Chapter 106: Famous Scene - Gojo's Glance Back, New Three Sannin
The commotion caused by Gojo Yoru lasted for over half a month, finally subsiding only after the tourists' excitement faded and things returned to normal.
During this time, the combat units and support forces from both the White Fang frontline and the Iwagakure frontline had completed their handover with the border bases. Aside from the troops stationed to guard the borders, everyone else had gradually returned home.
Then came a grand and solemn funeral ceremony that required the attendance of everyone in Konoha—shinobi and civilians alike.
Everyone wore black clothing as they came to the cemetery to lay flowers for the fallen shinobi, then observed a collective moment of silence.
One by one, bodies that had been sealed inside storage scrolls were laid to rest.
On the massive memorial stone, names were engraved one after another.
Gazing at the familiar names, some wept uncontrollably while others remained expressionless, their thoughts unknowable.
Gojo Yoru and Kushina Uzumaki both attended, though they didn't stand together.
Kushina, who had never been to the frontlines, stood far toward the back.
As one of the commanders and the greatest contributor to the Second Shinobi World War, Gojo Yoru stood in a row alongside the Legendary Three and the White Fang of Konoha.
In front of them stood Konoha's Council of Elders, led by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Looking at Nawaki's name, Tsunade didn't cry.
Her tears had already run dry last year.
Having inherited Nawaki's will, she was working hard to change the current situation so that future generations wouldn't become a second Nawaki.
After the funeral ceremony ended, it truly marked the final page turned on the Second Shinobi World War.
Everyone needed to move past their grief and continue with their lives.
That evening, at the izakaya the Legendary Three frequented.
The Legendary Three and Gojo Yoru were having a small gathering.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya sat in a row, while Gojo Yoru and Tsunade sat across from them.
Already much taller than Tsunade—and likely to be a full head taller in another year or two—Gojo Yoru sitting with the Legendary Three didn't look out of place at all.
"Yoru, drink with me to celebrate your promotion to jonin."
Tsunade wrapped her arm around Yoru's neck, her face already flushed red from drinking.
Although all three of the Legendary Sannin drank, they rarely got drunk.
For Tsunade, who had mastered the Yin Seal, she could sober up instantly just by slightly adjusting her chakra.
But she didn't do so, which showed she wasn't as strong on the surface as she appeared.
Neither Orochimaru nor Jiraiya stopped Tsunade from drinking heavily right from the start—this was her final catharsis before moving on.
However, seeing Tsunade trying to get Yoru to drink with her, Jiraiya quickly intervened: "Tsunade, have you forgotten the Three Prohibitions for shinobi? The kid isn't even twenty yet."
"Jiraiya, I'm not drunk yet." Tsunade rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Hearing the Three Prohibitions come from a peeping tom like you is quite the novelty."
"Ahem—there's a junior present, what are you talking about? I have absolutely no idea what you mean." Jiraiya's face reddened, clearly not yet as thick-skinned as in the original story.
"It's fine, a few drinks won't matter."
Gojo Yoru poured himself a cup of sake and clinked glasses with Tsunade.
The sake in this world was similar to his previous life's sake—only about twelve percent alcohol. It was basically impossible to get drunk on it.
Even with poor alcohol tolerance, Yoru could dispel any drunkenness by slightly adjusting his chakra.
The Yin Seal was practically the Fire Country version of a divine drinking technique.
Though while drinking, Yoru couldn't help but mentally complain.
Geniuses graduated from the academy at five or six years old. Even the least talented shinobi started killing on missions at twelve after passing their jonin instructor's evaluation.
They started seeing blood in their early youth, yet somehow had to wait until twenty to drink.
Prohibition laws that crossed dimensions were truly terrifying.
"As expected of someone I admire—you're straightforward! Cheers!"
Seeing Yoru so cooperative, Tsunade broke into a wide smile. She downed her drink in one gulp, then continued wrapping her arm around Yoru's neck. Due to the height difference, Yoru's face ended up enjoying the benefits of a chest pillow, leaving Jiraiya staring in stunned envy, deeply regretting sitting next to Orochimaru.
