This C-rank mission had originally been Yubi's team's assignment alone.
Sasori had not been part of it at all. He had simply taken a mission for himself and, by coincidence, ended up being placed in the same group as them. With the war dragging on and manpower growing scarce, the village had already begun pushing its younger generation onto the stage earlier than usual.
No one had expected Amegakure to launch a sudden war against the Land of Wind.
"You two will return to the village with us."
The order came from one of the Third Kazekage's guards.
Whether it was Sasori or Yubi, both had already been marked as future hopes of Sunagakure. Letting either of them die outside now would be an unacceptable loss.
"My mission isn't over yet," Yubi said.
"Special circumstances call for special treatment," the guard replied with a faint smile. "The village will evaluate your performance based on the mission records. What you accomplished here will be added to your future promotion record. It will help when the time comes for the Chunin Exams, too."
That much was true.
Sasori, at only eight years old, was already a chunin.
Yubi, on the other hand, was still a genin. He had only graduated from the Ninja Academy a little over half a year ago. So far, he had completed five D-rank missions and, including this one, two C-rank missions.
Compared to that, Sasori's record was on an entirely different level.
He had already completed many C-rank and B-rank missions on his own, and had even taken part in an A-rank mission once. Ever since his parents died, he had hardly stayed in the village at all. The moment one mission ended, he would take another, no matter how dangerous it was. He almost never let himself remain idle.
That was also why he had ended up alongside Yubi this time.
"I don't need it," Sasori said flatly.
The way he said it made it sound as though he were mocking Yubi.
Then the Third Kazekage looked over at Yubi and asked, "Yubi, is this your first mission of this kind?"
"Yes," Yubi answered with a nod.
The Third Kazekage turned his gaze toward his guard.
"Arai, you'll personally take care of the two of them."
"Huh?"
The guard named Arai was visibly startled, but he quickly bowed his head. "Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
Sasori didn't really need anyone looking after him. The Third Kazekage knew very well what kind of strength and independence he possessed despite his age. This arrangement was made mainly for Yubi.
Then, as if casually, the Third Kazekage asked another question.
"Yubi... who taught you your medical ninjutsu?"
"When I was interning at the hospital, I saw people using it," Yubi said with an easy smile. "I asked some of the senior medics for pointers. They didn't teach me very much, but after watching and listening, I went back and practiced on my own."
"You taught yourself?"
The Kazekage's tone remained calm, but his eyes sharpened slightly.
"I suppose you could say that," Yubi said.
At those words, both the Kazekage and Arai fell silent.
The precision required for medical ninjutsu was something ordinary shinobi could hardly imagine. A genin who had just graduated from the academy should not have been capable of reaching that level at all. Even an experienced chunin would need a long period of repeated practice to handle chakra that delicately.
And what Yubi had demonstrated was not just the Healing Palm Technique.
The Chakra Scalpel was even more difficult.
It required keeping chakra compressed into an edge so thin and sharp it wouldn't scatter, while sustaining that control in the hand over time without the shape breaking down. That kind of technique could not normally be learned just by glancing at others a few times.
At the very least, a person should have proper guidance, theory, repeated correction, and a great deal of accumulated experience.
Sasori glanced at Yubi from the side.
He didn't say a word, but his eyes were cold and knowing.
Instinctively, he could tell Yubi was lying.
As Chiyo's grandson, Sasori had absorbed far more than ordinary children ever would. His obsession with puppets was tied to the human body itself. Anatomical structure. Nerve paths. Muscle systems. Chakra channels. Many of the puppet-making methods he studied had roots in the same medical knowledge used by battlefield medics.
Because of that, he understood better than most that the Healing Palm Technique might be one thing, but the Chakra Scalpel was another entirely.
A technique like that could not be mastered simply by observation.
Yet Sasori did not expose him.
In the eyes of outsiders, Yubi's explanation pushed everything onto one conclusion: talent.
The kind of genius that broke ordinary rules.
And because true geniuses did exist in this world, the answer became strangely difficult to challenge. The Third Kazekage and Arai both knew the explanation was too thin, yet at the same time, there was no obvious hole they could use to press further.
After all, Yubi's background itself was beyond suspicion.
The Third Kazekage had already looked into him before this meeting.
Yubi's parents had both been shinobi, and both had died in war years ago. He was an orphan now. His teacher was known. His time at the academy was known. His internship at the hospital was known.
Nothing in his background suggested betrayal.
Arai kept staring at him, the shock in his eyes not quite fading.
This boy's performance at the academy had been ordinary for the most part, yet he had shown a rare medical inclination at a very young age. If he had really polished that talent through his hospital internship... then perhaps the impossible was simply being made possible through monstrous aptitude.
