"Gojo-sama!"
"Yoru-sama!"
When Gojo Yoru arrived at the location of that ninja squad, the four special jōnin were already dead.
The ones who killed them were three Anbu squads—twelve people total.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't known Yoru could hide his chakra signature, he would never have approved the plan.
Even after agreeing, he still dispatched three Anbu squads as a safety net—ready to help Yoru abort the operation at any moment and seize the supplies back.
The moment Yoru appeared, all twelve Anbu greeted him, their tone extremely respectful.
The Konoha Sannin didn't know what Yoru's "secret mission" actually was. These Anbu did.
They didn't know whether Yoru had succeeded on his end, but their side had already wiped out four special jōnin without a single injury—and without damaging the supplies.
They'd hit the jackpot.
Normally, even with superior numbers, without intel or a tactical setup, they couldn't guarantee they'd keep all four special jōnin from escaping.
But this time, with most of a day to prepare and the enemy's location known, three Anbu squads working together erased them cleanly.
Because they knew the lure plan had been proposed by Yoru, the Anbu members felt deep respect for the "lord" who had shaken the shinobi world months ago and even had the feat of injuring the salamander.
Not only were his talent and strength outrageous—his mind was sharp too.
Barring surprises, in a few years he'd become one of the village's ace combat assets.
"Hello."
Yoru raised a hand in acknowledgment, then took out a photograph and handed it to the Anbu member who carried his Flying Thunder God kunai.
"Deliver this photo to Hatake Sakumo-sama. I'll report to Hokage-sama myself."
"…Yes!"
The Anbu accepted it and instinctively glanced at it—his whole body jolted. Even through the mask, his voice trembled.
That reaction instantly drew the others' curiosity.
What kind of photo could shake their captain like that?
"The transport is in your hands."
"Yes."
After the handoff, Yoru vanished in a flash of teleportation.
The moment he left, the other Anbu clustered around.
"Captain—what did Gojo-sama give you? How did it scare you this badly?"
"Yeah, let us see."
The captain didn't stop them. He simply shifted the angle so everyone could see.
Someone pulled out a lamp from who-knew-where and shone it onto the photograph.
"—Hiss…"
A collective intake of breath erupted almost simultaneously.
Then voices followed—each one shaking.
"Wh-what kind of hell is this…?"
"So brutal… so terrifying—look, next to those mangled bodies, there are tons of Flying Thunder God formulas. They were all killed by Yoru-sama using Flying Thunder God."
"They're wearing Anbu uniforms and masks just like us… but they all died in that cave. There aren't even signs of battle or jutsu. They clearly died before they could react. Is this… the power of Flying Thunder God? Is this the strength of Black Flash?"
"No wonder he's the only one in decades to injure the salamander… incredible…"
At first, every Anbu member was simply stunned by Flying Thunder God and Yoru's terrifying strength.
Then, suddenly, one of them spoke in disbelief:
"Hey—aren't you focusing on the wrong thing? Look at the pile of meat in the photo that isn't wearing Anbu gear. Look at his face—who is that?!"
Prompted, everyone examined the photo again, including the captain, who had also been too shocked by the masked corpses to look carefully.
Then the cave went dead silent.
No one could speak.
The captain recovered first. He hurriedly put the photo away and said coldly:
"Pack the supplies. Deliver them to the White Fang line at maximum speed."
"Yes!"
All eleven answered in perfect discipline.
Their voices no longer shook—but inside, waves were crashing.
They could all imagine what kind of impact that photo would have once it reached the front.
At minimum, it would rocket their own morale. At worst, it could violently shift the course of the war.
One thing was certain: Konoha would begin gaining the upper hand against the Land of Wind.
And realizing a single photograph might shatter the four-month "probing balance," the twelve Anbu felt a new kind of awe toward Gojo Yoru.
"Injuring the salamander" was something they'd only heard about.
It was called a "feat" because Hanzō himself admitted it.
But how badly the salamander was injured? No one truly knew.
During the probing phase, Hanzō hadn't acted again, and nobody dared challenge him inside Amegakure.
Even Rain shinobi hadn't seen that "No. 1 poison" in ages.
But now, they had personally participated in—personally witnessed—Yoru accomplish another deed that could alter the war.
A primal, human instinct—the urge to worship strength—made their awe harden into fierce admiration.
They all believed, with absolute conviction:
With Gojo Yoru here, Konoha would win this war.
…
"Cough—cough—!"
The next morning, as soon as Hiruzen arrived at work, he received a photo taken from an even better angle.
He'd been leisurely smoking his pipe—and nearly choked to death.
His reaction was every bit as violent as when he'd heard Nawaki had died.
Face red, eyes wide with disbelief, Hiruzen stared at Yoru.