Tsunade spoke in a reproachful tone: "By the way, you sure hid things deep. A Space-Time bloodline with such incredible abilities—you managed to hide it for so many years. If I had something like that at your age, I would've exposed it back in the academy. Your physical development and mental maturity are streets ahead of your peers."
Gojo Yoru enjoyed the evil power of the shinobi world's greatest capital for a few seconds before prying Tsunade's arm away and sitting up straight. Staring at the sake in his hand, he smiled. "My first meeting with Orochimaru-sensei was outside the village when I was training the Rasengan. At the time, Orochimaru-sensei asked me why I wasn't training inside the village but had specifically gone outside."
Orochimaru heard this and his mind drifted back to the memory from several years ago, a smile appearing on his face. "I remember your answer then—that shinobi battles are battles of intelligence, and you didn't want anyone to know your trump cards. It seems you had already awakened your Space-Time bloodline at that point."
"Yes. When the news of my parents' deaths reached me, I remember the shinobi told me they died because they encountered an enemy outside their intelligence reports." Yoru's gaze grew profound. "From that moment, I understood the importance of intelligence. If I hadn't been accidentally discovered by Orochimaru-sensei and fallen into the trap set by the Third Tsuchikage and the Five-Tails jinchuriki, I would never have exposed my Space-Time bloodline trump card until I died of old age. You would only know that I developed Storm Release: Black Lightning with destructive properties."
"You were right to do so. That kind of miraculous power should either never be exposed or only be revealed when you've fully matured."
All three of the Legendary Sannin strongly agreed. Tsunade added with deep regret: "If it weren't for Hanzo being at the peak of the shinobi world in the Land of Rain, the spark that ignited the Second Shinobi World War would have been the other major nations, and the war might have started several years later. By then, you would have already grown strong, and the Land of Fire wouldn't have suffered so many casualties."
"None of us know whether tomorrow or an accident will come first." Orochimaru spoke quietly—his parents had also died in an accident.
"Enough of that. Let's drink."
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Jiraiya raised his cup to change the subject.
All three clinked glasses with him.
After draining another cup, Tsunade—with what little consciousness she had left—turned to look at Yoru with hazy, drunken eyes. "By the way, Yoru, don't move back home. Keep living at my place. Sarutobi-sensei wants me to teach you medical ninjutsu to avoid getting poisoned by enemy nations."
Yoru's face showed an unwilling expression. "I can study anytime. Do I really have to live there? That's too inconvenient."
"Then you don't have to pay tuition, do you?"
Perhaps due to the alcohol, Tsunade wrapped her arm around Yoru's neck again, her tone full of dissatisfaction as she complained: "Don't think I don't know—you cook for Kushina all the time. Now I'm the only one left in that house. Either you cook for me as tuition, or you address me as Tsunade-sensei like you do with Orochimaru."
"Alright, I'll stay." Gojo Yoru chose the former option.
"Good, you're quite sensible."
Tsunade immediately released him with satisfaction, patting his shoulder as she made a promise: "Don't worry, I won't treat you poorly."
Jiraiya suddenly said shamelessly: "Tsunade, how about I move into your place too and cook for you?"
"Get lost."
Even drunk, Tsunade's response remained concise and forceful.
The small gathering finally ended late into the night when only the four of them remained in the izakaya.
"Yoru, I'm leaving Tsunade in your hands."
"How about I escort her back instead? Hehe—"
"Stop fooling around. Let's go."
"Orochimaru-sensei, Jiraiya-senpai, good night."
The four said their farewells at the izakaya entrance. Orochimaru bid farewell to Yoru, who was supporting the completely drunk and unconscious Tsunade, then pulled Jiraiya away.
Gojo Yoru held up Tsunade with one hand as she leaned against him, raising his other hand in response.
After watching the two disappear, Yoru didn't use Flying Thunder God to return with Tsunade to the First Hokage's mansion. Instead, he supported her while walking and asking: "Tsunade-senpai, do you need to throw up?"
