Chapter 34: One Month
An hour later!
Seeing the figure finally collapse on the ground below, Kael let out a sigh of relief.
"Jonin have incredible stamina. He actually lasted this long against a constant barrage of ninjutsu..."
He commanded the Wind Eagle to descend slowly. Looking at the eagle, which seemed somewhat drained, Kael could only offer a wry smile.
"Is he really dead?" one of the instructors asked, his face full of disbelief. They had all been shocked by the Jashinist Jonin's sheer will to survive during the chase.
"No signs of life. He should be dead," Kael nodded. He turned to look behind them. A figure was rapidly leaping through the treetops, catching up to them. It was Watanabe Musashi.
"Hah..." He landed lightly, letting out a heavy breath. He looked at the heavily wounded Jashinist Jonin on the ground, a look of relief in his eyes. After fighting for so long and then chasing at full speed, even he felt exhausted.
SWISH!
He flicked his wrist, sending a shuriken straight into the center of the man's back, right where his heart was. The body twitched slightly but showed no other reaction.
Watanabe turned to Kael with a smile. "Just a habit, making sure. Let's go back. Rino-sensei and Izumi-sensei are still unconscious. It's not safe for Rei to be watching over them alone."
"Right." Now that he mentioned it, Kael agreed it wasn't right to leave Rei alone. He nodded.
"Little Wind, sorry to trouble you for one more trip," he said with a smile to the listless eagle.
"Chirp... hungry..."
Grrrrrumble...
A loud growl echoed from its stomach.
"Hahaha! I understood that one! The big guy's hungry!" Watanabe laughed.
"I'll let you go find food soon, you useless thing," Kael grumbled good-naturedly. "Let's go!" he called, signaling for everyone to mount the Wind Eagle.
When Kael arrived back at the original battlefield, he found Inoshita and Izumi lying side-by-side. Rei was kneeling beside Inoshita, her hands glowing with a faint green light as she pressed them against his abdomen, sweat beading on her forehead as she administered treatment.
"Healing Jutsu?" Watanabe's voice held a note of pleasant surprise as he quickly jumped down from the eagle. "Rei, how are the instructors?"
She wiped the sweat from her face with one hand. "Both senseis have internal injuries and have exhausted their chakra. They're unconscious," she reported softly.
During the past few days, she hadn't participated in the battles, instead focusing all her time on cramming medical knowledge. Although the Hidden Hot Water Village had few medical texts, and only the most basic Healing Jutsu, it was enough for her current needs. Through diligent practice day after day, she had finally mastered it.
"Yes, excellent! Our village has another medical-nin!" Watanabe said, clearly pleased. "They're such a scarce resource. The Village Leader has been trying to recruit some, but he doesn't know where to look. And the famous medical-nin in the world wouldn't give our small village the time of day. So, the Leader decided we had to train our own, but we haven't had much success these past few years. I never expected little Rei here to have a talent for medical ninjutsu..." The other instructors nodded in agreement, feeling the same mix of surprise and relief.
Only Kael pursed his lips. "Rei is my little sister. Don't go getting any ideas. I won't allow her to be sent on any dangerous missions!"
"We know you're protective, kid, but I didn't realize how protective," Watanabe said, exasperated but amused. "Don't worry, the village isn't completely without medical-nin. We wouldn't send a young girl out on dangerous missions. She insisted on coming this time..."
Medical-nin were always in high demand in the Shinobi World. Injuries were commonplace in battle, making medics essential for any faction. This was especially true given the prevalence of poison users, particularly from the Hidden Sand Village, who often coated their weapons, shuriken, and even puppets with toxins. Of course, Kael wasn't likely to encounter shinobi from the major nations anytime soon.
After encountering the Jashinist Jonin squad, Kael's team didn't run into any cultists stronger than a Chunin for the next month. They roughly estimated they had killed between 180 and 200 Jashinists during that time.
Initially, Kael had participated in the fights, but he soon found the repetitive, one-sided battles pointless, except for practicing his ninjutsu. He eventually decided to spend his time extracting chakra instead.
Inoshita and the others noticed, with some curiosity, that whenever they stopped to rest, Kael would gather strange materials he found lying around and would often stare at them blankly.
"All this time, and I haven't found a single green-quality material. Just like with creatures of unknown rank, the system's criteria for judging these materials is giving me a headache..."
In a forest clearing, Kael's team was taking a break. While the others chatted or napped, Kael sat in a quiet corner, deep in thought. He was getting closer to his goal of being able to synthesize a D-rank summon, but the lack of green-quality materials was frustrating.
"The rank of a creature depends on its strength, maybe even its intelligence. So, what about materials...?"
As he pondered, an idea struck him. He stood up and walked over to Watanabe Musashi, who was resting with his eyes closed.
"Need something?" Watanabe opened his bloodshot eyes as Kael approached.
"Captain, could I borrow your ninja blade for a moment?" Kael asked, feeling slightly awkward but getting straight to the point.
"My blade?" Watanabe looked surprised but handed it over without question.
The moment Kael touched the sword, a notification popped up in his system.
[Material: Ninja Blade]
Quality: Green
Kael raised an eyebrow slightly and handed the blade back. Then, he pulled out his own kunai.
[Material: Kunai]
Quality: White
"Captain, is this blade made with some kind of special metal?" Kael asked, sitting down next to Watanabe, making it clear he wasn't leaving without an answer.
Watanabe rolled his eyes, clearly wanting to be left alone. "You just jump from one thing to another, don't you? I need to sleep..."
"Captain, this is important to me," Kael interrupted, his voice serious.
"Hah..." Watanabe sighed. "Yes, this blade has a small amount of special material mixed in. We call it chakra metal. It's been known in the Shinobi World for a long time. Because it conducts chakra exceptionally well, it's always been incredibly expensive. I bought a piece the size of my fingertip on the black market, and it cost me a hundred thousand Ryo."
Kael nodded silently, then asked, "Are there many materials like this chakra metal? If I wanted some, where could I get it?"
"I don't know how common it is, but you can only find small quantities supplied within the Five Great Shinobi Villages. A small place like the Hidden Hot Water doesn't have any. Outside the major villages, your only chance is to try your luck in the capital cities or some black markets..." Watanabe shook his head and replied faintly.