As the support from Kiyohara's massage sank in, Tsunade let out the occasional soft hum.
After all, with the Sharingan, Kiyohara could observe every subtle shift in her muscles.
He could adjust his pressure at any moment.
The Sharingan really was absurdly versatile.
At this point, Kiyohara could probably become Konoha's number one massage specialist if he wanted to.
As his hands moved, though, Kiyohara couldn't help feeling that the view in front of him looked more and more like two giant bowls turned upside down.
You know, like that song about the noodles being long and wide, and the bowl being round and big…
For some reason, an out-of-print song popped into his head.
"What are you looking at?"
Tsunade suddenly asked.
"Nothing."
Kiyohara shook his head.
Before long, once he finished, Tsunade stretched lazily.
She had to admit, Kiyohara's massage skills were pretty good.
That was excellent.
On top of her personal chef, she had now gained a personal massage therapist too.
…
At the border of the Land of Fire.
By the time Pakura arrived, dawn was just breaking.
Her injuries had improved somewhat.
But when she moved, pain still lingered.
That day, she finally reached the orphanage.
It stood near Kikyo Mountain, once one of the main battlefields between Konoha and Sunagakure.
So the area wasn't unfamiliar to Pakura.
She stood outside the iron gate of the orphanage, her finger resting on the bell, but she didn't press it right away.
There was still a trace of doubt in her brown eyes.
After all, simply trusting Kiyohara like this still felt unreal.
Could she really trust that Uchiha brat?
What if this was just another trap?
But set against that was her hatred for Sunagakure's higher-ups and for Rasa.
Pakura took a deep breath.
In the end, she rang the bell.
As long as it let her take revenge, she didn't care what Kiyohara's real intentions were.
A moment later, footsteps came from inside.
The one who opened the door was a blonde woman dressed in a thick black nun's habit that hid her full figure completely.
Round glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and her eyes fixed on Pakura.
It was Nono Yakushi.
The moment she saw Pakura, years of ninja instinct made Nono immediately tense in caution.
Children at the orphanage had been trafficked before, and because of that, Nono had become extremely vigilant.
"Pakura of the Scorch Release… from Sunagakure?"
Even though she had stepped away from the shinobi world, Nono still identified Pakura immediately.
She had judged it from Pakura's appearance, combined with some of the intelligence she still kept track of.
Pakura gave a slight nod.
She hadn't disguised her appearance. Then she took out the note Kiyohara had given her and held it out.
Nono did not accept it immediately. Only after deciding there was no danger did she take it and unfold it.
The handwriting was Kiyohara's.
The orphanage corresponded with him regularly, so Nono could recognize his writing.
The gist of the note was that Nono should take Pakura in, let her recover there temporarily, and wait for further arrangements from Kiyohara.
At the bottom was a special mark—the signal code Kiyohara and Nono had agreed upon beforehand.
Nono's gaze stayed on the note for several seconds. When she looked up again, most of the caution in her eyes had already faded.
"Come in."
She stepped aside, her voice softening.
If Kiyohara had sent Pakura here, then things were simple.
After all, Kiyohara was now unquestionably the orphanage's number one financial backer.
The money he gave them far exceeded the pitiful subsidy Konoha provided.
To put it bluntly, if the orphanage lost Kiyohara's support, Nono would probably have to go right back into the underworld the next day, return to Root, and take up her old line of work again just to make ends meet.
Pakura walked into the orphanage.
The courtyard wasn't large, but it was very well kept. A few children were cleaning and peeking curiously in her direction.
"Who's that?"
Urushi, wearing his hat, stared curiously at the unfamiliar woman the director had brought back.
After a moment, he shook his head.
Compared to this strange woman, he was actually much more curious about Kabuto Yakushi.
He knew Kabuto had been taken to Konoha by Kiyohara and entered the Ninja Academy for training.
So what Urushi really wanted to know was how many actual ninja skills Kabuto had learned by now.
While Urushi was lost in thought, Nono had already brought Pakura upstairs.
"Your injuries aren't too serious, are they?"
Nono asked.
