Flying Thunder God Technique

A few days had passed since the first Joint Chunin Selection Exam, which had been dubbed "the first and worst generation."

Konohagakure still basked in the lingering warmth of the festivities.

The bustling shopping district was full of life, and people chatted excitedly about the Chunin Selection Exam.

That afternoon, at the Konoha Cafeteria,

Diejian sat at the table, slurping steaming udon. He squinted at the "cowlick" in front of him, unsure whether to laugh or feel exasperated.

Juri had buried her face in her folded arms and lay motionless on the table. Every now and then, her shoulders twitched as if she were sobbing, and she sniffled.

Diejian swallowed his chewed udon.

He fished another mouthful of noodles out of the bowl of steaming broth with his chopsticks and shoved it into his wide-open mouth.

He slurped them up.

The sounds of him slurping udon and Juri sniffing overlapped. Diejian stopped, leaving a few strands of noodle hanging from his mouth.

He glanced back and forth between the noodles lightly caught between his lips and Juri's cowlick, then quietly slurped them up without making a sound.

Whatever the reason, he'd lost his appetite.

He gently set his chopsticks down across the bowl.

He glanced to the side.

Sakumo had his head down, focused on his meal. Rather than an air of indifference, he seemed to be giving off the feeling that he simply didn't want to get involved.

The Konoha Cafeteria was as quiet as a vigil. Thanks to the owner's kindness, they had the place to themselves.

Outside, it was bright and noisy, a stark contrast to the closed-up restaurant.

The din seeped in through the cracks like a breeze. Most of it still seemed to be about the exam.

Whenever people excitedly brought up Diejian or Sakumo, Juri's shoulders gave a pronounced jerk.

This is so awkward...

His throat had inexplicably gone dry, so Diejian gulped down some warm tea to moisten it.

The two teacups clinked dully against the tabletop at the same time.

Sakumo and Diejian both remained silent, avoiding eye contact.

Neither wanted to draw attention to himself in front of Juri, who was surrounded by such an unsettling atmosphere.

The wind chimes ringing through the silence sounded especially ridiculous.

Diejian could only endure the moment in silence.

He spent some time in that place, where time seemed to pass indistinctly, and he couldn't tell whether a minute or ten had gone by. At last, a helping hand reached out to him.

It was Juri's gloomy older brother, Kagami Uchiha, who was also their teacher. He slid open the door to the diner.

The light from outside poured through the doorway and illuminated Kagami like a halo.

His younger sister lay motionless on the table, while his students sat shrouded in gloom, staring at their meals.

As their teacher, Kagami could easily guess the reason, but the unusual scene still made him hesitate for a moment.

Yamanaka Ina's surprise performance during the final round of the Chunin Selection Exam, Super Dimensional Ninja Kemari, was still fresh in their memories.

The ordinary spectators' opinions counted for little, but Konoha's leadership had unanimously approved her promotion to Chunin.

Though Diejian had also made it through to the end only to leave the exam in an unglamorous fashion, he too had been approved for promotion to Chunin.

One of the things they praised was his talent as a commander, demonstrated when he took the lead and directed the ninja.

Incidentally, his strategy of treating even himself as a pawn and taking out an enemy elite at the cost of his own life had been heavily emphasized.

Of course, Diejian himself had never intended anything of the sort. He had mixed feelings about it.

After losing, Sakumo had assumed he'd missed his chance at becoming a Chunin.

But the earlier exam hadn't been about whether a team won or lost.

The examiners had been looking for individual talents that shone during the competition.

After Juri had been sealed by Ina, Sakumo had immediately demonstrated his ability to regroup and command. His outstanding talent was far beyond the Genin level, and he was approved for promotion to Chunin.

Yamanaka Ina, Senju Diejian, and Hatake Sakumo: these three were the full list of Konoha Genin approved for promotion to Chunin in this exam.

So this meal at the Konoha Cafeteria had been arranged to celebrate Diejian and Sakumo's promotions.

Kagami was late because of some errands, but he had sent word for them to start without him.

