Over the past year, Gojō Yoru only returned to Konoha twice.
The first time was in March, when Uzumaki Kushina graduated from the Ninja Academy and officially became a genin.
She didn't form a standard three-person team with her classmates. Instead, she was assigned directly into Orochimaru's team—becoming Yoru's teammate, with Orochimaru as their jōnin instructor.
That had been decided long ago.
After calling him "sensei" for so long, building combat synergy with Yoru, and forging a deep bond, there was no way Orochimaru, Yoru, or even Hiruzen would let Kushina be placed with anyone else.
And only if Orochimaru and Yoru were the ones taking her on missions would Hiruzen feel at ease.
If someone else led Kushina, it wasn't just a question of attracting enemy attention—if Kushina got triggered and went berserk, no one would be able to stop her. Her teammates and even her instructor could end up dead.
Unless they kept Kushina locked inside Konoha forever, only Yoru and the three Sannin were qualified to take her out on missions.
Needless to say, Yoru had caused another butterfly effect.
With him around—and with the name he'd already built across the shinobi world—Hiruzen, who considered him the Hokage line's "next-generation standard," trusted him deeply.
Once the war ended, Yoru would be able to take Kushina out for missions whenever he wanted. It wouldn't be like the Minato story, where she could only move within Konoha's central district and needed at least two Anbu watching her just to step outside.
But right now it was wartime. Kushina could only stay in Konoha and do D-rank jobs—helping villagers with errands and small problems.
Other genin could choose to join the logistics corps and go to the fronts. Kushina, meanwhile, was restricted to the village's central area.
The second time Yoru returned was for Kushina's birthday.
While chatting, he learned he'd triggered yet another butterfly effect.
Konoha had caught two enemy shinobi who infiltrated the village—Cloud-nin from the Land of Lightning.
That confirmed Yoru's old suspicion.
Minato's "hero saves the girl" moment in canon really was Hiruzen using Cloud-nin as a setup—creating an opportunity for Minato, who had been silently in love with Kushina, so she'd grow fond of him, form a bond, accept the village, and truly start to belong.
And after their son graduated, he pulled the same kind of stunt again with Mizuki.
Hiruzen never had to lift a finger or show his face. He just moved pieces around until the "coincidence" he wanted happened—and got the result.
But now, Kushina had already bonded with Yoru. She trained relentlessly so she wouldn't drag him down, so she wouldn't let the Nine-Tails hurt him. Yoru was fighting hard at the front lines, too.
Hiruzen—who didn't want Kushina distracted—naturally wouldn't allow Cloud-nin to target her.
Even if Kushina's current strength meant she wouldn't fear two Cloud-nin at all, Hiruzen still had zero interest in "testing her growth." He worried the seal might be affected, causing Nine-Tails chakra leakage before Yoru had fully matured.
After all, in a world where the human body has 130 trillion cells, age twelve is a crucial stage.
Most trainee shinobi graduate around twelve and start their real careers in blood.
Canon Naruto was that age when emotions first began triggering Nine-Tails chakra leaks; at fourteen or fifteen, he was slipping into partial tailed-beast states all the time—and that was with only half of Kurama.
If Kushina didn't have Mito's chakra protecting her, and if she only had the Eight Trigrams Seal plus half of the Four Symbols Seal, Kurama would have found countless openings by now and pushed her into partial transformation over and over.
Kushina needed a safe, comfortable environment to grow. She couldn't afford violent emotional swings that would give Kurama an opening and weaken the chakra seal Mito left behind.
Yoru was very satisfied with Hiruzen's approach.
If Kushina still got kidnapped with him in the picture, Yoru's opinion of the Third—still in his prime—would drop off a cliff.
Wartime, and you're stationed at the village's main base, yet the Nine-Tails jinchūriki gets abducted anyway? What's the point of having you as Hokage?
So, at dusk on August 18, Yoru returned to Konoha again.
He knew a certain girl would secretly prepare a birthday cake for him that day.
He didn't want to disappoint her anticipation—or the weight of her feelings.
Sure enough, he flashed into his house, opened the door, and found the living room already decorated for a birthday.
Unlike the bare-bones setup of the previous two years, Kushina—older now, more experienced, and with time to spare—had arranged the whole room exactly the way she wanted.
The moment Yoru stepped out, a figure pounced on him and clung like a sloth—arms around his neck, smiling brightly.
"Yoru, happy birthday."
He hugged her back. Instead of saying "thank you," he smiled and teased, "Tomato-na, breaking and entering again?"
