Chapter 60 – End of Rest and Reflection
That afternoon, as soon as Rin returned to the Academy, she was immediately cornered—by none other than Obito.
Earlier that morning, Obito had walked into class and instantly noticed Rin's absence.
At first, he wasn't too concerned—she was occasionally late.
But when the first lesson ended and her seat was still empty, panic set in.
He couldn't focus for the rest of the period. His eyes kept flicking toward the door, his pencil rolling aimlessly across the desk.
Naturally, his distraction didn't escape the teacher's notice.
"Obito, pay attention!" barked Yamada-sensei, earning a ripple of laughter from the class.
But even a scolding wasn't enough to quiet the turmoil in Obito's chest.
So when he finally spotted Rin that afternoon, he dashed toward her as if his life depended on it.
"Rin! Where were you this morning? I was worried sick!"
His voice was full of genuine panic.
"Ah—" Rin blinked, surprised but touched by his concern. "I went to Taichi's house. I'd promised him I'd ask about some medical ninjutsu."
"You're learning medical ninjutsu!?" Obito's shout echoed down the hall, drawing curious stares from nearby students.
He, however, was already lost in his imagination—Rin healing his wounds with gentle green chakra, smiling softly down at him... drool almost slipping from the corner of his mouth.
Then the realization hit.
"Wait a minute—you went to Taichi's house!?"
A dark storm of mortification crossed his face.
"Rin, a girl shouldn't just go to a boy's house alone!" he stammered, trying to sound righteous. Then, muttering under his breath, "If she's gonna visit someone's house, it should be mine..."
"What was that, Obito?" Rin turned red to her ears as she caught his mumbling, and her fist shot out in reflex.
"W-wait—!"
A quick thump and a yelp later, Obito was rubbing his head, looking thoroughly defeated.
At that moment, Kurenai approached, saving him from further punishment.
"Rin, you really went to Taichi to study medical ninjutsu?" she asked curiously.
"But he only just became a genin himself. Is he really good enough to teach someone else?"
"You've forgotten already?" Rin replied, puffing her cheeks slightly. "Taichi used to intern at the hospital every single vacation! And even Lady Tsunade herself approved of his skills!"
"Tsunade-sama!?" Kurenai's eyes lit up. "If that's true, I want to learn too! Do you think Taichi would teach me?"
At that, Asuma, who had been following her, nearly choked.
"Kurenai, you're supposed to be learning your clan's genjutsu! Where are you gonna find the time to study medical ninjutsu too?"
"Oh… right." Kurenai blinked, realizing he had a point.
And just like that, the crisis was diffused, replaced by the usual chatter and laughter that carried them through the rest of the day's classes.
---
The next morning, Rin arrived at Taichi's house right on time.
When Taichi opened the door, however, he found not one, but two visitors waiting on his doorstep.
Rin looked a little embarrassed, clutching her bag tightly.
Obito stood beside her, grinning awkwardly.
"Taichi, I'm so sorry," Rin said quickly. "When Obito found out I was coming here to study, he insisted on coming along too. I tried to stop him, but…"
Taichi stared at the pair for a moment, then sighed inwardly.
Would he be angry? Of course not.
After all, he knew exactly what Obito's real reason was.
This was the same boy who, in another timeline, would have torn the world apart for Rin's sake.
"It's fine," Taichi said easily. "We're all friends, right? Teaching one person or two doesn't make much difference."
But even as he spoke, a mischievous glint flickered in his eyes.
"By the way, Obito," he added casually, "Rin took an official leave from the Academy to come here. Did you get permission from school?"
His tone was mild—but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"You know… unexcused absences usually mean a visit from your guardian, right?"
The color drained from Obito's face.
He froze like a man struck by lightning, already imagining the furious scolding from his grandmother.
"Ah! I—I didn't ask for leave!" he yelped. "What do I do!? What do I do!?"
He glanced at the clock—ten minutes before class started.
"Taichi, I'll come back tomorrow! I'll get permission then! Just—don't bully Rin, okay!?"
The words tumbled out in a panic as he bolted down the street toward the Academy.
By the time his last sentence drifted back on the wind, he was already gone.
Taichi and Rin stared after him for a moment, then burst out laughing at the same time.
---
Once they composed themselves, Rin settled in for another day of study.
Under Taichi's patient instruction, she practiced chakra control and healing techniques, her expression serious and focused.
And as the sunlight filtered softly through the window, time slipped by unnoticed—
quiet, steady, and full of purpose, like water flowing gently downstream.
