"I'm just more relaxed around people I know better," Kiyohara said.
"So you're saying… I'm closer to you than Rin is?" Kurenai asked.
"What do you think?" he replied, tossing the question back at her instead of answering.
Her eyes sparked vaguely like a lion about to roar, and Kiyohara simply reached out and ruffled her hair.
It was soft and smooth—she'd clearly washed it that morning, still carrying that faint, clean scent of soap.
"Hmph. Cut it out," Kurenai said, stepping back.
Did this guy not know that messing with someone's head like that would stunt their growth?
If she didn't grow taller in the future, she'd absolutely blame Kiyohara.
"Here. The genjutsu notes you wanted."
She pulled a notebook from her cloak and handed it to him. Inside were her handwritten genjutsu insights.
"Thanks, Kurenai. Seriously," Kiyohara said.
He'd only mentioned offhand that he wanted to study genjutsu. He hadn't expected her to actually write up a notebook for him.
As expected… his stomach was bad.
He was made to eat soft food.
"No payment?" Kurenai asked, hand on her hip, as if to show how hard she'd worked.
Seeing the hint of proud tsundere on her face, Kiyohara pulled another piece of candy from his pouch.
"For you."
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the candy.
Next time, she'd need to bring more good snacks to the front.
She took it, unwrapped it, and flicked her tongue lightly over the glossy surface. The sweetness washed a bit of the fatigue from her bones.
War life was far too bitter; right now, all she wanted was more sugar.
"You're already good at swordsmanship, now you're learning medical ninjutsu and genjutsu. Can you really keep up with all that?" she asked, tucking the candy into her cheek.
"Maybe," Kiyohara answered, flipping open the notebook.
Her handwriting was much neater than Tsunade's scrawl, elegant and clean.
He'd inherited swordsman Kiyohara's Yang affinity and Yin affinity, and on top of that, Leaf-Style: Willow—a sword art that was essentially S-rank genjutsu with steel.
He was starting to feel that his potential in genjutsu was actually quite good.
Being able to learn an S-rank difficulty technique at all was already a sign of talent—and that was layered into him now.
It was just that, up to this point, he'd focused more on swordsmanship.
Now he was training genjutsu because he'd noticed a problem—
He had no interrogation tools.
If he knew genjutsu, he could've kept Mashiro and interrogated her himself.
"Seriously?" Kurenai clearly didn't buy it.
She leaned closer and flipped to a specific page.
On it, she'd written out a simple D-rank beginner genjutsu.
"Try this one," she said.
The technique was called Phantom Light Technique—a genjutsu that created a faint glow in one's hand to trick the senses.
"Hmm… so like this, I guess."
Kiyohara studied it for a moment.
His mental energy now was way beyond that of a normal shinobi; in other words, his Yin chakra was strong.
He tried the pattern once—
And got it.
From Kurenai's perspective, he skimmed the page once, thought quietly for a few seconds—
Then a tiny point of light appeared in his hand.
"You—you used some kind of genjutsu on me, didn't you?" she demanded, eyes wide.
She couldn't believe he'd picked it up that fast.
Could Kiyohara really be… a genjutsu prodigy?
One look and done?
Teaching him swordsmanship had been a waste, then.
"Isn't this just the genjutsu?" Kiyohara asked, wiggling his glowing fingertip in front of her.
She could see the light clearly.
He really had learned it.
Kurenai's face froze.
She suddenly felt like all her years of hard work in genjutsu had been called into question.
Back when she'd learned this technique, she'd spent far, far more time than this.
"Maybe I just train a bit harder than most people," Kiyohara said gently.
He'd simply stacked the work of multiple future selves.
They were all versions of him—he was just cashing in early.
"What, afraid I'll surpass you?" he teased when he saw her still sulking.
"Who—who's afraid of that? You think I'm that petty?" she huffed, cheeks puffed out.
She wasn't the type to get jealous just because someone else learned faster.
"Then you're very generous," he said with a small grin.
He took the opportunity to ask for more genjutsu—and, as an exchange, showed some of the ninjutsu he knew.
"You know this many jutsu?" she said, stunned.
"Some of them I only know on paper," he said.
A lot of them were things he'd copied down from his future selves. He hadn't actually trained them yet.
Only the inherited jutsu came with built-in proficiency; he just had to integrate them.
After swapping a few basic genjutsu and practical ninjutsu tips, Kiyohara said goodbye and headed toward the woods at the edge of the camp.
He needed to get much smoother with Magnet Release and weave it together with what he already had.
Magnet Release had a very high ceiling—it all depended on how you used it.
He hadn't gone far when he heard a group of med-nin chatting excitedly as they passed.
"Did you hear? Tsunade-sama is coming to the front soon!"
"Really? That's amazing. With Tsunade-sama here, the wounded might actually be okay."
"Yeah, I heard they're bringing her in to prepare for a possible large-scale clash—"
"Tsunade's really coming?" Kiyohara thought, pulse skipping.
That was big news.
Rin's medical ninjutsu was solid—but limited by age and experience.
She'd taught him a lot already; there wasn't much more she could add.
But Tsunade… the top medical ninja in the world.
Even a little bit of guidance from her could massively boost his medical skill and survivability.
The question was—
How to get close, and how to make her willing to teach?
He thought about her hemophobia—which should be severe by now.
And her personality—
Very distinctive.
This would require careful planning.
At the very least, gambling and money were an obvious angle.
He shelved those thoughts for the moment and stepped into the forest, focusing on Magnet Release.
He summoned Magnet Kiyohara and asked questions whenever he hit a sticking point.
Then he began focusing on repulsion.
As he ramped up his output, the force under his feet became unpredictable.
He nearly launched himself into the dirt several times, landing in undignified clouds of dust.
But with his strong mind, inherited talent, and Magnet Kiyohara's explanations, he gradually found the trick.
He could now create short bursts of explosive acceleration, moving faster than his full-power Leaf Body Flicker—for a moment.
He was laying the groundwork for the next step.
Which was—
Flight.