Kiyohara put away his kunai and extended his hand to Obito, who was sprawled on the ground, and said:
“Looks like I win.”
Kiyohara’s tone was calm.
Obito had the blood of the Uchiha clan flowing through him, and he too had his own urn of ashes.
Everyone had a bright future ahead.
It was just that he was a step ahead for now; in the future, he might be several steps further ahead.
As long as he rolled a powerful future, Kiyohara could complete his last wishes and take off.
Of course, the more powerful the future, the harder it might be to fulfill those last wishes.
Obito lay on the ground, looking at Kiyohara’s outstretched hand, then glancing at Rin beside him, her face full of concern, and his own face flushed red in an instant.
This was the shame of the Uchiha!
Luckily, Obito had long grown used to being the dead last, having become accustomed to the taste of losing to others at the Ninja Academy.
The first time he took the Chunin Exams, he had even lost to Might Guy.
In the end, Obito managed to give himself some mental consolation, grudgingly grabbing Kiyohara’s hand and pulling himself up, muttering under his breath:
“…Damn it, next time I’ll definitely win!”
Minato Namikaze watched Kiyohara, the appreciation in his eyes growing even stronger.
He smiled warmly and said:
“Truly brilliant tactics and shurikenjutsu, Kiyohara.
Your combat ability far exceeds that of an ordinary Genin.”
Speaking of this, Minato Namikaze was also a little curious as to why Kiyohara hadn’t taken the Chunin Exams.
“With your strength, you should pass the Chunin Exams without any trouble.”
“I’ve been busy training all this time, so I never had the chance to take them.”
“I see.”
Minato Namikaze nodded.
But now was wartime, and promotion to Chunin didn’t necessarily have to follow the peacetime procedures.
If one performed well, it wasn’t impossible to be granted early participation in the Chunin selection.
Otherwise, one would have to wait for the fixed annual examination period.
“Kiyohara, if this mission succeeds, I will be your recommending Jonin for your Chunin application.”
Minato Namikaze said.
As the Jonin leading the team, he was fully aware of how difficult this mission was.
Looking at his students, he felt a twinge of guilt in his heart.
This wasn’t a mission they should be carrying out.
But Konoha at this moment had no other choice.
The situation on the front lines was already extremely dangerous—Konoha stood at a critical moment of life and death.
If they succeeded in cutting off Iwagakure’s supply lines this time, it would grant a tremendous advantage to the village in its operations against Iwagakure.
Precisely because Iwagakure also believed it impossible for anyone to break through, this mission had to be assigned to an ordinary squad.
If an overly powerful shinobi went, they would inevitably be detected by Iwagakure’s scouting shinobi, who would then dispatch reinforcements.
“Yes.”
Kiyohara nodded in acknowledgment.
After the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, if he became a Chunin, his strength would likely surge dramatically.
In the battles to come, his ability to stay alive would increase considerably.
As long as he wasn’t killed, Kiyohara could continue to gain the help of his other selves who had died across different timelines.
Snowballing from there, he would be able to face the crises ahead with far more composure.
The Nine-Tails’ attack on Konoha, the Konoha Crush, Pain’s assault on the village, the Otsutsuki invasion, and so on.
At any of these junctures, if his strength was lacking, they would become insurmountable thresholds.
Soon after, Minato Namikaze took his leave first.
The mission was set to depart three days later, in the afternoon.
He was busy every day, with many matters to handle.
After Minato Namikaze left, Kakashi walked over to Kiyohara.
“You’re quite skilled.
Looks like you won’t be a liability on this mission.”
Kakashi said flatly.
Ever since his father’s death, he only cared about one thing.
That was following the shinobi rules—missions must be completed.
A shinobi who can’t complete missions is worthless.
Given the strength Kiyohara had just displayed, he wouldn’t hold the team back or lower the chances of mission success.
“Hm.”
Kiyohara nodded.
The Kakashi of right now was in his obsessed era—talking more wouldn’t accomplish anything.
Experience teaches a person in a single lesson.
The Kannabi Bridge incident would also become a turning point that changed Kakashi.
But in the original story, it was only a faint dawn before falling into darkness, because after he personally killed Rin, he became so bereft of any will to live that he contemplated suicide.
Honestly, if Kakashi had been named Uchiha Kakashi instead of Kakashi Hatake, he could’ve awakened his very own Mangekyo.
Not only would he have avoided kidney failure, he’d have climbed to a whole new level.
“Kakashi, want to train together?”
Rin Nohara asked.
Shinobi can’t afford to slack off—they must keep training to keep their strength from declining.
Once you get used to comfort, even a small decline while carrying out a mission could get you killed.
“No need.”
Kakashi was a man of few words.
He planned to train on his own—he’d recently succeeded in developing a particularly powerful jutsu.
He just wanted to refine it a bit before it was complete.
“I remember Kakashi became a Jonin the day before the mission.”
Kiyohara thought to himself.
Kakashi’s strength was, in truth, only that of a newly promoted Jonin.
His current situation was somewhat awkward.
He hadn’t properly inherited his father Sakumo Hatake’s sword arts, nor had he mastered Lightning Release ninjutsu.
No matter how strong the current “Chidori” was, it had a fatal flaw.
It required dynamic vision like that of the Sharingan to control—which was why in “Boruto,” Kakashi, having lost his Sharingan, developed the same-level Lightning Release ninjutsu “Purple Electricity” that didn’t need the Sharingan.
At critical moments, Kiyohara figured he’d still have to rely on Rogue Ninja Kiyohara possessing him.
Though he too had just become a Jonin, there were still gaps between Jonin.
Thirty-plus years of training and battle-accumulated experience couldn’t be compared to Kakashi’s.
“That’s just how Kakashi is.”
Obito rested his head on his hands.
Right now, he didn’t know that Kakashi’s father had been slandered by his former comrades and driven to suicide.
He just thought Kakashi was being a bit melodramatic.
“I also think it’s better for each of us to do targeted training for these last few days.”
Genma Shiranui picked up the senbon that had fallen on the ground, wiped it off, and placed it back in his mouth.
The reason it had fallen was that he was deeply shocked by the strength Kiyohara had just displayed.
“Makes sense.”
Kiyohara agreed.
For the remaining three days, Rogue Ninja Kiyohara could still help him improve his strength.
After bidding farewell to the others, Kiyohara quickly headed home.
Back home, Kiyohara stared at the ninjutsu scroll in his hand and felt a headache coming on.
Sometimes, even with a teacher explaining things, you still needed to practice constantly on your own.
It was all too easy for the eyes to understand while the hands couldn’t keep up.
Commonly known as: easy to grasp at a glance, useless at the first try.
And the issue of chakra reserves was also a process that required daily accumulation.
Unless he immediately completed his second last wish and let Rogue Ninja Kiyohara fuse with him.
“By the way, do you have any other methods for getting stronger quickly?”
Kiyohara asked.
Logically speaking, his future self in his thirties had already become a rogue ninja, so he should know plenty of shady tricks…
oh, no, that’s not right—convenient, painless ways to boost strength.
“There is one—taking drugs.”
Rogue Ninja Kiyohara said.
How else do you get stronger without drugs?
Hearing this, Kiyohara suddenly remembered—during the three years Sasuke spent with Orochimaru, he’d also consumed quite a few forbidden drugs.
But Orochimaru cherished Sasuke’s body, so the forbidden drugs had no harmful effects and didn’t make Sasuke’s head turn pointy.