"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. Please be careful," Kiyohara said respectfully, carefully tucking the scroll into his vest.
If he ran away without this official document, he would be branded a deserter. An orderly retreat was vital; once chaos ensued, friendly casualties would skyrocket.
"Go." Orochimaru waved a pale hand dismissively. With his strength, even if all Seven Ninja Swordsmen descended upon him at once, he would easily find a way to slip away.
"Understood." Kiyohara nodded, immediately signaling Kakashi, Rin, Kurenai, and Genma to fall back.
He didn't worry about the Sannin. Orochimaru was a being who had absolutely maximized his life-saving abilities. On this doomed island, no matter who else died, Orochimaru was virtually unkillable.
The group quickly headed west into the dense forest.
As they departed, a massive surge of chakra erupted behind them. Kiyohara looked over his shoulder. Orochimaru had bitten his thumb, using his blood as a medium to slam his palm into the earth.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
BOOM!
A shockwave of white smoke exploded outward, violently parting the sea fog. A colossal purple serpent materialized in the clearing, its massive body towering high above the ancient trees.
It was Orochimaru's signature summon: Manda.
"Lord Orochimaru's summon?" Genma gasped, nearly dropping his senbon as he looked back at the serpentine behemoth. "It's massive... just looking at it makes my skin crawl."
"Indeed," Kurenai nodded, her ruby eyes wide.
The awe of witnessing a Sannin's true power temporarily dispelled the suffocating gloom that had settled over the squad. In a warzone, keeping a permanently tense mind was the quickest route to combat fatigue and trauma.
As they traversed the forest, Rin Nohara's face grew increasingly pale.
The constant jarring vibrations from jumping through the canopy were aggravating the gash on her back. She had only used a basic Hemostasis Technique to forcibly stop the bleeding during the ambush. It was a hasty patch job.
To heal properly, rigorous Medical Ninjutsu was required. More importantly, the embedded grit and stone fragments from Jōkichi's blade needed to be extracted first. If she simply healed the flesh over the foreign debris, the wound would become severely infected.
Kiyohara noticed her ragged breathing and furrowed brows.
"Let's halt," Kiyohara commanded softly. "We need to recover our chakra, and Rin's wound needs proper treatment."
"Agreed," Kakashi nodded, dropping to the forest floor. He had also noticed Rin's deteriorating condition.
They still had several hours of travel before reaching the western evacuation point. If they didn't normalize their stamina now, they would be sitting ducks in an ambush. The group decided to rest for twenty minutes.
"Rin, let me treat your injury," Kiyohara offered, glancing at the darkening sky. The only light came from the distant, roaring fires of explosive tags on the eastern shore. "If we don't clean it, it will tear open again. It hasn't even been disinfected."
Rin hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Kiyohara."
Kiyohara internally summoned the Radical Spirit, asking him to sweep the immediate perimeter for Mist ninja.
Over the past few hours, Kiyohara had kept the Spirit deployed as a phantom radar. The result was that the Spirit's body was becoming increasingly transparent.
Manifesting outside the mental space, or actively possessing Kiyohara, drastically accelerated the soul's dissipation.
To preserve them, the Spirits had to remain inside their respective Urns.
Inside the Urn, time perception blurred. The Spirits were completely shielded from the outside world's sights, sounds, and smells, entering a state akin to deep sleep or stasis.
'It's the ultimate privacy filter,' Kiyohara had realized after a few experiments. If he desired, he could strictly forbid a Spirit from exiting the Urn. It was a necessary insurance policy, just in case he ever unlocked a "Psychopathic Kiyohara" or a future self with malicious intentions.
"The perimeter is clear," the Radical Spirit reported, returning in a few breaths. His figure was startlingly thin. Without another word, he plunged back into his stone Urn to halt his dissipation.
"Kakashi," Kiyohara turned to the silver-haired Jonin. "Rin's back needs to be exposed for the procedure. It's inconvenient out here in the open. Can you create a temporary partition?"
Kakashi immediately understood. Genma and he were men; it was highly inappropriate for them to linger around while Rin undressed.
Without asking questions, Kakashi rapidly wove signs and slammed his palms against the dirt.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
A thick, smooth wall of rock rose from the ground, isolating Rin and Kiyohara from Kakashi, Kurenai, and Genma. It formed a secure, private alcove.
Kiyohara looked at the plain stone wall.
'Kakashi is really low on chakra,' Kiyohara noted dryly. 'He didn't even have the energy to carve the bulldog heads onto the stone.'
"Rin, sit down. Let me examine the damage," Kiyohara said softly.
"Thank you, Kiyohara-kun," Rin hummed softly, sitting down on a large root with her back turned to him.
Although she knew this was strict medical procedure, the thought of a boy seeing her bare back in the quiet, isolated wilderness caused a heavy blush to creep up her cheeks. She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. It was wartime; there was no room for petty coyness.
She slowly slipped her damaged upper tunic off her shoulders, leaving only her close-fitting bandages wrapped around her chest.
Her smooth, fair back was exposed to the cool night air. The skin was delicate, completely marred by the gruesome, red, and swollen slash stretching diagonally across her shoulder blades. Tiny, sharp particles of gravel were visibly embedded in the torn muscle tissue.
"The wound is stressed, and the debris is deep," Kiyohara said, squatting behind her and inspecting it closely. "The Mystical Palm Technique promotes cell division, but it cannot automatically expel foreign objects. I have to clean it out manually."
He unrolled a small leather surgical kit from his pouch. Inside, neatly arranged, were sterilized tweezers, a scalpel, a small vial of medical alcohol, and clean gauze.
"This is going to hurt," Kiyohara warned gently. "Bear with it."
He picked up the tweezers, meticulously wiping them down with an alcohol-soaked swab. As he leaned in close to begin the extraction, Rin could feel his warm, steady breath gently caressing her bare skin.
Despite her training, her body involuntarily tensed.
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