Chapter 86 086: You're Quite Underdeveloped
Uchiha Taiga returned to the town. He didn't walk fast, strolling as leisurely as if taking an after-dinner walk.
Yugito Nii was slung over his shoulder, head facing backward, her hair hanging down and swaying with his every step.
It wasn't that she hadn't thought of struggling, but the sealing jutsu Uchiha Taiga used was too potent. She couldn't move a single finger on her entire body. All she could do was grit her teeth and let him carry her back in this humiliating posture.
The people on the street saw them and avoided them from afar.
Some recognized Uchiha Taiga. Although the battle just now had taken place outside the city, the commotion was too massive. The flashes of lightning, the flames, the orange-red Tailed Beast chakra, and that glowing yellow giant—many people in the town had seen it all.
No one dared to approach, let alone ask what had happened.
Wherever he passed, the pedestrians strolling on the street ducked into the alleys.
Uchiha Taiga paid them no mind and continued walking with his captive over his shoulder.
He passed by the area where they had fought earlier. The street had already been cleaned up; the corpses were gone, and the bloodstains had been washed away, leaving only patches of dark red water stains on the ground.
Several people dressed in black were at the scene. Seeing him return, their bodies stiffened in unison.
Uchiha Taiga knew those people were ninjas from Yugakure.
The Land of Hot Water was a small country, and Yugakure was a small ninja village. They had neither the ability nor the courage to provoke people from the great ninja villages, especially those lunatics from Kumogakure, let alone a ruthless man like him who dared to slaughter Kumogakure ninjas.
All they could do was clean up the battlefield, dispose of the corpses, wipe away the bloodstains, and pretend nothing had ever happened.
Uchiha Taiga glanced at the wiped-away bloodstains and suddenly remembered something, his footsteps pausing for a moment.
He had forgotten to loot the bodies.
Those Kumogakure ninjas probably had quite a few good things on them. It was a bit of a pity that the Yugakure ninjas had just collected them all.
However, on second thought, he didn't really care.
His biggest harvest this time was slung over his shoulder. Everything else was just a bonus; it didn't matter if he had it or not.
He continued forward.
Uchiha Taiga found an inn that looked decent and walked inside.
The innkeeper was a middle-aged woman. Seeing him carry a young woman inside, the expression on her face shifted from terror to hesitation, and then from hesitation to a tactful silence.
She didn't ask anything and didn't say a word, simply handing over a key in silence.
"Second floor, the innermost room."
Uchiha Taiga took the key, nodded, and put down a stack of cash. He then carried Yugito Nii up to the second floor, walked to the innermost room, opened the door, and went inside.
The room wasn't large, but it was very clean.
A tatami mat, a table, a wardrobe, and a window.
Outside the window, distant hills could be seen. The sun was setting, dyeing the horizon a vibrant orange-red.
Yugito Nii was placed on the tatami. She could feel the texture of the mat beneath her, but her body still couldn't move. She could only lie there, staring up at the ceiling.
Her hair spread out across the tatami, the beige-blonde strands shimmering with a golden light under the setting sun.
Uchiha Taiga took a lap around the room, opened the window for ventilation, and went to the bathroom to wash his face.
When he returned, he saw Yugito Nii glaring daggers at him, the expression in her eyes incredibly complex.
Anger, shame, and unwillingness intertwined into a complicated mix. She bit her lip so hard it had turned white, but she refused to speak.
Uchiha Taiga sat down beside her, looking down at her with a smile.
"Honestly, you brought this on yourself, coming out of nowhere to cause trouble for me. Are you satisfied with this outcome?"
Yugito Nii's lips twitched, but she still didn't speak.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak; she just didn't know what to say.
Say she regretted it?
She truly did regret it.
She regretted not properly investigating her opponent's strength before coming, and she regretted underestimating him.
But she was Kumogakure's Two-Tails Jinchuriki, an elite personally chosen by the Raikage. She couldn't admit defeat, couldn't bow her head, and couldn't show weakness in front of the enemy.
Therefore, she just stared fixedly at Uchiha Taiga without saying a single word.
Uchiha Taiga didn't mind.
His gaze shifted from her face and swept over her body.
Her clothes had been damaged in several places during the battle. A tear on her shoulder revealed the white shirt underneath and a small patch of her collarbone.
A piece of clothing on the side of her waist was torn, exposing the skin underneath and a shallow bloody scratch.
