Chapter 50 — Flying Thunder God?
Throwing a couple of verbal jabs at Danzō was enough—time to focus on the real business: picking jutsu.
Right now, "killing" Danzō could only be done with words.
If Ren really wanted to kill him, he'd have to wait until he reached the hard threshold of Kage-level strength.
After all, that old schemer's Wind Release wasn't for show—he'd once shattered Sasuke's Susanoo in the original timeline. That said enough about his strength.
---
Ren quickly flipped through the Scroll of Seals.
There were plenty of jutsu he recognized from the original story, and many more he'd never seen before:
Majestic Flame Annihilation, Majestic Fire Extinguishing, Bringer-of-Darkness, Tree Bind Death, Eight Gates, Front Lotus…
The sheer number was dizzying, and the worst part?
He wanted all of them.
But like Minato, Ren had a clear purpose for this trip—
he wanted a mobility-type Body Flicker, paired with some genjutsu.
Sharingan genjutsu + rapid-close Body Flicker + some sharp kenjutsu with a ninja blade…
With that combo, Ren couldn't imagine a jōnin who could stand their ground against him.
The thought made him pause.
Half a year ago, he'd been struggling to survive under Yoru Kurano's thumb.
Now he was casually treating jōnin as the baseline unit of combat.
Times change.
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"Ren, what are you going for?"
Minato had finished his own quick skim and asked casually.
"Me? I'm not taking an S-rank. I'll trade for three A-ranks—one genjutsu, one mobility technique, and… hmm, Multi Shadow Clone Technique."
Ren was being practical—learning even an A-rank was hard. An S-rank could take until the next lifetime.
---
Minato turned to him.
"I'm thinking of taking Flying Thunder God, but…"
"Do it! I'll cover the cost for Flying Thunder God!"
Ren said it without hesitation.
He knew exactly what Minato was worried about—his own possible lack of talent for space-time ninjutsu.
But Ren also knew the truth:
Flying Thunder God wasn't just an option for Minato—it was his destiny.
Without it, Minato would be a prodigy who might one day become Hokage.
With it, he'd be a super-Kage who could blitz and butcher jōnin like cattle.
Minato took it as friendly encouragement and smiled.
"If you put it like that, then I'll take it."
---
While Ren kept browsing, Minato waited quietly before speaking again.
"That Fire Release you used last time—it was impressive."
"Mm. Dragon Flame Song Technique. A-rank. The technique itself isn't that complex, but you need a wide base of knowledge to use it well… You want to learn it?"
"I do. My current jutsu pack plenty of suppression, but their raw power is lacking. I struggle against high-level opponents."
"No problem. We see each other often anyway. I'll teach you, you teach me, we grow together."
Ren said it so casually he didn't even look up from the scroll.
---
Their conversation ignored Danzō entirely, which made him bristle.
"The Scroll of Seals' techniques are forbidden to share! You must learn them yourself!"
Neither of them responded. They just kept talking.
"Are you even listening to me?!"
"What's with the shouting?"
Hiruzen returned from his smoke break, Hokage hat on his head, the big "Fire" character catching the light.
"Hiruzen! They're planning to trade techniques from the Scroll of Seals! That's against the rules!"
"Is that true?" Hiruzen looked at the pair.
"Nope. Absolutely not. We're just going to take them home and study them ourselves."
They spoke in unison.
Hiruzen nodded.
"They say no. Any other problems, Danzō?"
"Hiruzen, you—!"
Danzō was fuming. This was shameless denial right in front of him.
"Enough, enough. You two done picking? Once you're ready, I'll make you copies and you can get lost."
With one hand, Hiruzen kept Danzō in check; with the other, he handled the two "Twin Stars of Konoha."
"We're ready!"
Again, they spoke together.
---
Minato turned to the Flying Thunder God page.
Ren stopped on three separate A-ranks: Secret Art: Lightning Flash Technique, Demonic Illusion: Phantom Distortion Technique, and Multi Shadow Clone Technique.
Technically, that wasn't allowed—A-ranks weren't meant to be swapped three-for-one against an S-rank. But Hiruzen didn't care.
Ren was Tsunade's student—family, essentially.
He made the copies in a blur of seals, handed them over without a word, and waved them toward the door.
"Wishing you good health and prosperity, Hokage-sama!"
"Get out."
"Right away."
Ren tossed out the good-luck phrase with a grin—after all, Hiruzen had just bent the rules wide open for them.
---
Outside, Minato frowned slightly.
Coming toward them was… Hanegawa.
Passing by the two of them, Hanegawa went straight into the Hokage's office.
He was here for business—Rain ninja had infiltrated the Land of Fire with a small unit, taking advantage of the gap during White Fang's rotation of duty.
Ren saw Hanegawa step through the office door with his own eyes.
He patted Minato's shoulder and gave him a meaningful look.
Minato understood instantly.
Hanegawa was a captain of the ANBU. He wouldn't come to the Hokage's office for no reason—there could only be one purpose: receiving a mission.
Which meant the opportunity Ren and Minato had been waiting for… had arrived.
---
Leaving the Hokage building, the two didn't say a word about it.
Killing a man—especially one from the same village—wasn't something you could talk about in public.
This had to be done quietly.
Ren was ready to head back to Tsunade's place when Minato stopped him.
"How about coming over to my place to practice jutsu? My house is pretty big."
Ren squinted at him.
"Practice… and then go straight to sleep, right? What, you only have one bed at your place?"
Minato blinked, a little surprised.
"How'd you know?"
"Get lost."
They laughed and went their separate ways.
After spending this much time together, both of them had figured out each other's personalities—and each had decided the other was a good friend to have.
Minato was bright, optimistic, and attentive—a true "Hokage mindset" kind of person.
Ren was sharper, more ruthless, with a way of acting that didn't match his appearance.
That contrast gave him a kind of dangerous charm.
Different in nature, yet able to get along—that meant they shared just enough of the same streak.
---
Back in the Senju compound, Ren gnawed on a roasted sweet potato he'd bought on the way and unrolled the partial Scroll of Seals Hiruzen had given him.
He wanted to see exactly what made this A-rank Body Flicker technique so difficult—could it possibly be trickier than Dragon Flame Song?
---
Preface to Secret Art: Lightning Flash Technique:
Lightning Flash is a special lightning-based Body Flicker I developed by combining Lightning Release Chakra Mode with space-time perception… It also gave me ideas that led to the creation of the Flying Thunder God.
Ren's heart skipped a beat.
He quickly rolled the scroll back up.
Oh no—this was Tobirama Senju's technique.
Was this really something he was supposed to be looking at?
When doing assignments, you start with the easy ones before tackling the hard… so Ren set it aside and pulled out the scroll for Demonic Illusion: Phantom Distortion Technique.
---
Preface to Phantom Distortion Technique:
I created this as a first-generation countermeasure against the Uchiha's Sharingan, but the results were disappointing. While it's highly effective at disrupting the five senses of ordinary shinobi, it's not particularly good at restraining the Sharingan… However, it did inspire me to later create Bringer-of-Darkness.
Ren froze again.
Great. He'd just walked into another trap set by Tobirama Senju.
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