Diejian and Sakumo exchanged a glance, then looked up at Kagami as he approached.

Their eyes clearly said, "That's your sister. Do something."

But Kagami wasn't exactly quick on the uptake.

All he offered his sister, who was still lying on the table, was a perfunctory consolation: "There'll be another chance."

Juri abruptly sat upright and fixed Diejian with a sharp glare.

What caught Diejian's attention most wasn't her red, swollen eyes, but the mark her forehead had gotten from lying on the table.

On her reddened forehead, the impression of the bandages wrapped around her arms stood out clearly. It was strangely cute.

Juri suddenly sprang at him with a loud cry. Diejian's mouth twitched as he thought, It's me.

Kagami seemed to find the situation a bit troublesome. Without a word, he changed his eyes into Sharingan.

Juri, who had been called by Kagami, was about to bite him too, but the next second, she slammed her face into the table with a thud.

It was a hypnotic genjutsu cast through the Sharingan.

Kagami smiled faintly and turned to Diejian and Sakumo.

"Don't tell Juri about this."

"Understood. So please don't point your Sharingan at me."

Sakumo gave Kagami a stiff smile as he smiled back, his Sharingan still active.

"Pardon me," Kagami said, deactivating his Sharingan. Diejian clutched his head, as if to say, "Is this really okay?" and tried to hold back his headache.

"I have the Sharingan too, so why...?"

This time, Juri suddenly started sobbing, and Kagami looked surprised.

"I didn't think she'd break free of it," Kagami muttered.

"Well, she didn't get to show off much before Ina sealed her... And since she lost to Ina, it's hard to judge her."

"Ah...?"

Sakumo's opinion was perfectly reasonable.

But when Juri heard the words "lost to Ina," two tomoe appeared in her eyes, and her murderous voice vibrated in her throat.

Panicking, Sakumo gently nudged Diejian in the side with his elbow, asking him to do something. Diejian sighed inwardly, wondering, Why me?

"Juri, you picked the wrong opponent."

Ina's new technique, the Mind Sealing Body Technique, was a Sealing Jutsu that directly bound an unguarded mind.

If it landed, it was an overpowered technique with the potential to overturn a difference in strength.

That was the kind of power Uzumaki-style Sealing Jutsu possessed.

The Uzumaki were distantly related to the Senju, Diejian's clan.

While the Senju had inherited the Sage Body and the Kekkei Genkai Wood Release since the age of the Sage of Six Paths, the Uzumaki had inherited all kinds of Sealing Jutsu.

It was said that the Sealing Jutsu passed down through the Uzumaki Clan could even seal Tailed Beasts. According to some accounts, they could even control the Death God.

If a person's mind were directly bound by a monstrous technique like that, probably only someone on the level of the Five Kage could break free.

It was nothing like the original Mind Body Switch Technique, which occupied the target's body while leaving their mind free.

So it wasn't that Juri wasn't good enough. In an earnest tone, Diejian told her, "You're already really strong, Juri."

Then he pleaded, "So please stop glaring at me with your Sharingan."

Juri pouted to emphasize how unhappy she was, but she seemed pleased by Diejian's praise.

She reluctantly deactivated her Sharingan.

Diejian rummaged around beneath the hem of his clothes.

That day, he wore a simple outfit with a traditional Japanese style. Small pockets had been sewn into its wide sleeves.

His hand emerged from beneath the hem holding a drawstring pouch. Juri looked interested, wondering what was inside.

"Here, candy. Want some?"

"You jerk! Don't treat me like a little kid!"

The open pouch was packed with an assortment of colorful candies.

Diejian took one out and held it toward Juri.

Juri's eyes narrowed with anger at the blatant way he was treating her like a child.

"Don't want it?"

"I didn't say I didn't, idiot!"

Juri had always loved snacks, especially sweets. She wasn't about to stay quiet while Diejian was putting the candy away.

The other three all thought the same thing—She really is a little kid—but none of them said it aloud and invited trouble.

"Idiot, let go."

"Hehe, you're so noisy."