"Hmph. It's not breaking and entering if I have a key. And who was it that said I could come over whenever I wanted? You forgot your own words—did you get bonked too hard on the battlefield? Want me to punch your brain back into place?"
She even copied his trash-talking tone—and pinched his cheek the way he used to.
Yoru let her.
Because over the last year, she'd changed as much as he had.
Last year, she was about thirty centimeters shorter than him, with a soft, collagen-packed round face you couldn't resist squishing. Her height, face, and eyes all screamed "kid."
This year, Kushina had shot up to 1.55 meters—only about twenty centimeters shorter than Yoru now. Her once-tomato round face had begun sharpening into a more oval, V-line shape.
After running D-rank jobs and meeting all kinds of people, she'd shed her student softness and started blending into the real world.
And once she'd gone through real blood and a real brush with death, she'd become an exceptional genin—someone who could kill above her rank.
If Yoru's physique weren't so abnormal—if he were only as tall as other boys his age—Kushina would probably never shut up about being his "big sister" and him being her "little brother."
This birthday, just like the last ones, was only the two of them.
Dinner, then cake.
This time she didn't need Yoru's help—she could make a beautiful three-tier cake all on her own. Huge improvement.
They made wishes, ate the first slice…
…and, of course, started the traditional cake war.
Kushina fought harder every year. She got covered in cake every year. And every year she still charged in like a hero.
After cleaning up, it was already past eight.
Like last year, Yoru used Flying Thunder God transfer to send Kushina back to the "Big Pillar" mansion.
After a bath and back in his room, Yoru lay on his soft bed, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling washed in moonlight.
His heart was pounding—not the arrhythmia that signaled impending "sudden death," but pure nervousness.
The anticipation and unease in his eyes were stronger than ever.
For Yoru, tonight mattered as much as the life-changing moment six years ago.
That evolution six years back had shattered his shackles. It gave him the capital and potential to reach the top even without "Otsutsuki lineage."
Without that evolution, the current Yoru would match the sensor-nin evaluation: a veteran chūnin at best.
In raw strength, Minato—who could already defeat two Cloud-nin—would have surpassed him long ago, maybe by a wide margin.
That wasn't just "talent difference." It was a hard limiter—one you can't break at this age with knowledge, resources, or lucky opportunities alone.
Just like Minato can learn Flying Thunder God because he has the talent for it… while a Yoru without time–space power could never learn it at all.
Only freak talents can smash those limits and become jōnin at twelve or thirteen—or awaken Mangekyō and reach Kage-tier.
Six years ago, his birthday marked the moment he went from "civilian prodigy" to "monster." Katsuyu had called it a new miracle of the shinobi world.
And now, six years later, tonight would decide whether his path was:
a brutal, obstacle-filled evolution route, or
proof that his theory was right—an effortless stairway to godhood.
If the "sudden death" sensation didn't arrive again this year, then his "cell replacement cycle theory" was wrong. There was no "first evolution" and "second evolution."
Only a portion of his cells could extract time–space power. That portion would be his greatest cheat forever—locked at that value.
In that scenario, Yoru would have to rely on Yin Seal and technology—anything to raise his time–space chakra capacity.
Otherwise, even after unsealing his Yin Seal, time–space chakra would cap around "chūnin-level." Enough to hurt even a Ten-Tails jinchūriki… but maybe not enough to kill pure-blood Otsutsuki.
And once he ran dry, any pure-blood Otsutsuki with time–space techniques could kill him easily.
Early glory, late misery. A hard road.
But if the theory was correct—if evolution arrived on schedule—then it meant evolution happened every six years.
Each evolution would replace part of his 130 trillion cells with a "special cell" that could extract physical energy, mental energy, and time–space power.
Once all cells became time–space cells, his ability wouldn't just be a time–space bloodline trait—his body itself would be a time–space body.
Every move would be time–space ninjutsu. Anyone without equal time–space power or a rule-level counter would only be able to run… if they could even run at all.
At that point, Yoru would be untouchable.
That's why tonight was the most nerve-wracking night of his life.
Who would willingly choose the hard road, if a direct staircase to the summit exists?
Time ticked forward. Nine o'clock. He normally would've been asleep by now.
But he couldn't sleep. He couldn't even tell whether the nerves were his own—or whether evolution's warning signs were already creeping in.
The decisive moment would be after midnight.
He forced himself to calm down, to stop caring so much, and waited.
When both the wall clock and the bedside alarm hit midnight—
thump.
A drumbeat heart-slam echoed through the silent room.
Yoru's pupils snapped tight.
