Phantom Rain: Tokiya

Gojo Yoru did not interact much with Konan. It was for her own good.

He did not know what Orochimaru had come to Amegakure for, but it certainly was not sightseeing.

If Orochimaru caused any unrest in Amegakure, Gojo Yoru, who had come to Amegakure with him, would undoubtedly draw attention as well, including Konan, whom he had contacted.

Therefore, Gojo Yoru had no intention of growing closer to Konan.

He tucked the paper flower into a pocket inside his raincoat and continued wandering around Amegakure. Every so often, he stopped beneath an awning to buy local specialty snacks, stuffing his cheeks until they bulged like those of a carefree child.

Hanzo of the Salamander's residence stood in Amegakure's core district. Yet rather than a steel structure, it was a tower resembling a traditional building.

Though it was located in the core district, the area around the tower was as sparsely populated as the outskirts.

The greatest feature of this area was its broad, unobstructed view.

More than ten Rain Ninja wearing breathing masks guarded the tower's surroundings. Those were only the ones visible outside; who knew how many were inside the tower?

This showed that even though Hanzo of the Salamander stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World, he remained exceedingly cautious.

Inside the tower, a lump suddenly rose from the tatami in an empty corridor, like a swelling blister.

Then the bulge slowly took human form, becoming the disguised Orochimaru.

The moment he appeared, Orochimaru formed hand seals and released his Sensing Technique with all his strength.

Very quickly, Orochimaru's expression became incomparably grave. He murmured to himself, "So it's true. Things are really about to get chaotic."

To confirm it further, Orochimaru was about to burrow underground again and investigate the tower.

With a drip, a droplet suddenly fell from the ceiling, passing down over Orochimaru's eyes.

The next second, ripples emerged in the space before Orochimaru's eyes, like a mirage in the desert.

A figure wielding a Ninja Sword slowly solidified from the distortion.

"Phantom Rain... Tokiya."

Orochimaru spoke the man's title and name. Then a crack slowly appeared, running from his left shoulder to his right waist.

With a splat, Orochimaru's body, split in two, turned into a puddle of mud and fell to the ground.

"An Earth Clone? Is he Iwa-nin?" Tokiya murmured. "Could something have happened to Lord Hanzō?"

Though he said that, Tokiya moved swiftly, biting his finger and forming hand seals.

"Summoning Technique!"

Crouching down, Tokiya slapped the ground and summoned a bizarre-looking rat.

The rat merely sniffed the mud Orochimaru had left behind before burrowing into the earth and vanishing.

Before long, nine Rain Ninja in groups of three, all wearing breathing masks, transformed into afterimages invisible to the naked eye and sped toward the tower's southwest.

"So fast..."

Watching the Rain Ninja Body Flicker toward him, Orochimaru's true body showed not the slightest panic. Instead, he looked relaxed as he muttered, "I still can't sense that Chakra. It seems he's truly not in Amegakure."

As long as that great figure standing at the pinnacle of the Ninja World was absent, Orochimaru had nothing to fear.

Not only that, Orochimaru came up with the idea of using them.

He took out a palm-sized scroll and deliberately exposed it to the Rain Ninja's sight, then used Body Flicker toward Amegakure's Central Street.

Gojo Yoru was eating red bean pie at the moment. Aside from its specialty foods, this backward little place had absolutely nothing worth buying.

Gojo Yoru had not even considered bringing Uzumaki Kushina a souvenir.

He finally understood why, during every Ninja World War, the Land of Fire and Konoha became targets for every nation.

Their resources were simply too good.

The Land of Fire had no harsh environment. Trees grew everywhere, and the air was exceptionally fresh. As long as they did not die in war or accidents, people living there had a far higher average life expectancy than those in other countries.

Unless they had no other choice, merchants would always choose the Land of Fire and Konoha as their first places to do business.

Gojo Yoru continued wandering while eating red bean pie, finding it even more boring than waiting drearily in the uninhabited land.

While waiting in the uninhabited land, he at least had Orochimaru for company. Whenever he encountered something he did not understand, he could ask that Elite Jonin for guidance.

Now that he was alone in Amegakure, Gojo Yoru did not even know what he should do.

Orochimaru had not said whether he would stay overnight in Amegakure, so Gojo Yoru could not even go to an inn, get a room, take a hot bath, drink tea, eat some dumplings, and enjoy the rain.

For now, he could only kill time by eating, which also fit his persona as a gluttonous child.

Whoosh—

At that moment, a piercing sound tearing through the air exploded beside Gojo Yoru's ear.

"Move!"

The next second, a hand seized Gojo Yoru's shoulder. His body was lifted by tremendous force and sent flying onto a rooftop.

Seeing Orochimaru's solemn expression, Gojo Yoru's heart skipped a beat.

Holy shit, that expression... Don't tell me the demigod is chasing us?

Quickly taking control of his body and leaping away, Gojo Yoru glanced behind him. Seeing that only a group of Rain Ninja were pursuing them, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he turned back, ready to say something—

A scroll suddenly filled his vision.

Orochimaru looked grave as he said, "I'll hold off the people behind us. You must deliver this intelligence back to the village as quickly as possible. Do not stop for even a moment."

Orochimaru stuffed the scroll into Gojo Yoru's hands. After using Body Flicker to land, he immediately turned to face the speeding Rain Ninja and formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!"

The rain-soaked ground instantly liquefied and formed a massive earth dragon that roared toward the Rain Ninja.

"Sensei, be careful. I'll wait for you to come back."

Looking at Orochimaru's stirring back, Gojo Yoru did not insist on staying. After leaving those words behind, he used Earth Body Flicker to burrow underground and swiftly departed Amegakure.

After fleeing an unknown number of miles underground, Gojo Yoru finally emerged from the earth, having consumed half his Chakra.

The sky remained covered by heavy clouds. The rain curtain shrouded the land in a vast white haze, and all he could see around him were rocky mountains of varying heights.

Though he had left Amegakure, he was still within the Land of Rain.

Without pausing for a moment, Gojo Yoru continued running toward the Land of Fire while preparing to take a Ration Pill from his person to restore his strength.

Suddenly, as though he had seen something, Gojo Yoru's pupils contracted sharply.

Before he could take the Ration Pill, Gojo Yoru immediately formed hand seals to disrupt the flow of Chakra within his body. At the same time, he mobilized Space-Time Chakra to flood his entire body, ready to enter a state of full-body Phasing at any moment.

Swish—

The instant he formed the hand seals, Gojo Yoru saw a cold flash cutting toward him beneath the cover of the rain curtain.