Mikami Yuu could be certain that the current Obito had definitely entered Uchiha Madara's sights. After all, he had even awakened the Sharingan. And this change might very well cause Madara to act differently than in the original story, perhaps even making a move against him and Rin earlier.
When Namikaze Minato was present, Madara probably wouldn't dare act too openly. After all, he wouldn't want to expose his own existence to the ninja world.
But once Yuu and the others acted alone…
That would be hard to say.
Although Yuu had already mastered quite a few abilities, including several life-saving methods, and even against a Kage-level expert, if he wanted to run, the enemy might not be able to stop him—if the enemy was Uchiha Madara… then even running might be a luxury.
"Well, don't worry."
Minato didn't think that far. He simply patted Rin lightly on the shoulder, then glanced at Yuu.
"I've seen how much you've all improved. The current you already possess considerable ability, enough to face ordinary storms. You don't need to doubt that.
"However, as your team leader, my teaching has still been insufficient. When we return to the village this time, I'll find time to teach you a few new jutsu to help you pass the exam smoothly."
"Yay!"
Because today was a special day, Minato didn't talk too much about training. Instead, he said a few words to liven up the mood, then stood and left.
After that,
the bonfire banquet continued until around eight or nine at night before gradually nearing its end.
At this point, Yuu found a few clean food boxes and picked out several freshly grilled pieces of meat that were still hot, a few untouched loaves of bread, and some fresh fruit. He packed them simply and carried them in his hand.
"…Are you taking those to Pakura?"
Rin asked softly.
"Mm. After all, I asked her to help before. Besides, we Konoha are a righteous. We have to maintain basic humanitarian care for prisoners. Rin, do you want to come with me?" Yuu asked.
"No. Go and come back soon. Don't stay out too late."
Rin shook her head and smiled.
After greeting Kakashi and Obito,
Yuu carried the food boxes to the cell where Pakura was being kept. He got the key from the guard, opened the door, and walked inside.
"Good evening, Prison-Kura."
"You probably heard the noise outside earlier, right? Today is Konoha's New Year. The outpost made a lot of good food, so I brought some for you to try. Eat while it's hot."
Inside the cell,
the light was dim. Pakura raised her head warily, and when she saw the food box placed in front of her, giving off the tempting scent of meat and steaming food, she was visibly stunned.
She had indeed heard some noise. After all, the bonfire banquet outside was quite lively, and people had even been playing music and singing. With Pakura's strength, it would be hard not to notice.
But she apparently hadn't expected that this white-haired brat who had captured her would bring her food at a time like this.
"Little white-hair, what are you trying to do now?"
"Nothing. Fighting is fighting, but people still have to eat. Don't worry. I'm not petty enough to poison you. If you don't mind my saliva, I can taste a few bites for you."
"…Hmph. Put it down."
Pakura's gaze circled between the food box and Yuu's face a few times. In the end, she still reached out and accepted it.
"What about the analysis data you promised?"
"Look at you, rushing again."
Yuu spoke slowly. "Don't worry. Rin and I are already working hard on the analysis. We should be able to produce a first version in a few days. Eat slowly. I'll go first."
With that, Yuu waved and turned to leave.
Pakura was left leaning against the cold wall. She looked at the food box in front of her, then picked up a piece of roasted meat and took a small bite.
As warm food slid into her stomach, the orange-haired girl narrowed her eyes slightly. A long-lost, grounded feeling called "being alive" quietly emerged in her heart.
"Hmph. As expected, a naturally evil Konoha brat."
"But… it tastes pretty good."
…
Time quickly reached the next morning.
Around nine o'clock, the four members of Team Minato gathered on the training ground behind the outpost.
After waiting for a while, Jiraiya arrived late.
With his hands behind his back, he walked to the center of the clearing. His red outer robe swayed gently in the breeze. He swept his gaze over Yuu and the others, looking much more serious than he had the night before.
"Ahem. You brats are quite punctual. Yesterday I said I'd teach you something, so now it's time for this great sage to fulfill that promise.