"Y-you… you killed Ebizō?!"
"Yes. I also brought back his head."
Yoru set a storage scroll on the Hokage's desk, voice firm.
"I checked. It's definitely the real body."
Hiruzen lifted the storage scroll and stared between it and the photo, shock robbing him of words.
Ebizō's status was comparable to Koharu and Homura—just beneath Shimura Danzō, the Hokage's aide.
His death was a major event even among the Five Great Villages—the equivalent of losing a top-tier elder in the inner circle.
Hiruzen had never imagined Yoru's plan could hook such a big fish—and successfully kill him.
He'd supported Yoru's plan because the southwest location was perfect; once an enemy took the bait, escape was difficult.
But even in his best scenario, he'd only expected to wipe out one or two squads.
A trap like that could fool low-education tool-ninja… but not a true advisory brain.
Hiruzen's main objective had been deterrence: to scare infiltrating squads in the Land of Fire, so they wouldn't dare seize supplies lightly.
Or even if they seized them, they'd struggle to bring them back to camp.
But he never expected Yoru to hook a monster—and an entire group of Anbu-grade elites.
A formation like that would normally comb the area for dozens of kilometers, ensuring there were no traps or ambushes, before moving.
Yet even with that lineup, Yoru slaughtered them all inside the cave before they could act.
And those Flying Thunder God marks—how did he place them without the enemy noticing?
Hiruzen suddenly realized: he might have underestimated Yoru's Phantom Body Flicker.
That ability to perfectly hide chakra presence, combined with Hiding like a Mole… was more terrifying than invisibility itself.
But a Hokage was a Hokage.
Even while stunned inside, Hiruzen maintained a calm smile and praised Yoru openly.
"You did extremely well. The plan turned out even more perfect than I imagined… but you should have notified me the moment you returned."
"It was late, so I didn't want to disturb Hokage-sama," Yoru said with a smile. "And Anbu are Anbu—information is uncertain. No one knows whether those 'Anbu' were truly Anbu."
"Just losing one elder who ran intelligence doesn't feel like it changes the war that much."
"No," Hiruzen said, staring at the scroll in his hand, unable to hide his excitement. "This impact is huge."
"If it's truly his real body, his brain contains enormous intelligence. Once we break it, we'll not only expose the sleeper lines hidden in the Land of Fire—we'll also gain the lists of Sunagakure's sleeper agents embedded across nations, plus countless secrets."
"The balance of victory has already tilted toward us."
Hiruzen looked at Yoru.
"You killed Ebizō. That affects the battlefield—and the village, even the nation. This is unquestionably super S-rank merit."
Yoru immediately put on a delighted, teenage expression.
"Then does that mean I can exchange it for a forbidden technique?"
Hiruzen's smile broadened; Yoru finally looked like a boy his age.
"Of course. Aside from the strictly prohibited ones—those that only a Hokage may learn—you may choose any single technique, whether from the Sealing Scroll or the forbidden vault."
Yoru didn't name a technique immediately. Instead, he asked, "Hokage-sama… is there a list?"
"Of course."
Hiruzen opened a locked drawer and quickly selected a small scroll sealed with fuinjutsu from among many. He unsealed it and tossed it to Yoru.
Yoru opened it and began reading.
The list contained powerful or unusual techniques strictly controlled because they were excessively dangerous—able to cause irreversible harm to the caster, or even carry lethal risk. Only those with extraordinary talent and major war merit could exchange for them.
The first item was one of canon Naruto's "three core moves": the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique—impossible to train without immense chakra, and dangerous enough to threaten the user's life.
Next was the A-rank genjutsu Bringer-of-Darkness Technique—which Orochimaru had taught Yoru months ago, and which, despite being "only A-rank," was still classified within the Sealing Scroll.
After that came other A-rank forbidden arts, a series of secret "ultimate" techniques, and even a few "super ultimates" sometimes called super S-rank techniques—like Flying Thunder God and Katō Dan's Spirit Transformation.
But notably, the list didn't include Edo Tensei, the Eight Branches Technique, or the future forbidden fusion technique Chimera that Hiruko would research.
Those ethically unacceptable techniques were clearly in the "absolutely forbidden—Hokage only" category.
Seeing "Chimera," Yoru's expression turned distant for a moment.
His old "game guide" plan had once been to turn himself into a stitched-together monster: fuse Uchiha blood, use Sharingan to balance Hashirama cells, become a superior Wood Release experiment body with massive chakra, transplant the Rinnegan, and become a stronger version of Six Paths Obito.
Chimera was one of the techniques he would have needed.
But now, Yoru no longer had to walk the "patchwork monster" path.
Hiruzen didn't know what Yoru was thinking. Seeing him stare silently, he asked with a smile, "Having trouble choosing?"