At last, the Third Kazekage let the matter go.
"You are a promising young man," he said. "It seems your talent and understanding in medical ninjutsu are extraordinary. There are not many scrolls related to medical ninjutsu in the village, but if you are interested, I can allow you to borrow them."
Yubi's eyes brightened at once.
"Really? Thank you, Kazekage-sama!"
His gratitude looked utterly sincere.
Inside, however, he was perfectly calm.
With the system in his possession, not to mention Sunagakure's limited medical archives, even Konoha's top-tier medical ninjutsu could, in theory, one day be his. As long as he had enough experience points, he could exchange for techniques directly. He did not actually need the village's scrolls.
But acting mattered.
If he showed no interest at all, that would only invite suspicion. Since he had chosen to walk the path of a gifted medical genius, then he had to perform that role all the way through.
The Third Kazekage did not waste more words after that.
This meeting had never been about long conversation.
Its main purpose was simple: to personally commend the two boys and give them a modest reward. A mark of approval. A signal. Nothing more.
Soon after, Arai led Yubi and Sasori out.
The desert night wind moved coldly across the camp as they walked back toward the canyon under guard.
Yubi's face still wore the mild, harmless look of a talented child receiving praise from his village's leader. But inside, his thoughts had already sunk deep into analysis.
The Third Kazekage's style was clean, direct, and efficient.
In that sense, he was actually very similar to Rasa in later years.
Decisive. Practical. Unsentimental.
On the surface, ordering a Kazekage guard to escort Yubi and Sasori looked like care. Protection. Value. But if one listened closely to the Kazekage's words and observed the way he viewed them, another truth was easy enough to see.
To the village, even its most gifted young shinobi were still tools.
Useful tools.
Precious tools, perhaps.
But tools all the same.
There was no warmth in it.
No humanity.
That realization didn't really surprise Yubi, but it did settle more firmly in his mind as the night stretched around them.
Was Rasa's later style influenced by the Third Kazekage?
Quite possibly.
After all, in the name of protecting the village, Rasa had even been willing to turn his own son, Gaara, into a weapon. A war machine wrapped in the body of a child.
Maybe that cold logic had not begun with him.
Maybe he had inherited it.
Yubi's expression did not change as they walked, but his eyes narrowed just a little.
He could not help thinking of the future.
Of Sasori, who would one day assassinate the Third Kazekage.
Of Pakura, who would be abandoned.
Of the endless chain of decisions where Sunagakure's upper ranks sacrificed their own people as if cutting flesh from a body already too numb to feel pain.
This village had very little warmth left in it.
At least, not at the top.
In the eyes of those in power, everyone was expendable if the exchange made strategic sense.
That way of thinking had already gone wrong.
Completely wrong.
Compared to Sunagakure, Konoha certainly had filth of its own. Men like Danzo existed there too. But at least, as a whole, Konoha still retained a trace of humanity in its structure. A little softness. A little room for people to remain people.
Sunagakure, meanwhile, was being pushed in the opposite direction.
And if nothing changed, that path would only grow worse.
Yubi had understood this for a long time.
That was why becoming a genius in the eyes of others was only the first step of his plan.
Not the last.
The very first step.
If he wanted to change Sunagakure in the future, then he first needed the village's upper ranks to see him. To remember him. To value him. Only once he stood within their field of vision would he gain the chance to shape anything at all.
Playing it safe would not work in an era like this.
Lying low and quietly accumulating strength sounded prudent, but in the middle of war, that kind of careful invisibility was almost meaningless. Countless capable people died before they were ever noticed. Others were swallowed by the village's machinery long before they gained enough authority to resist it.
No.
If he wanted the power to influence the future, he had to rise early.
He had to become impossible to ignore.
Fortunately, this border war had already achieved exactly what he wanted.
He had formally entered the Third Kazekage's line of sight.
He had caught the attention of the upper echelon.
That alone meant this trip had been more than worth it.
So the next step was obvious.
Increase his presence.
Increase his influence.
Continue proving that his value to the village was not limited to being one more medical ninja, or one more talented child.
He needed to become someone the higher-ups would have no choice but to rely on.
Only then would he have the leverage to change anything.
The desert wind swept over the camp, carrying the smell of sand, blood, medicine, and smoke.
Beside him, Sasori walked in silence, indifferent as always.
Ahead of them, Arai led the way without looking back.
Yubi lowered his eyes slightly, and a clear goal took shape in his heart.
The first step had already been taken.
Now all that remained... was to keep moving forward.