Chapter 114: The Day After
The chaotic night ended.
Renji collapsed, "exhausted," inside the medical tent. His clones, having completed their mission, had also disappeared.
"You should rest well!" Sakura insisted, taking care of him. Her eyes were filled with both distress and helplessness. "Leave today's patients to me!"
She subconsciously touched Renji's forehead to check for a fever. It was a simple, clinical gesture, but as their eyes met, the action took on an indescribable ambiguity.
Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded from just outside.
Renji frowned, struggling to get up, but Sakura pressed him back down.
"It seems the enemy has started their attack!" Sakura looked at the sky, which was already faintly lit, and then back at Renji. "What you need most right now is rest. Trust me, I can protect you!"
"I want to..."
"Renji, you should also trust the others," Sakura interrupted, knowing what he was going to say. "They can handle it!"
Her green eyes sparkled with determination. Renji lay back down, feigning helplessness.
Sakura stayed by his side, vigilantly guarding the tent entrance.
"Rasengan!"
A familiar voice roared, followed by a violent storm of wind that swept through the entire medical camp. Tents were ripped from their moorings, flapping wildly.
After the storm subsided, the sounds of fighting outside vanished. Naruto had, presumably, eliminated all the invading White Zetsu.
"Renji! Sakura!"
A golden figure burst into the tent. Naruto's appearance had changed significantly. In his new Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode, his entire body was enveloped in a layer of flowing, golden light.
The moment he saw them, a strange feeling flashed through his heart. They seemed... different, somehow. Closer.
He was stunned for a few seconds, then quickly dismissed the feeling. Renji was still Renji, and Sakura was still Sakura. And he was still Naruto. They were still Team Seven.
He strode up to Renji, his gaze sweeping over him. Seeing no new injuries, he felt relieved, and then remembered he was supposed to be angry.
"Hmph! Although you lied to me, Renji, I forgive you!"
Naruto frowned, annoyed. That wasn't what he meant to say. How could he forgive him so easily?
Renji: "..."
"I'm a clone now, so I'll stay here and protect the medical ninja!" the Naruto clone declared. In this mode, he could sense malice, and with Renji so "weak," it was finally his turn to do the protecting. He felt an uncontrollable excitement.
"Am I super handsome right now?" he leaned in to ask.
Sakura's answer was a punch to the head.
"Ow~"
Renji, meanwhile, sat up from the sickbed. "Bring the injured over!" he called out to the ninja outside.
"Yes!"
Treating the wounded was the priority. Severely injured ninja were already retreating from the various battlefields. They had no time to be idle.
Sakura looked at Renji, her eyes filled with worry. He hadn't rested for a day and a night, and the war had already resumed.
A long line of wounded formed outside his tent. Renji treated them with tireless efficiency while the Naruto clone stood guard, instantly striking down any hidden White Zetsu whose malice he sensed.
During the treatment, Renji bent over a patient, and his gaze fell on the crow pendant hanging from his neck. He was curious. This time, without Uchiha Itachi, how would the Allied Forces counter the seemingly unkillable Edo Tensei ninja?
"Naruto, what's wrong?"
The clone beside him had suddenly frozen, staring at him.
"Nothing..." Naruto blinked and shook his head, forcing a smile. "I must have misread it just now!"
Renji raised an eyebrow, finished bandaging the patient, and moved to the next. "What did you sense?"
Naruto smiled, but it seemed stiff. "I... just sensed malice from you... But I know you must have been thinking of the enemy! That's why it happened!"
The patient Renji was working on gave a faint smile. "Could it have been me? I was in a lot of pain, and I was thinking of my fallen comrades... I felt some hatred for the enemy..."
"Yeah, perhaps," Naruto nodded, accepting the explanation.
Renji smiled without speaking. He hadn't hidden it well enough, but he wouldn't make that mistake again.
"This is bad!"
The tent flap was thrown open. An intelligence ninja looked at Renji, his expression grim. "I know you haven't stopped for a day and a night, but... Hasumi Maki has appeared... Only you can stop him..."
The man looked guilty. Everyone in the camp had seen how Renji had worked, tirelessly treating the wounded and then clearing the entire alliance of Zetsu. To send him to an extremely dangerous battlefield now, with no rest, was cruel.
Renji's expression didn't change. He smiled, took off his gloves, and said, "Thank you. I'll go immediately."
He turned to Sakura. "Don't push yourself too hard. Rest when you need to."
Sakura forced a smile. "Okay." 'You're the one who needs rest,' she thought.
Renji then looked at Naruto. "I'm leaving this to you."
"Don't worry," Naruto nodded, his gaze intense. "You must survive!"
Renji was startled by the intensity, then smiled. "Okay."
Of course he had to live. His wheat was almost ripe, and he hadn't even begun to harvest it.
...
Renji's figure disappeared from the medical camp and reappeared in the Mountain Graveyard. He immediately sensed a familiar presence.
In the darkness, a figure slowly walked towards him. The dim light caught the crimson glow of an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 1,000,000!]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 1,000,000!]
[Chakra (303,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
Renji raised an eyebrow. Why did Sasuke have so much malice towards him?
"What exactly is your goal?" Sasuke asked, his voice cold.
He felt as if a stranger was standing in front of him. He thought he understood Renji, but now he realized he understood nothing. If Renji was protecting him for Itachi's sake, why was he now siding with Madara and starting this war? And why, as he'd just learned, was he also posing as a hero for the Allied Forces?
Sasuke had just returned from Ryuchi Cave. He hadn't revealed Renji's identity, but he needed answers.
"My goal?" Renji repeated. His answer was calm and righteous. "I am for the entire ninja world."