"No. I've chosen, Hokage-sama."
Yoru gave his answer.
"I want the Second Hokage's Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags technique."
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags?"
Hiruzen was surprised and quickly warned him.
"This technique is similar to Hanzō's explosive flame formation. It's essentially a formation—without a massive stockpile of explosive tags, it can't reach its full power."
"And I'll be honest: there is a forbidden technique that pairs with it. But that technique violates ethics and is forbidden to all."
"Without that pairing, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags is only an A-rank forbidden technique."
"Super S-rank merit is rare—sometimes you won't see it once in ten years. I suggest you think carefully."
But Yoru didn't hesitate.
"No need. Hokage-sama. I choose this."
If Edo Tensei or Chimera had been available, he would have chosen them instantly—he already had excuses ready.
But without those, the highest-value items on the list were super S-rank techniques like Flying Thunder God and Spirit Transformation, plus certain S-rank sealing arts.
Those sealing arts also existed in Uzushiogakure's Sealing Scroll—Yoru already knew how to train them.
Might Duy hadn't made Eight Gates famous yet, so it wasn't on the list.
Spirit Transformation was powerful but had an obvious fatal flaw; cautious as he was, even if Yoru learned it, he would never use it.
What if his soul left his body—and a White Zetsu cut his head off the next second?
So Yoru chose Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
As a transmigrator, he knew that besides Edo Tensei, there was another perfect match:
Konan's Paper Style.
Explosive tags, like storage scrolls, were produced by people with the talent for it.
That know-how wasn't hard to acquire; canon Konan definitely had it—otherwise she couldn't have produced six hundred billion explosive tags, a quantity the entire shinobi world couldn't match.
If he obtained explosive tag production methods and mass-produced them, then combined Paper Style with Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags… Konan's art would shine even brighter than Deidara's, unless the enemy used something like C4.
Seeing Yoru's unwavering choice, Hiruzen didn't press. He quickly copied a standalone scroll for Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags and handed it to Yoru.
"Normally, any forbidden technique from the Sealing Scroll is protected with a special seal," Hiruzen explained. "When someone unseals the scroll, that seal is implanted into the caster. It forbids teaching the technique to a second person. Anyone who forcibly breaks it is labeled a missing-nin."
"But since you earned super S-rank merit, I'll make an exception. I won't add that seal. You may teach it to others."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Yoru accepted the scroll with respect.
Hiruzen gave Yoru's shoulder a heavy pat.
"You worked hard. Go back and rest a few days."
"Yes."
Yoru left the office.
The moment the door closed, Hiruzen's expression changed.
He made a hand sign—and an Anbu appeared.
"In my name, invite the Yamanaka clan head here. Also notify the sealing team and the interrogation division—prepare to break seals and extract intelligence."
"Yes!"
The Anbu vanished.
Soon, the Hokage Tower's intelligence machinery began moving at full speed.
To Konoha—ally of the now-destroyed Uzushiogakure—other villages' sealing arts and prohibitions were child's toys.
They cracked the seals embedded in Ebizō's brain and pulled out his memories without effort.
One intelligence scroll after another appeared before Hiruzen.
Through those reports, Hiruzen learned how Yoru killed them.
"Speed like a flash… black lightning arcs around his body… and his weapon was covered in a black Lightning Release nature transformation…"
Hiruzen's eyes glittered with joy.
"Could it be… Yoru has developed something like the Third Raikage's secret 'Black Lightning'?"
"Just from exchanging a secret technique scroll with Jiraiya, he developed 'Black Lightning' in a few months?"
"What monstrous talent… no wonder he mastered Flying Thunder God so quickly, and even Mito-sama's Strength of a Hundred Seal…"
In Hiruzen's eyes, Gojo Yoru was starting to look more and more like Senju Tobirama.
If not for Yoru's limited chakra pool, Hiruzen would have seriously suspected Senju blood.
"Hokage-sama. Sakumo-sama sent an update."
An Anbu appeared and handed over a sealed scroll.
Hiruzen read it—and smiled.
Then he picked up the photo Yoru had provided and handed it back to the Anbu.
"Mass-copy this photo. Seal it into storage scrolls. Have Jōnin Gojo deliver it to Sakumo."
"Yes."
By midday, news, intelligence, and stacks of photographs spread from the White Fang line near the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain—rapidly sweeping across the four-nation battlefield.
Black Flash · Gojo Yoru became famous again—an ultra-bright super rookie.
Sunagakure's elder and intelligence king—Third Kazekage's advisor, Chiyo's younger brother, Ebizō—along with fifty-four Anbu members, had been instant-killed in a cave in the Land of Rivers by Konoha's Black Flash using Flying Thunder God and Flying Thunder God Slash.
