"Genma! Iwashi! Hurry up!"
Raidō Namiashi's voice was filled with urgency, and each leap he made was longer than the last. Behind him, Shiranui Genma, holding a senbon in his mouth, asked with confusion:
"Raidō, it was just a normal explosion. Why are you so nervous?"
"I have a hunch that the explosion is related to Shimura Yami."
Raidō Namiashi said in a low voice, "Whether he's in danger or he's caused danger to others, we need to go check the situation."
The Third Hokage gave very flexible mission standards.
There was no restriction on the number of foreign shinobi they could take down, and their movements were left to his discretion.
But Yami's speed was too fast. Even the information sent by the examiners inside the testing zone was delayed.
By the time they received intel, Yami had probably already taken out two more teams.
Two hours ago, the latest report indicated that Yami had already eliminated 42 foreign shinobi—nearly half of all participants.
It was time to make him stop.
If he kept going and displeased the Third Hokage, it wouldn't be the brat who suffered the consequences, it would be him.
As for the explosion earlier, Raidō was more worried that Yami had been ambushed, which left him conflicted and repeatedly urging his teammates to keep up.
Fortunately, all three of them were Special Jōnin, and after running at full speed for fifteen minutes, they arrived at the scene.
Raidō's expression changed.
The air reeked of blood, scorched earth from Fire Release jutsu was scattered across the ground, and several charred ninja corpses were strewn about.
They weren't even whole.
At the edge of the battlefield, Yami was sitting on a large rock, casually enjoying a bowl of deluxe Ichiraku ramen.
Gulp—
Iwashi swallowed hard.
Clink—
Genma's senbon, which he usually kept firmly in his mouth, fell to the ground.
The scene was far too surreal.
Just the dried-up corpses lying around made them lose their appetite.
But Yami was not only eating contentedly, he was also the one responsible for all this.
Should they call him cold-blooded, or kind-hearted?
[Host forms a shocking bond with Raidō Namiashi. Reward: Swordsmanship - Black Blade Slash.]
[Host forms a shocking bond with Shiranui Genma. Reward: Space Talent Fragment (1/3).]
[Host forms a bond with Iwashi Tatami. Reward: Space Talent Fragment (1/3).]
Yami paused mid-noodle, as if only now noticing their arrival, then looked up with a surprised expression.
"Oh? Aren't you the examiners? Are you guys hungry too?"
"I still have plenty of ramen left. Want to join me?"
Yami was in a good mood. After all, they'd just given him the last fragments he needed for his Space Talent. They deserved to eat his noodles.
"Thanks, but I've already had dinner." Genma silently picked up the senbon, wiped it, and put it back in his mouth.
Iwashi shook his head, muttering, "I don't really eat midnight snacks."
Raidō was piecing together in his head how many complete bodies could be assembled from the pile of limbs and remains on the ground.
"Shimura Yami, was the explosion just now caused by you killing these twelve people?"
"Nope."
Yami yawned. "I killed some others, which caused the noise. These guys just came to check what was going on. Oh, and I let two Konoha teams go."
Actually, "let go" wasn't quite right. More accurately, they were scared off.
Three Chūnin and one Tokubetsu Jōnin ran off on the spot. One could only imagine the trauma those newbies would carry moving forward.
"How many shinobi from other villages did you kill here?" Raidō asked. As he spoke, he looked around but didn't see any other corpses.
"Thirty in total. Don't bother looking. I blew them all to bits. Nothing left, not even scraps."
Thirty?!
Raidō was stunned.
Even thirty Genin weren't a force to scoff at. On the battlefield, they could even take out a Jōnin.
And they were all wiped out in such a short time?
No.
Raidō quickly regained his senses. Now wasn't the time to be shocked. From the overall numbers, there weren't many foreign shinobi left.
He made a quick decision. "Shimura Yami, the Hokage ordered that your actions be kept within reason. We still need shinobi from other villages for the next round of the exam."
"You can head to the central tower now. Congratulations on passing the second round."
"Leave?"
Yami tilted his head, set down his ramen, and rummaged through his ninja pouch before pulling out an Earth Scroll.
"But... I only have an Earth Scroll. That's not enough to pass. How about letting me stay for a while? There are still two days left."
Raidō's eyelid twitched.
Give you two more days?
You'd probably wipe out the rest and even kill your own village's Genin.
"This is the Heaven Scroll you dropped. Next time, remember to collect your loot properly. Hand over the Earth Scroll."
Raidō pulled a Heaven Scroll from his pocket.
This wasn't favoritism. The scroll did come from one of the shinobi Yami had killed.
Still, Yami looked reluctant. "I don't want to go to the tower. It's boring. What, you want me to sleep in there for two days?"
"Then I'm not going."
Raidō quickly said, "With your strength, you don't need to participate in the third round selection. You've already advanced to the next round."
"You can rest at home. Way more comfortable than staying in the woods."
Raidō swore this was the gentlest he'd ever spoken in over twenty years of being single.
Sure enough, Yami looked moved.
What he said made sense.
He'd already gotten most of what he wanted. The remaining targets were harder to find, and they probably already made it to the tower. The next two days would just be inefficient.
Might as well rest comfortably at home.
"Fine, I'll give you the scroll." Yami said, handing it over.
Raidō accepted it with a sigh of relief. Mission complete.
"Just head back the way you came. Someone will inform you when the next round begins."
He added, almost pleading, "If you run into foreign shinobi on the way... spare them for my sake, alright?"
Yami looked at him curiously. "You got a nickname, Red-Hair Shanks or something?"
