Hearing that, Pakura's heart gave a hard thump, but she still wasn't entirely sure.
"Lady Chiyo, you mean…"
"The White Fang of Konoha is the enemy every Suna ninja most wants dead. If you can personally kill the White Fang's son and wipe away Suna's humiliation, that would be an unparalleled achievement for the village. At that time, you will receive the status and resources you deserve. Perhaps even…
"Though I am old, it isn't as if I can't take another student."
Chiyo spoke with deep meaning.
"!!"
This time, Pakura was truly surprised and delighted.
There was no need to explain Chiyo's weight in Sunagakure. In terms of strength, status, and prestige, she could be said to stand below one person and above ten thousand, deeply respected by Suna's ninja. If Pakura could climb onto that great tree, then her Scorch Release development, ninja tool supply, and even her future path of promotion would all gain unimaginable support.
And…
on a personal level, Pakura also very much wanted to fight that little white-haired brat again and restore the honor of her Scorch Release, to see who the real genius was.
Thud—
Pakura turned and knelt on one knee before Chiyo, her eyes burning with intense fighting spirit and desire.
"Pakura is at Elder Chiyo's command! I will do everything in my power to kill the White Fang's descendant!"
"Good."
The corner of Chiyo's mouth curved slightly, and she nodded. "Go treat your wounds first and change your clothes. Come to my tent later. The opponent is very strong, so we cannot act rashly. We'll need to plan this properly."
"Yes!"
Pakura bowed, suppressing the excitement and anxiety in her heart, then turned and withdrew from the main command tent.
At that moment, Chiyo coughed lightly and began discussing the larger situation with Ishikawa Tetsugan.
"The intelligence about Oborozuki Castle has been exposed early. The original plan is no longer suitable to continue. I suggest we wait for now… As for the northwest, Kumogakure's side… perhaps we should find a way to push things along…"
"…Kumogakure?"
A thought flashed through Pakura's mind. She did not dare keep listening and quickly left. Her figure soon disappeared into the flow of people in the camp.
At the same time,
inside Konoha's outpost at Wildfire City, the atmosphere was also somewhat oppressive.
"How is it, Inoichi?"
Jiraiya asked.
The person called "Inoichi" was naturally Yamanaka Ino's father, Yamanaka Inoichi. At this time, however, he was only sixteen or seventeen, still a very young special jōnin. He stood before the unconscious spiky-haired captive, eyes closed, one palm pressed to the man's forehead.
"Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Under the effect of Mind Body Switch, the fragments of memory experienced by the spiky-haired man were read out by Yamanaka Inoichi, playing through his mind like a film.
"…Lord Jiraiya, the situation may be bad."
Inoichi still had his eyes closed as he spoke. "Judging by the current information, the Oborozuki Castle outpost has already suffered a major incident. It is very likely to have fallen. Almost all of the code phrases we set earlier have been leaked. Several patrol squads have already been attacked by Suna…
"Fortunately, Big Brother Minato's subordinates were outstanding enough to defeat them in the encounter and even captured one alive. Otherwise, if we had been caught completely unaware by their calculations, we likely would have suffered enormous losses."
"Haha, they're Minato's students, after all. Being outstanding is only natural. It was probably that kid Hatake Kakashi who did it, right? I knew he had it in him. He's that man's son, after all."
Jiraiya laughed.
He and Hatake Sakumo weren't especially close, but they were Konoha ninja from roughly the same era, so they had interacted before. Jiraiya also greatly respected Sakumo's strength.
Compared to the title of "Sannin," which had come from an honorable defeat, "White Fang" was a truly fearsome name carved out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Unfortunately, the man had died several years ago. Otherwise, the commander of this Suna battlefield would likely have been him.
But…
Yamanaka Inoichi's answer was a little unexpected.
"It wasn't Kakashi. It was the child named Mikami Yuu."
"Huh?"
Jiraiya froze and looked toward Minato.
Minato nodded.
Jiraiya wanted to ask for details, but now wasn't the right time, so he suppressed his curiosity for the moment and turned toward Nara Kashima.
