As the saying goes, when something reaches its extreme, it swings to the opposite extreme.
Gojo Yoru, a man living his second life, had been suppressing himself for far more than a single decade.
If not for that absurd interdimensional god of censorship—somehow even more outrageous than an interdimensional prohibition order—he would have long since been living it up.
Now that the ban between dimensions was gone, Gojo Yoru finally gave Kushina Uzumaki a taste of what "volcanic passion" really meant.
As a member of the Uzumaki clan who had awakened its three unique abilities, and on top of that the jinchuriki of the strongest tailed beast, Kushina Uzumaki's recovery ability was absolutely number one among her generation in the shinobi world. Looking back over a thousand years of history, only Senju Hashirama, who could heal without even forming seals, and Uzumaki Mito, the previous Nine-Tails jinchuriki, could surpass or match her.
Logically speaking, no matter how gifted Gojo Yoru was, and no matter how long he had been holding himself back, he shouldn't have been able to outlast Kushina Uzumaki, whose recovery was absurd and who was basically a walking blood tank.
And yet, what made her also undid her.
Gojo Yoru, channeling for a whole night, was on the verge of running out of steam when all it took was one bite of Kushina for him to recover at full health. Then he charged straight back in and pulled off another seven entries and exits through enemy lines.
The greatest blood tank in the shinobi world was actually brought down by Gojo Yoru's mortal body, to the point that she couldn't even get out of bed the next day.
Uzumaki-brand vitality: preserving a man's confidence.
July 11, Konoha Year 42.
On that day, neither Tsunade nor anyone else in Konoha saw Gojo Yoru or Kushina Uzumaki.
The barrier around the Gojo house stayed up the entire day as well.
Only on July 12, after the second round of the Chunin Exams—the wilderness survival phase—had ended, did Gojo Yoru finally appear at the central tower in the Forest of Death to watch the third exam.
Yes, the third exam itself, not the preliminary round.
If the students who passed the second exam were all from Konoha, or only included one or two ninja from small countries, then Konoha wouldn't bother using preliminaries to filter out the better genin before putting on a grand formal tournament in the central plaza. They would just have them quickly decide the outcome.
Only when genin from major nations entered and passed the second round—or when a large number of genin from smaller nations passed as well—would there be both preliminaries and a formal final stage.
Only when both sides had excellent rising talent could national strength be displayed properly.
Otherwise, there was no need for a flashy official tournament. Konoha didn't care about ticket money that little.
This year's Chunin Exams were basically a solo showcase for the elite classes that had only graduated in March.
All four elite teams had entered the Chunin Exams, and every single one of them passed the second round.
And among everyone who passed the second round, there were only twenty-one examinees total.
That's right—there were only seven teams in all, and four of them were elite-class teams.
The other three teams did not include the Grass team that Yahiko's trio had replaced.
On the surface, they seemed to have been eliminated during the second round.
But Gojo Yoru knew they had thrown the exam on purpose, and that they should already be starting their operation now.
And things unfolded exactly as he expected.
There was no better timing than when both the Hokage and Konoha's space-time ninja had gone to the Forest of Death to spectate.
Almost the moment their chakra signatures appeared in the central tower, Yahiko's trio began to move.
Although White Zetsu clones no longer dared enter Konoha carelessly now that Gojo Yoru had developed spatial perception and Kushina Uzumaki had developed a good-and-evil sensing version of the Kagura Mind's Eye, all of that was recent.
Before they had gained those abilities, White Zetsu clones had already crawled all over Konoha to exhaustion.
When it came to Konoha's layout, not even Gojo Yoru or Hiruzen Sarutobi knew it better than White Zetsu.
Under White Zetsu's guidance, Yahiko's trio quickly infiltrated the entrance to the Forbidden Techniques Vault.
The vault was covered everywhere with barrier formulas. Even if the Mayfly Technique could get someone inside, the moment they surfaced, they would be detected.
