Leaving the village gates, ranks of shinobi broke into several columns and sped off in different directions.
As Hatake Seikū and Hyūga Kagami ran in their instructors' direction, Uchiha Izumi and Hatake Seikū exchanged a look; Seikū gave him a small, encouraging nod.
Senju Gen watched the direction Seikū and Kagami had gone and said, "Seikū and Kagami's squad should be headed to the front facing the Cloud Village."
Uchiha Izumi frowned. "The Cloud Village is no joke. I've heard they revere force — of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the Cloud is the most bellicose."
"That's precisely why the village sent the largest support force to that front."
At that moment, Shiranui Aoma and several other squad leaders finished a discussion and came over.
"We should be moving out." Aoma announced.
"Sensei Aoma, which front are we going to?" Izumi asked.
Aoma glanced briefly at Senju Gen and smiled. "We'll be going to the Sand front."
Of the fronts Konoha faced, the Sand front was the least pressured — Sunagakure had been heavily weakened after the Kikyo Mountain campaign.
Izumi noticed Aoma's subtle look toward Senju Gen and instantly realized their squad was being sent to the Sand front as a measure of protection for Gen.
About three hundred shinobi were dispatched to reinforce the Sand front. They ran hard and by nightfall reached a monastery called the Temple of Fire to rest.
Inside the Temple of Fire, the monks had already prepared food and bedding for the ninjas. After eating, the exhausted shinobi settled down to sleep.
Around midnight, a thin moon hung in the sky and cold moonlight washed over the temple grounds.
In a side room, about thirty genin slept on futons, breathing steadily. Senju Gen kicked off his blanket and snored softly; Uchiha Izumi lay beside him.
Suddenly Izumi opened his eyes a fraction and a faint light flashed across his gaze. He had sensed a chūnin on patrol move across the roof outside.
The Temple of Fire was home to a special ninjutsu known as "Sennin Talent." Izumi had long been curious about it. As far as he knew, one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi — Chiriku — came from this very temple; practitioners of the Sennin Talent could use a unique chakra to manifest the mighty technique Raigō: Thousand-Handed Senju Strike, a powerful offense–defense art.
So after arriving at the temple, Izumi had decided to locate the training scroll for that art.
From his analysis, the power pattern of Raigō: Thousand-Handed Senju Strike resembled certain special chakra manifestations of the Mangekyō Sharingan — Susanoo — in that both were embodiments of rare chakra.
Quietly opening the side room door, Izumi left one of his shadow clones behind and slipped out.
He drew his chakra inward and blended with the night, sneaking into the temple's rear courtyard where the monks lived and rested.
Extending his sensory perception to the utmost, every rustle of wind and shift of leaf painted itself in his mind.
After some time of searching he finally discovered a hidden compartment in a small room beside the rear hall.
The room held several bookshelves full of sutras; the secret compartment was built into the wall behind one shelf.
Carefully opening the compartment, Izumi found a scroll.
He unrolled it: the very training scroll for the Sennin Talent he had come looking for.
A moment later he returned the scroll to its hiding place and left the room as quietly as he had entered.
The Temple of Fire lay deep in the quiet night.
A breeze stirred, lifting a few leaves along the stone steps.
On the roof of a Buddha hall two night-watch shinobi scanned the grounds with keen eyes.
Where they could not see, a figure moved swiftly underground.
Outside the side room, Izumi slid up from beneath the floor and used a Replacement Technique to swap his real self back for the shadow clone.
He closed his eyes and lay down on his futon as the snores around him filled the room. In his mind he replayed the Sennin Talent's training method and the applications of Raigō: Thousand-Handed Senju Strike.
Sure enough… the Sennin Talent must be a native, passed-down discipline of the ninja world.
The Sennin Talent's core training was mental — cultivating nen'ryoku, a kind of spiritual power of the soul, distinct from the way most other ninjutsu were trained. Nen'ryoku was a transformation of spiritual force, an aspect of yin nature. Izumi's cultivation of Sage · Ultimate Evolution had been steadily strengthening his spirit.
He had not awakened the Sharingan; beyond genjutsu he lacked strong ways to use yin chakra. The golden thousand-handed Kannon that appeared with Raigō seemed to Izumi like a low-grade manifestation of a dharma form — similar in some respects to the first-stage Susanoo.
Izumi planned to study and analyze Raigō: Thousand-Handed Senju Strike first, then seek a method to materialize his chakra into a dharma form. Even without awakening the Sharingan, he could acquire an alternate Susanoo-like power by this path.
At dawn they ate the monks' breakfast and departed immediately.
After three days of travel the column reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
Konoha's camp was pitched on a mountainside, and shinobi could be seen periodically leaping from the encampment.
Once inside the camp the air carried a faint metallic tang; stifled groans of pain drifted about. Izumi saw many injured shinobi lying in nearby tents.
They halted on an open ground, and soon a man in white robes arrived flanked by several shinobi.
The man's presence was cold and indifferent; his arrival quieted the genin who had been whispering — all were subdued by his aura.
"Lord Orochimaru." one of the arriving ninjas greeted respectfully.
Orochimaru skimmed his gaze across the group and a hint of amusement played on his face.
(Teacher Sarutobi sent so few reinforcements? This number will only allow us to hold the line with the Sand — you really tried to limit me.) Orochimaru mused silently.
He spoke aloud, "Everyone, thank you for coming. The situation is volatile; be prepared to head to the battlefield at any time."
With that Orochimaru turned and departed.
A jōnin then stepped forward. "Small squads, disband for now. In ten minutes your squad leaders are to report to the command center for a tactical briefing."
The soldiers dispersed and made their way to the tents assigned to them.
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
patreon.com/nani_kaito