Juri leaned toward the candy Diejian was offering and took it into her mouth along with his fingers.

The warmth of her saliva and the soft feel of her small tongue and lips enveloped his fingers.

Diejian inwardly laughed at this childish way of acting cute.

But he couldn't let it go on forever. With the fingers of his other hand, he made a circle and moved it toward Juri's forehead as she lightly gnawed at his finger, refusing to let go.

A forehead flick.

Juri understood what he meant. She snatched the candy with her tongue, then sat back up as if nothing had happened.

"You're acting just like Nawaki."

Diejian wiped Juri's drool away with a handkerchief and glared at her helplessly.

Nawaki was the name of Diejian's little brother.

He was at that age when he wanted to put everything in his mouth.

He'd even sucked on Diejian's toes.

"Speaking of which, how's Nawaki?"

"Yeah. Mom says he drinks a lot of milk and is doing great. Tsunade is always clinging to him, too."

"Maybe she's lonely because you don't play with her anymore."

"Maybe. But he's my little brother, too. He's adorable."

"Is that so? I'm an only child, so I'm a little jealous."

"You can come visit him sometime. He's still a baby who doesn't know anything. If you get along with him, maybe he'll call you 'Big Brother Sakumo.'"

Diejian said with a light laugh that was how he'd started calling his grandfather's students "big brothers."

Juri seemed to want to join the conversation as she rolled the candy around with her tongue, but it was in the way, and she couldn't open her mouth.

"By the way, I heard Ina's older sister had a baby, too."

"She's finally graduated to being an 'auntie,' huh?"

Juri, who seemed to have swallowed the candy, gave special emphasis to "auntie" and snorted.

"I wonder what I should get as a gift..." she murmured without thinking. It seemed her relationship with Ina had settled into that of close friends who loved to bicker.

"It's not Ina's baby, so you don't need to get anything too expensive, right? Unless you're close with her sister."

"Good point."

Their conversation wound down, and just then, Kagami's meal arrived.

Kagami praised the two of them for earning their Chunin promotions, then raised his cup for a toast.

Diejian and Sakumo returned his toast, and Juri started crying again.

Someone came to visit Tobirama, who was busy handling the aftermath of the Chunin Selection Exam.

"Are you sure about this, Second?"

"Ah, the Uzumaki elder."

"It's no way to talk while standing." The old man gestured toward a nearby chair, urging him to sit.

This deeply wrinkled old man was one of the influential opinion leaders in the Village of the Whirlpool, where the Uzumaki Clan lived.

He was a relative of Mito, Hashirama's wife, and a distant relative of Diejian as well.

So his influence couldn't be ignored, even in Konoha, a village outside his own.

"That boy wasn't using Earth Release in the final exam. That was..."

"Like my brother, he was using Wood Release."

"I knew it..."

The old man murmured, "Hmm," in response to Tobirama's frank, decisive answer.

"Isn't it too soon to promote him to Chunin?"

A promotion to Chunin meant that the future of "inheriting the Senju Clan" had taken on a definite shape. From now on, more people would likely covet Diejian's life.

On top of that, Diejian had used Wood Release in the final exam.

It had been overshadowed by Hatake Sakumo's outstanding performance, which demonstrated talent beyond the Genin level, or written off as Earth Release, but someone had surely noticed the truth.

That was what the old man was worried about.

Wouldn't it be better to keep him under the protection of a Jonin?

"That boy is already a ninja who can stand on his own."

Tobirama had once pushed Diejian to his limits.

It had been a series of brutal live-combat training sessions, one after another, excessive enough to be called cruel.

Exhausted, Diejian had lost consciousness. All he wanted was to kill the detestable Tobirama before him, and Chakra had surged out of him.

Tobirama knew the nature of the Chakra that had spilled out of Diejian's body. It wasn't something to be taken lightly.

Since then, Tobirama had also regarded Diejian as a dangerous factor and kept a certain degree of vigilance toward him.

After the exam, Tobirama had asked Diejian, "Why did you disobey orders and open the Eight Gates?"

