Chapter 35: The Genius Boy
Near the border of the Land of Fire, surrounded by mountains on all sides, Gōenji listened quietly as his companions reported the latest developments on the battlefield.
"So that's what happened. Danzō-sama's schemes actually resulted in the Third Raikage dying on the battlefield. Doesn't that mean Kumogakure is practically in disarray now?"
Gōenji was deeply shaken by the news.
After returning, his mission had already been completed, and thanks to the information he had obtained from Orochimaru, he had been able to avoid drawing Danzō's attention. He hadn't been punished. Instead, Danzō had simply acknowledged his ability.
After taking a brief rest, Gōenji immediately began asking about the battlefield.
What shocked him most was naturally Danzō's methods.
He had never expected the battle between the Third Raikage and Iwagakure's ten-thousand-man army to have been orchestrated by Danzō himself.
And the plan had been executed almost flawlessly.
Kumogakure had paid for the Third Raikage's life, but in doing so, they had suffered enormous losses. More importantly, the pressure on Konoha's battlefield against Kumogakure had been greatly reduced.
At last, Konoha could breathe.
At least until Kumogakure recovered from the death of the Third Raikage, Konoha would have some time to recover.
The original anime never showed anything like this.
At this point in history, Danzō is actually doing something.
As for Iwagakure, they had fought the Third Raikage's forces for three days and three nights, and they had suffered enormous casualties as well.
That, in turn, had further reduced the pressure on Konoha.
"Haha, that's nothing. It's only a small part of what Danzō-sama has accomplished!
"As for Kumogakure, I heard they've already chosen the Fourth Raikage. They just need to give him some time to become familiar with the village's administrative affairs. They won't have much energy to spare for fighting Konoha in the short term. I expect things to remain relatively calm for a while."
The Konoha shinobi sitting opposite Gōenji had a piece of foxtail grass between his teeth as he spoke.
There was even a hint of relief on his face.
This was, after all, an enormous turning point on the battlefield.
Konoha had been surrounded by enemies on all sides. The Third Raikage's death had suddenly relieved a tremendous amount of pressure, and the shinobi carrying out missions on the various fronts could finally breathe a little easier as well.
Gōenji could feel it too.
The pressure really had eased considerably.
Even the number of missions Danzō assigned to them had decreased.
"By the way, did you hear? Konoha has produced quite a few more geniuses recently."
The Konoha shinobi grinned.
"What geniuses?"
"On the battlefield against Kirigakure, there's a young Uchiha who specializes in the Body Flicker Technique—Shisui. He terrifies the enemy with his speed, and his genjutsu is even more frightening. He's from your Uchiha clan too. He's incredibly impressive. Some people even say he's more talented than you. And I've heard he's only thirteen."
Holy shit. Uchiha Shisui.
He's already starting to make a name for himself? What a genius.
He's only thirteen?
When Gōenji had watched the anime, Itachi had called Shisui "Shisui-niisan," and Shisui had looked quite young. He hadn't expected him to already be thirteen.
Some people simply looked younger than they really were.
Perhaps this was different from the guesses made by many Naruto fans. Shisui's exact age had always been a subject of debate among fans.
Regardless, Gōenji placed greater importance on the reality in front of him than on the anime's timeline.
After all, the original timeline was notoriously messy. There was no way it could perfectly correspond to reality.
"There's another one—the son of the White Fang, Kakashi Hatake. Just a few days ago, the Hokage promoted him to jōnin. He's only twelve years old. That's ridiculously young! A genius really is a genius!"
Gōenji had already expected this.
Kakashi should have been promoted to jōnin around this time, so the news didn't surprise him.
Still, he couldn't help sighing.
Konoha really did have an absurd number of geniuses.
Of course, the other villages had plenty as well.
Gari, the Explosion Release user from Iwagakure, and Darui were both examples.
They had reached jōnin-level strength at remarkably young ages.
Every village had people like that.
"There's also Lord Shinnosuke Sarutobi, the eldest son of our Hokage."
The Konoha shinobi's expression became noticeably proud as he continued.
"Shinnosuke Sarutobi?"
Gōenji's expression turned curious.
The name was both familiar and unfamiliar.
He quickly searched his memories and finally found the relevant information.
Konohamaru's father.
The character had never appeared in the anime's main storyline.
Yet here he was, actually appearing on the battlefield—and apparently quite powerful.
Gōenji had seen footage of him before. He only knew that Shinnosuke was a Konoha shinobi, a jōnin, and Konohamaru's father. Beyond that, he knew very little.
"That's right. Lord Shinnosuke is now recognized throughout the shinobi world as a master of Earth Release. He's even stronger with Earth Release than most Iwagakure shinobi. Just recently, he used Earth Release to directly break apart a combined ninjutsu formation created by an Iwagakure unit!"
The Konoha shinobi continued speaking as they moved.
From his explanation, Gōenji finally gained a clearer understanding of Shinnosuke.
Shinnosuke was sixteen at the time.
Sixteen.
Based on Kakashi's current age, Shinnosuke should have been roughly four years older than Asuma.
Yet at only sixteen, he was already one of the battlefield commanders.
He was even regarded as one of the era's outstanding young geniuses.
Recognized by the entire shinobi world?
Tsk. Isn't that basically the same level as Minato, the Sannin, or the White Fang?
Gōenji suddenly became curious.
How exactly had someone like that died?
He had never heard anything about it in the original story.
Gōenji casually joined the conversation.
"That's impressive. Now I'm curious—who's stronger, Minato-senpai or Shinnosuke?"
"Of course Minato-senpai is stronger. Lord Shinnosuke is still too young and has plenty of room to grow..."
The foxtail-grass-chewing shinobi continued.
According to him, Minato was naturally one of the top geniuses of the current era.
But Shinnosuke wasn't far behind.
If not for the age difference, the two of them might have been evenly matched.
Gōenji wasn't entirely convinced.
If he's really that powerful, why was his death so vague in the original story?
"Are there any other geniuses?"
Gōenji continued asking.
Since he had nothing better to do at the moment, he naturally wanted to learn more about the current battlefield situation.
"There are! There's Shibi Aburame, one of the most outstanding insect-manipulation geniuses of the Aburame clan... someone from the Nara clan... someone from the Akimichi clan... someone from the Kamizuru clan... someone from the Fūma clan..."
The Konoha shinobi seemed surprisingly well-informed, especially when it came to the younger generation.
Gōenji's expression gradually became strange.
Isn't Konoha revealing way too much information?
What if someone targets these people in the future?
Shinobi were assassins!
Why did the shinobi world have so many powerful geniuses?
Didn't they worry that their enemies would obtain intelligence about them?
After thinking about it for a moment, Gōenji understood.
They're probably being used to strengthen Konoha's deterrence.
There had to be even more geniuses hidden beneath the surface.
Combining the obvious talents with those kept hidden was far more advantageous on the battlefield.
No wonder Konoha could fight four great villages at once.
Its geniuses really did seem endless.
And these weren't merely the few geniuses who appeared in the original story.
Just as Gōenji was thinking about this, a familiar voice suddenly came from nearby.
"New mission assignments. There's no problem here for now. It's time to reinforce another battlefield."
Danzō's figure appeared in the distance.
He had begun redistributing missions among all the shinobi present.
Naturally, they weren't going back to the village to rest anytime soon.
Just like Gōenji, who had spent nearly two months on the battlefield, everyone could only accept their new assignments and continue moving from one battlefield to another.
The war was far from over.