Chapter 317: Kakashi and Nohara Rin's Contract

Amidst the gazes of countless people filled with envy and anticipation,

the light emitted by the Resurrection Coin gradually condensed into a curvaceous figure.

She slowly descended from mid-air.

"Kakashi."

After being resurrected, Nohara Rin looked around with a dazed expression.

She still looked exactly as she had at the beginning, with short brown hair and dark brown eyes, her gaze like that of a gentle fawn.

Tsunade, quick-witted and fast-handed, casually pulled off the coat she was wearing and threw it to Kakashi.

Kakashi also sensed that something was wrong; he hurriedly caught the oversized coat and pulled the slowly descending Nohara Rin into his arms, wrapping her completely inside the coat.

"Oh!"

Uzumaki Naruto's face turned red.

Although he hadn't seen anything, he understood the situation currently unfolding.

Back when he resurrected his father, it was in his own doghouse, and the resurrected father had been stark naked, which almost made Naruto think the man was a pervert.

For someone who had just died, if the body was not severely damaged, the resurrection would take place directly on the corpse.

For the dead like Nohara Rin who had been gone for a long time, the Resurrection Coin would not create clothes for them, so they were in a state of being stark naked after resurrection.

"Kakashi, didn't I die?"

Nohara Rin raised her head in a daze and asked somewhat strangely, "Why do you look like a middle-aged man?"

When she died, Kakashi was still a tender youth with a face so soft it seemed like it could drip water; even though he covered his face all day, he had many female admirers.

But now, years of decadence and reading Icha Icha Paradise, combined with his dead-fish eyes all day long, made him look completely devoid of the youthful spirit he once had.

Yet Nohara Rin recognized him without the slightest hesitation; after discovering she was being held in his arms, her face turned slightly red, but she did not struggle or resist.

"Is this your sweetheart, Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto leaned over, his face full of gossip, revealing an ambiguous expression, and then introduced himself to Nohara Rin: "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I love eating ramen, and I am Kakashi-sensei's student."

"Idiot."

Sasuke turned his head away, feeling that Naruto was very embarrassing.

Nohara Rin looked around belatedly,

discovering that she was actually in the center of a plaza, surrounded by onlookers, and there were even faces she was quite familiar with.

"Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya... you..."

Nohara Rin's face was flushed red.

She wanted to break free from Kakashi's arms, only to discover that she was wrapped in nothing but an oversized coat that felt like a bedsheet.

She was instantly ashamed and angry, and instinctively raised her palm and landed it on Kakashi's face.

"Idiot Kakashi, what did you do to me?"

Nohara Rin questioned him in a low voice, ashamed and angry,

burying her entire head in Kakashi's arms in desperation, like a fawn that had lost its way.

Kakashi, with a palm print on his face, said helplessly, "I didn't expect that there wouldn't even be clothes upon resurrection; if I had known, I would have resurrected you at home."

"You still wanted to do it at your home?"

Nohara Rin was so ashamed and angry she was about to faint,

until Kakashi stuttered through the entire sequence of events, and Nohara Rin finally realized what had happened.

The onlookers had all left.

Jiraiya still wanted to stay, but was grabbed by the back of his neck by Tsunade and thrown away.

Kakashi brought Nohara Rin back to his residence,

found a piece of his own childhood clothing, and handed it to Nohara Rin.

Nohara Rin took the clothes and gripped both sides of the coat tightly with her hands, but even so, a pair of fair, slender calves with beautiful muscle lines were still exposed.

Her face flushed red, and she whispered, "Don't you dare peek."

Although in her impression, the aloof Kakashi would not do something like peeping, she felt that the middle-aged Kakashi before her was somehow not quite right.

A moment later, Nohara Rin, her face flushed as if she had just woken up, stepped barefoot on the tatami mat and sat opposite Kakashi.

"The old Konoha was destroyed by Orochimaru, and this place was originally Hot Water Village..."

Kakashi organized his words,

picking and choosing things to say about what had happened in the years since Nohara Rin died.

"Lord Orochimaru? He actually betrayed the village and even conducted human experiments? Minato-sensei died in battle..."

