The sky was clear, and the warm winter sun shone brightly.
At this moment, a figure was rapidly moving through the dense forest.
Although Shimizu did not know the exact location of the cave, he could roughly judge that it was somewhere in the northwest of the Land of Fire, so he chose to head south.
Breathing the long-lost fresh air, he experienced the extreme speed of traveling alone at full pace… the rushing wind almost forced his eyes shut.
He had finally escaped that damned cave…
The feeling of seeing daylight again was wonderful.
After running wildly for several hours, Shimizu gradually slowed down.
"This should be far enough."
He had no choice but to run at full speed, because Tobi's vitality was simply too terrifying. Even after being struck by Shimizu's full-power Lightning Release attack, Tobi still had the strength to launch a deadly counterattack immediately.
That ghost-like Wood Release bloodline limit activated almost without any warning.
Shimizu hadn't even seen Tobi form hand seals—yet in the blink of an eye several wooden branches burst from the ground and shot toward him.
If it hadn't been for the intense sense of danger in that life-or-death moment that made him dodge in advance…
The strike he believed would be fatal had also been endured by Tobi's astonishing life force. And on top of that, dozens of White Zetsu rushed out of the cave almost instantly…
As for Madara... even if the man was a shadow of his former self, Shimizu couldn't even handle a single White Zetsu in his current state, let alone dozens of them.
If he had stayed any longer, his life would have ended there.
To survive, Shimizu could only choose to escape.
Fortunately, he ultimately managed to break free before being completely surrounded.
Moreover, the moment he escaped the cave, another powerful chakra—one not inferior to Tobi's—suddenly appeared within his sensory range.
Who was that?!
Luckily he had retreated in advance… otherwise it might have been another troublesome opponent like Tobi. If that had happened, he probably wouldn't have escaped at all.
So after leaving the cave, Shimizu ran south at full speed the entire way.
"It should be safe now."
Shimizu had stopped running. While recovering his chakra, he also needed to carefully organize everything he currently knew and prepare the next step of his plans.
The first issue that concerned him the most was whether he had already become Madara's puppet.
Because he remembered that in the original story, Obito used the Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage, and even caused the Nine-Tails Disaster.
Although that was the effect of the Mangekyō Sharingan, this time the caster was Madara, even if it was only a three-tomoe Sharingan.
That man who looked down upon the entire world—the lifelong rival of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
"But it seems I already broke his mental suggestion…"
With his extremely strong willpower and Tobi's reminder, Shimizu had reason to believe that he had freed himself from Madara's Sharingan control.
The chakra flowing through his body was perfectly normal, without any sense of blockage. His thoughts were also clear and smooth, indicating that his consciousness had not been interfered with.
Was Madara's Sharingan genjutsu really just like this?
Maybe it was because he was old and could no longer exert enough ocular power?
Shimizu shook his head and decided not to think about it further.
Next came Wood Release.
Now Shimizu also possessed the "bug-like" advantage of Hashirama's cells, but so far he still could not use the power of this bloodline limit.
According to Madara, awakening the Wood Release bloodline required certain specific conditions—and it was also possible that it might never awaken at all in this lifetime.
So when would he, a proud transmigrator, finally awaken the cool and stylish Wood Release for real?!
In the original story, when the First Hokage used the Wood Release bloodline limit during the Chūnin Exams, the visual effect was simply unparalleled…
Shimizu felt like he was almost drooling just thinking about it.
Next was the qualitative leap in the Lightning Release chakra nature within his body.
The former Shimizu only had extraordinary talent in Water Release chakra, but after surviving this crisis, he could now also manipulate Lightning Release chakra with remarkable ease.
For example, right now he only needed three hand seals, and he could instantly gather a powerful current of electricity at the tip of his index finger.
Then with a simple raise of his hand and releasing the current with full force—
Boom!
A dazzling blue-white bolt of lightning shot out in an instant, striking a large tree and effortlessly piercing straight through it.
The destructive power was quite impressive, and the attack range reached nearly five meters.
It could basically be considered a mid-range ninjutsu.
In the original story, this technique is called Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear, an A-rank Lightning Release technique developed by Uchiha Sasuke. By changing the form of the Chidori, the attack range becomes much greater. Although its power is slightly weaker than the original Chidori, its advantage lies in the expanded attack range.
The appearance of this technique filled the gap in Shimizu's non-close-range combat abilities. Previously, he could only rely on kunai to achieve similar attack effects.
However, throwing kunai required obvious movements… and he didn't possess the god-level shuriken throwing skills of someone like Itachi.
Moreover, if this technique were used for a surprise attack within a certain distance, it would be extremely easy to catch an enemy off guard and kill them instantly.
Unfortunately, he still couldn't make the Lightning Release chakra of Chidori cover his entire body, forming another technique that could both attack enemies and act as a kind of absolute defense—the Lightning Release technique known as Chidori Current, which paralyzes and damages anyone who touches it.
He truly lacked efficient defensive methods.
...
Unknowingly, Shimizu found himself standing beside a massive structure. It was the Kannabi Bridge.
Wait... isn't this the main battlefield of the Kakashi Gaiden?
In the future of this world, would two heroes with the Sharingan still be born as they were in the original story?
Because of this encounter, he had already come face to face with the ultimate hidden boss, Uchiha Madara. Obviously, if Madara had completely controlled him, would Obito even exist?
Even if he hadn't been controlled, if he returned and reported the location of Madara and Tobi, they would surely abandon that cave.
Thinking about this, he suddenly realized that the plot of this world might have been completely thrown into chaos by him, the butterfly, ever since the moment he transmigrated.
And now, as his strength continued to grow, the influence he had on the story became even greater.
It had even reached the point where "heavenly lightning" wanted to kill him?!
This…
What kind of sin had he committed? Or whose cheese had he moved? He couldn't figure it out.
"I should get back to Konoha first."
Shimizu had now confirmed that he was near the border between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Fire.
But before he lost consciousness, he had clearly been at the southwestern border of the Land of Fire…
That was a distance of five full days of travel.
So what route should he take to go back? Should he return directly to Konoha?
He had absolutely no idea how much time had passed since the moment he lost consciousness.
If a long time had already passed, the war situation must have changed considerably.
Since the Land of Fire itself was the battlefield, who knew whether the people waiting ahead were Konoha ninjas or ninjas from other countries?
Yes, he had become stronger—but he wasn't arrogant enough to casually wander in front of entire ninja armies during wartime.
Shimizu felt a headache coming on.
If he wanted to return to Konoha as quickly as possible, it seemed his only option was to cross straight through the Land of Fire.