A long time passed.
Long enough for Karin to run out from behind a tree, kneel by his side, and frantically press her hands against him as green Chakra flooded into his body.
"You... you're hurt so badly. Your ribs are broken. Your internal organs are damaged too, so why are you still smiling?"
Nobunaga blanked for a moment.
Smiling?
He raised his hand and touched his face.
The corners of his mouth were indeed curled up.
When did that happen?
He didn't know.
"You survived..." Karin's voice trembled, tinged with a sob. "You really survived..."
Nobunaga didn't answer.
"System," he called out in his mind.
No response.
"System."
Still no response.
"I know you can hear me," he said in his mind, his voice calm. "Why does Mei Terumī know about the Dream Simulation?"
Silence.
There was only the warmth of Karin's Chakra flowing over his wounds and the occasional cry of a night bird in the distance.
"It's impossible for her to know."
Nobunaga continued in his mind:
"That was just a simulation. It was my experience alone. But the way she looked at me and the things she said... she knows me."
"She wasn't chasing a stranger; she was chasing someone who had lied to her for fifteen years."
The System continued to play dead.
Nobunaga chuckled in his mind—not out of happiness, but with a feeling that was hard to describe.
It carried the worry of being hunted, yet also the joy of regaining something lost.
Nobunaga himself couldn't tell if he should be happy or sad.
"Fine. Keep pretending."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The stinging pain of his broken ribs made him frown, but he endured it.
Karin was still desperately funneling Chakra into his body. The green glow grew weaker and weaker; her Chakra was nearly depleted.
"That's enough," Nobunaga said, opening his eyes and looking at her. "It's fine now."
"But your injuries..."
"I won't die."
Nobunaga pushed himself off the ground and slowly sat up.
The movement aggravated every wound on his body, causing sweat to bead on his forehead from the pain, but he didn't make a sound. He just lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His hands were shaking—a natural reaction after exhausting his Chakra. He clenched his hands into fists, held them for three seconds, and released. He clenched them again for three seconds and released.
Karin watched him from the side, her eyes wide.
"Your... your body..."
Her voice was filled with astonishment:
"The wounds are healing... so fast..."
Nobunaga glanced down at his chest. Where Mei Terumī's final punch had landed, the bruising was fading at a rate visible to the naked eye.
On his back, fresh skin had already covered the gash. Even the pain from his broken ribs was subsiding.
Sage Body.
He had known for a long time. But Karin didn't.
"What's going on with your body?"
Karin leaned in, her eyes behind her glasses full of shock:
"This kind of recovery speed... even the medical Ninja in our village couldn't achieve this with forbidden techniques."
Nobunaga didn't answer.
He simply stood up and rolled his shoulders. His bones cracked twice. It hurt, but it was bearable.
"Who... who exactly are you?"
Karin's voice was trembling, but not from fear; it was something else.
Surprise, curiosity, and a hint of awe that she hadn't even noticed herself.
Nobunaga looked down at her.
Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, falling onto her youthful face.
Her glasses were crooked, her hair was a mess, and her face was still smeared with blood from when she was treating him.
But those eyes were bright, staring at him unblinkingly through her lenses.
"A Konoha Genin," he said.
Karin blanked for a moment. Then her mouth twitched, looking like she wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.
"Are... all Konoha Genin this powerful?"
Nobunaga didn't answer. He turned around and looked back the way they had come.
The forest was quiet—abnormally quiet. The fire had gone out, the Water Clone had dispersed, and the Chakra had vanished.
But Mei Terumī would come again.
Not as a Water Clone.
But her real self.
Nobunaga recalled what she had said before dispersing: "When my real self comes looking for you... be careful, she might actually kill you."
His mouth twitched.
Might?
It was a certainty.
Given her personality, after being deceived for fifteen years and publicly betrayed at her wedding, how could it be just a "might"?
He looked down at his hands. They were still shaking, but much less than before.
The Sage Body was frantically repairing this twelve-year-old body. It wouldn't be long before he regained his full mobility.
But then what?
Mei Terumī was surely waiting for him at the finish line.
The Central Tower of the Forest of Death. The final destination of the Chunin Exams. All candidates who had collected both the Heaven and Earth scrolls had to go there.
She would be waiting for him there.
In her capacity as the Fifth Mizukage, she would be seated somewhere on the high platform, watching him walk in.
And then...
Nobunaga didn't know what she would do.
Stab him? Drag him back to the Hidden Mist? Or kill him on the spot?
He didn't know.
But he knew that this exam wasn't over yet.
He turned and looked at Karin.
"Where are your scrolls?"
Karin blanked for a moment, then reached into her ninja tool pouch and pulled out two scrolls: Heaven and Earth.
"You collected them both?" Nobunaga asked.
Karin nodded. "Those two... my teammates grabbed them earlier. They originally wanted to trade me for a scroll, but before they could..."
She didn't finish, but Nobunaga understood.
He also pulled two scrolls from his own robe.
Heaven and Earth. He had a complete set too.
"We can go to the tower together," Karin said, her eyes full of expectation. "It's safer with two people."
"No," Nobunaga interrupted her. "You go alone."
Karin froze.
"Why?"
"The person chasing me won't chase you."
Nobunaga said, "It's safer if you go by yourself."
"But..."
"No 'buts'."
Nobunaga stowed his scrolls away and turned to walk in another direction.
"Wait... Wait!"
Karin's voice came from behind him. "Where are you going?"
Nobunaga didn't look back.
"To find a place to hide."
"Hide?"
Karin chased after him for a couple of steps but didn't dare get too close. "Aren't you going to the tower? The exam isn't over yet."
"The exam?"
Nobunaga stopped and turned his head to look at her.
The moonlight fell on the side of his face, making his eyes look deep.
"The person chasing me is waiting for me at the tower."
Karin opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But nothing came out.
She looked at this person, covered in blood and fresh from a life-and-death struggle, and those eyes that were as calm as if nothing had happened.
"You..." her voice was very soft. "Who are you, really?"
Nobunaga didn't answer.
He just continued walking forward.
After a few steps, he stopped again.
"Karin."
"Huh?"
"Don't tell anyone about today."
He paused.
"Especially my recovery speed."
Karin stared blankly at his retreating back.
"I... I understand..."
Nobunaga said nothing more. His figure quickly vanished into the night, swallowed by the dense forest and mist.
Karin stood where she was, staring in that direction for a long time without moving.
The wind blew, carrying the scent of blood and rotting leaves.
She shivered, then looked down at her hands.
They were still stained with his blood.
She clenched that hand tight.
"A Konoha Genin..."
She whispered to herself, "Who are you kidding?"