"Is that Naruto, who looks silly and has a personality very similar to Obito, actually the teacher's child?"

Nohara Rin listened quietly just like that,

occasionally showing a look of surprise, until the Samsara Game descended and Kakashi obtained a Resurrection Coin to bring her back to life.

Nohara Rin was filled with wonder and said, "It sounds like a dream; that game merchant is simply an existence that surpasses the Sage of Six Paths."

Originally, all of this should have been beyond imagination and difficult to comprehend.

But with resurrection as a foundation, everything became easy to accept.

After a moment of silence, Kakashi said, "Originally, I wanted to resurrect Obito first, and wait until I had the strength to protect you before resurrecting you."

He hadn't expected an accident to occur during the resurrection.

"Kakashi!"

Nohara Rin's expression was serious, like a gentle puppy throwing a tantrum.

She pinched Kakashi's somewhat rough cheek with some disdain and said earnestly, "You and Obito, you two guys are always like this, thinking I am a girl who needs to be protected."

"But I am also a ninja, I can fight, and my Medical Ninjutsu can help a great many injured people."

Nohara Rin expressed her dissatisfaction, until finally, the mask of strength she had maintained shattered, and she hugged Kakashi while tears streamed down her face.

For Kakashi, countless years had passed since he killed Nohara Rin with his own hands, but for the girl before him, it was something that had just happened.

She was afraid of loss, terrified, especially after having already lost their comrade Uchiha Obito; the thing she feared losing most was Kakashi.

She was not a weak vase,

her comprehensive grades at the Ninja Academy had always been among the best, and she did not want to become a burden protected by her teammates.

That was why, in the end, she had so resolutely chosen to die.

"Rin..."

Kakashi heart-achingly rubbed Nohara Rin's head,

and with the expertise he had gained from reading Icha Icha Paradise for many years, he was unexpectedly clumsy in such a situation, both in words and actions.

"How strange, my teenage teammate has turned into an uncle."

Nohara Rin smiled, her gaze gentle yet carrying a hint of playfulness, and said: "Then it's decided, we will fight side by side, and then drag the hiding Obito out."

The Resurrection Coin failing meant that Obito was still alive.

If that was the case, why was Obito unwilling to return to the village, and unwilling to appear before her?

Could it be because he had failed to protect Rin?

Kakashi looked at the youthful-faced Rin, raised his arm, and brought his hands together; the next second, electric arcs resembling swimming dragons appeared in his palms, emitting a crackling sound.

Finally, it condensed into a thumb-sized seed, entirely Blue Potential in color, with currents flickering like gossamer on its surface, looking just like an exquisite work of art.

"I am a Thunder Hunter, capable of contracting and performing Reinforcement on lightning-attribute life forms to serve as partners."

Eight ninja dogs with electric arcs swimming all over their bodies appeared; Pakkun, who was in the lead, revealed a look of shock, and after coming to his senses, reached out to greet her: "Miss Nohara Rin, I didn't expect that idiot Kakashi could actually resurrect you; it really has been a long time."

It was the first ninja dog Kakashi had ever signed a Contract with,

so it had met Nohara Rin and knew of Nohara Rin's death, which was why it was so shocked.

"Pakkun, although I just met you, it has been a long time!"

Nohara Rin gently reached out her hand, took Pakkun's paw, and shook it.

Kakashi held the blue seed in his palm and said: "After eating this Thunder Seed, it is equivalent to signing a Contract with me."

"It can grant you the power of thunder, and furthermore, as long as I do not die, you can recover rapidly even if you suffer a fatal injury."

Among the summoning types, this is a game ability that uses contracted partners to fight.

Originally,

Kakashi had wanted to resurrect Obito and make him his ninth ninja dog—bah, his ninth partner.

Having witnessed the death of a partner with his own eyes, he was no longer willing to see a partner fall before him again.

With the Hunter Contract in place,

as long as the contracted party is within the range of the Contract, after receiving a fatal wound, it will consume the Contractor's Energy Value to recover.

Only when the Contractor dies will the contracted life form die.

(End of this chapter)