Potential Borrowing Targets

"I hadn't had a chance to thank you before."

Nohara Rin bowed a full ninety degrees, her expression utterly earnest. "Thank you, Qingye! If you hadn't saved me, I wouldn't have known what to do."

"It was no trouble. When I saw you'd been captured, Rin, I couldn't just pretend I hadn't seen anything and walk away," Qingye said, waving a hand.

"No, I still have to thank you properly, Qingye!"

Nohara Rin bit her lip. "If you hadn't saved me, I would've been an even bigger burden on Kakashi and Obito."

Though, even after being rescued, she had still been a burden...

Because she'd been captured, Obito and Kakashi had both chosen to abandon the mission and save her.

If it weren't for her, maybe Obito and the others wouldn't have run into those two Iwagakure jonin, and Obito wouldn't have died.

"Obito..." Qingye's eyes flickered slightly. "People have their own fates on the battlefield. You don't have to blame yourself for everything."

With Uchiha Madara plotting behind the scenes, Obito couldn't have escaped unless he'd suddenly awakened the Mangekyo on the spot.

But now that Obito had fallen into Uchiha Madara's hands, surely Madara wouldn't keep targeting Qingye anymore?

"Qingye, I... I want to get stronger! Please teach me how!"

Nohara Rin took a deep breath, looking utterly serious. "I don't need to be as strong as you or Kakashi. I just don't want to hold my teammates back."

"How am I supposed to teach you that?"

Qingye spread his hands and pointed to his eyes.

He was an Uchiha. As long as his Sharingan evolved, his strength would make a huge leap.

His current strength was all thanks to his talent and hard work!

...And the system's stat points, just a little.

"If you ask me, Rin, since you have a talent for Medical Ninjutsu, you shouldn't give up on it. Just become an excellent Medical Ninja."

Nohara Rin said helplessly, "But Medical Ninjas are too weak."

Most Medical Ninjas were like that.

There were too few like her idol, Lady Tsunade, who was both the finest Medical Ninja in the Shinobi World and a powerful ninja.

"That's not your problem. It's Tsunade's."

"Back then, Tsunade was traumatized by the deaths of her loved ones. That's why she came up with such an immature proposal... and then the village went and implemented it."

Ninjas with a talent for Medical Ninjutsu were extremely valuable.

Putting Medical Ninjas in three-person squads wasted a fighter from the start. And since they focused their efforts on Medical Ninjutsu, their combat strength was often lacking, making them an easy target for the enemy.

Besides!

If a teammate was seriously wounded in battle, that meant the mission was too difficult and the enemy too strong. In that situation, the Medical Ninja wouldn't have the chance to treat their teammate right away anyway.

If that happened, it was better to retreat at once, stop the bleeding as best they could, and bring the injured teammate back to the rear for treatment by a Medical Ninja.

Including Medical Ninjas in three-person squads was fine for ordinary missions. But in the chaos of battles involving hundreds or even thousands of ninja, Medical Ninjas could hardly do much on the battlefield and were more likely to hold the team back.

"Uh..."

Nohara Rin listened to Qingye tear into Tsunade, too timid to respond.

"Anyway, different people have different talents."

Qingye took a drink of water and cleared his throat. "If you really want to improve your strength, Rin, just work on your Taijutsu."

After seeing off a thoroughly bewildered Nohara Rin, Qingye was just about to rest when Kakashi showed up.

His left eye was still wrapped in bandages, and the long scar beneath them was faintly visible.

"Qingye, I want to know how you got so strong!"

Kakashi stated his purpose bluntly.

Back at the Ninja Academy and for the next few years, he'd been far stronger than his peers!

Yet somehow, Qingye, who was the same age as him, had overtaken him without his noticing!

And by such a wide margin!

Especially during this mission. He'd barely done anything at all and could only watch Qingye show off his strength. That had only stoked his competitive spirit even more!

He'd always been called a genius. He would never accept falling behind!

"How's your left eye, Kakashi?"

Qingye's throat was a little hoarse as he looked at Kakashi's left eye, curious.

Because of Qingye's influence as a butterfly, Kakashi didn't have the Sharingan now, and in the future he wouldn't be held back by a Sharingan he couldn't turn off.

With Kakashi's talent, it was hard to say whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

"It's still the same eye for now," Kakashi replied in a low voice. "Minato-sensei said he'd arrange for a suitable eye to be transplanted after we return to Konoha."

"With your talent, Kakashi, if you keep training steadily, you'll surely become strong enough to stand alongside the Five Kage someday."

"No. That's too slow!"

Kakashi shook his head at once.

Before he died, Obito had entrusted him with protecting Rin!

But with his current level of strength, how could he possibly fulfill Obito's dying wish?

"You're asking me, but there's nothing I can do."

Qingye rolled his eyes.

It wasn't as if he could pluck out his Mangekyo and give it to Kakashi.

Kakashi fell silent for a long while.

He understood, too.

He wasn't Uchiha Kakashi. He couldn't rely on the Sharingan to grow stronger like Qingye.

But watching someone his own age leave him far behind, while he could only watch Rin get captured and Obito be buried beneath the rubble—unable to do anything at all—

How could he accept that?

"Oh, there's one more thing!"

Kakashi pointed to the bandages wrapped around his shoulder. "When I fought an Iwagakure jonin earlier, my Chidori charged too fast, and the other guy managed to cut me."

"Is there any way to fix that?"

Chidori was his jutsu!

Yet when he used it, he got hurt, while Qingye used it to defeat Kitsuchi!

How was that fair?

"Find a way to improve your vision and reflexes, or get someone to transplant a Sharingan for you." Qingye thought for a moment, then added, "Or just give up on the jutsu."

Then all that effort I put into developing it would've been for nothing!

Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes. He looked at Qingye with deep resentment.

It had taken him ages to develop an A-rank jutsu, and he'd barely even used it a few times. Meanwhile, Qingye had copied it just by glancing at it.

Now Chidori had become Qingye's signature move, and its creator couldn't even use it!

Was he the one who'd developed it, or the one who'd suffered for it?

After shooing Kakashi away with a mix of coaxing and bluffing, Qingye had barely rested for a moment before someone else arrived.

"..."

Was this ever going to end?

Where were all these people coming from?!

Getting up with a dark expression, he welcomed the Ino-Shika-Cho squad led by Akimichi Dōtō. The moment the three entered, they all dropped to their knees in a full prostration!

He hurriedly helped the three of them, all injured, back to their feet. After patiently listening to their thanks, he politely declined their offer to send him a gift once they returned, then saw them out.

Finally, no one else came after that.

"At last, some peace and quiet..."

Qingye let out a long breath.

Even with him changing things as a butterfly, Konoha had fared a little better than in the original timeline, but the village had still suffered heavy losses in the great battle.

After a battle like that, everyone—from Yūhi Kurenai and Nohara Rin to a genius like Kakashi—felt the threat and wanted to grow stronger.

"Wanting to get stronger is a good thing."

Qingye called up the temporary loan function in his mind and looked it over.

If they wanted to get stronger, then they were all potential targets for his future loans.

But what form should he use to offer them a loan and give it a try?

He needed to figure out how to package it first...