Chapter Thirteen: Secured
Kikyo Mountain was located on the northwestern border of the Land of Fire. It lay close to the borders of the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, separated only by the territories of the Rain Village and the Grass Village, making it a junction of three nations.
Because of its special geographical position, Kikyo Mountain City had been occupied in turn by Sunagakure and Iwagakure during the Third Great Ninja War, with large numbers of civilians abducted.
Konoha's victory in the Battle of Kikyo Mountain City marked the beginning of the end of the Third Great Ninja War.
After the war, the villages around Kikyo Mountain City were still frequently harassed by remnants of enemy ninja forces and rogue ninjas.
As they drew closer to the area around Kikyo Mountain City, Ryuya and his group could clearly feel the desolation—many villages had already been abandoned.
After ten days of travel, Ryuya and the others finally escorted Shennong safely to Kikyo Mountain City.
Along the way, their mission progressed relatively smoothly. Although they encountered several groups of wandering ninjas, all of them chose to retreat upon seeing the Konoha forehead protectors they displayed.
More than a month earlier, after the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, took office, he immediately mobilized a large force to stabilize the Land of Fire, launching large-scale purges against enemy spies, rogue ninjas, and troublemaking wanderers within the country.
This purge was carried out with great intensity. Major ninja clans and the ANBU joined forces, and Konoha cleanup squads were stationed throughout many regions of the Land of Fire.
To reestablish the prestige of the strongest hidden village in the ninja world, Konoha showed no mercy toward spy organizations and rogue ninjas who dared to cause trouble.
After numerous spy networks and rogue ninja hideouts were destroyed, the wandering ninjas within the Land of Fire became far more well-behaved.
During this period, most wandering ninjas would detour when encountering Konoha ninja—after all, if they were mistakenly identified as enemy spies or rogue ninja and executed on the spot, there would be nowhere to argue their case.
Upon entering Kikyo Mountain City, the desolation inside the city exceeded Ryuya's expectations.
Compared to Konoha Village, which had a population of tens of thousands, Kikyo Mountain City was essentially a war fortress. The number of ordinary civilians inside was shockingly small, and more than seventy percent of the people moving about wore Konoha forehead protectors.
These ninjas were all defensive forces stationed in Kikyo Mountain City by the village—and they were also the patients Shennong had come to treat.
During the intense battles earlier, many ninjas in the city had been seriously injured. According to Shennong's estimate, he would need to remain in the city for about half a month, spending most of his time in the hospital treating the wounded.
As a result, Team Thirty-One no longer needed to accompany Shennong at all times, and Ryuya and the others finally gained a few rare days of rest.
With the chance to rest, Ichikawa Shin quickly left the hospital with Yūhi Teru and Sagawa, while Ryuya stayed behind under the pretense of wanting to learn medical techniques.
Ever since discovering Shennong's true identity, Ryuya had shown intense enthusiasm for studying medicine.
Along the journey, whenever they stopped to rest, Ryuya seized every opportunity to ask Shennong questions, occasionally even taking the initiative to flip through the basic medical texts Shennong carried with him.
His diligence left both Sagawa and Yūhi Teru stunned.
After knowing Ryuya for so long, neither of them had ever realized he was so interested in medical studies.
What made things awkward, however, was that Physician Shennong seemed entirely unimpressed by Ryuya's eagerness to learn. Whenever Ryuya asked questions or flipped through his books, Shennong maintained a dark expression the entire time—yet Ryuya acted as if he noticed nothing, continuing to ask questions and read through the books unabated.
Inside the hospital, although Shennong was constantly busy treating severely injured, unconscious ninjas, his attention would still periodically drift toward Ryuya.
Toward this Konoha genin who clung to him like a piece of sticky plaster, Shennong's heart had begun to uncontrollably fill with killing intent.
They were currently inside Kikyo Mountain City, where a large number of Konoha ninjas were stationed. If not for fear of exposing his identity, Shennong might already have killed this brat.
This kid was getting more and more excessive!
At that moment, Ryuya was holding a medical tome in his hands, leaning against a nearby table and reading with great interest.
He flipped through the pages extremely quickly, spending less than one or two minutes on each page.
Sensing something, Ryuya looked up toward Shennong and smiled faintly, then lowered his head again and continued reading, seemingly completely unaware of the killing intent emanating from Shennong.
The book in Ryuya's hands was one of the medical texts Shennong had brought with him.
Judging from the large amount of medical knowledge and symbols recorded in it, it was indeed an ordinary medical tome. However, after reading two such books, Ryuya gradually noticed something strange.
At first, Ryuya had flipped through Shennong's books mainly to show his interest in learning medicine, laying the groundwork for further contact with Shennong—and to try his luck at gaining some insight into medical ninjutsu.
