Comfort and Jealousy

Cool moonlight spilled across the earth. The girl buried her face against the boy's back, seeking a sliver of comfort.

Shinji silently felt that this position ought to have been reversed no matter how he looked at it. But faced with Rin in her current fragile state, he ultimately just accepted it quietly.

Feeling the faint tremors from behind him, he raised a hand and gently patted the hands wrapped around his waist.

"Obito would definitely want us to keep moving forward too, Rin."

People did not easily fade from memory.

Especially not the sacrifice Obito had made for Kakashi and Rin. That bond was enough for them to remember for the rest of their lives.

Rin's sobs gradually softened. The anguish she had bottled up deep inside finally found release, leaving her whole body feeling much lighter. Her voice gradually grew firmer as well.

"I'll keep moving forward. I'll live on, carrying Obito's feelings with me."

Her arms around Shinji tightened unconsciously.

Only after a while did Rin belatedly realize how intimate their current posture was. She gave a small cry and hurriedly let go, immediately turning away so he would not see her reddened eyes.

Yet Shinji inexplicably felt a trace of regret. He actually would not have minded being held by her a little longer.

After all, he was a man who took the initiative and never refused.

With Namikaze Minato present, the Battle of Kannabi Bridge would soon come to an end, and the Third Shinobi World War was nearing its conclusion as well.

Not only had he survived, but his strength had also improved. Naturally, his mood brightened considerably.

Shinji looked at Rin's back and offered her a pristine white handkerchief, a gentle smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

"Rin, wipe your tears."

"I never thought you'd show such a vulnerable side in front of me. I guess you trust me a lot?"

He deliberately teased her, hoping to ease the atmosphere.

Nohara Rin's cheeks instantly flushed scarlet. She shot him a fierce glare, but still accepted the handkerchief, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"Th-thank you! I'll wash it and return it to you."

By the nearby campfire, Asuma added several dead branches to the flames. His gaze drifted toward the two of them in the distance as he spoke in an apparently casual tone.

"Rin and Shinji seem to have a really good relationship."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Kurenai beside him, watching for her reaction.

A vague sense of crisis had arisen in Asuma's heart, because he felt that Kurenai's attitude toward Shinji had changed.

Kurenai Yuhi stared fixedly at the pair ahead. More accurately, her gaze mainly rested on Shinji.

But when she saw Rin and Shinji embrace, an unfamiliar feeling had welled up inside her. It was deeply unpleasant, and she had even felt the urge to rush over and pull them apart.

"Shinji was just comforting Rin, that's all."

Kurenai said this to Asuma without betraying anything on her face, yet she unconsciously brushed a hand lightly over the corner of her lips. She seemed to recall something, ripples continuously spreading through her heart.

That awful Shinji, that was my first kiss!

Shinji soon returned to the campfire and sat down beside Asuma and Kurenai.

Kakashi had already awakened. Minato was speaking to him quietly, seemingly offering him some psychological guidance. Worried that Kakashi would get stuck in his own head, Rin had also gone over to stay by his side and comfort him softly.

"Kurenai, how are your injuries?" Shinji asked, his tone full of genuine concern. "Do you need me to take another look? I still have some medicine for injuries. If you need it, I'll get it for you."

A faint smile quietly curved Kurenai Yuhi's lips.

So Shinji still cares about me a lot!

The inexplicable discomfort she had felt earlier immediately faded considerably.

She raised her head, a hint of imperceptible reliance in her eyes. "Then I'll have to trouble you to take a look."

Asuma immediately objected, cutting in. "Hey, Shinji, are you sure you can handle it? Why not let Rin do it? She's the real Medical Ninja!"

He had clearly seen the smile Kurenai gave Shinji just now—a look he had never seen from her before.

In that instant, an indescribably complicated feeling surged through his heart.

It seemed like there was still time for everything, yet it also seemed like there was nothing he could do anymore.

"Don't forget, I taught myself medical ninjutsu," Shinji said. "Rin also said I have a lot of talent in this area."

The talent of "Healing Affinity" still lay quietly on his System Panel. Though he currently only possessed basic healing and detoxification techniques, that was enough to handle ordinary external injuries.

Kurenai Yuhi frowned slightly and looked at Asuma with faint displeasure. "Rin is helping counsel Kakashi. With Shinji in our team, Asuma, we should trust our companion."

Truthfully, she did not want Rin to come over and help.

Asuma was left speechless for a moment. As he looked at Shinji, alarm bells had already begun quietly ringing in his mind.

They might be teammates, but he absolutely did not want Kurenai to be taken away by Shinji just like that.

Shinji had Kurenai sit properly across from him.

Kurenai's hands were habitually wrapped in bandages, a common practice among many ninja to protect their wrists and palms.

But now, there were many new bandages around her legs, forehead, and arms as well, all thanks to Pakura's Explosion Release. Burns and abrasions overlapped one another. Even with the effects of "Amomum villosum" slowly restoring her, the external wounds were still healing very slowly.

He carefully untied the gauze around Kurenai's thigh, revealing a bloody wound beneath it, along with slightly blackened necrotic skin around its edges.

Kurenai Yuhi instinctively drew her legs back, as if unwilling to let him see her in such a bedraggled and unsightly state.

"Don't move!"

Shinji's tone turned serious. "It seems my worries were right. If we delay any longer, the wound could easily become infected."

He looked up at Kurenai, and his tone instantly softened again. "Leave it to me, Kurenai."

As his words fell, pale green healing Chakra slowly gathered in his palm and gently settled over her wound.

Time slowly passed.

A warm, unfamiliar sensation spread between her legs. Kurenai Yuhi's cheeks uncontrollably flushed as her dazed gaze fell upon Shinji's face, and she could not help quietly muttering to herself:

"Shinji is actually so handsome."

They said serious men were the most handsome, but there was a misconception in that statement.

Shinji himself was already exceptionally handsome. It was simply that his serious expression made him seem even more so.

Shinji sat cross-legged, his healing movements never pausing for a moment. Yet his gaze subtly shifted as he surveyed the faintly glowing blue System Panel before him.

Two new notifications lay quietly in the Task Bar.

[Side Quest: Comfort]

[Having witnessed her companion's death firsthand, Nohara Rin suffered a tremendous shock. Though she has eased slightly under your comfort, fear and despondency still linger deep within her heart.]

[Mission Details: Within thirty days, guide Nohara Rin to completely let go of this matter and make her genuinely smile.]

[Mission Reward: 80,000 Points, B-Rank Gift Box ×1]

[Side Quest: Jealousy]

[Kurenai Yuhi has already developed a vague fondness for you, but when she saw you caring for someone else, jealousy unconsciously rose within her heart.]

[Mission Details: Within thirty days, hug Kurenai Yuhi for no less than ten minutes.]

[Mission Reward: 80,000 Points, B-Rank Gift Box ×1]

Shinji silently clicked his tongue as he looked at the two quests that had suddenly appeared.

"Rin really is my lucky charm for free Points. Another quest popped up—and this time, even Kurenai triggered one!"

"Jealousy?"

He chuckled inwardly.

He was a man who took the initiative and never refused. This sort of quest was exactly what he wanted.

"These two quests shouldn't be difficult to complete."

Without drawing attention to himself, he glanced at Minato, Kakashi, and Asuma, who was staring in this direction with an annoyed expression, then silently prayed in his heart:

"You guys had better not trigger any more quests like these for me."