline. And some were born from a collision of talent and luck.
"I only got two last wishes," the rogue-nin version of Kiyohara said. "I had just reached jōnin level, and then I carelessly stepped on an explosive-tag trap and died."
"I see..."
Kiyohara was beginning to understand.
The so-called Book of Last Words seemed to create a timeline of possibilities. If one version of him died, then the remains of that future self would somehow be packaged up and delivered to another possible version of Kiyohara.
Only now did he understand why Rogue-Nin Kiyohara had been so eager from the very beginning, explaining everything so patiently.
Even cooperation between your future self and your present self had to be built on mutual benefit.
That future self wanted him to fulfill a dying wish.
The moment that thought clicked into place, Kiyohara's heart began to pound.
If one future version of himself could double his talent, then what about two? Three? Ten?
In theory, if he kept accumulating like this, then one day he might really be able to smash an Ōtsutsuki to pieces with three punches.
Now that would be what it meant to be a ninja.
After all, even opening the Gate of Death in the Eight Gates only granted power that could at best be described as dozens of times beyond a Kage. But his path... his path might have no ceiling at all.
"So what's your last wish?" Kiyohara asked.
"Hm. There are two." Rogue-Nin Kiyohara lifted two fingers. "The first is simple. Go do what you want to do right now."
That answer left Kiyohara stunned.
What he wanted to do?
Wasn't that obvious?
Of course he wanted to get stronger. He wanted power that went beyond ordinary people, power that would let him survive. And once a man had power beyond the ordinary, wasn't becoming extraordinary only natural?
"First, I definitely want to get stronger," Kiyohara said seriously. "Second, I want to go to Ichiraku Ramen and eat something right now."
Sometimes a person needed something as simple as going down to the dock for a serving of fries. Comfort mattered.
"Ichiraku Ramen..." Rogue-Nin Kiyohara's voice turned faintly wistful. "Now that you mention it, it's been a long time since I last had it."
He wanted to see what his younger self would choose.
As he got older, his life had started to resemble the protagonist of some novel. Unfortunately, the script had clearly been written by Yu Hua.
A missing-nin had no legitimate way to take missions, and most of the time, hunger followed like a shadow. If he tried to rob the rich and help the poor, some proper ninja would show up and put him down before he got far.
At his lowest point, he had nearly sold his own blood just to stay alive.
"You're a jōnin and you still can't afford ramen?" Kiyohara asked, baffled.
"It's not about money. It's about the taste," Rogue-Nin Kiyohara said, shaking his head. "Once I defected, I couldn't even step foot inside Konoha anymore."
Konoha was full of hidden monsters. It wasn't the sort of place a civilian-born jōnin like him could enter and leave whenever he pleased.
"I get it."
Kiyohara nodded.
A bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost only a few dozen ryō. Cheap enough. Completely manageable.
"And your second wish?"
As he looked at the spirit of Rogue-Nin Kiyohara, Kiyohara noticed how much dimmer it had become compared to when it first appeared. It made him wonder how much longer the other him could remain like this.
"Become a chūnin," the rogue-nin said. "A legal one."
He glanced at Kiyohara and let out a helpless laugh, then slowly shook his head.
"Originally, I wanted to ask for more. Jōnin, maybe. But I clearly don't have that much time left. I'm not really in a soul state right now. I'm more like a message that was left behind. When the time comes, I'll just dissipate."
Otherwise, he might already have been thinking about finding some kind of vessel and trying to survive.
The fact that he had never officially become a jōnin before defecting remained a thorn in his heart to this day.
Right now, he possessed the strength of one.
But not the title.
"Alright," Kiyohara said.
He could also feel that time was short, so he immediately made for Ichiraku Ramen.
"Uncle! One deluxe ramen, extra everything!"
"Eh? Kiyohara, you're back this early today?"
Teuchi looked up with a smile, his hands already moving as he prepared the noodles.
He had watched Kiyohara grow up. The boy had lost his parents young, but he had always been sensible and self-reliant. Even as a child, he knew how to take care of himself.
"Don't I just have one of those faces that makes older men want to spoil me?" Kiyohara shot back with a grin.
As soon as the bowl was set down, he clasped his hands and said, "Thanks for the meal," before digging in.
Meanwhile, the spirit of Rogue-Nin Kiyohara floated out of the urn in his mind and hovered silently in the air, watching him eat, watching the shop, watching the village he could no longer return to.
In his current state, only Kiyohara could see him, so there was no risk of causing any unnecessary commotion.
Kiyohara ate fast.
He polished off the noodles in no time, then lifted the bowl and drank the broth clean in one go.
The soul of ramen was in the soup.
That was the essence.
