With the medical ninja's treatment, Gekko Chizan naturally recovered.
When the man finally pulled the Kusanagi Blade out of his abdomen—oh boy, that hurt.
The pain made Gekko Chizan grit his teeth. After all, ever since he'd mastered both his Bloodline Limit and the Flying Thunder God Technique, he'd barely taken any real damage.
His motto was simple: safety first, running away second. Defeating opponents? Tch—yeah, no thanks. That had nothing to do with him.
"This sword… it really is Orochimaru's personal blade—the Kusanagi, huh?"
"He didn't take it with him?"
The medical ninja stared at the sword in his hands, eyes wide with shock. This was no ordinary weapon—it was a divine blade, incomparably sharp.
Even as a medical ninja, just holding it gave him a strange sense of dominance—like he could ask the world who could possibly stand against him.
But the next second, Gekko Chizan snatched the Kusanagi Blade from his hands so fast that everyone watching could barely react.
"What? What are you doing! Robbing me?"
"I'll tell you this—sure, you treated my injuries, but this sword is my trophy. Uh, wait, no… not exactly a trophy."
"Whatever. I got stabbed for it, so it's mine, end of story."
Even though his face was twisted from blood loss and pain, the greed on Gekko Chizan's face made everyone present freeze.
They'd seen people who loved money, and they'd seen people who cherished their lives—but this guy? He loved both—and he'd risk his life for either.
"This is what I snatched from my damn sensei."
"He actually dared to ambush me…"
"If I hadn't reacted in time, that stab would've taken out my kidney! Hmph, just wait—one day I will get my revenge!"
Gekko Chizan's voice was sharp and fierce. Though his face was pale, his aura was vicious enough to make several ANBU twitch at the brow.
"Alright, Blot, how's his condition?"
The medical ninja called Blot nodded. After his treatment, Gekko Chizan's wound had already closed up. What surprised him most, though, was that despite how bad it had looked, the injury wasn't that serious.
Most of the damage avoided vital areas. He'd mostly just lost a lot of blood—but nothing critical.
"Good. Prepare to return to the village. What happened here must be reported to Hokage-sama immediately."
"Root, huh…"
"Gekko Chizan, are you alright to move?"
Gekko Chizan felt his wounds had mostly healed. He stood up shakily, clearly irritated.
"Even if I said I couldn't move, would you let me go soak in a hot spring instead?"
"Let's go. But do me a favor—run a little slower. I am an injured man, after all."
"Hey, you—Blot, right? Keep an eye on me, will you? If I start bleeding again, I'll need your help."
Blot: …
ANBU Captain: …
This guy had no shame whatsoever.
"Continue patrolling the border. If you spot any trace of Orochimaru, don't engage—return immediately."
"And clean up the area while you're at it. This is a main road in the Land of Fire—we can't leave it like this."
"We'll head back first."
The ANBU Captain personally led the team escorting Gekko Chizan back to the village, while another squad began clearing the battlefield.
Every trace—mud walls, snake corpses—was to be completely erased.
Seeing this, Gekko Chizan couldn't help but snicker internally. Whatever the case, he'd made it through. Once he was back in the village, with no witnesses, no one could pin the blame on him.
And with Orochimaru's Kusanagi Blade in hand, even Danzō would have nothing to say.
At most, they'd question why he'd suddenly returned to Konoha and what his connection was with Yakushi Nonō.
He already had a reasonable explanation ready.
"Hey, Captain—we can't go back to the village just yet."
"Huh? What do you mean? Don't tell me you actually want to chase Orochimaru?"
The ANBU Captain shot Gekko Chizan a puzzled look—but the next words that came out of Chizan's mouth nearly made him stumble and fall flat on his face.
Gekko Chizan grinned, completely oblivious to how absurd he sounded.
"Captain, look—I'm injured, I've lost a lot of blood, and I'm starving."
"I'm seriously too hungry to move."
Speechless. Absolutely speechless. How in the world had this guy become one of Konoha's Twin Stars???
Even though the ANBU Captain clearly didn't want to, he had no choice. After all, man can't live on air—he had to eat.
So they ended up returning to a nearby town to let Gekko Chizan have a proper meal.
And to be fair, he wasn't lying—he really was hungry.
He'd lost a lot of blood and endured a lot of pain. Wasn't it natural to eat a bit to recover?
But "a bit" turned into a feast. He ate from afternoon straight into the night, leaving the four ANBU utterly dumbfounded.
Watching him devour food reminded them of one particular Konoha clan.
The Akimichi clan.
And mind you, Gekko Chizan was eating barbecue. The bastard ate enough for ten men!
Gekko Chizan didn't care in the slightest. Chōmei had already explained everything to him.
The combination of tailed beast chakra and scale powder had preserved his body—but he still needed to replenish his blood.
Tailed beast chakra stimulated physical recovery, but it consumed bodily energy. The scale powder—Chōmei's new invention—acted like an adrenaline booster.
The result of both was the same: massive energy depletion, which naturally led to extreme hunger and the need to eat.
After stuffing himself full, Gekko Chizan was completely satisfied. Leaning back in his chair, he casually lit a cigarette, looking as content as could be.
"Gekko Chizan, now that you've eaten your fill, we should move out."
"Yeah, yeah, fine, let's go already—you're like a damn grim reaper."
ANBU Captain: …Forget it.
...
Under the moonlight, the four ANBU and Gekko Chizan raced forward at high speed.
Suddenly, the ANBU Captain spoke. "Gekko Chizan, tell me—why were you working with Yakushi Nonō?"
"You're ANBU too, so you know who she is."
Gekko Chizan wasn't surprised by the question.
What surprised him was that ANBU had shown up to extract him in the first place.
His expression darkened as he unleashed the full force of his acting skills.
"Orochimaru told me…"
"Back during the battle in the Land of Rivers, he took me to that orphanage."
"As for why I was escorting Yakushi Nonō—hah, no big mystery. Money. A black market mission."
"But I didn't expect the mission to have been issued by Orochimaru himself—and that he'd actually want his own disciple dead."
"Orochimaru…"
His tone turned cold, and the killing intent radiating from him was palpable—enough to make the four ANBU tense up in silence.
The ANBU Captain nodded, seemingly convinced for now. After all, if he really had been betrayed by his own teacher, it was no wonder that his resentment ran so deep.