Healing

"Going to the battlefield to throw your life away?"

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

"Because you can't even imagine what the future of this world will become."

Watching Urushi and Momoka playfully bickering in their innocence, Yu offered a faint, indifferent smile, though his gaze drifted toward the distant Konoha sky as his fist tightened inadvertently. But now that I have the power of the String-String Fruit...

If I can find a way to acquire the secret techniques for crafting human puppets in the future, then this world will become my playground!!

"Alright, Urushi, Momoka, stop messing around!"

At that moment, Mayuna, standing nearby, glanced up at the darkening sky and spoke up to stop the two from continuing their squabble. "It's getting late. Let's hurry and meet up with the Director!"

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

Seeing Urushi and Momoka cease their bickering, Yu, whose mind was already preoccupied with returning to carefully study the abilities of the String-String Fruit, gathered all the shuriken and kunai from the ground and left the crude training field.

By the time the entire sky over Konoha was nearly painted by the setting sun, Yu and the three children—Urushi, Mayuna, and Momoka—finally crossed the long stretch of grassland and arrived at the meeting point with the Konoha Orphanage Director, Yakushi Nonō.

Because the ninja world was currently in the early stages of the Third Shinobi World War, the grassland the four of them traversed was covered in the ruthless scars of war.

Everywhere they looked, there were broken, charred trees, or ground blasted open by ninjutsu and explosive tags.

If they were lucky, they could even occasionally scavenge shuriken and kunai left behind after ninja skirmishes.

"Director!!"

Upon reaching the designated meeting spot, Momoka, who had sharp eyes, spotted the figure waiting in the distance at a single glance.

"Big Sister!!"

Seeing the figure as well, Urushi, who had been walking beside Yu, broke into a light jog and rushed forward.

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

Seeing Yu, Urushi, Momoka, and Mayuna appear, the figure in the distance turned her gaze, her gentle eyes finally resting on Yu, who was trailing behind.

"And Yu, you've returned as well."

Dressed in a loose black kimono with white trim and a white headscarf—reminiscent of the nuns Yu had seen in his past life—with long, light flaxen hair and round black-rimmed glasses, this woman who always wore a gentle smile was the Director of the Konoha Orphanage: Yakushi Nonō.

A year ago, on the battlefield of the Battle of Kikyo Pass, just as the Third Shinobi World War had broken out, it was she who had brought the bewildered Yu, who had just transmigrated, to the Konoha Orphanage and kindly taken him in.

This kind-hearted woman, who always wore a gentle smile, possessed another identity that Yu, as a transmigrator from another world, knew very well: she was a former member of 'Root,' the independent organization hidden deep beneath Konoha.

She was an irreplaceable elite ninja of the Intelligence Division, skilled in medical ninjutsu, and once known as the 'Walking Miko,' traveling between the nations of the ninja world to gather intelligence for Konoha.

"Director." Yu greeted her softly, though his eyes flickered with an inexplicable emotion.

In all honesty, Yu had always felt grateful toward Yakushi Nonō for bringing him from the cruel battlefield and taking him in when he had first arrived in this world, but trapped within the soul of an adult, he never knew how to express that affection.

"Eh?!"

"Who is this guy?!"

At that moment, Urushi, standing in front of Yu, realized that Director Yakushi Nonō was not alone.

Behind her, leaning against a broken, withered tree, was a silver-haired boy who looked to be about the same age as Yu and the others, perhaps even younger.

Blood was continuously seeping from his forehead, and in his dying state, without proper medical equipment, he would surely perish on this grassland before long.

"He must be a child from that village, where the fighting was earlier..." Yakushi Nonō's gaze softened with pity as she looked toward the distant mountain peaks outside Konoha, where countless villages were being engulfed by the ruthless flames of war.

"What should we do, Big Sister? This guy is bleeding from his head!" Urushi leaned in, peering at the dying silver-haired boy. "He doesn't look like he'll last long. Are we going to take him with us?"

"Don't say that, Urushi. His injuries are much lighter than yours were back then."

Ignoring Urushi's penchant for chaos, Yakushi Nonō looked at the poor, dying child with a gentle smile. "Don't worry. Don't let my appearance fool you; I know a thing or two about medical ninjutsu..."

As she spoke, she gently gathered the chakra within her, instantly condensing a faint, green glow of light in her hands.

"Let me do it, Director."

"You've already consumed enough chakra on this journey."

But just then.

A small hand suddenly blocked Yakushi Nonō's movements.

Everyone snapped out of their daze and looked over in astonishment.

They saw that it was Yu who had reached out to stop the orphanage director, Yakushi Nonō, from performing her medical ninjutsu.

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

Before Yakushi Nonō and the other three could even react, Yu, standing right before them, pressed his palms together, and a sequence of six complex hand seals rapidly took shape.

Healing Jutsu!!

By the time everyone realized what was happening, a pale green orb of chakra, radiating immense vitality, had already fully bloomed in Yu's hands.

"This is?!"

The three children—Urushi, Mayuna, and Momoka—were completely stunned by Yu's display.

"It's only been a year..."

Staring blankly at the pale green chakra orb successfully condensed within Yu's youthful hands, Yakushi Nonō's face was filled with shock. "Have you already become this proficient at using the Healing Jutsu?"

"Waaaaah!!"

Seeing that Yu was clearly the same age as them, yet after only a year of training, he had not only successfully refined chakra but was already capable of using medical ninjutsu, Urushi's eyes went wide. He began to wail in jealous disbelief, "No way! You guy, Yu! You can actually use ninjutsu already?!"