The instant the first wish was fulfilled, Kiyohara saw a ball of light drift out of Rogue-Nin Kiyohara's body and merge straight into his own.
A strange and immediate sensation spread through him.
It felt as though a piece of that future self had fused with him.
Talent.
That was the first word that came to mind.
Kiyohara suddenly found that his understanding of Wind Release and Lightning Release had deepened. Things that had seemed obscure before now looked clear and orderly, as if someone had wiped the fog from a window.
It was like a high school student suddenly being handed elementary school problems.
Success felt almost inevitable.
And along with that came a ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
Kiyohara had never learned this technique before, but now the knowledge surged into his mind in a single wave, so full and forceful that it made his head feel swollen.
"Uncle, here's the money."
After tossing the payment onto the counter, Kiyohara hurried back to the shabby old house where he lived on the south side of the village.
The yard was small and worn. The walls were old. It looked exactly like the kind of place a low-level orphan ninja would live in.
He stood in the courtyard and quickly formed the three hand seals—Dog, Horse, Bird—guiding chakra through the pathways in his body.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The next second, the breath he exhaled, infused with Wind chakra, transformed into a fierce gale. It struck the small stone post in the courtyard and sent it flying with a bang, smashing it into the wall hard enough that it nearly blasted out a crater.
"That kind of power..."
Kiyohara felt the sudden drop in chakra inside his body and found himself more satisfied than alarmed.
The destructive force of ninjutsu depended on two things: the amount of chakra poured into it, and the user's understanding of the technique. In the hands of a truly capable ninja, Great Breakthrough could even flatten an entire forest.
"The only problem is the consumption."
He let out a slow breath.
For ordinary ninja, this was one obstacle that could never be avoided.
They simply had too little chakra.
But as the light left behind by Rogue-Nin Kiyohara continued to merge into him, Kiyohara could feel his physical and spiritual energy rising as well, and with it came a corresponding increase in chakra.
"Looks like you inherited part of my talent, along with a ninjutsu," Rogue-Nin Kiyohara said.
In that particular future timeline, he had actually been rather unlucky. The two wills he had inherited had contained nothing but a pair of E-rank techniques and little else.
"What are your chakra natures?" Kiyohara asked.
The future held endless possibilities. He had no idea whether his other future selves would share the same elemental affinities.
"Wind and Lightning," the rogue-nin answered.
"Mine too."
Kiyohara nodded slowly.
It looked as if the future version that had become a rogue ninja hadn't actually diverged all that much from his current self in terms of innate aptitude.
That was useful information.
He could ask more about the future later. Chakra nature was a fundamental trait—something that shouldn't change no matter how the timeline branched—so there was a decent chance any future Kiyohara might still leave behind compatible ninjutsu.
"If I want to become a chūnin, then first I need to survive the Kannabi Bridge mission..."
Kiyohara rubbed his chin.
That was the real problem.
A very big one.
"Don't be afraid," Rogue-Nin Kiyohara said. "When the critical moment comes, I'll make my move."
Kiyohara paused. "You can do that?"
"For a short period of time, I can possess you and fight through your body," Rogue-Nin Kiyohara explained. "But if I do, I'll dissipate faster."
That sentence made Kiyohara's eyes narrow.
So there was still a hidden trump card.
No wonder this future self had remained so calm after learning about Kannabi Bridge.
If a jōnin-level version of himself could temporarily possess him at the right moment, then even though he himself was only a low-ranking ninja, he might still have a chance to claw his way through this death sentence.
Not a guarantee.
But a chance.
And on a battlefield like Kannabi Bridge, sometimes a chance was all anyone had.
Kiyohara looked at the fading figure in front of him, and for the first time since receiving that mission order, the pressure crushing his chest loosened just a little.
He was still afraid.
Of course he was afraid.
That was Kannabi Bridge. A battlefield where legends were made, where geniuses bled, where one wrong step could send even monsters to their graves.
Someone like him should have been nothing more than expendable filler, the kind of nameless ninja used to plug the holes between real combatants.
But now things were different.
He had seen a possible future.
He had inherited talent.
And he had learned that even if he wasn't strong enough yet, there might still be another version of himself willing to fight for him when it truly mattered.
Kiyohara slowly lowered his hands and stared at the broken stone post embedded in the wall.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.
A real offensive ninjutsu.
For a low-level ninja like him, this wasn't just another technique. It was proof that the Book of Last Words was real. Proof that his future could be changed.
Proof that maybe—just maybe—he didn't have to die at Kannabi Bridge after all.
He lifted his head and looked toward the direction of the front lines, toward the battlefield that had once seemed like a coffin with his name already carved into it.
Now, at last, the coffin lid didn't feel quite so tightly sealed.
If the critical moment came...
Then he would let the future version of himself make his move.