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Chapter 98: Gojo Yoru Enters the History Books, Amegakure's Exit
Boom.
The laser beam, having pierced straight through Hanzo's chest, reached the end of its path in an instant and slammed into the face of a distant mountain.
A deafening explosion rang out, like a bolt of lightning on a clear day.
Brilliant black-red light bloomed across the mountain wall like a signal flare fired off course.
Strangely, despite the enormous explosion, not a trace of dust or debris scattered outward. Pull the view closer and there wasn't a single fragment of rock falling either.
It was as though that thunderous crash had been all sound and no substance, leaving the mountain wall untouched.
Then the light faded, and what remained said everything about the true power of that blast. A massive circular gap had been carved into the mountain face, its interior covered in spiral patterns, its edges perfectly smooth.
No dust, no debris, because the black-red light had possessed a destructive force so absolute that every bit of mountain it touched had been annihilated into nothing.
Hanzo, pierced through the chest, now had a thumb-sized hole in his right side. Skin, flesh, bone, blood vessels, and lung tissue alike had simply ceased to exist.
"Gah..."
Hanzo hit the ground coughing up blood. Without pausing to examine his wound, he flickered away instantly.
The moment he vanished, a second black-red laser beam struck the exact spot where he had just been standing.
Boom.
The deafening explosion rang out again, black-red light blooming like fireworks.
Watching the second shot miss, Yoru was about to flicker in pursuit.
Then Orochimaru's voice reached him from a distance, growing rapidly closer.
"Yoru. Don't chase him."
Yoru, who had just appeared on the ground ready to launch himself forward, stopped.
He turned to look at Orochimaru and Jiraiya flickering toward him, a faint puzzlement in his eyes.
Orochimaru's expression was grave as he explained. "I want to kill Hanzo as much as anyone. But the shinobi continent cannot afford to lose this demigod, and the Land of Fire least of all."
Jiraiya, normally easygoing, was equally serious as he added, "Orochimaru is right. If Hanzo dies, the Land of Rain, sitting at the intersection of three great nations, will be carved up. With the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth watching from both sides, the Land of Fire cannot fully occupy that territory."
"Even if we managed to occupy the Land of Rain, we wouldn't have enough forces to hold off the Land of Wind from the south and the Land of Earth from the north."
"The moment we split the Land of Rain with Wind and Earth, they would move their border bases into Rain Country. Whether we moved our own border base into Rain Country or split off forces to build a new one there, we would be at a severe disadvantage either way."
"So Hanzo cannot die. As long as he lives, Wind and Earth won't dare launch a war of annihilation against Rain Country. Once this war ends, if they want to come at the Land of Fire again, they'll have to pass through the Land of Rivers and the Land of Waterfalls first."
Even as he said it, Jiraiya felt a cold sweat in retrospect.
They had never imagined Yoru could actually inflict serious damage on Hanzo of the Salamander. If they had known, they would have quietly warned him beforehand.
When Orochimaru and Jiraiya saw Hanzo coughing up blood, their first reaction hadn't been shock at Yoru's new technique. It had been dread that Yoru might actually finish him off.
Killing the Demigod of the Shinobi World would certainly be the greatest combat achievement of any ninja's career.
But Yoru would not be elevated to the status of a new demigod. Instead, the Land of Wind and Land of Earth would be overjoyed, the flames of war would intensify, and every force from all three great nations might converge on Rain Country. The watching Land of Lightning and Land of Water would see their opportunity, turning a four-nation conflict into a five-great-nation war.
Situated at the center of four great nations and possessing the finest resources, the Land of Fire would inevitably become everyone's primary target.
However troublesome Flying Thunder God Technique was, it didn't carry the same strategic deterrence as the salamander. Hanzo could spread poison across wide areas, move at high speed both above and below ground, escape via Reverse Summoning Technique, and always operated alone. Even ten thousand ninja surrounding him couldn't bring down the Demigod of the Shinobi World.
Yoru's Flying Thunder God, once his chakra ran dry, left him with nothing but the option to flee.
