Ryusei's voice cut through the clamor, calm yet edged.
"I'm sure you've already seen it yourself. This clash is hopeless for Konoha as it stands. Unless a miracle shows up, we're all going to be buried here. So why not follow me, and try to make one?"
Kanae shot him a sharp look, sweat sliding down her temple. "Miracles? Don't start throwing empty words in the middle of this. You talk big, but you can't drag people along with your fantasies."
Ryusei smirked, gaze softening for just a moment, though the curve of his lips remained teasing.
"I know what you're worried about. That you're not strong enough for that, and I can see how spent you are currently as well. But don't worry. That's why I'm planning to give you another 'gift', one even more substantial than before. With it, you won't just recover, you'll be stronger than ever. You'll become an asset and walk away from this with merit under your name. Are you ready?"
Kanae stiffened, caught between suspicion and unease. "What are you scheming now? Do you think dangling some mystery is enough to make me follow blindly?"
Ryusei chuckled, leaning closer as he parried a strike with casual precision.
"Scheming? Maybe. But listen, I wasn't planning on giving this to you so soon. Didn't want you to think I was some creep forcing things on you. But it just so happens I have a technique that suits you perfectly. Call me a genius if you want, a shinobi polymath who tinkers in his spare time. And let's be honest, you'd be hopeless without me right now. If I don't help you, who will?"
Kanae's cheeks flushed despite the battlefield dust, her composure fracturing for a second.
"Tch… you really don't know when to shut up," she muttered, more flustered than angry.
Renjiro laughed from nearby, his tanto cutting another enemy down. "You two should get a room after this. Or maybe he's already using the battlefield as one."
"Shut it, Renjiro," Kanae snapped, eyes darting away.
Ryusei only smiled deeper, brushing the last of the attackers aside.
Once the field around them cleared, he stepped closer, standing in front of her, eyes narrowing in that familiar "gentle" look.
"So then," he asked softly, almost too casually for the weight of his words, "are you ready?"
Kanae retorted coldly, though her voice betrayed a faint tremor. "You really think I'm just going to trail after you because you said so? Don't assume you can pull me around like one of your shadow clones."
And yet, her eyes lingered on him longer than she meant them to.
She was undoubtedly a little moved. Because he was right: logically, following him gave her the only chance to change anything.
If he really intended to strike the enemy commander, then there was at least a sliver of hope for victory, maybe even the kind of merit that could raise her standing in the village and the clan.
And yes, he had guessed right. She was worried. Worried she was already weaker than Renjiro and far behind Ryusei now. Worried she would only drag them down, especially when in her current state.
But then she remembered what her Byakugan had caught earlier: how their captain, once again, deliberately sent Ryusei to the most dangerous section of the battlefield, practically feeding him to death.
Yet he had come back alive. Again. More than alive, he returned radiating a stronger aura than before, walking back through a sea of enemies as if nothing could stop him. And she had seen some of that through her peripheral 360-degree vision.
He wasn't bluffing. He was hiding his strength before. And now, maybe, he was stronger than their captain himself.
And though she hated herself for it, she couldn't deny what her hands had done in secret: she had already read those two manuals he gave her.
They were real, valuable, eye-opening, proof of high-level knowledge she hadn't seen even in the Hyūga archives.
She knew he hadn't lied.
And even though every page turned made her guilt rise, she had still steeled herself and read them, because her hunger for strength was greater.
Because she couldn't throw away even the smallest chance of freedom, not to mention such useful materials.
That guilt stabbed at her chest now, twisting with another fact she couldn't shake, she already liked him. She had steeled herself long ago to never reciprocate, but that didn't erase the truth.
So when he stood there, words both teasing and oddly sincere, she buried her guilt again, buried the knife twisting in her stomach, and forced herself to agree, after some persuasion.
But Ryusei noticed it. He noticed the shadow in her eyes as she answered, and instead of pushing further, he teased her again, letting his smirk lighten the air. Just enough to fluster her, just enough to break the sadness.
Kanae's cheeks flushed, and her lips pressed tight as she snapped, "Idiot."
Renjiro finally had enough, hacking another enemy down before jabbing his tanto toward them. "Hey, can you two save the lovers' quarrel for after we don't die? Some of us are trying to fight a war here."
Ryusei chuckled, eyes narrowing with that villain-gentle look. "You're right, Renjiro. Time to get "serious"."
He turned back to Kanae, his hand brushing faintly across his pouch as he prepared to reveal the "gift."
"Then… let's bring it out."
Ryusei's lips curled into that narrow-eyed grin of his, dangerous and wolfish, as if he had already decided on something.
He didn't reach into his pouch or pull out any scrolls.
Instead, he suddenly stepped forward toward Kanae, his fingers flexing slightly, Yang chakra already sparking to life at his fingertips like faint, glowing claws.
Kanae stiffened instantly. Her Byakugan flared, veins rippling around her temples, her entire body tightening in alarm.
She was already tired and flushed from fighting, sweat dampening the strands of hair clinging to her cheeks, and now, without warning, Ryusei was moving straight at her, close, far too close.
Ryusei didn't bother explaining first. He stepped in close, one arm sliding around her back to keep her steady, his other hand pressing firmly against her stomach just below the ribs, his fingers glowing faintly with green-gold chakra.
Before Kanae could react, Ryusei grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her toward him, his other palm planting firmly against her stomach.
Then, with sudden speed, his glowing hand slid to the small of her back, pressing her body closer as chakra surged in waves. The heat spreading through her body made her knees weak; her face went crimson.
Kanae's breath hitched, her cheeks flared red, and her hands twitched uselessly at her sides. "Y-you—what are you doing, idiot!?" she hissed, face burning, but the warmth flooding her body betrayed her words.