After being grilled by the Third Hokage for quite some time, Ui was finally liberated.
Having learned the full extent of Ui's actions, Hiruzen was more certain than ever that the Hidden Sand had run out of options. It wasn't that Ui's sabotage had dealt a fatal blow on its own; rather, for a village already reeling from a crushing defeat on the front lines, the destruction of its infrastructure was the final, agonizing straw.
In the cold math of war, if the damage the Hokage dealt to the Sand's main force was a 99, Ui's raid on the village was only a 1. But that 1 was the most visible, most psychological point of all—it was the point that pushed their losses from double digits into triple.
Most people have a breaking point at 99. Once the counter hits 100, they stop resisting and choose to compromise. The same applies to nations. The Sand had reached its limit.
Having won the decisive battle, Konoha did not continue its push into the heart of the Land of Wind. Instead, they pulled back a short distance, establishing a fortified camp just behind the day's battlefield.
Through this move, Hiruzen was conducting a silent dialogue with the Kazekage: Konoha has no interest in a full-scale invasion, hence our withdrawal. However, this restraint is conditional. The Sand must show the proper attitude—submission and surrender. If not, the Leaf's war machine is still within your borders, ready to strike again.
As the battlefield was cleared, the combat units rotated out. Logistics personnel had already been busy, and by the time the main force returned, rows of rest tents and a field hospital were already standing.
The medical camp was a hive of activity. Throughout the battle, critically wounded shinobi had been ferried back for urgent care. Now that the dust had settled, the triage shifted to those with minor injuries.
The unlucky Ui was among them. His "human projectile" landing earlier had caused several of his deeper wounds to reopen. While it wasn't life-threatening, the white bandages beneath his clothes were beginning to bloom with fresh red stains.
Since he wasn't a priority case, he stood patiently in line. He wouldn't dream of bothering a master like Tsunade for a few split stitches.
After about thirty minutes of waiting, he finally stepped into a treatment tent.
"Eh? Rin? What are you doing here?"
Ui blinked as he saw Nohara Rin, dressed in her medical whites, busy over a patient. That patient happened to be a shirtless Kakashi. Judging by the blood-soaked bandages on the floor and the pale cast of Kakashi's face, he had taken a serious beating.
For the first time, Ui saw what Kakashi actually looked like without the mask. Even exposed, Kakashi possessed a pair of "dead-fish eyes" that looked far too weary for someone his age.
"Ui? Just a moment, you're next."
"Take your time with Kakashi," Ui said, waving a hand. "I'm fine. I didn't actually have to trade blows with anyone today." He was content to let Rin focus on her favorite teammate for a while.
Kakashi had indeed gone through the wringer. Nominally, he was in the second wave of the assault—but since the "first wave" consisted solely of the Third Hokage and Minato Namikaze, the second wave was effectively the front line.
His body was a map of cuts and bruises, no less severe than those of the veteran shinobi. Ui had watched him from above; Kakashi's short blade was lethal, and his fighting spirit was terrifying. Ui thought he was ruthless, but in close-quarters combat, Kakashi seemed to exist on a different level.
To Ui, Kakashi felt more like a "pure" ninja. The tragedy of his father, the White Fang, had left a deep scar on his psyche. He was currently striving to extinguish his own emotions, molding himself into a perfect, cold tool for the mission.
But beyond the enemy's blades, Kakashi's greatest injury was self-inflicted.
Observing him closely, Ui noticed Kakashi's right hand was trembling—a faint, rhythmic shudder. The limb looked nearly catatonic. The skin of his forearm and palm showed signs of necrosis and strange, cord-like ridges.
The diagnosis was simple: Kakashi had used an incomplete Chidori (or Raikiri), and he had used it repeatedly. His body simply couldn't withstand the intensity of the lightning chakra.
At this age, Kakashi had already mastered nature transformations for Lightning, Water, and Earth—a true prodigy. Ui possessed Fire and Lightning, but those were innate; for any other element, he had to grind from zero just like anyone else.
The damage to Kakashi's arm could only be stabilized with medical ninjutsu; the rest would have to wait for natural healing. It was an internal injury that medicine alone couldn't fix overnight.
Once Kakashi was patched up, it was Ui's turn. Compared to the prodigy's shredded arm, Ui was an easy fix. Rin cleaned his wounds, applied fresh ointment, and re-wrapped his bandages.
Stepping out of the tent, Ui found Kakashi sitting by a campfire nearby.
Ui could sense Rin's lingering concern for him, yet Kakashi remained utterly indifferent. For the boy in front of him, the mission was the only thing that mattered.
This lack of emotional awareness baffled Ui.
If a kunoichi stays up into the night, giving her youth without regret, she's clearly into you...
Don't you understand such a simple concept? You're going to be single for sixty years at this rate.