"Kashima, the situation at Oborozuki Castle must be confirmed as quickly as possible. Go notify Inuzuka Tsume. Have her take two or three elite squads and the ninja hounds with the sharpest noses to the Oborozuki Castle area for reconnaissance. They must confirm the state of the outpost, and if necessary, try to rescue any possible survivors!
"Also, notify Akiyama Hayato and Hyuga Eiji to strengthen defenses across each area, to prevent Suna from suddenly launching an attack and catching us off guard."
"Understood!"
Nara Kashima understood the seriousness of the situation and immediately turned and rushed out of the tent to relay the orders.
Then Jiraiya looked back to Minato and asked for the details of the battle between Mikami Yuu and Pakura.
Minato had already heard the report from Kakashi, so he quickly explained the whole thing. Jiraiya himself was an expert in Fire Release, so after listening, he could roughly picture what had happened and couldn't help clicking his tongue in wonder.
"…I see. So that brat not only has extraordinary Fire Release talent, but is also very skilled in swordsmanship? That kind of talent is rather like the Uchiha clan's."
"Indeed."
Minato nodded. "But it is a bit of a pity. If that child had a kekkei genkai like the Sharingan, his strength would probably be far beyond even this."
To be honest…
Even Minato could no longer fully see through this "student" of his.
He had already tried to estimate Yuu as highly as possible, but somehow, Yuu kept showing him new surprises every time. From the very beginning with that "ultimate version of Substitution Technique," to Fire Release comparable to a jōnin's, rapidly improving swordsmanship, and medical ninjutsu that even Tsunade valued…
Now he had even gone head-to-head with Pakura, a jōnin of Sunagakure.
One had to know that although Pakura wasn't very old, she possessed a kekkei genkai. In theory, her chakra reserves and physical ability should far exceed others of her age. And Scorch Release against Fire Release was basically like Ice Release against Water Release, almost a natural hard counter.
Yet under those circumstances, Mikami Yuu had used ordinary elemental ninjutsu to clash directly with her…
He was absolutely extraordinarily gifted!
If given a few more years, or if Yuu had a kekkei genkai himself, how far would he go?
Jiraiya understood this too, and immediately laughed.
"Minato, you've taught yourself some good students. This time, in uncovering important intelligence from Suna's side, they deserve the greatest credit.
"Last time, I said I'd prepare some meeting gifts for them, but the war kept me too busy to make good on it. This is the perfect chance to settle that… I'll prepare something later. You can take it to them for me."
"Alright."
Minato smiled in response.
Northwest of the Wildfire City outpost,
in the mountain forest marked zones 7 through 10 on the map, before a roaring waterfall,
night had already fallen.
Mikami Yuu sat cross-legged on a huge rock, eyes closed in concentration.
At this moment, he was repeatedly replaying the details of his fight with Pakura in his mind, especially the blazing white-hot fireballs she had released, thinking about how he could reproduce a similar effect on the foundation of his existing Fire Release.
"…Let's try again."
Mikami Yuu flipped down from the rock, took a deep breath, and quickly formed seals with both hands:
Snake—Goat—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.
These were the seals for Great Fireball, but Yuu did not immediately release the ninjutsu. Instead, he tried to further compress and condense the chakra at his throat. Only when a faint stabbing pain began to spread through his chest did he open his mouth and release a huge blazing-white fireball.
The fireball had only flown halfway before it showed signs of losing control and expanding, exploding above the pond and sending up a huge spray of water.
"No good…"
"Let's try Phoenix Fire…"
"Hm… Little Phoenix, any ideas?"
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: Huh? Is "Little Phoenix" me? That sounds kind of nice… I don't know either. Maybe ask Big Sis?]
[Great Fireball Jutsu: Unknown.]
Some romance targets in the galgame system could occasionally serve as Yuu's "teachers." For example, the Three Basic Jutsu and Healing Technique had both given him training advice before. But not every jutsu had that feature. Great Fireball and Phoenix Fire were examples of that.
Besides, what Yuu was trying to do now wasn't exploring a single technique, but combining traits from different techniques, which made it even harder.
Under normal circumstances, he guessed he would need the galgame system to unlock something like "Phantom Stage" but for Fire Release—a "Fire Release Bond"—before he could really pull this off.
Otherwise, he could only slowly fumble his way through it.
