Practice knows no years—another year slipped by in a blur.
Before anyone realized it, Konoha Year 37 had reached its end.
The shinobi world had long since returned to normal operations. The national strength of the three great nations and the Land of Rain was slowly recovering. The two-year Shinobi World War felt like it had happened ages ago.
When the new school year began in April, history textbooks gained an entire section on the Second Shinobi World War. Gojo Yoru once again set a new record: still so young, he had already become a cover figure in the history books of every nation—known, admired, or hated by students everywhere.
It was a level of treatment that even the "second winner," Konoha's White Fang, never received.
Just like the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, Yoru—hailed as the Incarnation of a Miracle—was so powerful that people could smear his personality and character, but couldn't smear his strength. Every village was forced to put him in their textbooks as a warning for future generations: understand how strong Gojo Yoru is, memorize his intel, and if you ever run into him in the shinobi world, abandon the mission and run—don't throw your life away out of pride.
That year, Yoru never left Konoha in public. And that led to a ridiculous outcome: some idiots, blinded by the one-hundred-million-ryō bounty, actually risked sneaking into Konoha to assassinate or poison him.
They had no idea that Hiruzen Sarutobi, determined to protect Yoru, had become completely ruthless.
The sensory barrier covering Konoha's central district ran 24/7, and the Sensory Squad and Barrier Squad were all Hokage direct line.
If any unfamiliar chakra appeared without entering through the village gates, Anbu would arrest them immediately.
Even if someone entered through the gate and registered properly, the moment their chakra was sensed, Hiruzen would still—without hesitation—dispatch members of the Kurama clan and the Yamanaka clan to quietly seize their body, read their mind, and then leave them with no memory that they'd ever been hit by a Yin-Release combo.
If hostile intent was found, the intruder went straight to Konoha Prison for interrogation.
Unless a noble backed them and they passed multiple rounds of scrutiny and "tests," outsiders weren't even allowed to open shops in Konoha.
Until Yoru patched his two major weaknesses, Hiruzen wouldn't lower that alarm line—and wouldn't allow Yoru to take missions outside the village, even if he was already the most "unfair" existence in the shinobi world.
That level of protection didn't even come close to what the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki received.
If you didn't know better, you'd think Yoru was Hiruzen's son and Asuma was the one he picked up off the street.
It was the kind of treatment that would make the original Naruto cry himself unconscious in a bathroom.
When Yoru heard about it, he felt… a little disappointed.
What a waste—those idiots were all weak desperados. None of the great nations had sent real spies into Konoha to assassinate him. Otherwise, he could've used them to train himself and Kushina.
Everyone knew that the growth speed of geniuses—and super-geniuses—wasn't fair.
Konan, who could eventually develop a near-all-purpose Paper Release secret art and become an elite among Kage-class fighters, was absolutely a genius.
Yahiko—who in the original timeline trained under Jiraiya for three years and, before even turning fifteen, used strength and charisma to gather followers and found the Akatsuki—was also a genius.
Now, because of the butterfly effect caused by Yoru, both of their fates had already diverged.
Konan was no longer a hanger-on to Yahiko and Nagato, no longer the kind of person who lacked motivation until Yahiko's death. Her dream now was to become a capable shinobi who could actually help Gojo Yoru. That drive kept her grinding relentlessly. And because she knew there were invisible watchers around Nagato, her acting only became more refined—she became the "Konan-sama" Nagato admired and followed.
Yahiko—who had gambled his life, survived the toxic-sac implantation, and became Hanzō's student—also changed.
Whether it was natural talent, the toxin sac, or the "near-death awakening" that massively amplified both physical and spiritual energy, Yahiko's chakra reserves were already far beyond his peers the moment he stepped onto the shinobi path.
Maybe all those idiots really were "chakra types."
Under Hanzō's teaching, Yahiko—who was originally a Water Release prodigy—had his potential activated quickly. Hanzō viewed him as a perfect successor. If he didn't die early, Yahiko inheriting Hanzō's Fire and Water ninjutsu and signing a blood contract with the salamander would make him a Kage-level fighter—basically guaranteed.
Before even turning ten, both Konan and Yahiko already had chakra and strength levels that would qualify for early graduation in any of the Five Great Villages.
By the time they hit mid-to-late adolescence, their power would absolutely eclipse their original selves.
But compared to super-geniuses like Minato, Nagato, and Kushina… they still lagged far behind.
Minato didn't even need explaining. In the original timeline, by this age he already had the strength to beat high-level shinobi cleanly. Under the butterfly effect, he'd learned the Rasengan even earlier and had begun training toward the super-S-rank ultimate: Flying Thunder God. His skill set and overall competence already qualified him to be promoted to special jōnin.
Still, even as a super-genius, Minato's ceiling—limited by innate constraints—was at best "Kage peak."
Nagato and Kushina, on the other hand, had super-Kage potential.
Even with the butterfly effect keeping Nagato from becoming Jiraiya's student—meaning he didn't speedrun six nature transformations in a single year like the original—Yoru understood one thing very clearly:
Uchiha Madara wouldn't just sit back.
