"You… what did you say?"
Inside Sunagakure's temporary command post in Wildfire City, the teacup in Chiyo's hand fell to the ground with a crash. Yet she seemed completely unaware of it and only stared at Pakura.
"You saw Lord Third Kazekage, who has been missing for so long, in the Death Desert?"
"Yes."
Pakura nodded. "I did indeed see Lord Kazekage, but he had already been murdered. And… the killer was a ninja of Sunagakure. Though now, he should be considered a missing-nin."
"What?!"
Chiyo's eyes widened sharply, and she slammed her fist heavily onto the table.
"Who? Who was bold enough to attack Lord Kazekage?! Pakura, tell me his name. This old woman will never forgive him!"
"…"
Pakura carefully observed Chiyo's expression while slowly replying, "It was Sasori."
"?!"
Chiyo froze.
Which Sasori?
Could it be her own grandson…
"Of course, Sasori of the Red Sand," Pakura explained.
At this moment, Karura beside her also opened her mouth, an expression of disbelief appearing on her face.
"Pakura, are you… sure? Sasori is Elder Chiyo's grandson, a member of the Kazekage's guard personally chosen by Lord Third, and theoretically someone who could inherit the position of Kazekage. How could he do something like that?"
"Well…"
Faced with the two's doubts, Pakura did not waste words. After all, situations that required carefully designed wording were honestly a bit torturous for her. So she directly took out the Third Kazekage human puppet sealed in the scroll and placed it on the spot.
Once this thing appeared, the evidence was as solid as a mountain.
After all, there might be more than one person capable of killing the Third Kazekage. In theory, Konoha's Jiraiya and Orochimaru could do it.
But someone who could modify his corpse into a human puppet while still allowing the Third Kazekage to retain his Magnet Release kekkei genkai…
In the entire ninja world, there was probably only one person. Even Chiyo herself did not possess such exquisite skill.
Not to mention, Pakura also had one of Sasori's severed hands. With the ninja world's current technology, there was no possibility of forging such a thing. Chiyo also recognized the chakra aura belonging to her own grandson.
For a moment,
both Chiyo and Karura fell silent, not knowing what to say.
The former's face was filled with shock, pain, grief, anger… and many other emotions. Her mind had been struck blank. For an old thing who had lived from the early days of the ninja village era until now, Sasori's actions were truly a bit too far ahead of their time, comparable to Itachi wiping out his entire clan.
Only after a full minute or two did Chiyo gradually react. She spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Sasori… is he still alive?"
"I don't know."
Pakura fell silent for a moment, then gave an ambiguous answer. "I encountered him in the desert and fought a battle against him. He seemed to have injuries on him and was repelled by me. At present… his life or death is unknown."
According to the agreement from earlier, Pakura did not reveal Yuu's existence to Sunagakure. She only said that she had "defeated" Sasori. In any case, there was no one to refute it. Sasori could not suddenly jump out and deny her words.
"Life or death unknown…"
Chiyo gritted her teeth, barely stabilizing her shaken mind. Then she spoke relatively rationally.
"Sasori is my grandson. He committed such a grave mistake without discussing it with anyone. I also bear responsibility by association…
"After the peace talks end, I will resign from my position as elder and give Lord Third Kazekage and Sunagakure an explanation.
"As for now… Pakura, Karura, I hope you can trust me and allow me to continue presiding over the peace negotiations between Sunagakure and Konoha, so we do not give Konoha an opening. Put Lord Third's body away. The two of you will jointly safeguard it. Before we withdraw our troops and return to the village, it must not be handed to anyone.
"In addition, as the highest commander of Sunagakure's front line, I appoint you, Pakura, as acting commander. The follow-up retreat operation will be under your command. I will obey your orders."
"…Alright."
Pakura nodded and accepted.
Until just now, she had still been suspicious about whether Chiyo had colluded with Sasori. She had kept feeling that the death of the Third Kazekage might also have involved this elder's hand.
However, judging from Chiyo's performance just now, it did not seem like she had planned this in advance, and her attitude was sincere enough. So after thinking it over for a while, Pakura temporarily put down her guard and decided to complete the negotiations first, then bring the remaining Suna forces back to the village.
Next,
Chiyo began telling Pakura about the progress of the negotiations between the two villages during this period, while Karura added details from the side.
Chiyo had originally wanted to ask Pakura about the details of her encounter with Sasori, especially how she had defeated Sasori while he possessed the Third Kazekage puppet. But considering the current situation, as well as her own identity, she could only set that aside for now and planned to let Karura ask later.
If Sasori was dead, then so be it. Killing the Third Kazekage was already a confirmed capital crime. Even as his grandmother, she could not shield him. She would even have to thank Pakura for helping her put righteousness before family.