Although Shennong's overall combat strength wasn't particularly outstanding, his achievements in medical ninjutsu were undeniably impressive.
Unexpectedly, as Ryuya continued reading, he truly discovered something hidden within these medical books.
He never imagined that Shennong had already developed the Body Activation Technique at this stage—and had done so boldly enough to hide it in plain sight.
Through the biological chip's information-recording function, Ryuya discovered that the forbidden Body Activation Technique Shennong had researched was recorded in the form of notes scattered across four medical books.
The method was extremely covert. Each forbidden technique was broken into several parts, recorded in different locations across different books.
Viewed separately, each passage appeared to be nothing more than marginal insights related to the current page, making it impossible to link them together.
Moreover, these four medical books were highly academic. Ordinary ninjas would never expend the effort to carefully read them, much less uncover the hidden secret.
Without the biological chip, Ryuya would never have detected anything unusual.
Shennong would never have imagined that something like a biological chip could exist in this world.
That was precisely why Shennong dared to place books containing two forbidden techniques in the open and allow Ryuya to read them freely.
He was absolutely confident that no one in this world could uncover their secrets.
To be honest, Ryuya understood very little of the content himself. During the first read-through, he simply recorded everything into the biological chip's database, including Shennong's markings.
To conceal his true intentions, Ryuya initially recorded the content slowly. It wasn't until the second day after arriving at Kikyo Mountain City that he managed to fully copy two books.
Although Ryuya's own medical knowledge was still shallow, the biological chip directly classified parts of Shennong's notes as unknown ninjutsu.
Perhaps fearing that he himself might forget parts of the research over time, Shennong had left subtle markers in each section—something ordinary people would never notice.
Only after Ryuya had fully recorded all four medical books and perfectly reconstructed the secret technique did he finally confirm it:
This was indeed the Body Activation Secret Technique.
"Unknown ninjutsu information recorded. Please name it."
"Body Activation Secret Technique."
Half an hour later, a pleasant notification sounded in his mind. Ryuya closed the last medical book, lazily stretched both arms, then smiled brightly at Shennong.
"Ah! I finally managed to finish reading all four medical books today!
Uncle Shennong, I'm exhausted. I think I'll head back and rest now!"
"…Mm."
Hearing Ryuya's words, Shennong's movements stiffened slightly. Without lifting his head, he gave a short reply and continued his work.
"Good night, Uncle Shennong!"
Ryuya waved casually, then quickly turned and left.
Only after Ryuya walked out of the room did Shennong finally look up. As he stared at Ryuya's departing figure, the intense killing intent in his eyes could no longer be suppressed.
Outside, as Ryuya walked away, he felt the oppressive killing intent and paused slightly, his expression turning serious.
It seemed Shennong had already begun to suspect him—and had developed murderous intent.
To true powerhouses of the ninja world, Shennong might not amount to much—but dealing with the current Ryuya would be effortless.
That was why, fearing complications, Ryuya had rushed the information-recording process and clung to Shennong for so long.
Ryuya believed that within Kikyo Mountain City, even if Shennong suspected him, he wouldn't dare make a move.
Judging by the outcome, Ryuya had gambled correctly.
Thinking this, a faint smile curved at the corner of Ryuya's lips.
Without stopping, he quickly returned to his quarters and began studying the Body Activation Secret Technique.
From its description, the technique was a secret art that used chakra to stimulate and activate the body's cells, thereby enhancing physical attributes and increasing chakra extraction efficiency.
"Optimize Body Activation Secret Technique."
"Insufficient database information. Unable to optimize."
Ryuya attempted to optimize the technique, but failed.
Over the next few days, Ryuya no longer tempted fate by going to the hospital to provoke Shennong.
Instead, he spent time with Sagawa and Yūhi Teru. The three members of Team Thirty-One began enjoying a rare period of leisurely life in Kikyo Mountain City.
Wandering around together. Eating together. Living carefree, idle days.
As for their squad leader, Ichikawa Shin—according to Sagawa and Teru, he had already disappeared several days earlier.
As for the newly acquired Body Activation Secret Technique, Ryuya chose not to practice or further experiment with it for the time being.
With the creator of the forbidden technique still nearby, Ryuya wasn't bold enough to openly train it under Shennong's nose.
Moreover, given his current knowledge base, his understanding of medical ninjutsu was still insufficient. He would need to return to the village and spend time studying before attempting actual cultivation.
This mission had been an enormous gain for Ryuya.
The only regret was that Shennong did not yet seem to have developed the Body Regeneration Secret Technique.
That forbidden technique—similar in function to Tsunade's S-rank Creation Rebirth—was something Ryuya deeply coveted.
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