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In a single day, Taiichi covered over a hundred kilometers, crisscrossing the battlefield multiple times. But whether his luck had finally run out or others kept beating him to the punch, he ended up with almost nothing to show for it.
Sometimes the targets were already gone by the time he arrived. Other times, fellow Leaf shinobi got there first.
By late afternoon, he gave up and turned south, heading straight for the Land of Wind.
At seven in the evening, Taiichi casually picked a large tree, drove one of his Flying Thunder God kunai into the roots, and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
When he reappeared, he was standing inside his own tent back at the Leaf camp.
Laughter and playful shouting filled the air. Yohei, Kakashi, Obito, Rin, and Saori were all there, clearly in high spirits. They must have finished their mission successfully.
"Taiichi? What's going on?" Yohei asked first.
He had just seen Taiichi at the medical camp earlier. Why had he suddenly used Flying Thunder God to return?
Wait—something was off. Taiichi was covered in dust, and there were bloodstains on his clothes. He definitely wasn't wearing his usual white medical coat.
"That's the real one, right? The medical camp version is a shadow clone. You went out on a mission?" Yohei said, though it came out more like a statement than a question.
Yohei's brain worked fast. Just from the dust and blood, he had already pieced it together.
Taiichi gave him a thumbs-up. "Impressive. You nailed it."
Yohei's eyes instantly turned red—not from activating his Sharingan, but from pure, burning envy.
"Taiichi, that combo is way too broken! Flying Thunder God plus shadow clones? You can literally go anywhere you want without worrying about splitting yourself too thin!"
Once Yohei pointed it out, everyone else caught on. Taiichi no longer had to stay stuck at the medical camp. He could take field missions and still keep the camp running. It was the perfect setup.
"Taiichi, do you think we could learn Flying Thunder God too?" Obito blurted out first, unable to contain himself.
Taiichi looked at their hopeful faces and hated to crush their dreams, but he had to be honest.
"Extremely unlikely."
"Eh?!" Obito's face fell instantly. "You learned it! Why can't we?"
Taiichi didn't blame him for the blunt question. He simply listed the requirements.
"First, you need enough achievements to earn the right to even look at the Sealed Book."
"I can do that!" Obito said confidently. "I'll just take more missions. One year, two years—eventually I'll rack up enough!"
Taiichi didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Maybe some people could, but an Uchiha? Not while the Third Hokage was still in charge. Especially not for something as strategically important as Flying Thunder God.
"Second, you need a solid foundation in sealing techniques. Otherwise you won't even understand the formula."
Obito's face went pale. Sealing techniques? Those weird scribbles? But he refused to back down. "N-no problem! I can learn that too!"
"The last part is the most important. It's also why only Minato-senpai and I have managed to learn it so far."
Everyone leaned in, eyes shining. The first two requirements were things they could all achieve eventually. This final one had to be the key.
"You need space-time talent. Without it, you'll never master Flying Thunder God no matter how hard you try."
Blank stares all around. Space-time talent? What the hell was that?
"How do we know if we have it?" Kakashi asked. Even he looked interested now.
Taiichi scratched his head. He didn't really know how to explain it either.
In the end, he repeated the same vague description Minato had once given him—the one about a flickering light deep underwater that you could only sense with the right talent.
The group looked even more confused. They understood every individual word, but put together, it made zero sense.
Taiichi shrugged helplessly. That was exactly how Minato had explained it. Either you got it or you didn't.
The others finally accepted reality. Their excitement deflated in an instant.
Still, they bounced back quickly. Within minutes they were chatting again, this time about the big battle that had happened at camp yesterday.
"Man, I wish I'd been there," Obito boasted loudly, clearly trying to impress Rin. "I would've taken down way more than you guys!"
Before Kakashi could even roll his eyes, Yohei grabbed Obito in a headlock and started grinding his knuckles into his temples.
"War results? You're still talking big after what happened on your last mission? You almost got killed by a bunch of genin! If Kakashi hadn't saved your ass, you'd be a corpse right now!"
"Ah! Sorry! Sorry! I won't do it again!"
During their last mission, Obito had gotten cocky chasing two retreating Sand genin and walked straight into an ambush by four of them. He'd been getting cut up pretty badly until Kakashi arrived just in time.
Yohei had heard the story and decided enough was enough. From now on, Obito's training was doubled, and any slip-up earned him a harsh lecture. The whole squad had agreed—they were going to beat this stupid habit out of him before it got him killed.
Taiichi completely understood. But he also knew Obito's recklessness wasn't something that would change overnight. They'd need to be patient.
Obito, surprisingly, accepted it without complaint this time. Almost dying had finally gotten through to him. The thought of putting Rin in danger because of his own stupidity was enough to make him serious.
"Bring it on," he said with dramatic determination. "Let the storm come harder. I swear I'll change!"
