Three years passed.
Shikatoki was now ten years old.
Over those three years, his growth had been tremendous.
[Current Skills: Shadow Imitation Technique: Modified Version, Substitution Technique: Modified Version, Sealing Technique: Modified Version, Sage Mode: Modified Version, Rasengan…]
With the help of the Skill Editor, Shikatoki had finally created his own sealing technique and Sage Mode in recent days.
[Sealing Technique: Modified Version: Upon physical contact, initiates a sealing process.
The host may freely select the target of the seal.]
Shikatoki had converted a large number of sealing techniques into templates and added them together, eventually producing the current version.
Its effect was simple and direct.
When fighting Shikatoki, the moment an opponent touched him—or was struck by him—the sealing process could begin.
Combined with his shadows, it was nearly impossible to deal with.
To reduce chakra consumption, Shikatoki had divided the sealing effect into separate sections.
Completely sealing an opponent’s chakra consumed too much chakra?
Then he would simply seal part of it.
[Sage Mode: Automatically absorbs natural energy and gradually replaces chakra with it.]
As for Sage Mode, Shikatoki had directly modified it into a permanent passive state.
Compared with ordinary Sage Mode, the drawback was obvious.
It activated slowly.
It required time.
But the advantage was that once all of his chakra had been replaced by natural energy, he would effectively possess a permanent Sage Mode.
And as long as the natural energy remained, Shikatoki would continue growing stronger.
There was also another hidden benefit.
Shikatoki had completely separated himself from the Ōtsutsuki chakra system.
“Shikatoki Nara!
Get out here!
I’m challenging you!”
Ri Uchiha’s voice came from outside.
Shikatoki adjusted his clothes and stepped out.
“Come on!”
Neither needed any further discussion.
It was as though the two had rehearsed this countless times.
Ri instantly activated his Sharingan.
Just as the fight was about to begin—
Minato appeared beside Shikatoki with the Body Flicker Technique.
“Shikatoki!
Something terrible happened!”
“The Shinobi World War has started!”
“What?!”
Shikatoki’s pupils contracted.
Ri was shocked as well, but quickly regained his composure.
“Finish today’s fight first!”
“Sorry, Ri.
I’ve got something more important to deal with.”
Shikatoki’s expression turned serious.
The instant he made contact with Ri, the Sealing Technique activated.
Ri’s two-tomoe Sharingan was sealed immediately.
His chakra was still there.
But he could no longer activate the Sharingan.
“You…”
Ri’s expression turned bitter.
“How did you do that?”
“Fūinjutsu.”
Shikatoki turned away.
“It’ll wear off after a while.”
“Minato!
Let’s go find Big Sis Tsunade.”
The two disappeared, leaving Ri standing alone in the wind, emotionally shattered.
At the Senju Clan compound, Tsunade wore a grave expression as she confirmed which members of the Senju Clan would be sent to the battlefield.
“Big Sis Tsunade.”
“What are you two doing here?”
Tsunade immediately turned serious.
“The situation is dangerous right now.
Stay inside the village!”
“Big Sis Tsunade, I heard…
war has started again.”
Shikatoki hesitated before asking.
Tsunade made no attempt to hide it.
“My granduncle has already departed with the first group.”
“The various clans are currently gathering personnel and awaiting deployment orders.”
Something dropped in Shikatoki’s heart.
“Where did Lord Tobirama go?!”
“Towards the area near Kumogakure.”
Hearing that, Shikatoki’s expression turned bitter.
So that meant…
Tobirama Senju was about to leave the stage.
Truthfully, Shikatoki had always had a fairly good impression of Tobirama.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the news arrived.
Tobirama Senju had died in battle.
The position of Third Hokage was inherited by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Everything happened with astonishing haste.
There was barely even time to mourn Tobirama’s death.
The Second Shinobi World War continued regardless.
Sitting inside the classroom, Shikatoki suddenly understood why Orochimaru would one day say that life was fragile.
Even someone as powerful as Tobirama Senju had died.
“Everyone, we have a new classmate joining us today.”
Their teacher looked towards the door.
“Come in.”
A red-haired girl entered the classroom.
“My name is Kushina Uzumaki.
Nice to meet you all.”
Kushina wrote her name on the blackboard.
The instant Minato saw her, his heart seemed to skip a beat.
