Ancient Ninjutsu

"You've probably heard that someone impersonating Jiraiya has appeared in the village. His existence has been a constant thorn in my side."

"He's been bothering you?"

"Hell no! The only way to clear my name and prove I'm not a peeping tom is to catch him, so I was hoping you could help me out, big bro."

"Jiraiya's been searching for him this whole time. There's nothing I can do to help you."

Danzo spread his hands helplessly, a troubled expression on his face.

In truth, Danzo had no intention of helping Shen Ye. If they never found the culprit and the misunderstanding continued to cling to Shen Ye,

that would be a wonderful outcome for Danzo. He would have dealt with Shen Ye without lifting a finger.

Shen Ye sighed deeply, pretending to be disappointed. Shaking his head, he started toward the exit.

Danzo leaned against the bed and watched Shen Ye leave in silence. Only after he had disappeared did Danzo's face twist into a vicious grimace.

An immature idea surfaced in Danzo's mind.

There were countless members of the Anbu. He could simply find someone he trusted and frame Shen Ye, ruining his reputation throughout the village.

Then Danzo wouldn't need to do a thing to achieve his goal. More often than not, destroying someone was more effective than killing them.

Shen Ye stepped back into the light and looked mockingly over his shoulder toward Danzo.

"If you want to come after me, I'll let you off easy this time. Next time, I'll just kill you."

He clenched his fist and realized that his strength seemed to have increased again. Even the flow of blood through his body felt much more vigorous.

Shen Ye immediately asked the system what skill he had stolen from Danzo.

If his guess was right, only the First's Wood Release techniques could possess such overwhelming vitality.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You successfully stole Danzo's skill: Wood Release: Root Explosion! Steal Skill cooldown: 3 hours."

Shen Ye nodded to himself. This time, he had not only stolen an offensive technique but had also strengthened his body.

He was curious to see how powerful the technique he had stolen from Danzo would be, given that Danzo had implanted Hashirama Cells into his own body.

Shen Ye looked around, then pushed off the ground and leaped onto a rooftop. He ran toward a distant forest, eager to test the technique's power.

But Shen Ye seemed to have forgotten that his system ability let him use stolen techniques at their full potential. He didn't need to spend much time training at all.

With no one around, Shen Ye drew a deep breath.

"Wood Release: Root Explosion!"

Feeling the chakra flow through him, Shen Ye thrust his right arm forward with all his strength. His pale arm instantly transformed into a massive tree trunk.

Countless plants in front of him were crushed and torn apart by the trunk.

The trunk slowly sank back into the ground, and Shen Ye's pale arm reappeared, smoother and more flawless than before.

However, he could only use the technique once with the chakra he had. His remaining chakra wasn't enough to perform it a second time in the near future.

"Even with the chakra absorption from Sage Mode, it'll take a few hours before I can use it again. I'll have to be careful with it."

"Young man, you can actually use the First's Wood Release techniques. It seems Lord Danzo was right. You're bound to become a menace sooner or later."

A masked man appeared before Shen Ye, leaning against a large tree with his arms folded across his chest.

Shen Ye took a good look at him. He was the man who had kidnapped Yue Xing that day. Danzo's intentions really had never been pure.

"As a shinobi of Konoha, are you still going to serve Danzo?"

"Lord Danzo only ordered me to keep an eye on you for now. But it seems I can't let you live any longer."

"Since I'm about to die anyway, can I at least find out what you really look like?"

The masked man nodded and slowly removed his mask, revealing his true face.

Shen Ye quickly searched his memory for anything he knew about the man, trying to find his most obvious weakness. He didn't want to waste any more time on him than necessary.

He had just used Wood Release: Root Explosion. Although he had recovered quite a bit since then, he still wasn't back to his peak.

"Other than Lord Danzo, you're the second person to see my true face. You can die in peace."

"Bai Dun, you really think I don't know anything about the Anbu?"

Shen Ye gave a sly laugh, his expression relaxing. Now it was Bai Dun who tensed up.

In the entire village, he was known only by his Anbu codename. The name Bai Dun had been sealed away the moment he joined the Anbu, and no one ever mentioned it.

"Who are you? How do you know something this classified?"

"Go ask the shinobi who've already died. Maybe they'll tell you."

Shen Ye stepped back with his right foot, gathering strength into his left fist before swinging it hard toward Bai Dun.

"Strength of a Hundred: Partial Multi-Size Technique!"

His enormous fist halted in midair, sending a powerful gust of wind hurtling toward Bai Dun.

Bai Dun's hair was swept back by the gust. He couldn't help narrowing his eyes.

"Having already fallen for that once, do you really think the same technique will scare me a second time?"

"Water Release: Water Wall Technique!"

Bai Dun formed Hand Seals and slammed his hands against the ground. A towering wall of water rose before him, blocking the powerful gust completely.

Shen Ye nodded. He had indeed only managed to scare Bai Dun off last time thanks to a surprise attack, and Bai Dun had been watching him for quite a while.

But after a few breaths, a huge hole appeared in the water wall. The secondary impact from the Strength of a Hundred had clearly taken effect.

Bai Dun had no time to react. The blow struck him, sending him flying backward a great distance.

"Your strength has grown so much in such a short time. I won't let you leave this forest alive today."

"And you won't leave either. Now that you've discovered my secret, you'd better lie down and die."

Shen Ye wasn't about to give Bai Dun a chance to catch his breath. He charged forward with a shuriken in hand, the clanging of their weapons ringing through the air.

Although Shen Ye hadn't graduated from the Ninja Academy, he was able to trade blows with Bai Dun, a Chunin, while wielding a shuriken.

Any other shinobi who saw this would never believe Shen Ye could pull off such an attack. Every strike forced Bai Dun to fight with all his strength.