The Calm Before the Storm, Orochimaru

Time flows like fine sand in an hourglass, and two years slipped away without notice.

These two years on the ninja continent had fallen into an eerie calm.

The high-level commissions that once came from skirmishes between small nations had sharply decreased.

Yet, oddly enough, as the economy gradually destabilized, the four great ninja villages—whose main business relied on bleeding small nations dry, then finding opportunities to recruit underlings or expand territory—had rarely refrained from stirring up conflict. It was as if they were still licking the wounds left by the First Ninja World War, recuperating in silence.

Konoha and the Land of Fire, as victors of the First Ninja World War, had already sensed something amiss. They secretly mobilized the spies planted in various nations, ordering them to keep a close watch on whether the great ninja villages were planning any major moves.

Little did they know, the four great ninja villages had already shifted their scheming hands from the ninja continent to overseas.

By the time they realized it, they would lose a powerful ally.

March 27, Year 33 of Konoha.

At Waterfall Place, some distance from Konoha.

By the shore of a pond stood a white-haired child, about 1.6 meters tall, with a face that still looked very young. His left hand gripped his right wrist, and his ice-blue eyes were fixed on the palm of his right hand.

On his right palm spun a blue energy ball the size of a ping-pong ball.

This energy ball was white inside and blue outside. The white core was a rapidly spinning vortex of chakra, the heart of the technique.

The ball was remarkably stable, clearly a completed ninjutsu.

Yet the white-haired child was not satisfied. His expression was serious, as if he wanted to add something more to it.

Though his body remained still, he gave off a sense of intense effort.

Under his focus, one strand of the countless chakra vortices forming the white core inside the energy ball suddenly turned black.

This sliver of black was inconspicuous within the whole—barely noticeable unless one looked closely.

But its appearance disrupted the balance of the energy ball. It was like boiling the water inside a balloon, making it scalding hot and on the verge of bursting.

Without a moment's hesitation, the white-haired child thrust the energy ball in his hand against the mountain wall nearby.

With a thunderous roar, gravel flew in all directions, and dust billowed up.

When the wind cleared the haze, the mountain wall revealed a massive crater covered in spiral patterns.

Just by looking at the crater's patterns, one could imagine that if that energy ball struck a person, they would be sent flying backward, spinning at high speed.

If chakra could enter the body like the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist, even the internal organs might be shredded.

Without a doubt, this was a high-level ninjutsu with devastating lethality—and a rare ninjutsu without hand seals in the ninja world.

Yet the white-haired child who had mastered this high-level technique—Gojo Yoru, now nine years old—showed no joy on his face. Instead, he muttered with some frustration, "Failed again. Is it really this hard?"

"Your chakra control and Shape Transformation are already sufficient. Perhaps you should focus on Nature Transformation."

"Who?!"

The sudden voice made Gojo Yoru's expression shift again.

This area was one he had carefully chosen—a waterfall place surrounded by forest.

He had also set up numerous steel wires and bells in the surrounding woods. Touching one would trigger a chain reaction, detonating deeply hidden Explosive Tags to create a loud noise and alert him.

Even if a wild beast accidentally tripped the alarm, Gojo Yoru would end his training for the day.

With such precautions, anyone who could appear here silently was no ordinary person.

Gojo Yoru prepared to mobilize the Space-Time Chakra within him while turning his head to look in the direction of the voice.

When he saw the speaker's appearance, his pupils contracted slightly.

Then, Gojo Yoru put on a respectful demeanor, bowed slightly toward the source of the voice, and said, "Lord Orochimaru."

By the pond's shore, a young man in a green vest had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Black long hair, pale skin, golden slit pupils, and purple eyeshadow—these were his signature traits.

This young man was one of the three personal disciples of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and would later be known as one of the Konoha Sannin: Orochimaru.

At this time, Orochimaru did not yet have the sinister and cunning aura of the future. Instead, he gave off a vibe similar to Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke—handsome, cool, and aloof.

Gojo Yoru was not afraid of Orochimaru from this era.

Orochimaru, who had not yet mixed with Shimura Danzō or fallen to darkness, was the Third Hokage's top candidate for the Fourth Hokage, a Konoha ninja who inherited the Will of Fire, and a reliable partner to whom Tsunade had entrusted her younger brother.

"What's your name, and how old are you?" Orochimaru studied Gojo Yoru across from him, growing more intrigued with each look.

From a distance, he had thought it was some genin training ninjutsu here.

But it turned out to be a child who had hit an early growth spurt.

That face looked even younger than Nawaki's. Could he be not even in his fifth year?

Gojo Yoru, naturally unaware of Orochimaru's thoughts, answered truthfully, "My name is Gojo Yoru. I'm nine years old."

"Gojo?"

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, "What relation are Gojo Sa and Gojo Mio to you?"

"It was my father and mother."

Lord Orochimaru thought to himself, As expected. On the surface, he offered gentle praise: "Your parents were both heroes, and you are a genius as well. That ninjutsu just now was beautiful and powerful."

"You flatter me, Lord Orochimaru." Gojo Yoru wore a modest expression, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief.

Parents who were jonin—truly an invisible network of connections.

"Why aren't you training inside the village? Why go out of your way to come here?"

Learning that Gojo Yoru was the descendant of an acquaintance, Orochimaru grew even more curious about him.

The reason he had sought out this place was that, on his way back, he had unexpectedly discovered a large amount of steel wire and some Explosive Tags. Unable to resist, he used an Earth Style Body Flicker to investigate, and by chance witnessed Gojo Yoru training the Rasengan.

A prematurely developed body meant an abnormal abundance of Physical Energy and Mental Energy.

The Chakra control and Shape Transformation contained in that ninjutsu meant its training difficulty was at least B-rank, and very likely A-rank. This was because Orochimaru suspected that Gojo Yoru had just been attempting to infuse it with Nature Transformation.

The combination of top-tier Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation—that was an S-Rank secret art.

To master a ninjutsu of such difficulty at nine years old, Gojo Yoru was fully qualified to graduate early. In fact, many chunin, even Special Jonin, did not possess such a trump card.

With talent like this, yet he didn't show it off, and even went out of his way to train here—was he trying to hide his edge?