"Orochimaru-sensei… this is…?"
Seeing that familiar scene, Gojo Yoru's eyes showed confusion.
A ninjutsu scroll?
"You'll know when you look." Orochimaru kept it vague. After handing the scroll to Yoru, he turned to deal with Tokiya's remains.
Since he had promised to keep Yoru's secret, Orochimaru couldn't leave Tokiya's brain tissue behind. No one knew whether Amegakure had methods like mind-reading.
Looking at the grotesque chunks of flesh on the ground—blood already washed away by the rain—Orochimaru still couldn't help clicking his tongue.
The famous Phantom Rain, Tokiya—one of Hanzō's trusted right-hand men—was dead just like that.
He'd been so cautious, yet in an instant he'd become a pile of minced meat. Even if you pieced his face back together, you could still see the stunned expression frozen there.
Space–time power… was truly unbelievable.
Thankfully, Orochimaru was Yoru's teacher—and the first time they fought, Yoru hadn't used that offensive space–time power.
Otherwise, Orochimaru felt he wouldn't have fared much better.
Unless someone had intelligence beforehand that Yoru possessed space–time abilities, even a Kage would end up the same way Tokiya just did if they got hit by that strike.
"I wonder if the Third Raikage's strongest shield could block Yoru's blade… And Kumogakure's Heavenly Transfer Technique—people say it's like Flying Thunder God, a long-range instantaneous movement. Does it also involve space–time?" Orochimaru thought. "But the Third Raikage also has unmatched lightning speed—his short-range movement is famous for being no worse than Flying Thunder God."
"Besides the Third Raikage, there's also the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Two Weights. Setting Dust Release aside, flight alone is already troublesome."
"If nothing unexpected happens, those two will be Yoru's greatest future enemies. Speed and flight… when we get back, I need to look up more information and revise my training plan for him."
At this moment, Yoru had no idea Orochimaru had already chosen his future "biggest enemies" and overturned his original training plan.
With anticipation, Yoru opened the scroll Orochimaru gave him.
The instant he saw what was inside, his eyes trembled. He quickly rolled it up again, afraid rainwater might damage it.
But outwardly, he couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face—so wide he nearly turned into a "crooked-smile war god."
Orochimaru, who had just packed Tokiya's corpse fragments into a storage scroll, looked at Yoru's ecstatic expression and smiled. "Well? Satisfied with your reward?"
"This is absolutely the best gift I've ever received, Orochimaru-sensei!" Yoru's body shook with excitement. He looked like he could barely contain himself. "My biggest weakness is stamina. The reason I didn't dare reveal my ability was because I was afraid of being targeted. But now—once I master Flying Thunder God—even if my endurance is poor, even if people discover I have space–time abilities, I won't have to worry about getting hard-countered!"
Yoru never would've imagined that the scroll Orochimaru gave him would be the Flying Thunder God Technique he'd been dreaming of.
It was a super, ultimate, absurdly huge surprise.
After awakening space–time power—one rank above elite shinobi—why did Yoru have to be cautious? Wasn't that suffocating?
It was suffocating. Extremely suffocating.
If Yoru weren't a transmigrator—if he were a native of this world, or even just a transmigrator who'd never watched Naruto—he'd already be more arrogant than the Uchiha, looking at everyone like trash.
But the problem was: Yoru knew too much.
So he had to be cautious, or he would die.
And the ones he feared were never Sarutobi Hiruzen or Shimura Danzō.
What he feared was the aged Uchiha Madara.
What he feared was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's third son.
What he feared was the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon.
What he feared was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, parasitizing Jigen's body.
Yoru wouldn't gamble that, for the sake of their grand plan, they'd ignore him even if they learned he had a space–time bloodline and let him keep growing.
Yoru only made the worst-case assumption—like protagonists in fantasy novels who carry rare treasures.
His space–time chakra was too little. Even against Tokiya, he'd worried that because he lacked space–time chakra, he wouldn't be able to escape the pursuit.
So he could only endure—endure and endure—more patient than even a ninja turtle.
Even the way he killed Tokiya had been a dirty trick.
No choice. His endurance was poor. He couldn't run.
A brief window of invincibility is meaningless if you can't escape afterward—and there are simply too many ways to counter that.
That was why Yoru craved Flying Thunder God more than anything.
He had even prepared himself to come clean to Orochimaru—specifically so Orochimaru could help him obtain Flying Thunder God from Hiruzen.
Once Yoru learned Flying Thunder God—once he had long-range instantaneous movement—he wouldn't fear anything anymore.
Even if he never developed another space–time technique, a Yoru with intangibility, Dimensional Slash, and Flying Thunder God would become the shinobi world's most unsolvable existence.
He could beat anyone. And if he couldn't, he could run.
From that point on, he wouldn't need to fear anyone.
Others would need to fear him.
The shinobi world would become the Naruto version of Jujutsu Kaisen—"How do we deal with Gojo Yoru?" would become everyone's biggest headache, unless they resurrected the ancient strongest.
So it wasn't strange that Yoru was trembling with excitement.
Orochimaru's move was like removing the last boulder from Yoru's body—completely smoothing the road ahead, which had always been flat except for a few hidden thorns.
In that instant, Yoru's affection for Orochimaru skyrocketed too.
This teacher… was absolutely worth it.
Orochimaru didn't understand just how important Flying Thunder God was to Yoru.
But seeing how delighted Yoru was, he smiled. "As long as you're satisfied. With your bloodline limit, Flying Thunder God is absolutely the most suitable jutsu for you. Before your bloodline fully matures, you can first master Flying Thunder God and pair it with Rasengan and your chakra blade."
"Thank you, Orochimaru-sensei," Yoru said sincerely, bowing deeply once again.
Orochimaru patted Yoru's shoulder, eyes full of expectation. "Work hard and become stronger, Yoru. You are Konoha's—no… you are the shinobi world's future."
"I won't disappoint you, Orochimaru-sensei."
At this moment, Yoru looked so confident it was as if he were glowing—bright enough to light up the stormy, rain-dark sky.
This mission had been an enormous haul.
Not only did he obtain the Ryūchi Cave summoning contract, he also obtained the Flying Thunder God scroll, plus the Strength of a Hundred Seal he'd already gotten…
After awakening his space–time bloodline, the three things he'd wanted most for years were finally all in his hands.
From now on…
the sky was vast, and the bird was free to fly.
~~~
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