"Why are we still stuck with these boring D-rank missions!"
"Haturo, stop complaining," a calmer voice chided. "Our sensei went through a lot of trouble to get us this escort mission."
"Yeah, but when are we going to take the Chunin Exams?" the first voice, Haturo, grumbled back. "With our skills, we should have been promoted by now! I don't get why sensei hasn't signed us up yet."
"I'm sure he has his reasons. We just need to be patient, Haturo."
The conversation, drifting from a genin team about their age, made Yuta pause on his way back to the village.
He glanced over, his interest piqued. Their instructor, identifiable by the signature "pineapple" hairstyle, was clearly a Jonin from the Nara clan.
Yuta's curiosity sharpened. The Nara were staunch Hokage loyalists, famed for their brilliant minds, laziness, and a healthy fear of their wives. It was rare for one to take on a genin team. So, was there someone in this particular squad worth his attention?
His eyes scanned the three teenagers. The complainer on the left, Haturo, was easy to place—the pale, pupil-less eyes marked him as a Hyuga.
The girl on the right, with her large ninken (ninja dog) and distinctive facial markings, was unmistakably from the Inuzuka clan.
But the boy in the middle, the one with the gentle voice and blue-gray hair... he bore a faint, passing resemblance to Minato.
"Yuta-kun seems interested in them?" Orochimaru was the first to notice his gaze, a flicker of curiosity in his own serpentine eyes.
Jiraiya immediately slung a heavy arm over Yuta's shoulders. "That guy? Hey, I think he was in our class, wasn't he? What was his name again?"
"Kato Dan," Meyuri said calmly, while Jiraiya was still scratching his head.
'Kato Dan.'
The man who, in the original story, would win Tsunade's heart by backing her medical-nin reforms at a Jonin Council meeting. The same man whose fate was to die on the battlefields of the Second Great Shinobi War, shortly after her brother, Nawaki.
The original lore offered few details about Kato Dan, but one thing about him captivated Yuta's imagination: the Spirit Transformation Jutsu.
An S-rank Forbidden Jutsu that Dan alone had ever mastered.
If memory serves, it was a technique developed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
'Then again,' Yuta mused wryly, 'just about every forbidden jutsu in Konoha could be attributed to Tobirama.'
The Spirit Transformation Jutsu allowed the user to detach their soul from their body, becoming an ethereal spirit that could travel vast distances, assassinate enemies by attacking their very souls, possess bodies, or invade mental landscapes.
If he could combine such an ability with Sage Mode... a wild, thrilling idea sparked in Yuta's mind.
Sage Mode's core was achieving a perfect balance between natural energy, physical energy, and spiritual energy to create senjutsu chakra.
The Spirit Transformation Jutsu's essence was the soul's separation from the physical vessel. Merging the two would likely require finding a way to bind natural energy to the soul itself, or enabling the spiritual form to draw in natural energy autonomously.
If he could truly accomplish this, a "Sage Spirit Transformation" would become the ultimate strategic weapon, capable of decapitating enemy leadership from miles away.
The prerequisite, of course, was actually learning the Spirit Transformation Jutsu first.
As for how to obtain it, Yuta had already formulated a plan. While the Senju clan's archives, accessible to Tsunade, might hold Tobirama's scrolls containing the technique, for something this sensitive, he preferred to go through his teacher.
After all, Danzo had taught him precious little since taking him on as a student. Surely, helping him acquire a single forbidden jutsu wasn't too much to ask?
The merits he had accumulated over the years were probably enough to exchange for a technique from the Scroll of Seals several times over. And given that Danzo and the Third Hokage were supposedly the best of friends, having Danzo make the request should be a simple matter.
—
True to his expectations, when Yuta brought Uzumaki Hidehito and Uzumaki Ninren to the Root headquarters and proposed his desire to learn the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, Danzo merely fell silent for a moment before giving a curt nod of agreement. He didn't even question Yuta's choice in the jutsu.
Though no one in Konoha had managed to learn the jutsu since Tobirama himself, Danzo's confidence was unshakable.
'If anyone can master such a difficult technique, it is my student.'
What exactly Danzo said or did in the Hokage's office remained a mystery, but the very next day, a Root agent delivered the jutsu scroll for the Spirit Transformation Technique directly to Yuta's hands.
Looking down at the scroll, Yuta couldn't help but click his tongue in amusement.
'See? I told you. Danzo and the Third Hokage are true love. Even a forbidden jutsu from the Scroll of Seals is granted if Danzo asks. Their bond is almost touching.'
In reality, Yuta had completely misread the situation.
The truth was that when Danzo stormed into the Hokage's office and demanded the Spirit Transformation Technique, the Third Hokage had refused him outright. No amount of arguing could sway Sarutobi Hiruzen's resolve.
It was only when Danzo, through gritted teeth, clarified that the request was for Yuta that the Third Hokage finally relented and permitted the scroll to be released.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's reasoning was simple: if Danzo wanted the jutsu, it was surely for some underhanded scheme or to cause trouble. But for Shimura Yuta? He had no such concerns. He had always been more lenient with the prodigy that even his own students held in high regard.
Judging by Yuta's consistent actions—his valor on missions, his selfless healing of the Uzumaki clansmen—he was clearly a fine young shinobi who embodied the Will of Fire!
A good boy who had completed numerous difficult missions, earned glory for Konoha, and possessed the purest Will of Fire merely wanted to research a forbidden jutsu. What possible ill intent could he harbor?
As he watched Danzo wrench open the office door and slam it shut behind him, the Third Hokage could only release a weary sigh.
'Such a promising talent... how did he ever end up as Danzo's student?'
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