"No—I'm not drunk. I'm just—just a little sleepy." Tsunade responded in a daze.
"Then we'll walk back."
Yoru was still worried she might vomit, so he didn't teleport them back. Instead, he supported her as they walked, planning to observe her along the way.
At the same time, Yoru frowned slightly as he spoke: "Tsunade-senpai, I don't dislike people who drink, but I don't like dealing with alcoholics, and I especially don't want to take care of people who deliberately use alcohol to numb their grief. Light drinking and getting slightly tipsy is fine, but if you drink like this again, I'll have no choice but to move back home."
"I—I understand. Don't—don't yell at me—" Tsunade still responded in a daze, her tone carrying a hint of coquettishness as she practically hung on Yoru's body, whether or not she actually registered his words unclear.
Just like Hancock from the neighboring One Piece world, Tsunade in her most beautiful years was impossible to be angry at when acting cute.
Yoru smiled helplessly, saying nothing more as he supported Tsunade down the empty street.
Passing through an alley without street lights, Gojo Yoru suddenly glanced back at the darkness behind them, as if staring at something. Those ice-blue eyes were like Sharingan in the night, flashing with a cold, bone-chilling gleam.
After just a glance, Yoru withdrew his gaze and continued escorting Tsunade home.
The scene shifted to the right wall at the alley entrance. A figure was collapsed there, face covered in cold sweat, pupils trembling with shock and terror.
Only after he could no longer hear footsteps did he dare to gasp for breath.
If the Legendary Three were here, they would recognize this person.
White shoulder-length hair, a pair of red eyes, a face as handsome as Kato Dan's, wearing a white robe—this person was a classmate and friend of the Legendary Three, now just a tokubetsu jonin of Konoha: Hiruko.
Hiruko felt his heart pounding wildly, as if it would burst from his chest at any moment.
Just making eye contact with Gojo Yoru for one second had instantly drained all his strength. Though it felt like falling into an ice cave, his body poured out massive amounts of sweat that soaked through his clothes.
Just like in the original story when Orochimaru scared Team Seven into collapsing and vomiting with a single look.
That glance from Gojo Yoru made Hiruko see his own death—a horrifying vision of his body instantly fragmenting into countless pieces.
If he weren't a Konoha shinobi, that vision might have already become reality.
"No—aren't sensing abilities supposed to be his weakness? Or is my stealth technique extension too weak?"
Hiruko didn't immediately think that Gojo Yoru had grown stronger. Instead, he felt he was too weak.
It was this inferiority complex that had grown with him since childhood, now deeply rooted, that led him down the wrong path.
If he were just one of the Legendary Three's many classmates with only a simple acquaintance, Hiruko wouldn't feel so inferior.
But unfortunately, he had a good relationship with the Legendary Three and was their friend. This created Hiruko's heart full of unwillingness and inferiority.
They were all friends, yet the other three became the Hokage's disciples. All their missions were fought side by side. During the war, they became commanders together, and their strength was so powerful—while no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even see their backs.
The other three had been ace combatants for years. He wasn't even a full jonin.
This gap made Hiruko increasingly inferior, gradually too afraid to associate with the Legendary Three.
Behind the scenes, he still hadn't given up on catching up to them. Countless nights, he dreamed of overtaking them, earning their recognition and the Hokage's approval, fighting alongside them.
Every time he woke from these dreams, the unwillingness in Hiruko's heart only intensified.
If he continued seeing no hope, he would very likely develop depression and die in despair.
The Second Shinobi World War truly gave Hiruko a glimmer of hope.
The Scroll of Seals—full name: Konoha's Forbidden Technique Archive.
This was one of Konoha's forbidden zones, guarded by jonin and ANBU around the clock. Only the Hokage could enter freely. Even the Council of Elders needed the Hokage's permission.
It stored a massive collection of forbidden technique materials that were prohibited from viewing and violated ethical norms.
Some of these materials were completed forbidden techniques, while others were incomplete prototypes or just concepts—sometimes merely inspirations.
