Deep within the Forest of Death.
Even at high noon, the sunlight could not penetrate the web-like canopy of the Forest of Death, casting only mottled, distorted shadows upon the ground.
Aoki Yoru sat cross-legged by the lakeside, immersing himself in the cultivation of Natural Energy.
The sense of powerlessness he encountered in the Land of Water made him urgently want to improve his strength. Besides the nature transformation of his three Chakra attributes, there was also the need to make Natural Energy work for him.
Since absorption into his body was slow and could not be improved in the short term, he would manipulate and use it externally.
In the month since returning to the Village, he had already grasped the knack of it.
Aoki Yoru took a deep breath and fully expanded his sensory abilities.
Using spiritual energy to gather the Natural Energy floating in the air, he focused his control, using his will as pincers to forcibly gather and compress those scattered specks of light bit by bit.
The originally intangible energy, under extreme compression, gradually condensed into form—transforming into several slender, nearly transparent threads of light that floated silently at his fingertips.
Aoki Yoru flicked his wrist, and the Natural Energy threads at his fingertips instantly shot through the air, slicing silently. Several large trees in front, thick enough for an adult to embrace, were severed at the waist almost simultaneously. The cuts were as smooth as a mirror; not even much wood dust was scattered.
"Hahaha... It's finally done."
Aoki Yoru threw his head back and laughed. It was the first time he had laughed so heartily since transmigrating. Before, he had always been cautious, afraid that some old schemer would pop out and stab him, but now he finally had the ability to protect himself.
This was Natural Energy; ordinary people couldn't see it, touch it, or sense it, let alone dodge it.
He calmed down immediately; he still couldn't be too arrogant. He had to keep a low profile until he was invincible.
There were too many old schemers in the Ninja World. The Six Paths Sage's brothers, Black Zetsu, Uchiha Madara, Jigen, and the old monsters of the three great sage regions—if any one of them targeted him, he would be done for.
He drew his Ninja sword, laid it horizontally in front of him, and sat in meditation.
He instantly expanded his sensory abilities, locked onto every wisp of free-floating Natural Energy in the air, and compressed them into threads.
He picked up the Ninja sword and wrapped the natural threads around it one by one.
At this moment, in his field of vision, the Ninja sword was enveloped by a red airflow, looking scorching, domineering, and indestructible.
He raised the long sword high and, with this scarlet slash, brought it crashing down toward the lake surface!
"Boom—!"
The lake surface was forcibly sliced open. Huge waves rolled wildly to both sides, and a bottomless, massive trench was actually carved into the lake.
Aoki Yoru stared blankly at his masterpiece, not expecting it to have such immense power.
He beamed with joy; it was an unexpected delight. He had originally thought the threads could serve as his trump card, but he hadn't expected this move to be even more powerful. Now, he had a means to deal with Tailed Beasts or Susanoo in the future.
He thought for a moment and decided to give this move an imposing name—Sage Art: Conqueror's Haki Infusion, or Sage Might Flow for short.
As for those threads, he named them—Thousand Threads: Sky-Rending.
"Mmhmm..."
Aoki Yoru nodded, very satisfied with the names he had come up with.
He was about to continue training. After all, he still needed time to gather Natural Energy; if a battle were to occur, he would have to do like Jiraiya and have his teammates buy him time.
"Huh..."
Aoki Yoru sensed Ninjas rushing toward him; the commotion just now must have been too big.
He immediately used Earth Release to erase all traces of the scene and left from the opposite direction.
"Swish..."
Three Anbu figures appeared, looking at the devastated scene.
"Gone? Quite cautious, cleaning up all the traces." The dog-masked Anbu leading them scanned the area but found no valuable clues.
"Let's go. Report to the Sandaime. It wasn't traces of a battle; it was likely the commotion caused by some Jonin training in a forbidden jutsu."
Then, their figures flickered slightly and disappeared silently into the depths of the dense forest, as if they had never appeared.
'It seems I need to be careful with training from now on. I must stay far away from Konoha when trying out new moves.'
Aoki Yoru hadn't expected to disturb even the Anbu. If this happened frequently, they would dig three feet into the ground to find him.
Walking along the main road of Konoha, just as he was thinking about what to eat for dinner, he saw two familiar figures in the distance.
He saw Kenta following Might Guy, both doing handstands and running at high speed along the roads of Konoha, supporting themselves only with their palms.
Guy was shouting about youth and passion while sprinting, and Kenta was gritting his teeth, following closely behind.
Visiting merchants looked at the two with disdain, as if looking at two rare beasts.
"It seems Kenta has also found the path he wants to take!"
Ever since Kakashi was injured and recovering, Kenta had been training with Guy, running around the Village every day without fail. The villagers were used to it by now.
Might Guy's training was indeed effective; he could sense that Kenta's strength was growing rapidly.
Not to mention anything else, the kid was now covered in solid muscle, and combined with his burly physique and appearance, he was practically a muscle-bound hunk.
His physique alone was full of pressure just by standing there. Fortunately, he wasn't wearing that green spandex suit of Guy's; otherwise, it would be unbearable to look at.
Taking advantage of his rare good mood, he strolled around Konoha, and before he knew it, it was evening.
Returning home, he meditated to train his spiritual energy without fail; this was his foundation for standing firm in the Ninja World.
Suddenly, Aoki Yoru opened his eyes, a grim expression appearing on his face.
He had just sensed someone sneaking into Grandma Chidao's house, drugging her 3-year-old granddaughter, Chino, and carrying her away.
This kind of modus operandi only existed in the Root within all of Konoha. But was the Root short of children? There were plenty of homeless orphans in the orphanage and the Land of Fire.
Aoki Yoru seemed to realize something. Grandma Chidao's family must have Senju bloodlines; otherwise, Danzo would not have dared to brave the universal condemnation to take action.
"Damn it, that guy Danzo... is he still conducting human experiments with Wood Release?" He hadn't expected him to reach out to Grandma Chidao's home.
He thought of how, when he was a child, Grandma Chidao would often stuff hot buns into his hands on the road, bring him a bowl whenever she cooked something good, and how Chino would cutely and softly call him "Big Brother Yoru."
The Chakra around his body instantly boiled. He executed the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the spot as a blur.
The Root member, Ding, was leaping across the rooftops while holding the child. He had long since planned his escape route to avoid being discovered by the Police Force.
As a member of the Root, he knew the patrol routes and hidden sentries of the Konoha Police Force by heart. It wasn't the first time he had done this.
Suddenly, the hairs on his body stood on end. A bone-chilling sense of crisis struck him without warning.
As a battle-hardened Ninja of the Root, he immediately became alert.
At this moment, a blur tore through the air, closing in from behind in an instant, the Ninja sword in its hand flashing and vanishing.
"Puchi—"
With a soft sound, the arm that Ding was using to hold the child was cleanly and unexpectedly severed.
The instant blood sprayed, Aoki Yoru had already gently gathered the little girl into his arms, spun, leaped back, and landed steadily.
"Ugh—"
With his arm severed, Ding suppressed the pain and let out a muffled grunt, clenching his teeth to keep from screaming. He lifted his head with difficulty to look at Aoki Yoru.
He then pulled out a Kunai, preparing to fight. As a member of the Root, he had to complete Danzo-sama's orders.
Aoki Yoru stared at him intensely. After this, he and Danzo would be mortal enemies. In that case, the bigger the commotion, the better. It would be best if the whole Village knew about it, so that the Sandaime would restrain Danzo.