"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 216: I Have Nine Ways
...
Yūshin was a compassionate man. Not only had he used his Yin-Yang Release to save most of the Konoha ninja, but he had also rescued most of the enemies. The difference was that the rescued Konoha ninja quickly regained consciousness, while those enemies remained unconscious.
The rogue ninja who had fought their way out of Kumogakure alongside Kinkaku and Ginkaku certainly possessed considerable skill. Simply killing them outright would be wasteful... Ninja were always destined to die, but they also pursued those four words: "a meaningful death."
"I... I'm not dead? I'm alive again?"
"Is this real? I could swear I just saw the gates of the Pure Land."
Well, that wasn't actually an illusion.
"Lord Yūshin, you intervened, and... Lady Aoi, why are you here?"
The Konoha ninja hadn't exactly returned from the dead—more like from the brink of death. Regardless, their recent near-death experience left their minds in complete chaos.
After completing the rescue, Hagūgen Aoi silently positioned herself behind Yūshin. She said nothing, merely staring blankly at her own palms... That power just now could only be borrowed—obtaining such a "toy" easily was impossible.
Hagūgen Aoi was the Second Hokage's daughter—her status and position needed no explanation. Even elite ninja had to show verbal respect... Before fourteen, you could call her "little Aoi" and she wouldn't take issue. After fourteen? Naturally, you must address her as "Lady Aoi"—otherwise, what was the point of growing up?
"All right, all right. You've finished fighting—now withdraw. My medical assistance is limited, and everyone should understand cherishing it... I mean, you should understand cherishing your own lives."
Yūshin didn't intervene seeking gratitude—he simply couldn't stand by and watch these people die. However, though everyone rallied under Konoha's banner, their specific factions weren't aligned. Therefore, after saving these people, Yūshin needed them to "listen to reason."
Yūshin could certainly heal people indefinitely, but if these individuals proved exceptionally stubborn, there would be no necessity for assistance... Yūshin's help shouldn't become everyone's reckless reliance.
"Withdraw? But our mission is to eliminate the invading enemies..."
"Lord Yūshin, your orders contradict the Hokage's instructions."
These statements pulled the contemplating Hagūgen Aoi back to reality. She frowned and said:
"The dead have no right to speak. Without Lord Yūshin, you would all be dead now. Ninja must also distinguish right from wrong—don't you understand this basic principle?"
"But, Lady Aoi..."
"Leave immediately—can't you see the situation clearly? If you could have successfully completed the mission, would Lord Yūshin have needed to appear? Leave the rest to Lord Yūshin."
Hagūgen Aoi's words were quite blunt—she was just short of pointing at their noses and calling them all useless... Though this essentially constituted indirect criticism, fundamentally targeting the Third Hokage's insufficient capabilities.
Yūshin remained silent, calmly observing Shimura Danzo, who was equally speechless in the crowd. Logically, based on the "political enemy disposal standard procedure" he'd just explained to Hagūgen Aoi, he should cleanly eliminate Danzo now.
However, considering this would be somewhat excessive bullying, Danzo-level enemies could be completely handled by Aoi. If Yūshin personally handled such work, it would seem rather low-end.
Still, if the other party proved unwise, Yūshin wouldn't mind reluctantly sending them back the way they came—how they were revived, how they'd die again. Such a simple matter.
Just as Yūshin's thoughts began wandering, Shimura Danzo suddenly experienced inexplicable heart-pounding fear... Logically, no one in current Konoha understood Yūshin's true strength, yet Danzo genuinely felt a mysterious, ominous sensation.
It's said death amplifies people's senses, allowing extreme alertness in critical moments—apparently this claim was true.
"We're withdrawing. Leave this to Lord Yūshin."
Shimura Danzo said only this, then led the retreat away from the battlefield.
"This..."
With the leader speaking, other ninja's mutual glances were useless—they could only follow Danzo.
Current Danzo and the Third Hokage both belonged to the young elite faction. They hadn't reached the splitting point yet—or rather, Danzo still obediently hid behind the Hokage. Only when Yūshin's generation of old-timers truly stopped managing affairs would Danzo begin grabbing Hokage power for himself.
"Miscalculation—I should have just revived them without waking them up."
Yūshin watched the Konoha ninja's retreating figures, unable to resist shaking his head... These ninja had problems—they only knew the Hokage, not Yūshin.
Wait, this should be normal, right? Otherwise, why would the Third Hokage bring them to battle? Wasn't it precisely because of their loyalty?
