The Dust Settled
In a dense forest, a small, clear pool ripples gently. A breeze blows, and the branches sway as if telling a story. Several sika deer are drinking from the pool on the grassy bank. Occasionally, a few black shadows fly across the calm water; these are birds flying overhead under the azure sky.
Everything was perfectly calm, but suddenly two black figures appeared in the sky above the pool. With a shout, they plunged into the water with a splash, sending up white sprays several meters high.
The sudden commotion startled the sika deer that was drinking water by the pond, and they hurriedly fled into the forest. Large flocks of birds on both sides were awakened, and the sound of their flapping wings echoed throughout the sky, making the peaceful forest suddenly lively.
The splashing water rises to a certain height and then falls like raindrops, making a crisp, clear sound. Countless ripples spread across the calm water surface, and the reflections in the water tremble, creating a beautiful scene.
The wind subsided, and the lake returned to its calm, reflecting the willows along its banks like a natural mirror. However, this scene lasted only a few seconds before being broken once again.
Yemo and Minato were thrown out of the water with a splash, landing steadily on the surface. Yemo coughed, clutching his throat with his right hand, having choked on a lot of water when he fell in.
After coughing for a while, Yemo's throat finally felt much better. He waved away the red hair stuck to his face and complained to Yemo Minato Minato, your Flying Thunder God is such a rip-off! You fell out of the space-time dimension halfway through!"
Yemo didn't complain, which made Minato angry, and he retorted, "You're blaming me? I hadn't improved the Flying Thunder God Technique much yet, and I told you not to mess around in the space-time dimension, but you insisted. Otherwise, how would we have flown out of the space-time dimension?"
Upon hearing this, Yemo gave an embarrassed smile, looking quite awkward. It was indeed his fault just now; if he hadn't acted recklessly, they would probably have already returned to the base.
"Oh, right," Minato suddenly remembered something and asked with a serious expression, "Yemo, what did you just do? How did my Flying Thunder God get interrupted?"
Since learning the Flying Thunder God, Minato had never encountered anything like what just happened. Although the Flying Thunder God has some flaws and can be quite inconvenient to use, Minato had never been interrupted while using Flying Thunder God.
"I'm not entirely sure either. I was just manipulating my Chakra, and suddenly we flew out of the space-time continuum," Yemo, looking equally bewildered.
After a moment's thought, Minato speculated, "Could this be an undiscovered flaw in the Flying Thunder God? It cannot be interfered with by Chakra during the process of carrying a person, otherwise the same scene as before will occur."
Minato, lost in thought, didn't notice the fleeting, thoughtful look on Yemo's bewildered face. In fact, Yemo had lied to Minato with his answer just now.
It's not just about manipulating Chakra within his body. When he was traversing the space-time, Yemo used Yin-Yang Release, which is why Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique was interrupted and they fell out of the space-time. Yin-Yang Release is Yemo's secret, so Yemo lied to Minato just now.
The fact that Yin-Yang Release interrupted Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique was something Yemo hadn't expected. Yemo wasn't sure why, but he figured there were only two possibilities: either Yin-Yang Release is a different concept from Ninjutsu, so when Minato used Minato, it affected his ability to use Flying Thunder God; or Flying Thunder God has significant flaws, which is why it was disrupted by Yin-Yang Release. There was also another possibility, where both of these factors played a significant role.
The two stayed in the dense forest for a short time. Minato once again activated the Flying Thunder God with Yemo, but after the lesson learned from what had just happened, Yemo dared not use the power of Yin-Yang Release again.
They were lucky before; they only fell into a pool of water. If they had fallen into a cave or a volcano, they would have been doomed.
Without Yemo causing trouble, Minato took Yemo directly back to the Konoha base, where they met Orochimaru and Jiraiya, who were already waiting for them.
Stepping through the door and following Minato into the room, Yemo saw Teacher Orochimaru and Jiraiya sitting upright in their seats.
Minato bowed and said, "Master Jiraiya, Lord Orochimaru! I have brought Yemo back."
Yemo also cupped his hands and said, "Teacher Orochimaru, Lord Jiraiya!"
Yemo kept his head down as he spoke. He had almost lost his life on his first mission and had to be rescued by Minato. It was really embarrassing.
Yemo secretly glanced at Teacher Orochimaru, trying to discern something from his expression, but Orochimaru remained expressionless, revealing nothing.
Ha ha...
Jiraiya suddenly laughed and said, "Yemo, you've really pulled off a dramatic mission, stirring up thousands of ninjas on the battlefield."
With thousands of ninjas stirring things up, Yemo looked up at Jiraiya with a puzzled expression. What did this mean? When had he stirred up thousands of ninjas from both Kumogakure and Konoha?
He was Jonin as soon as he arrived in the Land of Lightning, and a great battle ensued. Later, he was chased by Killer B, and only managed to trap Killer B using a trick. Afterward, he was almost surrounded by dozens of Kumo Ninja. No matter how much he thought about it, Yemo still couldn't figure out what Jiraiya meant.
"It seems you still don't quite understand," Jiraiya said with a smile, seeing Yemo's confusion. "The commotion caused by the detonation of over a thousand Explosive Tag is considerable. Both the Kumogakure and we were alerted, and both sides simultaneously dispatched forces to the border. If the Kumo Ninja n't suddenly withdrawn, the two sides would almost have started fighting at the mountain stream border."
After listening to Jiraiya's explanation, Yemo's lips twitched. Such a move was actually possible. But thinking about it, it made sense. In the tense standoff between the two sides, the sudden commotion caused by thousands of Explosive Tag was like a small stone falling into the water. Although it was difficult to create any splashes, it was enough to break the calm of the entire lake and cause the already fragile calm to collapse instantly.
As for the Kumo Ninja's sudden withdrawal, Yemo felt that they must have received news of his appearance. Their target was him, and since they had discovered his presence in the Land of Lightning, there was no need to fight with Konoha. There would be no benefit in it, only an increased cost.
At this moment, Orochimaru, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up, immediately rebuking, "Yemo, it seems you are not yet ready to carry out missions alone. You were discovered as soon as you entered the Land of Lightning, not only causing the mission to fail, but also nearly throwing the battlefield into chaos."
"I know I was wrong, Teacher Orochimaru!" Yemo lowered his head, sincerely accepting the lesson.
At this moment, Jiraiya spoke up, defending Yemo: "Alright, alright, Orochimaru, why are you saying all this? Yemo has already done quite well. His first mission was an extraordinary A-rank Ninjutsu. It's normal for him to have many shortcomings. Our first mission was only a D-rank mission back then, and we almost failed."
"You have the nerve to say that? If it weren't for you, we would have almost failed even a D-rank mission back then." Orochimaru hadn't forgotten that stupid thing from back then, and now that Jiraiya brought it up, he naturally retorted.
Clearing his throat twice, Jiraiya realized he couldn't continue on this topic, or he'd lose face terribly. So he changed the subject, saying, "Although this mission wasn't successful, Yemo's performance was truly remarkable. To be so young, and a mere Genin who'd only been a ninja for a few days, to kill a Special Jōnin —that's something that hasn't happened in the Shinobi World for a long time."
Even Orochimaru, who had previously reprimanded Yemo with a blank expression, couldn't help but reveal a hint of pride when this was mentioned. The absurd thing of Genin defeating Jonin had actually happened, and the person who did it was none other than his disciple Yemo. One can imagine that when this matter spread, Yemo's reputation would surely soar, and he would even become famous throughout the Shinobi World. His teacher would also be very proud.