"Watch carefully. This technique is called Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
As he spoke,
Jiraiya slowly formed hand seals. After four or five seals, his wild white mane suddenly expanded and hardened. It became like silver pythons with lives of their own, and also like a huge hand, grabbing toward a massive training boulder more than ten meters away with a sharp sound of tearing air.
Whoosh—!
The boulder was wrapped in his hair and pulled from the ground, then gradually crushed by the tightening hair, breaking into large and small stone fragments that scattered everywhere. Dust instantly filled the air.
"Whoa!"
Obito cried out in surprise.
Compared with the defensive Needle Jizō, this offensive Wild Lion's Mane had a much more direct effect.
Yuu and Rin also widened their eyes and observed carefully.
"Did you see that?"
Jiraiya released the jutsu and returned his long hair to normal, then said smugly, "This technique and the Needle Jizō I gave you by scroll last time share the same principle. Both use chakra to instantly stimulate the hair, hardening it, extending it, and allowing it to be controlled freely. It integrates offense and defense!
"Now, I'll briefly break down the seals and the chakra circulation path. Remember it carefully."
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya."
According to the ninja world's classification, Wild Lion's Mane and Needle Jizō should belong to the Yang Release sequence. They were relatively close to the Akimichi clan's body expansion techniques and carried a bit of an "activation" flavor.
Training this kind of jutsu required some aptitude.
Yuu naturally had no problem.
Setting aside the fact that Wild Lion's Mane was just a new skin for Transformation Technique in the galgame system, even without that factor, if Yuu learned and practiced this technique like an ordinary person, it wouldn't be too difficult. After all, he already had Needle Jizō as a foundation.
So,
after trying a few times, Yuu extended a lock of white hair and coiled it like a spirit snake around a small stone at his feet, then crushed it into fragments.
"…As expected of you, Yuu. You actually learned it so quickly!"
Obito's eyes widened in shock, and he made a fuss. "Hurry and teach me! How exactly do you use this jutsu?"
"Don't you have the Sharingan? Just activate your eyes and copy it directly."
Yuu said casually.
"Huh?"
Obito froze. "The Sharingan has that ability too?"
Yuu: "?"
Good grief. Yuu could only marvel.
Counting the time, Obito had awakened his eyes for about a week now. He had been training with Kakashi in the woods every day, yet he didn't know genjutsu and didn't even know about the copying ability… So what exactly had he been training?
Had he gone with Kakashi to secretly read Icha Icha Paradise?
However,
Yuu's own heart also quietly skipped a beat.
That's right. The Sharingan could copy ninjutsu.
Although kekkei genkai and advanced forbidden techniques couldn't be copied casually, theoretically, most elemental ninjutsu and taijutsu fell within the Sharingan's copying range. Then… could his jutsu with unlocked Traits be copied?
The probability wasn't high.
After all, Yuu had tried teaching Rin the galgame version of the Three Basic Jutsu and confirmed that it didn't work.
But he still needed to find time to verify this, just in case Obito stole his home base.
On the other side,
Kakashi and Rin also both tried. After several attempts, they successfully made their hair move, though for now they couldn't extend and retract it freely like Yuu, much less slice apart stone like Jiraiya.
Kakashi tried a few times, felt that this jutsu didn't fit his combat system very well, and stopped focusing on it.
Rin, however, raised her hand and asked Jiraiya several questions, which he happily answered.
Seeing that the atmosphere of exchange was pretty good,
Yuu turned his gaze toward Jiraiya and put on an expression of "eager thirst for knowledge."
"Lord Jiraiya, that Transparent Escape you mentioned yesterday—could you let us see it too? It sounds like a very practical ninjutsu."
"Pfft—cough, cough, cough!"
Jiraiya had just been about to drink water to moisten his throat. Hearing this, he almost choked and coughed violently. His old face flushed slightly.
"That technique is still too early for you. You're all still young right now. Your minds should stay on the proper path. If, uh… it affects your growth, that wouldn't be good. Let's talk about it in a few years."
"Eh?"
