REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 54: Konoha Year 35, Yin Seal Finally Complete
Konoha Year 35, January 3rd.
In a forest outside Konoha.
Yoru and Orochimaru's figures appeared out of nowhere without warning.
"Go home and rest properly. I'm giving you several days off this time. Wait for my notice before we meet again."
After registering their return, Orochimaru separated from Yoru on the spot as usual, heading to the Hokage Building himself to submit the mission report and brief leadership.
"Understood, Orochimaru-sensei."
Yoru was more than happy with this arrangement.
Returning home, Yoru immediately headed to the bathroom for a bath.
The most inconvenient thing about being away was undoubtedly bathing.
For espionage missions, Yoru could still search for water sources while out, or use the Flying Thunder God Technique to reach populated areas with lodging.
Being more indulgent, he could even return to his Konoha home to sleep, then return to his position the next day.
But escort missions required protecting clients constantly. Yoru and Orochimaru had to remain vigilant at all times, leaving no opportunity for proper bathing.
Yoru had it even worse. As the student, night watch duty fell to him, his rest time completely squeezed dry.
Given the choice, Yoru would rather eliminate enemy shinobi squads and experience life-or-death battles than undertake these escort missions.
However, this mission brought an unexpectedly joyful harvest.
"I never expected the first one completed would be the Space-Time version. Is this the benefit of purity?"
Yoru, lower body wrapped in a bath towel, examined the young man in the mirror. His ice-blue eyes filled with delighted surprise.
On Yoru's chest—a new mark had appeared at some point.
It was a black diamond-shaped seal. Though faint in color, it had fully formed.
This was precisely the Uzumaki clan's S-rank sealing technique—the Yin Seal.
After figuring out this sealing technique's training method, Yoru had conceived an audacious idea. He wanted to form two diamond seals.
Others couldn't manage this because their bodies only contained ordinary chakra.
But Yoru's body contained two independently separated types of chakra.
Unlike the Yin Seal formed from ordinary chakra—which could only exist on the forehead for convenient chakra fine-tuning to maintain the body's functions at peak condition...
Yoru's Space-Time Yin Seal only needed to store Space-Time chakra.
Therefore, Yoru formed the Space-Time Yin Seal at the location closest to his heart.
Perhaps because Space-Time chakra was relatively pure—not divided into Yin Release chakra and Yang Release chakra, and unable to transform into the five elemental attributes—Yoru's mastery of the Space-Time Yin Seal progressed much faster than the ordinary Yin Seal.
The diamond seal had formed. From now on, through daily accumulation, Yoru could break through the Space-Time chakra capacity limitation.
"With this thing, even if the gift from Space-Time doesn't arrive this year either, my strength can still surge dramatically."
His index finger traced the diamond seal on his chest. Yoru's heart filled with security.
Actually, after learning the Flying Thunder God Technique, Yoru had stopped fearing the Second Shinobi World War's outbreak entirely.
His weaknesses were indeed very obvious. Without using intangibility, he could easily fall victim to genjutsu. Inhaling poisonous smoke would poison him. His mediocre sensory abilities made him vulnerable to assassination.
However, as long as he remained cautious, none of this really mattered.
No matter what enemies or circumstances he faced, simply using the Flying Thunder God Technique allowed immediate escape.
Yoru's most fatal limitation had always been his genin-level Space-Time chakra capacity.
Even though Yoru's chakra control was now strong enough to condense Space-Time chakra into a Rasengan, this capacity still made that impossible.
If not for intangibility and Dimensional Slash's low consumption, Yoru wouldn't dare casually use even this combination of the ultimate shield and ultimate spear from a higher dimension.
Now... his days of hardship had finally ended!
...
"Yoru, if I asked Orochimaru-sensei for help, could I also graduate early?"
At the waterfall pool's shore, Kushina finished today's sensory training and sat back-to-back with Yoru on the grass.
While admiring the blue sky and white clouds, she suddenly asked.
"Why the sudden interest in early graduation? Did some blind fool at school bully you again?"
"Nothing like that. I just find school completely meaningless now."
Kushina couldn't help complaining: "Those people are too weak. During taijutsu matches, I'm afraid of accidentally hitting too hard and sending them to the hospital."
"A place where I have to hold back even in combat is just too boring."
Yoru's mouth twitched slightly. "Given your status, even graduating early wouldn't allow you to take missions beyond D-rank. If you're bored, just send a shadow clone to school."
"That's exactly what's annoying! Training already exhausts me to death, then suddenly all that fatigue hits at once. I hate it!"
Kushina elbowed Yoru without restraint, making him gasp in pain.
"You tomato-na! Attack my ribs again and I'll kill you!"
Yoru grabbed Kushina's hair and roughly tousled it, grinding his teeth in warning.
"Foul-mouthed Yoru, you're messing up my hair! Watch out—I'll send you to the emergency room with one punch." Kushina likewise grabbed Yoru's face. The two predictably started wrestling on the grass again.
For these two who'd bonded through conflict, fighting at the slightest disagreement had become their primary method of emotional communication.
Screech—
At that moment, three high-pitched hawk cries reached their ears simultaneously.
The two rolling on the grass unconsciously stopped and looked toward the sky.
Like them, Konoha's shinobi and villagers all did the same.
Then some jonin also in the wilderness immediately changed expressions, transforming into afterimages rushing toward the Hokage Building.
"Three hawks this time? Is that some kind of signal?"
Kushina—whose shadow clone even slacked off at the ninja academy—couldn't help asking.
"Same signal, just super urgent this time." Yoru's eyes narrowed slightly. "Calling an internal meeting so urgently suggests something major happened."
"What major event could it be? It's not like there's a shinobi world war starting."
The complaining Kushina didn't notice Yoru's expression gradually growing serious.
Konoha Year 35.
August 9th would mark Konoha's prince turning twelve years old.
If the butterfly effect hadn't appeared, he wouldn't even survive to see this year's birthday.
Combined with the shinobi world already descending into complete chaos—with even great nation robbery occurring during their last mission—the outbreak of a shinobi world war wouldn't be surprising at all.
"Let's go. Time to head back."
Yoru stood and extended his hand to Kushina, pulling the girl up from the grass.
The next second, their surroundings abruptly changed from the waterfall pool's shore to the warmth of a familiar room.
By contrast, the Hokage Building's conference room radiated solemnity and gravity.
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