Jiraiya stood aside saying nothing. He seemed to understand nothing, yet vaguely felt he'd grasped something... Lord Yūshin had saved these ninja—shouldn't they obey Lord Yūshin's words?
The logic was simple: these Konoha ninja truly lacked the strength to battle powerful enemies. According to Boss Lady's statement, they were already dead... Arguing after being rescued—wasn't that unreasonable?
Jiraiya witnessed Konoha's internal factional disputes, and his attitude subtly carried bias... No choice—he'd been brought here by Yūshin, empowered by Yūshin, and had personally saved some Konoha ninja.
Not to mention Yūshin was his "idol."
"Aoi, why do you think these Konoha ninja are willing to accept my instructions?" Yūshin withdrew his gaze, asking Hagūgen Aoi.
"Because their strength is weak, so they have no room for resistance." Hagūgen Aoi answered matter-of-factly.
Yūshin immediately shook his head, correcting her statement:
"You can't say it that way. You must understand—everyone worldwide is reasonable. Because our reasoning is strong and theirs is weak, we achieved persuasion through reason, giving them opportunities to be reasonable."
"We can use force to convince, but we should still persuade through reason and virtue—this is the mindset required to become a superior."
Hagūgen Aoi understood instantly. Persuading through virtue meant holding a hammer while speaking reason... Strike once for each point made—how could they not be reasonable?
"I understand, Lord Yūshin!"
"Moreover, your earlier words were very problematic—didn't this aggravate conflicts between the Hokage faction and us? Aggravating conflicts isn't problematic since internal struggles are inevitable, but we can't be responsible for aggravating conflicts. We must... I mean, we must stand on dry ground without getting our shoes wet."
"Ah, I understand!"
Jiraiya listened with twitching eyelids. Lord Yūshin seemed quite different from his imagination. And... he understood the logic, but why wasn't the Second Hokage's daughter part of the Hokage faction? Why did she seem to distance herself from the Hokage faction?
Nonsense—"Hagūgen Aoi"—look at her surname. How could she be Hokage faction? She was clearly Fireflies faction.
Yūshin glanced at Jiraiya, noticing his odd expression, and decided to somewhat salvage his image.
"Jiraiya, do you think a ninja village as large as Konoha can avoid internal struggles? Don't think—make instinctive judgments."
Jiraiya hesitated, ultimately saying: "No, Lord Yūshin."
This reasonable, indisputable answer left Jiraiya feeling somewhat dejected.
"Exactly. Struggling without breaking is sufficient. One must know darkness while maintaining purity... I'm merely educating you young people. At my age, would I really compete with juniors for power?"
Not counting Yūshin's transmigration time, he was now openly fifty-seven—a standard "halfway buried" life stage.
Yūshin's explanation instantly enlightened Jiraiya. His idol's slightly shadowy image immediately became bright and magnificent again... Even righteous and bright individuals sometimes need dirty hands. When necessary, one must courageously shoulder responsibility. Lord Yūshin dressed so purely white that his hands inevitably darkened.
Being burdened by reputation was another form of cowardice.
Seeing both youngsters' faces showing complete understanding, Yūshin felt genuine satisfaction. Konoha's education still depended on old veterans like him... Nurturing people like nurturing trees—excess branches must be pruned.
However, different people held different views. If the Third Hokage judged Yūshin's methods, this wasn't pruning branches but cutting main trunks while fattening branches, turning Konoha's pillars into crooked trees.
Subsequently, the three continued moving along the battlefield's expanding direction, demonstrating international spirit by healing both friend and foe indiscriminately.
Konoha ninja were left unconscious in place, while Kumogakure ninja were bound in a string, carried forward by Jiraiya.
Approaching the battlefield center, intense combat sounds reached Yūshin's group.
"Seems they've finished trading..." Yūshin said.
"What?" The two youngsters didn't understand his meaning.
"I mean both sides have completely traded away their subordinates. What remains should be Sarutobi fighting the two jinchūriki."
Though Konoha had more people, they were disadvantaged in top-tier combat power, making this outcome unsurprising.
Moving forward, they saw the three still engaged in combat.
"Sarutobi... performance isn't bad."
Though Sarutobi Hiruzen was at a disadvantage, both Kinkaku and Ginkaku had already half-transformed into Tailed Beasts, and their "Six Paths Ninja Tools" seemed knocked away. Under such circumstances, praising his performance was warranted... In one-on-one combat, victory was certainly possible. Sarutobi Hiruzen's current inability to defeat opponents wasn't his fault—the enemy simply didn't fight honorably, engaging two-against-one.
