Five Years Later-Who Else?

Five years later.

Shiraishi Yoshijo raced through the forest, wearing a butterfly mask.

A dozen Rain Ninja pursued him.

They kept firing shuriken at him, while the forest echoed with the blasts of Explosive Tags.

He was on a mission.

Ever since Hanzo of the Salamander had risen to power, the Land of Rain had grown increasingly restless.

Not only was it scouring the land for Ninjutsu, Secret Techniques, and forbidden techniques, it was also rapidly expanding its military.

The Five Great Nations had grown increasingly wary of Amegakure.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had also begun sending Anbu out frequently to gather intelligence on Amegakure.

Shiraishi Yoshijo was one of them.

Unfortunately, his luck was poor. He had been spotted as soon as he entered the Land of Rain.

He'd been chased the whole way like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Shiraishi Yoshijo glanced back at the Rain Ninja, a smile curling at his lips.

They didn't even understand the principle of never cornering a desperate enemy. They'd die for nothing.

After fleeing for another half hour, Shiraishi Yoshijo stopped.

The Rain Ninja behind him immediately surrounded him.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that. You've chased me for nearly two hours. I just don't get it—how much did Danzo pay you?"

"Danzo? You're one of Konoha's Anbu, aren't you? Come quietly with us, and you'll suffer a lot less."

One of the Rain Ninja spoke, a mocking glint in his eyes.

For more than a year, Konoha's Anbu had been frequently entering the Land of Rain to steal intelligence, driving Hanzo up the wall.

Hanzo was a ruthless man. He'd simply ordered his forces to kill any Konoha shinobi on sight.

These Rain Ninja guarded the border. The Konoha Anbu who ran into them rarely left behind an intact corpse.

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed.

"I really did overestimate how stupid people could be. Are you even shinobi?"

"I ran for ages, then suddenly stopped, and you just went ahead and surrounded me."

"I don't even know what to say. Well, whatever. Time to send you on your way!"

Lightning flashed in Shiraishi Yoshijo's hands.

The current traveled along the wires.

Countless wires covered every corner of the forest.

All of them began to crackle with lightning.

"Lightning Release: Scorch Flow Kill!"

The Rain Ninja surrounding him blanched and immediately tried to leap back.

The Rain Ninja who had spoken grabbed one of his comrades and shoved him in front of himself.

"A trap? You—"

A fist radiating terrifying heat punched straight through both him and the comrade he'd put in front of himself.

They died instantly!

Shiraishi Yoshijo watched the Rain Ninja flee in every direction and shook his head.

No one could escape his pursuit inside his Flash Thunder Formation. Not even Hanzo.

Half a minute later, he returned to the clearing and began cleaning up.

First, he arranged all the Rain Ninja's corpses in a row. While they'd only just died and their Chakra hadn't fully dispersed, he began absorbing it.

Every corpse he drained of Chakra was reduced to skin and bones.

Once he'd absorbed it all, a flash of high-temperature electricity swept through the clearing.

After destroying the bodies, he packed away his Flash Thunder Formation and tossed a Military Ration Pill into his mouth.

"Disgusting. Ugh, I'd better hurry and meet up with the others. If I'm late, I'll get chewed out again."

As he hurried along, he sensed the Chakra he'd just absorbed. Of the dozen Rain Ninja, only two seemed to have been Jonin. The rest were cannon fodder.

It wasn't even enough to fill one Acupoint Seal.

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed.

He'd spent the last five years fighting nonstop and had only filled a little over twenty Acupoint Seals. At this rate, it'd take forever to fill them all!

At most, he could currently release twenty Acupoint Seals. But the Chakra they gave him was already an astronomical amount.

He already had as much Chakra as a Jonin. Add the Chakra from the seals, and his reserves could easily reach Kage Level, with plenty to spare.

As for his Flash Thunder Formation, it was really just a trap made of wires.

Inside the trap, his Lightning Body Flicker could reach the speed of the Flying Thunder God.

Of course, there was more to his Lightning Body Flicker than that. He could also use it with his Thunder Butterflies.

He just didn't use it casually. The less others knew about his abilities, the safer he'd be.

Even his teammates didn't know.

When he reached the border of the Land of Rain, he followed the coded markers to a cave.

A fire was burning inside.

Shiraishi Yoshijo walked in, startling the three people there.

White Fang, Hatake Sakumo; Hanari, Kawaigawa Aonobu; and Shincho.

Hatake Sakumo said, "You're the last one here again. Can't you ever be on time?"

Hanari said, "Something must've happened again. No need to ask—we all know Danzo-sama will get blamed."

Shincho said nothing. Beneath her mask, her Sharingan slowly closed.

Shiraishi Yoshijo rubbed the back of his head as he walked in.

"Couldn't be helped. I was spotted as soon as I entered the Land of Rain. They chased me so hard I nearly ran my legs off."

"I don't know what Danzo promised the Rain Ninja, either. Good thing I was quick on my feet and led them into my Flash Thunder Formation."

He didn't need to say anything more. Nobody had ever escaped his Flash Thunder Formation.

His three teammates knew that well enough.