Since Kiyohara had specifically said Pakura came here to recover, her wounds must have been severe.
"Nothing life-threatening. I just need time to recuperate."
Pakura shook her head.
"You're one of Kiyohara's subordinates? Why are you outside Konoha?"
Pakura was curious about that.
Kiyohara was a Konoha shinobi, so how did he have people working for him outside the village?
Nono adjusted her glasses but didn't answer directly.
"You can ask those questions after you've healed. Right now, what you need is a proper examination so I can tell whether your injuries have gotten worse."
She paused, then added,
"You're safe here. At least until Kiyohara returns, no one will know where you are."
Pakura fell silent.
Safe?
That word had become too unfamiliar to her.
Only a few days ago, she had believed she was in the safest place possible—inside her own village, among her own comrades.
And how had that turned out?
She closed her eyes. Once again, the grinning face of the Kirigakure shinobi surfaced in her mind, along with that sentence that cut straight through her heart:
"This was personally chosen by your Kazekage."
The moment she thought of it, anger surged again.
Damn them.
Pakura rarely cursed, but even in her own head she couldn't help insulting those bastards.
She was just that furious.
"…Take me to the medical room."
Pakura said.
Nono led her into one of the rooms.
This was part of the private laboratory and medical facility Kiyohara had funded and placed under her management.
The smell of disinfectant hit Pakura the moment she entered.
She removed her damaged top, exposing her entire back.
When Nono saw the crisscrossing wounds there, her brows drew tightly together.
It was obvious Pakura had been ambushed.
She hadn't even had time to activate chakra properly before taking those hits directly.
The flesh itself had healed decently, but a good number of internal chakra pathways had almost certainly been torn.
Especially on the upper left side of her back near the heart—that was one of the densest and most important points in the body's chakra network.
"Lie down."
Nono put on gloves and began preparing medical instruments.
Kiyohara had handled the initial treatment well. All she needed to determine now was whether Pakura's chakra pathways had begun healing in the wrong direction.
As she worked, she kept giving instructions.
"You need at least two weeks of rest. During that time, you cannot use too much chakra, or the pathway system will tear open again."
Nono said.
The chakra pathway system was an organ everyone had.
It was distributed through every cell, even smaller than mitochondria.
That was why the human body could refine physical energy and then route chakra through those pathways.
Pakura lay face-down on the bed, her face buried in the pillow, and nodded.
Even though she burned with the urge for revenge and desperately wanted to train and accumulate the strength to carry it out, everything depended on healing her body first.
After that, Nono began applying medical techniques specifically targeted at the chakra pathway system.
Green medical chakra flowed from her palm, seeping into the wound and stimulating the cells to regenerate.
The process hurt badly, but Pakura didn't let out even a single groan.
Stubborn woman, Nono thought.
The treatment lasted almost an hour.
When it was done, Nono rebandaged her.
"All right."
She removed her gloves.
"I'll show you your room. You need rest. In a little while, I'll have the kitchen send up something to help replenish your blood."
Pakura sat up and put on the clean clothes Nono had prepared for her.
They turned out to be—of all things—a black nun's habit too.
"That's the only thing here suitable for an adult woman."
Nono said apologetically.
Most of the children in the orphanage were still very young. Once they got older, they would leave.
And since Nono had only become the orphanage director a few years ago after leaving Konoha, there hadn't been enough time yet to raise many children to the point where they could live independently.
"Thank you."
Pakura didn't really care about trivial things like that, so she accepted the black habit and put it on.
Fortunately, her lace undergarments hadn't been damaged, so all she had to do was throw the outer garment over them.
Once dressed in the black habit, Pakura's overall bearing softened a little.
Nono said,
"If you want to thank someone, thank Kiyohara-kun. I'm only doing what he asked."
Her deeper affection was for children.
Pakura was obviously well past that age.
If not for Kiyohara's instructions, Nono doubted she would ever have dealt with Pakura at all.
Then Nono brought Pakura to a south-facing room.
It wasn't large, but it was bright and tidy, with a bed, desk, and chairs all in place. Through the window, the distant mountains could be seen.