Under normal circumstances, Hiruko would be detected by sensing shinobi before even getting close to such a place.
But after the war broke out, sensing shinobi suddenly became scarce resources, all dispatched to the battlefield.
The shinobi guarding the Forbidden Scroll storage were no longer full jonin but tokubetsu jonin.
At that time, Hiruko—friend of the Legendary Three—received recognition from Hiruzen Sarutobi and was assigned to guard this critical location.
Even more coincidentally, while cleaning the Forbidden Scroll storage with another guard, Hiruko accidentally knocked down a scroll from the inspiration section that wasn't sealed and accidentally saw its contents.
At that moment, Hiruko saw hope of catching up to the Legendary Three, and a crazy idea took root in his heart.
So he found an opportunity to steal the incomplete forbidden technique.
That forbidden technique was the Chimera Technique.
The Chimera Technique was a fusion jutsu, similar to the Inuzuka clan's secret techniques, allowing one to merge with summoning beasts and acquire their abilities.
It became forbidden technique material because the shinobi who conceived it proposed the possibility of fusing with other shinobi to obtain their bloodline limits.
This involved human experimentation, not only violating ethics but also resulting in the loss of many shinobi with bloodline limits. It would likely cause panic and condemnation, so it was sealed in the Forbidden Scroll storage—not even a prototype.
For this reason, Hiruko could discover and steal it so easily.
This fusion jutsu gave Hiruko hope of catching up to and surpassing the Legendary Three. He decided to secretly research it.
Coincidentally, not long ago, Gojo Yoru's Space-Time bloodline shook the shinobi world, and he was called the incarnation of a miracle.
Just exposing his bloodline limit had ended the Second Shinobi World War early, deeply shocking Hiruko.
He couldn't imagine what kind of powerful bloodline limit could make two major nations see no hope of victory and choose to withdraw rather than increase casualties.
Only after newspapers from various nations published post-war propaganda did Hiruko finally understand the Space-Time bloodline's power. He felt that even Wood Release, which pacified the warring era, and the Uchiha clan's Sharingan seemed inferior in comparison.
If he could obtain such a bloodline limit, wouldn't he replace Gojo Yoru and become the incarnation of a miracle?
And the Chimera Technique could make this possibility a reality.
To encourage assassination and poisoning attempts on Gojo Yoru, newspapers from various nations not only publicized the black market bounty but also revealed Yoru's weaknesses.
So Hiruko, who mastered the Puppet Curse and stealth technique extensions, finally couldn't suppress his crazy idea. He chose this day to spy on and follow Gojo Yoru.
But before he could find an opportunity to mark Yoru with the Puppet Curse, a single glance from Gojo Yoru left him collapsed on the ground without even the strength to stand.
That crazy notion instantly evaporated.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible to achieve.
That was a monster on a completely different dimensional plane from himself!
It took Hiruko a long time to recover. Forget about harboring such crazy ideas in the future—just seeing Gojo Yoru on the street would make his legs tremble uncontrollably.
Gojo Yoru had no idea that the person following him was Hiruko, one of the few people he'd written about in his encrypted journal notes.
He simply detected a faint chakra signature tailing him. The tracking method and distance were different from ANBU, so he did what Orochimaru did to Team Seven—using genjutsu to manifest the killing intent he'd accumulated over two years, projecting it through invisible Yin Release chakra contact to warn whoever was following him.
If the other person had shown killing intent and was very likely an enemy nation's spy, Yoru would have already eliminated him.
As one of Konoha's ace combatants—part of the village's foundation alongside the Nine-Tails jinchuriki—Gojo Yoru now possessed certain privileges.
For instance, when the village entered emergency status, he could bypass the Hokage and directly issue missions below S-rank to lower-ranked shinobi.
When encountering shinobi squads in the field, he could assume command authority from the squad leader and have them follow his orders.
If something seemed wrong, he could even act first and report later.
Now it wasn't that Gojo Yoru couldn't leave Konoha—it was that Konoha couldn't do without him.
Nawaki, Asuma Sarutobi, and the future Konohamaru were all fake Konoha princes. Gojo Yoru was the real Konoha prince.