Stealing forbidden jutsu wasn't a job White Zetsu could handle.
With White Zetsu's combat ability, unless Tobi acted personally, he would be killed by the guards and the Anbu before he even found the forbidden technique he wanted.
If they wanted to steal forbidden jutsu, they had to do it themselves.
"Wood Release: Silent Strangling Binding Technique."
Having already disguised himself inside and out with Wood Transformation and a disguise technique, Yahiko didn't care at all about exposing Wood Release.
Before the two guards even noticed anything, he used Wood Release from a distance. Vine-like branches burst out of the ground and swiftly bound the two guards.
However, whether it was Tobi, Yahiko, the original Yamato, or even Madara Uchiha, none of their Wood Release techniques possessed the ability to absorb chakra.
Their Wood Release simply couldn't do what Senju Hashirama's could—bind a target and immediately begin draining their chakra.
Even so, the two guards caught by the vines still lost all ability to fight.
Because those vines were infused with chakra, and that chakra had been converted into sealing arts that locked their bodies in place.
Looking at the branches wrapped around them, the guards widened their eyes in horror.
Unfortunately, their ability to speak had been taken away as well, so they couldn't make a sound.
In the next instant, a figure flashed before their eyes. A hand landed on each of their heads, and a cold voice rang in their ears.
"Human Path: Soul Extraction Technique!"
As Nagato pulled back his hands, two translucent blue-white spirits, semi-transparent like chakra itself, were dragged out of the guards' bodies and then disappeared into Nagato's palms.
Their memories, meanwhile, unfolded like films and photo albums for Nagato to flip through at will.
"Hurry up. Our chakra has already alerted the sensory unit. A large number of Anbu will be here any second."
Yahiko came over and urged them on.
The three of them immediately smashed through the door and rushed into the Forbidden Techniques Vault.
The alarm began blaring at once.
"Konan-sama, with me."
Nagato made straight for one of the shelves, with Konan right behind him.
Yahiko headed toward another shelf, intending to steal a few forbidden techniques he wanted for himself.
As for packing up every forbidden technique and every document in the entire vault and taking it all away, that was completely impossible.
Storage scrolls naturally repelled one another and couldn't be placed inside other storage scrolls. Even with the Mayfly Technique, there was no way to flee at high speed while carrying that many storage scrolls.
And on top of that, they had underestimated how quickly the sensory unit and the Anbu would react.
After the earlier Hiruko incident, the Forbidden Techniques Vault only appeared to have two guards on the surface. In truth, it was under constant surveillance by the sensory unit and the barrier team, and there were always several Anbu squads nearby rotating shifts in secret—specialists in assassination, close combat, sensing, and tracking.
Yahiko hadn't even found the Impure World Reincarnation Technique yet when he sensed a large number of chakra signatures closing in around them while he was still searching for the records on that forbidden jutsu.
His expression changed instantly. Forget continuing to search for scrolls like Impure World Reincarnation or Flying Thunder God—his arm transformed into branches, swept up several scrolls in one go, and he flashed over to Konan and Nagato.
With the help of the guards' memories, Nagato and Konan had gone straight to their targets. They had already obtained the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags Technique and the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
"Anything else you want?" Yahiko asked. "If not, then leave now. I'll draw their attention."
"No."
Konan and Nagato both shook their heads.
"I'll control the branches so they avoid you. Find your chance and get out of Konoha."
Yahiko's Wood Clone drew on every bit of chakra he had borrowed from Tobi. Then he slammed his hands together and sneered.
"Perfect. I'll use this technique to say hello to the strongest village in the world—the one founded by a Wood Release user."
"Wood Release—Deep Forest Emergence!"
Rumble—
A violent earthquake spread in every direction from the Forbidden Techniques Vault.
Then thick branches burst from the ground one after another.