Diejian, who had been sent to the hospital once again, replied, "Because I wanted to follow my own ninja way."

Then he explained his ninja way.

"Become the Senju who protects the village—who protects his comrades"

Rise above the barriers between clans and protect the people of the village.

Diejian had once said he would protect the village his older brother Hashirama loved. Somewhere along the way, he had begun to walk his own unwavering path.

With those words as the turning point, Tobirama truly accepted Diejian as his student.

That meant teaching Diejian every technique he had held back until now.

Tobirama said Diejian had reached "that stage" and possessed "that qualification" and "that capacity."

"Then..."

"Mm. I'll teach him everything I know, including the Flying Thunder God Technique and Impure World Reincarnation."

Even the old ancestor couldn't bring himself to say, "Let's skip Impure World Reincarnation."

★

"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!! I'm gonna die!!!"

"Before you ascend to heaven, I'll use my Forbidden Jutsu to drag your soul back. Go ahead and die without worry."

"Why not just kill me, then?"

"You seem lively enough." As he spoke, Tobirama increased the pressure pinning Diejian to the ground.

After a long time, Tobirama had taken Diejian away to a training ground passed down through the Senju Clan, far from Konohagakure.

Even as a Chunin, Diejian stood no chance of defeating Tobirama. His desperate resistance was suppressed within seconds.

Training like this without even explaining why was downright demonic.

Diejian's arms were restrained, and weights were strapped all over his body.

The weights were heavy enough that, with the Eight Inner Gates opened to the highest level he could currently manage, Diejian could barely stand.

A rod was fixed to his head, with Kunai and Military Ration Pills dangling from its end and swinging right in front of his eyes.

Being treated like a horse or pig chasing a dangling carrot made Diejian feel intensely uncomfortable.

"You can go down or up. Whatever you like."

"Y-you're kidding, right?"

"I'm not. Listen, Diejian. Focus your mind. Then fly."

The place where he was thrown this time was halfway down a canyon between sheer cliffs.

Desperate not to fall to his death, Diejian concentrated Chakra on the soles of his feet and clung tightly to the cliff face.

He didn't understand what Tobirama meant by those words, and begged him to "wait," but Tobirama returned with the Flying Thunder God Technique as usual.

He managed to cling to the cliff by using his climbing skills, but that was his limit. He couldn't move freely.

Still, at a height where the slightest lapse in concentration would send him plummeting to his death, all he could do was silently endure the ordeal.

Climbing down seemed easier, but he had no idea where the bottomless ravine ended.

If that was the case, climbing upward, where he could see the top, seemed better—but after several hours of climbing, he had made only a little progress.

He didn't even have the energy to wonder how he'd ended up in this situation.

This was far more grueling than anything he'd experienced before, a training exercise that brought him face-to-face with death, yet its purpose was completely unclear.

Perhaps it was meant to advance his training in the Eight Inner Gates, but Diejian's next step was opening the Third Gate, the Gate of Life. This training was far too harsh for that goal.

He couldn't stop the sweat pouring down like a waterfall, and his strength was visibly running out.

He no longer had the luxury of being picky.

At this rate, he'd die—he had to truly imitate the behavior of a beast.

In other words, no matter what, he had to get the Military Ration Pill swinging in front of him into his mouth.

Diejian gulped and began rocking his body.

★

Meanwhile, Ina and Sakumo had received word from Tsunade that Tobirama had taken Diejian away. The two had planned to spend some time together for the first time in a while, but they could only say, "Oh well," and happily continue their lunch.

"It was quite a while ago, but I think Diejian got the wrong idea."

"What did he misunderstand?"

Ina, who was eating dessert, looked up with interest.

"He thought you were pregnant."

"Huh? What on earth happened for him to come to that conclusion?"

Women really were clever creatures. Though she thought something blunt like, "Well, I'm old enough to have a child if I wanted one," Ina showed not the slightest hint of it in front of Sakumo.

"He mistook your older sister's baby for your child."

