Whoosh! The tiny flame that had left Shien's fingertip expanded at a geometric rate, exploding into a colossal tide of blue-white fire that crashed head-on into the surging ocean wave before him.
From above, one could see two forces colliding — a wall of sea and a wall of flame. At a glance, anyone would assume the towering, endless wave of seawater was stronger.
But when the blue-white blaze struck, it did not get smothered — instead, it burned a hole straight through the ocean itself!
The enormous wave looked as though some invisible giant had bitten a chunk out of it. Wherever the blue-white fire passed, the sea surface caved in, steam hissing skyward.
Such heat! Everything was vaporized on contact.
And that was from a non-full-power version of Ōrochi Slash — yet the destruction was already nightmarish.
The further the fire wave traveled, the more its color shifted: from blue-white, to pure white, to gold-white, and finally to crimson — a breathtaking gradient of annihilation. Beneath that beauty lurked a heat that erased all things.
After the strike, the golden-red markings faded from Shien's face, his eyes returning to normal.
Sage Mode — deactivated.
Sage Mode didn't just amplify ninjutsu power. If that was all it did, it wouldn't deserve the name Sage Mode at all.
It enhanced everything — strength, speed, perception — all underwent a qualitative leap. And it was a multiplier, not a flat boost.
For example: If your base strength was 10, Sage Mode would make it 100. If your base was only 1, Sage Mode would make it 10. The stronger your foundation, the greater your Sage power.
Different Sage Modes emphasized different traits. Mount Myōboku's version primarily boosted physical power and ninjutsu.
Shien's Sage Mode, but was fire incarnate — the flame amplification was maxed out.
With a single strike, he had evaporated the sea and baked the land dry.
It was nothing short of apocalyptic. The sheer magnitude of the boost was absurd.
From now on — who would dare claim Fire Style had no emperor?
Back before he'd crossed worlds, Fire Style had always been the butt of jokes — flashy, but rarely lethal. After all, ninjas all had agility maxed out; good luck trying to roast someone who could dodge before your flames even landed.
Not anymore.
With Shien — wielder of Sage Mode — Fire Style would finally claim its rightful throne.
Wood Release was revered as "the strongest" only because the God of Shinobi had made it so.
A pity, though.
Shien had only just learned Sage Mode; he was still far from Hashirama's level, where he could enter Sage Mode with a single hand clap. And unlike that Naruto guy, he didn't have Nine-Tails chakra or the Uzumaki constitution to cheat with shadow clones and gather natural energy on the fly.
So he'd have to find his own path.
That was fine — there was no rush. For now, he didn't need to reach god-tier perfection. Mastery would come with time.
Next, he needed to achieve Sage Mode without relying on Tōnsen. Without that liquid catalyst, he'd have to absorb natural energy through perception alone.
And he refused to be like that certain "Liu Bei fanfic protagonist" — someone who needed constant assistance just to enter Sage Mode. That was nothing short of Sage disgrace.
A few days later—
Shien finished his "scouting mission" and returned to the island. But the moment he arrived, a new assignment awaited him.
"Escort you… to the Land of Wind?" He looked at Yakushi Nonō in front of him, his mind working fast.
A Root-related mission — the risk was self-evident. Danzo never played fair.
And considering their history, this one definitely stank of a trap. Still, knowing it was dangerous didn't mean he could refuse. Unless he wanted to openly betray Konoha, he had to accept it.
On paper, the mission was legitimate — no procedural flaws to exploit.
The one piece of good news: it was just him and a small ANBU squad, no dead weight.
Perfect.
That meant if he did need to act, as long as no evidence remained, there'd be no consequences.
If this had been the old Shien — fresh out of the Academy and weak — he would've been terrified. Now?
He was looking forward to the show.
Yes — Shien, the consummate "fun-seeker." He wanted to see the look on Root's face when they realized their hunter had become the prey.
There was no entertainment in the shinobi world anyway — why not make his own fun?
Half an hour later.
"Move out!"
Shien took point. Yakushi Nonō was the escort target; the three ANBU behind them were clearly just tools. With no superior present, the one giving orders was naturally Shien — the chunin.
At this point, even without Sage Mode, Shien's normal strength was already jonin-level.
A thirteen-year-old jonin — in an age before the cheat-protagonists had even appeared, that made him a super-genius. With Sage Mode, he was outright Kage-tier.
No wonder he felt zero anxiety about this suspicious mission — he was here to enjoy the drama.
The group moved swiftly, silent and efficient. Neither Nonō nor the ANBU said a word.
Shien, but kept a subtle distance from them the entire way. He wasn't about to let his guard down — in a world of endless secret techniques and bloodline hacks, giving anyone a chance was courting death.
Soon, they crossed into the Land of Wind.
Sand. Endless, blinding sand stretched to the horizon.
Even though he'd been here before, the sight still struck him — an ocean of dunes beneath a scorching sun, a land that rejected life itself. No wonder Sunagakure kept invading.
If you lived in such a wasteland, you'd try to seize Konoha's lush territory too.
In the anime, Konoha always stood on the "moral high ground," never invading, never claiming land — looking virtuous. But the truth was simpler: there was nothing worth taking.
Invade the Land of Wind? For what — sand? More sand? Yeah, no thanks.
Some things, once you think about them too hard, stop making sense entirely.
Before long, they reached the outskirts of an oasis — the mission's end point.
Yakushi Nonō departed alone, her demeanor cold and detached — the warmth from before nowhere to be seen. The real Nonō, the Root operative, was emotionless. And Shien, now well outside her "strike zone," saw her true face clearly.
Collecting intel on the Sand shinobi, huh? He could guess easily enough — but that wasn't his concern.
Now came the fun part.
The "ANBU" squad with him was obviously Root in disguise. He wondered what kind of tricks they'd try.
After several more hours of travel, their pace suddenly slowed.
"You're about to start your other mission, aren't you?" Shien said flatly.
Shing! Shing! A volley of kunai and shuriken flew at him.
For an unprepared target, such an ambush might have spelled instant death.
The shinobi world was fair in that sense — even the God of Shinobi had the same fragile flesh as a genin; only regeneration and reaction set them apart.
But Shien was ready. The attack bounced off harmlessly.
The three Root operatives — the strongest barely a tokubetsu jonin — were no match for him. He cut them down effortlessly.
No interrogation, no questions. Even if he knew how, the cursed seal on their tongues — Tongue Eradication Seal — meant he couldn't get answers anyway. So killing them outright was simpler.
Watching them perform their little act along the road had been entertaining enough.
This mission had been worth it.
But just as Shien turned to leave — he saw Danzo's true trump card reveal itself.
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