Setting Sail for Training
However, Minato's technique should be extremely difficult to master. Shirō remembered clearly that in the original canon, Minato never publicly revealed this move until the moment of his death.
But now, such a future should no longer exist.
First, once Shirō grows up, the Fourth Hokage will absolutely not have to die. Second, Shirō possesses a vast collection of stolen—no, borrowed—ninjutsu experience.
If he could pass even a portion of that experience to Minato, the Hokage's growth rate would skyrocket.
Of course, none of this had been realized yet.
Shirō had not risen to prominence, and the ninjutsu experiences he intended to provide had not been fully copied or sorted. Some techniques—especially forbidden ones—could never be exposed. For now, patience was necessary.
After Minato and the others arrived, the rest of the group gradually gathered as well. Once the meal ended, they escorted Shirō to the gates of Konoha, only turning back after his figure had completely vanished into the distance.
They all shared the same premonition—
When Shirō returned, it would be the moment he shook the entire Ninja World.
---
Meanwhile, deep within a dimly lit room in Konoha…
"Lord Danzō, Emiya Shirō has left the village."
Danzō's visible eye narrowed coldly.
"Send people to follow him. If he shows any signs of contacting other villages—"
He paused, killing intent flickering.
"—eliminate him on the spot."
"Yes, Lord Danzō!"
Though constrained by the Third Hokage, Danzō could not prevent Shirō from leaving the village alone. However, surveillance lay beyond Hiruzen's absolute control.
For now, Shirō still held value.
The village's Eagle Project—an intelligence and reconnaissance initiative—had been designed around Shirō's bird puppets. Until it was fully deployed, the higher-ups would not allow Shirō to display even the slightest tendency toward defection.
Under normal circumstances, Danzō would have directly abducted Shirō into Root. That was always the safest and cleanest solution.
Unfortunately, Hatake Sakumo had protected Shirō while he lived. After Sakumo's death, the Third Hokage—burdened by guilt—continued that protection. With his authority weakened, Danzō was forced to resort to indirect methods.
Furthermore, as long as Shirō showed no signs of betrayal, Danzō did not dare act openly. At this critical stage, any rash move would cause the Third Hokage to truly turn against him—and worse, draw suspicion from the rest of the village.
It simply wasn't worth it.
Thus, like the Third Hokage, Danzō merely dispatched people to follow Shirō. The difference was that Root's threshold for action was far lower than ANBU's.
---
Three years later—
(If I actually wrote that, you'd probably hunt me down.)
Ahem. No more jokes.
On the road, Shirō moved slowly and deliberately. He had no intention of leaving the Land of Fire immediately. Even without sensing anything, he knew both the Third Hokage and Danzō would never leave him completely unmonitored.
What if he truly defected?
Thus, Shirō planned to spend two months traveling openly within the Land of Fire with his followers, before shaking off all observers in one clean move.
Naturally, he wasn't wandering aimlessly.
During this period, Shirō focused on studying Wind Release.
Wide-area coverage, devastating cutting power—it was an unparalleled tool for clearing large numbers of enemies. In sustained combat, it was even more practical than an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, which, while powerful, consumed absurd amounts of mana and could not be used repeatedly.
Wind Release was different.
Its chakra consumption was manageable, and when paired with the Blood Demon Woman, its lethality increased dramatically. More importantly, with observers lurking in the shadows, Shirō couldn't recklessly cultivate magecraft.
Studying theory was fine—but experimentation was another matter. The magic he was currently researching was… ethically questionable, to say the least, and absolutely unsuitable for use under surveillance.
After careful consideration, Wind Release became the safest choice.
Shirō's research focused primarily on developing the Energy Ball Cut, though whenever he encountered a bottleneck, he would switch to studying other Wind Release techniques to compensate.
Just like now.
He had run into difficulties with wind chakra condensation, so he turned his attention to Wind Release: Pressure Damage—also known as the Wind Cannon.
A B-rank ninjutsu.
For Shirō, it was undeniably challenging. Fortunately, with the massive amount of experience borrowed through Projection, achieving basic proficiency wasn't difficult—though perfect mastery would take time.
It took him half a month to barely grasp the technique.
Even so, the ANBU monitoring him were secretly astonished.
This was a B-rank jutsu. Mastering it at this pace already placed him firmly in the category of a genius.
Of course, they didn't know Shirō could borrow the experiences of others. If they did, their shock would have doubled.
---
Naturally, any newly learned technique needed real combat testing.
Which meant—
It was time for the Mountain Thief Experience Packs to make their grand debut.
Finding a suitable target required some effort. Unlike village missions, there was no precompiled intelligence.
This time, Shirō had to gather and verify everything himself.
He could have used Konoha's intelligence network, but that would defeat the purpose of training.
After learning Wind Release: Pressure Damage, Shirō spent another week collecting information. Luck was on his side—he discovered a large Mountain Thief stronghold that even housed a rogue ninja.
That alone made it unusual.
Groups that bloated were usually wiped out by Konoha shortly after discovery. Evidently, the nearby civilians had reached some sort of agreement with the Mountain Thieves and never commissioned a mission.
All intelligence was gathered via genjutsu.
When Shirō finally arrived, he was genuinely surprised.
A Mountain Thief band had built a fortress.
If anyone claimed this wasn't suspicious, Danzō wouldn't believe it even if beaten half to death.
But that had nothing to do with Shirō.
He was a Konoha ninja. Whatever connections they had belonged to the Land of Fire's bureaucracy—not the Hidden Leaf. And besides, he was killing bandits. No one would openly punish him over that.
More importantly—
The bigger the stronghold, the richer the Mountain Thieves.
Which meant more profit.
How could Shirō let go of such a perfect opportunity?
After making his preparations, Shirō strode openly toward the fortress gate.
Wind Release: Pressure Damage would cause massive commotion regardless. Earlier or later made no difference.
As for stray projectiles?
The Shooting Weapon Amulet rendered them meaningless.
With a Body Flicker, Shirō appeared at the base of the fortress wall and calmly began forming hand seals.
Whoosh!
An arrow slammed into the tree behind him.
The Mountain Thieves had noticed him.
The gate guard leader glared furiously at the archer before turning to shout:
"You little brat! If you know what's good for you, leave now—or the next arrow goes through your body!"
---
Visit patreon.com/MexxyWave to get access to 30+ chapters