Great nations feared Hanzo. They would not fear Yoru simply because he had defeated Hanzo, just as no one had feared Tobirama Senju for having mastered Flying Thunder God, which hadn't stopped the first great war from breaking out.
Without the ability to inflict mass casualties on a wide scale and in a way that left enemies with no recourse, neither Tobirama Senju nor Yoru had the standing to ascend to a divine tier of deterrence.
"...?"
Just as it had been the previous year, when they had considered injuring Hanzo a feat that not even the five great villages had managed, Yoru still hadn't fully absorbed this world's way of thinking. He genuinely didn't understand their logic.
The opponent was this troublesome and this dangerous. Wasn't that all the more reason to finish him off and be done with it? An opportunity like this, where a new technique's intelligence advantage allowed him to inflict a serious wound, wasn't something that came around every time.
He hadn't held back just now.
His decision not to aim for the head had been the same kind of tactical thinking Hanzo had shown by going for the midsection rather than the neck. Aiming for the head gave Hanzo more chances to dodge a fatal hit. The chest was a larger, more reliable target.
And to prevent Hanzo from using a summoning technique or creating a shadow clone in midair to redirect himself, Yoru had used a near-instant version of the laser beam rather than a full-power one.
Even so, Hanzo had managed to shift his body in the air, moving the impact point from the center of his chest to the right side.
Watching both of them stop him, Yoru couldn't help speaking up. "If we don't press the advantage while it's there, what happens when he recovers and comes after us?"
Before either of them could answer, a voice rang out nearby.
"I have lost."
Orochimaru and Jiraiya went taut immediately. Yoru looked toward the direction the voice had come from.
In the curtain of rain, countless water droplets converged and took shape, forming the figure of Hanzo of the Salamander.
This time the Demigod of the Shinobi World did not make his entrance with towering presence. He did not stand atop a rock and look down at the three of them from above. He met Yoru's gaze at eye level, his expression carrying layers of feeling.
Unwillingness. Desolation. Appreciation. And relief.
Then he looked at all three of them and spoke in a low voice. "This war is won by Konoha and the Land of Fire. As the defeated party, I give you my word, in whatever years remain to me, Amegakure and the Land of Rain will not declare war on the Land of Fire, nor will we ally with the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth."
"If Konoha is willing to set aside the grudge, I look forward to receiving your invitation to the Chunin Exams."
"And if you want revenge, I will be ready for that too."
His gaze settled on Yoru. The fire that had once burned behind Hanzo's eyes was gone entirely now. What came in its place was unguarded praise.
"Black Flash. It seems this title was not given in error. Gojo Yoru, you are the only person in these past several decades to wound both me and my partner. You are the most gifted assassin I have ever encountered. Not even the Second Hokage, who invented Flying Thunder God, comes close to you."
"I am defeated and I accept it fully. I will carry your name with me always, and I look forward to what you do next."
"As the one who defeated me, I hope you never lose to anyone else."
With those words, Hanzo's body dissolved into flowing water.
A Water Release shadow clone.
Yoru saw it the moment it dispersed.
Seeing that Hanzo had only come to deliver his parting words, and that both his bearing and his presence were completely different from how he had fought, it was clear Yoru had hit him hard. Yoru let himself relax.
He still hadn't developed a wide-range finishing technique, and hadn't yet created a Space-Time teleportation method that worked without pre-placed Flying Thunder God formulas. Killing someone who stood at the shinobi world's pinnacle required an intelligence advantage. Defeating them and driving them off was possible. Actually killing them was another matter.
Space-Time Release: Laser Beam was Yoru's new intelligence advantage.
The technique was a derivative of the Space-Time bomb prototype, its principles built on chakra control plus Lightning Release Spiraling Sphere plus Space-Time chakra plus shape transformation plus chakra burst.
The Lightning Release training Yoru had been throwing himself into all this time had not been aimed at developing Chidori and Chidori Sharp Spear. Those, along with Chidori Stream, had only been byproducts, practice for improving nature transformation and shape transformation. The real goal all along had been the Laser Beam.
