Danzo, you old bastard, you're pushing me into a fiery pit!

The meal passed without a ripple, though before they parted ways, Izumi Orange gazed at his face and whispered, "You're so handsome, don't go and die."

"I have no intention of dying."

The barbecue restaurant grew increasingly desolate; tonight, they were the only two customers.

The owner took the money Izumi Orange handed over, sighed heavily, and complained, "You two are teachers from the Ninja Academy, right?"

"How did the owner figure that out?"

"Only the Ninja Academy and the hospital staff aren't on the front lines, but the hospital staff are run off their feet. That only leaves the Academy; it wasn't hard to guess."

They settled the bill and left.

The streetlights in Konoha were dim, and Izumi Orange's shadow stretched long, slowly sinking into the darkness.

Byakuya shoved his hands into his pockets and headed toward the vegetable market.

It was a little past seven o'clock. Even though the weather had turned cold and the nights grew dark quickly, in his past experience, there were usually vendors still selling produce at this hour.

Most of these vendors were civilians from the village who grew vegetables in their own small plots. Since it wasn't worth opening a shop, they would simply lay a cloth on the ground in the designated alleys and start hawking their goods.

The prices were expensive compared to the outside world.

But there was no helping it; Konoha was essentially an independent city with a large population and high daily consumption. Supplies brought in from the outside could barely keep up with the demand.

He stood at the street corner.

The vegetable market was empty.

Completely deserted.

"Is this what war is? A violent disruption of the life we were accustomed to?"

The flower shop was still open, run by the Yamanaka clan. Or rather, all the prominent clans in the village had their own industries.

The clan representing the "Pig" in the "Ino-Shika-Cho" trio was visible on the surface through the various flower shops scattered across Konoha, though the darker side of their operations was beyond Byakuya's knowledge.

After all, the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques included the ability to read the memories of the dead and transmit information over long distances.

That made earning money far too easy.

He returned home.

Byakuya casually donned a mask and headed deep into the forest outside the village.

Effort brings rewards; hard work yields results.

The time-limited task issued by the Fate Grid was difficult, yes, but the rewards were generous—it was fair.

Byakuya summarized his past failures, and this training session went much more smoothly.

It lasted until the small hours of the morning.

He listened to the various strange sounds echoing through the forest.

He pulled up his panel.

Heaven Rewards Diligence, Perseverance Leads to Success

Time limit 6 days: Use your index finger to release chakra, creating one hundred non-dispersing water droplets on the water's surface, and maintain them for thirty seconds (52/100)

Reward: Enhanced chakra control

The progress was faster than he had imagined.

There was still plenty of time left for the task, so it wasn't worth sacrificing his sleep.

Sleep was also one of the most important ways to recover chakra.

Beyond completing the Fate Grid task, Byakuya still had to practice the Flying Thunder God.

He would put the Water Release: Water Severing Wave on hold for now; he would try again once his chakra control had improved.

However, the idea of developing a new Storm Release jutsu was gradually taking shape in his mind.

In the original history of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Uchiha Madara, who possessed power nearing that of the Sage of Six Paths, had used a technique called "Sage Art: Storm Release Light Fang."

He spat a laser from his mouth, a chakra beam similar to the Water Release: Water Gun Technique.

The Storm Release: Torrent Lightning he had developed from Water Release: Water Wave could be controlled and focused on a single point, but it still inherited the characteristics of Water Wave, remaining an impact-based, area-of-effect jutsu.

Now that he had Senju Tobirama's scroll on Water Release: Water Severing Wave, he also had the principles behind that technique.

He could certainly use the form of Uchiha Madara's Storm Release Light Fang as a reference and apply the principles of Water Severing Wave to develop his own Storm Release jutsu.

Byakuya was well aware that the nature transformations of the two jutsu were completely different.

The beauty of Storm Release was that it was a Kekkei Genkai born from the combination of water and lightning attributes, giving him plenty of room to maneuver.

"The new jutsu requires extremely strong chakra control; I must complete the time-limited task before I can begin."

"That old bastard Danzo hasn't given me a new mission yet; he's definitely cooking up something big."

"The new mission will likely involve the Sunagakure forces on the western front or the Kirigakure forces on the eastern front."

The danger levels of the two directions were different; Sunagakure, which was constantly being bled dry by chaos, would surely be safer than the treacherous Kirigakure.

The brutal training methods used by Kirigakure mean that even a slightly stronger Kirigakure Ninja is not easy to deal with.

The prerequisite is that for the mission targeting Sunagakure, I must not run into an enemy like Pakura again.

"Sigh, is the Third Mizukage of Kirigakure still alive at this point in time?"

Byakuya, who had jumped to the outskirts of the forest using the Flying Thunder God, suddenly thought, "Karatachi Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, only sealed the Three-Tails into himself after the death of Nohara Rin."

He racked his brains to recall, but because the timeline of the Third Great Ninja War in the original work was particularly chaotic, he did not obtain any valuable information.

He returned home and soaked in the bathtub.

Byakuya murmured, "The Third Great Ninja War hasn't been going on for long. Konoha has built defensive lines against Iwagakure and Cloud Ninja on the front lines. In the west, Sunagakure in the Land of Wind is plagued by internal and external troubles; Rasa should have only just stabilized his position. Combined with the failure of the Iwagakure invasion, they might stay quiet for a while. In the east, Kirigakure is still looking for an opportunity to land. I just don't know when the Seven Ninja Swordsmen will appear... wait."

He sat up abruptly from the bathtub.

"Namikaze Minato is being held back on the front lines by Killer B and the future Fourth Raikage, and the Third Raikage is fighting Iwagakure. Is he about to die under the siege of Iwagakure?"

Although he had a god's-eye view, the battlefield intelligence he possessed was truly too scarce to form a definitive judgment.

"Forget it, what does that have to do with me?"

"I just need to keep my head down and survive."

Byakuya's expression suddenly turned ugly, "As for someone like Izumi Orange, since that old bastard Danzo let me know her identity, he definitely isn't planning anything good."

Sure enough.

The next day, Hiroya found him in high spirits.

"Byakuya, I really became the principal of the Ninja Academy! The great Third Hokage has chosen to step behind the scenes and serve as the honorary principal of the Konoha Ninja Academy!"

"Congratulations, Principal Hiroya."

"Please, sit down. There is one more thing."

"What is it?"

Hiroya took a few deep breaths to suppress his overflowing excitement and solemnly handed him a scroll.

"This is your new mission."

"Has the principal not looked at it?"

"I am not qualified to know the contents of this mission."

Byakuya did not rush to open it, "When does it start?"

"The higher-ups say you have four days to prepare. Try to prepare as many supplies as you can carry."

"I understand. Principal Hiroya, is there any new news in the village?"

"Yes, Namikaze Minato is fighting more and more bravely on the Cloud Ninja front, and many reports of victory have been sent back."

"How is the war between the Cloud Ninja and Iwagakure going?"

"I am not clear on that."

"Alright, farewell."

"Byakuya, your salary for this month will be ten times higher."

"Huh?" His first thought was, Is there some trap waiting for me to jump into? "Why?"

"You completed two important missions for Root, so the higher-ups are rewarding you."

This is bad.

When things are abnormal, there must be a demon.

Root had already given him his rewards.

He opened the mission scroll in front of Hiroya.

Byakuya's face instantly turned gloomy.

The mission seemed simple enough.

Make contact with Pakura of Sunagakure, inform her of Konoha's desire to form an alliance, have her convey this to the Sunagakure high command, and bring back Sunagakure's decision.

Damn that old bastard Danzo, you are pushing me into a pit of fire!!!