"This is usually where we keep children under observation in isolation. It happens to be empty right now."
Nono said.
"Stay here for now. If you need anything, let me know."
Pakura walked to the window and stared out.
Morning light fell across her pale, beautiful face.
"Miss Nono."
She spoke suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Kiyohara… can he really give me power?"
Pakura wanted to test whether Kiyohara's other subordinates had that same curse mark power.
Nono was silent for a moment.
"I don't know exactly what Kiyohara-kun promised you."
She answered slowly.
"But from what I know of him, he doesn't make empty promises. If he said it, then he has confidence he can do it."
Pakura turned around, her brown eyes locking onto Nono.
"And you? Why are you willing to help him with all this? Taking in a missing-nin like me can't be without risk."
"A missing-nin?"
Nono raised a brow slightly.
So Sunagakure's great hero had become a missing-nin?
What kind of explosive secret was that?
For a moment, the old spy instincts nearly kicked in and she almost started fishing for more information.
But she suppressed the urge and simply smiled.
"It's nothing."
She said.
"If Kiyohara says it, then we do it."
Even if it meant sheltering one of Konoha's own missing-nin, so what?
Someone from another village mattered even less.
Pakura found that a little surprising. This woman obeyed Kiyohara to an almost complete degree.
Seems like Kiyohara really does know how to manage people.
That realization reassured her somewhat.
The more capable and manipulative Kiyohara was, the greater the benefit to her.
When he had been her enemy, that pressure had been suffocating.
Now that they were on the same side, that same pressure somehow felt reassuring.
…
Several days later, Kiyohara finally returned to Konoha together with a Tsunade who clearly didn't want to leave.
On the way back, he had placed a large number of Flying Thunder God kunai.
Some at places Tsunade knew about, and some at places she didn't.
In any case, he used up every Flying Thunder God kunai he had on him.
Throughout the Land of Wind, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Fire on the return journey, he left behind no shortage of markers.
I need to make more Flying Thunder God kunai, Kiyohara thought.
In truth, Flying Thunder God kunai weren't difficult to make.
The only difference was that these specially made kunai used lighter materials, so they flew faster through the air.
As for the Flying Thunder God formula itself, it could be applied with a sealing tag containing the formula, or directly carved into the weapon.
That part mainly consumed mental energy.
Even Minato Namikaze needed to spend days of concentration to make a single Flying Thunder God kunai.
But for Kiyohara, that was practically no barrier at all.
If there was one thing he had in endless supply, it was spirit-related power.
"So we're back again."
Tsunade sighed lightly.
Every time she arrived at a casino, it felt like coming home.
But returning to Konoha somehow felt like going back to work.
Because once they were back in Konoha, missions started appearing every few days again.
After lying low for so many years, Tsunade dearly missed the old days of doing absolutely nothing.
And once Kiyohara had moved into her house, that easy life had only become more comfortable.
"Let's report to the Hokage first."
Kiyohara said.
Then he took hold of Tsunade's hand and led her toward the Hokage Building while she was still looking vaguely out of it.
Sometimes he felt like he was the older one between the two of them.
Tsunade froze slightly at the feel of Kiyohara taking her hand.
But she didn't say anything.
After all, the age difference between them was huge.
Tsunade was honestly afraid people would start saying she was robbing the cradle.
"So Kiyohara and Tsunade-sama are back too."
From a distance, Minato Namikaze watched the two of them heading toward the Hokage Building and thought that this teacher-student relationship really was a good one.
"Then again, Kiyohara probably just gets along with a lot of people."
Minato thought that too.
After all, even his own student, Hatake Kakashi—who was about as lonely and withdrawn as they came—was very close to Kiyohara.
"What are you thinking about, Minato?"
Kushina asked curiously from beside him.
"I was just thinking… if Kiyohara ever decided to run for Hokage too, I'd be under a lot of pressure."
Minato said honestly.
In his eyes, the most important thing about becoming Hokage was winning the recognition of others.
And beyond that, Kiyohara's strength and character were both outstanding.
Well, the one flaw he had was his habit of looting corpses.
