Healing Technique

"Was I going to the battlefield to die...?"

"No. I just want to do my best to survive in this world."

"Because none of you can imagine what the future of this world will become."

As Yu watched Urushi and Momoka innocently play-fighting in front of him,

he smiled faintly, his gaze fixed on the distant sky above Konoha. His fist clenched unconsciously. "But now I have the power of the String-String Fruit..."

"If I can find a way to get my hands on the secret technique for making Human Puppets, then this world will be mine to rule!!"

"All right, Urushi, Momoka, stop fooling around!"

At that moment, Mayuna glanced up at the sky, where the day was already growing late, and stopped Urushi and Momoka from continuing their play-fight. "It's getting late. Let's hurry and meet up with the matron!"

"It really is getting late. We should head back."

Seeing Urushi and Momoka stop their play-fight,

Yu, who was eager to get back and thoroughly study the String-String Fruit's abilities,

gathered up all the shuriken and kunai on the ground, then left the crude Training Ground.

The sky above all of Konoha was nearly painted by the setting sun

when Yu, Urushi, Mayuna, and Momoka, the three little kids, finally crossed the long stretch of grass and reached the place where they were supposed to meet Yakushi Nonō, the matron of the Konoha Orphanage.

The ninja world was currently in the early stages of the Third Shinobi World War, which had only recently broken out.

The grassland around the four of them was littered with signs of merciless devastation from the war.

Everywhere they looked, trees had been snapped and burned, and the ground had been blasted apart by ninjutsu and Explosive Tags.

If they were lucky, they could even find shuriken and kunai left behind after ninja battles scattered across the grass.

"Matron!!"

After reaching the agreed meeting place,

Momoka, walking beside Yu, spotted the waiting figure in the distance at a glance.

"Big sister!!"

Urushi spotted the figure in the distance too. He was walking beside Yu, but immediately broke into a run toward her.

"Momoka, Urushi, Mayuna, you're finally back."

After Yu, Urushi, Momoka, and Mayuna appeared, the figure in the distance looked at them with a gentle gaze, which finally came to rest on Yu, who was walking at the back.

"And you're back too, Yu."

She wore a loose black kimono with white trim and a white headscarf over it, a little like the nuns Yu had seen in churches in his previous life.

With light flaxen hair that fell in soft waves and a pair of round black glasses, this woman, whose face was always wreathed in a gentle smile, was Yakushi Nonō, the matron of the Konoha Orphanage.

A year ago, on the battlefield at the Battle of Kikyo Pass, which had broken out shortly after the Third Shinobi World War began,

she had found Yu, who had just crossed over into this world and was completely lost, brought him to the Konoha Orphanage, and kindly taken him in.

This kindhearted woman, whose face was always wreathed in a gentle smile, was more than just the matron of the Konoha Orphanage, as everyone saw her.

As someone who had crossed over from another world, Yu knew the truth about her other identity: she had once been a member of Root, Konoha's clandestine organization hidden beneath the village.

An irreplaceable elite ninja in the Intelligence Division, she specialized in Medical Ninjutsu and had once been called the "Wandering Miko," traveling between the nations of the Ninja World to gather intelligence for Konoha.

"Matron." Yu greeted Yakushi Nonō softly, though a strange glint flickered in his eyes.

To be fair, he was always grateful to Yakushi Nonō, the matron of the Konoha Orphanage, for bringing him back from the cruel battlefield and kindly taking him in when he had just crossed over into this world.

But with the soul of an adult inside him, he didn't know how to express his affection toward her.

"Huh?!"

"Who's that?!"

At that moment, Urushi, standing in front of Yu, noticed that Yakushi Nonō wasn't alone.

Under a dead, broken tree behind her, a silver-gray-haired child was leaning against the trunk. He looked about the same age as Yu and the others, perhaps even a little younger.

Blood kept pouring from his forehead, and he looked close to death. Without proper medical equipment and treatment, he probably wouldn't survive long on this grassland.

"He must be from one of the villages out there, where they were fighting..." Yakushi Nonō looked toward the mountain peaks far beyond Konoha, where countless villages were engulfed in merciless flames of war. Her eyes were filled with sorrow.

"What should we do, big sister? His head's bleeding!" Urushi leaned closer to the silver-gray-haired child, who was barely clinging to life. "He doesn't look like he'll last much longer. Should we take him with us?"

"Don't say that, Urushi. His wound isn't nearly as bad as yours was back then."

Ignoring Urushi, who seemed to be hoping for trouble,

Yakushi Nonō looked at the pitiful child, who was barely clinging to life, and smiled gently. "Don't worry. I may not look it, but I know a little Medical Ninjutsu..."

As she spoke, Yakushi Nonō gently gathered the chakra inside her body into her hand, forming a faint glow of green chakra.

"Let me do it, Matron."

"You've already used up plenty of chakra on the way here."

But just then,

a small hand suddenly stopped Yakushi Nonō.

Everyone turned back in surprise.

It was Yu, reaching out to stop Yakushi Nonō from using her Medical Ninjutsu.

Dragon, Snake, Hare, Tiger, Monkey, Boar...

Before Yakushi Nonō and the others could react,

Yu clasped his hands together and swiftly formed six complex hand seals.

Healing Technique!!

By the time everyone reacted,

a pale-green ball of chakra, brimming with vitality, had fully bloomed in Yu's hand.

"What is that?!"

Urushi, Mayuna, and Momoka were all stunned by Yu's display.

"In just one year..."

Yakushi Nonō stared at the pale-green ball of chakra Yu had successfully formed in his young hands, her face full of astonishment. "You can already use the Healing Technique so skillfully?"

"Wahhhhhh!!"

Seeing that Yu was clearly the same age as him,

and that after just one year of training, he had not only successfully learned to extract chakra but could already use Medical Ninjutsu,

Urushi's eyes widened. He immediately let out an envious wail. "You've gotta be kidding! Yu, you little show-off! You can already use ninjutsu?!"