Konoha.
Inside the Hokage Building—
Shikatoki arrived with his mission report.
The moment he entered the office, besides Hiruzen Sarutobi, he saw Danzō Shimura’s irritating face.
“Shikatoki Nara!”
“All you had to do was deliver a few invitations, and it took you nearly forty days!”
Danzō opened fire without even a moment’s delay.
Shikatoki could only stare at him speechlessly.
“Elder Danzō, seriously…
is the Third Hokage the Hokage, or are you?”
“Are you really this free?”
“How come every time I come here, you’re around?”
The moment Shikatoki mentioned the position of Hokage, Danzō’s face flushed red.
He was just about to say something when Hiruzen cut him off.
“That’s enough, Danzō.”
“This mission involved travelling over extremely long distances.”
“As long as it was completed at least fifteen days before the Chūnin Exams, there was no problem.”
“Hiruzen, you—!”
Shikatoki calmly took out two scrolls and placed them on the desk.
Hiruzen looked at them curiously.
“What are these?”
“The one on the left contains Monzaemon’s Puppet Manipulation Technique.”
Shikatoki answered honestly.
“The one on the right contains part of Kumogakure’s secret Lightning Release Chakra Mode.”
“Lightning Release Chakra Mode?”
Hiruzen and Danzō had already heard about Shikatoki obtaining Monzaemon’s puppet-control technique from Sunagakure.
But— where had this Lightning Release Chakra Mode come from?
“Yep.”
Shikatoki grinned.
“I discovered that the other shinobi villages are much more polite than Elder Danzō.”
“Whenever I visit, they keep giving me gifts.”
“They were so enthusiastic I almost felt embarrassed.”
Danzō no longer seemed to care about Shikatoki’s mockery.
His eyes were fixed entirely on the scroll containing the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
“And these are…?”
Hiruzen asked.
“Hehe.”
Shikatoki rubbed his hands together.
“Lord Hokage, I’m contributing these to Konoha.”
“Considering these and my previous contributions…”
“Could you let me study the Flying Thunder God Technique?”
Both scrolls had already been converted into Templates.
During the journey back, Shikatoki had also tested the Lightning Release Chakra Mode himself.
It could indeed stimulate the cells and gradually improve the body’s physical qualities.
Unfortunately— compared with natural energy, the effect was far too weak.
It was practically useless to Shikatoki.
So he might as well trade it for something valuable.
Hiruzen collected both scrolls.
His smile became particularly friendly.
“Of course.”
“There are about twenty days left before the Chūnin Exams.”
“You and Minato will need to begin taking missions again soon.”
“Use this time to train properly.”
He handed Shikatoki the scroll containing the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Shikatoki nodded.
“Understood.”
Then he left.
His first stop was the Nara Clan compound.
After greeting his elder uncle, Shikaomi, he immediately headed toward the Senju Clan compound.
The moment he entered— he saw Orochimaru.
“Shikatoki-kun.”
Orochimaru licked his lips, his eyes practically glowing.
“I knew you would come here.”
“I’ve accumulated quite a few research questions that require your assistance.”
Shikatoki instinctively took a step backward.
Researchers like this were terrifying.
“Senior Orochimaru.”
“I brought you a gift.”
Shikatoki quickly unsealed a scroll and pulled out two vials of blood.
“These are blood samples from awakened members of the Yuki Clan and the Kaguya Clan.”
“Interested?”
Orochimaru’s eyes flickered.
Then a smile appeared on his face.
“To be honest, Shikatoki-kun…”
“I’m more interested in you.”
Shikatoki’s expression stiffened.
“But it seems I’ve caused you some trouble recently.”
Orochimaru collected the two vials.
“I’ll leave you alone for a while.”
“I can return later.”
Watching Orochimaru leave with the blood samples, Shikatoki was just about to breathe a sigh of relief— when a fragrant breeze came rushing from behind him.
“Shikatoki, you brat!”
“You’re finally back!”
Tsunade stormed toward him.
“Look at this!”