Any enemy he defeated got picked clean without exception, and he always carried a huge number of sealing scrolls on him.
On the rare occasions when Minato got to do missions with him, he sometimes felt like he was participating in war logistics.
Kiyohara would fight, loot, and withdraw—an entire system all by himself.
"That can't be true. Kiyohara's so much younger than you."
Kushina said.
"Mm. I guess my biggest advantage really is just being older."
Minato said humbly.
…
At the Hokage Building—
"Well done."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked over the report Tsunade had submitted and seemed very pleased.
That satisfaction was enough that the scolding he had originally wanted to give Tsunade for taking so long to come back to the village never made it out of his mouth.
When a student was excellent, a teacher didn't mind if they played games.
The real problem was the kind who played games and still got bad grades.
Of course, if he had to compare, Orochimaru was more like the star student who had simply transferred schools entirely.
"I think so too."
Tsunade grinned.
Then she began rubbing her hands together like a fly, already looking hopeful.
"Old man, no extra reward?"
Hearing that, Hiruzen found himself speechless for a moment.
Rewards. Rewards.
This student of his had truly fallen all the way into the eyes of money.
Exactly who had she picked up this greedy, gambling-loving disposition from?
…Hashirama-sama?
Well then, that explained it.
Hiruzen felt instantly more at ease.
"I'll award you the pay for an S-rank mission."
Hiruzen said.
"Oh, right. I heard that while in Sunagakure, Kiyohara, you came into contact with some of their unique medical systems?"
Hiruzen asked curiously.
"Mm. I learned a little."
Kiyohara said.
What the Sand shinobi hadn't expected was that Kiyohara had basically learned one technique from every person he met there, quietly plucking a good amount of value out of the trip.
"That's excellent."
Hiruzen said.
"Kiyohara, when you have time, you should teach some of Konoha's medical ninja what you learned."
Tsunade's build had gone a bit off in terms of pure research.
But that was fine. Konoha still had Kiyohara—a perfect account to invest in.
"I understand, Hokage-sama."
Seeing the expectation in Hiruzen's eyes, Kiyohara nodded slowly.
Teaching the other medical ninja wasn't really a problem.
The development of ninjutsu would never be something driven by only one person.
It required collective wisdom—many people thinking together.
The Water Release medical ninjutsu Kiyohara had learned was only relatively basic.
But if he planted that seed in Konoha, then by next year some especially talented medical ninja might create even more related medical techniques—C-rank, B-rank, maybe even A-rank.
At that point, all Kiyohara would need to do was copy them one by one and save himself a massive amount of time.
He had a lot of faith in Rin Nohara in particular. He estimated she would probably create quite a few techniques of her own.
By the time Kiyohara and Tsunade left the Hokage Building, they had already collected their rewards and returned home.
The next day, Kiyohara intended to go train at Training Ground Three.
There, he ran into Kakashi.
Seeing that Kiyohara was back, Kakashi invited him to spar.
Kiyohara agreed at once.
Kakashi summoned Ganmaru, the silver-gray little fish that had already grown quite a bit.
Once infused with chakra, Ganmaru transformed into a straight-edged short blade about thirty centimeters long.
Kakashi gave it a few test swings, and the movements looked much more natural than before.
Clearly, while Kiyohara had been away, Kakashi had spent a lot of time building up his coordination with Ganmaru.
"How's the blade adapting to you?"
Kiyohara asked.
"Feels very natural."
Kakashi flicked the sword in a quick flourish.
"I feel like I've found the old feeling I had when using sword techniques."
Kakashi said, looking at the blade.
"That's good."
Kiyohara also summoned Samehada.
Ever since Kushina had helped him seal away the part of Samehada tied to Kirigakure's summoning contract, it was now bound only to Kiyohara.
The moment Samehada appeared, it noticed Ganmaru and seemed to recognize it as one of its own clones.
"Shall we begin?"
"Let's."
The instant the words fell, both of them moved at once.
Clang!
A streak of pale white light flashed along Kakashi's blade.
It was none other than the swordsmanship style left behind by Sakumo Hatake.
~~~
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