Chapter 253: The Sound Four
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In a residential area of Konoha, four figures appeared on a rooftop.
"Is that Uchiha Sasuke?"
The gazes of the four landed on Uchiha Sasuke, who was lost in thought in the distance.
Kidomaru snorted. "Hmph. We really went through a lot of trouble for this brat. Why is Lord Orochimaru so obsessed with him?"
Tayuya snapped, "Stop talking and finish the mission. Konoha adjusted their defense grid recently; we don't know if there will be any unexpected changes."
"Wait, that's Hatake Kakashi." Sakon stopped them, watching the silver-haired ninja who had suddenly appeared in the distance.
Even though they looked down on these Konoha ninjas who lived in soft peace, they weren't arrogant enough to think they could take on a shinobi of Kakashi's caliber head-on. For this mission, they had spent a fortune on special barrier equipment just to evade Konoha's detection. It had even taken Kabuto a massive amount of effort to find a flaw in the village's updated defenses.
"What a drag. I hope we don't get spotted. Konoha has someone that even Lord Orochimaru finds troublesome," Kidomaru said with a cold laugh.
Tayuya scoffed, "Just a man who likes to hide. He was nowhere to be found when Konoha was in crisis."
"Lord Orochimaru lured him away; it wasn't a matter of him being absent," Sakon corrected.
Whoosh—
Tonbo Tobitake landed silently behind the Sound Four. Thousands of microscopic nerves extended from his palms, subtly spreading across their bodies.
"I'll just put a little insurance on Kiba and the others. After all, they're students I've taught," Tonbo thought.
If his "butterfly effect" caused some unforeseen accident—leading to a different outcome for Kiba and the team than in the original story—this insurance would ensure the Sound Four died instead. Now that Neji and the others had been strengthened by his combat training, and Kiba was significantly more powerful than his original self, things would surely be different.
But in the world of ninjas, being a bit stronger doesn't mean there are no accidents. A kunai to the brain is still fatal. Without intelligence on the enemy, even a stronger team could be counter-killed by the Sound Four. The Four wouldn't be stupid enough to stick strictly to their original tactics if they faced different threats; they would adapt.
To ensure the timeline didn't break while protecting his students, Tonbo decided to place these "failsafes." At the same time, it served a second purpose: collecting data on their Cursed Seal transformations.
Tonbo's research into Sage Transformation was now on track. He could already sense natural energy. All that remained was to learn how to apply it, or how to merge it with his own chakra to create Senjutsu chakra and enter Sage Mode. This was highly dangerous, and he needed more data. Two birds with one stone.
Once he finished, Tonbo vanished. Despite his actions, the Sound Four felt nothing at all. They were still busy discussing how to complete their mission.
How could Tonbo let them sense him? If he did, he would have to surrender his title as a Master of Genjutsu. Through the release of his nerves, the Sound Four were already trapped in a subtle Genjutsu. Every move Tonbo made was rendered non-existent to their senses. They literally could not perceive a human being standing behind them.
"A pity. Most of the Sound Four's physical abilities lean toward the 'Yang Release' path. For me, they're just data points," Tonbo noted while collecting their physical profiles.
The abilities of Sakon and Kidomaru were heavily based on Yang Release—not his point of highest talent.
Yin Release creates form out of nothing; Yang Release breathes life into form.
Tonbo's Yin Release talent was sky-high, but his Yang Release didn't even amount to a fraction of it. Otherwise, he would have loved to develop both paths to their peak. Perhaps then he could be like the Sage of the Six Paths, creating worlds and life itself. It was an exhilarating thought: dividing a living organism and giving it life. It felt like playing god.
Unfortunately, his comprehension of Yang Release was far behind his Yin Release. It was better to focus on the latter. While Sakon's ability to merge with another's cells and Kidomaru's secretion of spider-gold belonged to the Yang category, Tonbo thought that if he had high Yang talent, he could have tried Sakon's ability to merge with something like the Ten-Tails.
But what he had was enough to study. He wasn't devoid of Yang talent; his Yin talent was just absurdly lopsided. Now, he just had to wait for Sasuke to defect and for the Sound Four to activate Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Cursed Seal to collect more perfect data.
Just as Tonbo expected, the Sound Four moved to manipulate Sasuke that night. Tonbo watched everything unfold. In the end, Sasuke was successfully swayed by the promise of the Cursed Seal's power and made his decision.
Tonbo felt that he had become selfish and hypocritical to the extreme. Even with events happening right before his eyes, he didn't have the courage to let the main world line deviate.
Perhaps... this was the result of having the "bonds" of a family. Since there was a clear path forward that didn't put his family in danger, why not take it? Why take the risk of interfering with the rotation of the world's gears?
He wasn't that selfless. If his "cheat" were a system that rewarded him for changes, he might consider it. But for now, he chose the known path.
After all, a system is invincible; he is not. If he hadn't known about the existence of the Boruto era, he might not have even had the desire to show off his growing strength from the very beginning. Now that he knew for certain that the Otsutsuki from Boruto would appear, it was even more impossible for him to alter the growth path of Naruto and the others.
Furthermore, if his future self had instructed his current self to act according to these thoughts, there had to be a good reason for it. Since the future Tonbo Tobitake sent back information guiding him this way, it was undoubtedly the best choice for him. A choice that was best for oneself... that was something no one could refuse.
He felt once again fortunate that he hadn't transmigrated into a member of the Uchiha clan; otherwise, the butterfly effect would have spiraled out of control.
"Hmm, Sakura's sixth sense... could that be influenced by her 'Inner Sakura' personality? Even though the timing has shifted slightly, how can she still accurately predict Sasuke's intentions?"
As Tonbo Tobitake shadowed Sasuke, he discovered Sakura waiting under the moonlight, exactly like in the original story, despite the change in time. This was precisely why he had tampered with the Sound Four. With the timing off, the Sound Four might not encounter Shizune's team returning from their mission. Without those ninjas wearing them down first, Choji and the others might not be able to win. He wondered if things would still play out so coincidentally.
Thud!
Through tear-blurred eyes, Sakura was struck in the neck by Sasuke and collapsed onto the ground. Sasuke then carried her to a bench by the roadside. He gave her one last look of tenderness before walking away with eyes full of determination.
"That girl is far too love-brained. What about the combat techniques I trained her in? Truly embarrassing!"
While Tonbo wanted Sasuke's growth path to remain unchanged, he found Sakura's performance pathetic. He had taught her for quite some time, and he knew her current strength better than anyone. It wasn't just that she was off-guard; she was trying to use love to move Sasuke. Otherwise, given their current levels, it wasn't even certain how Sasuke would fare against her!
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