Still, just hearing Shiraishi Yoshijo say a couple of lines had made them pin another black pot on Danzo.

Hanari said, "Why are you so resentful of Danzo-sama? I heard you even blame him when you forget toilet paper."

Shiraishi Yoshijo: "..."

Hatake Sakumo said, "Danzo-sama is part of Konoha High Command, at least. Can't you show him a little respect? You've blamed him for at least a thousand things over the years. It makes things awkward for us whenever we see him."

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed. "I understand."

That was what he said, but it wasn't what he thought.

Was Shimura Danzo really the kind of man to let someone else take the blame?

As long as he was alive, Shiraishi Yoshijo was sure to pin two black pots on him every day.

He'd used to fear Danzo because he was weak. But who was he supposed to fear now? If he got mad enough, he could take a group of people and wipe out Danzo's hideout in minutes!

He had connections. If he still lived like he used to, he'd be wasting a background like his.

As his strength grew, Shiraishi Yoshijo had become more and more confident in Konoha.

Danzo usually went out of his way to avoid him. It wasn't that he was afraid of Shiraishi Yoshijo; he just couldn't afford to embarrass himself.

Whenever they met, Shiraishi Yoshijo would spout sarcastic nonsense at him. Danzo couldn't hit him or argue back, and either way, he'd look bad.

The Third Hokage had spoken to him about it several times, but none of it had done any good.

He said one thing to their faces and another behind their backs. Shiraishi Yoshijo had learned it all from those old schemers.

As for whether Danzo might turn against him, Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't think there was much chance of that in Konoha.

But whenever he left the village on a mission, he stayed on his guard.

Like this time, when he'd been spotted as soon as he entered the Land of Rain. Shiraishi Yoshijo was sure Danzo had something to do with it.

That was why he'd said those things to the Rain Ninja.

Might as well throw out a couple of accusations and see if they landed.

Even if Danzo really had nothing to do with it, he was still getting the blame.

Once someone's worldview took shape, changing it completely was no easy thing.

Someone might grow up seeing cows flying through the sky, then one day discover that cows grazed on the ground.

He'd wonder how the cow had fallen. Weren't cows supposed to eat clouds?

Even if someone told him cows couldn't fly, he wouldn't believe it.

Shiraishi Yoshijo had decided Danzo was no good. He'd grown up in Danzo's shadow, and now you wanted him to believe Danzo was a good man?

Yeah, right. You had to be one of Danzo's spies. He'd cut you down first and ask questions later!

Fortunately, he hadn't faced any life-threatening danger in the past few years. Otherwise, he'd have dared to go looking for Danzo with a blade the moment he returned to the village.

As for whether that would weaken Konoha's forces, why would someone planning to become a rogue ninja care?

Don't think he was joking. Over the past few years, he'd learned just how much power the ninja clans possessed.

Take the Takemoto Family, for example. They had more than a dozen Jonin, and over a hundred Chunin and Genin combined.

And that was only one clan. Konoha had at least thirty clans.

The Third Hokage's faction was the largest clan coalition, backed by the Senju and Shimura families.

Beneath them were the Yamanaka, Akimichi, Aburame, and other small and medium-sized clans—a coalition of nearly twenty clans.

The Uchiha stood on their own, while the Hyuga were a traditional noble clan that had always remained neutral.

Almost everyone else belonged to his side. As long as he didn't die—or even if he acted recklessly—the Third Hokage couldn't do anything about him.

If his clan were still around, he wouldn't be worried about clashing with the Third Hokage and the others.

Unfortunately, he was the only banner his clan had left.

But Shiraishi Yoshijo wasn't worried at all.

He was a man who could rely on his clan. The clan members being dead wasn't a problem—had anyone heard of the Ninja Butterfly Corps?

Over the past few years, under the pretext of mutual trust, he'd gotten plenty of benefits from Mei.

The old rule that Ninja Butterflies weren't allowed to fight had ended with him.

He'd conducted a census in Butterfly Habitat Valley, and the results were astounding.

There were more than a hundred and thirty Ninja Butterflies who'd been Jonin in life, and nearly two hundred who'd been Chunin and Genin.

There were more than a dozen former clan heads, each of whom had raised at least three Butterfly Seeds and had been a formidable figure.

Those clan heads were Mei's collection. Using her ability to manipulate life force, she kept those clan-head Ninja Butterflies alive indefinitely.

As for their fighting strength, Shiraishi Yoshijo had tested them more or less.

Ninja Butterflies were a species formed by clan members using the Cocoon Binding Technique, and they inherited everything their users had.

Whatever abilities the users had in life, the Ninja Butterflies could use as well.

They could take on human bodies. It wasn't the Transformation Technique; they had real human bodies.

Shiraishi Yoshijo had asked Mei about it. She said it was her ability—her power had caused the Ninja Butterflies to evolve.

Shiraishi Yoshijo had called it insane, and that had crushed the last of his wishful thinking.

He'd become a complete freeloader.

After finishing the census, Shiraishi Yoshijo got carried away.

He really did get carried away.

He just wanted to ask: who else?

Who else!