CH_43

"Hey—when did you learn medical skills?" Neru rarely talked to people.

They'd just arrived in the new combat zone. The "protection squad," along with Rawari and Natchi, were all busy setting up the new temporary camp.

Thinking it would be better to let the two medical-nin get some "rest," everyone had assigned Neru and Tōji to keep watch for the time being.

"Late last year, after Kikyōyama—Shizune-senpai taught me. What about you? When did you learn medical ninjutsu?" Tōji was having a friendly exchange with his desk-mate of several years.

They were both standing in a tall tree—one on a branch to the left of the trunk, the other on the right—chatting casually across it.

Neru brushed her bangs with her fingers and tucked the strands beside her ears that the wind had tousled. "I started a while back. Got my family to pull some strings in the village—interned at Konoha Hospital. Didn't learn all that much, though."

Since no one could see her, Neru's little mannerisms became a bit more relaxed in the dark.

Tōji didn't see them either.

Spring had already arrived, but it was still fairly cold, so there wasn't much noise from small creatures in the woods.

"Are you also trying to get into the village hospital?" After nearly a month together, Tōji had noticed pretty easily that Neru was also the type who'd think "I don't care about battle merits, and when trouble comes, let the teammates go first."

So he'd gradually learned to pick out people with similar mindsets.

"Also? So that's what you're thinking." Neru's tone had its ups and downs, but her emotions never seemed to fluctuate—always that flat, indifferent feel.

"Weren't you learning medicine to get a steadier job?" Tōji didn't really care what Neru said—they were only chatting to avoid the awkwardness of silence.

"If you say so." Neru's real thoughts were probably different.

Tōji thought to himself, 『If this girl was already using this method to avoid the battlefield at such a young age, that's pretty calculating. Though she probably didn't expect that even this way, she'd still end up on the front lines.』

Different people heard the same words and made different guesses. Projecting himself onto her, Tōji seemed to assume his own interpretation was correct.

"Girls probably don't like the whole fighting-and-killing thing on the battlefield, right?" Tōji skipped over his own thoughts and just answered casually.

"Does it matter if you're male or female? There are barely any men left in my clan. The few with any ability—whether they want to or not—still have to carry that weight…" For the first time, Neru's voice showed a slight fluctuation of emotion.

『Someone with a situation and mindset similar to mine—a kindred spirit?』 Tōji thought. 『She's probably survived months on the battlefield not just by luck alone.』

"Still—it's not so bad. We're a logistics squad now, doing medical support—not that dangerous. Once we get back to the village safely, we'll have more options." Tōji started to engage more sincerely.

If she was likely a kindred spirit, he needed to keep an extra eye on her. Someone like Tōji didn't actively do harm—but when it came to certain death, he'd let others go first. He suspected Neru was much the same.

So then, what was Neru's real combat ability… Tōji's mind started spinning with various guesses, and the conversation fell into silence.

Boom! A few kilometers away, an explosion!

Right in Tōji's field of view, a flash of firelight briefly lit up the dark.

Neru quickly leaned out to glance in the direction of the blast. "Just as expected—whenever Konoha makes a big move, Iwa responds."

It was becoming predictable…

"We need to be on alert here too. Go notify Captain Rawari and the others. I'll keep watching this side." Tōji said, his eyes fixed on the signal flare that had just risen from the blast area.