They say flying is one of humanity's most primal dreams. Although it's not exactly flying on one's own, riding a giant bird still counts as fulfilling that dream.
Most importantly, Amane finally didn't have to travel inside a snake's mouth anymore, avoiding the discomfort she felt every time.
Riding on the head of a black, raven-like creature, Amane constantly checked the map to see if they were heading in the right direction.
["The weather is starting to warm up. I wonder if I'll be able to find my dear onii-chan smoothly~"]
Expectation gradually welled up in her heart.
Although it was best not to reveal her identity yet for the sake of her future plans, the flame of anticipation burned brighter and brighter. To calm down, Amane began to recall the background of this story from the original work.
Simply put, the Land of Waves was a tiny nation surrounded by the sea, and its economy relied heavily on maritime transport. In this world, a company called Gato Corporation had forcibly monopolized the surrounding sea routes, intending to control everything in the country.
The bridge builder from the Land of Waves, whose name was something like Tazuna, had commissioned Team 7 to escort him back to build a bridge connecting to the mainland.
This was the general background of the incident.
During this process, Kakashi's Team 7 encountered Zabuza and Haku, who were hired by Gato, which in turn brought out the cruelty and tragedy of being a Ninja.
It could be considered the first major arc of Naruto; the next one would be the Chunin Exams.
["I remember Team 7 encountered the Demon Brothers shortly after leaving the village and only ran into Zabuza after entering the Land of Waves... Calculating based on that..."]
Comparing it with the map, Amane surmised that Team 7, led by Kakashi, would most likely take this path before her.
So, she sat cross-legged, intending to practice her understanding of Sage Art from the past few years.
Purple eye shadow quickly appeared around her eyes.
["Since 'digesting' Jugo's Sage Body, it's been getting faster and faster. I can enter it in less than a minute."]
The core of the Ryūchi Cave Sage Body lies in 'Devouring' and 'Fusing,' but the specific effects vary from person to person.
Amane showed no changes after successful cultivation, nor did it bring any other benefits.
Although Amane's appearance didn't change after successful cultivation, her ability allowed her to devour the Chakra or flesh of others, digesting and fusing other bloodlines within her body; she could also spit them out if she didn't want them.
She had been keeping this ability a secret from Orochimaru, so she had only used it once—the time she and Kimimaro found Jugo.
["I'm really looking forward to being able to enter Sage Mode in an instant, just like Senju Hashirama."]
Now it only took less than a minute. This wasn't because Jugo's constitution was weak, but because Amane had consumed too little at the time, resulting in a lack of strength for this ability.
However, the hardest thing in the world is the breakthrough from zero to one.
Let's put it this way: when she successfully digested Jugo's Chakra and flesh, Amane only shortened the time by about ten seconds.
Shaking off these temporarily unimportant thoughts, Amane began to gather Natural Energy around her, spreading her spiritual energy outward to mix with it, thereby connecting her sight and hearing to the surroundings.
["It's done!"]
At this moment, Amane felt like she was looking through a camera, with a range equal to the area of the Natural Energy she had just absorbed. No, it should be called Sage Chakra now.
Then, she slowly continued to absorb Natural Energy to gather it, making the "camera's" range larger, but not to the point where it would affect her control.
With this, the preparation for the technique was complete.
Amane's hands formed a seal. While this massive amount of Sage Chakra remained connected to her, it began to drift into the distance.
Wherever it went, Amane could see and hear. The precision was such that she could tell how many earthworms were in the soil and how many ants were crawling on the ground.
Unless someone else could also sense Natural Energy, they wouldn't be able to detect it.
Her Hand Seals changed again, and the mass of Natural Energy began to expand its range, then sank down to form a wide-area coverage mode. It started moving along the route she had just predicted.
["This technique has no drawbacks other than being slow to activate."]
Integrating her sight and hearing with a part of nature was a pleasure in itself just from the physical sensation.
["Now, where are they? Ah! Found them!"]
Amane withdrew from the technique and quickly commanded Xiao Hei—the raven-like artificial Summoned Beast—to fly straight toward a certain location.
Twelve years!
Although she couldn't truly reunite with him yet, it didn't stop Amane from taking a peek from afar.
["Soon. Once I return to the village, if the Third is really a conspiracy-theorist old man, I'll crush him along with Danzo."]
Amane's confidence was currently overflowing.
Regarding her strength after entering Sage Mode, it had been personally recognized by Orochimaru. Among the Kage of the Five Great Nations, not a single one could consistently win against Amane in a one-on-one fight.
Even the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, who possessed the Particle Style.
Even without Sage Mode, her profound Sealing Jutsu and impressive mastery of the five elements' Ninjutsu were enough to place her among the Kage-level ranks.
However, Amane felt that she still had obvious shortcomings in her normal state.
That was the lack of self-created super-offensive skills, like Future Sasuke's Kirin or Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Note that Amane said'self-created.'
In fact, Amane had already developed the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
But Amane didn't consider it her own Ninjutsu, as her original intention was to start with the Lightning and Water attributes she was best at.