“Look at her hair!
It’s red!”
“Yeah!
She looks like a tomato.
So ugly!”
Listening to the mockery around the classroom, Shikatoki genuinely couldn’t understand it.
The Land of Whirlpools might be approaching destruction, but it still existed at this point.
And the Uzumaki Clan was famous throughout the shinobi world.
Where exactly did these civilian children find the courage to mock her?
Hadn’t they noticed that not a single child from a shinobi clan had said anything?
“Ahem.”
The entire classroom instantly fell silent.
That was the intimidating authority of the Ninja Academy’s resident little tyrant.
Seeing this, Shikatoki shot Minato a look.
Minato immediately understood.
He hurriedly stood and began clapping.
“Welcome to the class, Kushina.”
Shikatoki joined in.
Everyone else immediately followed.
Kushina glanced at Minato.
Then at Shikatoki.
Finally, she formed her first impressions of the two.
Girly.
Show-off.
But—
Good people.
When classes ended at noon, Kushina approached them.
“Thanks for speaking up for me earlier.”
Minato smiled shyly.
“It’s nothing.
We’re classmates.
We should help each other.”
“Come on.
Let’s go to your place.”
Shikatoki yawned and spoke as though it were perfectly natural.
Kushina froze.
“Huh?
My place?”
Minato hurriedly explained.
“Shikatoki is Lady Mito’s disciple.
He’s been studying under Grandma Mito for years.”
Realisation dawned on Kushina.
“So you’re the person Big Sis Tsunade told me about.”
The three headed towards the Senju Clan compound together.
Before they even entered, they heard an argument.
“Big Sis!
I’m not a little kid anymore!
Why won’t you let me go?!”
Nawaki’s face was red with frustration.
He was clearly agitated.
Tsunade’s expression was ice-cold.
“No means no!”
“Do you even understand what a battlefield is?!”
“It’s a place where you can die at any moment!”
“Even someone as powerful as Granduncle died on the battlefield.
What do you think you are?!”
“I’m already a Chūnin!”
Nawaki argued back.
“By the rules, I’m qualified to go to war!”
“A Chūnin is cannon fodder on a battlefield!”
Tsunade spoke with open disdain.
“But—”
Nawaki was about to continue when Tsunade noticed the three newcomers.
“Nawaki!”
“If you really want to go to the battlefield, fine.”
She pointed towards them.
“Of these three, excluding Kushina, choose either Minato or Shikatoki.”
“If you beat one of them, I’ll agree to let you go.”
Minato and Shikatoki exchanged glances.
Nawaki’s eyes lit up.
Over the past few years, he had been constantly away on missions.
He had seen Minato and Shikatoki before, but had very little direct interaction with them.
As far as he was concerned, he was a Chūnin.
If he couldn’t defeat two brats who hadn’t even graduated from the Academy yet, that would be ridiculous.
“Fine!”
Nawaki agreed without hesitation.
A sharp gleam flashed through Tsunade’s eyes.
Shikatoki and Minato walked closer to her.
Shikatoki quietly asked,
“Big Sis Tsunade, how hard should we go?”
A cruel smile appeared on Tsunade’s face.
“Crush him.”
“Make this brat understand the difference between himself and the battlefield.”
Both boys nodded in understanding.
Shikatoki especially took it seriously.
He hadn’t possessed the strength to prevent Tobirama Senju’s death.
But if he could prevent Nawaki’s death, that would still be worthwhile.
The most direct way to save Nawaki was simply to keep him away from the battlefield.
Remove the danger at its source.
Nawaki’s death in the original story had been horrifying.
He wandered into a trap filled with explosive tags and was blown apart.
By the time his body was recovered, his internal organs had already been removed.
No one knew who had taken them.
His death was also one of the events that began Orochimaru’s transformation.
After witnessing the death of someone close to him, Orochimaru became increasingly obsessed with the fragility of life and eventually began researching forbidden techniques related to immortality.
In other words—
Nawaki’s death affected a great many people.
“Choose.”
Tsunade looked at her brother.
“Minato or Shikatoki?”
Nawaki glanced between them.
He immediately ruled out Shikatoki.
After all, Shikatoki was Grandma Mito’s disciple.
There was no way he could be weak.
“I choose Minato.”
“Good.”
Tsunade nodded.