[Transformation Technique: Then… Little Mikami, how about I help you transform into that ninja named Pakura and see whether you can use her ability?]
"Well…"
Yuu guessed it probably wouldn't work.
After all, it wasn't as if he had never transformed into Uchiha or Hyuga clan members before, but he had never activated the Sharingan or Byakugan. Scorch Release was a kekkei genkai, so it should be similar. Still, since Transformation Technique had suggested it, Yuu took the advice and tried it once.
Mm…
The result was naturally the same.
After all, Yuu didn't understand Pakura's internal body structure. Even using Transformation Technique: Lifelike Reality, he could only reproduce her appearance. Recreating the inside one-to-one was extremely difficult.
Unless he could capture her and study her thoroughly from outside to inside, figuring out exactly what subtle changes Scorch Release caused in her body before trying to copy it. Then success might be possible—but only possibly.
"Come to think of it, Pakura probably isn't the first person to master Scorch Release, right?"
"I wonder if the Konoha Research Institute has any corpses of kekkei genkai ninja, or related research material. If they do…"
Later, he could try to get access through Orochimaru and do some academic research up close.
Also,
he could try to get his hands on the other research materials Orochimaru held. When Orochimaru eventually defected from Konoha, maybe Yuu could take over those research "inheritances" himself. That didn't sound like a bad option…
Yuu thought this to himself.
Just then, while he was immersed in thinking about Scorch Release and trying to derive Pakura's chakra flow pattern, a deliberately softened footstep approached from the gaps in the forest behind him. Very soon, several sharp sounds tore through the evening calm.
Whoosh! Whoosh-whoosh!
"?"
Without even turning his head, Mikami Yuu's right hand shot like lightning toward the hilt of the short sword lying on the rock beside him. With a slight flick of his wrist, several crisp clangs rang out as he deflected the incoming kunai and shuriken away.
After doing all this, he turned back in some confusion.
He saw Kakashi, Obito, and Rin jump out of the forest. Kakashi had drawn the White Fang short blade, while the other two had their hands in seals, looking ready to attack at any moment.
"Pakura, I didn't expect you to dare come back! Talk! Where did you take Yuu?"
"…"
The corner of Yuu's mouth twitched. Only then did he realize that his Transformation Technique had caused a misunderstanding. He casually formed a seal and released it. The figure sitting on the rock changed from an orange-haired girl back into a white-haired boy.
"Huh? Yuu? Why is it you?"
"Wait. Are you really not an enemy transformed into him? Code phrase!"
After being tricked by Pakura's squad disguising themselves as Konoha ninja, Kakashi and the others had clearly become much more cautious. Even after Yuu gave the team's agreed code phrase, they still looked doubtful.
With no other choice, Yuu casually gave two secrets related to Kakashi and Obito, and only then did he regain their trust.
As for why he had transformed into Pakura just now…
"Well, I just wanted to try a 'method acting' approach. I wanted to see if by becoming Pakura, I could feel her chakra flow habits and thereby explore the principles of Scorch Release."
Yuu casually made up an excuse.
"'Method acting'?"
Obito froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he looked eager. "Huh, there's actually a training method like that? No wonder you've improved so much lately, Yuu… So if I transform into you, does that mean I can use a Great Fireball like yours?"
"…Are you an idiot?"
Kakashi looked at Obito expressionlessly and deadpanned, "Transformation Technique is just a visual illusion. How could it copy chakra nature and ninjutsu ability? Though, Yuu, you did remind me of something."
Kakashi paused, looked around at the three of them, and lowered his voice. "What if we use Transformation Technique the same way Pakura's squad did, disguise ourselves as Suna ninja, infiltrate their main camp, and assassinate their commander?
"If Suna can use Transformation Technique to disguise themselves as our ninja and carry out surprise attacks, then we can do the same thing—repay them in kind."
"…Huh? What kind?"
Illiterate Obito performed steadily as always.
Mikami Yuu and Rin understood what Kakashi meant.
Rin seemed a little tempted.
But Yuu yawned, waved a hand, and said, "If it were really that easy, Konoha would have sent someone to do it ages ago. It wouldn't be up to us to think of it. Alright, it's already dark. Let's sleep first. I'm exhausted after a full day."