But if Sasori was not dead…
then Chiyo's goal in life from now on would probably be to travel across the ninja world, track down her grandson, and arrest him.
…
Over the next week, the pace of negotiations between Konoha and Sunagakure began to speed up.
The main reason had to do with the Third Kazekage's corpse that Pakura had brought back.
However, Sunagakure strictly kept this matter confidential. Only a very small number of people, including Chiyo and Karura, knew about it. Yuu also did not specifically go tell Jiraiya, so Konoha did not understand the reason behind Sunagakure's actions.
Of course, not understanding was one thing. Konoha could still roughly tell that Sunagakure seemed intent on withdrawing its remaining troops back to the Land of Wind as soon as possible. Therefore, in many details of the peace talks, Sunagakure was no longer as calculating as it had been at the beginning, and compromised wherever it could.
Also, Pakura's status on Sunagakure's side seemed to rise sharply all at once. In the later negotiations, although Chiyo was still nominally in charge, she would show all the terms to Pakura first and no longer made all decisions by herself.
This situation left both Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku surprised, but also delighted.
After one round of negotiations ended, Jiraiya even secretly opened a few bottles of sake and drank a little. He had originally wanted to drag Orochimaru along, but was coldly refused. As for Yuu and the others… they were still too young and not old enough to drink, so they were ignored.
Yuu was happy to relax.
During this period, because the war was entering its final stage, his daily rhythm also became much easier. Every day, he went out for routine scouting for half a day. The scattered Suna ninja he encountered basically ran the moment they saw him, as if they would explode if they looked at him one more time. As for the rest of his time, he used it for training.
That afternoon,
in a forest clearing behind the Kikyo City camp,
Obito, Asuma, and Kurenai were sitting on the grass and watching.
At the center of their gaze, two white figures were crossing and colliding at a dazzling speed. The sound of metal clashing rang out densely like a sudden rainstorm, occasionally accompanied by sharp sounds of breaking wind that made one's heart tremble.
"…Hah!"
Kakashi let out a low shout. The White Fang short blade in his hand turned into a silver stream of light, stabbing straight toward Yuu's centerline. The blade howled through the air.
Yuu neither dodged nor avoided. He simply lifted the same type of short blade upward, firmly catching Kakashi's blade. Then his wrist trembled, channeling a clever force into the blade as he tried to flick Kakashi's weapon aside.
Kakashi reacted quickly. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he borrowed the force and spun, his blade-light drawing a semicircle as it slashed toward Yuu's lower body. At the same time, his left hand swept across his ninja pouch, and several shuriken silently shot out, sealing Yuu's possible retreat routes.
Yuu likewise threw ninja tools back at him and even found time to release Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, turning the original four or five shuriken into twenty or so. This forced Kakashi to stop moving and swing his short blade with all his strength to knock away every shuriken.
"…Gulp."
Asuma swallowed and said in a slightly trembling voice, "These two guys are improving way too fast. It's only been a week or two, but it feels like their strength has increased by a huge amount again. It's really shocking."
"Hmph, they're members of our team. That's normal."
Obito glared with his Sharingan, trying hard to observe Yuu and Kakashi's movements and copy them. At the same time, he waved his hand. His tone carried a hint of showing off.
"Heh, so what if you're on the same team? Doesn't that team also have a dead-last like you? It's not like everyone is as outstanding as Yuu."
Asuma curled his lip.
"What did you say?! Who's dead-last?! I have the Sharingan now!"
Obito immediately heated up.
Strictly speaking, the current Obito's strength was already about equal to Asuma's. However, because his former dead-last image had been too deeply rooted in people's minds, this joke was still brought up from time to time even now.
Only Kurenai remained silent, staring without blinking at Yuu on the field.
At this moment, the white-haired boy once again threw kunai and shuriken. But he did not use Shuriken Shadow Clone. Instead, he placed one hand near his mouth and spat out several fireballs.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: La la la, it's finally my turn to appear! Big sister, look! Isn't my new outfit pretty? Little Mikami specially made it for me!]
That was right.
Yuu had already figured out this move.
After all, the principle behind this technique was not complicated. It was simply combining Phoenix Sage Fire Technique with ninja tool throwing and enchanting shuriken with fire. The reason he had not developed it before was mainly because he had not been skilled enough in ninja tool throwing. But the appearance of Shuriken Shadow Clone solved that problem.
Of course, this technique was also smoothly judged by the galgame system as a self-made skin of Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, which made the latter happy for quite a while. Unfortunately, Little Phoenix's affection was already maxed, so aside from emotional value, it did not bring any further improvement.
At this moment,
facing more than a dozen kunai and shuriken wrapped in flames and dragging crimson streams of light, Kakashi crouched down and pressed both palms to the ground. A thick rock wall rose from the earth, and carved on it was a row of dog heads with different expressions.
