Loyalty That Isn't Absolute Is No Loyalty at All

Shiba Seika had dared to do this not only because of his unusual constitution, but also because he now knew a little Medical Ninjutsu.

The four abilities the system had rewarded him with came from the four members of Minato Namikaze's squad: Obito had given him his insights into Genjutsu, Kakashi his White Fang Swordsmanship, and Minato Namikaze his Uzumaki Constitution. Even Nohara Rin, the last one to be kidnapped, had contributed her own knowledge—the Konoha Medical Team's training insights.

Thanks to Tsunade's vigorous promotion of medical ninjas, Konoha's medical training system was far ahead of the rest of the Shinobi World. Not only were the Rain Ninja, who lagged behind, unable to keep up; even the other four great ninja villages couldn't match Konoha in this regard.

Seika had only studied it in his dreams for a few nights, yet he already felt he'd benefited immensely.

Before charging headlong into the Wind Release, he'd used Chakra to protect the vital points around his heart, ensuring he'd be injured but not killed.

As for the rest, he'd leave it to luck!

Judging by the result, his luck hadn't been too bad.

The cuts covering his body looked terrifying, but for a ninja, they were only minor injuries, nowhere near fatal.

The Grass Ninja, on the other hand, had had his throat slit with a single slash once Seika got close!

The Grass Ninja stumbled backward in a panic and clutched his throat. His Chakra-coated palm futilely tried to hold down his leaking windpipe, but to no avail. His increasingly foggy mind told him that life was slipping irreversibly away.

"You!"

As he faced death, the resentful Grass Ninja cursed Seika viciously.

"You Uzumaki are all a blight! You're badly wounded—you can't take everyone with you! I'll be waiting for you in the Pure Land!"

His resentment was boundless. Even with air leaking from his throat, he still spat out venomous words at Seika through blood-flecked lips.

But Seika only smiled easily, not taking his words to heart. He pointed in the distance, cupped a hand to his ear, and made a listening gesture. "Don't talk. Listen."

The next moment, the wind blowing from that direction carried the sound of a voice from the ravine—

"Shinra Tensei!"

It really did have that same old feel, Seika thought. Too bad there's no 'I've got a bag of rice, how many floors can you carry it?' chant to build up the nostalgia.

Then the earth shook!

The surrounding mountains cracked apart. The rushing river upstream of the waterfall drove huge chunks of shattered rock down like a breached floodgate, setting off a chain of deafening crashes!

The advantageous terrain Seika had carefully chosen, combined with Nagato's full-force "Shinra Tensei," had served up an extravagant surprise for the pursuing Grass Ninja!

At that moment, the Kusagakure Jonin kneeling before Seika with a hand clamped over his throat was stunned by the commotion.

When Seika had turned the tables and killed him, the only comfort left to him had been the thought that he'd held up and badly wounded this fearsome Uzumaki orphan, so the others from his village would surely capture the rest of the group.

Who could have guessed that Seika would so quickly treat him to such a despairing spectacle?

With destruction on that scale, his teammates in the distance wouldn't just fail to capture their enemies—they might even lose their last chance to escape!

Only now did the Grass Ninja finally realize that theirs was the only side doomed tonight. The Rain Ninja before him would be fine.

"What... what kind... of power is that? You—"

His face had turned increasingly purple from lack of oxygen, and his voice was growing faint.

But Seika didn't explain.

He was in a hurry, so he gave the Grass Ninja one last shushing gesture.

"Shh. You ask too many questions. Don't pry into things you shouldn't know."

Then he drove his sword into the man's forehead and followed up with a ninjutsu.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Pull!"

This time, he was even more cautious than usual. Not only did he have no time to answer a dying man's questions, he also needed to make sure the follow-up blow completely destroyed the man's brain.

He had to help Nagato keep the secret of the Rinnegan.

After taking care of everything, Seika rested where he was for a while, biting his wrist to help his injuries recover a little. Then he leapt from the tree branch and hurried toward Nagato.

By the time he arrived, the battle was over.

The Rinnegan really was overwhelming. Even though Nagato was still young, he'd easily used the terrain to wipe out the entire group of Grass Ninja.

All that remained was to clean up the battlefield.

The honest Masuda Ikki came over and asked, "Captain Seika, do we need to dispose of all these bodies?"

Seika replied casually, "Yes. To save time, just destroy their brains. If there's no time to burn the bodies, leave them. Ask Kenjiro if you're unsure about anything."

Masuda Ikki regarded him with newfound respect. "So Big Brother Kenjiro is good at this?"

Seika was about to explain why Kenjiro was so practiced, but when he turned, he happened to catch sight of the badly wounded Kenjiro standing not far away, looking at him with fear.

Aside from Seika himself, who could heal naturally and had also mastered Medical Ninjutsu, Kenjiro was the most seriously injured of everyone on tonight's mission.

Normally, that had nothing to do with Seika. It was purely a coincidence.

But noticing the fear and the trace of hidden guilt in Kenjiro's eyes, Seika suddenly had an idea. He simply accepted Kenjiro's suspicion without a word.

He deliberately told Masuda Ikki, "That's right. Big Brother Kenjiro is good at this. He often helped me take care of these little cleanup jobs before. If there's anything you don't understand, ask him. He's very experienced."

Masuda Ikki was an honest man through and through, and his surprise came out before he could stop it. "Huh? I never would've thought Big Brother Kenjiro was like that! I always thought he was one of those who agreed with Leader Yahiko and tried not to kill people whenever possible. I had no idea he was so good at disposing of bodies!"

At that moment, the badly wounded Kenjiro, standing not far away, couldn't help but shudder. He coughed twice, then came over and firmly dragged Masuda Ikki away.

Seika didn't stop him. Instead, he took the opportunity to give Kenjiro a meaningful smile.

Although Seika had guessed Kenjiro's choice from the very beginning and had even used his actions to earn Nagato's gratitude and trust, to the uninformed bystanders—and even to Kenjiro himself—there was no doubt that Kenjiro had betrayed Seika today.

When assigning the reconnaissance mission, Seika had clearly told him, "Don't tell Nagato about this yet."

But as his subordinate, Kenjiro had disobeyed his captain's order.

So even though Seika had already guessed how things would unfold, he still didn't intend to let this chance to put Kenjiro in his place pass.

As it happened, even luck was on his side this time.

Among the team members who had stayed behind to delay the Grass Ninja, Masuda Ikki hadn't been hurt at all, while Kenjiro alone had suffered serious injuries during the earlier pursuit.

Out of the awe he'd always felt toward Seika, Kenjiro—guilt-ridden—took this as a warning from him!

And Seika simply went along with it.

Soon, after hastily dealing with all the Grass Ninja's bodies, they left and took a detour back.

In the second half of the night, they returned safely to their lodgings in a town in the Land of Grass. Before going to bed, Kenjiro quietly came to Seika's room alone. As soon as he entered, he bowed his head with a pale face.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I was the one who told Leader Nagato about today's reconnaissance mission."

Seika sat leaning against the bed, holding a book in one hand, his arm resting on his raised knee. He turned to look at Kenjiro in silence for a long while.

He knew why Kenjiro had come.

But by now, he no longer needed to accept the man's apology.

"Kenjiro, we've been teammates for months. As your captain, I only want to give you one piece of advice."

Kenjiro bowed his head even lower, his tone growing more deferential. "Go ahead."

"Sometimes, loyalty that isn't absolute is no loyalty at all!"