Since the Laser Beam hadn't managed to finish Hanzo this time, killing the Demigod of the Shinobi World in the future would require finding another opportunity, or developing new Space-Time techniques to maintain an intelligence advantage again.
Until his sensory abilities reached another level entirely, the kind that could easily locate an enemy's real body while his Body Flicker crushed theirs, Yoru's most hated type of opponent would always be assassins of the same type and tier as himself. Masterful with their basic extensions, real body in one moment and shadow clone the next, or Substitution Technique, or Body Flicker, every time he used a finishing move there was a chance he was wasting Space-Time chakra on nothing.
Compared to a calculating schemer like Hanzo, Yoru vastly preferred fighting a straightforward powerhouse like the Third Raikage.
"Finally over."
Orochimaru and Jiraiya both let out long, heavy breaths.
Ace combatants had their own internal rankings, and frankly neither Orochimaru nor Jiraiya measured up to Sakumo Hatake, let alone Hiruzen Sarutobi. Yet here they had been, leading ninja forces against the demigod who was the greatest Water Release and Fire Release specialist in the shinobi world and whose poison techniques stood second to none, commanding one of the finest assassination corps the shinobi world had to offer.
Nobody would ever know the weight of pressure Orochimaru and Jiraiya had been carrying.
Without Tsunade's antidote formula and without Yoru's assistance and constant intervention, they wouldn't have survived to see this moment.
Now this frontline would never have to face Hanzo of the Salamander and his assassination corps again.
The relief that washed over both Orochimaru and Jiraiya in that moment was immense.
Smiles spread across their faces.
Jiraiya clapped Yoru hard on the shoulder and said with genuine feeling, "Yoru, your name is going into the history books. When this war is over, your name and your achievements will be recorded in historical texts across all nations and passed down to every future generation."
"Every child who walks through the doors of a ninja academy will know your name before they even become a shinobi. They'll know you eliminated the intelligence king of Sunagakure, and they'll know you defeated the Demigod of the Shinobi World."
Orochimaru smiled, equally sincere. "Yoru, you've already surpassed me. Both in strength and in reputation."
"Combat strength isn't the same as experience, Orochimaru-sensei. There's still a great deal Kushina and I need to learn from you." Yoru smiled modestly. "And if my name goes into the history books, it goes in alongside yours. Especially yours, sensei. You are the teacher of the Black Flash."
The pride that lit up Orochimaru's eyes at those words was unmistakable.
His satisfaction with this student had long since exceeded anything he could articulate.
From the moment he had discovered that Yoru possessed the Space-Time bloodline limit, Orochimaru's dream had quietly transformed. He no longer sought to become Hokage. His goal was to guide Yoru into becoming the new generation's God of Shinobi.
If Yoru became that, the shinobi world would know peace for as long as Orochimaru lived. Time enough to reform it, so that the tragedy that had taken their own parents and claimed Nawaki would never repeat.
And exactly as he had believed, Yoru's Space-Time bloodline limit carried the potential and the power to break every rule.
Twelve years old. An age when most people were just graduating from the academy.
And Yoru had already defeated the Demigod of the Shinobi World.
By the time he came of age, perhaps even before that, the shinobi world would be his era.
Watching Yoru, who had just defeated Hanzo and was still this humble and respectful to his teacher, Jiraiya felt a rare pang of envy.
That lucky bastard Orochimaru, finding a student this good.
At the same time, Jiraiya's resolve firmed. The next time he returned to Konoha, he absolutely had to go to Hiruzen and exchange for a private Flying Thunder God scroll.
During Yoru's swordsmanship exchange with Hanzo just now, Jiraiya had seen a familiar reflection in him.
When Team Jiraiya had first been formed, Jiraiya had done as Hiruzen had done with his own team, presenting his three students with a bell-snatching exercise, and it was there that he had witnessed Minato Namikaze's superhuman neural reaction speed firsthand.
