Chapter 225
Inside the small tent, Taichi stood behind Yōhei as a warm green glow enveloped his head, causing Yōhei to reveal an expression of pure comfort.
Nearby, Saori waited quietly, a gentle smile lingering in her eyes.
After a long while, once Taichi finished the treatment, he still couldn't help reminding them again.
"Make sure you always carry the custom Flying Thunder God kunai I gave you."
"If you run into an enemy you can't handle, contact me immediately through it."
"Staying alive is the most important thing."
"Don't try to play hero."
"Relax, Taichi," Yōhei replied with a grin, clearly trying to break Taichi's overly worried mood. "I value my life quite a lot, you know."
"Yeah? I'd love to believe that."
Taichi rolled his eyes at him irritably.
"I wonder whose leadership it was that got a squad member stabbed clean through the chest by two mediocre opponents."
"He nearly died, remember?"
"Ahem— alright, alright, my fault!"
Yōhei hurriedly apologized.
He knew very well that if Taichi kept going, even the embarrassing stories from his academy days would probably get dragged out next.
Fortunately, Taichi wasn't the type to cling endlessly to someone's mistakes.
Since Yōhei admitted fault, he let the matter drop.
"Saori, after your sealing tag was used up last time, I never made you a replacement."
"Later I'll head to logistics and request some materials."
"I'll prepare another one for you."
Taichi continued arranging things one by one for after his departure.
Ever since their squad formed after graduation, they had almost always operated together.
Even during wartime, thanks to Taichi's Flying Thunder God Technique, they could still meet frequently.
But this time was different.
Taichi was returning to Konoha alone.
Once future mission assignments changed, they likely wouldn't continue operating as the same team anymore.
And without staying nearby constantly, taking care of them would become far more difficult.
Perhaps sensing Taichi's mood, Yōhei forced a carefree smile.
"Don't make it sound like life and death."
"You still need to keep treating my eyes regularly."
"We'll have plenty of chances to meet again."
"And besides, with Flying Thunder God, you can appear in an instant whenever you want."
"What, is Jiraiya-sama really going to accuse you of illegally entering camp?"
Taichi merely smiled without answering.
Jiraiya probably wouldn't care.
But other people in the camp might.
This place wasn't united as a single solid block.
Still, those were thoughts he kept to himself.
Instead, he deliberately changed the topic—partly because he genuinely wanted to explore it further in the future.
"By the way, Yōhei…"
"I've been thinking about researching genjutsu."
"Especially Sharingan genjutsu."
"I want to personally experience how it differs from ordinary illusion techniques."
"Use one on me."
"Uh…"
Yōhei instantly looked awkward.
"Taichi, you know what I'm like."
"I'm basically hopeless at genjutsu."
"The few basic illusions I know can't even fool an elite chūnin."
"They definitely won't work on you."
It wasn't that Yōhei never tried to learn.
Back when he first awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, he had specifically returned to the clan to study genjutsu seriously.
But every time he opened those dense explanations, his brain practically shut down.
Separated individually, he understood every word.
Put together?
Complete confusion.
Later, after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, he tried again.
That experience only convinced him of one thing—
Talent truly was determined by fate.
If you lacked aptitude, then you lacked aptitude.
Unlocking the Mangekyō wouldn't suddenly make genjutsu as easy as ordinary ninjutsu.
As a result, even now, Yōhei only truly mastered two basic illusions:
Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique and Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.
"I'm not asking you to actually trap me."
"I just want to feel the difference."
Truthfully, despite having an Uchiha teammate standing right beside him—and one possessing the Mangekyō Sharingan at that—Taichi still knew surprisingly little about true Uchiha genjutsu.
Mostly because the particular Uchiha beside him was utterly unreliable in that field.
And despite rarely using genjutsu himself, that absolutely didn't mean Taichi was weak at it.
Anyone underestimating his Level 9 Yin Release transformation would be making a huge mistake.
That alone already placed his illusion abilities firmly at jōnin level.
He simply preferred not to use them often.
Not to mention—
With a Spirit attribute reaching thirty points, almost nobody could realistically shake his mind in the first place.
Honestly, the fact that he didn't bully people using genjutsu should already be considered a blessing for everyone else.
"Alright then…"
Yōhei finally walked over and stood directly in front of Taichi.
His three-tomoe Sharingan spun slowly as he stared into Taichi's eyes.
Still, even now he looked embarrassed.
"Taichi… don't laugh at me later, okay?"
"Heh—"
A muffled laugh escaped from Saori nearby.
Realizing she'd been noticed, she quickly covered her mouth and waved her hands innocently.
"Go on, go on."
"Pretend I'm not here."
"Hurry up already."
Taichi looked utterly exasperated.
