Preparations After the Rain

Naruto Uzumaki had been feeling awful lately.

The Third Hokage had told him in no uncertain terms not to try training in the [Flame Explosion Technique] again, and not to tell anyone about it.

As compensation, Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him two new ninjutsu scrolls and told him to keep them secret.

[Rasengan], [Flying Thunder God Technique]!

Two for one was a fair deal, especially since neither technique was any easier to learn than the [Flame Explosion Technique] Naruto had obtained.

At first, Naruto had been somewhat reluctant. After all, he had already spent so long training in fire nature transformation.

He had made all the necessary preparations and was ready to start practicing the [Flame Explosion Technique].

But Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him a reason he couldn't refuse.

He told Naruto that if he mastered the two techniques, he would tell him who his parents were.

But if Naruto continued training in the [Flame Explosion Technique], Hiruzen Sarutobi would never tell him.

Naruto had immediately objected and pressed his grandfather, the Third Hokage, to tell him who his parents were.

All he got in response was silence.

Faced with that, Naruto had ultimately chosen to be understanding.

The Third Hokage had been the only person Naruto could rely on from the very beginning. He must have had his reasons.

So Naruto had no choice but to stop training in the [Flame Explosion Technique]. In his heart, he apologized to Hui.

What he was really thinking was that, once he learned who his parents were, he would start training in the [Flame Explosion Technique] again.

Because the two techniques were so difficult and no one was teaching him, Naruto's training had been going worse and worse lately.

Naruto hadn't even noticed that Sasuke had been acting strangely lately.

Sasuke had been both happy and sad lately.

His brother had finally returned after disappearing for five days.

He had spent the whole night chatting warmly with Sasuke and told him that he would soon be leaving on a long journey to carry out a very complicated mission.

He probably wouldn't see Sasuke for a long time, but Itachi had promised to return not long after the final exams.

At the same time, Itachi had patted Sasuke on the head and softly told him:

The [Flame Explosion Technique] could damage the heart. He was very worried about Sasuke, so he wanted Sasuke to avoid using it from now on.

He should spend more time talking with Fugaku and Mikoto while Itachi was away.

As for Senior Chuanhe, Sasuke absolutely mustn't visit him again until Itachi returned. It seemed he had something going on lately.

Sasuke had felt warm inside as he agreed to his brother's requests.

After all, Senior Chuanhe had told him recently that Fugaku actually loved him very much.

But Sasuke was deeply saddened by his brother's departure.

On the third day after that night of torrential rain, Hui noticed that his father had gone out for the first time in ages.

When he returned, a lingering gloom clouded his face.

Taking into account some of the things Hui had recently learned behind the scenes, it seemed the village would soon go to war with the Uchiha Clan.

The thought made Hui extremely anxious.

He had no idea just how strong he was in a fight.

The [Space Leap] technique was indeed a Space-Time Ninjutsu, just like the [Flying Thunder God Technique].

But because of its delay, it didn't offer much of an advantage on a head-on battlefield.

If war really broke out, he might not be able to fulfill his first wish—to protect his father.

Hui had recently been working on a set of ninjutsu tactics.

Aside from the [Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder], which had a kind of space-cutting ability, the most powerful ninjutsu he had was the [Flame Explosion Technique].

Even though it was only an initial version, the technique still took about a second to cast, not counting the time needed for a solid clone to release it.

So Hui had an idea.

He would use the [Transformation Technique] to turn the solid clone releasing the [Flame Explosion Technique] into a kunai.

The process wasn't simple, but Hui's chakra control was far beyond that of an ordinary ninja.

However, because of the [Flame Explosion Technique]'s four-dimensional properties, anything he transformed into would keep emitting flames until it exploded.

As Hui tested the technique, he kept praying inwardly that his mother wouldn't have to suffer this kind of pain in his place.

It seemed Yuki could hear him. This time, he finally received normal feedback from his clone.

Hui was thrilled. In five months, he would be able to communicate with his mother for real.

Suppressing his feelings, Hui continued thinking about combat.

