Sarutobi Hiruzen landed with the Body Flicker Technique, the Adamantine Staff in his hand.
His speed was so fast, his power so great, that the ground cracked extensively upon his landing.
The dust from the collapsed section of the Konoha wall behind him was blown away by the wind he brought.
Yōkō assessed from the side: Sarutobi Hiruzen's Chakra reserve was massive, on par with his current level.
Sarutobi Hiruzen in his prime focused on ninjutsu, which necessarily required a vast amount of Chakra.
If he weren't so burdened by his duties as Hokage, and acted as a lone wolf assassin, unleashing Five Elements Unrivalled Attacks everywhere, his destructive power would be no less than a Tailed Beast's.
Yellow Dog landed shortly after, urgently asking the Jōnin in charge of Konoha Prison: "What happened! What's going on!"
The responsible Jōnin said fearfully: "Someone ambushed Jōnin Sarutobi Hinoyuu, forcing him out of his cell. Then... then in the woods outside the prison, they killed Jōnin Hinoyuu with a Five Elements Unrivalled Attack! I think I heard Jōnin Hinoyuu shout something... something like 'unfilial son'... Yes, the words 'unfilial son'."
When Yellow Dog heard 'Five Elements Unrivalled Attack', he had already guessed it was Sarutobi Kanenosuke. Hearing 'unfilial son' erased his last shred of hope.
Just how much did Sarutobi Kanenosuke hate Sarutobi Hinoyuu, to infiltrate the village and forcibly kill his own father?
Killing one's father... what kind of beast would do such a thing!
Poof!
White smoke appeared around Sarutobi Hiruzen.
After the smoke cleared, the Adamantine Staff disappeared, replaced by a monkey as tall as a person.
The Monkey King took a few steps forward, looked at the dozens-meter wide crater left by the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack, and said:
"Hiruzen, I never thought anyone besides you could use a Five Elements Unrivalled Attack with such power."
He turned and came to Sarutobi Hiruzen's side, continuing:
"Hiruzen, your intelligence network is rotten to the core, equivalent to you being blind.
Someone infiltrates Konoha, you don't know.
Someone attacks your people, you don't know.
You must establish a powerful intelligence system. The intelligence apparatus is the foundation of everything."
Yellow Dog nearby hung his head in shame.
The intelligence system was currently under his control, managed by Gibbon.
Gibbon was very capable, and the spy networks in the major countries were running quite well.
However, when facing Kage-level rogue ninja, Gibbon's strength fell far short.
To monitor Uchiha Madara's rogue ninja organization, Kage-level shinobi needed to be dispatched.
The number of Kage-level shinobi in Konoha was limited, and none would stoop to the grueling task of hunting rogue ninja.
Danzo in the past was willing to do the dirty work for his father, the Third Hokage, but after successive weakening, Danzo had long been semi-retired.
Yellow Dog looked towards Fox.
Fox had arrived at the scene earlier than him; Fox was very strong.
Fox was willing to do dirty work, but the problem was Fox had just been put on ice for a while because his strength was compared to the Third Kazekage's, making his father wary.
Yellow Dog said to Fox: "Fox, arrange personnel to secure the perimeter. Don't let ordinary shinobi approach. Tell everyone someone was training ninjutsu here."
Yōkō nodded and went to arrange the perimeter security around the incident site.
Other shinobi weren't fools. With a hole blown in the Konoha wall, it couldn't possibly be ninjutsu training.
Sarutobi Hinoyuu being killed by his illegitimate son Sarutobi Kanenosuke was a major scandal for the Sarutobi clan.
Nearby shinobi, seeing the Anbu taking over the area, stopped approaching.
Outside the security cordon, Danzo strolled leisurely over.
The on-duty Anbu shinobi all looked back at Vice-Commander Fox. Fox waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to make way.
Danzo, seeing the Anbu shinobi seek Fox's approval first before letting him pass, felt displeased.
He didn't look at any Anbu, nor at Fox, keeping his eyes forward as he walked towards the back of Konoha Prison.
Reaching Sarutobi Hiruzen's side, Danzo stood with him, looking at the deep crater.
The explosion's flames had been extinguished by Anbu shinobi, leaving the pit charred black.
Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "Danzo, you can't hide any longer.
Use the Hashirama Cells you transplanted to establish an intelligence system to counter troublesome Wood Release infiltration techniques.
Sarutobi Kanenosuke, Tobi, White Zetsu... they all master Wood Release infiltration methods.
Konoha Village cannot be a place they can come and go as they please."
"I can't hide any longer?" Danzo snorted coldly. "Why bother? You used various incidents back then to strip the Anbu from me, then the spy network.
Now you want to rely on me to build a new intelligence system?
Why not rely on your son Shinnosuke? Or why not rely on Fox? Doesn't Fox also master Wood Release?
Wood Release isn't my primary combat method. My proficiency in Wood Release is nowhere near Fox's."
"Danzo, don't act recklessly," Sarutobi Hiruzen said.
"Fox's Wood Release strength is formidable, but his rise has been too rapid. He needs to consolidate, needs assessment, needs testing.
The new intelligence system isn't suitable to be placed in his hands.
Danzo, you use Wood Release to establish the intelligence system. We cannot allow enemies to infiltrate Konoha so easily."
Danzo said, "My Root needs to expand. Ten Celestial Stem codenames aren't enough. I want twelve more Earthly Branch codenames, twenty-two shinobi in total."
Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "You've already expanded anyway. Whether I agree or not, haven't you secretly developed over twenty subordinates?"
