Anko could hardly believe that Yeyu's Space-Time Ninjutsu was the Flying Thunder God Technique.
It was an S-rank forbidden technique. Her teacher, Orochimaru, had studied it back in the day.
He just hadn't mastered it.
Yeyu handed Anko the Kunai and asked, "What's there to be surprised about?"
Anko stared at his calm expression, at a loss for words. "This is an S-rank forbidden technique. The Fourth Hokage was the only one in all of Konoha who could use it. Do you know the title the Fourth Hokage earned—the Yellow Flash?"
"It was because of the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"But even after all these years, the Fourth Hokage was the only one who could use it."
The Fourth Hokage had been deeply respected by the generation of ninja Anko belonged to.
After all, they had been old enough to take part in the Third Ninja World War.
They often heard reports of Minato Namikaze's victories on the battlefield.
Back then, to Anko's generation, Minato Namikaze was practically a god.
And Yeyu had mastered this legendary technique.
"Y-you really know the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Anko still couldn't believe it. She wanted to make sure.
The technique was just too difficult. She couldn't believe someone who had only just graduated from the Ninja Academy could have mastered it.
Even if he was strong.
Konoha had no shortage of powerful ninja, but no one had learned the technique after the Fourth Hokage died.
Yeyu nodded. "Of course I do."
To Yeyu, mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique wasn't anything worth making a fuss over.
Earlier, when he'd told Hiruzen he had mastered three techniques, Hiruzen hadn't seemed all that surprised either.
In truth, Hiruzen had been quite shocked at the time. He just hadn't let it show.
That had left Yeyu with the impression that the technique was nothing special.
Besides, Yeyu had never used the Flying Thunder God Technique in a fight, so he hadn't thought it was particularly important to him.
After Yeyu confirmed it, Anko fell silent for a long time, staring at him blankly.
Yeyu sighed. "All right, stop spacing out. Take me to Ryūchi Cave."
Yeyu knew that to get to Ryūchi Cave, he could either find its location or use Reverse Summoning.
But without a contract, he'd have no coordinates and might end up lost in the space-time void.
Anko came back to herself and looked at Yeyu. "But you graduated from the Ninja Academy less than two months ago, didn't you?"
"When did you have time to train in such a difficult forbidden technique?"
"Did you start learning it while you were still at the Ninja Academy?"
Thinking of how Hiruzen had promoted Yeyu to Chunin as soon as he graduated, and even made him Hokage Assistant, Anko's imagination ran wild. She figured Hiruzen must have taken notice of Yeyu while he was still at the Ninja Academy and started training him back then.
Yeyu frowned. "Why are you still dwelling on that?"
"Does it matter how long it took? I learned it, didn't I?"
"Anyway, I'll need to sign a Summoning Contract with Ryūchi Cave before I can use Reverse Summoning, right?"
"That way, I'll have coordinates."
Anko wanted to say something about how Yeyu showed no reverence for the Flying Thunder God Technique.
But then she remembered that he had mastered it, while she didn't even know how it worked.
What right did she have to criticize him?
Maybe a technique that was impossibly difficult for her was easy for Yeyu.
After all, Yeyu was so strong and talented.
Still, her opinion of him had just shot up several notches.
Mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique put him in an entirely different league from those who hadn't.
It meant Yeyu was unlikely to die easily in battle from now on.
Combined with his outrageously powerful attacks, he might already be stronger than Kage Level.
At that thought, Anko's eyes widened. "You're only twelve, and you're already stronger than Kage Level? I can't imagine how strong you'll be when you're twenty."
"No wonder Hiruzen thinks so highly of you and made you Hokage Assistant right away."
"I'm starting to think Hiruzen plans to groom you as his successor."
Putting together everything that had happened to Yeyu, Anko immediately guessed Hiruzen's intentions.
Yeyu stood and walked over to Anko. "You're pretty sharp, Anko. Now hurry up and tell me how to sign a Summoning Contract with Ryūchi Cave."
Anko looked at Yeyu. "So my first mission is with you—and the future Hokage's first mission is going to be with me?"
She could hardly believe it.
Would this green young man really become Hokage someday?
Yeyu sighed. "Do you have any other questions? Ask them all now. Otherwise, you won't tell me how to sign the Summoning Contract, will you?"
They'd been talking about completely different things this whole time.
Anko shook her head. "No more questions. You really want to go to Ryūchi Cave?"
"It's dangerous."
"Orochimaru almost died there."
Yeyu hadn't known about that.
"He almost died? How?"
Anko thought for a moment, then said, "Orochimaru wanted to learn Senjutsu back then, but he failed the test and nearly got eaten by the White Snake Sage."
"Luckily, he knew a lot of escape techniques. Otherwise, there would've been no Sannin."
Yeyu hadn't expected that story.
"No wonder Manda shows Orochimaru so little respect. Besides Manda's personality, it probably looks down on Orochimaru for failing the test back then."
At Ryūchi Cave, anyone who wanted to learn Senjutsu had to pass a test. Those who failed were eaten by the giant snakes there.
The Senjutsu training at Ryūchi Cave and Mount Myoboku both ended badly for those who failed.
At Ryūchi Cave, you got eaten. At Mount Myoboku, you turned into a toad statue.
Yeyu didn't know what happened at Shikkotsu Forest, but he guessed it was no better than at Ryūchi Cave or Mount Myoboku.
However, Yeyu wasn't going to Ryūchi Cave to learn Senjutsu. He just wanted to subdue a few snakes and make them his Summoned Beasts.
He wasn't interested in ordinary snakes, and Manda was Orochimaru's Summoned Beast, so Yeyu had no interest in him.
Aoda or Garaga would be good choices. Neither of them had a summoner yet.
Both snakes were quite powerful, and according to the original story, they were stronger than Manda.
As for why Manda seemed stronger, perhaps it was because he appeared more often and had a more violent temper.
Aoda didn't seem as strong later on, mostly because of his personality. And when he did appear, he had to take part in a battle on the level of the Ten-Tails.
In a battle like that, it hardly mattered who showed up.
Anko looked at Yeyu. "You're not thinking of learning Senjutsu too, are you?"
She was worried he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation and would try to learn Senjutsu at Ryūchi Cave.
Ryūchi Cave's Senjutsu was indeed powerful—far stronger than Mount Myoboku's.
Kabuto Yakushi was proof. Mount Myoboku's Senjutsu had no stamina, while Kabuto's could last for several days.
Besides, Ryūchi Cave's Senjutsu focused on genjutsu, which could fill in the gap in Yeyu's abilities.
That was why Anko was worried.
Ryūchi Cave's Senjutsu complemented Yeyu's current abilities too perfectly.
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