The moment they emerged, it was as if time had accelerated. They rapidly transformed into towering green trees, crowding and crushing against one another as they grew, forming a tide of green that instantly reduced the Forbidden Techniques Vault to rubble and kept surging outward.
Even Yahiko himself, in Konan and Nagato's eyes, turned into one of those towering trees.
"This is—Wood Release!"
"How is that possible?!"
The Anbu rushing over and the sensory team monitoring the vault all stared in disbelief.
Looking at the advancing sea of trees, some of the quicker-reacting Anbu immediately fired signal flares.
As the special fireworks bloomed overhead, alarm sirens instantly rang out through Konoha's central district.
The ninja in the district didn't even bother trying to track down the source of the earthquake. They immediately started organizing the frightened civilians and moving them toward shelters.
Other ninja flickered onto rooftops, saw the advancing wave of trees, and went pale with shock.
"That's the First Hokage's Wood Release!"
"Why is there Wood Release in the village? Did someone awaken the First Hokage's Wood Release and lose control of it?"
"This is bad—the technique's range is too huge! Earth Release users, with me! We can't let the forest keep spreading!"
Large numbers of ninja escorted civilians away in the opposite direction of the forest sea, while the more levelheaded shinobi shot forward like blurs toward the advancing trees.
The violent tremors, along with the ever-increasing number of trees and their expanding range, also alarmed the great ninja clans and Konoha's top fighters, including the Legendary Sannin.
It was the first time Orochimaru and the others had seen a technique on this scale, and even they widened their eyes.
Before they could work together to stop the spread of the forest, a series of sharp cries rang out.
"Super Big Ball Rasengan!"
Hundreds upon hundreds of Kushina Uzumakis turned into a rain of black afterimages and charged toward the forest. Then each of them raised a hand, formed a massive blue-white sphere of energy, and slammed it into the advancing sea of trees.
Thunderous explosions erupted everywhere.
A vast cloud of dust instantly blanketed Konoha's entire central district.
The explosions were even more terrifying than a barrage of explosive tags, and the fleeing civilians screamed in terror.
The sensory-type ninja weren't doing much better.
Because in their perception, it felt like two tsunamis had just crashed straight into each other.
Luckily, those "tsunamis" hadn't spread any farther, or the aftershocks alone would have torn them to pieces.
Once the explosions and the quake finally stopped, the ninja worked together to cast large-scale Wind Release techniques, blowing away the dust that had swallowed the central district.
And then countless people's pupils contracted, instinctive fear rising in their hearts—the kind a tiny insect would feel when facing a giant beast.
Konoha's central district was already a wreck.
The iconic Hokage Building, the surrounding structures, and even some clan compounds closer to it had all been reduced to ruins buried in a forest.
And the forest itself, which had swallowed at least a third of the district, looked as if it had first been hit by a hurricane and then blasted apart by artillery fire. Most of it had been shredded into countless fragments, scattered across the ground among the rubble.
Only a small portion of the trees remained standing, dust-covered and battered, like a woodland that had somehow endured a sandstorm.
Buried beneath the wreckage were also civilians and ninja who hadn't escaped in time.
"Move! Save people!"
A furious roar suddenly snapped the badly shaken ninja back to themselves.
Then one blur after another shot toward the ruins.
Members of the Inuzuka clan and the Aburame clan used their sensory methods to search the wreckage for both survivors and corpses.
Kushina Uzumaki, who had taken action to stop the sea of trees from swallowing the whole district, used Adamantine Sealing Chains together with her shadow clones. Countless chains lifted slab after slab of stone, pulling people out from the rubble.
Tsunade summoned Katsuyu, who split into multiple bodies and began using medical ninjutsu to treat the injured.
At the central tower in the Forest of Death, the Chunin Exams had already been halted halfway through. Gojo Yoru and Minato Namikaze used Flying Thunder God to bring the Third Hokage, Kato Dan, and the other top-tier combatants back to Konoha.
Looking at Konoha's central district, where entire stretches of buildings had been reduced to rubble, Hiruzen Sarutobi was both furious and horrified.