After Danzo semi-retired, he focused on developing his own strength and cultivating subordinates. This was essentially laying his cards on the table with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Having gauged Sarutobi Hiruzen's attitude, Danzo turned and left.
Sarutobi Hiruzen took out his smoking pipe and began to smoke.
If only Mitokado Homura were here. Homura could help him ponder this.
Looking at the large crater, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a headache coming on. The pressure from the rogue ninja was increasing.
He had a feeling that the rogue ninja might lead to major problems. Could he really afford to wait for Uchiha Madara to die of old age?
The news of Sarutobi Hinoyuu's death was quietly suppressed under the Hokage Building's direction.
However, many withered trees appeared around the village.
In spring, tree trunks should sprout green buds, but these withered trees seemed dead.
Yōkō raised a telescope, looking at a distant withered tree.
To scout for White Zetsu, Tobi, Sarutobi Kanenosuke, and others, Danzo seemed to have developed some scouting-type Wood Release.
All the Chakra of the withered trees was concentrated in their root systems, monitoring the Chakra fluctuations underground.
Yōkō was very cautious and decided to find an opportunity to test the effectiveness of these withered trees' scouting.
—
The full moon was like a silver plate.
When the new full moon night arrived, Yōkō immediately used the Ephemeral Technique within Konoha Village.
He dove underground, transforming into a mass of organic matter.
Twenty seconds later, someone rushed out of the Hokage Building!
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo had detected the anomaly. Both were clad in armor, looking ready for a fight.
Yōkō had already ceased the Ephemeral Technique, using the Water Body Flicker to disappear and hide in the shadows.
Twenty seconds. His window for action was only twenty seconds.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo searched around but found nothing, returning disgruntled.
With a resurrection opportunity this month, Yōkō tested repeatedly for several nights using the Ephemeral Technique, exhausting Danzo.
The village learned that Uchiha Madara's rogue ninja organization was frequently probing Konoha.
At the end of the month, Yōkō sought out Senju Hanaki, ambushed her, and died by her hand.
[Host death detected. Mochizuki's Arc system starting up...]
He drew Elite Jōnin-level Chakra Reserve from Senju Hanaki.
His Chakra reserve increased from 4.5 times Kage-level to 4.7 times.
Senju Hanaki was one of his own. Once Yōkō later acknowledged his Senju clan identity, he wouldn't have to worry about Senju Hanaki turning against him.
Given the Senju clan's current weakened state, Senju Hanaki would be overjoyed to learn that Fox was a Senju clan spy.
The full moon night of April, Konoha year 42.
Yōkō sought out the head of the Yamanaka clan, Yamanaka Inson.
He was now a son-in-law of the Yamanaka clan; there wouldn't be a life-or-death conflict with Yamanaka Inson.
The Yamanaka clan having an Anbu Vice-Commander as a son-in-law was a huge gain for them.
[Host death detected. Mochizuki's Arc system starting up...]
He drew Elite Jōnin-level Chakra Reserve from Yamanaka Inson.
His Chakra reserve increased from 4.7 times Kage-level to... 4.8 times?
Logically, Elite Jōnin-level Chakra Reserve should equal 0.2 units of Kage-level shinobi Chakra reserve.
His Chakra reserve should have become 4.9 times.
But, his Chakra reserve had only increased by 0.1.
Yōkō looked down at his hands, carefully sensing his body.
Limit...
His body had reached its limit.
Chakra is a mixture of mental and physical energy. Neither mental nor physical energy can grow indefinitely.
Peak Kage-level, 4.8 times Kage-level Chakra reserve, was the limit.
Or, for the shinobi world, for ordinary people, Peak Kage-level was the limit for all shinobi.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Jiraiya, the Third Raikage, and others never broke through this limit.
There were many shinobi from the Senju and Uchiha clans, yet few broke through to the Kage-level.
Mangekyō Sharingan, Wood Release, kinjutsu, Sage Mode, body modifications, etc., were all considered Kage-level methods, but they would eventually hit a limit.
To break through the limit, one must achieve a qualitative breakthrough beyond existing methods.
In shinobi history, only a handful surpassed this limit, reaching the Super Kage-level, overwhelming ordinary Kage-level ninjas.
The most recent two were Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
Their ability to break the limit relied on their status as reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
Between the two, Senju Hashirama's power growth was even more unreasonable.
Uchiha Madara's growth had a traceable path: Mangekyō, Eternal Mangekyō, Summoning the Nine-Tails... No matter how strong Uchiha Madara became, Senju Hashirama always kept him firmly suppressed.
Yōkō pondered constantly, figuring out how to break through the limit.
He hadn't tried several methods yet.
The first was Sage Mode.
To confront the Ōtsutsuki in the future, natural energy was essential.
Natural energy comes from this world, fundamentally different from the God Tree.
Mount Myōboku Sage Mode, Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode, Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode... each had its own focus.
Yōkō didn't know which one suited him.
The second was replicating Senju Hashirama's path.
The scroll from Tsunade said that Senju Hashirama once visited the Fire Temple, after which his strength surged dramatically, leading to his enlightenment of techniques like the Wood Human Technique, Top Transformation: Buddha, and True Several Thousand Hands – abilities with terrifyingly high upper limits.
Sage Mode combines Chakra with natural energy, while Senju Hashirama combined Chakra with the Fire Temple's heritage.
Improving his strength couldn't stop. Next month, he would find a way to try Sage Mode or the Fire Temple's heritage.
—
In the Land of Rain, inside a certain tree hollow.
The sound of a wooden tube snapping echoed, and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stopped channeling power into Uchiha Madara.
Uchiha Madara slowly stood up, lifting the Uchiha Fan.
***
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(End of Chapter)