That's why Yoru had Konan fabricate a classic "cave treasure" origin: wandering from Rain into the Land of Rivers, accidentally stumbling into a long-abandoned secret base, looting a dead shinobi's "secret-art development scrolls" and storage scrolls full of ninjutsu journals.
In Yoru's previous world, this trope was garbage-tier common.
In this world? It worked perfectly.
Because Konan's "corpse-looting" background made her believe there were scrolls buried with the dead, she started roaming with Nagato to loot corpses and rob graves.
Neither Black Zetsu nor Madara would ever suspect a pair of small children were lying to each other—and they really were doing morally questionable things.
And if Madara wanted Nagato to grow fast, he'd absolutely exploit their innocence: let White Zetsu and "Tobi" quietly plant ninjutsu scrolls in certain graves to guide their development.
Otherwise, if the kids just kept drifting and looting on their own, Nagato might take too long to mature—or run into danger that could expose the watchers.
As for ninjutsu? Madara had a thousand years of Uchiha inheritance and had even seen Konoha's sealing book. He didn't lack techniques.
If anything, two kids robbing graves fit his preferences.
Through the special Paper Release "signal" Konan intentionally left—a code Yoru had taught her—Yoru confirmed his gambit was working: Madara really was investing in them from the shadows.
At this point, Nagato looked more like Hanzō's student than Yahiko did. He'd received Madara's Fire Release inheritance and Senju Tobirama's Water Release inheritance. Even without S-rank ultimate techniques, with Uzumaki-Senju bloodline chakra reserves and the Rinnegan's boost to nature transformations, Nagato had already become a top-tier Fire and Water specialist.
In a few years, his Great Fire Annihilation might become as absurd as Madara's—something that would take an entire class of Water Release to counter.
As for Uzumaki Kushina—
In the original timeline, village rejection, Tsunade being away for long stretches, and eventually becoming Minato's "support" meant Kushina's talent was basically wasted.
Now, under years of Yoru's cultivation, she had grown into a monster.
Not only did she leave geniuses like Konan and Yahiko so far behind they couldn't even see her back, she also surpassed super-geniuses like Nagato and Minato by a huge margin.
She still hadn't awakened Adamantine Sealing Chains yet and couldn't fully borrow the Nine-Tails' chakra—but she had already awakened Vitality Healing and Mind's Eye of the Kagura, becoming one of the world's best healers and sensors.
She'd mastered Tsunade's monster strength early, and the moment she could maintain her sanity while manifesting a tailed-beast cloak, she would become the most terrifying taijutsu specialist alive.
In ninjutsu, she had Wind and Water nature transformations. With her chakra volume and shadow clones, she could casually generate massive storms and lake-scale water. Her Giant Rasengan had already evolved into Super Giant Rasengan.
Aside from lacking broad experience and polish, Kushina's raw combat power was already above many full all-rounder jōnin.
Once she obtained even a single S-rank ultimate, she'd become an ace capable of threatening a Kage.
After she awakened Adamantine Sealing Chains, her sealing arts would jump dramatically; she'd be able to wrestle the Nine-Tails directly and become Kage-level.
And once she fully suppressed the Nine-Tails, unlocked Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and fused it with Sage Mode—
Kushina would become a numbers-monster second only to Hashirama.
Excluding Gojo Yoru, the only person who could stand against her one-on-one would be a healthy Nagato who had mastered Six Paths arts.
If a Third Shinobi World War involving all five great nations still happened later—and all these butterfly-effect "early bloomers" got swept into it—
it would be a catastrophic bloodbath.
Clang—clang—clang—!
On a snowy peak in the Land of Iron, freezing wind howled through a storm of metal impacts.
Two figures—one tall, one shorter—were locked in the simplest possible blade duel in the snow.
The shorter one was Kushina, now in mid-to-late adolescence, her height suddenly shooting up to 162 cm.
And entering that later adolescence phase didn't just make her "one year older."
Her face finally shed the last traces of round-cheeked childhood—now a sharp, delicate oval.
Her style changed too: no more tacky mesh undershirts and yellow crop tops.
She wore a light-gold short kimono top with flame patterns, and beneath it—barely visible—black shorts. Her legs were wrapped in thigh-high black stockings.
Her waist-length red hair was straightened down her back. A Konoha forehead protector sat on her brow.
Her deep-blue eyes darted constantly, dynamic vision hunting for Yoru's openings.
Her kunai cut, stabbed, and thrust without mercy.
Some strikes were blocked by Yoru. Others landed because he was a fraction too slow—ripping fabric and skin, leaving shallow and deep cuts.
His clothing was already torn with old scars—no fresh blood on those—but new wounds kept appearing.
Look closer, and you'd notice something else:
Yoru's eyes were covered with a black blindfold.
And his defensive stance was… strange.
Sometimes he held a kunai in reverse grip with one hand, while the other maintained the Ram hand seal.
