End-of-Volume Summary (Doesn't Count Toward Update Word Count, Can Be Skipped)

This volume ended here. Starting next chapter, Yunju would encounter more opportunities and forge more bonds.

Hidan and Kakuzu's battles with everyone were still ongoing.

This already showed that ordinary jonin were simply no match for Akatsuki's core members.

At the same time, Senju Yunju watched the entire deadly battle unfold, witnessing firsthand the strangeness and tyranny of the immortality secret technique. Amid brutal real combat, his understanding of Akatsuki's strength was reshaped, laying crucial groundwork for his future growth and secret technique development. Life and death had always been the most mysterious things.

As an author, what I had always wanted to do was write a high-quality fanfiction without OOC, so next I would still arrange for Jiraiya to enter the Rain Hidden Village's territory alone, filled with sensory barriers. Disguised as a traveler, he would probe step by step, glimpse the oppressive reality of people silenced under Pain's rule, lie low among the alleys, and prepare to pry open Akatsuki's secrets with the Toad World-Seeing Technique.

Of course, that was all for later.

Before that, there was still the story of an artist burning with rage, completely cutting off his path back to Akatsuki.

I hoped everyone would immerse themselves in all of this, because I had seriously thought through the plot details, including the characters' motivations.

In the next chapter, everyone would stand at a crossroads of fate: Jiraiya would head toward death, Deidara would betray Akatsuki, Yunju would be reborn, and Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha's fated showdown was also close at hand.

All the lurking, endurance, and pain would erupt in the next volume. A new storm was about to sweep across the entire ninja world.

In the meantime, readers could tell me at any time what kind of plot developments they wanted to see. I would read them, so please make sure to tell me what you wanted.

What I was struggling with now was how to write the next chapter's core events.

On one side was Jiraiya infiltrating the Rain Hidden Village alone, enduring the village-wide Rain Tiger sensing as he disguised himself as a traveler, probing step by step and investigating with restraint, only one final step away from touching Pain's ultimate truth;

On the other was Deidara escaping death, being betrayed and cast aside by Tobi, leaving Akatsuki with no one to rely on, then being left hanging at the hideout by a mysterious person for a full five days. His pride would be completely shattered, his character trajectory utterly rewritten. At the same time, the protagonist, Senju Yunju, would complete his transformation in a near-death crisis, make a leap in strength, and completely rise beyond the level of an ordinary jonin.

There was also the brothers' battle, as well as Tobi and Zetsu hiding nearby. All of that would require quite a bit of writing and skill.

I was even a little confused. I wanted to write a wish-fulfillment story, yet the protagonist was not a transmigrator. He had to fulfill those dreams according to my script without knowing anything. That was far too difficult to conceive, so if everyone had any plot developments or motivation suggestions they wanted to see, feel free to tell me in advance. I would definitely read them.

And anyone who had read a lot of novels knew that ninety percent of Naruto fanfiction on the market featured transmigrators with godlike perspectives, scripts in hand, foreknowledge of the future, changing fate and fulfilling dreams.

But this book was different.

My protagonist, Senju Yunju, was not a transmigrator. He had no memories, no script, no foresight. He knew nothing.

He was a completely native ninja of the ninja world.

He did not know who would die, who the villains were, which battle was one of destiny, or whose regrets would remain unresolved.

But what I wanted to write was the hardest kind of wish-fulfillment:

To let a local who knew nothing, on a path of confusion, exploration, and desperate survival, make every choice in the moment without any cheat-like foreknowledge. There was no predetermined script; every step was a gamble with his life.

Please give the book a quick add to your bookshelf, everyone!

Leave one more chapter comment, share one more idea—those would be the greatest support for this book, and my greatest motivation to keep writing a good wish-fulfillment story!