To handle jinchūriki, Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally prepared sealing squads, but cunning as Kinkaku and Ginkaku were, they couldn't possibly be simply restrained. In fact, the sealing squad met misfortune at the first moment of engagement.
"How does the Tailed Beast chakra feel?"
"It's... like that." Hagūgen Aoi's face was somewhat pale, but she remained stubborn.
"I think it's okay too..." Jiraiya also refused to admit weakness. Since Aoi said so, he naturally couldn't show softness.
"Very good—then let's get closer."
Yūshin thought: If I hadn't previously adjusted your body, how could you possibly withstand Tailed Beast chakra at your age? In that case, stubbornness would be useless—your bladder would definitely go soft.
Sarutobi Hiruzen wielded his staff while interspersing various ninjutsu, his combat style quite similar to his father's. His strength wasn't much weaker than Sarutobi Sasuke once was, yet this meant his peak wouldn't exceed his father's generation by much.
But this wasn't Sarutobi Hiruzen's problem. Ordinary ninja's limits were just so—no matter how excellently he played the five elements, it only demonstrated his extremely balanced strength... If Sarutobi Hiruzen could master one Kekkei Genkai, perhaps he could find other breakthrough methods.
His taijutsu was extremely sophisticated, yet jinchūriki were excessively thick-skinned and tough. Their techniques were nothing but vicious lunges, biting, clawing, and tail-whipping... Honestly, for Sarutobi, jinchūriki were harder to handle than Susanoo.
Elementary-stage Susanoo could be shattered with a few more strikes, but jinchūriki? Strike casually—if one blow didn't kill them, they'd recover.
Both sides' fundamental conditions and combat modes determined the Third Hokage couldn't possibly achieve victory in this battle. The reason was simple: enemies could make countless mistakes, while Sarutobi couldn't make even one.
As combat time lengthened, people would inevitably make mistakes.
Thus...
When the Third Hokage's staff struck toward Kinkaku's Tailed Beast chakra-covered claw, he was suddenly feinted past.
This staff struck Kinkaku's shoulder, but simultaneously, Kinkaku slapped Sarutobi's chest... Trading injuries like this, the enemy could still win.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, being mortal flesh, was swept away by the claw.
Or rather, both sides were knocked away by each other, yet the consequences differed.
"You two observe the battle here—don't continue approaching."
Yūshin saw the Third Hokage struggle several times without getting up, so he knew it was now the "so I intervened" stage.
He first flashed before the Third Hokage, finding deep, bone-exposing claw marks across his chest, with his sternum also caved inward.
"Lord Yūshin..."
Yūshin merely nodded without saying much.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen were just a ninja, his combat performance would be commendable—he was very brave. However, he wasn't an ordinary ninja but the Hokage... The Hokage didn't need bravery—what was needed was the ability to bring absolute victory to the village.
But facing the enhanced Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers, his performance was indeed quite good. After all, the Hokage was ultimately also a ninja.
So Yūshin had no reason to praise him, but also made no criticism.
The Third's injuries were quite severe, but he wouldn't die immediately, so Yūshin wasn't rushed to treat his wounds. Instead, he directly stored him in the alternate dimension.
Sarutobi himself was currently filled with shame and self-reproach—he truly hadn't shouldered his responsibilities as Hokage.
But Yūshin had no time to care about his feelings.
He walked step by step toward the two half-Tailed Beast-transformed jinchūriki.
With his footsteps, the chakra on both enemies suddenly erupted. Like startled animals, with each step Yūshin took forward, their bodies swelled enormously.
By the time Yūshin reached them and stopped, these two had nearly completely transformed into Tailed Beasts, their bodies swelling to thirty meters tall.
Yūshin stood before the two Tailed Beasts, looking up at them.
Though their sizes were so different, the momentum was actually reversed—Yūshin was incredibly composed, while the two jinchūriki appeared highly stressed.
Yūshin stood with arms naturally hanging, feet apart—yet the scene felt somewhat incomplete...
"I'm just missing a Sage's Staff—so I lack that sage-like bearing."
At this moment, he was still considering the Truth-Seeking Orbs he hadn't mastered and the even more distant Kekkei Mōra...
No choice—he wasn't particularly worried about jinchūriki and Tailed Beasts.
Because Yūshin had nine ways to kill them...
Nine ways!
🔥 Want to read the next 50+ chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on - patreon.com/GoldenLong]