Puff, puff, puff, puff—!
The kunai struck the Earth-Style Wall, making sizzling burning sounds. But because the earthen wall was too thick, they were mostly either bounced away or stuck in the wall. The flames also scattered into sparks and quickly went out.
"…Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Yuu formed seals again.
This time, it was a skin of Dragon Fire Technique.
Along with intense chakra surging, two thick flame dragons roared out, rushing toward the Earth-Style Wall that had just blocked Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson. With a rumbling crash, they first crushed the dog heads, then blasted through the rock and earth behind them, continuing toward Kakashi without losing momentum.
At the critical moment, Kakashi used Substitution Technique. As the substitute log appeared, his real body had already swept more than ten meters away. His right hand was raised high, holding a mass of blue-purple Lightning Release chakra as he charged toward Yuu.
"Raikiri!"
"Hmph."
Yuu raised a finger, and a fan-shaped cluster of flames immediately rose up, blocking Kakashi's path. Then he stepped forward like an arrow, reaching toward Kakashi, who had leapt into the air. In a flash, he grabbed Kakashi's wrist, then suddenly exerted force and threw him away.
"Monster Strength!"
Boom!
Amid an ear-piercing crash, Kakashi's body slammed into the trees. The Raikiri in his right hand lost control and erupted, wildly surging and exploding through the surrounding dirt and shattered stones, plowing out a charred, messy crater.
"It's over."
Yuu exhaled lightly, moved his slightly numb arm, then lifted his chin toward Kakashi.
"Looks like your Lightning Release Chakra Mode still needs some work, Kakashi. You'll need to spend more time training it."
"…"
Kakashi lay in the dirt pit and did not answer. For the current him, Raikiri still consumed quite a lot of energy. And when the release failed, it would also cause some backlash to the cells in his arm. So right now, he really did not feel like talking. He also wanted to give himself some time to think and review the fight.
There was not a moment to mourn Kakashi.
The next ones to enter were Obito and Asuma.
There was not much to say about this match.
Compared with Yuu and Kakashi, Obito and Asuma at this stage were still clearly a level weaker. Moreover, both of them specialized in Fire Release, overlapping with Yuu. Once they fought, it became an awkward situation of whoever was weaker being embarrassed.
Yuu basically maintained a defensive counterattack posture the entire time. He only took the initiative to attack a few times. He could even divide part of his attention to give pointers on their force techniques while exchanging blows with them. This made both Obito and Asuma feel a little unable to keep their composure, but there was nothing they could do.
In only two or three minutes,
both Obito and Asuma had their weapons knocked out of their hands. Obito rubbed his aching forehead and bared his teeth.
"Damn it, Yuu, where exactly did you go the past few days? Did you secretly go somewhere special to train extra? I feel like your Fire Release got stronger again!"
After a pause, Obito asked again, "Right, when you used that Dragon Fire Technique just now, did you form seals? I don't think I saw them!"
"Of course I formed seals. It's not like I can clap my hands together and release ninjutsu, right? Looks like your Sharingan's insight still isn't enough. Go train more when you get back."
Yuu said lightly.
In truth…
Obito had not seen wrong.
During the fight just now, Yuu had indeed been a little lazy and had not formed all the seals for every technique. This was because, during today's practice, he had maxed out Dragon Fire Technique's affection.
[Dragon Fire Technique affection +3. Current affection: 100/100 (Heart-to-Heart)!]
[Stage reward obtained 4 times: Constitution +4. Trait: Piercing Flame. Your Dragon Fire Technique is exceptionally stable. When released, it is less easily disturbed by the external environment. Flame range increased from 15% to 25% above the original. If you spend time charging, every 1 second → 0.5 seconds of charge increases range by an additional 5%, up to 5 stacks.]
After reaching max affection, Dragon Fire Technique's improvement was not small.
Aside from the accumulated 4 points of Constitution bonus, Piercing Flame's range increase had reached 25% to 50%. The charging time needed for the latter 25% was reduced by half.
Although the theoretical 50% limit was not that easy to achieve, because in real combat there was basically no chance to charge for 2.5 seconds, just increasing the range by thirty or forty percent was already quite impressive for a mid-to-long-range ninjutsu. Not to mention, there was also an invisible penetration buff.
Of course…
compared to Dragon Fire Technique itself, what Yuu cared about more was the latest bond effect that appeared because of three Fire Release techniques reaching Heart-to-Heart.
[Activated 1 Fire Release Bond: "Heavenly Fire Judgment"!]
[Heavenly Fire Judgment: You and Fire Release ninjutsu such as Great Fireball Technique are heart-to-heart and your thoughts are connected. You can control flames and release ninjutsu at will without forming seals. In addition, enemy fire-attribute attacks will deal greatly reduced damage to you, and ordinary Fire Release can almost be completely immunized.]