A sensation both familiar and strange hit him—after six years, it was back.
He didn't even need to pull off his shirt or turn on the lights. He could see his left chest heaving violently, as if the heart inside was pounding hard enough to break out.
His heartbeat spiked past normal limits in an instant—past what the human body should be able to endure.
And as it hammered, his body temperature skyrocketed, scorching hot.
Unlike last time—when it started as mild arrhythmia and slowly escalated—
this evolution opened with full-on storm force.
"So hot… so thirsty…"
It felt like fever, like chest tightness, like panic—but he didn't feel pain. His head didn't ache.
He was… exhilarated.
If his mouth weren't dry, he'd have wanted to go slaughter something on a battlefield.
With experience, Yoru knew there was no danger. He got up, chugged water, then took a cold shower.
There was no way he could go to war in this state. And he wasn't staying in Konoha, either.
So he left Uzumaki Kushina a note, sent Orochimaru a leave notice via transfer, and chained Flying Thunder God jumps out of the Land of Fire—appearing in the snowy mountains of the Land of Iron.
During evolution, his body felt like it had a perpetual engine installed. His energy was endlessly full.
He didn't feel hunger. He didn't feel fatigue.
Last time, his emotions had been fear, then excitement, then curiosity about what would change afterward.
This time, he wasn't scared at all. Instead, he wondered if this "endless energy" state could be exploited.
Ordinary people without shinobi aptitude use stamina as physical and mental energy.
Shinobi chakra is tied to stamina.
Chakra empty = stamina empty.
Overdraw chakra = overdraw body and lifespan.
If Yoru's energy was infinite right now… did that mean his normal chakra was infinite too?
He desperately wanted to test it—then hesitated.
He didn't want to mess with the evolution process.
In the end, he chickened out and didn't test it.
Evolution continued into the early hours of August 28—still not finished.
Based on last time, Yoru suspected the end point would be noon.
And after it ended, he expected a collapse—extreme weakness and coma, the "price" for the earlier endless energy.
So that morning, Yoru teleported to the Hot Springs District—appearing inside Konan's home.
"Yoru-sama!"
The moment he appeared, Konan—done with training and reading to build knowledge and mental energy—spotted him. Her small face lit up with a bright smile.
But she didn't say "long time no see," which meant not much time had passed since they last met.
Over the last year, Yoru rarely returned to Konoha, but he often visited the Hot Springs District—checking Konan's growth and teaching her fundamentals.
As one of those early-maturing talents, Konan had worked hard. Her growth still didn't match Nagato or Kushina, but she was already comparable to canon Kakashi's trajectory.
With her Yang nature, good nutrition, and steady training, her chakra capacity had reached genin level.
In another year or two, she might even surpass last year's Yoru.
That's the cruel truth: real geniuses are complete packages.
It isn't about puberty. It's about how much energy you can extract and how efficiently you can fuse it into chakra.
Five-year-old Kakashi was small, too—but he could cast Multiple Shadow Clones in a classroom.
That's the limiter.
Unless you're also a freak talent, no amount of "isekai knowledge" breaks it at this age.
Under Yoru's guidance, Konan hadn't touched Five Elements ninjutsu at all. She'd only learned about hidden techniques.
With her strong fundamentals and no new jutsu to learn, she ended up doing what Yoru predicted: while folding paper, she tried turning her hobby into a technique.
She hadn't achieved Paper Release yet, but she could already coat paper in chakra and fold it remotely.
Once Yoru learned that, he began teaching her how to blend body replacement, transformation, concealment, and shunshin with paper—developing her first "extension" skills.
If she succeeded, it would become the B-rank Paper Dance from canon.
Paper dispersal movement, reshaping, near-logia physical immunity—those were all "nature-blended extension techniques."
To spark her imagination, Yoru demonstrated basic Earth Release extensions repeatedly.
Konan was working toward that path.
Yoru didn't chat. He spoke seriously:
"Konan, I have something to do. Around noon, I might fall into a coma for a while. Don't panic—it's a side effect of a technique. I'll move into the basement, set up barriers and traps. I need you to watch my body."
That scared Konan, but she didn't scream. She nodded hard.
"Yoru-sama, I'll protect you."
"Thanks."
Yoru patted her head and added, "I'll probably be out for about twenty-four hours. When I wake up I'll be starving, so please prepare food in advance."
"Yes! Yes!"
He used transfer to move a bed into the basement covered in sealing arrays, plastered the area with explosive tags, and extended tripwires and tags outward.