“Both of you, get ready.
Move on my signal.”
Minato and Nawaki took their positions.
“Begin!”
At Tsunade’s command, Minato immediately threw a three-pronged kunai. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
That was right.
A kunai engraved with the formula for the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Because of Shikatoki’s influence, Minato had attracted attention much earlier than in the original timeline.
He had also met Jiraiya earlier.
After Minato became Jiraiya’s disciple, Jiraiya used his own mission credits to exchange for access to the Flying Thunder God Technique on Minato’s behalf.
And so— the Yellow Flash who would one day become famous throughout the shinobi world had made his debut ahead of schedule.
That was precisely why Tsunade was so certain Minato could defeat Nawaki.
Just as expected— the instant Nawaki dodged the kunai, Minato was already right in front of him.
A blue sphere of chakra appeared in Minato’s right hand.
“Light Wheel Ice Pops Inspired Whirling Jiraiya Twin Formula Sphere!”
Shikatoki’s mouth twitched violently.
“I told you already!”
“It’s called the Rasengan, you bastard!”
The Rasengan tore past Nawaki’s head and slammed into the wall behind him.
Boom!
The tremendous impact destroyed the entire wall, leaving nothing but rubble.
Nawaki collapsed onto his backside.
Minato smiled gently.
“Good match, Senior Nawaki.”
Then he glanced at Tsunade.
“Um…
I don’t need to pay for that wall, do I?”
Tsunade nodded in satisfaction.
“No.
You did very well.”
“That’s not fair!”
Nawaki scrambled back to his feet.
“That was Granduncle’s Flying Thunder God Technique!”
“It’s a forbidden technique!”
“I wasn’t prepared!
I didn’t even get the chance to show what I can do!”
“No one on the battlefield will wait for you to be prepared!”
Tsunade snapped.
“And you won’t know whether your enemy has forbidden techniques either!”
“Life and death are often decided in a single instant!”
Nawaki was still unconvinced.
“Then I want to fight Shikatoki!”
Tsunade smiled.
“Fine.”
“I’ll give you one more chance.”
“Alright!”
Nawaki stared intently at Shikatoki.
Shikatoki, meanwhile, stood there casually.
Almost lazily.
“Big Sis Tsunade, do we really have to go this far?”
“Stop talking and do what I told you.”
Tsunade had already anticipated that Nawaki wouldn’t accept his defeat.
She had given Shikatoki strict instructions beforehand.
“Fine, fine.”
“Begin!”
This time, Nawaki charged towards Shikatoki without hesitation.
He intended to seize the initiative.
Shikatoki didn’t move.
The instant the two made contact— the Sealing Technique activated.
“Whoa~”
Shikatoki raised his eyebrows.
“As expected of a Senju.
You really do have a ridiculous amount of chakra.”
“If I hadn’t converted some of my chakra into natural energy, I might not have succeeded.”
That was what he said.
But the seal was already complete.
Nawaki immediately jumped backwards.
He looked at himself in horror, then stared at Shikatoki.
“My…
my chakra is gone?”
“No.”
His expression became even more frightened.
“I can still feel it, but I can’t use it?!”
“Why?!”
“It’s sealed.”
Shikatoki remained completely calm.
“I study fūinjutsu under Grandma Mito.
You already knew that, didn’t you?”
“What kind of sealing technique does that?!”
Nawaki shouted.
“Undo it right now!”
Shikatoki pointed towards Tsunade.
“Talk to your sister.”
Nawaki immediately turned towards her.
“I told Shikatoki to seal your chakra.”
Tsunade crossed her arms.
“That way, you can’t secretly run off to the battlefield.”
“If you want the seal removed, figure out how to break it yourself.”
“As things stand, you can’t defeat either Minato or Shikatoki.”
“So the matter of you going to war ends here.”
After saying that, Tsunade gave Minato and Shikatoki an approving look before walking away.
Nawaki lay on the ground.
Completely defeated.
Kushina had watched both battles from beginning to end.
For the first time, she gained a clear understanding of how powerful people her own age could actually be.
“You two are…
really strong.”
Minato became slightly embarrassed by Kushina’s praise.
“I’m alright.”
“I still have a long way to go.”
Shikatoki was far more straightforward.
“Of course.”
“I wasn’t even using my full strength.”