[In addition, you can consume a large amount of chakra at once to gather multiple Fire Release techniques with "Dragon" in their names and release the Fire Release combination technique "X-Dragon Turning Destruction Technique." Each additional "Dragon" increases lethality and area-burning effect by 70%, stacking up to "Five-Dragon Turning Destruction." Note: X-Dragon Turning Destruction can only be activated once every 24 hours.]
"Good, good, good…"
Yuu immediately showed joy.
After Instant Prison Shadow Killing Formation's seal-less Three Basic Techniques, his Fire Release had finally unlocked seal-less casting as well.
In essence, this meant that his mastery over the shape and nature transformation of Fire Release chakra had reached an almost instinctive level. Casting techniques was as natural and smooth as breathing, which was why he no longer needed hand seals and could use them purely through intent.
However, to avoid shocking the world too much, Yuu decided that in front of other Konoha ninja, he would still form seals as usual. Later, he would find an excuse like "simplified hand seals" and gradually reduce the number of seals step by step. It probably would not take too long.
In addition,
Yuu also gained the ability to resist enemy Fire Release. From the description, attacks like Pakura's Scorch Release, Iwagakure's Lava Release, and even the Uchiha clan's Amaterasu should all have their damage reduced against him. He just could not completely immunize them the way he could with ordinary Fire Release. This trait could be considered extremely powerful.
This could truly be called…
Recognizing no relatives, invincible against water and fire!
Then there was X-Dragon Turning Destruction.
"Fire Release with 'Dragon' in the name… do original techniques and skins both count? Or can they only count as one?"
Yuu was a little curious.
If they all counted, then Great Dragon Fire, Dragon Fire Technique, and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet added up to three. But considering the latter two were the original technique and skin of the same technique, they might only occupy one slot. In that case, he could at most use Two-Dragon Turning Destruction right now.
"Speaking of which… does it have to be Fire Release? Can Water Dragon Bullet count?"
"Also, what if I change a technique's name? For example, changing Phoenix Sage Fire to Dragon Sage Fire?"
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: Eek… what kind of nonsense is that? That name sounds awful! Little Mikami, do you have any taste at all?!]
"…You talk too much."
Yuu muttered and temporarily suppressed these thoughts. He planned to explore and test them later when he had time. The best place would be Wailing Canyon, where the weasel clan was located, or the slug's Shikkotsu Forest, so that this new bond would not be discovered by White Zetsu hiding in the shadows before he could even properly use it.
In any case, the appearance of Heavenly Fire Judgment undoubtedly raised Yuu's Fire Release strength to another level, allowing him to consider even more tactical combinations.
If he had possessed this bond when he encountered Sasori earlier, the process of defeating Sasori might have been much smoother. He might not even have needed to use a blade.
"Yuu! Why did you suddenly start spacing out?"
Kurenai stood up and walked over, handing Yuu the water bottle and towel in her hands, her smile gentle.
"You just fought three matches in a row against Kakashi and the others. You must be exhausted. Here, drink some water. I'll help you wipe your sweat."
"Thanks."
Yuu accepted the cup, drank it in one go, and let out a long breath. Then he took the towel and wiped the few beads of sweat from his forehead.
At this time, Obito beside them seemed a little dissatisfied with Kurenai's words.
"Hey, hey, what do you mean three matches in a row? Asuma and I clearly went together, alright? Counting Kakashi's match, that only makes two! I was careless just now! Next time, I'll definitely…"
"Stop talking, Obito…"
Asuma covered his face.
Although he knew Yuu was a jōnin and had recently defeated Rasa, they had still graduated from the ninja school in the same year. Now he had fallen to the point of needing to team up with Obito to gang up on Yuu, and they had still failed…
Saying this out loud was a little too embarrassing.
After holding back a few times, Asuma finally looked at Yuu.
"Yuu, your Fire Release skill really is extraordinary. I feel like even my father when he was young didn't reach your level… If Father saw that scene just now, he would definitely be very pleased."
"Heh, I was just lucky."
Yuu smiled and replied casually, "Lord Third is the famous Professor of Ninjutsu, proficient in all five nature transformations. I've only been out of the village for a few years. How could I compare? I'm still far from that level. Let's go. Since things have come to this, we should eat first."
"…"
At this moment, the golden glow of sunset had already spilled across the forest.
Yuu was the first to step forward. Kurenai, Obito, and the others quickly followed, walking toward the camp cafeteria where the scent of food drifted over. Their shadows were stretched long by the sun, leaving only the scattered charred marks on the training ground to silently tell of everything that had just happened.
And in a corner no one noticed,
a pure white spore silently fell from the shadow at the edge of the training ground, merging into the deepening dusk and disappearing without a trace.