"Finally… back."
Uchiha Feiyu looked at Konohagakure and let out a long breath.
Most of the shinobi from the River Country Sand front had already returned. Only a small number remained behind on border patrol and guard duty.
Over a thousand survivors formed a long, ragged column heading toward the village. The moment Konoha's walls came into view, Feiyu watched more than a few ninja quietly break down in tears.
To Feiyu, this campaign had felt fairly easy.
But for Konoha as a whole, the cost had been brutal.
In the final battle with Sunagakure alone, more than two thousand Konoha shinobi had died from the gas and poison—nearly half the original front-line force.
Add in the casualties from all the smaller engagements before that, and barely thirty percent of the original troops had made it home alive.
And this was just the beginning of the Third Great Ninja War.
It would only get worse from here.
Back in the village, crowds of civilians and off-duty ninja surged out to meet them, frantically searching for their loved ones.
Some people found family and collapsed into joyous, shaking embraces.
Others… found only a nameplate and an urn.
Joyful sobbing, howling grief—everything a human life could end in was playing out inside this "little" shinobi village.
Feiyu, of course, was an exception.
Forget parents—he barely had a handful of actual friends in Konoha.
There was nothing here for him to emotionally resonate with.
"Come with me to the Hokage's office, Feiyu-kun," Orochimaru said, just as calm and detached as Feiyu. "You've earned quite a bit of merit this time. The Hokage will want to see you."
Feiyu nodded.
Aside from the fact that he'd racked up massive military achievements, he was now also Orochimaru's disciple. Naturally, the Third Hokage would want to sound him out.
They headed straight to the Hokage's office.
The moment the door swung open, Feiyu paused.
Inside, besides the Third Hokage, there was a well-endowed blonde beauty slumped in front of the desk, looking thoroughly annoyed as she listened to Sarutobi ramble.
"That's enough, old man. Don't tell me you still expect me to go to the battlefield?"
The blonde smacked the desk and snapped, just as Orochimaru and Feiyu stepped through the doorway.
She froze for a heartbeat when she noticed them, then snorted, turned on her heel, and strode out past them without another word.
"…Sigh."
The Third Hokage exhaled softly, took a deep pull on his pipe, then looked up at Orochimaru with a smile returning to his face.
"You've worked hard, Orochimaru. And our little hero here as well—Feiyu, you probably don't know this yet, but you've already picked up a nickname: Little White Fang."
Little White Fang…?
What kind of budget title was that?
Even "Konoha's Ghost" sounded better.
Feiyu complained inwardly, but his expression didn't show it. Orochimaru, however, frowned slightly.
"Tsunade still refuses to participate in the war?" he asked. "If she had been with us against Sunagakure, our casualties wouldn't have been this severe."
The Third shook his head with a sigh.
"Not yet. You know… Tsunade still hasn't overcome that… knot in her heart."
He kept his words vague. With Feiyu—a practical outsider to the Sarutobi clan's inner circle—standing right there, Hiruzen wouldn't state outright that Tsunade was suffering from hemophobia.
Orochimaru understood perfectly and didn't press the topic.
Instead, he turned the conversation.
"Feiyu is now my disciple," he said. "The merit he earned on the front lines is more than enough to exchange for several S-rank techniques. I brought him here today because I'd like him to select a few jutsu from the Scroll of Seals."
Hiruzen took a long drag, then nodded.
"That's only right. With the achievements you've made, Feiyu, you're entitled to choose three S-rank jutsu from the Scroll of Seals."
He paused, then continued with a touch of kindly admonishment:
"But these jutsu aren't easy to master. If you ask me, you'd be better off picking one S-rank technique to focus on as your main path, and use the remaining slots on A-rank jutsu to patch your weaknesses."
Feiyu nodded.
The old man might have his own agenda, but the advice itself wasn't wrong.
Kakashi in Shippūden was rumored to have copied a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan, but when it came time to fight seriously, he still relied on the same old combo:
Raikiri / Chidori plus his core Sharingan toolkit.
Most three-tomoe Uchiha could copy dozens of techniques. In actual combat, they still defaulted to Fire Release and Sharingan genjutsu.
For top-tier shinobi, "generic" ninjutsu were mainly for filling gaps and creating transitions.
Their true power always came from a core system of a few perfected techniques.
Even the Third Hokage—who looked like a "jack of all trades"—had a specialty:
Staff combat with Enma the Monkey King, and
Five-element ninjutsu chained into complex combinations.
Those required massive elemental ninjutsu foundations. That was why he'd bothered learning so many different jutsu in the first place.
As for the "selfish" part?
That was simple.
Hiruzen didn't want too many S-rank Konoha techniques floating around in the hands of an Uchiha he didn't fully control. If Feiyu ever decided to share them with the clan, it wouldn't be good for the balance of power.
There were certain spiritual sealing techniques that could lock jutsu in a shinobi's mind, preventing hostile extraction.
But if the owner voluntarily decided to spill the secrets?
There was no way to stop it.
This world didn't have any "Dao-heart oaths" or primordial contracts.
Villages had rules, sure—no passing down of high-level jutsu without authorization.
But at the end of the day, it still came down to personal ethics and how seriously someone took those rules.
Feiyu, thankfully, wasn't particularly obsessed with the Scroll itself.
He already knew Hiruzen definitely wouldn't put things like Impure World Reincarnation or Shiki Fūjin in there. If by some miracle Flying Thunder Godwas listed, Feiyu would have to praise Hiruzen as a man of truly generous heart.
The Third Hokage formed a rapid sequence of seals.
With a poof of smoke, a massive scroll appeared on the desk.
Feiyu leaned forward for a peek and immediately realized something:
The "Scroll of Seals" Naruto would one day sneak off with?
Yeah, that had to be a fake copy.
This thing was wrapped in layer after layer of complex sealing formations. Just from a glance, Feiyu could tell even Minato and Kushina would need a quiet afternoon to crack them all.
There was no universe where Naruto's future knucklehead self waltzed off and casually opened this thing in a forest clearing.
The Third, obviously very familiar with the structure of the seals, still needed a solid three or four minutes to undo most of them.
Only then did he push the scroll toward Feiyu and say:
"What remains sealed is a small portion of the contents—jutsu so foul and taboo they're said to offend the very heavens."
He looked seriously at Feiyu.
"Unless Konoha stands at the brink of destruction, those techniques will never be passed down."
[dont miss out on the new year discount offer on patreon, subscribe and enjoy your favourite fics]
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto