Chapter 13

Time flies, the years pass swiftly.

Year 32 of the Woodleaf era.

It was just the beginning of summer, the weather was relatively warm, but not excessively hot.

This day was a special day—

The day the heroes returned!

Of course, the war was not yet completely over.

The returning heroes were merely the severely wounded from the front lines, who could no longer survive as ninjas.

On the battlefield, they had become a burden to their comrades and had to be uniformly escorted back to Woodleaf, where they would spend the rest of their lives in the village.

Along with the large number of wounded, the bodies of the fallen ninjas, who had already eternally rested in the earth, also returned.

Thus, on this pleasant day, some were silent, some wept, and some were on the verge of tears, but certainly not tears of joy.

Despite the lack of any orders, the civilians of Woodleaf and the ninja clans had spontaneously organized a solemn ceremony to welcome the heroes' return.

The adults waiting for the heroes' return maintained a mournful silence, while the usually lively and talkative children, not knowing what had happened, dared not speak out of turn, standing silently in the somber atmosphere.

War is never a beautiful thing.

—At the Shiraishi household.

Shiraishi had little interest in welcoming those so-called heroes.

He had no relatives who had participated in this war, so the matter of welcoming heroes was optional for him.

However, Shiraishi knew that Ruri would go to welcome them, as a member of the Uchiha clan, she had the duty to welcome the returning clan members from the battlefield.

If it were just Ruri, Shiraishi felt he should meet up with her and welcome them at the village entrance.

But there would certainly be many other Uchiha clan members around Ruri, and if he went along, it would seem inappropriate.

Considering this, Shiraishi felt it was better to stay at home, as he still had many experiments to conduct.

Two years had passed, and Shiraishi had not only self-taught himself all the medical ninjutsu from the scroll Ruri had given him but had also mastered them comprehensively.

To put it bluntly, Shiraishi was very confident in his medical ninjutsu skills.

Moreover, his growth in other areas had not been neglected.

According to Ruri's assessment, he now had the strength equivalent to a chunin.

Ruri, after being rigorously evaluated by the clan's jounin a year ago, had attained the strength of a chunin, and Shiraishi could match her in a 40-60 or 50-50 split, which naturally meant he was also at the chunin level.

However, he had never revealed his true strength, and in the eyes of others, he was still an ordinary student at the ninja academy.

A presence that would easily blend into a crowd.

He had mastered many ninjutsu techniques, including the basic three, the Healing Palm, Healing Technique, Hemostasis, and Chakra Scalpel, all essential medical ninjutsu for an excellent medical ninja.

As long as he understood the essence, learning them was not difficult for Shiraishi.

Moreover, with his mature soul, his self-discipline far exceeded that of ordinary people, and the time he invested in training was several times more than that of the average person.

Every day, except for normal rest and classes, the remaining time was spent in training.

It was through great hardship that he had achieved his current level.

In a partitioned room of the house, this was Shiraishi's dedicated mini-laboratory.

On the table were many distillation flasks, test tubes, and containers, as well as Bunsen burners with red and blue flames.

There were also some glass bottles containing transparent solutions, in which rare plant specimens and some animal body parts, such as eyeballs and livers, were preserved.

Shiraishi skillfully manipulated these instruments to achieve the desired results.

He then recorded the data on a computer.

Speaking of which, Shiraishi found it quite surprising that the ninja world, which was not very industrially developed, actually had computers.

Although the computer systems of the current era in the ninja world were not very advanced in Shiraishi's view, having them was better than not having them.

He was only proficient in chemistry, biology, and pharmacology, and while he had some knowledge of mechanics and electronics, he was not an expert.

Building a computer was something Shiraishi could not do, and professional matters should be left to professionals.

This computer, which Shiraishi considered to be of low level, had cost him a considerable amount of money.

Scientific research was like a bottomless pit, constantly consuming Shiraishi's already limited assets over the past two years.

Now, with his funds running low, his research progress would naturally slow down.

He could collect raw materials himself, but some precision instruments and more valuable materials still required financial investment.

Just as Shiraishi was troubled by these issues, there was a knock on the door.

Shiraishi put down his work and went to open the door.

Sure enough, it was Ruri.

At eight years old, she was a bit taller than she was two years ago, though still retaining some childishness, her eyes had become sharper and colder, giving off an aloof and distant vibe.

To put it bluntly, Ruri was not very sociable.

She did not know how to accommodate others or handle interpersonal relationships, but she was very enthusiastic about becoming stronger.

At heart, she was a passionate and combative person.

This might be related to the traditional personality of the Uchiha clan, whose members were typically very passionate and combative.

Shiraishi believed that if it weren't for his true strength that had earned her respect, it would be difficult to even have a conversation with her.

It was precisely because they both knew some of each other's secrets that Shiraishi considered himself and Ruri to be compatible partners.

"Did the welcoming ceremony end so quickly?"

Shiraishi led Ruri into the house and asked out of curiosity.

Based on his estimation, Ruri would spend a day welcoming the returning heroes of the Uchiha clan.

"No, I just left early. But many clan members have been sacrificed, and some can no longer live as ninjas."

Ruri's mood seemed somewhat low.

"War is war, after all."

Shiraishi sighed.

Death and injury in war were undoubtedly commonplace.

"Why didn't you go?"

Ruri asked Shiraishi this question.

"I have no relatives returning from this war."

Ruri then remembered that Shiraishi's parents had already died on a mission a long time ago.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, I don't care about such things. Being alone is actually more freeing."

Shiraishi smiled at Ruri, indicating that he did not mind, and then walked toward the partitioned room in the house.

Ruri followed Shiraishi into the partitioned room—Shiraishi's private laboratory.

Shiraishi did not hide his research from Ruri.

After all, he was not conducting any illegal or forbidden experiments, and even if Ruri knew, she would not spread the word.

This mutual understanding had been cultivated over the past two years.

Although they had not yet reached the highest level of "you don't say, I already understand," Ruri was not the type to pry into things.

For example, she knew about Shiraishi's true strength but had never thought of exposing him.

Shiraishi did not ask Ruri why she did not expose him, and Ruri did not ask Shiraishi why he hid his strength.

Even so, it did not affect their pure friendship.

This was the best kind of understanding.