Whenever he fought like that, no matter how fast Kushina attacked, he blocked perfectly—like he had a third eye that could see her attack paths.
The moment he dropped the seal, his reaction speed tanked—out of ten exchanges, he could only stop two or three.
His shredded clothes were stained with dried blood.
Only when the cuts became so numerous that Kushina started to feel guilty did the spar finally pause.
He bit Kushina to recover chakra and heal, and they resumed the blade duel again.
They repeated it countless times, until Yoru—without any hand seal—could block five out of ten strikes.
Only then did he move to the next step.
"Yin Seal—Release."
Yoru whispered.
The diamond mark on his forehead glowed faintly. Black lines spread out, forming a tattoo that looked like dark tear-tracks across his face.
A similar mark was visible on his chest through the tears in his clothing.
Releasing both seals, Yoru's chakra reserves surged—and the entire battle flipped.
Even with a blindfold and no hand signs, he could now see Kushina's attack paths, even predict her next move.
With crushing-tier neural reaction speed, he flowed through block, deflect, borrow force, counterattack—speed and technique fused into something smooth as water.
His kunai carved new cuts into Kushina's clothing and skin too.
Realizing she was being outclassed in pure blade work, Kushina threw the kunai aside and switched to monster strength punches.
All of them missed.
Yoru didn't even use Body Flicker. He simply relied on reaction speed alone to evade her strikes—and deliberately targeted her elbows and knees so she wouldn't slam the ground and cause wide-area destruction.
His movements were fast, vicious, and precise—as if he could see her from every angle.
And he could.
At that moment, Yoru's perception was something only a Hyūga with Byakugan could understand—and even they would envy it.
Because his view was a 360-degree blind-spotless "god's-eye" perspective.
And unlike the Byakugan's monochrome world, his was full color.
Worse, it wasn't just horizontal—it was vertical too.
With a thought, his viewpoint could drop underground, still in full color.
Everything within a certain radius was inside his awareness.
And the most terrifying part:
His "god's view" was fused with energy sensing.
He could see life signals and chakra flow—like a dojutsu-grade chakra vision.
The moment an enemy moved chakra, Yoru—whose knowledge was encyclopedic—could infer what type of technique they were about to use.
"I'm done. I'm done—!"
Completely stifled, Kushina finally surrendered.
Healing herself with Vitality Healing, she stared at Yoru as he resealed his marks and sighed in awe.
"Yoru… your spatial perception got stronger again. It's like you see through every move before I even make it. In this state, you're basically a fusion of Byakugan and Sharingan."
Yoru removed his blindfold. He didn't look smug—he shook his head.
"Not enough. Too many flaws. This is still only a half-finished version."
Kushina's eyes widened. "This is half-finished?!"
"Yeah." Yoru exhaled. "I overestimated my current talent, and underestimated how high-dimensional space-time really is."
"Without the Yin Seal's micro-adjustments, my chakra control at this level still needs hand seals. Otherwise I can't do seal-less spatial perception."
"And if I open the seal, I can't store chakra."
Even so, his lips curled upward.
"But that bottleneck is a good thing. At least it tells me one thing."
"The next stage… might be absurd."
After a year of hard training, with his second talent boost, Yoru's progress in medical ninjutsu and Yin Release exploded.
In medicine he'd mastered the Chakra Scalpel, and could even fuse space-time chakra into it—his hands could replace a chakra blade and still perform dimensional slashes.
In Yin Release, he'd finally mastered the super-S-rank Spirit Transformation technique a few days ago—perfectly separating spiritual energy from bodily energy.
With chakra control at a new realm, after fusing ordinary chakra and space-time chakra, he'd done the next step:
He fused intangible Yin-Release chakra with space-time chakra and successfully cast the most basic sensing technique.
That moment changed everything.
His sensing stopped being a "dark radar view" of glowing points.
It became spatial sensing—a true god's-eye perspective.
That was his long-planned sensing extension.
Without Spirit Transformation, he could never have done it. Even after the second talent boost, he still couldn't completely separate spiritual and physical energies on his own. The Yin component was too thin—he couldn't develop the extension.
That's why he'd redeemed Spirit Transformation in the first place: to raise Yin-Release "share" in his chakra mix.
He was right.
He developed the extension: Spatial Perception.
But he still needed both seals released to do it without hand signs.
That wasn't a chakra capacity issue—it was a control issue.
No matter how hard he trained, he couldn't brute-force past it.
Only by unsealing both marks—and using full-power micro-adjustments—could he bridge the gap.
If his normal sealed state could bridge it too, the only remaining flaw would be limited range—yet even that would be enough to hunt nearby White Zetsu and assassins.
Unfortunately, he still needed both seals open for seal-less spatial perception.
A bottleneck he couldn't break through.
And that bottleneck told him exactly what the third evolution would mean:
His chakra control would step into the Ōtsutsuki dimension.
Hand seals would become unnecessary.
Spatial perception would become constant.
He'd be able to externalize space-time chakra and truly achieve space-time teleportation without markers.
The third evolution would be a massive watershed.