Sakumo added that he'd explained it badly too. "You'd have figured it out if you'd thought about it," he said, and Ina clutched her head.

"Speaking of Inoichi, Shuri gave my sister an enormous present."

Ina said she'd been "so surprised," and seemed grateful inside for her friend's thoughtfulness.

"I did suggest it," Sakumo said, apparently having expected this, and showed little reaction.

"Still, it's been a long time since we had a day off, but Diejian's pretty busy too."

"Rather than Diejian being busy, isn't the Second just putting him through the wringer?"

"True."

Ina laughed lightly and popped the last bite into her mouth, rolling it across her tongue to savor the sweetness.

"Well, there's nothing we can do if he's not here... Sakumo, you can have all of these."

She set a somewhat large paper bag on the table with a thump. It contained several boxes of sweets.

Sakumo asked what it was, and Ina said they were gifts to celebrate the birth.

The Yamanaka Clan was one of Konoha's prestigious clans, and the birth of a boy in the main family was bound to cause a huge stir.

Gifts from the various clans on friendly terms with them, led by the Sarutobi Clan, had piled up like a mountain.

By comparison, Nawaki, a male member of the Senju Clan, had an older brother named Diejian, so things were relatively quiet for such a distinguished family.

"Are you sure? Well, I won't refuse what I can take. Thanks."

"It's fine. We'd never finish all of it anyway."

"By the way," Ina said, as if she'd just remembered something, and gave Sakumo a playful wink.

Sakumo glanced at her, puzzled by the strange atmosphere. Ina gestured behind her with her head.

Sakumo slowly turned around and saw Shuri standing alone in a corner across the street.

"That girl's been standing there for a while. Sakumo, do you know anything?"

"No, I don't know a thing."

Ina murmured, "Hmm," and her gaze met Shuri's.

A smile appeared on Ina's face, free of any lingering awkwardness between them, and she gave a small wave. Shuri just turned her head away with a huff.

She'd probably happened to pass by, noticed a familiar face, and felt a little curious, but didn't have the nerve to come over and start a conversation.

"She's actually pretty cute. She looks hard to get along with, but she's easy to read."

"Well, she's better than you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ina lightly tapped Sakumo on the head with the edge of her hand and couldn't help laughing.

Shuri seemed to be watching Ina and Sakumo laughing together.

"Why not invite her over?"

"I thought you didn't really like Shuri."

At Sakumo's surprised remark, Ina shrugged and said, "Why wouldn't I?"

Ina had spent a long time working through Diejian's stubbornness and tendency to put on a brave front, and she took pride in having done so. To her, Shuri's feelings were plain as day.

Sakumo probably wouldn't believe her if she said Shuri was a lot like Diejian, but that was just a woman's intuition. There was nothing she could do about it.

Shuri, too, probably wouldn't hesitate to show her true self once a man worthy of her capacity came along.

Ina's only thought about Shuri was, "Anyone but that guy is fine."

"But seriously, she really is beautiful. I'm jealous."

"I thought you considered yourself beautiful."

"Hey. Don't make me sound like a narcissist."

Still, Ina was a girl old enough to be learning makeup and taking an interest in dressing up.

She was confident in the Yamanaka Clan's signature fair skin, pale gold hair, and green eyes, and she wasn't lacking in confidence about her well-trained figure either.

That was why she liked wearing clothes that showed a little skin. She felt she had nothing to hide.

But even so, the Uchiha Clan was on another level.

Her long, narrow double-lidded eyes, lustrous black hair that seemed to draw people in, skin so delicate you wanted to touch it—and, above all, her long legs.

Ina was confident about her own figure too, with assets most women couldn't match, but every time she saw Shuri, she felt the Uchiha Clan had an unfair advantage in that department.

If Ina was a woman with an energetic air and an alluring side beneath it, Shuri gave off a cold, stunning beauty that kept people at arm's length, yet somehow revealed an irresistible hint of innocence. That imbalance gave her an almost unfair kind of sex appeal.

As for that innocent side, it was probably mostly because of her twin tails.

