After the Battle (Please Recommend)

The enormous blast echoed across the entire summit of Green Mountain.

Hearing the commotion, Orochimaru hurried to the scene. The entire courtyard where the battle had taken place had been completely transformed.

A massive crater had appeared, surrounded by mangled corpses. The air was thick with the smell of blood.

Frowning, Orochimaru began searching for the members of Team 3.

"Mmgh... Damn it, Explosive Tags? Where did a bunch of bandits get Explosive Tags? Good thing Kiyoshi warned us in time."

A stream of curses came from nearby. At the same time, a figure swayed as he rose to his feet. It was vaguely recognizable as Nawaki. Hearing him, Orochimaru let out a sigh of relief. Since Uchiha Kiyoshi had warned them in advance, the three of them should not have died.

Sure enough, after searching, he spotted another figure not far from Nawaki. He wore the uniform of a Konoha Shinobi. Though he was not moving, the rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive.

However, Orochimaru soon frowned again. He had not found Uchiha Kiyoshi. Counting carefully, there were only six people in total—the corpses plus the two members of Team 3. Where had Uchiha Kiyoshi gone?

"Cough, cough. I'm over here."

A weak voice came from behind a wall to one side. Upon closer listening, it was indeed Uchiha Kiyoshi.

Orochimaru was surprised that Uchiha Kiyoshi had made it behind the wall. Based on his earlier judgment, Uchiha Kiyoshi should have been at the very center of the blast. Although he had reacted first and warned his teammates, there should not have been enough time for him to run that far, right?

Ignoring Nawaki and the other one for now, he decided to check on Uchiha Kiyoshi first. If he was in decent condition, he could treat the other two.

Behind the wall, he found Uchiha Kiyoshi leaning against it. His entire body radiated weakness, and his pale face was rather alarming. He even seemed to have grown thinner. Yet there were no wounds on him, neither from the battle nor from the explosion.

Seeing Uchiha Kiyoshi's condition, Orochimaru came to a conclusion. He had overexhausted his Chakra.

Before long, Orochimaru guessed the reason, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Under normal circumstances, Orochimaru might not have noticed. But after carefully sensing the area now, he discovered a substitute object every four or five meters, with no fewer than five in total.

After searching more closely, he found substitute objects carrying Uchiha Kiyoshi's Chakra signature behind every wall around the courtyard.

Just how cautious did someone have to be to do something like this? They were only a bunch of bandits, yet he had left behind so many contingencies. There really was no one else like him.

Still, this was at least eight or nine meters away from the center of the explosion, wasn't it? How had this kid used the Substitution Technique over such a distance? Though judging by how exhausted he looked, there had to be a price.

Using the Substitution Technique over that distance just once would not normally have left Uchiha Kiyoshi this weak. The main issue was that he had already been low on Chakra at the time, so he could only squeeze himself dry. In a burst at his limit, he had instantly extracted a great deal of Chakra, but his body had now been weakened to the extreme. If not for the Body Nourishment Technique having nourished him for so long, he would not necessarily have dared to do this, nor would he necessarily have been able to instantly extract dozens of units of Chakra.

Still, there was no need to tell Orochimaru about that. After all, using around a hundred units to substitute over ten meters was already astonishing. Other people needed at least several thousand units, a difference of dozens of times.

In any case, he had plenty of ways to preserve his life. Orochimaru probably would not investigate this detail too deeply.

Orochimaru indeed did not dwell too much on how Uchiha Kiyoshi had activated the Substitution Technique. Judging by how weak he was, the side effects were considerable enough. Picking Uchiha Kiyoshi up by the scruff, Orochimaru returned to Nawaki and the others.

Seeing that Uchiha Kiyoshi was fine, Nawaki also breathed a sigh of relief. But when he saw Uchiha Kiyoshi being carried back by Orochimaru, he could not help laughing.

After setting Uchiha Kiyoshi down, Orochimaru finally had the chance to examine Sarutobi Saku's injuries.

The situation had been urgent. Nawaki had handled it relatively simply, releasing a large amount of Chakra to block much of the explosion's force. Sarutobi Saku had suffered the worst, even worse than Uchiha Kiyoshi, who had been at the center of the blast.

He had possessed the least Chakra to begin with. After dealing with Matsuoka Seizo and then tangling with Matsuoka Seiji for some time, the Chakra in his body had nearly run dry. All he could do then was mobilize the pitiful amount of Chakra he had left to strengthen his body and avoid having his limbs blown off outright. Sarutobi Saku had also tried his best to hide behind Matsuoka Seiji, barely managing to withstand it.

At that moment, Sarutobi Saku had quite a few wounds on his body, all left over from the battle. Combined with the burns on both arms, he was seriously injured.

"Fortunately, there are no fatal wounds. Sarutobi Saku was only knocked unconscious by the blast."

After confirming that Sarutobi Saku had no fatal injuries, Orochimaru returned to Uchiha Kiyoshi and fed him a Soldier Pill.

"Recover some Chakra quickly and treat Sarutobi Saku. Although he has no fatal injuries, if this continues, he probably will not last until we return to the village."

Uchiha Kiyoshi did not delay. After swallowing the Soldier Pill and recovering some Chakra, he staggered over to Sarutobi Saku.

He formed hand seals with both hands.

"Healing Technique."

Green light glowed from his hands as Uchiha Kiyoshi began feeling Sarutobi Saku all over. Ahem. Do not misunderstand, he was only treating him.

More than ten minutes later, Uchiha Kiyoshi finally stabilized Sarutobi Saku's injuries. As long as he continued treating him on the way, there should not be any major problems. After that, a period of treatment at Konoha Hospital would be enough.

"Kiyoshi, I need treatment too. Hurry up, it hurts like hell."

After seeing that Sarutobi Saku had basically been treated, Nawaki began wailing from the other side.

Helpless, Uchiha Kiyoshi had no choice but to recover some more Chakra before beginning to treat Nawaki.

"Hey! Kiyoshi, your Medical Ninjutsu is pretty good. It may not compare to my sister's, but getting treated like this after being injured on a mission really works well."

"Lie still and stop moving."

Uchiha Kiyoshi slapped Nawaki on the head irritably and continued the treatment.

Fortunately, although Uchiha Kiyoshi had overdrawn his body, he had the Body Nourishment Technique. As he extracted Chakra, he broke some of it down to nourish his body, and his physical condition actually improved somewhat.

A day later, after receiving proof from Ryūgetsu Village that the mission had been completed, the members of Team 3 set off on their journey back to the village.

Sarutobi Saku had awakened during that day. Seeing himself covered in bandages, he nearly cried without tears. There were no anesthetics here. Though Uchiha Kiyoshi had treated him, his injuries had not fully healed yet. The pain was truly exquisite.

Uchiha Kiyoshi was also reviewing the battle.

"First of all, I was still too careless. The enemy actually had Chakra. Though judging from the situation, they had only extracted it recently and could not use Ninjutsu. And when I saw that they had Chakra, I did not immediately think of Explosive Tags. I still treated them as Samurai. That should not have happened. Mm, I need to remember that.

"

After reviewing everything, Uchiha Kiyoshi noted down each of his mistakes one by one, ensuring that he would not make them again in the future.

"I had relaxed my guard somewhat because I thought Nawaki could survive until the Second Shinobi World War in the original story. That was wrong too. This is a real world. I cannot always view it through the lens of the original story.

But after this, Nawaki should pay attention to such things, right? He should not get blown to death again, right? Mm, once we get back, I can use this incident as an excuse to teach Nawaki how to identify traps."

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