Chapter 2

Shigen did not have the powerful regenerative abilities of a zombie, and now he could only rely on medical ninjutsu to treat his wounds.

At this moment, Shigen was sitting cross-legged in a cave, pulling out the kunai from his chest with his left hand. Blood gushed out like a well, staining a large area of his shirt.

In a short while, Shigen gathered all the chakra in his body and concentrated it in his right hand. His entire palm was enveloped in green chakra.

Placing his right palm on the wound, Shigen's chakra began to take effect, quickly repairing the injury.

Palm Healing Jutsu!

This was the strongest ninjutsu Shigen could currently master proficiently.

It had to be said that the A-rank medical ninjutsu was indeed extraordinary.

Under the effect of the Palm Healing Jutsu, the wound that was gushing blood quickly stopped bleeding, and new flesh began to grow, rapidly repairing the injury.

Of course, without an immortal body, let alone stopping the bleeding, he would have been dead long ago.

However, Shigen's Palm Healing Jutsu was relatively peculiar because he could only heal himself, not others. Otherwise, anyone touched by Shigen's Palm Healing Jutsu would die.

This was a lesson Shigen learned the hard way after the deaths of over a dozen small frogs.

Time passed bit by bit.

After staying in the cave for three days, Shigen finally managed to completely repair the large hole in his chest and back, and his injuries were mostly healed.

Apart from a bit of anemia, there were no other major issues.

"I still need to hurry and catch up with the main force... eating soldier pills every day provides no nutrition at all."

Shigen walked to the cave entrance, looking at the thick darkness ahead, planning to travel under the cover of night for greater safety.

After all, traveling during the day would easily expose his figure, making it easy for the enemy to discover him.

Traveling at night, although risky, was much better than during the day.

Shigen packed his gear, stepped out of the cave, and leaped into the thick darkness, disappearing from sight.

...

At the border of the Land of Fire, in the Konoha camp.

"Kakashi, training must be done gradually. Overexerting yourself can easily lead to injury. You don't need to be too anxious."

Minato was in a tent, bandaging Kakashi's burned right hand while occasionally giving advice.

"I know, Sensei."

Kakashi's expression was unchanged, as it always was.

Minato, seeing this, shook his head with a smile. His handsome face under his blond hair exuded a gentle demeanor.

He knew that Kakashi, in his quest to become stronger, had been practicing the nature transformation of lightning chakra and wanted to develop a powerful lightning ninjutsu through this method.

However, he accidentally overexerted himself, leading to a backlash of lightning chakra and burning his right arm.

Fortunately, the injury was not severe, but Kakashi would not be able to continue developing his powerful lightning ninjutsu for some time.

"Captain Minato, there is a genin outside who needs you to confirm his identity."

Suddenly, a Konoha ninja in green armor ran to the tent and said to Minato.

"Me?" Minato was taken aback.

What genin needed him to confirm his identity?

The ninja replied, "The genin says he is Shigen from your squad, but the three members of your squad—Kakashi, Rin, and Obito—are all here in the camp. Where did this 'Shigen' come from?"

"Hmm, I remember now. There is such a person. I'll go and see him," Minato suddenly recalled something and smiled at the messenger.

As he spoke, Minato had already finished bandaging Kakashi's injured arm and, before leaving, reminded him, "Kakashi, remember what I said. Don't practice that jutsu for a while."

"I understand, Sensei," Kakashi replied, seemingly not taking Minato's words to heart, with an expressionless face.

Seeing Kakashi's dismissive attitude, Minato didn't say anything more, sighed inwardly, and walked out of the tent toward the camp gate.

As he approached the gate, Minato saw a young man in black clothing with a handsome appearance chatting with the guard.

At this moment, the black-clothed youth seemed to notice Minato's arrival and waved enthusiastically in his direction.

Minato walked to the gate and smiled at the black-clothed youth, "Shigen, you're late."

Shigen smiled sheepishly, "Sensei, I took a wrong turn."

Minato chuckled, not in a good mood.

Ten days ago, the reinforcements sent by the village had arrived at the border camp, but Shigen was the only one missing.

This made Minato anxious. If not for the mission, he would have almost gone out to search for Shigen himself, but he didn't expect the boy to return on his own.

However, seeing Shigen safe and sound, Minato felt relieved.

He pointed to Shigen and said to the guard, "Shinichi, this is Shigen from our squad. Have you checked his credentials?"

The guard named Shinichi smiled, "Yes, he has already handed over his credentials. I just wanted to be cautious, so I asked you to come."

Minato shook his head and smiled, "No trouble, it's my duty."

Then he said to Shigen, "Come on, late ninja."

Shigen pursed his lips, thinking to himself, does the Fourth Hokage, who seems harmless, really enjoy giving people nicknames?

Although he was annoyed, he obediently followed Minato into the camp.

"Where have you been these past few days?" Minato asked as they walked.

Shigen's eyes darted around, "After getting separated from the main force, I couldn't find my way and wandered around before finally reaching here."

"Nothing happened on the way?" Minato glanced at Shigen.

Shigen shook his head, "Of course not."

Fortunately, he had prepared a spare set of clothes and changed out of the damaged and bloodstained ones on the way, or it would have been hard to explain.

After all, the damage on the clothes was caused by a sharp kunai. Even if the bloodstains were washed off, Minato's keen mind would have noticed immediately.

"Good," Minato sighed, "If anything had happened to you, how could I explain it to Tsunade-sama and Kushina?"

Hearing these two women's names, Shigen's lips twitched.

Tsunade was his teacher.

And he had become her student through a bet.

A year ago, after learning that he had an immortal body but no powerful regenerative abilities, Shigen focused on Tsunade's "Creation Rebirth."

To learn "Creation Rebirth," "Sealing Technique: Yin Seal," and "Mythical Jutsu: One Hundred Healing Hands," Shigen sought out Tsunade. Knowing that Tsunade had an incredibly bad gambling luck, he directly made a bet and was "unavoidably" taken as her disciple.

After all, the "legendary sucker" wasn't called that for nothing. If nothing bad happened, Tsunade wouldn't win.

But actually...