Chapter 5: A Cry of Pain
The sight of corpses littering the battlefield left the surviving Konoha shinobi in heavy silence.
The fresh stench of blood hung in the air, strong enough to turn the stomach.
Yet strangely, the pain in Gōenji's body seemed to fade.
He had barely arrived in this world, and already he had been thrown into one of the most brutal wars imaginable.
My luck really is terrible.
Fortunately, by his own estimation, his current strength had already reached the level of a jōnin.
After several real battles, he was beginning to adapt to the rhythm of combat. He had killed more than enough people by now, yet he hadn't experienced the nausea or mental breakdown he'd once imagined would come with taking a life.
Instead, what he felt most strongly was the fragility of human life.
Maybe it's because my brain is different now.
Gōenji looked around.
He had never expected their retreat to turn into a battle of this scale.
Hundreds of shinobi had clashed here, and the surrounding forest had been almost completely destroyed.
Trees had been shattered.
The earth had been torn apart.
Blood and corpses were scattered across the battlefield.
This was the Third Shinobi World War.
Battles of this scale weren't particularly unusual during this period.
According to the original story, some of the most famous conflicts included the Battle of Kikyō Pass, the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, and the Third Raikage's legendary battle against the tens of thousands of Iwagakure shinobi.
And those battles hadn't even happened yet.
The most dangerous period of the war was still ahead.
At his current level, there was no way he could guarantee his survival in a large-scale battlefield like this.
He needed to become stronger.
Right now, too much of his combat ability depended on the extraordinary dynamic vision provided by his Sharingan.
His arsenal was still too limited.
Against ordinary shinobi, that might be enough.
Against true monsters...
It wasn't.
Images of terrifying techniques flashed through his mind.
The Flying Thunder God Technique.
Dust Release.
The Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Those were the kinds of powers that could truly dominate the battlefield.
Gōenji possessed an exceptional ability to comprehend and integrate information, allowing him to make his existing techniques more versatile. But compared with those monsters, he was still far behind.
Fire Release.
That was his greatest advantage.
His understanding of Fire Release was far beyond his understanding of other nature transformations.
So he decided to focus on it.
A true specialist needed overwhelming strength in one area while ensuring that his weaknesses weren't severe enough to become fatal.
At the same time, Gōenji couldn't help but develop a little ambition.
Since he had no realistic way to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan through his own emotional trauma, he'd have to compensate in other areas.
Otherwise, when the Uchiha clan eventually faced its massacre—or when he inevitably crossed paths with the people manipulating those events, such as Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara—he would have no advantage whatsoever.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan was already this powerful.
Then how terrifying would the Mangekyō Sharingan be?
In the anime, much of its strength had seemed to come from the unique abilities of each user's Mangekyō.
But Gōenji now understood that the real world was different.
If he wanted to use Fire Release to bridge the gap between himself and the strongest shinobi in the world, he needed to make use of his greatest asset.
His mind.
First, I need a clear goal.
At this stage, he wasn't going to pursue raw destructive power.
Against the enemies he was currently facing, a kunai or shuriken could often kill them just as effectively as a powerful ninjutsu.
There was no point wasting enormous amounts of chakra merely to increase the destructive power of an already lethal technique.
Against Kage-level opponents—or even veteran elite jōnin—raw attack power alone wasn't enough.
Shinobi fought through speed, information, positioning, and tactics.
It was like a game.
Aside from a few monsters whose attributes were overwhelmingly high, most opponents relied on the mechanics of the battle itself.
Therefore, the Fire Release techniques Gōenji developed couldn't focus solely on destructive power.
They needed utility.
Amaterasu, for example, possessed terrifying black flames that were extremely difficult to extinguish.
Jiraiya's Toad Oil Flame Bullet continued burning as long as there was oil to fuel it.
Hōzuki Castle's Fire Release: Heavenly Prison could even seal a person's chakra.
Those were the kinds of properties Gōenji wanted.
Unfortunately, he couldn't reproduce them yet.
His current Fire Release arsenal consisted mainly of the Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson, and Dragon Flame Jutsu.
The Great Fireball Technique possessed enough destructive power to create openings when used properly.
