You've Got Such a Tough Body, and You're Still Jealous?

They carried the blood-soaked Naruto to the riverbank.

Anko came over to Yeyu.

Seeing Naruto in such a terrible state, she frowned too.

"What happened to him?"

She hadn't known that Tailed Beast Transformation would leave his body like this.

"He was probably corroded by the Nine-Tails Chakra. The Nine-Tails Chakra is protecting him, but it's also eating away at his skin. It might even be draining his life force."

"After all, he's still so young, and he isn't strong enough yet."

"Taking in Nine-Tails Chakra at the level of a Six-Tails all at once is basically burning through his life force."

"Anko, you know Medical Ninjutsu, right?"

Anko froze. "Huh? I—I don't."

Yeyu looked incredulous. "I heard Orochimaru was your teacher. Didn't you learn anything from him?"

Anko was speechless. "Hiruzen told you Orochimaru was my teacher, didn't he?"

Yeyu frowned. "Is that the point?"

"No. I learned a lot of his ninjutsu from Orochimaru, but not Medical Ninjutsu. Besides, he doesn't know Medical Ninjutsu either."

Anko explained, looking thoroughly exasperated.

Yeyu had assumed Orochimaru was such a brilliant researcher that he must be great at Medical Ninjutsu too.

Seeing the doubt on Yeyu's face, Anko was so annoyed she wanted to hit him. "Orochimaru really did research a lot of forbidden techniques and conduct plenty of human experiments, but that doesn't mean he's good at Medical Ninjutsu."

"Medical Ninjutsu and human experimentation aren't the same thing."

Anko thought Yeyu believed she was useless for having studied under Orochimaru and learned nothing. Irritated, she tried to explain herself.

Yeyu sighed. "Then what do we do now? Even if you don't know Medical Ninjutsu, you can at least do some basic bandaging, right?"

Anko looked at Yeyu. "Can't you?"

"Anko, I may be pretty strong, but I just graduated from the Ninja Academy. How much Medical Ninjutsu do you expect me to know?"

Combat ability and Medical Ninjutsu were two entirely different things.

Yeyu didn't know any Medical Ninjutsu at all. He wasn't even very good at bandaging wounds.

Anko nodded. "All right, I'll bandage him."

Anko had thought Yeyu was testing her earlier, which had made her uncomfortable. How could a mere twelve-year-old Chunin put her, a Special Jonin, to the test?

But Yeyu had seemed genuinely clueless.

So she crouched down and began bandaging Naruto.

Fortunately, she had brought plenty of bandages with her.

Yeyu stood beside her, looking at the devastation all around them. "It'll probably take years for this place to recover."

"Everything within a few kilometers must have been destroyed."

"And this bridge was almost finished, but now there's only a short stretch left."

"What a shame!"

Anko rolled her eyes. "And who do you think did this?"

Yeyu looked a little embarrassed.

"But you stopped this kid from going berserk just now. No matter how you look at it, you've done a great service. You'll be promoted when we get back to the village."

"This is a huge achievement, and it's worth a lot."

"Given how much Hiruzen favors you, I think you'll be promoted to Jonin as soon as we get back," Anko said.

Yeyu had wanted to correct Anko's wording. What did she mean, Hiruzen favored him?

But when he thought of the special treatment Hiruzen had given him lately, he felt too awkward to say anything.

He'd actually become a beneficiary of favoritism.

Still, Yeyu didn't feel ashamed.

He'd earned it through his own strength.

He had no qualms about making use of the privilege.

"Does that mean I might outrank you when we get back?" Yeyu teased Anko.

Anko's face darkened. "Oh. Well, congratulations."

Hearing the sarcasm in Anko's voice, Yeyu chuckled and said nothing more.

After they'd finished bandaging Naruto, the two of them brought him over to Kakashi.

Seeing Kakashi lying on the ground, unable to move, Yeyu said, "Kakashi-sensei, you're looking a little worse for wear."

Kakashi's mouth twitched. "Is this really the time to tease me?"

"How's Naruto?"

Seeing Yeyu, Kakashi felt deeply relieved.

Yeyu's strength far exceeded his previous estimates.

Kakashi had taught Yeyu a few ninjutsu techniques, but had never seen him fight seriously.

Naturally, he hadn't known how strong Yeyu really was.

He could only make guesses based on a few clues.

But when he saw Yeyu's strength just now, he was utterly astonished.

He'd thought he was overestimating Yeyu, but that battle had shown him that his earlier estimate had actually been far too low.

Yeyu's strength was already enough to make him Konoha's strongest fighter.

Even if all three Sannin joined forces, Kakashi doubted they could beat Yeyu.

Of course, this was only Kakashi's estimation.

And Yeyu was, in a way, his student.

After all, he'd taught Yeyu the Lightning Blade, his own secret technique.

And if Hiruzen hadn't refused to let him go, Kakashi would definitely have taken Yeyu on as his disciple.

A disciple, not just a student.

Yeyu crouched beside Kakashi.

"The Nine-Tails Chakra corroded his skin. Luckily, he was knocked unconscious. Otherwise, he'd be in agony right now."

"The Nine-Tails' chakra is corrosive. I think it's draining Naruto's life force."

"But it seems like the Nine-Tails Chakra is also slowly repairing the skin it corroded."

Naruto had Uzumaki Clan blood, but because he was Mixed Blood, his Uzumaki blood had been diluted.

You could tell just by looking at his hair.

So the powerful healing ability of Naruto's body actually came from the Nine-Tails.

Jinchuriki had strong healing abilities, but if their injuries were too severe, they recovered at the cost of their life force.

It was similar to Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Technique.

They could use chakra to repair their bodies, but the price was the loss of life force.

Kakashi had noticed this when Naruto was injured earlier.

He nodded. "Because of the Nine-Tails, Naruto heals very quickly. If the injury isn't too serious, it can take less than a few minutes for the wound to close completely."

"I'm so jealous of a body like that," Yeyu said, looking envious.

He really did want that kind of healing ability.

But he'd forgotten just how terrifyingly tough his own body was.

He could take a Tailed Beast Bomb head-on without much damage, even if it had only been fired in the Six-Tails state.

But there were very few people in the Ninja World who dared to do that—or could manage it.

Even the Third Raikage wasn't that ridiculous. He dared to fight the Eight-Tails hand-to-hand, but he wouldn't take a Tailed Beast Bomb directly with his body.

Those were two entirely different things.

Kakashi turned to look at Yeyu, utterly speechless. "With a body as absurdly tough as yours, you even took a Tailed Beast Bomb head-on, and you're still jealous?"