The next day, Konoha's atmosphere clearly changed.
Before today, Konoha still bore the influence of the Second Shinobi World War.
Although the war had ended nearly a month ago, before the funeral ceremony, Konoha was overcrowded. Countless tourists traveled from far away just to catch a glimpse of the incarnation of a miracle.
After the funeral ceremony ended, the Second Shinobi World War was truly over. Those who had already received news of relatives and friends' sacrifices and cried countless times, already having moved past the shadows, completed their final catharsis yesterday.
Waking up today, their spirit was completely different as they began new lives.
This included Tsunade as well!
With the war over, Tsunade returned to Konoha Hospital while also bringing Gojo Yoru and Kushina Uzumaki with her to begin teaching them medical ninjutsu hands-on.
Gojo Yoru had to improve his medical abilities so that if poisoned in the field, he could treat himself or delay the poison's effects long enough to teleport back to Konoha for treatment.
And Kushina Uzumaki, as a distant blood relative of the Senju clan and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, was a natural genius at taijutsu, sealing, and medical ninjutsu.
If she awakened body healing, she could become the shinobi world's top medical ninja without learning any medical jutsu at all.
In the entire shinobi world, no one was more suited to be Tsunade's disciple than Kushina Uzumaki.
Orochimaru was Gojo Yoru's teacher. Jiraiya had also taken a personal disciple in his squad. Tsunade felt she couldn't lose to them, so she decided to train Kushina Uzumaki and have her inherit her mantle.
Although Kushina Uzumaki was part of Team Orochimaru and called Orochimaru "sensei," she wasn't his personal disciple—more like Sakura Haruno's relationship with Kakashi Hatake.
Only if she learned Orochimaru's secret techniques and signed a blood contract with Ryuchi Cave would she count as his personal disciple.
Seeing Tsunade choose to train Kushina Uzumaki with apparent intent to take her as a disciple, Gojo Yoru was happy with this development.
Previously, having no choice and not wanting to owe such a huge favor, Yoru had decided that once Kushina matured, he'd have her sign a blood contract with Ryuchi Cave and learn Sage Mode there.
But given the choice, Yoru actually preferred having Kushina learn Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode.
Shikkotsu Forest's Slug Sage not only had a gentle personality but was also very understanding. Her split bodies could be used in combination with body healing and Mind's Eye of Kagura to achieve remote healing and shared vision effects—absolutely the most suitable summoning beast for Kushina Uzumaki.
She was even more suited to be Tsunade's disciple than Shizune or Sakura Haruno.
If Kushina Uzumaki became Tsunade's disciple and the Third Shinobi World War broke out with Gojo Yoru, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki participating, they would become the New Three Sannin.
Just imagining that scene was amusing.
Over the next two months, Gojo Yoru spent his days multitasking. His main body studied medical ninjutsu alongside Kushina under Tsunade's guidance, while several shadow clones at home focused on researching and learning the Spiritualization Technique to address his sensing weakness.
In the evenings, he displayed his culinary skills, cooking with Kushina to repay Tsunade.
Whether she truly hadn't been drunk that night or actually took his words to heart, Tsunade didn't quit drinking but no longer got blackout drunk—only lightly tipsy.
However, her gambling hobby remained, and the addiction had grown even stronger.
After dinner each night, she loved pulling Gojo Yoru and Kushina Uzumaki into charity gambling sessions.
Gojo Yoru seriously suspected that besides wanting a free handsome chef, Tsunade had him stay to have a good-looking gambling partner.
Since someone wanted to give him money, Yoru naturally wouldn't refuse.
If Tsunade won, it meant something bad would happen, so he could prepare countermeasures in advance.
If Tsunade lost, Yoru just collected the money. He even planned to teach Tsunade a huge lesson.
When her money ran out, she'd use jutsu scrolls as stakes. When the jutsu scrolls ran out, she'd use the house. When the house was gone, she'd stake herself—he would become Tsunade's biggest creditor and make her his servant for life.
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