The others smiled, genuinely relieved. It was nice when someone actually listened for once.
They kept talking and laughing until around ten o'clock, when Kakashi's team said their goodbyes. Everyone needed rest before tomorrow's missions.
Lying in his sleeping bag, Taiichi dispelled all his shadow clones. The flood of memories washed over him, showing everything the clones had done that day.
The medical camp clones had handled everything just fine. Two of them were more than enough for the current workload. If anything major happened, he could always teleport back instantly with Flying Thunder God.
Feeling satisfied, Taiichi finally drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, he woke early, finished his usual training, said goodbye to everyone, and teleported out again.
The others watched him vanish with the same envious looks. Even knowing they couldn't learn it, they still couldn't help feeling jealous. Why didn't it feel this cool when Minato used it?
Back at the large tree, Taiichi reappeared and quickly scanned the area. Once he confirmed it was safe, he expanded his chakra sensing.
What he found made his eyes light up.
Far in the distance, two completely alien chakra signatures stood out like ink stains on white paper. They were so obvious he spotted them immediately.
When he focused on them, he instantly recognized what they were.
Two White Zetsu.
And from the weird posture of one of them… it looked like the thing was trying to take a shit.
Taiichi's expression turned strange, but he stayed extremely cautious. He slowly increased the intensity of his sensing, careful not to alert them. White Zetsu had sharp senses, and if he pushed too hard they might notice.
Once he was close enough, their conversation reached him clearly.
"Are you done yet? You said digging a hole would let you feel what pooping is like! Why isn't anything happening?"
"Relax, relax! I'm still trying! Something this amazing isn't going to work on the first try!"
"Damn it, I knew bringing you was a bad idea. If any other White Zetsu finds out we left our post, Lord Madara will recycle us!"
"Even if I die, it'll be worth it just to know what poop feels like!"
Taiichi listened with a twitching eyebrow. He already knew White Zetsu were weird, but this was next-level bizarre. Were they seriously trying to experience what it was like to be human?
He shook his head and focused. These two were rare specimens right now. If he could capture one, he could study all kinds of things—especially Wood Release.
Eyes gleaming, Taiichi began creeping closer, moving with extreme care.
White Zetsu's sensing ability combined with Mayfly Technique made them slippery. If one tried to escape, even Taiichi wasn't sure he could stop it.
When he finally got within ten meters, hidden behind trees, he knew it was time.
He activated Body Flicker at full power. In the blink of an eye he crossed the distance, appearing between the two White Zetsu. His short blade flashed in a simple horizontal slash and cleanly severed the standing one's neck.
Without pausing, he spun with the momentum and drove the blade straight through the back of the crouching White Zetsu, pinning it to the ground.
At the same time, his left hand formed seals. Five small flames representing the five elements appeared on his fingertips. He slammed his palm onto the pinned White Zetsu's back.
A complex sealing pattern flared to life—the Five Elements Seal.
Taiichi wasn't taking any chances. He wanted this one alive.
"Ahhh! I'm dying! I'm actually dying! So unfair! I was so close to feeling what poop is like!"
The impaled White Zetsu was still thrashing and talking like nothing serious had happened. Taiichi had deliberately avoided vital spots, treating it like a normal human body. Apparently it really wasn't that badly injured.
He released his blade with his right hand and quickly layered more sealing techniques over the first one, completely locking down the White Zetsu's movement and chakra. Only then did he finally relax.
This was his first time dealing with one of these things, and their abilities were strange. Better safe than sorry.
Now that the threat was neutralized, Taiichi took a proper look at his catches.
The dead White Zetsu was leaking milky-white fluid instead of red blood from its severed neck.
The live one was still complaining about not getting to experience poop, completely unfazed by the blade sticking through its back.
Yeah. White Zetsu really didn't have normal thought processes.
Taiichi smiled, genuinely pleased with his haul. What a way to start the day—capturing something this valuable right after leaving camp.
He pulled out a storage scroll, sealed the dead White Zetsu inside, then created a shadow clone. He handed the clone a Flying Thunder God kunai and told it to take the live one somewhere hidden.
His real body stayed behind to erase the traces.
Two missing White Zetsu would definitely draw attention from Uchiha Madara. But if he left behind the right kind of fake evidence—some Wind and Fire Release damage, plus a few carefully placed charred White Zetsu remains—he could easily mislead whoever came to investigate.
Once everything was set, Taiichi patted the dust off his hands and left.
An hour later, a half-black, half-white figure slowly rose from the ground at the scene. It didn't speak. It simply began examining the area Taiichi had carefully staged.
It touched the large crater left by a Fire Release blast. It ran its fingers along the deep cuts carved into trees by Wind Release. Finally, it dug through some dirt and pulled out a charred, half-burned arm.
The creature stopped moving. Then it slowly sank back into the earth and vanished.
Taiichi's little trap had worked perfectly.