Ninjutsu Freedom

In the Shinobi World, being fixated on one's identity as a shinobi seemed rather narrow-minded. Still, if he had the choice, Yuzuru would prefer to remain human. It was a minor case of spiritual fastidiousness.

Since both methods of improving his defenses could achieve their purpose, and Yuzuru had already acquired Sage Transformation, while Soft Body Modification would require more resources, he naturally decided to set the latter aside for now.

Aside from Soft Body Modification, Yuzuru had also come across the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique. To be honest, he had already mastered it by accident... He couldn't help it; he'd gotten used to shedding his skin in Ryūchi Cave.

Snake Shedding was the core of the Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique.

It was a vital life-saving skill. Sasuke Uchiha had once used it to escape Itachi Uchiha's Amaterasu.

It wasn't a technique he'd use often, but it could save his life when necessary.

In short, if he set aside what he'd gained from Ryūchi Cave, then the most ordinary, practical technique Yuzuru had acquired after visiting Orochimaru's lab was the C-rank Shadow Snake Hand... He could practice that one. It was extremely useful.

After recording the knowledge in his mind and taking stock of everything, Yuzuru confirmed he hadn't missed anything. He put away his pen and scroll, then couldn't help sighing.

"I've already mastered a Tattoo Technique, and yet I still don't know even one Solid Clone Technique like the Shadow Clone Technique. Does that make any sense?"

Yuzuru popped a Soldier Pill into his mouth and rested with his eyes closed for a while. Then he shifted his train of thought slightly and began considering another question.

What does Konoha—or the shinobi villages, for that matter—mean to me?

Well, he didn't need to make the question so complicated or profound. At least in this part of the Land of Rain, his only option was to head toward Konoha.

Let me rephrase the question. How should I get out of the Land of Rain?

The north and east are areas where Iwagakure operates. The route through the Land of Grass looks safest, but there was just a major battle there. Iwagakure shinobi after a war are probably about as dangerous as...

The south is controlled by Sunagakure. Sunagakure shinobi frequently clash with Amegakure shinobi, and they create large areas filled with poison gas.

Should I leave the Land of Rain by heading southeast? Konoha's camp lies in that direction.

Or should I take the route I used last time and enter the Land of Birds...? Without teammates to support me, how am I supposed to cross Iwagakure's territory alone?

And then there are the Jinchuriki...

Hey, maybe I should spend two years roughing it in the Land of Rain. By then, the Second Shinobi World War should have died down considerably.

After thinking it over, Yuzuru realized how difficult it would be to leave the Land of Rain.

Staying in the Land of Rain was just a joke. Yuzuru had now decided on the best route: first head southeast through the Land of Rain for a while, then travel east into the Land of Grass, and finally follow the route through the Land of Grass back to Konoha's camp.

"Southeast..."

Yuzuru left the hollow tree, ready to head southeast. But after taking just one step, he stopped in his tracks.

"Uh... Which way is southeast?"

Finding one's bearings in the depths of the Land of Rain's forests was no easy task. Given the climate, he couldn't even see the sun.

Fortunately, Yuzuru was able to work out which way he'd come from the day before. If nothing unexpected had happened, he'd arrived from the east.

"Let's go. I hope I can trust my instincts."

Yuzuru stepped into the rain. If he could travel at full speed, he'd surely cross the Land of Rain in a single day. But surrounded by enemies on all sides, he had no choice but to stay alert and feel his way forward, bit by bit.

Although he called the changes in his body "Jugo Transformation," he was ultimately different from the Jugo who would come later... Jugo could use animals to sense his surroundings, but Yuzuru clearly couldn't do that.

Yuzuru didn't know exactly where he was in the Land of Rain, but one thing was certain: Amegakure lay ahead of him, not behind.

Once he started moving, Yuzuru was careful enough to conceal himself from sight flawlessly. However... there was no hiding his chakra signature.

Several hours later, Yuzuru entered the range of an enemy sensor ninja.

"Captain, someone's coming from the northwest..."

"How many?"

"Just one."

"Could it be one of our village's shinobi? Either way, prepare for battle."

"Yes."

Since they couldn't confirm the identity of the person approaching, they had to treat him as an enemy first. It was the obvious choice.

The Amegakure shinobi immediately formed a ring and waited in ambush for Yuzuru to arrive.

But when Yuzuru reached them at an unhurried pace, he suddenly stopped... His instincts told him something was off.

After spending so much time in the Land of Rain, Yuzuru had become very sensitive to his surroundings. He sensed something out of place, though its cause was hard to explain—he felt that the ambient sounds ahead weren't quite the same as before.

Without a second thought, he prepared to go around the area.

Seeing that their target hadn't taken the bait and wasn't even approaching the perimeter, the Amegakure shinobi had no choice but to reveal themselves... They had spotted Yuzuru's Konoha Forehead Protector.

"Uh..."

A talking tree? Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't seen stranger things. Yuzuru abruptly stopped, then wiped the rain from his face.

"If possible, could we pretend we didn't see each other?"

Of course, that was out of the question. This group of Amegakure shinobi had been lying in wait to ambush him, so they had only one answer:

"Kill!"

The tree trunk beneath Yuzuru's feet shuddered violently. Chakra burst from his feet without restraint, and just as the enemies charged toward him, he appeared without warning right in front of one of them.

Beneath the gloomy sky, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck, and the small battlefield in the woods was lit up as bright as day.

Yuzuru concealed the azure chakra sphere in the glare.

The lightning vanished in an instant, and the thunderclap that followed filled everyone's ears.

The thunder drowned out the faint sound of the Rasengan forming. In the next instant, the high-difficulty A-rank technique sank into the enemy's abdomen.

With his chakra reserves significantly increased, Yuzuru no longer had to carefully calculate how to spend every last bit of chakra during a fight.

He still couldn't afford to squander his chakra, but using multiple techniques in a single battle was no problem.

The average Amegakure shinobi was already weaker than those of the Three Great Shinobi Villages, and their numbers of jōnin and elite jōnin were even less impressive by comparison.

This squad of Chunin and Genin in front of Yuzuru had no way to deal with the high-speed, high-impact "combination" of the Body Flicker Technique and hand-seal-less ninjutsu.

The thunder faded, and one of the enemies fell into the rain.

At that moment, Yuzuru couldn't help thinking that habit was a terrifying thing.

Without realizing it, he'd grown used to the forests and rain of the Land of Rain, to the ambushes that could come at any moment and the ever-present hint of blood in the air. He'd even grown used to taking other people's lives...