Superficial Wounds

The teacher dropped from the tree and scanned the scene.

Three children: one was leaning against a tree root with a pale face, and another was barely standing, supported by a girl.

A bit further away, an adult lay prone on the ground. His clothes were mostly burned away, and he did not look like a student.

The teacher's brow furrowed, and he walked quickly toward the fallen man.

Tsunade supported Kitahara Kaede.

Her hand rested on his right arm, her touch light, deliberately avoiding the area around his left ribs.

"After the teacher finishes checking, we—"

Her words cut off mid-sentence.

Just as the teacher reached the rogue ninja, the rogue ninja pulled his right hand out from beneath his body.

He clutched a piece of paper in his hand.

An explosive tag, its seal already glowing.

He did not throw it toward the two children, but instead flicked it at the approaching teacher.

The teacher's reaction was instinctive; he leaned his upper body back while his hands were already weaving signs.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

A wall of earth rose from the ground, barely blocking the space between the teacher and the explosive tag.

A muffled explosion sounded, and fragments of earth splattered from the top of the wall.

The teacher was pushed back two steps by the shockwave. His ears rang, and his vision was completely obscured by the wall and the smoke.

He immediately sidestepped to circle the wall—

On the other side of the wall.

The rogue ninja had already sprung up from the ground.

He held a kunai in his hand, charging straight toward Kitahara Kaede and Tsunade.

Kitahara Kaede's chakra was bottomed out. His limbs felt weak and his head was spinning, but his vision remained clear.

He had already seen the man's movements.

Tsunade's hand was still resting on his arm.

Kitahara Kaede gave her a forceful shove.

Tsunade stumbled backward into a bush, her back hitting low branches, and she let out a muffled groan of pain.

She scrambled to get up, pushing aside the leaves blocking her face—

She saw Kitahara Kaede open his right palm, facing the incoming blade.

The kunai pierced through his palm and exited the back of his hand.

Blood dripped down the iron handle.

Kitahara Kaede tightened his five fingers, gripping the kunai and the rogue ninja's hand together in a death lock.

The rogue ninja could neither pull it out nor break free.

Kitahara Kaede lifted his leg and kicked him in the Adam's apple.

The man's trachea had already been scorched by Fire Style, and this kick struck the vital point.

The rogue ninja fell, and this time, he did not get back up.

When the teacher rounded the earth wall, this was the scene he saw.

Kitahara Kaede stood where he was.

His right hand hung limp, the kunai still embedded in his palm, blood dripping onto the mud one drop at a time.

A seven-year-old child.

The teacher's footsteps faltered for a moment before he walked over more quickly.

Kitahara Kaede did not look at the teacher; he turned his head toward the bushes.

Tsunade sat on the ground.

A shallow red mark from a branch streaked across her cheek, but she did not notice.

All her attention was fixed on his right hand, on the kunai that had pierced through it.

Kitahara Kaede raised his left hand and waved it at her.

"Just a superficial wound."

Tsunade's tears fell instantly.

There was no sound; she bit her lip until it turned white, not letting out a single sob, but the tears would not stop.

Watching her like this, the tension in Kitahara Kaede's heart eased slightly.

In truth, his hand hurt a lot.

The pain of the kunai through his palm was dull and heavy, pulsing through his bones with every heartbeat, but it was bearable.

--With this reaction from Tsunade, the score should be high enough.

Thinking this, the pain in his hand seemed less important.

The teacher pressed two fingers against the rogue ninja's carotid artery.

He only withdrew his hand after confirming there was no pulse.

He turned around, his gaze falling on the kunai in Kitahara Kaede's hand, and he fell silent for a moment.

He did not speak first. He pulled bandages and a tube of hemostatic ointment from the inner pocket of his vest.

"...Come here."

Kitahara Kaede walked over and placed his hand in the teacher's palm.

The teacher held his wrist steady with one hand and gripped the handle of the kunai with the other.

"Bear with it."

The kunai was pulled out.

Blood surged from both the palm and the back of his hand, the volume greater than expected.

Kitahara Kaede did not make a sound, though his face turned another shade paler and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

The teacher squeezed the hemostatic ointment into the wound and then wrapped it tightly with three layers of bandage.

His movements were fast, his technique practiced.

After finishing, the teacher looked up at him.

He seemed to want to say something, but stopped.

In the end, he only said: "You have a lot of nerve."

His tone made it unclear whether he was praising or scolding him.

Tsunade walked over and stood beside Kitahara Kaede, neither reaching out nor speaking.

She just stood there.

She was so close that Kitahara Kaede could hear her struggling to control her breathing, trying not to cry again.

Kitahara Kaede's peripheral vision caught another figure.

Jiraiya.

The white-haired boy walked over step by step from the tree root.

One of his hands was still clutching his stomach; his face was pale, and his gait was unsteady.

He had seen the rogue ninja's sudden attack; he had seen everything.

He had wanted to move.

He had wanted to stand up and rush over to do something.

But his legs wouldn't listen, his knees lacked strength, and he had slid down from the tree root only to scramble back up, but by the time he did, it was already over.

Jiraiya's gaze landed on Kitahara Kaede's bandaged right hand and lingered for a few seconds.

Dark red seeped through the bandages.

Jiraiya did not speak.

Kitahara Kaede glanced at him, not dwelling on it.

Jiraiya's emotions were not important; he was not the target of his conquest.

"Let's go back." The teacher stood up, hoisting the rogue ninja's body, "Exercise terminated. Follow me."

The three children followed him down the mountain.

Kitahara Kaede walked in the middle.

Tsunade would occasionally tilt her head as she walked, glancing at his hanging right hand.

Only when the dark red on the bandages stopped spreading did she look away.

A moment later, she would look again.

Jiraiya did not say a word the entire way.

He was usually the most talkative.

He could find something to say in any situation, chasing Tsunade to chat during breaks, and laughing it off even when she snapped at him.

Now, he didn't say a word.

He walked with his head down, staring at the path, occasionally kicking a pebble, not even looking to see where it rolled.

As they neared the school gate, Jiraiya suddenly spoke up.

"Hey."

His voice was very soft, a far cry from his usual volume.

Kitahara Kaede turned his head.

"Teach me."

Two words, with no context.

Kitahara Kaede looked at him for two seconds and thought about it.

Jiraiya.

One of the future "Legendary Sannin" of the Leaf, the Toad Sage, the teacher of the Fourth Hokage.

Right now, he was just a seven-year-old child.

Kicked away by a rogue ninja in one blow, sliding down a tree, watching someone else protect the person he wanted to protect.

But there was something in his eyes.

It wasn't talent; it was something rarer than talent.

"Pass the taijutsu class requirements first."

Kitahara Kaede turned his head back and continued walking.

"...Does that mean you agree?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't."

At the school gate.

The three of them stopped. After the teacher gave a few instructions, he took the rogue ninja away to report.

Tsunade reached out and tugged on the sleeve of Kitahara Kaede's left hand.

"Don't use your hand to catch blades again."

Her voice was flat, as if she were saying "the weather is nice today," or perhaps "if you do that again, I won't talk to you."

Kitahara Kaede looked down at the sleeve she was pinching.

"Okay."

Tsunade let go, stood there for two seconds, and turned to leave.

She walked three steps, then stopped and looked back at him.

"Come on, let's go to the hospital to treat that wound."

Kitahara Kaede followed her.