Raidō': "???"
---
"Why are you back?"
Shimura residence.
Pakura, who had already gone to sleep, was awakened by the sound of the door and quietly came downstairs—only to see Yami had returned.
Shouldn't he still be in the second round of the Chūnin Exams?
According to the intel she read from Root, the second round usually lasted three days. Why was he back in just one?
Yami yawned as he walked upstairs. "I pretty much killed everyone already. What's the point of sticking around?"
"Old Man Third probably got scared I'd overdo it, so he sent the examiners to invite me out. I'll just wait for the finals."
Pakura nodded. "So that's how it is."
She followed him upstairs. "I'll run a bath. Soak a bit before bed. Hand me your clothes, they're covered in blood. Just toss them."
Yami nodded, not rejecting her kindness.
Pakura was becoming more and more like a housekeeper, managing everything in perfect order for him.
After soaking in a warm bath, he enjoyed a proper scrub from Pakura and then slept soundly until 10 the next morning.
After breakfast, he decided not to look for Yugao or Kurenai.
Instead, he said a few words to Pakura and went into the underground training room.
After so long, his Space Talent was finally complete. He could finally begin practicing the Flying Thunder God Technique that he'd been longing for.
Some jutsu could change a shinobi's fate.
Like Rasengan, which made Naruto recklessly charge any enemy.
Or Living Corpse Reincarnation, which led to all of Orochimaru's future exploits.
Flying Thunder God was one of those techniques.
Without it, Namikaze Minato would still be a genius, but no one would abandon their mission just from hearing his name. He wouldn't have carried Konoha to near-victory in the Third Great Ninja War, practically ending it on par with Hashirama ending the Warring States Period.
With Flying Thunder God, Minato became an absolute legend.
For Yami, while not as exaggerated, it would still elevate him to another level.
With Scorch Release alone, his attack power was already at Kage-level.
Once he mastered Flying Thunder God, he would be a true Kage-level powerhouse. Even some Super Kage couldn't do anything to him. If he wanted to run, no one could catch him.
No wonder he was so obsessed with it, even copying the full scroll of Flying Thunder God long ago.
And to be safe, he used the bond points he just earned to upgrade his Space Talent by one level.
Originally, upgrading the Space Talent required 3,000 bond points. But due to a random bonus, the cost was reduced by one level.
The system was surprisingly generous in this regard. Once the bond point system activated, every ability earned would reduce the upgrade cost.
Proficiency gained through training worked similarly, it acted as a progress bar.
Inside the secret room, Yami unrolled the two-meter-long scroll and began studying from the start.
There were hundreds of jutsu in the Scroll of Seals, and Flying Thunder God alone took up one-tenth of the entire scroll.
This was because it wasn't enough to just learn the hand seals. One had to fully understand spatial theory. It included the Second Hokage's spatial insights and Minato's later additions.
Yami respected Minato for refining the technique, but he admired Tobirama more—for creating it from scratch.
Just to deal with the Uchiha, Tobirama could come up with anything.
The man was absurd.
Yami suspected that if becoming a woman could seduce Uchiha Madara, Tobirama would study how to become the most beautiful woman in the world without hesitation.
By 4 p.m., Yami was rubbing his sore Sharingan, now in its Two Tomoe state.
That's right, he'd activated the Sharingan to avoid making mistakes.
It helped a lot.
At least now he understood the overall process of learning Flying Thunder God.
Step one was the hardest: memorize all the theoretical knowledge, learn how to use chakra to sense space's folds and ripples, and distinguish spatial coordinates.
Step two: alter chakra properties, transforming it into a type that could integrate with space.
Step three: create his own Flying Thunder God mark and link it with himself.
Step four: begin transfer experiments and train until proficient.
Later stages included Minato's advanced technique: teleporting to moving Flying Thunder God marks.
As for transferring other items via Flying Thunder God, even Minato didn't fully master it before his death, so it wasn't recorded in the Scroll of Seals.
Still, what was available would keep Yami busy for a while.
He spent the next few days almost entirely in the secret room.
Pakura knew he was training, so she didn't tell anyone about Yami returning early.
Two days later.
Inside the central tower of the Forest of Death.
All participants who passed the second round gathered on the second-floor platform.
There were fifteen Konoha shinobi, three from Takigakure, three from the Land of Rivers, and three from Suna.
Ame, Kusagakure, and Hōzuki Village... were completely wiped out.
Raidō Namiashi announced the rules. "We now enter the individual battle stage. Twenty-seven participants will compete for eleven spots in the third round."
"Why is it an odd number?"
No one objected to eliminating over half, but the number confused them. A Genin from the Land of Rivers asked.
Raidō glanced at him and explained, "Shimura Yami has already advanced. He's the twelfth."
At the mention of that name, almost everyone's expression changed.
Some were fearful, a few... were angry.
"Why?!"
The Genin from the Land of Rivers protested, "Isn't this blatant favoritism? Our team arrived first, and we never even saw him!"
Their team had been lucky.
They quickly found other teams, snatched the scrolls, and rushed to the tower, never experiencing the real horrors of the Forest of Death.
"Because in this round, Shimura Yami killed over sixty foreign shinobi like you.
To let you survive, I allowed him to advance early.
Is that reason good enough for you?"
"Impossible! That's impossible!"
The Genin stepped back in disbelief. But seeing the fear on all the Konoha shinobi's faces, he had no choice but to believe it.
Raidō ignored him and continued, "You can still choose to quit now... but this is your last chance."
(To be continued.)
***
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