The Phoenix Sage Fire Technique could launch multiple fireballs at once, restricting an enemy's movements and making it easier to land subsequent attacks.
Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson allowed flames to be attached to shuriken, increasing their heat and destructive potential.
Dragon Flame Jutsu was a linear assault technique. It was faster than the Great Fireball Technique and didn't possess the same explosive properties, but it concentrated more power along a narrow trajectory.
Attack.
Suppression.
Burst damage.
Support.
He already had a fairly complete set of options.
That didn't mean he was invincible.
It simply meant he had covered some of the weaknesses in his current arsenal.
There was still one major problem.
I don't have a proper close-combat technique.
Gōenji finally recognized the gap.
That was something he could start developing immediately. Compared with creating a completely new high-level ninjutsu, it should be relatively straightforward.
As for the type of nature transformation he wanted to use...
Lightning Release immediately came to mind.
The Cloud shinobi's Lightning Release Chakra Mode was an obvious example.
If they could use Lightning Release to enhance their bodies, perhaps he could eventually develop something similar using Fire Release.
A Fire Release Chakra Mode.
But that was a long-term goal.
The immediate problem was simpler.
He lacked a reliable close-range combat technique.
Relying solely on a short sword left his attacks too limited and didn't provide enough offensive power against stronger opponents.
Developing a Fire Release Chakra Mode, however, would require an enormous amount of knowledge.
He didn't possess that knowledge yet.
So his first goal was to develop a close-range Fire Release technique.
He had already spent a considerable amount of time thinking about it.
But in reality, only a moment had passed.
One of the squad leaders, Inuzuka Gaku, suddenly spoke.
"According to the original plan, we'll continue toward our previous objective."
His words immediately drew confused looks from the surviving shinobi.
Just moments ago, Kumogakure had demonstrated that they knew Konoha's route.
Were they really going to continue along the same path?
Weren't they worried about another ambush?
Gōenji was equally puzzled.
Then the pieces suddenly fell into place.
Inuzuka Gaku.
Akimichi Dōtō.
Both were characters who had appeared in the original story.
And according to his memories, these two had eventually fought alongside Minato Namikaze against Kumogakure's famous A and B duo.
The Fourth Raikage and Killer B.
Could it be...
Is Minato coming to reinforce us?
Gōenji's eyes brightened.
If that was really the case, he might have the opportunity to see one of his favorite characters from the original story in person.
Minato Namikaze.
The Yellow Flash.
According to the intelligence they had received, A and B had already appeared on nearby battlefields and gained considerable fame.
That made it highly likely that they would eventually clash with Minato.
Sure enough, Inuzuka Gaku soon explained the situation.
"Don't worry. Reinforcements were already arranged."
He paused.
"We simply didn't expect our intelligence to be compromised, which resulted in such heavy losses. That won't happen again."
The surviving shinobi visibly relaxed.
Even Uchiha Tekka, who had been supporting himself through sheer willpower, let out a quiet breath.
No one wanted to die.
Having reinforcements nearby changed everything.
The war had been going on for a long time, and the pressure had become unbearable.
Gōenji couldn't help wondering whether prolonged pressure might eventually drive some shinobi to defect.
Not everyone possessed an unwavering determination to protect Konoha.
If someone could no longer endure the pressure, abandoning the village and becoming a missing-nin was entirely possible.
"Next time, we'll make Kumogakure pay for what they've done."
Inuzuka Gaku's words carried a grim determination.
The surviving shinobi helped one another rebandage their injuries before continuing onward.
Gōenji, meanwhile, had finally relaxed a little.
He was about to meet Minato Namikaze.
One of his favorite characters from the original story.
Then—
Hiss!
A sharp, tearing pain suddenly erupted throughout his body.
The adrenaline that had dulled his awareness of the pain was finally fading.
All the pain he had ignored came crashing back at once.
"AAAAH!"
Gōenji couldn't help crying out.
The surrounding shinobi immediately turned toward him.
Then their own expressions twisted.
They were in pain too.
One by one, several of them groaned or cried out as their injuries began to flare now that the battle was over.
Gōenji gritted his teeth.
"Damn it..."
"Isn't there some kind of pain-relief jutsu?!"