If neural reaction speed was the core requirement for learning Flying Thunder God, then perhaps his student too had a chance.
At minimum, the probability was higher for that student than for either himself or Orochimaru.
"Cough, cough..."
Shifting to Hanzo's real body.
Hanzo's condition was the complete opposite of the composed, declarative Water Release shadow clone he had sent a short while ago.
His wound and his mouth were both bleeding. His Body Flicker was growing slower with every use. His life force was fading.
If he kept this up, he might die on the road before ever making it back to Amegakure.
That thumb-sized hole in his right chest looked small. It was not small in consequence.
A penetrating wound, even a narrow one, was extremely lethal. This was the same reason you never pulled an arrow before medical help arrived. And Hanzo's wound ran through him front to back.
Not knowing whether Yoru would pursue, he couldn't risk stopping to treat himself, couldn't risk summoning his partner, terrified that the blindingly fast laser beam would come again.
His partner's size would make dodging impossible. A hit from that beam wouldn't pass through the salamander. It would detonate on impact. The destructive power behind it would kill his partner without question.
And his partner was his greatest deterrence against every nation in the world.
Hanzo was just as careful and calculating as Yoru. He second-guessed everything.
He kept moving, not knowing how far he had gone, until his body finally refused to continue. Only then did he duck into a mountain cave he found along the way.
"Ha... Hanzo-sama!"
By sheer chance, the cave Hanzo had chosen was already occupied.
Looking at the orange-haired boy in front of him, Hanzo's instincts briefly flared with killing intent. At a moment like this, he could not afford any accidents.
But hearing how the boy addressed him, and seeing the excitement that replaced the shock on his face, Hanzo's eyebrow lifted. "You're a resident of the Land of Rain?"
"Hanzo-sama, my name is Yahiko. I was born in Amegakure. My parents died in last year's raid." Yahiko answered quickly, his eyes shining, his admiration for Hanzo completely unconcealed.
Noticing Hanzo pressing a hand against his right chest, his palm glowing green and soaked in blood, Yahiko's expression immediately shifted to concern. "Hanzo-sama, you're injured?"
"Yes. I need your help with something."
Hanzo wasted no words. He produced a signal flare and a scroll and held them out to Yahiko, then instructed plainly, "Take this signal flare to the outer perimeter of Amegakure and fire it. Then hide this scroll somewhere, anywhere, and you can leave. When it's done, I'll reward you well."
"Yes, Hanzo-sama."
Yahiko's face lit up. He took both items and immediately ran out.
The cautious Hanzo did not stay in that cave. He moved to a different cave on another mountain, created a shadow clone to conceal the entrance and set up barriers, while his real body began emergency treatment.
Unfortunately too much time had already passed. Despite using medical ninjutsu continuously on the move to keep the wound from bleeding out, and despite having a storage scroll with medical supplies on his person, he only managed to stop the bleeding. Before he could even set up a blood transfusion, he lost consciousness.
With the real body down, the shadow clone automatically dissolved.
Hanzo's life force was slipping away.
Then a white figure passed through the barrier without resistance, rising up from the ground below.
"Lucky man. Be grateful you're still useful." White Zetsu's clone muttered, then took over the treatment Hanzo had not been able to finish.
Just as it had been when Yoru and the three Konoha shinobi had fought Hanzo before, that battlefield had appeared to hold only five participants while an unknown number of observers watched from a distance in the shadows.
Madara Uchiha, who had taken a keen interest in Yoru, naturally learned the result the moment it happened.
Just as Orochimaru and Jiraiya had stopped Yoru from pursuing, even if they hadn't intervened, Madara would have sent Tobi to intervene instead.
If Hanzo died, the entire shinobi world would descend into chaos and might slip beyond his ability to control. That was bad for Nagato's development.
Even if the shinobi world did fall into chaos, it would have to wait until Nagato had the ability to protect himself.
So Madara had prepared to save Hanzo.
