Konoha Anbu Base
Li Yu closed the door, put on a green-patterned mask and the standard Anbu uniform, then draped a black cloak over it.
He picked up the intelligence reports he had recently gathered. Clashes had been breaking out frequently along the borders, every nation was making moves, and orders for shuriken and kunai from the Land of Iron had surged.
"These are all signs that war is about to begin."
"The Third Kazekage of the Land of Wind has been missing for days, but they still haven't declared war on Konoha. Could the Land of Wind have no plans to start a war?"
In truth, because of Li Yu's arrival, the butterfly had gently flapped its wings. The battle in the Land of Birds last time had frightened the people of the Land of Wind. Very few were said to have made it back, and they only half-believed the accounts of the battle.
"The conflict between the ninja hasn't been resolved. The war has only been postponed. This may be the calm before the storm."
"Today's the Chunin Ninja Exams. I'll go see how my three students perform, and take the chance to keep an eye on Uchiha Obito."
Li Yu formed Hand Seals and created a Wood Clone. Then he used Flying Thunder God to leave the Anbu Base and head to the Chunin exam grounds, intending to follow the exams from start to finish.
The Third Shinobi World War was just around the corner. Li Yu felt that his fighting style relied too much on large-area attacks and lacked power against individual targets. With Flying Thunder God, he could easily kill an elite jonin and even catch a Kage Level fighter off guard, but actually killing one would still be difficult.
He reached up and rubbed his left eye, sensing its abundant ocular power as a mysterious energy welled up.
In an instant, Li Yu's eyes opened to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. The three tomoe in his left eye spun rapidly, transforming into a four-pointed pinwheel. He followed the sensation and guided the power in his left eye outward.
A yellow skeletal torso appeared around Li Yu. It had horns atop its head and red eyes, and looked terrifying.
He casually swung both arms.
"Whoosh!"
The air whistled around them. The power was astonishing, but after trying a few times, Li Yu felt his left eye growing sore and tired.
"It looks like using Susanoo with just one Mangekyō Sharingan is still a bit strenuous."
"I need to find a chance to awaken the Mangekyō in my right eye as soon as possible."
But who else in the ninja world had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at this point? Shisui Uchiha and Uchiha Itachi wouldn't awaken theirs for a long time.
It seemed like his right-eye Mangekyō was a distant dream.
Dejected, Li Yu plopped down on a large rock, propped his chin on his hand, and stared pensively at the training ground.
"Do I have to awaken it on my own?"
"But it would cost me the life of someone closest to me."
That was a price Li Yu didn't want to pay. Most people who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan were influenced by it and driven to extremes. Thinking back to the original story, Itachi, Sasuke, Obito, Madara—which of them hadn't turned love into hatred and gone to extremes? They had paid a tremendous price to reach that realization, only to meet their deaths in the end.
Except for Sasuke, who had Naruto, the protagonist, constantly helping him. Even Naruto, protected by the protagonist's plot armor, had nearly died several times. It had taken the price of an arm to bring Sasuke back, so he would "come back to the light" and stop going to extremes.
Suddenly, Li Yu slapped his thigh.
"How could I have forgotten them?"
"Kakashi, Obito, Lord Madara."
"Uchiha Madara."
"He should be hiding in some remote corner right now, staying alive with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
According to the original story, Lord Madara should still have another Mangekyō Sharingan.
Li Yu had been in the Naruto World for quite some time, and everyone was curious about the legendary Uchiha Madara himself. Even though he was already an old man, Li Yu still wanted to see how much of his strength remained.
If he was going to do it, he might as well go big.
Having secretly made up his mind, Li Yu prepared to plan things out carefully.
Once he had thought it through, Li Yu leaped down from the rock and formed Hand Seals.
Two clouds of white smoke appeared at his sides.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Multi Shadow Clone!"
He extended both hands to either side, palms facing up. Two balls of blue chakra spun rapidly in opposite directions, while the Shadow Clones on either side infused them with Wind Release chakra.
With his powerful chakra control, Li Yu formed a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken in each hand. "Whoosh!" He used Flying Thunder God to move to the outskirts of Konoha.
He leaped high into the air and hurled the two Rasenshuriken toward opposite sides of a small hill.
"Fun should always be twice as good!"
"Rumble! Rumble!"
The two Rasenshuriken flew out, each surrounded by a huge blue sphere of light that spun in opposite directions. Like a meat grinder, they tore the small hill between them to pieces across a hundred-meter radius.
The attack was immensely powerful, and its tearing effect was even stronger than that of a single Rasenshuriken.
Li Yu had come up with the idea on the spur of the moment. He copied Naruto's method, creating clones to infuse the technique with elemental chakra, and unleashed Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Thanks to the Senju Clan's innate chakra control, he managed to pull it off in one go. That left him no choice but to use Flying Thunder God to leave the clan's training ground and test his new technique elsewhere.
Seeing how much of a commotion he had caused, Li Yu formed Hand Seals and slapped the ground, using Earth Release to restore the terrain and the small hill to their original state.
The scratches covering his hands faded, and the pain inside his bones gradually disappeared. Within minutes, he had recovered completely.
"The recovery of this powerful Sage body is incredible—definitely better than the Nine-Tails Chakra's healing ability."
"This must be one of the powers of the First's Yang Release."
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was an immensely powerful S-rank technique, so it was best to keep it hidden. Otherwise, the Anbu might notice something strange from the extent of the terrain damage. The ninja world valued intelligence above all; knowing an opponent's capabilities made it possible to find a way to counter them.
Li Yu still planned to use it to catch his opponents off guard and achieve the greatest effect during the Third Shinobi World War.
He used Flying Thunder God to return to the clan training ground, figuring that the longer he could keep it secret, the better.
Just then, several Anbu patrol ninja arrived at the scene.
"We heard two loud bangs just now, and saw a bright flash. It should have come from somewhere around here, but there aren't any obvious marks on the ground."
"That's strange."
"Exactly. A ninjutsu this powerful should have left the scene looking different."
An Anbu sensor ninja circled the small hill to inspect the area.
"There's a large amount of Wind Release chakra lingering in the air. That only happens when a large-scale Wind Release technique is used."
"Agreed. Quite a few nearby trees have been blown over, and their trunks have clean cuts, as if they were sliced through with a sharp weapon."
An Anbu ninja who appeared to be the leader wore a red dog-faced mask. He said, "If we've finished inspecting the area, report the information to Lord Hokage."
Hokage Office—inside the Hokage Office
The Anbu ninja in the dog mask brought three teammates to report the loud noises outside the village to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a drag on his pipe and sighed.
"The other villages have been making constant moves lately, and we've spotted ninja near the borders several times. We need to step up patrols inside and outside the village."
"Notify the Police Force and have the Uchiha Clan increase patrols within the village, in case the enemy uses genjutsu to sneak in."
"Step up questioning at the gates, and send any suspicious individuals to the Department of Torture and Interrogation. These are special times, so we must take special measures."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
The group received their orders and left the Hokage Office.
Li Yu hadn't expected his spur-of-the-moment experiment with a new technique to tighten security both inside and outside the village, leaving the Uchiha and the Anbu even busier.