Crying Out in Pain

Looking at the corpses of their companions strewn across the ground, everyone from Konoha wore grave expressions.

The smell of blood filled their nostrils, thick and overpowering.

Even the pain in Goenji's body seemed to have dulled when he saw this scene.

He had only just arrived in this world, yet he already had to experience its cruelest war. His luck truly was terrible.

Fortunately, by his own estimation, his strength had now reached the level of a Jonin.

After several real battles, he had grown accustomed to fighting. He had killed so many people, yet aside from sensing the fragility of life, he did not feel that legendary urge to vomit after killing.

Maybe his brain was simply different!

He had not expected to encounter a battle of this scale during the retreat. A war involving over a hundred shinobi had nearly destroyed the surrounding environment.

Goenji swept his gaze around and found that this entire section of forest had basically been demolished. It was clear how intense the battle had been.

And there were plenty of battles like this in the Third Shinobi World War.

According to the original storyline, the most famous Battle of Kikyo Pass, the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, and the Third Raikage's battle against Iwagakure's army of ten thousand shinobi had not yet begun.

The most dangerous period had not passed yet.

With his current strength, he was still not capable of emerging completely unscathed from wars of this scale.

He still had to become stronger.

His current strength relied entirely on the Sharingan's powerful dynamic vision. His methods were still too limited, incapable of handling every situation.

Just thinking about those absurd ninjutsu—Flying Thunder God, Dust Release, Lightning Armor, and so on.

Even with his exceptional insight, all he had done was organize his basic methods and make them more versatile. Compared to those monsters, he was still far behind.

Fire Release. My current advantage is my extraordinary understanding of Fire Release. I need to develop my abilities in that area.

After some thought, Goenji decided to focus on developing Fire Release, with other methods serving as support.

True experts all excelled in one area, while having no shortcomings in the others.

At the same time, he was somewhat unwilling to accept it. His Sharingan had no chance of evolving into the Mangekyo Sharingan now, so he had to make up for it elsewhere. Otherwise, he would have no advantage in the future battles involving the Uchiha clan's extermination crisis, Obito Uchiha, and Madara Uchiha, who had shaped all of it.

The three-tomoe Sharingan was already so powerful. The Mangekyo Sharingan in reality definitely would not be like it appeared in the anime, where its performance depended entirely on its awakened abilities.

To use Fire Release to surpass the powerful figures of the shinobi world, he would have to make use of his clever brain.

First came the goal. At this stage, it definitely would not be attack power, because the enemies he encountered could all be dealt with using Shuriken. He did not need Great Fireball-level destructive power to handle most enemies.

When facing Kage Level opponents, or even elite veteran Jonin, attack power alone was useless.

The shinobi profession was an agility-based profession.

Anyone who had played games knew that, aside from a few stat monsters, most things came down to mechanics. Therefore, the Fire Release he developed could not emphasize attack power alone; it also needed utility.

For example, Itachi Uchiha's Amaterasu black flames and their inextinguishable nature; Jiraiya's Toad Oil Flame Bullet, which remained active as long as the oil had not burned out; or Mui of Hozuki Castle's Binding Technique: Fire Release: Heavenly Prison, which could bind a person's chakra.

And for now, he could not accomplish any of those.

The Fire Release techniques he currently knew were the Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson, and Dragon Flame Technique.

The Great Fireball could explode and create opportunities to attack.

The Phoenix Sage Fire Technique could launch multiple fireballs, restrict an enemy's movement, and make them easier to hit.

Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson attached flames to Shuriken, giving them the scorching heat of fire and increasing their power.

The Dragon Flame Technique was a straight-line charging attack. It was faster than the Great Fireball, but it did not explode and had stronger offensive power.

He had attack, restriction, high damage, and support.

That did not mean he was invincible. It meant that his weaknesses in those areas had already disappeared.

So he needed to develop a method that could compensate for his current shortcomings.

I'm still lacking close-range Nintaijutsu!

In the end, Goenji thought of this path, one he could begin developing right away and one that would be relatively simple.

For Nintaijutsu, he had Kumogakure's Lightning Release Chakra Mode in mind. He wanted to develop a Fire Release Chakra Mode.

The main reason was that in close combat, he truly lacked a suitable means of fighting at close range.

Relying on a short blade alone did not provide enough attack power or enough options.

However, developing Fire Release Chakra Mode was not something he could complete so easily. After all, it involved a great deal of knowledge, and he had not accumulated enough yet.

So his goal was to first develop a close-range Fire Release technique.

He considered many things, but only an instant passed in reality.

At the scene, Inuzuka Gaku, one of the unit's leaders, wore an ugly expression for a moment before speaking. "Follow the established plan. Begin moving toward the previous objective."

As soon as he spoke, everyone else looked at him, their eyes filled with doubt.

Kumogakure had just learned their route.

Were they not afraid that Kumogakure's people would continue attacking them?

Goenji was also full of confusion when he heard that.

But he quickly thought of something.

Inuzuka Gaku and Akimichi Dōtō were both characters who had appeared in the original story. His powerful mind immediately recalled them.

They were two shinobi who had once been teamed with Minato Namikaze, and their opponents were Kumogakure's A-B Combo.

In other words, the Fourth Raikage and Killer B.

At this stage, the opponent they were facing happened to be this pair from Kumogakure.

Could it be that Minato Namikaze is coming to support them?

And afterward, Minato Namikaze would fight the A-B Combo.

At that thought, Goenji's eyes lit up. If so, might he get the chance to witness Minato Namikaze's brilliance?

According to the intelligence from before, the A-B Combo had indeed appeared on battlefields in the nearby area and had already made a tremendous name for themselves. The possibility was high.

Sure enough.

Just as Goenji thought this, Inuzuka Gaku spoke. "Don't worry. Someone was originally supposed to support us. We just didn't expect the intelligence leak to cause such severe losses. Nothing else will happen."

As soon as he said that, everyone else finally relaxed.

Even Tekka Uchiha, whom Goenji was supporting, did the same.

No one wanted to die. If they had support, then things were indeed different.

The war had already kept them tense for too long, with no time to relieve the pressure. If the pressure became too great, Goenji even suspected that someone might defect.

Just like the other rogue shinobi.

Not everyone possessed an unwavering will to protect Konoha. If they could not endure the pressure, they could easily flee the village, becoming wandering shinobi of the shinobi world and wanted criminals of Konoha.

"Next time, we'll get even and make Kumogakure pay the price."

After Inuzuka Gaku finished speaking, everyone helped one another bandage the injured shinobi before setting off.

And Goenji had just relaxed somewhat, excited at the prospect of seeing Minato Namikaze, one of his favorite characters from the original work.

Hiss!

A piercing pain surged through him again.

The pain he had endured through the hormone rush of intense battle erupted all at once.

It made him cry out in pain.

Hearing his pained cry, everyone else looked at him, then began crying out as well.

They were in pain too!

"Damn it, is there any painkilling ninjutsu?"