Naruto: Kurotsuchi Mayuri

"Cough, cough!"

Shisui suddenly felt the body on his back—Kagetsu—twitch twice before hearing a soft cough. Surprised and relieved, he immediately slowed his pace. 

"Kagetsu!" 

However, the first thing Kagetsu saw when he opened his eyes wasn't Shisui's face close by, but a woman's face, blurred with tears and streaked with snot. 

"You're way too close, Anko!" Kagetsu turned his head slightly, trying to put a bit of distance between them as he saw Anko leaning in, her tears and snot almost rubbing against his face. 

Shisui stayed silent, but he could hear the exhaustion and weakness in Kagetsu's voice. It was obvious that the jutsu Kagetsu used earlier had taken a massive toll on him. 

"We've already made it back to the Land of Fire," Shisui said. "We're heading toward the nearest border defense outpost. Maybe we'll see Minato-senpai there." 

Only after Anko and Kagetsu finished their usual bickering did Shisui speak. 

"That's a relief," Kagetsu replied. 

Shisui then noticed something strange. "Your body temperature is rising." 

He realized that the warmth radiating from Kagetsu, who was lying on his back, was getting hotter by the moment. 

"Just a little mishap." Kagetsu coughed twice more. His face was pale and sickly, but he still forced a faint smile. 

"This mission was way too dangerous! There's no way it was just a B-rank mission! When we get back to the village, I'm going to demand Orochimaru-sensei change the mission's ranking!" Anko huffed, clenching her teeth as she thought back on the battles they had fought. 

What kind of B-rank mission forces you to fight elite jonin from an enemy nation back-to-back? 

If it weren't for Kagetsu, all three of them would've been caught in the trap set by the Kumogakure ninjas and killed. 

"We should rest first. We'll probably be ordered to return to the village soon," Kagetsu murmured, his entire body burning with fever. His head throbbed painfully, and the exhaustion was overwhelming, bringing with it other troublesome side effects. 

Hearing Kagetsu's words, both Anko and Shisui fell silent. 

Even the usually carefree Anko knew the gravity of the situation—if Kumogakure found out about the jutsu Kagetsu used or they reported it, they would definitely be summoned back to the village immediately. 

Whether it was intel about a Jinchuriki or the use of Wood Release, the village leaders would demand a full and detailed report as soon as possible. 

Feeling the overwhelming fatigue take hold, Kagetsu closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying inside a tent. Propping himself up on the bed with his arm, he checked his mental state.

After a long sleep, much of his drained mental energy had been restored. 

"You're awake?" A familiar voice called out. Hearing the movement inside the tent, Shisui lifted the tent flap and walked in, greeting the person sitting on the edge of the bed with a smile. 

"How long did I sleep?" Kagetsu frowned slightly, feeling an intense hunger gnawing at him. This didn't feel like he'd only slept for a day or two. 

"This is the third day. You really overexerted yourself," Shisui explained, his gaze briefly darkening before calming again. "Minato-senpai said you needed time to recover." 

"Did you report all the intel?" Kagetsu tested his strength by standing up, feeling better than expected. His mind was now in control of his body about 80%, no longer in the pitiful state where he had barely been able to move without leaning on Shisui. 

"Yes, everything has been reported to Minato-senpai." As Shisui spoke, he heard Kagetsu's stomach growl loudly and quickly added, "I'll go get you some food." 

Just as Shisui was about to leave, he bumped into Minato, who was entering the tent. 

"Shisui, could I speak with Kagetsu alone for a moment?" Minato gently patted Shisui's shoulder. 

Shisui glanced at Kagetsu, who gave a small nod. With a respectful bow to Minato, Shisui left the tent to fetch food. 

"How are you feeling?" Minato sat down beside Kagetsu's bed, looking at him with concern. 

"I'm fine, just really hungry." Kagetsu rubbed his stomach, trying to suppress the intense hunger. 

Noticing the hesitation on Minato's face, Kagetsu spoke lightly, "What do you want to ask, Minato-senpai?" 

"Did you use Mokuton (Wood Release)?" Minato asked, his expression softening as he smiled. 

"Yes." 

Kagetsu's reply was so brief and direct that it momentarily surprised Minato. 

"Is it that jutsu?" Minato probed cautiously. From what he had gathered from Shisui and Anko, their information was vague at best. To get the full picture, he needed to hear it from Kagetsu himself. 

Based on the few details from Shisui and Anko, it seemed that the technique Kagetsu used had something to do with the Shadow Puppet Jutsu. 

As for the body that resembled the First Hokage... that was likely just a technical issue. 

"Yes." 

Kagetsu gave a firm nod without hesitation. 

"Tell me about the fight. You've been marked by the Hidden Cloud this time," Minato said, smoothly changing the topic. He was more interested in hearing about the battle than pressing for further details. 

The six-man squad from the Hidden Cloud, with three of them being elite jōnin, was too much for a team of three like Kagetsu's. Honestly, Minato thought it was a miracle they made it back to the camp alive and in one piece. 

And yet, according to what Minato had learned, not only had Kagetsu's team survived, but they also managed to cripple the Cloud squad! 

What made this even more impressive was that one of their enemies had been the Two-Tails Jinchūriki. 

Kagetsu didn't hide anything and gave a simple recount of the battle. 

"What about the body that could use Wood Release?" Minato asked suddenly. 

"It broke apart," Kagetsu said nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal. 

"I reinforced your seal a bit—try not to do something that reckless next time," Minato said warmly, though he suspected that Kagetsu wasn't telling him the whole truth. 

But instead of pressing further, Minato stood up, gave Kagetsu a lighthearted reminder to get some rest, and left the tent. 

As Minato disappeared from view, Kagetsu quietly pulled down the collar of his shirt. Under his control, chakra flowed to reveal a faint seal imprinted on his abdomen. 

So... he noticed, huh?

Kagetsu frowned slightly but quickly relaxed. Now that he was alone, he immersed his mind into his inner consciousness. 

Heat! 

Burning pain! 

As he continued deeper into the dim corridor, the temperature rose higher and higher. By the time the ground beneath him became unbearably hot, a prison cell finally appeared in front of him. 

Inside the cell was a blue cat, looking malnourished. As soon as it saw him enter, its eyes snapped open, and it bared its teeth fiercely at him. 

This was the Two-Tails, Matatabi. 

Or rather, a fragment of it! 

The unique traits of Yin Release had somehow interacted with Wood Release, causing an unexpected transformation. 

Kagetsu hadn't expected this outcome at all—his only intention was to extract some of the Two-Tails' chakra. But in doing so, he accidentally pulled a part of its consciousness along with it! 

This meant that Matatabi would permanently lose the chakra fragment Kagetsu had extracted—it was gone for good, unable to regenerate like usual. 

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