"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 212: Flying Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Mount Myōboku.
Fukasaku and Shima gazed at the large toads encased in ice, hesitating momentarily.
"Do you think what Lord Yūshin said is true—that the children are merely frozen and will naturally thaw and regain vitality after some time? Something feels off to me. After all these days, there's been no change whatsoever."
Shima spoke, clearly lacking trust in the stranger who had intruded upon Mount Myōboku.
"Perhaps we shouldn't have allowed him to leave so easily."
Easy to say, but what method could have detained him? Surely not mere words.
"Inexperienced. No changes occurring is actually the good sign. What did you expect—daily partial thawing? That would be truly troublesome."
Fukasaku remained far calmer, his perspective crystal clear. Sudden freezing followed by sudden thawing gave the frozen toads their best survival chance. Daily incremental thawing would reduce the frozen toads to sashimi ingredients.
"But that Lord Yūshin also stole two mountain peaks..."
"What do you mean 'stole'? That's called taking without asking. No—actually, he explained his Mount Myōboku visit purpose to Great Toad Sage, and Great Toad Sage approved his 'soil sampling.' We simply hadn't anticipated sampling on such a scale."
"Sigh, hopefully everything develops favorably... Dear, what's wrong?"
Somehow, mid-conversation, Fukasaku fell into deep contemplation. Though husbands often respond to wives' complaints by spacing out, Fukasaku seemed different this time.
"Speaking of those two mountains, I feel I've forgotten something important..."
"Something important? Besides our recent uninvited guest, Mount Myōboku has remained peaceful. What could be so important?"
"Uninvited guest, uninvited... Ah, I remember now!"
...
Land of Rain.
Amegakure's achievements in the Shinobi World were far from ideal. Due to certain unspeakable factors, Land of Rain's territory had been forced to migrate westward across considerable distance, wedging it between Land of Earth, Land of Waterfall, and Land of Wind.
During the one-village-one-nation founding period, local shinobi clans clashed with Fireflies—their greatest regret. Consequently, this region's shinobi village was born deficient and never recovered.
Among small and medium nations and villages, only Takigakure possessed sufficient strength to command others. By comparison, Amegakure didn't even rank.
But opportunities always emerge. Thanks to the previous Shinobi World War, unprecedented external pressure enabled Amegakure's second unification, forging them into a true collective through countless trials.
Additionally, Takigakure had suffered Iwagakure's brutal assault, losing half its territory. Post-war Takigakure experienced several uprisings, while Amegakure produced a ninja with exceptional strength and leadership. This shift in fortunes gave Amegakure rising momentum—specifically, "rising" among non-Five Great Shinobi Villages.
"Lord Hanzō, this way."
Several reconnaissance ninja guided a twenty-something young ninja through the rainforest, moving at high speed toward a specific destination.
Though this young ninja lacked the leader's title, he already wielded leader's authority—Amegakure had essentially fallen under his control. His name: "Salamander" Hanzō.
Excellent—Amegakure now had their own "Shimura Danzō."
Though the "Demigod" title could no longer fall upon him, his strength remained undiminished.
Long, long ago, two shinobi clans conspired to eliminate a small organization's small leader. One clan, foolish and reckless, faced annihilation; the other, possessing cunning, escaped opportunistically.
At that time, compared to the Ishikawa Clan's massive invasion threat, such small fry warranted no attention—if they escaped, so be it.
Later, the escaped "Gyotani Clan" became one of Amegakure's founding stones, and Salamander Hanzō descended from the Gyotani Clan.
For most people, events from thirty-plus years ago felt extremely distant. Back then, after witnessing another local clan's tragic fate, some Gyotani ninja developed Yūshin-phobia, while others vowed to cleanse their shame and reclaim their homeland. By now, both emotions had dissolved into nothingness.
Advancing forward, Salamander Hanzō quickly sensed unusual circumstances—increasing cold, goosebumps rising on his skin.
This was supposed to be humid, hot rainforest. Where did this chill originate? Had they somehow left their country?
"Just ahead," the reconnaissance ninja reminded.
Cresting the gentle slope, Hanzō abruptly halted as extraordinary scenery burst into view.
A vast frozen expanse stretched before them, endless fine rain shrouding that region. Chill and rain mist combined, creating cloud-sea-like vapor.
"When was this discovered?" Hanzō inquired.
"Half a day ago. Someone in the reconnaissance squad witnessed the ice eruption moment," the reconnaissance ninja replied.
"Has anyone conducted deep investigation?"
"No, only perimeter reconnaissance... Lord Hanzō, do you believe this represents ninja techniques?"
"Difficult to imagine ninja achieving such scale, yet... this surely isn't natural phenomenon?"
No one could answer Hanzō's question. Everyone suspected ninja involvement, though finding it momentarily incredible.
"Follow me. We'll investigate."
Having come this far, external observation revealed nothing. Hanzō decisively led the reconnaissance ninja deep into the ice forest.
However, after circling inside, beyond feeling their brains frozen solid, they discovered nothing.
"Could this be Ice Release?"
After investigation, Hanzō proposed a hypothesis, yet everyone remained skeptical.
"How could Ice Release achieve such scale?"
First Hokage had died ten years ago, and after his battle with Uchiha Madara, he rarely took action. Therefore, this era's ninja had no concept of First Hokage's Wood Release capabilities.
Had they witnessed First Hokage's Wood Release, they wouldn't question this location's Ice Release scale.
"We'll withdraw first..."
"Reconnaissance squad, focus monitoring here. Report any abnormalities immediately."
"Raise village alert levels, prepare for emergency responses."
"Hmph, I want to see exactly who's causing trouble."
Hanzō's response strategy was flawless—correct and conventional. His words sounded tough... yet if Yūshin truly appeared before him, he'd certainly feel differently.
