Yōkō's vision shifted, returning him to the previous full moon night, the last full moon night of Konoha Year 40.
Yakushi Nonō wouldn't give Fox a child. To compensate him, she repeatedly used the Hip-Narrowing Secret Technique.
Defeated by the Hip-Narrowing Secret Technique, a satisfied Yōkō left the orphanage.
He used the Ephemeral Technique to arrive deep within a dense forest.
[Mochizuki's Arc activated!
The host has only one resurrection opportunity per month, reviving on the previous full moon night after death.
Reward: One lottery draw opportunity:
1 - Shadow Shuriken Technique;
2 - Summoning Technique: Enma;
3 - Five Elements Unrivalled Attack (Beginner).]
Option One: Shadow Shuriken Technique.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was a master of shadow clones and created this A-Rank ninjutsu.
This technique was pretty useless for Yōkō. For medium to long range, he preferred using ninjutsu like Water Cutting Wave rather than tools.
Option Two: Summoning Technique: Enma.
Yōkō hesitated greatly, almost choosing this summoning technique.
Enma was undoubtedly a top-tier summon in the shinobi world, strong both in its own combat power and its transformed state as the Adamantine Staff.
However, Enma was a summon with extremely high intelligence deeply involved in matters around Sarutobi Hiruzen, its will highly aligned with his.
If Yōkō summoned Enma, Enma might resist him and could potentially expose his intelligence.
Resisting the impulse, Yōkō chose the third option.
Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
This technique was also good, Sarutobi Hiruzen's signature jutsu, and one Orochimaru constantly coveted.
Yōkō immediately mastered this technique.
It used the Shadow Clone Technique to summon four clones, each simultaneously attacking the enemy with ninjutsu of a different nature—Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning—causing a devastating explosion.
Dividing chakra equally with shadow clones was often a poor tactic.
But the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack allowed five one-fifth portions to combine into an effect far greater than one.
The secret of the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack wasn't just that the five elements had no weaknesses and held an advantage against any other ninjutsu, but lay in the final massive explosion.
Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, lined up: Earth counters Water, Water counters Fire, Fire counters Wind, Wind counters Lightning. The chakra nature counters the formation of a massive explosion.
In other words, the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack had two stages of damage: the first was the damage from the five elemental ninjutsu, the second was the massive explosion resulting from the five chakra natures countering each other.
Yōkō was now an all-nature user and could completely use this technique as an intimidating trump card.
The five ninjutsu for the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack had to be medium-to-long-range impact-type ninjutsu, like Dragon Fire Technique or Water Shockwave.
Among Yōkō's current ninjutsu, the Mastery-level Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique could be used.
The Mastery-level Water Release: Water Cutting Wave could not.
Water Cutting Wave leaned towards cutting, and this technique was highly distinctive, being the technique of 'Big Fox'.
He needed to find a way to obtain the Mastery-level Water Release: Water Shockwave or Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
The Mastery-level Wind Release: Great Breakthrough could be used.
The Mastery-level Earth Release: Earth-Style Rising Spears was unsuitable for the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet or Earth Release: Flying Rubble, techniques like that which involved flying debris and impact, were suitable for the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
For Lightning Release, Yōkō currently had no Mastery-level ninjutsu.
Thus, it seemed the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack had extremely high requirements for chakra quantity, chakra natures, and ninjutsu types.
To become an expert in the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack, Yōkō currently only had two Mastery-level ninjutsu he could use.
Yōkō suspected Sarutobi Hiruzen used this technique mainly to show off.
Intimidating the enemy and applying mental pressure were also important aspects of combat.
He couldn't even imagine what a blow it would be to the Sarutobi clan ninja if his alt, White Ghost, could use the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
I say I'm a Sarutobi clan rogue ninja, who agrees, who objects?
Yōkō thought, if he mastered the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack and disguised himself as a Sarutobi clan rogue ninja, wouldn't the Sarutobi clan go crazy?
Yōkō returned to the Anbu and began selecting ninjutsu.
From the squad's ninjutsu scrolls, he chose an impact-type Lightning Release ninjutsu: Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder.
A medium-to-long range ninjutsu that spewed a large lightning spear from the mouth to blast the enemy.
He would slowly learn and collect other ninjutsu.
Grind five Mastery-level five-element ninjutsu to give the Sarutobi clan a little shock.
Let the village see just how powerful a Sarutobi clan rogue ninja can be.
The full moon hung like a silver plate.
Yōkō waited until the first full moon night of Konoha Year 41; he had another resurrection opportunity.
In the Anbu base's squad leader meeting room, four squad leaders waited for the Commander and Vice-Commander.
New year, new atmosphere. The Anbu was introducing new policies.
Yellow Dog and Danzo entered the small meeting room one after the other.
Danzo was followed by Hei, who carried a stack of booklets.
Hei distributed the booklets to the four squad leaders.
Danzo said, "Peace is temporary. As Konoha Anbu, we cannot let our guard down, nor lose our combat effectiveness due to relaxation."
"Root has compiled an Assassination Manual."
"The manual contains intelligence on ninja who pose a threat to Konoha."
"The Anbu's next task is to organize rounds of assassinations based on the list in this manual."
"Whether they are rogue ninja or ninja from enemy villages, anyone who poses a threat to Konoha must die."
In the original story, Sai, who came from Root, had an assassination manual containing the Anbu's hit list.
Yōkō opened the manual. The first page was actually... Uchiha Madara?
Danzo, you're being quite delusional. Why not put the Third Hokage on the first page? You're going to assassinate him eventually anyway.
Assassinating the Third Hokage would be much easier than assassinating Uchiha Madara.
Yōkō flipped through it. Each page had a photo of the assassination target, with intelligence below the photo—main abilities, proficient ninjutsu, etc.
As he flipped through the Assassination Manual, Yōkō pondered. Root has been scared off from fighting. They've temporarily transitioned from a combat force to an intelligence force.
Root won't be carrying out large-scale missions outside the village for a while.
They'll covertly use Konoha's spy network to gather intelligence, then order the Anbu to complete the missions.
Yōkō glanced at Hei. Hei was a Yamanaka clan ninja, now mainly working as Danzo's assistant.
This guy's luck is really good; I still haven't found an opportunity.
Yōkō continued looking through the manual and saw someone that caught his eye.
Kumo-nin Jōnin, Takami, proficient in Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder, with a special understanding and skill for this technique.
Perfect, isn't this just right for Yōkō? He happens to lack a Mastery-level Lightning Release ninjutsu.
Yellow Dog said: "Root ninja will deliver intelligence to the Anbu daily. When targets from the Assassination Manual are on missions in the shinobi world, we must react quickly and strive to assassinate them."
The meeting ended.
In the latter half of the night, Yōkō went out, intending to ask Yakushi Nonō how exactly Root's spy network operated and how it managed to gather so much intelligence on enemy village ninja.
When he arrived at the orphanage, he found the headmaster's office empty.
He hurriedly opened the Right Scroll and waited a long time before a cursed seal appeared on it.
After unsealing it, it was a letter written to him by Yakushi Nonō.
***
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(Chapter End)