Time flowed like sand through an hourglass—without noticing, two full years had slipped away.
Over those two years, the shinobi continent fell into an eerie calm.
In the past, the friction between smaller nations often produced high-level commissions, but those suddenly became far rarer.
And yet, because the global economy was steadily sliding out of balance, the four great ninja villages—whose main "business" was siphoning off smaller countries, then looking for chances to recruit vassals or expand territory—were strangely not stirring up conflict at all. It was as if they were still licking the wounds left by the First Great Ninja War, lying low and recovering.
Konoha and the Land of Fire, victors of the First Great Ninja War, had already sensed something was off. They quietly mobilized the spies embedded across various countries, ordering them to keep a close eye on the major villages and watch for any large-scale moves.
Little did they know—the conspiratorial hands of the four great villages had already shifted away from the shinobi continent… and toward the seas overseas.
By the time Konoha reacted, they would lose a powerful ally.
…
Konoha Year 33, March 27.
In the Land of Waterfall, some distance away from Konoha.
On the edge of a pool stood a white-haired child—about 1.6 meters tall, yet with a face that still looked extremely young. His left hand gripped his right wrist, and his ice-pale blue eyes were locked onto his right palm.
Hovering above his palm was a blue sphere of energy about the size of a billiard ball.
The sphere was white on the inside and blue on the outside. The white interior was a high-speed swirling chakra vortex—the core of the sphere.
The sphere was remarkably stable—clearly a completed technique.
But the white-haired child still wasn't satisfied. His expression was serious, as if he intended to add something more.
His body wasn't moving, yet he gave off the sense of exerting enormous effort.
Under that pressure, within the white core made of countless chakra vortices, one strand suddenly turned black.
That trace of black was tiny—so insignificant you might not even notice it unless you looked closely.
Yet its appearance disrupted the balance of the entire sphere. It was as if the water inside a balloon had suddenly started boiling—so hot it was about to rupture.
The white-haired child didn't hesitate. He immediately thrust the energy sphere forward and pressed it into the nearby cliff face.
A thunderous boom erupted. Rock fragments flew, dust billowed.
When the wind scattered the dust cloud, a massive crater—covered in spiral grooves—was revealed in the cliff wall.
Just from the pattern alone, you could imagine what would happen if that sphere hit a person: they'd be launched into the air and sent spinning backward at high speed.
If the chakra could be driven into the body the way the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist does, it might even shred internal organs.
Without a doubt, this was a devastating, high-level technique—and one of the shinobi world's rare hand-signless jutsu.
And yet the one who used it—the white-haired child, nine-year-old Gojo Yoru—showed no joy on his face. Instead, he muttered in frustration, "Failed again… is it really this hard?"
"Your chakra control and shape transformation are already good enough. Maybe you should work on nature transformation."
"Who?!"
The sudden voice made Yoru's expression change instantly.
This was a location he had chosen carefully: the Land of Waterfall, surrounded by forest and far from people.
He'd also set up large amounts of wire and bells throughout the surrounding woods. Touch even one, and it would trigger a chain reaction—detonating deeply hidden explosive tags with a loud blast to warn him.
Even if a wild animal set off the alarm by accident, Yoru would stop training for the day.
With defenses like that, anyone who could appear here silently was no ordinary person.
Yoru prepared to mobilize the space–time chakra inside him while turning toward the direction of the voice.
The moment he saw who it was, his pupils tightened slightly.
Then Yoru immediately put on a respectful posture, bowed faintly in that direction, and said, "Orochimaru-sama."
On the bank of the pool—at some point unknown—there now stood a young man wearing a green flak vest.
Long black hair. Pale skin. Golden slit pupils and purple eye shadow—signature traits.
This young man was one of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's three personal disciples, the future "Konoha Sannin"—
Orochimaru.
At this time, Orochimaru didn't yet radiate the sinister, scheming air he would have in the future. The impression he gave was closer to Uchiha Itachi or Uchiha Sasuke: handsome, cold, and aloof.
Yoru wasn't afraid of Orochimaru in this era.
Orochimaru hadn't started running with Shimura Danzō, and he hadn't "fallen" yet. In Hiruzen's eyes, he was the best candidate for Fourth Hokage—an inheritor of the Will of Fire, and a reliable partner trustworthy enough that Tsunade would entrust her little brother to him.
"What's your name, and how old are you?" Orochimaru studied Yoru, looking more and more intrigued.
From a distance, he'd thought some genin had come here to train a jutsu.
He hadn't expected it to be a child—one who had matured early.
That face looked even younger than Nawaki's. Was he not even in fifth grade yet?
Yoru, of course, didn't know what Orochimaru was thinking. He answered honestly: "My name is Gojo Yoru. I'm nine years old."
"Gojo?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "What are Gojo Sa and Gojo Mio to you?"
"They're my father and mother."
So it really was the case, Orochimaru thought. Outwardly, he praised calmly, "Your parents were heroes. And you're a genius too. That jutsu just now was beautiful—and very powerful."
"You flatter me, Orochimaru-sama," Yoru said humbly, silently letting out a breath of relief.
Having jōnin parents really was invisible networking.
"Why aren't you training inside the village? Why come all the way out here on purpose?"
Now that he knew Yoru was a familiar comrade's child, Orochimaru became even more curious.
He'd only come over because, on his way back, he'd noticed a large amount of wire and some explosive tags. Intrigued, he used an earth-style movement technique to investigate—and happened to witness Yoru training the Rasengan.
An early-maturing body meant abnormal physical and spiritual energy.
And that technique required chakra control and shape transformation at a level whose training difficulty was at least B-rank to start—very possibly A-rank. Orochimaru even suspected Yoru had been trying to inject nature transformation into it.
Combine top-tier shape transformation with nature transformation, and you get an S-rank ultimate.
A nine-year-old working on a jutsu like that absolutely qualified for early graduation. Many chūnin—even special jōnin—didn't even have a trump card like this.
With talent like that, yet refusing to show it and deliberately coming out here to train…
Was he trying to hide himself?