Return

On a small hill, Shiro held Kizuna and occasionally fired an arrow, though most of the time, he was simply watching.

Three months had passed since that training session. After three months of cultivation, Shiro's strength could already rival that of a Chunin. He could even fight an elite Chunin alone and only be at a slight disadvantage. If he used his trump cards, he might even be able to kill them in return, though he had yet to try, so he did not know for certain.

However, because the frontline troops had yet to return, Shiro was still a Genin and had not been assigned to a new team. The missions he carried out now no longer provided much training for him, so he began slacking off in his role as an Archer, holding Kizuna and providing long-range support for Seiyu and the others.

Over these three months, Shiro's Projection Magecraft finally made a breakthrough. He could now project some lower-ranked Noble Phantasms. He could project Noble Phantasms of D++ rank and below, though only E-rank Noble Phantasms could currently be used properly in battle. As for why he used Kizuna instead of bow-type Noble Phantasms—

That was because Shiro could not yet alter the shapes of projected Noble Phantasms. They were too large.

Besides, he was only dealing with some bandits. There was no need to use Noble Phantasms.

At the same time, this showed just how chaotic the world of the Hokage was. Bandits were like weeds; no matter how they were suppressed, they could never be wiped out. This made Shiro grateful once again that he had transmigrated to Konoha.

Additionally, it was worth mentioning that the system retained the structural data for most Noble Phantasms. In other words, Shiro could project Noble Phantasms based on that data. Otherwise, his Projection Magecraft would not have been all that useful. After all, part of why Shirou Emiya had been so formidable was because he had seen the Gate of Babylon. (Rin Route. Note: Gate of Babylon: possesses the prototypes of all Noble Phantasms in the world.)

Shiro could project them using the data provided by the system, which saved him a great deal of trouble. After all, he did not have Shirou Emiya's wild imagination, capable of projecting Kanshou and Bakuya through sheer imagination alone. Or so it seemed.

Speaking of the system, Shiro felt rather speechless. He had originally thought that the easiest part of raising Mana to B-rank would be accumulating that fifty percent energy. Yet the upper limit of the energy reserve was tied to the restoration rate, and the system's current restoration rate was thirty-five percent.

Therefore, Shiro still had a long way to go before his Chakra could evolve into Chakra-ton.

After three months of training, Chosuke and the others had also improved greatly. They were no longer like they had been over three months ago, forced to use Explosive Tags when facing a group of bandits. Now, they could independently deal with a bandit group without rogue ninjas.

In truth, Chosuke and the others had only just reached the level expected of Genin who had graduated for a year. Aside from their mentality, they had barely grown during that year on the battlefield. However, their growth would probably not be as rapid as it had been over these past three months. They had already digested most of their accumulated experience, so it was normal for things to slow down from here on.

After seeing Seiyu and the others finish off the bandits, Shiro came down from the hill. It was also worth mentioning that Shiro had not yet mastered the Holding Ability: Clairvoyance. He had merely used Reinforcement Magecraft to strengthen his eyes. Although he could not see as far as Clairvoyance, his limit was still seven or eight hundred meters, which was enough for now, since Shiro's range was only a little over three hundred meters.

"Nicely done, Chosuke, Seiyu."

The moment Shiro saw them, he immediately praised them. Yet to his surprise, Chosuke and the others all had their heads lowered, looking utterly dejected. There was not the slightest sign of joy at their victory.

Could Yamada have died?!

At that thought, Shiro's pupils suddenly contracted! He activated the Sharingan!

Ahem. That had all been Shiro's imagination. First, Yamada was not dead. Second, Shiro did not have Uchiha blood. Even if he awakened anything, it would be crossed eyes.

At that moment, Yamada appeared and interrupted Shiro's thoughts. Shiro could not be bothered to keep guessing, so he simply asked, "What's wrong with them?"

"The frontline troops are about to return."

"So? It doesn't seem like they have any friends or family at the front, right?"

"Sigh... Once the frontline troops return, the teams will be reassigned. Your current strength has already far surpassed theirs, so it's practically certain that you'll leave the team. This should be the last mission we do together."

"That's all?!" Shiro said in astonishment. "No, can't we still get together normally? It's not like I'm defecting from the village. It doesn't have to be this serious, does it?"

"That's why I say you're a little too mature. Kids shouldn't have to bear so much," Yamada said helplessly.

"Uh, all right."

Shiro did not know how to comfort them. He had already explained the reasoning to them long ago. In the end, they had to come to terms with this themselves. Other people's persuasion would not be very effective.

Thus, the journey back was rather silent. At the same time, Yamada had reminded Shiro that the frontline troops were about to return, which meant that Ryūchi Cave's trial was drawing near!

Shiro did not care much about Sage Art, since Projection Magecraft was already enough for him. But the snakes of Ryūchi Cave were powerful! Summoning beasts of that level were not something one could find casually.

Therefore, Shiro was still looking forward to it. Moreover, before setting out, Orochimaru had already revealed that as long as Shiro defeated the Cannon Fodder Snake sent by Ryūchi Cave, he would pass the trial. According to Orochimaru, the Cannon Fodder Snake was roughly as strong as an elite Chunin.

However, Shiro was not too worried at the moment, because he had prepared a great gift for the Cannon Fodder Snake. For that, he had specifically sought out Kushina and asked her to have the Third Hokage help him slightly improve a technique.

Thus, Shiro was now eagerly awaiting a battle with the summoned snake.

This mission had been relatively close, only three days away, so Shiro and the others returned quickly. Even so, by the time they came back, the frontline troops had already returned to the village yesterday.

After Team Yamada turned in their mission, they went their separate ways. Yamada had to meet friends who had returned from the front, while Shiro also had to visit Minato. Not going yesterday had worked out perfectly, since he would not have disturbed the two of them. Today, he could go.

However, when Shiro arrived at Kushina's home, it was exceptionally quiet. He only saw Kushina crying off to the side while Minato comforted her. Judging by Kushina's reddened eyes, she had clearly been crying for quite some time.

Shiro's first thought was that Minato had bullied her, but he immediately dismissed it. After all, they were still young—ptui! No, Minato had a gentle personality and would not bully Kushina. It was more likely that Kushina bullied him.

He immediately stepped forward and quietly asked Minato, "What happened to the boss lady?"

"Tsunade's lover, Brother Dan, died," Minato said somewhat dejectedly.

Shiro fell silent. Though they had not spent much time together, Dan had left a good impression on him. Shiro had liked the man quite a bit. Although he had known this would happen, he had still hoped that his little butterfly effect could bring about greater changes. Unfortunately, heaven did not grant his wishes.

Looks like I'm still too weak. If I were stronger, if I could cause more changes, if I could... Shiro raised his head and silently looked at the sky. But there are no so many ifs.

After staying with Kushina for a while, Shiro returned home. That night, he thought about many things. He had originally believed that at his current rate of growth, the Nine-Tails Incident could be prevented. But what about the Third Shinobi World War? Nothing had happened in the original story, but that did not mean nothing would happen now. No one could say what the future would hold. Thus, Shiro added the technique he had abandoned due to its excessive cost back into his daily training and continued developing it.

If that technique could be completed, he was confident he could beat Kaguya Otsutsuki to a pulp!

Sorry, that's all for today. My head feels really dizzy, so please make do with this. I'm truly sorry.