White Zetsu's treatment method was straightforward. Using the Spore Technique to coat Hanzo in an expanding mass of material, White Zetsu transferred chakra into Hanzo's body, rapidly healing the life-threatening wound in a manner similar to physical regeneration.
He didn't provide a blood transfusion, however. Instead he used the Mayfly Technique to conceal himself and continued observing.
Less than two hours later, the barrier was broken open from outside. Sagawa's figure entered, and he carried Hanzo away.
White Zetsu followed from the shadows.
A piece of news quietly spread along the border defense line between Amegakure and the Land of Fire.
Within less than a day it had reached every battlefield of the four-nation war and was rapidly spreading across the entire shinobi world.
The Land of Rain, which had initiated the conflict, announced its withdrawal.
Not because supplies had run out. Not because Konoha's ninja had broken through the village walls.
Hanzo of the Salamander, who stood above all jinchuriki in strategic deterrence, whom every ninja in the world regarded as the shinobi world's pinnacle, the one called the Demigod, had been defeated one-on-one by Konoha's Black Flash.
Not defeated by the three commanders of the border defense line fighting together. Defeated by the Black Flash of Konoha, in a one-on-one fight.
Before anyone could raise doubts, Amegakure publicly confirmed it, and simultaneously announced the terms of Hanzo's defeated party promise.
Just as the previous year Hanzo had sacrificed his own reputation to lift Yoru onto the shinobi world's stage and make him a rising star overnight, now, with his ambitions completely extinguished and no more desire to expand his territory, Hanzo sacrificed his own fame once more. He let Yoru climb to the shinobi world's highest peak by standing on his shoulders, making him the most watched figure in the shinobi world.
This was the only thing Hanzo could do for his "ally," and it was also his "revenge" on Konoha.
At twelve years old, he had already defeated the Demigod of the Shinobi World in a one-on-one match. If any future power didn't want to live in his shadow, they would have to go after him by any means necessary.
Hanzo had spent decades climbing from a small village ninja to the pinnacle of the shinobi world. Now he was burning himself to illuminate Yoru's path.
Whatever Hanzo's intentions, his acknowledgment and Amegakure's withdrawal sent Yoru's name, already known across the shinobi world, surging to a new height. There was not a single person left who didn't know it.
The war had been going less than two years. Konoha's three-front conflict had lasted only a little more than a year.
In that year, outside of Ebizo, the intelligence king of Sunagakure, no major figure of legendary standing had fallen. Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had not yet been killed by Sakumo Hatake, whose White Fang title had not yet spread across the shinobi world to the point of overshadowing even the defeated Sannin from the original series, or Danzo Shimura, the Hokage's aide. Dan Kato, the shadow assassin who wielded the super S-rank Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, had not yet been beaten to the point of having his kidneys on the outside by Iwa ninja.
Among all those who had built remarkable combat records, Yoru stood as the single most brilliant figure this war had produced, without exception.
His reputation immediately affected the other two frontlines. Sand and Stone ninja alike went suddenly quiet.
After all, with Amegakure's withdrawal, the border defense line couldn't split its forces in two and send support, since it still had to hold the forest territory and prevent enemies from circling through into the Land of Fire.
But that restriction didn't apply to an ace combatant who wielded Flying Thunder God Technique.
With Flying Thunder God, Yoru could even bring other ace combatants along when providing support, and if a problem arose at the border defense line, he could return there with those same ace combatants instantly.
The defensive strength and combat power of both remaining frontlines would surge as a result. Every piece of intelligence Sand and Stone had gathered over the past year might be rendered useless overnight.
Unless the Land of Wind and Land of Earth also chose to withdraw, they would have to start intelligence gathering from scratch before deciding whether to commit to a major offensive.
This was going to be a long and grinding standoff.
Before friendly forces needed support, the three responsible for holding the western border entered a period of rest.
The combat and logistics units organized the retrieval of fallen comrades. Jiraiya, who had been wanting to return to Konoha, personally escorted the bodies back.
Orochimaru led the remaining ninja forces and used ninjutsu to begin rebuilding the border base.
As for Yoru...
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