A section of the sleeve on her arm had been ripped off, leaving a wound on her forearm that was still oozing blood.
The pants on her legs were also torn in a few places, revealing her thighs.
The injuries weren't too severe, but they still needed to be treated. Otherwise, if the wounds got infected, he would have to take care of her, which would be a hassle.
Uchiha Taiga sighed.
"Forget it. I have a kind heart and can't stand the sight of blood. I'll help you treat them."
He stood up, walked to the table, untied the large scroll from his back, placed it on the table, opened it, and then released the seal.
A medical kit appeared on the scroll.
Watching him do this, Yugito Nii's expression shifted from anger to confusion.
She thought he would do something else—perhaps interrogate her, humiliate her, or use her to blackmail Kumogakure.
But she never expected that the first thing he would do was help treat her wounds.
Uchiha Taiga picked up a cotton ball and first tended to the wound on her arm.
The wound wasn't deep, but it was a bit long, extending from her wrist all the way to the middle of her forearm.
He gently wiped the skin around the wound with the cotton ball. The disinfectant touching the wound brought a sharp sting.
Yugito Nii furrowed her brows but didn't make a sound.
Uchiha Taiga's movements were very gentle. The cotton ball glided across her skin, wiping away the bloodstains and leaving behind a cool sensation.
He switched to another cotton ball and continued wiping until the skin around the wound was completely clean. Only then did he apply hemostatic medicine and wrap it up with a bandage.
The bandage was wrapped neither too tightly nor too loosely, just enough to secure the wound without being uncomfortably restrictive.
After treating her arm, he moved on to the wound on her shoulder.
That wound was just below her collarbone, right at the tear in her clothes. Uchiha Taiga reached out and pushed the torn fabric aside, exposing the wound underneath.
His fingers inevitably brushed against her skin; they were cool and had slightly rough calluses.
Yugito Nii's body trembled slightly.
She bit her lip and turned her face away, refusing to look at him.
Her face was already flushed, the redness spreading from her cheeks all the way to the roots of her ears.
She didn't know if it was out of shame or anger; perhaps it was a mix of both.
She was Kumogakure's Jinchuriki, an elite ninja acknowledged even by the Raikage, and a standout among her peers.
But she had never been treated like this before—slung over a shoulder, placed on a bed, and having her clothes opened to treat her wounds.
This feeling made her very uncomfortable, but she couldn't quite articulate why.
Uchiha Taiga continued treating her wounds.
After finishing with her shoulder, he treated her waist, then her knees, and finally another scrape on her arm.
His movements were practiced, as if he had done this many times before.
Disinfecting, applying medicine, and bandaging—every step was crisp and efficient, without any wasted motion.
When treating the wound on her waist, the tear in her clothes was quite large, exposing a broad expanse of skin on her waist and abdomen.
Her waist was very slender, her skin pale, and her abdomen flat without an ounce of excess fat.
The results of year-round training were most evident on her waist and abdomen—not exaggerated muscles, but rather contours brimming with a sense of power.
Uchiha Taiga's hand paused for a moment at her waist.
He glanced at that patch of skin, then shifted his gaze away and continued his work.
Once everything was treated, he closed the medical kit and placed it back on the table.
Then he walked back, sat down beside Yugito Nii, and looked down at her.
Yugito Nii still wore the same expression, glaring at him intensely. The flush on her face hadn't completely faded, leaving a faint pink hue from her cheeks down to her neck.
Her clothes were still torn. Bandages wrapped from her shoulder to her arm, and from her waist to her abdomen, standing out starkly against her pale skin.
Looking at her in this state, Uchiha Taiga couldn't help but scratch his cheek.
"By the way, you should be around sixteen or seventeen this year, right?"
His tone was casual, and his face was full of genuine bewilderment.
"Why are you so underdeveloped?"
Yugito Nii's face instantly turned beet red.
The heat burned from her neck all the way to the top of her head. Her eyes widened even further, her pupils filled with fury. Her lips trembled, and her teeth ground together audibly.
If she could move right now, she would definitely jump up and stab him.
But she couldn't move. She could only lie there, trying to kill him with her glare.
Seeing her reaction, Uchiha Taiga chuckled in amusement.
Did she really think he was kind-hearted?
Bullshit.
Uchiha Taiga knew his own intentions best. He just wanted to get a mount—scratch that—he just wanted to get a travel companion.