Yuu pretended to be innocent. "What do you mean? Isn't this Transparent Escape a ninjutsu used for infiltration and intelligence gathering? What does that have to do with age? Or did Lord Jiraiya develop this technique for some other purpose?"
"?"
Jiraiya's eyes widened. Looking at Yuu's "innocent and pure" expression, he couldn't tell for a moment whether this kid truly didn't understand, or whether he was pretending not to.
Beside them, Obito scratched his head too.
"Although I don't know what you guys are talking about, Transparent Escape definitely sounds awesome. Lord Jiraiya, hurry and show us!"
"…"
Jiraiya looked at the three "clear and innocent" little faces in front of him and felt immense pressure.
Since the conversation had reached this point, he couldn't possibly admit in front of the juniors that this technique had mainly been used by him to peep at women's bathhouses, could he?
Wouldn't that destroy his grand image?
"Ahem. You're right!"
Jiraiya forced himself to say, "Yes, this technique is indeed an intelligence-gathering ninjutsu! In ninja battles, intelligence is the most important thing. It can often decide the outcome of a fight or even a campaign. So overly flashy ninja often die very quickly…
"This old man will demonstrate it for you! Whether you can learn it depends on yourselves."
Immediately,
Jiraiya took a deep breath and formed a series of rather complex and dazzling hand seals: Rat—Tiger—Snake—Boar—Rabbit—Bird!
As the seals were completed, chakra covered his entire body like a fine stream of water.
The next moment,
Jiraiya's body began turning blurry and transparent, as if a layer of flowing water had covered his skin. Light passing through that water film underwent strange refraction. The effect was that Jiraiya's entire body seemed to melt into the air, leaving only a vague human-shaped outline.
"Whoa!!"
This time, not only Obito—even Kakashi and Rin widened their eyes in surprise.
Obito even reached forward, trying to touch the "human-shaped outline."
"Awesome! He really is almost invisible! Can my hand pass through?"
Smack!
Jiraiya slapped Obito's hand away and said irritably, "Brat, do you think this technique makes a person physically disappear? It only makes you visually unseen. The person is still in the same place. As far as I know, no ninja can use ninjutsu to physically erase their own body."
"Is that so…"
Obito muttered. The two black tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly.
That's right. After Yuu's reminder, he had activated the Sharingan this time. Earlier, when Jiraiya cast the jutsu, Obito had been observing carefully, trying to capture the other party's chakra flow pattern.
Beside him,
Yuu frowned slightly, noticing the "ripples" around Jiraiya when he raised his hand earlier.
"Does this jutsu only achieve visual invisibility when the user is still?"
"More or less."
Jiraiya's voice came from the air, carrying a faint echo.
"At its core, Transparent Escape works by spreading chakra over the surface of the body and distorting the surrounding light to achieve visual deception. Like Transformation Technique, its effect is limited to the visual level.
"When the user's movements are too large, or when facing sensory ninjutsu or kekkei genkai that enhance insight, such as the Byakugan and Sharingan, it's very easy to be exposed. So don't think you can rely on it to do whatever you want."
(So that's why you were caught when peeping back then?)
Yuu silently complained in his heart, but his face did not change.
It seemed Transparent Escape's effect was roughly what he had expected.
If he remembered correctly, Konoha had another ninja who mastered it: Gekkō Hayate, who was a few years younger than him and Kakashi. Hayate had once used this method to follow and eavesdrop on a conversation between the Sunagakure jōnin Baki and others, but he was discovered while leaving and then killed.
In other words…
The best place to use this technique really was peeping at women's bathhouses.
After all, the people in women's bathhouses were mostly civilians or ordinary low- and mid-level ninja. In such a setting, they generally wouldn't have much wariness. As long as the user of Transparent Escape was careful and didn't get carried away, it would be hard to detect anything wrong.
Using it in combat, on the other hand, carried quite a few risks. It was only a slightly special stealth method.
After understanding this,
Yuu took a deep breath. He didn't feel disappointed. Instead, he focused his attention elsewhere.
Come on. Let me see your limits, galgame system!
[Ding! High-quality potential target detected: "Transparent Escape"! Trigger encounter event?]
[Yes / No]