Chapter 263: Neural Displacement
A heavy silence fell over the forest. The atmosphere was so still that not even the cry of a crow could be heard.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses.
"Ah, reinforcements have arrived. I suppose we'll call it a day then."
Things were already becoming troublesome. Seeing the backup arrive, Kabuto checked the time and decided his job was done.
"Don't think you're getting away—!"
Boom!
Neji's Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm thundered through the air.
Bang!
Upon impact, the figure of Kabuto exploded into a spray of soil. It was merely an Earth Clone.
"Dammit!"
The five of them hadn't expected that they were facing a mere clone this whole time.
"It seems we missed our chance to keep him here!" Kankuro remarked.
Sigh.
Shikamaru, acting as captain, let out a long breath of relief. The pressure Kabuto exerted on him was immense. If the man hadn't seemingly lacked the intent to kill them, they might have been wiped out.
"That guy is incredible. Compared to him, our combat experience... it feels like we're leagues apart," Kiba lamented. He was a truly cunning opponent.
"Gate of Wonder, Open!"
Lee exploded with a terrifying aura. The surging chakra forced blood through his skin, staining it a deep crimson, while veins bulged across his face.
His enemy, Kimimaro, had transformed into a monstrous form, his bone shield already webbed with cracks from Lee's previous strikes. Under Lee's newfound power, even Kimimaro felt the weight of the pressure. It was the first time he had felt such a threat from someone younger than himself.
"Leaf Strong Whirlwind!"
Whoosh! Bang!
Lee appeared before Kimimaro in a blur, delivering a heavy kick.
Crack!
The sound of shattering bone echoed. At the last moment, Kimimaro had layered defensive bone over his body.
"Leaf Rising Rock... Great Strong Whirlwind... Hidden Lotus...!"
Rumble!
Faced with Lee's speed, Kimimaro struggled to respond. He could only rely on his Cursed Seal-enhanced perception and his Bloodline Limit to barely endure the onslaught.
Crunch! Crunch!
He was driven straight into the earth by Lee's relentless assault, leaving a massive crater in the ground.
Watching Kimimaro being smashed into the dirt, Tonbo Tobitake felt a twinge of sympathy.
"Lee... he's going to need another long recovery session when he gets back. Thank goodness for Tsunade and me..."
However, the fact that Lee could beat Kimimaro to this extent proved that his strength was in a league of its own among the Konoha 12. But the "cost-to-benefit" ratio of opening the Eight Gates was high; every time he used them, he ended up in a hospital bed. He really needs to strengthen that body!
Wait?
He suddenly sensed a massive surge of chakra erupting from Kimimaro. Just as he was about to intervene, he sensed another figure arriving in the distance and stayed his hand.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
From beneath the earth, gigantic bone spikes tore through the surface, rising toward the sky. The range was so vast that even the lightning-fast Lee couldn't fully evade them. Fortunately, at the critical moment, a mass of sand caught him and lifted him into the air.
"It's over then. Now it's just a matter of whether Sasuke can avoid the timing of Orochimaru's reincarnation."
The Shikamaru squad failed. The mission to retrieve Sasuke was a failure.
Naruto was picked up by Kakashi, who had arrived despite orders. Lee and Choji were carried back on stretchers. Yes, Lee was back in the hospital once again. However, this time Tsunade and Tonbo were prepared; they stabilized him quickly, leaving him only needing a period of rest.
Tonbo sensed that Sasuke had likely avoided the reincarnation window. The nerves he had planted inside Sasuke didn't signal any major disturbance. Compared to others, he had done much more "work" on Sasuke, enough to help him resist a single instance of soul erosion. Consider it a favor to the "Saviors of the World."
Ultimately, it seemed the precaution wasn't even needed yet.
Tonbo's harvest from this incident was massive. Within a year, his version of Sage Mode would surely be complete.
Six months passed.
"Naruto-niichan has gone off to train. It's so boring!"
Konohamaru muttered to himself after finishing a session of "Sexy Jutsu." Recently, his technique had improved significantly, and he had wanted to share it with Naruto, only to hear that he wouldn't be back for several years.
"But I can already beat Tianyu and Maki now, hehehe!" Konohamaru grinned proudly.
Between his clan's teachings and training under "Captain Tonbo," he could finally defeat his rivals.
"My next goal: I'm going to give Captain Tonbo a beating!"
Udon and Moegi looked at him with eyes full of pity.
"What's with those looks? I'm super strong now! Even Tianyu and Maki are no match for me!" Konohamaru snapped, annoyed by their expressions. He felt that since he had surpassed his rivals in a few months, beating Tonbo was only a matter of time.
"Maybe wait until your Genjutsu dispelling technique can actually break Tonbo-teacher's 'The Eight Fragrance of Fire' before you talk," Moegi advised.
Hearing the name of that jutsu, Konohamaru swallowed hard. It felt as if a thousand floral scents were still lingering in his throat. That was the upgraded version of Iruka-teacher's punishment jutsu, the "Eight Fragrances of Fire." Standard dispelling methods were useless against it, and even specialized throat-protection techniques offered no defense.
"Konohamaru, I think beating Tianyu is enough. Don't say stuff about beating Tonbo-Sensei. If he hears you, you're going to have a bad time," Udon added.
The more they studied under Tonbo, the more they realized the depth of his ability. It was as if his mind were a treasure chest; he could teach anything. They had improved immensely in the last six months. The Ninja Academy couldn't teach them much anymore, and no one there was their match. But they knew Konohamaru's dream was pure fantasy.
Konohamaru refused to back down. "Nonsense! I'm the one who inherited the old man's legacy! I'm the future Hokage who will revitalize the Leaf! How could I not beat him? Tonbo-teacher is just bullying me because I'm young. Otherwise, I'd definitely take him down."
"Come on, let's go find Tianyu and the others. This time we'll do a 3v3 and beat them again!"
In the mountains behind the Leaf Village.
Branch-like patterns were spread across an entire section of the forest. On the patterns of a large tree, Tonbo Tobitake's head emerged from the thin markings.
"The displacement skill is finally complete. The next step is to achieve 'wireless' displacement."
He looked around, then emerged again from the markings on a nearby rock.
This technique was called Neural Displacement.
Drawing reference from Sakon and Ukon's Parasite Demon Demolition Jutsu, he could now break his body down to the cellular and protein level to travel through his pre-laid neural network. Currently, he could only move between connected points—he hadn't yet achieved the ability to "jump" across gaps in the network. He still required a physical "conduit."
The reason it took six months was that the twins' ability leaned heavily toward Yang Release. Since Tonbo's Yang Release wasn't his top-tier attribute, it required half a year of deep research. Had he not known how vital a displacement skill was, he never would have wasted time on the grueling study of Yang Release over Yin Release.
But the effort paid off. Not only could he turn his body into cells, but his evolved nerves were now even finer and more delicate. He could hide them more effectively than ever.
He finally understood why the nerves his "future self" had placed on Boruto were repelled by the Otsutsuki Karma. At that time, his technique had simply been too crude.
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