Konoha's reinforcements had finally arrived.
Nara Shōji handed command of the ninja forces to Orochimaru. He immediately began organizing them, establishing a proper, permanent camp on the spot.
No more flimsy tents. This was a real base camp.
Earth Release users got to work, their jutsu shaping the ground, constructing basic infrastructure and shelters.
The Cloud ninja had confirmed the arrival of Konoha's backup. They held off on any direct harassment for the past few days, only sending a few scouts to probe the edges.
But with Hyūga clan members on patrol, those scouts had nowhere to hide. They were spotted and driven off with ease.
Qianyu, finally able to get some proper rest, was in a small, self-constructed earth-walled room. He held a pen, a rare, soft smile on his face as he wrote.
Only one person could pull that expression from him: Kushina Uzumaki.
The letter was for her.
He filled two pages, his writing quick and fluid. When he finished, he bit his thumb and performed the hand seal. A small puff of smoke, and a plain brown snake appeared on the stone table.
He rolled the letter and secured it to the snake's body. "Take this to Kushina in Konoha."
The snake couldn't speak. It simply flicked its tongue at him, then slithered out of the room to play messenger.
Qianyu watched it go. He lay back on the stone slab that served as his bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before looking down at the official promotion notice in his hand. Special Jōnin.
His mind drifted to the future, and the system prompt he'd received a few days ago, after the advance had halted.
[Host has participated in a war event. Reward: 500 Witness Points.]
That had caught him off guard. In his view, this wasn't a true "war event" yet. Just the opening skirmishes, the prelude.
He'd questioned the system immediately.
The answer surprised him even more.
[According to the original trajectory, this operation would have proceeded after Konoha's reinforcements arrived, with Minato Namikaze as the primary actor. As the host has directly altered this event, Witness Points are awarded.]
Ah. He understood now.
The system had said before: any event that influenced the shinobi world could yield points. It didn't have to be only the major, history-altering moments he remembered.
The credit—and the spotlight—that should have gone to Minato had been intercepted by him. Hence, the points.
So, gaining Witness Points was more flexible than he'd thought.
Given the current situation, things looked grim for Konoha, but for the four great villages involved? This was still small-scale. Barely a warm-up.
The real elite jōnin from each village hadn't entered the field yet.
Like the A-B brothers from Kumo. Or Pakura and Chiyo from Suna.
Those were the people his main points would come from.
But since they weren't here yet, he needed to scrape together every point he could from other sources.
If the original script had Minato Namikaze shining on this battlefield, then Qianyu would outshine him. He'd intercept every bit of glory, every achievement meant for the Yellow Flash, and convert them into points.
His primary combat methods right now were Thunder Breathing and Fire Release. Solid. Effective.
But they would be analyzed. Countermeasures would be devised. It was only a matter of time.
He needed new tools. New angles of attack.
And the most reliable path to gaining them was through the Witness Points system.
Points to power. Power to control. Control over… everything.
Qianyu opened his palm, studying the calluses that marked his skin. His voice was a low whisper in the quiet room. "Not enough. Not nearly enough."
In another room, not far away, Minato Namikaze stood with his sensei.
Jiraiya's face was uncharacteristically solemn as he handed a scroll to his student. "Minato. What's recorded in this scroll is the spacetime ninjutsu developed and used by the Second Hokage. The Flying Thunder God Technique."
Minato's hands were steady, but his eyes burned with a contained fire as he accepted the scroll with utmost reverence. He bowed deeply. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei."
Jiraiya waved a hand, the seriousness cracking into a fond grin. "None of that between us. But listen. I need to make something clear. The Flying Thunder God is… notoriously difficult. Since the Nidaime created it, no one else has ever mastered it."
He held up a finger. "Learning it requires extremely high-level sensory precision." Another finger. "Massive chakra reserves." A third. "And reaction speed that borders on pre-cognitive. You have all three. But that's no guarantee. Others have met the criteria before. They still failed."
Jiraiya placed a hand on Minato's shoulder, his expression softening. "So, go into this with a clear head. If you can't learn it, it's fine. We'll find another path for you. Something that fits. Like Sage Mode from Mount Myōboku."
Minato nodded, the scroll feeling heavy and incredibly light at the same time in his hands. "I understand, sensei."
"Good. And this…" Jiraiya pulled a formal envelope from his vest. "This is for you too. Your Special Jōnin promotion."
Minato blinked, surprised. "I… I made it?"
Jiraiya chuckled. "Minato, look. These last two operations… yeah, Qianyu stole the show. But don't sell yourself short. Your accumulated merits from before were more than enough for this promotion on their own."
He gave Minato's shoulder a final, encouraging squeeze. "Alright. I know you're itching to crack that scroll open. Get to it. Make me proud."
The moment Jiraiya left, Minato was at his small desk, the scroll unfurled before him, his entire world narrowing down to the intricate formulas and theories of spacetime manipulation.
A week bled into the next.
The clashes with the Cloud continued, but they were cautious skirmishes, with both sides testing the new waters.
The eighty-plus reinforcements Konoha had sent weren't just warm bodies. They were clan ninja. Even the chūnin among them were formidable. A Cloud jōnin who underestimated them could find themselves in serious trouble.
The quality of this group was several tiers above the original 150-plus force Jiraiya had brought.
But the real prize was the eight medical-nin who had arrived with them.
They were the treasure. In war, injuries were a guarantee. Having medics on site wasn't just a comfort; it was a tactical multiplier.
Qianyu also received a reply.
He read Kushina's letter, that warm, spring-like smile returning to his face and staying there.
She was back on missions, she wrote. But… she had this feeling someone was following her.
Qianyu's smile faltered for a second. Probably right. He figured it was ANBU. After the last attempt by Kumo to kidnap her, it only made sense Hiruzen Sarutobi would assign a shadow detail. Kushina was too vital to Konoha, especially with Mito Uzumaki's health fading day by day.
The rest of the letter was filled with the small stuff. Little anecdotes from her missions. Funny things that happened in the market. Complaints about the weather.
Qianyu read those parts three times. Four.
Holding Kushina's words in his hands, the world outside his small room, the war, the points, the ambition… it all seemed a little farther away. His mood, for the first time in weeks, felt genuinely light.
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