“Why does the moment I use chakra to stimulate the blood flow according to your method—”
“the whole thing explode?!”
In her hand was a fish.
Or rather— half of what had once been a fish.
Shikatoki’s face darkened.
If he refused Orochimaru, Orochimaru would merely smile.
If he refused Tsunade—
Tsunade would actually hit him.
“It’s because every living creature has a different blood-vibration frequency.”
Shikatoki patiently explained.
“In fact, even different people have different frequencies.”
Tsunade’s eyes immediately lit up.
“So that’s it!”
“Thanks!”
And just like that— she rushed away again.
Shikatoki headed toward Kushina’s courtyard.
Minato was indeed there.
Shikatoki immediately teased him.
“I didn’t see you at home, so I knew you’d definitely be here with Kushina.”
Minato smiled.
“Shikatoki, you’re back from your mission?”
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yeah.”
Shikatoki took out the Flying Thunder God scroll.
“I exchanged my contributions for the Flying Thunder God Technique.”
“I want you to teach me.”
Minato agreed without hesitation.
“Of course!”
For the entire day, Minato explained the key points of practising the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And by the end—
Shikatoki had fallen into depression.
He simply wasn’t good at ninjutsu involving abstract, imaginative concepts.
And the Flying Thunder God Technique required him to perceive fluctuations in space.
That was even more abstract.
Minato casually claimed it was simple.
Shikatoki kept Sage Mode active and spent an entire day concentrating.
He could sense how many times the ants next door crawled past— yet somehow failed to detect a single spatial fluctuation.
After three days of effort—
Shikatoki gave up on learning it normally.
I can’t learn it myself?
Then—
“Skill Editor, activate!”
“Add it to Shadow Imitation Technique.”
[Flying Thunder God Technique — Compatibility: Extremely Low.
Strongly recommended not to add this Template.]
Shikatoki froze.
This was the first time the Skill Editor had ever been so blunt.
Do not add this.
Naturally— that only made Shikatoki more curious.
It was like everyone telling you not to try some famously terrible local food.
The more people warned you— the more you started wondering just how bad it could possibly be.
And then, after trying it— you threw the entire thing away.
Shikatoki added the Flying Thunder God Template to his Shadow Imitation Technique anyway.
He extracted the shadow of a passing bird.
Closing his eyes, he focused.
Sure enough— he could now sense faint spatial fluctuations around the bird’s shadow.
He tried swapping positions with it.
Then— the shadow vanished.
Shikatoki remained exactly where he was.
The swap had failed.
“Failed?”
“Why?”
Shikatoki frowned.
He sat down and thought about it.
For a long time— nothing came to mind.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why do you look so troubled?”
Minato and Kushina walked over.
Kushina patted Shikatoki on the shoulder.
“It’s fine if you can’t learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.”
“Not everyone has the same talent for space-time ninjutsu as Minato.”
“Thanks.”
Shikatoki rolled his eyes.
“I feel much better now.”
He lay back on the grass.
“Minato, why do you think I managed to sense the spatial fluctuation, but the actual position swap still failed?”
Minato scratched his head.
He wasn’t entirely certain.
“Maybe you lost the coordinate?”
“But once I learned to sense spatial fluctuations, I never had a teleportation fail.”
“Lost the coordinate…?”
Shikatoki murmured.
Then— his eyes suddenly lit up.
“That’s it!”
“The coordinate was lost!”
He immediately looked around and extracted another bird’s shadow.
“A shadow extracted from someone else remains connected to its original owner.”
“The moment it enters the spatial transfer, that connection to the original owner breaks.”
“So the shadow immediately disappears!”
“And because the coordinate disappears along with it—” Get faster updates on g.com.
“My teleportation fails too!”
Shikatoki suddenly understood.
“So that’s why the Skill Editor resisted combining them so strongly.”
“An independent shadow…”
His thoughts immediately turned toward his unfinished Shadow Summoning technique.
“Add the Template to Shadow Summoning.”
