On the way back, Tenten and Tsukikage Kaza found it hard to calm down.
"Chiba… do you think he'll be all right?"
They were taking a short rest when Tenten asked softly.
"I don't know."
Chiba's talent lay in comprehension, not prophecy—he wasn't some divine seer.
How could he possibly know whether that samurai would live or die?
Still—
"The Kiyoda Clan's plans are doomed. If the Artisan Ninja Village really wanted to rebel, they wouldn't have dragged things out this long."
"You're right, Chiba," Kakashi said approvingly. "Both sides are just being stirred up by a handful of troublemakers. In the end, nothing will come of it."
Neutrality was the natural course for both the Land of Iron and the Land of Artisans.
After three shinobi wars, the ninja world had stabilized. Small countries couldn't rise up with a few fancy weapons. Even if the Land of Artisans and the Land of Iron joined hands—and threw in the Land of Waterfalls—it would still end in annihilation akidnst the great nations.
"Yeah, I get that," Tenten sighed, "but I still can't help worrying about Mr. Yuichi. He's a good samurai."
"Men like him have their own path," Tsukikage Kaza murmured. "Once they set their sights on something, they won't stop until they reach it. We can only wish him luck."
"Like how we each have our own ninja way?" Tenten asked thoughtfully.
Kakashi nodded, smiling slightly. Then he guided them gently, "So tell me, Tenten, Tsukikage Kaza—what's your ninja way?"
"To become a great kunoichi like Lady Tsunade?"
"Tenten," Chiba said while jogging beside her, "that's your goal, not your way. Your ninja way is about what kind of shinobi you want to be."
Simple conversation like this made the monotonous travel easier.
Tenten fell silent, thinking hard.
Tsukikage Kaza, on the other hand, didn't hesitate. "I want to prove that even a kunoichi can become an outstanding master of the blade!"
She'd once envied Tenten for finding her own passion—but with Chiba's reminder, she'd found her own path, too.
Tenten smiled. "I've figured mine out too!"
Chiba had a pretty good guess, so he just smiled and didn't ask.
"Hm?" Kakashi looked over, curious.
"Hehehe~ That's a secret!" Tenten said, sticking out her tongue playfully.
Kakashi squinted at her and sighed. "You brats are getting harder and harder to handle."
Then, with a rare gentleness, he added, "But congratulations. The three of you have finally earned the right to be called true shinobi."
He'd praised them before, but that was right before he'd passed out, so he doubted they'd remembered. This time, he meant it sincerely.
Chiba's performance went without saying—he'd far exceeded expectations. The kid was already qualified to be a chūnin.
But what truly surprised Kakashi was Tenten and Tsukikage Kaza.
Before, they'd relied heavily on Chiba's direction and rarely took initiative in battle. But this time…
Tenten had deployed sealing tags with precision, Chiba had handled the barrier and control, and Tsukikage Kaza's strikes were perfectly timed assassinations.
No verbal coordination, yet perfect synchronization—just what Kakashi had always hoped for in a team.
They'd graduated in his eyes.
If it weren't for timing, he would've suggested they take the Chūnin Exams immediately.
"Qualified to be shinobi…" Tenten and Tsukikage Kaza whispered to themselves.
"That's right," Kakashi said. "No one's perfect. Even Chiba has weaknesses—nature transformation, genjutsu… there are missions he can't handle alone. That's why a team exists."
Chiba listened quietly. He didn't want to break the mood.
Being in a team with two girls already had its own kind of pressure.
He stayed silent—and thought.
The chakra absorption barrier and his earlier discussion with Tenzō had been spontaneous ideas. But thinking it through, the potential uses of that barrier went far beyond sealing techniques.
Take Kakashi, for example. His combat power was top-tier, but his one limitation was chakra.
This barrier could act like a fountain.
Set it up in the rear, and when Kakashi's chakra ran low, he could just return, recharge, and reengage—an absolute game-changer on the battlefield.
The only problem was… they still needed a storage medium.
But just now, an idea had struck Chiba: what if they could make a ninja tool similar to the Infinite Core Armor—not a weapon, but a device that could temporarily store chakra contributed by others?
That might actually work.
He took out pen and paper while running, jotting notes furiously.
And then another thought crossed his mind—
I wonder if Diriku has made his decision yet.
Sealing and barrier techniques had immense room for development—more so than most jutsu. Iron Wall of Seals combined the two disciplines, and that was only scratching the surface.
Then there was the matter of the Sage Chakra's talent…
"There's no way I can handle all this research alone," Chiba thought. "Luckily, Tenten's a genius with ninja tools—and she's interested in them, too."
He glanced at her.
Tenten noticed his gaze and blinked.
Why's Chiba-kun staring at me like that? she wondered, puzzled.
But soon she brushed it off and focused instead on the four ninja tools sealed in her scrolls—the secrets of the Artisan Ninja Village.
When Kakashi and Chiba had asked her earlier about her ninja way, she'd set herself a small personal goal—to unravel the mysteries of those four tools.
And if she could replicate one someday… that'd be even better.
After hours of travel, both Tenten and Tsukikage Kaza were drained. They had to stop to rest and recover with soldier pills.
Once they'd eaten, Chiba pulled out his notebook and explained his idea.
The others fell silent.
A chakra absorption barrier powered through a ninja tool that stored and redirected energy…
It was another stroke of creativity none of them had expected.
Kakashi's mind raced. If such a tool existed, the number of jutsu he could use in battle would skyrocket. The indirect boost to his strength would be enormous.
And more than that—
Who said the stored chakra had to be ordinary chakra?
What if it could store tailed-beast chakra?
His breathing quickened. "Chiba, Tenten, Tsukikage Kaza—don't tell anyone about this yet. I'll report it to the Hokage myself."
He paused, expression turning grave. "This time, the Four Celestial Symbols Men sought their own destruction. But those four ninja tools are still the Artisan Ninja Village's greatest treasures. Unless we have other means, we'll only be allowed to keep them temporarily."
"You mean…"
Kakashi frowned. He'd caught the hidden meaning in Chiba's words.
"Is there any chance," Chiba said slowly, "we might… run into some missing-nin on the way back?"
"Pfft—! Cough, cough!"
Tenten choked on her water, coughing violently.
That—
That sounded an awful lot like robbery!
"It'd be difficult," Kakashi said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Orochimaru's still missing, but he hasn't shown up in years."
Chiba leaned closer, voice dropping to a whisper.
"Sensei… what if we work with Lord kid?"
"!!!"
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