If anyone moved underground and triggered a trap, the blast and bell-wire noise would reach the basement.
Noon approached.
Yoru sat on the bed and told Konan one more time:
"If something happens, try waking me. I don't know if this side effect is coma or just sleep."
"I understand, Yoru-sama."
He didn't rely solely on her—he cast Shadow Clone and made one clone.
The moment noon hit, his heart rate returned to normal—instantly, like it had never happened.
The fever heat, the thirst, the hyper-awareness—gone in a blink.
"Ma—"
He didn't even finish a word before his vision went black and he collapsed onto the bed, sleeping deeply.
Poof. The clone vanished into smoke.
That finally frightened Konan. Still, her nerves held—no scream.
She stayed tense in the sealed underground room, scanning everything.
To feel safer, she took out the Thunder God Sword Yoru had given her and prepared to fight.
All night, the bell-wires connected to the trip lines never rang once. Only then did she relax.
She checked the time, worried Yoru might wake at any moment, hurried upstairs to prepare food, ate a soldier pill to save time, then returned underground to keep watch.
By deep night, her eyelids drooped—but she didn't dare sleep.
That was Yoru's oversight.
The next morning—August 29—after nearly twenty-four hours, Yoru finally woke.
"So tired…"
Just like six years ago, he felt like his body had fallen apart.
He hadn't felt exhaustion like this since becoming a shinobi. Even when his chakra hit zero, it never felt this bad.
"Yoru-sama, you're awake!"
Konan's happy voice filled the room as candlelight brightened the basement.
Seeing her—clean but with faint bloodshot eyes—Yoru immediately remembered the pre-coma moments.
He ignored the fatigue and smiled.
"Konan… thank you."
"Not at all. Yoru-sama, how do you feel?"
"Hungry. Got food?"
"Yes! I'll bring it down!"
She stood, but Yoru stopped her.
"No. Let's go up together."
He tried to sit up—
—and almost blacked out again.
Konan rushed to support him, worried.
"Yoru-sama, maybe I should bring it down…"
"No. Just help me up."
With her support, he climbed out.
"Konan, how long was I out?"
"Twenty-two hours."
"Only twenty-two?"
That surprised him. Six years ago he hadn't tracked time, but now he realized the "crash" was brutal for a coma under twenty-four hours.
And his physical state was terrible: stamina empty, chakra empty. Did the aftereffect drain his energy completely?
At least the time–space chakra stored in the Yin Seal hadn't been drained. He wouldn't need to refill it.
Upstairs, he devoured breakfast.
One serving disappeared instantly. Still starving.
Konan ran out to buy more.
Yoru ate what amounted to ten-plus servings before he finally felt full.
Despite all that, his belly didn't bulge at all—like a male version of Hinata.
"Phew… strength's finally back."
By 3 p.m., he'd stabilized.
He clenched his fist, eyes bright with anticipation.
"Konan, I need to be alone for a bit. You should rest too."
"Okay. If anything happens, I'll wake up right away."
They each returned to their rooms. Yoru sat cross-legged on the bed and began checking what this evolution had changed.
Thump—
Just as he was about to refine chakra, a projection appeared in his mind.
His eyes were closed, yet his "view" returned to the chamber where his heart should be.
The black heart was there again.
The thump-thump heartbeats sounded like they were in his ears, in his mind, in his soul.
Everything else vanished. Only that heartbeat remained.
This time, the inner vision didn't flicker away immediately.
After several beats, his viewpoint pushed deeper.
He saw blood vessels connected to the heart—and with each pulse, tiny black photons poured out and traveled through those vessels to… somewhere. Absorbed by something.
Before he could examine further, the vision snapped away.
Yoru opened his eyes.
"My heart really is… wrong."
"But why does the inner view only ever appear in that 'heart chamber'? Is that black heart even my real heart?"
A dangerous impulse rose: someday, he needed to use medical ninjutsu to examine his heart and confirm his suspicion.
But right now, he had something more urgent to do.
He closed his eyes and refined chakra.
Three energies surged from his cells.
Most was physical and mental energy, mixing into ordinary chakra.
A portion—like it was being pulled by magnetism—split away from the main stream and fused with a third energy, forming black time–space chakra.
Time passed.
His normal chakra and time–space chakra both returned to their old baseline.
But his cells kept producing the three energies, continuing to form both types of chakra, pushing them past the previous "cap."
Eventually, his ordinary chakra stabilized at the standard of an all-round jōnin.
His time–space chakra broke past genin level, reaching what Rain shinobi had once rated as "veteran chūnin."
~~~
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