...
Yūshin had unleashed chakra in large-scale jutsu merely to cast nets catching Orochimaru. This method proved highly effective—Orochimaru hadn't managed to escape, being directly frozen.
Yūshin had no idea his jutsu traces would create such panic in Amegakure.
Generally speaking, Orochimaru was extremely unlucky. He'd spent so long in this era, acquired so many resources, researched so many jutsu—attack, defense, survival techniques—his arsenal couldn't be described as merely diverse.
Yet such rich, varied techniques lacked any performance stage... He'd been one-shotted.
Even allowing time for demonstration before elimination would have left Orochimaru less resentful.
Too stifling. Or if Yūshin had explained his strength beforehand, Orochimaru wouldn't have made arrogant statements—he'd have fled at full power, possibly succeeding with once-in-a-lifetime teleportation.
Within Yūshin's alternate dimension.
When Orochimaru regained consciousness, he found himself wrapped within a massive tree trunk.
He possessed virtually no chakra. Any chakra he managed to concentrate was instantly drained.
He attempted using Wood Release, yet couldn't control the constraining tree whatsoever.
"Stop wasting effort, Orochimaru. I've repeatedly said—different chakra means everything differs... Wood Release is merely an ordinary Kekkei Genkai; its offensive attributes aren't prominent."
Seeing Orochimaru awaken, Yūshin unhurriedly emerged from the house, approaching Orochimaru's side... Attempting to control God Tree-level planted trees with Wood Release—one could only call such imagination rich.
In ordinary ninja hands, Wood Release offered advantages mainly when facing Tailed Beasts—oh, and civil engineering projects.
No helping it—different chakra levels. In First Hokage's hands, using Tailed Beast Bombs as the strongest Tailed Beast attack example, he could receive and defend effortlessly. Hashirama could even play with Tailed Beast Bombs—where does one seek justice?
Playing with Tailed Beast Bombs like prayer beads—at least Yūshin felt his current self couldn't perform such feats... Yūshin harbored no special feelings toward God Tree functions or Wood Release, yet Hashirama specialized in Wood Release.
"Lord Yūshin, I never imagined you concealed such power..."
Orochimaru raised his head, eyes fixed on Yūshin's Byakugan, contemplating what this meant... Never mind how Yūshin obtained Byakugan—wasn't Byakugan the most inferior garbage among the Three Great Dōjutsu? Why could he use Byakugan for space-time jutsu?
Originally, Orochimaru believed that while unable to win, he could at least escape. Yet Yūshin could pursue relentlessly, rendering even Flying Thunder God a useless technique.
"You've captured me—what do you intend... Let me be clear: don't expect interrogation techniques to work on me."
Yūshin naturally had no interrogation plans. Orochimaru possessed masochistic tendencies—interrogation might actually please him.
"Orochimaru, what do you consider most important for ninja?"
"Undoubtedly, life. Without life, nothing remains."
Orochimaru suddenly experienced ominous premonitions, his gaze flickering as he provided a generally correct answer.
Yūshin shook his head, his vision piercing Orochimaru's heart:
"That applies to ordinary people. For you, the most important thing isn't life—it's knowledge..."
"I certainly won't take your life, because after death you might revive through some method. Before arriving in this era, you betrayed Konoha. After arriving in this era, you again betrayed Konoha. Therefore, as punishment, I'll seize the knowledge you've mastered in this era."
Orochimaru's heart convulsed. Indeed, Yūshin understood his original timeline experiences, yet Yūshin's punishment method... even the ten greatest tortures paled in comparison.
"Lord Yūshin, how could such things be possible..."
"I can try first. After all, we have ample time for attempts."
At this moment, Yūshin's Byakugan had transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan, and Orochimaru began panicking.
Not only could chakra-depleted Orochimaru not use Sharingan, even if he could manifest Uchiha Madara's Sharingan, his ocular power couldn't compete with Yūshin's.
God Tree physique, God Tree-level chakra, plus high-purity Yin-Yang Release—under triple enhancement, the Mangekyō ocular power was beyond Orochimaru's resistance.
Orochimaru lost rationality and composure. Even cold-blooded creatures have moments when someone grabs their vital points.
As Yūshin said, Orochimaru truly didn't fear death much, but some things were indeed more terrifying than death.
"Lord Yūshin, let's discuss this reasonably... I surrender! I can return to Konoha, sharing all my knowledge with the younger generation!"
"Taking my knowledge and intelligence—that's mutually destructive, Lord Yūshin!"
Yet speaking such words now was somewhat late. Matters couldn't focus solely on interests—distinguishing good and evil remained important... Committing wrongdoing required accepting punishment.
These Mangekyō Sharingan possessed precise temporal positioning abilities. Instantly, Yūshin invaded Orochimaru's brain, then like reading film reels, began browsing Orochimaru's memories.
Yūshin became an editor, cutting at Orochimaru's Konoha defection moment, then extracting and discarding all subsequent "frames" into the trash... The small God Tree wrapping Orochimaru could absorb anything energy-related.
After these operations, Orochimaru was restored to factory settings.
Naturally, usage traces remained, including abilities mastered through Impure World Soul Cultivation Technique—they hadn't disappeared. However... he possessed hardware but lacked software operating systems.
With luck, he might eventually recover this knowledge—who knew how much time that would require.
After processing Orochimaru's memories, Yūshin was about to freeze him into a popsicle for primitive time-travel implementation, but then reconsidered.
"Hmm, since we're here, rare opportunity—let's extract something more... The prefrontal cortex should be perfect."
After excising memories and removing brain portions, the surgery was complete.
With Orochimaru's recovery capabilities, losing brain sections wasn't significant.
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