Konoha verified Ebizō was the real person.
And Konoha publicly released the lists of sleeper agents Ebizō had planted across nations—for free.
News can be fabricated. Intelligence can be twisted.
But photos, in this era, couldn't be faked.
The cave with no traces of battle, the disgusting field of torn bodies—everything proved Konoha's external narrative was true.
The shock across all four nations—Konoha included—was absolute.
Instant kill, not a "one-versus-fifty-five slaughter."
At that moment, Flying Thunder God—whose deterrence had faded over the years after Tobirama's death—reclaimed its super S-rank reputation across the shinobi world.
People remembered the man who had signed a contract with the sea and was praised as the fastest shinobi alive.
No matter how Gojo Yoru did it, the fact remained: he instant-killed fifty-five Sand shinobi.
And not just any: an elder and elite Anbu-level forces.
The title "Fastest in the Shinobi World" began to spread.
Not even a year into the war, Gojo Yoru was on the verge of gaining a second title.
No stage builds fame faster than war merit.
Whether Konoha's released intel was entirely true or not, the Five Great Nations and countless small countries began arresting and interrogating suspected sleeper agents.
Sunagakure would inevitably suffer a heavy blow.
Their intelligence network would take years to recover.
…
Amegakure, tower.
Hanzō stared at the hand-developed photos, eyes full of caution.
"They didn't place barriers in that cave? Impossible."
"So even Anbu with specialized skills—and barrier seals—couldn't crack his chakra-hiding ability?"
"What secret art is that? Even invisibility wouldn't be this clean."
Then Hanzō issued an order to the Rain ninja messenger:
"From now on, if any Rain shinobi encounters Konoha's Black Flash during a mission, they may abandon the mission and run. As long as they live, I will not punish them."
"Yes!"
The Rain ninja shuddered, then bowed.
…
Iwagakure, Tsuchikage's office.
"Dad… this photo can't be real, right?" Kurotsuchi—no, Ōtsuchi's son—Huangtu's eyes shook. "An elder from one of the Five Great Villages and fifty-plus Anbu… they couldn't even resist before he killed them? This is… ridiculous!"
Huangtu desperately wanted to say, I don't even kill chickens that fast—but that would be insulting, and also insulting to himself.
Because he wasn't even high-tier power yet. Wouldn't that mean he was less than a chicken in Black Flash's eyes—just a trash fish?
Is Flying Thunder God really that terrifying?!
Ōnoki ignored him, studying the hand-developed photo for details.
"Every corpse was dismembered—not just split in two, but cut into multiple pieces. That isn't something ordinary weapons or normal nature transformation can do."
"Rumor says that brat has the Second Hokage's Sword of the Thunder God—one of the sharpest tools in the shinobi world."
"These corpses… were likely the work of that blade."
Staring at the dense Flying Thunder God markings in the photo, Ōnoki's eyes finally revealed genuine wariness.
"This cave was clearly a secret base. Someone would have searched it first and set up one or more layers of barriers. It should be impossible for him to plant Flying Thunder God formulas here ahead of time."
"And yet… he did."
"Does that mean his Flying Thunder God no longer needs formulas as anchors? Can he teleport freely?"
"If that were true, he could appear anywhere at will. Anyone with slow reflexes would die before they even realized he was there."
"And if he already surpassed the Second Hokage… then Konoha wouldn't even need this probing phase. He alone could overturn the entire situation."
"If his Flying Thunder God hasn't surpassed the Second Hokage, then the reason must be something else."
Ōnoki recalled the Second Tsuchikage's title and reached a conclusion:
"That brat has an infiltration ability like Dustless Bewildering Cover—an invisibility/stealth capability so extreme that even elite Anbu and sensory barriers can't detect his chakra."
"That's why he was able to plant those formulas and kill them with Flying Thunder God Slash."
Then he ordered:
"Transmit my command. Tell all combat and support divisions: remain vigilant. Do not gather in tight groups. If you must assemble, do it in open ground—and always search underground."
"Yes."
…
Sunagakure's border base.
"Little brother… it's all my fault…"
Chiyo stared at the hand-developed photo through blurred vision, voice shaking, heart like it was being carved apart.
Her face was drenched in tears.
Then her expression twisted. She crumpled the photo in her fist, eyes full of hatred.
"Rest now. Big sister won't let you be lonely. I'll send more Konoha ninja to the Pure Land to keep you company."
Turning to her adjutant, she snarled:
"Report to the Kazekage. Have him come hold the border base. I'm relocating the front."
"…Yes!"
The adjutant answered with a trembling voice.
As part of the command staff, he could already see it:
The war's situation was about to change.
And unless the Kazekage personally arrived, no one would be able to stop a rampaging Chiyo.
~~~
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