The [Transformation Technique] solved the [Flame Explosion Technique]'s most awkward problem: it couldn't be released at close range in its complete form.

This method was actually well known among Uchiha jonin.

The reason it wasn't widely used was that unless a ninja had trained their ninjutsu to a certain level, knowing about the method wouldn't be enough to make it work.

As for mobility, Hui could fly, and he also had [Wave Treading], which let him move at high speed in the air.

On top of that, Hui had [Space Leap].

He wasn't worried about that.

The only problem was defense.

If he ever had to block a ninjutsu, he didn't seem to have any way to do it.

At that kind of close range, none of the ordinary Five Nature Transformations he knew could solve the problem.

Could [Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder] serve as a shield?

Hui was excited. Right, he had never heard of anything that could shatter space.

Chuanhe's lessons had made it crystal clear that everything in this world that looked like a spatial phenomenon was actually a dimensional phenomenon.

Calling them spatial phenomena wasn't technically wrong, but it was misleading.

Since he could briefly enter the fourth dimension, he could send other objects into it as well.

But this method seemed to take a lot of brainpower.

The longer he used his Four-Dimensional Perception and the deeper he perceived, the more severe the side effects on his brain became.

Just as they had when Chuanhe taught him.

Never mind, that wasn't important. He should give this defensive technique another name.

After all, it wasn't [Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder].

Even Chuanhe probably wouldn't be able to find anything Hui sent into the fourth dimension.

The three-dimensional world was already absurdly vast. Adding another dimension would be like comparing a sheet of paper to a thick book.

The result was like looking for one character on a sheet of paper to represent three dimensions, and looking for one character in a book to represent four.

Even that comparison understated the difference.

He would call it [Space Severing].

Hui thought of the name with some pride.

In appearance, it looked like a dark, bottomless disk that swallowed everything.

Although it looked a lot like a [Truth-Seeking Orb], it wasn't one.

To make it easier to understand, it was closer to what most people imagined a rift in space would look like.

The black disk could serve as a defense, but it could also be used to attack.

Hui could even shape it to some extent.

Unfortunately, at his current level, he could only use it at close range.

The good news was that nothing could withstand it.

At this point, Hui felt he might only be missing a long-range technique.

Well, it seemed he was also missing Taijutsu.

As for genjutsu, the necklace on his chest and his Sharingan could solve every problem.

At dinner, Hui finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Father, are we going to war? Is there anything I can do?"

Chuanhe didn't want Hui to face any of this. This was his fight.

It was the promise Chuanhe had made to Yuki, not Hui's responsibility.

But Hui wasn't in the same position as him. He was certainly Chuanhe's son, but he was also an Uchiha.

Chuanhe couldn't ignore that identity and make the decision for him.

If he did, he would become the kind of person he hated most.

In his previous life, he had lived the same kind of life, with other people making his decisions for him.

So Chuanhe said, "Hui, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the village has reached a point where it can no longer be resolved."

"If you were in charge, how would you handle this?"

Hui felt a little panicked. He was only six years old. Even though he now wielded great power, he was still just a child.

Ninja in this world tended to mature early, but the result was that the answers they came up with were often far too naive.

After thinking it over carefully and struggling with his feelings, Hui said to Chuanhe, "Father, why don't we just take the Uchiha Clan and leave Konoha? Sometimes taking a step back opens up a whole new world."

"Konoha does have a lot of dark corners, but I believe most Uchiha still see Konoha as something they need to protect."

"If they really hated it that much, there wouldn't be such deep divisions among them."

Hui's idea was much like Chuanhe's own, but it wasn't what Chuanhe wanted to hear.

At this point, Hui should have naively told him that they ought to sit down and have a good talk with the Konoha High Command.

Hui's thinking was getting closer and closer to that of the extreme Uchiha Chuanhe remembered.

They were different now, of course, but Chuanhe could already smell that manic streak.

He patted Hui's head and gazed into the distance beyond the window.

"That's a pretty good idea. I feel the same way."