"Are you even a man?"
As he spoke, he deliberately relaxed his mind and lowered his mental defenses as much as possible, allowing his consciousness to enter an almost completely unguarded state.
Yōhei's playful expression gradually disappeared as he focused completely.
Chakra surged through his body, amplified by the power of his three-tomoe Sharingan as he cast the Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.
Within Taichi's perception, a strange chakra fluctuation emerged from Yōhei's eyes.
It traveled through eye contact and invaded his mind directly.
But perhaps because Yōhei's genjutsu skills were still lacking, the invading chakra only stirred a few faint ripples within Taichi's consciousness before instantly fading away without accomplishing anything.
Yōhei stared at Taichi with widened eyes, eagerly waiting for some kind of reaction.
Deep down, he clearly still harbored a tiny hope—
Maybe, just maybe, his genjutsu might actually work on Taichi.
Seeing that expectant gaze, Taichi briefly wondered whether he should humor him a little.
But after a moment's thought, he decided against feeding Yōhei unrealistic fantasies.
"Stop staring."
"It didn't do much."
"Use the Mangekyō instead."
Yōhei's expression immediately dimmed.
As expected…
Still not enough.
But once he remembered that he would now be using the Mangekyō's power, his confidence returned somewhat.
The three tomoe spun rapidly before merging into the shape of a massive triangular windmill.
In that instant, a far stronger—yet far more concealed—chakra fluctuation spread outward.
Mixed within it was Yōhei's ocular power.
If Taichi hadn't spent so much time treating Yōhei's eyes and become intimately familiar with both his chakra and dōjutsu energy, he might not even have detected the fluctuation at all.
This time, when the chakra infused with ocular power entered Taichi's mind, the effect was entirely different.
The previous ripple became crashing waves.
Especially the ocular power itself—
Its influence was overwhelming.
For the first time, Taichi could clearly feel the genjutsu beginning to interfere with his perception.
He carefully experienced the sensation for several seconds before his spirit suddenly sharpened.
In the next instant, he forcibly shattered the illusion and regained clarity.
Looking at Yōhei, he nodded in genuine admiration.
"As expected of the Mangekyō."
"Now that's some real power."
Yōhei immediately brightened.
But only for a few seconds.
Then his face collapsed again.
Powerful my ass.
You broke free just by glaring a little.
Taichi ignored Yōhei's internal complaints and instead carefully organized his thoughts before explaining his understanding of Sharingan genjutsu.
"From what I can tell…"
"The three-tomoe Sharingan acts as an amplifier for genjutsu."
"It boosts the strength of ordinary illusions."
"As for how much amplification it provides, that probably depends on both the Sharingan's development level and the user's proficiency in genjutsu."
"But the Mangekyō is completely different."
"It doesn't merely increase amplification several times over."
"The Mangekyō's unique ocular power itself becomes integrated into the genjutsu."
"That's the true reason Mangekyō illusions are so terrifying."
"As everyone knows, genjutsu is fundamentally an application of Yin Release chakra transformation."
"And Mangekyō ocular power itself is essentially an extremely advanced form of Yin Release."
"The sheer quality of that chakra is absurd."
"For ordinary ninja, it's basically brute force overwhelming all techniques."
"And once you combine that with actual skill…"
"It's no wonder people say there's no such thing as a weak Mangekyō genjutsu user."
As he spoke, Taichi looked at Yōhei with unconcealed regret.
Such incredible hardware…
Wasted on someone hopelessly talentless at genjutsu.
The look in his eyes was so obvious that Yōhei finally exploded.
"Taichi!"
"What kind of look is that?!"
"You're seriously making me want to punch you!"
"Hahaha—sorry, sorry."
Taichi quickly pressed his palms together apologetically.
"Didn't mean anything by it."
"Anyway, experiment's over."
"I still need to finish packing."
"And later I have to hand over work at the medical camp."
"So I won't keep chatting."
Seeing Taichi finally become serious, Yōhei and Saori stopped bothering him.
Since their meditation session had already been interrupted, the two left the tent together and headed for the forest to continue other forms of training.
Inside the tent, Taichi packed his belongings while replaying Yōhei's genjutsu in his mind.
Combining today's experience with his own prior experiments, Taichi gradually formed a more complete understanding of illusion techniques.
Powerful genjutsu fundamentally relied on two things.
The first was technique.
In other words—what kind of illusion skill you possessed.
Take Tsukuyomi, for example.
That was the pinnacle of technique.
Creating an entire mental world through illusion while even controlling the flow of time within it—
That was skill pushed to its absolute limit.
Sure, Tsukuyomi was a bloodline dōjutsu and required special conditions to use.
But in Taichi's eyes, it was still fundamentally just an ultimate technique.