Rin continued studying under Taichi until the very last day of his break.
It's worth mentioning that Obito—after all his fuss—never did manage to get permission for leave.
When the teacher found out the reason for his absence, he got thoroughly scolded on the spot.
"You? A boy who barely scrapes by in theory exams, and you want to learn medical ninjutsu? What a joke!"
Or so Yamada-sensei was heard to say.
---
"Rin," Taichi said as he saw her off that afternoon, "I won't be able to teach you tomorrow. My break's over—I'll be starting missions again."
"Ah, that's a shame," Rin said, her voice tinged with disappointment. "But thank you so much for teaching me these past few days."
"No need to be too sad," Taichi replied with a small smile. "If you ever run into trouble or have questions, you can always come find me. After all—"
He paused, his eyes glinting with amusement.
"You are technically my very first disciple."
Rin giggled, and Taichi couldn't help laughing along.
The air between them was light, warm, and content—a comfortable quiet born of mutual respect and camaraderie.
---
After seeing Rin off, Taichi returned home and began organizing his ninja tools.
Judging by the pattern of recent assignments, he was fairly certain their next mission would be another C-rank—a step above the simple errands of the past.
That meant he needed to prepare as though for a proper field operation: every kunai, tag, and ration pill accounted for.
As he packed, his mind drifted back to the past few days of study.
Tsunade's scrolls were packed with high-level medical techniques—most of which would take months, if not years, to master.
But through constant effort, he had already grasped one of them: the Living Tissue Regeneration Technique.
It was, without exaggeration, a miracle of ninjutsu—one that allowed a healer to use a patient's own living tissue as a medium, transforming it through chakra manipulation to reconstruct damaged or missing cells.
In theory, it could regrow limbs or restore lost organs—provided the user's skill and chakra control were extraordinary enough.
But the technique's flaw was severe:
it required a massive amount of chakra and precise control beyond what most could handle.
That was why it was almost always performed by multiple medical-nin working together.
And even then, coordination made success exponentially harder.
The more healers involved, the greater the chance of failure.
A technique that could defy death itself… yet few dared to use it.
It wasn't because it lacked power—
but because it demanded perfection.
---
Thinking about this, Taichi instinctively glanced at his status panel.
---
Name: Matsushita Taichi
Rank: Genin Lv.4 (151 / 600)
Talents: Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Scholar, Enhanced
Age: 8
Stats:
Constitution: 21
Strength: 20
Agility: 18
Spirit: 23
Chakra: 16,400 / 16,400
Attribute Points: 14
Skill Points: 16
Nature Transformations:
Fire Nature Lv.7 (681 / 1200)
Wind Nature Lv.7 (746 / 1200)
Water Nature Lv.7 (462 / 1200)
Yang Nature Lv.6 (639 / 1000)
Yin Nature Lv.3 (24 / 400)
Chakra Control: Lv.6 (2 / 1000)
Chakra Shape Manipulation: Lv.6 (797 / 1000)
Skills:
Advanced Taijutsu Lv.1 (220 / 2000)
Advanced Meditation Lv.1 (334 / 2000)
Advanced Kenjutsu Lv.0 (820 / 1000)
Derived Skill: Blade Pressure (A Blade for Protection)
Medical Ninjutsu:
Mystical Palm Technique (B-rank) Lv.9 (459 / 1600)
Delicate Illness Extraction Technique (B-rank) Lv.8 (493 / 1400)
Chakra Scalpel (A-rank) Lv.6 (494 / 1000)
Living Tissue Regeneration (A-rank) Lv.2 (121 / 200)
---
Evaluation:
As expected of Konoha's genin—logic simply doesn't apply to you lot.
With this level of ability, how are you still a genin?
Aiming for the title of Eternal Genin, are we?
---
Taichi chuckled at the remark, but the smile that followed was one of quiet pride.
His chakra reserves now exceeded 16,000 units—a number comparable to elite jōnin.
Most fully-grown shinobi barely surpassed 10,000.
And he was only eight years old, still far from his physical prime.
His body would continue to grow stronger, his chakra capacity expanding with it.
It wasn't arrogance—it was confidence.
At this rate, one day his chakra might rival that of a tailed beast.
And when that day came, the impossible would become achievable.
He would be able to perform Living Tissue Regeneration alone—
without assistants, without limits.
That, Taichi thought as he closed his gear pouch with quiet resolve,
would be the day his medical ninjutsu finally reached Tsunade's level—
and perhaps, someday, even surpassed it.
---