And when he realized it had been caused by Wood Release, his pupils contracted sharply.
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned straight to Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
"Where's Danzo?"
"We don't know. He probably hasn't arrived yet," Homura and Koharu replied, their expressions shifting uncertainly.
"Yoru, you and Kushina Uzumaki go bring Danzo under control," Hiruzen Sarutobi said to Gojo Yoru.
Gojo Yoru: "(0—0)?"
Gojo Yoru, who had just been privately thinking Yahiko had gone a bit too far, found himself sympathizing with Lord Danzo for once.
Over the past few years, Shimura Danzo had already been crushed so hard by the terrifyingly stacked Hokage faction that he could barely breathe. Even Root was nowhere near the size it had been at this point in the original story.
And now Hiruzen Sarutobi actually suspected him as the prime suspect.
There hadn't even been an investigation yet, and Hiruzen was already preparing to detain him first.
Terrifying.
What Gojo Yoru didn't realize was that it was precisely because Hiruzen Sarutobi knew this childhood ride-or-die so well that he wanted him restrained immediately.
Konoha had once conducted Wood Release experiments, even recruiting a batch of volunteers for human experimentation.
Every last one of them died.
After sacrificing so many volunteers without producing a single result, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately shut the experiment down and sealed away Hashirama's cells.
Only Konoha's top brass knew about that matter.
Everyone else had their memories sealed.
Aside from Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, only Shimura Danzo had both the ability and the nerve to steal Hashirama's cells and secretly restart the Wood Release experiments.
Right now, there were only two possibilities: either a Wood Release user had deliberately cast this jutsu, or a Wood Release user had lost control.
If Konoha really had a Wood Release user, Hiruzen Sarutobi was confident no one could have hidden that fact from his eyes, much less escaped Kushina Uzumaki's Kagura Mind's Eye.
So the second possibility was far more likely.
And if that was true, Hiruzen couldn't think of anyone besides that outrageously bold old friend of his who would dare conduct Wood Release experiments right under his nose.
"Understood, Lord Hokage."
Naturally, Gojo Yoru wasn't about to expose Konan and Nagato, so he nodded, first teleported to find Kushina Uzumaki, and then went off to detain Shimura Danzo.
"Yoru, I sensed chakra in the sea of trees that matches the ones we ran into outside the ninja academy before. Do you think one of those three might have been the one who caused this?"
Kushina Uzumaki reported this to Gojo Yoru on the way.
Gojo Yoru was a little surprised inwardly. He hadn't expected Kushina's senses to be this sharp. But on the surface, he only gave a wicked grin.
"No idea. But now that Wood Release has appeared, the shinobi world probably won't be boring anymore."
"You really have zero sympathy, you know that?" Kushina couldn't help rolling her eyes at him. Then her expression turned more serious. "Do you think it's possible that the person behind Edo Tensei summoned the First Hokage and controlled him into using Wood Release inside Konoha?"
"Wouldn't that be even more interesting?" Gojo Yoru said, still smiling like he was enjoying himself. "If we don't have opponents, what's the point of training so hard?"
But Kushina Uzumaki knew very well that Gojo Yoru was not the type to get cocky like that.
If he were, then last year they would have been instantly killed by the mastermind's completely broken strategy.
Not even these past few years of peace had made Gojo Yoru slack off. Now that they knew for certain a mysterious enemy was lurking in the shadows and watching them, there was no way he would suddenly become this arrogant.
If he wasn't saying more, then he had his reasons.
So Kushina didn't ask any further. Instead, she used the Kagura Mind's Eye to locate Shimura Danzo, and the two of them headed together to Root's underground headquarters beneath the Hokage Rock.
Gojo Yoru appeared in front of Shimura Danzo, a viciously amused smile on his face.
"Danzo-sama, you've been implicated. Come with us."
Shimura Danzo: "—"