The second factor was quality.
More precisely—
The quality of Yin Release chakra itself.
Just like Mangekyō ocular power.
If measured according to Taichi's system panel, that power was at minimum Level 13—already approaching Level 4 in qualitative transformation.
And that explained why the Mangekyō Sharingan suppressed tailed beasts so effectively.
The quality of its Yin chakra was simply too high.
On top of that, anyone capable of awakening the Mangekyō was usually exceptionally intelligent—
(Except Yōhei.)
With decent genjutsu skills added on top, controlling a tailed beast became understandable.
Sure, tailed beasts possessed monstrous quantities of chakra.
But quantity didn't equal quality.
In terms of refinement and potency, they might not even reach Level 13.
Once Taichi realized this, he finally began developing a rough direction for improving his own genjutsu abilities.
But implementing those ideas…
Would probably require returning to Konoha first.
For the first time, Taichi no longer felt resistant toward the recall order.
During wartime, receiving such a rare opportunity to quietly develop himself was almost impossible to ask for.
After packing his personal belongings, Taichi first visited logistics and exchanged points for materials needed to create sealing tags.
Fortunately, he went personally.
Many of the materials were tightly controlled resources.
Without the massive contributions he'd made during this battle, he wouldn't even have qualified to obtain them.
Only afterward did he head toward the medical camp.
After several days of nonstop work, the atmosphere there had noticeably relaxed.
All critically wounded patients had already been treated.
The ones remaining were merely recovering.
Naturally, Obito was still among them.
When Director Fujita learned that Taichi was being recalled to the village, she was initially stunned.
But not long after, she accepted it calmly.
In her eyes, the southern front no longer required a medical ninja as exceptional as Taichi.
Someone with his talent should be sent where he was needed most.
What a pure and sincere line of thinking.
If Taichi ever learned what she truly believed, he would probably be moved to tears.
Honestly, he would much rather stay beside his companions and friends.
After finishing the work handover, Taichi saw that the medical camp no longer lacked personnel, so he dismissed his four shadow clones.
As their memories flowed back into him, one thing became certain—
From this moment onward, the medical camp would no longer have hardworking clone-Taichis laboring endlessly for free.
Once everything there was settled, Taichi casually stopped by the recovery tent where Obito was resting.
Coincidentally, Kakashi and Rin were there as well.
Rin was currently pressing gently against Obito's chest to ease the itching caused by his healing bones.
But judging from the bizarre mixture of happiness and agony on Obito's face, it was impossible to tell whether he wanted the itching to continue or desperately wanted it to stop.
"What?!"
"Taichi, you're going back to the village?!"
Without even looking, Taichi already knew who shouted that.
Even being bedridden couldn't change Obito's excitable personality.
"Yeah."
"The village issued a transfer order."
"I leave tomorrow morning."
"So soon…"
Rin looked genuinely reluctant.
Once Taichi returned to Konoha, who knew when they would meet again?
"Then… what about Saori and Captain Yōhei?"
"Are they going back too?"
At those words, even Kakashi and Obito immediately looked over.
Those two were Taichi's actual squadmates.
Logically, if one returned, the others should as well.
But if that happened…
Their own squad would become extremely unfortunate.
As though seeing through their thoughts, Taichi deliberately paused for a moment.
By the time Obito was nearly dying from impatience, he finally answered leisurely.
"They're staying."
"I'm the only one returning."
"That's… actually good."
The moment Rin said it, she realized how wrong it sounded and immediately blushed bright red.
Before she could explain herself, Taichi interrupted.
"You should continue operating as a squad."
"I doubt Minato-senpai will have much free time to look after you."
"At least staying together means you can support each other."
Rin lowered her head shyly and nodded.
Even Kakashi agreed silently.
After this battle, they all understood more clearly than ever how important squad coordination truly was.
"Oh right, Obito."
"You look pretty miserable."
"Want me to slow down your healing speed a bit?"
"That way the itching won't be so bad."
Taichi looked at him with a smile.
Obito hesitated for exactly three seconds.
Only three.
Then he firmly rejected the suggestion.
"No!"
"I can handle it!"
"I want to recover faster so I can start training again."
"I don't want to hold everyone back anymore."
Taichi almost felt moved hearing that.
If not for the fact that Obito's eyes kept sneaking glances toward Rin every few seconds, the speech honestly would've earned full marks.
Taichi merely smiled and chose not to expose him.
Since Obito was this motivated, Taichi was happy to let him continue suffering a little.
After all, recovering faster and training sooner was ultimately a good thing.
After chatting with them for a while longer, Taichi finally stood to leave.
Everything had now been settled.
And it was finally time to return and begin crafting Saori's new sealing tag—
A task that would require no small amount of effort.