Sasuke's lips curled in sarcasm.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 1,000,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 1,000,000]
[Chakra (304,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
"The tragedy of the Uchiha, your brother's tragedy... I don't want to see it repeat," Renji said calmly. "The ninja world is full of conflict. I want it to be peaceful forever. This is what I want to do."
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 1,000,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 1,000,000]
[Chakra (305,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
Sasuke stared at him, teeth clenched. He didn't understand why Renji, a non-Uchiha, cared so much. Was it all just for Itachi?
He had spent his life trying to escape Itachi's shadow, only to be bound to him again by the truth, by Konoha's hatred, and by Renji's deception.
Sasuke was lost. He needed answers, needed someone to tell him which way to go. He once thought Renji could be that person, but now Renji himself was lost in a darkness he couldn't see.
"Sasuke, will you stand by my side?" Renji asked.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 500,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 500,000]
[Chakra (305,665,000 / 400,000,000)]
Sasuke looked at him for a few seconds, then passed him by, his face a mask. "I won't stand with anyone."
Renji had never truly stood by him. Why should he stand by Renji?
Sasuke walked towards the Land of Iron. Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin were imprisoned there. He had to rescue them. And after that? He didn't know.
Konoha was destroyed. The higher-ups were dead. Itachi's revenge seemed... complete. So what was left?
Revenge on Renji?
Sasuke didn't know what he wanted, but he knew what he didn't want. He didn't want to live in Renji's illusory peace.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 500,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 500,000]
[Chakra (306,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
He wanted Renji's wish to fail.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 1,000,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 1,000,000]
[Chakra (307,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
He wanted Renji to be utterly disappointed.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 1,000,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 1,000,000]
[Chakra (308,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
He wanted Renji to realize his mistake and suffer, just like him.
[Ding!]
[Human Malice Value detected: 2,000,000]
[Cursed Energy converted to Chakra: 2,000,000]
[Chakra (310,165,000 / 400,000,000)]
The Allied Forces meant nothing to him. He simply wanted to oppose Renji.
Renji stood still, watching Sasuke's departing back, his expression unreadable. Was Sasuke crazy? That much malice?
He gripped the crow pendant as Hasumi Maki appeared beside him.
"Did Kabuto dig a hole and hide?" Hasumi Maki said, looking around.
Renji nodded. Obito didn't trust Kabuto, so Kabuto had hidden himself somewhere completely safe to control the Edo Tensei. Hasumi Maki had left a Flying Thunder God mark on him, but he must have shed his skin and left the marked flesh far away.
"Main business," Hasumi Maki said, sitting cross-legged. Several lumps of light blue flesh fell from him onto the ground and wriggled toward Renji.
Renji picked one up and began to knead it. At first, rubbing his own flesh had felt strange, but now it was like kneading ordinary clay. Magical clay that became living clones.
The lump slowly grew a mouth, nose, and limbs in his hands.
"Mom..."
SLAP.
Renji slapped the new clone across the face. She covered her cheek, pouting.
"Who are you?" Renji asked, staring at the clone, who looked identical to Rin Nohara.
"Rin Nohara," she stammered.
"I've touched Obito and Kakashi's souls. Use their memories to piece together her image. Don't use that form of address again."
His clones were literally pieces of flesh that fell from his body, and a few disobedient ones always tried to call him 'Mom'. Reasoning didn't work. Slapping did.
Hasumi Maki watched enviously. He wanted to knead clones, too, but only the main body could split.
Renji continued his meticulous sculpting. In a short while, a perfect Uchiha Izuna was produced.
Having learned from Rin's experience, Izuna didn't say the forbidden word. Instead, he pointed at his eyes. "What about my Sharingan?"
Renji could create identical faces, but not hereditary Bloodline Limits. He extended his palm, and a pair of Sharingan detached from his flesh.
"These are Shisui's. No one will find out. You have my cells, which are upgraded from Hashirama's. You can use Shisui's abilities freely, but Kotoamatsukami has a ten-minute time limit."
Izuna smiled, plucked out his own fake eyeballs, and replaced them with the real ones.
Hasumi Maki looked at the two new clones, his eyebrows raised. No matter how many clones the main body made, only he had the main body's face. He was the first, and he was different.
Renji looked at the last lump of flesh and began to knead it. A woman wearing a black headscarf and black-rimmed glasses appeared.
Hasumi Maki snickered. He had touched Kabuto's soul; he knew who this was. "Kabuto will be furious..."
It was Yakushi Nono, the orphanage director from Kabuto's memories.
Footsteps approached. Renji sensed Kimimaro.
He stood up and walked out of the cave. Kimimaro stood beneath the giant beast's skeleton, his eyes empty.
"I am willing to follow you and become your weapon."
Renji recalled that with Orochimaru dead, Kimimaro, a living weapon, had lost his purpose. Renji had granted him a second life, so Kimimaro now saw him as a new master.
Renji had no need to correct Kimimaro's values. A weapon didn't need a complex mind, just sharpness. And he had a perfect job for him.
Renji's hand rested on Kimimaro's head. After examining his soul, he spoke.
"Go to Konoha. Bring the ROOT ninja here, by my command." He carved a Flying Thunder God Mark onto Kimimaro's arm.
"Yes," Kimimaro nodded.
Renji looked at the new clones. "The same goes for you. Only come out when I need you. I'm going back."
He calculated the time. Uchiha Madara should be appearing soon. He had to prepare to earn more malice.
"Goodbye, little brother," Hasumi Maki waved.
Renji glanced at him, and his figure disappeared.
"So fierce," Hasumi Maki pouted.
"You call the main body 'little brother,'" Rin Nohara said. "How can he not be fierce?"
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