Chapter 452: Developing Nicely!

Chapter 452: Chapter 452: Developing Nicely!

After watching Orochimaru flee into the distance in a panic, Kagami turned his attention to Kurenai.

By now, Kurenai had already lost consciousness from excessive blood loss. The front of her clothes was completely soaked crimson, and through the torn fabric, patches of her fair skin were exposed.

Kagami’s gaze sharpened as he activated his Byakugan and carefully examined her injuries.

A moment later, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It’s not too bad..."

The Second Hokage’s reanimated body had attacked Kurenai for one purpose—to hold Kagami back and create an opportunity for Orochimaru to escape. Because of that, the strike had been executed with remarkable precision.

It had avoided vital areas such as Kurenai’s throat and heart, instead carving a shallow but extremely long wound across her chest. The injury was severe enough to incapacitate her, but not enough to immediately threaten her life.

Of course, if Kagami hadn’t stayed behind to treat her in time, then as the blood loss continued, Kurenai would inevitably have died.

With the situation urgent, Kagami immediately laid Kurenai flat on the ground and skillfully removed her upper clothing.

Although Kagami himself was not a medical shinobi and knew no Medical ninjutsu, the Dragon Vein chakra stored within the gourd artifact at his waist contained natural energy and therefore possessed a certain degree of restorative power.

Thus, while pouring Dragon Vein chakra into Kurenai’s body, he began bandaging her wound.

As Kagami busied himself treating Kurenai, the forest of bones surrounding them gradually began to collapse.

One after another, the previously tough and resilient bone spears crumbled into fine white powder. When a gentle breeze swept through the area, the powder was immediately carried into the air, filling the sky with drifting white dust.

Drawn by the powder swirling overhead, Kagami raised his head and glanced toward the sky.

"Pfft—!"

Suddenly, an excruciating pain tore through his body.

Immediately afterward, he coughed up a large mouthful of blood!

Because there had been absolutely no warning beforehand, the mouthful of blood Kagami coughed up happened to spray directly onto Kurenai’s face, covering her in blood.

With warm blood suddenly splashed all over her face, Kurenai groggily regained consciousness.

But the moment she opened her eyes, she saw Kagami covering his mouth and staring straight at her. Then, she realized that her upper body was completely bare, her chest and shoulders exposed.

Overcome with both embarrassment and anger, Kurenai failed to catch her breath—

—and promptly fainted again.

Seeing Kurenai wake up only to pass out again without saying a single word, Kagami wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and muttered in confusion,

"Huh? Why is her face so red? Does she have a fever?"

After quickly finishing bandaging Kurenai’s wound, Kagami turned her over and examined the Flying Thunder God marking that the Second Hokage’s reanimated body had left on her lower back.

Rubbing his chin, Kagami thought to himself,

"I have to erase this marking."

As long as that marking remained, Kurenai would constantly be under threat from the Second Hokage’s reanimated body. Therefore, merely treating her injuries wasn’t enough. Kagami had to remove the Flying Thunder God marking as well before he could truly ensure her safety.

The marking left on Kurenai by the Second Hokage’s reanimated body could essentially be regarded as a mass of chakra.

As long as a stronger chakra was used to gradually neutralize it, the marking could be completely erased.

However, wearing it away like this required time.

Even with the chakra strength of Kagami’s current Type-A Wind Release clone, it would still take him at least an hour to completely erase the marking left on Kurenai by the Second Hokage’s reanimated body.

And during that entire process, he could not afford to be disturbed.

Therefore, if someone were marked with a Flying Thunder God marking in the middle of a battle, they would immediately find themselves in an extremely passive position. Practically the only option would be to place a fuinjutsu on themselves to temporarily render the marking ineffective.

In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.

After an entire hour of effort, Kagami finally managed to completely erase the Flying Thunder God marking left on Kurenai by the Second Hokage’s reanimated body.

He then stood up and looked toward the Uchiha ruins not far away.

"What the hell are Shisui and Itachi doing? I was fighting like hell out here, yet neither of them reacted at all. Don’t tell me they haven’t arrived yet?!"

Kagami quickly dismissed that possibility.

By the time he received the message from the ninja crow, Shisui and Itachi should have already arrived here.

"Could something have happened to them?"

Kagami’s expression darkened, and he immediately headed toward the Uchiha ruins.

Behind him, a mass of black Iron Sand lifted the unconscious Kurenai into the air and slowly floated after him.

Before long, Kagami entered the interior of the Uchiha ruins.

"Pfft—!"

Suddenly, he coughed up another large mouthful of blood.

His entire body staggered several steps, nearly collapsing to the ground.

At the same time, the mass of Iron Sand carrying Kurenai behind him also began to fall apart. As it disintegrated, grains of black iron sand trickled sparsely from the floating mass.

Kagami hurriedly leaned against a nearby wall and controlled the Iron Sand to slowly lower the unconscious Kurenai onto the ground.

After breathing heavily for a while, he clicked his tongue.

"Damn it. I didn’t expect the Kekkei Genkai disease to hit this violently. Looks like I went a little overboard using the Shikotsumyaku this time!"

From the moment he first coughed up blood, Kagami had already realized that it was the Shikotsumyaku’s Kekkei Genkai disease acting up.

This Type-A Wind Release clone was simply too exceptional.

And precisely because of that, it was constantly under threat from the Kekkei Genkai disease.

Judging by the current situation, its condition was actually even more critical than Kimimaro’s.

But since this was something that had been unavoidable from the very beginning, Kagami didn’t pay it much mind.

After wiping away the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, he no longer had the luxury of worrying about Kurenai. He simply placed her off to the side and began searching the ruins alone for Shisui and Itachi.

The battle earlier had inflicted severe damage on the Uchiha ruins. The domed ceilings in many areas had already collapsed, while the internal structure had also suffered considerable destruction. Some of the stone chambers had even been damaged beyond recognition.

With the aid of his Byakugan, Kagami quickly discovered the burial chamber hidden underground.

However, there was no one inside.

All that remained was an empty stone coffin and a gigantic stone sculpture shaped like a gourd.

Running his hand across the gourd-shaped sculpture, Kagami murmured,

"The Totsuka Blade seems to be gourd-shaped too. Could this stone gourd be the clue Shisui and Itachi found?"

Kagami had no idea what had happened inside this burial chamber earlier.

Through his Byakugan, neither the empty stone coffin nor the gourd-shaped sculpture beside it appeared unusual in any way. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of chakra remaining.

......

The sun set and the moon rose, and before long, night descended.

Beneath the beautiful moonlight, Kurenai slowly regained consciousness.

Propping herself up, she looked around and discovered that she was lying atop the dome of the Uchiha ruins, while the Kamigami member who had saved her was sitting not far away.

As though suddenly remembering something, Kurenai hurriedly looked down at herself.

She discovered that her upper body was still bare, though her chest had been wrapped in bandages with remarkably skilled technique.

Seeing that Kurenai had awakened, Kagami walked over and casually asked,

"How do you feel?"

Kurenai snapped angrily,

"Where are my clothes? You... you saw everything?!"

Although the situation had been urgent and he’d had no other choice, Kagami had, in the end, invaded Kurenai’s privacy.

He felt that he really should explain himself.

But for a moment, he couldn’t figure out how to put it into words.

Thinking that perhaps he should compliment her to ease the awkward atmosphere, somehow, as though possessed by some inexplicable impulse, the words slipped straight out of his mouth:

"Mm. You’ve developed pretty well!"