"The Flying Thunder God?"
The Third Hokage, who had the Scroll of Seals memorized, narrowed his eyes. He understood immediately. "That's the space-time jutsu Lord Tobirama created, isn't it?"
He didn't bother questioning how Yuta knew about it. Danzo had access to the Scroll too. The man had spent ages trying to learn the Flying Thunder God himself, only to give up and hand it back in a sour mood.
He'd probably bragged about its contents to Yuta at some point.
"Still…" Hiruzen's tone turned cautious. "That one's not easy to learn."
Even for a genius like Yuta—maybe the best Konoha had ever seen—space-time ninjutsu was a whole other beast.
But—
He saw the look in Yuta's eyes. Unwavering. Determined. The Hokage let his own doubt fade.
'This kid had already mastered Tobirama-sensei's Spirit Transformation Technique. Who was to say he couldn't handle another one of the Second's masterpieces?'
"The Flying Thunder God, huh… Alright. It's yours."
"Hey, Orochimaru," Jiraiya whispered, jabbing his friend in the side after Yuta sat back down. "What's this 'Flying Thunder God' thing Yuta's talking about? How come I've never heard of it?"
Orochimaru was the biggest ninjutsu nerd of the three. If anyone knew, it was him.
Poked one too many times, Orochimaru shot Jiraiya a look that was pure, long-suffering annoyance. But he answered anyway.
"It's a space-time ninjutsu created by the Second Hokage. Senju Tobirama. He's still the only one who's ever mastered it. He used it to wipe out Uchiha who were causing trouble for the Senju back when the village was new. It's so difficult to master that they slapped a 'forbidden' label on it."
"Eh? How do you know all that?"
Orochimaru glanced at Tsunade, his face blank.
"I read it in the "History of Konoha" at her place. When she invited me over."
"The History of Konoha? What's that?"
"A book," Orochimaru said with a quiet sigh of exasperation. "The First Hokage asked for it, and the Second Hokage wrote it. The book covers the end of the Warring States Period up to when Konoha was founded. I borrowed it from Tsunade when I had some free time."
"Eh?! Wait, why did she invite you over? She never invites me!"
"Idiot."
Orochimaru's eye twitched, and he pointedly turned his head away, done with the conversation.
'Young Orochimaru really is too patient,' Yuta thought to himself, mildly amused. 'The guy was clearly annoyed, but he still answered every stupid question. If that wasn't true friendship, what is?'
"Hmm, yeah," Jiraiya mumbled to himself, not picking up on the cue to stop. "Sweet, soft girls are plenty."
He'd tried to keep his voice down, but the Hokage's office wasn't that big. The whole Konoha council—the F4—heard him just fine.
Given the team's huge success with the Uzumaki, they all decided to let it slide. Besides, these were the Hokage's and Danzo's students. They were going to be running this place one day.
"Hiruzen," Danzo said, dragging the focus back to business. His voice was sharp. "Fine, I get you don't want to touch the Mist right now. But you can't ignore Iwagakure. This is serious."
'Iwagakure?'
Yuta's attention, which had drifted to Tsunade and Meyuri sitting nearby, snapped back. He knew Iwa wouldn't stay quiet. They had two Tailed Beasts—the Four-Tails and the Five-Tails. But they hadn't joined Kumo, Suna, and Kiri in going after Uzushio.
It wasn't like the other three villages would cut them out. That meant only one thing: Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was cooking up something he thought was even bigger.
"Iwagakure's recruitment has been out of control lately," Homura Mitokado cut in, his face turning serious. He took over from Danzo. "Our spies say their shinobi numbers have even surpassed ours. They're over ten thousand strong now. And they're not being subtle about it. Just last week, three full Iwa squads crossed into the Land of Grass and hit a merchant caravan in the Land of Rain. Ended up in a full-on fight with Amegakure Shinobi."
'That Ōnoki…' Hiruzen could picture the short, stubborn Tsuchikage perfectly.
He was poking the bear. Testing Hanzo. Seeing how far he could push the rapidly growing Amegakure.
"And speaking of Amegakure," Utatane Koharu added, her voice tight, "they're getting too bold. Hanzo's talking about sending troops into the Land of Grass. Trying to take it. You know how this works, Hiruzen. The Five Great Villages will never let a sixth one rise up."
She was right. Everyone in the room knew it. The pie was already divided five ways.
The little villages got the crumbs. But Hanzo's rise had shoved Amegakure to the front of the line. Its reputation was on par with the big players now.
The result? Clients in the Land of Rain were hiring Amegakure ninja instead of going to Konoha, Suna, or Iwa.
It was a direct hit to their wallets. And their pride.
Hearing this, even Danzo, who'd been riding a high lately, frowned a little.
He'd dealt with Hanzo before. The man was a monster, and his poison was a nightmare to deal with.
Danzo had even tried to sabotage him once, spreading that "Demigod" nickname around, hoping to make him a target. It totally backfired. Just made Hanzo more famous and his village stronger.
"Hiruzen," Danzo said finally, his voice dropping low and urgent. "War is coming. Even if you don't start it, Amegakure and Iwagakure will. And when they do, we'll be neck-deep in it whether we like it or not."
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