[Flying Thunder God Technique — Compatibility: High: Allows the host to exchange positions with a Shadow Warrior.]
“Nice!”
Shikatoki waved a hand.
A Shadow Warrior emerged.
The next instant—
Shikatoki and the Shadow Warrior instantly swapped positions.
Minato and Kushina stared at each other.
“You learned the Flying Thunder God Technique?”
“No.”
Shikatoki shook his head.
“I can’t use it as freely as Minato.”
“I can only exchange positions with my Shadow Warriors.”
“That’s still amazing.”
Minato smiled warmly.
Kushina, on the other hand, looked somewhat dejected.
“You and Minato are both way too talented.”
“I still haven’t even completely learned fūinjutsu.”
“Grandma Mito keeps comparing me to you.”
“How quickly did you learn it back then?”
Now that she had brought up fūinjutsu— that happened to be one of Shikatoki’s strongest areas.
He immediately became smug.
“It only took me six months to learn the whole foundation.”
“Everything after that was spent creating and improving my own sealing techniques.”
“You’re so annoying!”
Kushina reacted exactly as Shikatoki had earlier.
She dropped onto the grass.
Minato gently comforted her.
“Kushina, there’s no need to rush.”
“Take your time.”
“Exactly.”
Shikatoki nodded.
“Besides, you have Minato.”
“If you ever run into someone you can’t beat, just go ‘boo-hoo-hoo,’ look pitifully at Minato, and he’ll beat the hell out of everyone for you.”
Minato’s imagination immediately ran wild.
His face turned slightly red.
Kushina shot to her feet.
“Shikatoki, you bastard!”
“What are you talking about?!”
Seeing Kushina’s fist coming toward him—
Shikatoki immediately fled.
“I’ve solved the Flying Thunder God problem!”
“I arranged to visit the Uchiha yesterday!”
“Bye!”
He disappeared with the Body Flicker Technique.
With the Template he had gained from Matatabi—
Shikatoki naturally intended to learn some Fire Release ninjutsu.
In fact, just the previous night, he had tested his chakra natures using chakra paper for the first time.
The result— he possessed all five basic chakra natures.
Now, carrying a recommendation letter from Mito Uzumaki, Shikatoki arrived at the Uchiha Clan compound.
Unlike the lush greenery and relaxed atmosphere of the Senju Clan— the moment he entered the Uchiha district, he could feel the solemn atmosphere.
“Shikatoki-kun.”
“This way, please.”
Fugaku Uchiha maintained a serious expression as he guided Shikatoki through the compound.
Before long, they arrived at the home of the Clan Head, Masatake Uchiha.
Masatake sat in the main seat.
Judging from his posture, he had clearly been waiting for some time.
“Clan Head Masatake.”
Shikatoki respectfully bowed.
Masatake’s expression looked stern as always, but his voice was unexpectedly gentle.
“There’s no need for such formality, Shikatoki-kun.”
“Sit.”
“Thank you.”
The three sat down.
Tea was quickly served.
“Lady Mito personally wrote to me about your request.”
Masatake pushed a thick scroll toward Shikatoki.
“These are all of the Fire Release techniques currently held by the Uchiha Clan.”
Shikatoki froze.
The Senju Clan naturally possessed Fire Release techniques too.
And ordinary techniques such as the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique could be obtained through many channels.
But if one wanted truly powerful Fire Release ninjutsu— the Uchiha Clan was still the obvious choice.
That was why Shikatoki had asked Mito whether she could speak with them and see if they were willing to teach him one or two advanced Fire Release techniques.
He had only expected a couple.
He hadn’t expected Masatake Uchiha to be this generous.
“Clan Head Masatake…”
“You’re being far too generous.”
For once, Shikatoki didn’t know whether he should accept the scroll or refuse it.
“There’s no need to hesitate, Shikatoki-kun.”
Masatake looked at him seriously.
“The Uchiha Clan has only one request.”
“If you become Hokage someday…”
“please do not target the Uchiha Clan.”