They were different types, but the grass always looked greener on the other side.

Sakumo had gotten used to Shuri because he was often around her, but even he sometimes admired her beauty.

But Sakumo was a man who valued inner qualities over looks, so that was as far as it went.

To be honest, if they hadn't been classmates, he wouldn't have wanted anything to do with her.

"But if you do that, some weirdo might start bothering her."

"Well, I'm often with Shuri, so I can't deny that."

Shuri was always approached wherever she went, and at the recent Chunin Selection Exam, even shinobi from other villages had finally been drawn to her.

Most of her work was construction, but she did take on other missions too.

It wasn't unusual for men to hit on her at the mission site.

On top of that, she'd recently started to become more and more womanly.

As if on cue, several strange men had cornered Shuri.

They probably hadn't noticed the Uchiha crest on her back.

If they had, they should have been too intimidated to approach her.

Shuri could have simply shown them the crest, but she only furrowed her brows in displeasure, seeming at a loss.

Diejian usually stepped in for these kinds of problems, and Shuri didn't have much experience handling them on her own.

"I'll be right back."

As if she couldn't stand to watch the disturbance get any worse, Ina stood up.

Sakumo nodded and watched Ina leave, then called the server over to order more.

Just as the server disappeared into the back of the shop, the commotion outside grew louder.

He silently offered a prayer for the men whose names he didn't even know.

"Sorry to keep you waiting—"

"Sakumo, why didn't you come over?"

Ina returned to her seat as if nothing had happened, and Shuri, who had come along with her, sat down beside her.

"Aren't you a man? Aren't you my friend?" Shuri pouted, an expression that somehow didn't suit her appearance.

Sakumo had always felt that Shuri cared a lot about the division of roles between men and women—or rather, about things like manliness and femininity.

Contrary to her words and actions, she wore accessories and paid attention to small gestures that emphasized femininity, and she had enough conviction to demand that others do "the same."

Sakumo wasn't thinking about whether that was good or bad; it was the incongruity of the whole impression that struck him.

She seemed like the competitive type who hated drawing distinctions between men and women, yet in simpler terms, she also gave off the air of "a girl with romantic notions." Shuri always left him with a sense of incongruity.

Sakumo's unsparing assessment continued.

More than that, since the Chunin Ninja Exams, she had started to emphasize words like "friends" and "comrades" in particular.

That went against her usual self-centered behavior, but Sakumo knew she was, at heart, "a woman who valued her comrades and was deeply devoted to them," and he didn't have a problem with that in itself. Still, whenever he thought back to when Team Six had first been formed, he sometimes wondered if this was really the same person.

She was worlds apart from the girl who'd constantly insisted, "Senju are bad, Senju are bad," and turned her hostility on Sakumo too, simply because he was associated with the Senju.

Since then, whenever they sparred with Kagami, Shuri was always the first to go down, and Diejian was always the one to run to her aid.

When she failed during a mission, Diejian also seemed to be the first to rush to her aid.

Perhaps he was trying to curry favor with Shuri because she was an Uchiha—but with meddlesome Diejian, there was probably no ulterior motive.

Back when they were at the Ninja Academy, his excessive enthusiasm had often annoyed people or made them keep their distance, but it was difficult to stay hostile toward someone who kept showing you kindness.

Shuri had had no reason to hate Diejian apart from "he's a Senju." After going through days like that, she had, simply put, grown dependent on him.

If that had made her more honest, then she wouldn't be "Uchiha Shuri" anymore. Even Sakumo thought so.

But watching Shuri, who had started to give off a clear air of wanting attention, and Diejian, who was responding to her with the "real" attitude he used with Tsunade—perhaps because he was tired—made him feel impatient, so Sakumo had stopped intervening.

They could do as they pleased.

Just as Sakumo gave a dry laugh, the food they'd ordered arrived.

Shuri's gaze was fixed on the Kashiwa Mochi she loved. When she heard Sakumo was treating them, her displeasure over his not coming to help seemed to vanish at once.