However... Amane sighed softly.
Then there were techniques like Edo Tensei and Living Corpse Reincarnation. While they were terrifying enough to strike fear into people's hearts, their use was somewhat limited.
People on the side of light care about their reputation.
"I see them!"
A yellow spiky-haired boy wearing an orange jacket with blue shoulder pads and a white collar. From Amane's vantage point, the Uzumaki Clan symbol was visible on his back.
Amane couldn't help but touch her own abdomen, where there was also a mark representing the Uzumaki Clan, which Orochimaru had thoughtfully added when she had her clothes custom-made.
Amane maintained her distance, silently watching Naruto's back, while the other three had been selectively forgotten by her.
"Hm?"
Walking along, Naruto suddenly whipped his head around to look at the sky, but seeing nothing, he scratched his head in confusion.
"Strange, I felt like someone was watching me just now."
Naruto scratched his head, completely puzzled.
"Who would watch you? Even if there was someone, they'd be watching Sasuke. Right, Sasuke-kun~?"
The pink-haired Young Lady spoke dismissively while emphasizing her crush's handsomeness, prompting Naruto to say petulantly, "What's so great about Sasuke? I can be handsome too!"
"Huh? Clearly, you were the only one who didn't react in time earlier. It was all thanks to Sasuke-kun."
Naruto went silent at this, as it was an indisputable fact from before.
But because of that, he wouldn't let Sasuke steal the spotlight again. He was going to change Sakura's opinion of him!
His gaze flickered toward Sasuke, who was walking with his head down as if he hadn't heard a word Sakura and Naruto said.
Naruto made a silent vow in his heart.
Suddenly, Naruto seemed to hear a rustling from the nearby bushes.
"Over there!"
A shuriken was thrown with speed and precision, drawing everyone's attention.
"Oh, looks like it was just a mouse," Naruto said, wiping away non-existent sweat.
In the sky behind them, Amane couldn't help but palm her forehead.
He really is a noob. When Naruto almost spotted her just now, Amane had quickly dodged while thinking that Naruto was quite sharp even without sensory Ninjutsu training.
Now it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
Watching Naruto being scolded by Sakura and receiving a helpless reminder from Kakashi, Amane felt that as his dear little sister, she should help out a bit.
Her father in the Sealing Space would surely be very happy to see this.
That's right, Amane had already seen him—Zabuza, the demon of the bloody mist, whom she had met once before.
Although she wondered why the plot seemed unchanged, it didn't matter. This battle was originally Team 7's transformation battle; it was fine if it remained the same.
["Summoning Jutsu, go."]
In the distance between the hidden Zabuza and Team 7 led by Kakashi, a small snake suddenly appeared silently.
"There!"
Naruto sensed movement again and threw another shuriken at the snake's position. The small snake moved swiftly, darting beneath the shuriken and blowing a puff of air to adjust its trajectory before vanishing in a "poof" of smoke.
The projectile flying toward him made Zabuza realize he could no longer stay hidden.
The massive executioners blade whistled as it was hurled toward Team 7!
"Get down!"
Amidst Kakashi's sharp command, the great blade embedded itself deep into a tree trunk. Zabuza made a stylish entrance from the air, landing with his back to the group!
"Haha, see that, Sakura! How about it? I'm even cooler than Sasuke, right!"
Seeing that he had actually discovered an enemy, Naruto instantly became smug.
A look of clear disgust and frustration appeared on Sakura's face. It seemed she simply thought Naruto had gotten lucky and that he had indeed stolen the spotlight from her beloved Sasuke this time.
She was probably thinking that if she didn't play along with Naruto, he would keep pestering her. But if she did, would Sasuke get a bad impression of her because of it?
Having spent so much time with Karin, Amane already understood exactly what these 'lovestruck brains' were thinking.
Back on the field, Kakashi stopped Naruto from stepping forward to fight Zabuza and looked seriously at the formidable enemy before him.
"Former Kirigakure rogue Ninja, Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the bloody mist. I heard you've returned to the Hidden Mist Village. This mission is truly a loss."
Zabuza also spoke the title Kakashi had earned because of his Sharingan.
Both sides were telling the juniors in this way: if you don't want to die, stay back.
["It seems there really is such a thing as a 'corrective force.' But in that case, is Zabuza's partner still Haku?"]
Amane's specially mixed Sage Chakra now completely covered dozens of kilometers with this spot as the center.
But she saw and heard nothing.
So Zabuza is acting alone?
Amane felt something was wrong. Partners were crucial in the Ninja World; even the powerful Akatsuki didn't have a policy of acting alone.
But she just couldn't see or hear anything. Could Haku be... invisible?
The image of a little black-haired girl surfaced in Amane's mind.
Amane silently cut off the maintenance of the technique and switched to Kagura Minds Eye for perception.
A bitter smile gradually appeared on her face.
Really... just what I was afraid of!
I have to step in! If I continue to stand by and watch, Naruto and the others might very well die here today!
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