It was one of the ways he'd learned from Diejian to deal with Shuri.

Sakumo looked at Ina, as if hoping she understood that he "wasn't looking down on her" in any sense. Ina either understood or pretended to, and asked with a beaming smile, "What about mine?"

Sakumo's shoulders slumped, and he ordered another serving.

They gathered in a fashionable teahouse, eating sweets, chattering and laughing as they celebrated their youth.

Meanwhile, a man was hanging alone from a sheer cliff.

Soaked through with sweat, Diejian had dangerously overused his Chakra and was struggling desperately to bite into a Military Ration Pill.

—Just a little more.

Huff, huff. Even his breathing had become uneven, and his eyes were beginning to lose focus.

His rationality had long since vanished. He was fixated only on the Military Ration Pill dangling in front of him.

—Just a little closer.

Even when he stuck out his tongue to touch it, it was still too far away to pull into his mouth.

The tiny amount of energy he got from the Military Ration Pill when his tongue touched it kept Diejian alive, prolonging this hell at the very limits of his endurance.

—Reach it.

His mouth tasted salty.

He couldn't tell whether the wetness on his face was sweat or tears.

He knew no one was coming to save him.

Tobirama was probably waiting for Diejian to change somehow, but Diejian had no idea what that change was supposed to be.

His arms were bound, and his technique had been sealed.

Even "Water Release: Heavenly Weeping," the one technique he could use without Hand Seals, couldn't cut the cord suspending the Military Ration Pill.

The second of the Eight Inner Gates, Gate of Healing, was already open. It wasn't that opening the third gate, Gate of Life, would be dangerous; Diejian simply couldn't open it in his current state.

He had no options left. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't reach it.

—Fly.

His consciousness flew away.

★

Tobirama watched in silence as the weighted objects vanished, following gravity into the darkness of the ravine.

He would have to retrieve them later.

Diejian slept in the crook of Tobirama's arm, taking deep breaths over and over.

The weights that had covered his entire body were gone. All he wore now were clothes soaked with sweat.

"How is he?"

"It took a while, but he made it."

After using the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to Mito, who had been waiting for him with everything prepared, Tobirama laid Diejian down on the bed they'd readied.

Mito hurried over and immediately used Medical Ninjutsu, pouring her Chakra into Diejian's body.

Keeping Diejian in the corner of his eye as Mito channeled Chakra into him, Tobirama brought a container full of medicinal liquid to the sleeping boy's lips and slowly tilted it.

Diejian's throat gurgled as the liquid in the container gradually dwindled.

It was a special medicine that promoted Chakra recovery.

For now, he was out of danger.

Tobirama had wanted to teach Diejian the knack for using a certain technique.

That technique was the Flying Thunder God Technique, one of the pinnacles of Space-Time Ninjutsu.

It demanded immense Chakra and an aptitude for Space-Time Ninjutsu. If it failed, the user could be transported somewhere unknown, and there was even the danger of losing part of their body, such as an arm or a leg.

It was a peak that couldn't be reached through half-hearted training.

The brutal training, comparable to torture, was meant to strip away unnecessary Chakra.

The Military Ration Pill he'd added was meant to push Diejian's will to press forward—to "fly"—to its limit.

Given Diejian's personality, Tobirama had seen that using the Flying Thunder God in peak condition would inevitably make him careless and arrogant. That was why he'd taken it upon himself to manipulate Diejian's body and inscribe the Flying Thunder God Formula on it.

The Kunai hanging above Diejian's head, meanwhile, bore a formula that corresponded to the Flying Thunder God Formula and Chakra inscribed on Diejian's body.

"Though it did take a while..."

Tobirama had thought Diejian couldn't possibly reach the stage where he could "fly" to the Kunai before him after only one or two tries. He gazed at his student's sleeping face with admiration.

Still, Diejian had only just touched the "surface" of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

To make sure he could "fly" consciously next time, Tobirama would throw him into an even harsher situation.

The real training was only just beginning.

Tobirama wondered what expression Diejian would wear when he found out—and his smile quietly deepened.