Konoha Year 44, Summer.
The border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire was remarkably peaceful.
No major battles had broken out.
On the Kirigakure front, however, something major had happened.
A member of the Hyūga clan’s main branch had been killed on the battlefield, and a shinobi named Ao had taken his Byakugan.
This provoked a furious reaction from the Hyūga clan.
They dispatched a large number of shinobi to the battlefield and inflicted heavy casualties on the Mist forces.
Kirigakure suffered badly under the counterattack and was forced to cease its offensive for the time being, waiting for another opportunity to strike.
On the Kumogakure front, fighting came and went.
There were occasional clashes, but nothing particularly significant happened.
As for the Iwagakure front, Konoha’s jōnin Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya’s student, had become a terrifying presence on the battlefield.
Relying on the Flying Thunder God Technique, he moved at a speed that no one could match, slaughtering large numbers of Iwagakure shinobi and causing his title of the Yellow Flash to resound throughout the entire shinobi world.
Eventually, every major nation other than the Land of Fire issued the same order:
If you encounter Konoha’s Yellow Flash, flee immediately.
And anyone who did so would not be punished.
This allowed Minato Namikaze to become Konoha’s most famous rising hero.
His student, Kakashi, had also displayed extraordinary talent.
According to rumors, he had used Lightning Release: Chidori to split lightning itself.
Thus, the technique acquired the name Lightning Cutter.
This naturally attracted considerable attention from Iwagakure.
As for his two weaker students, Obito and Rin, they had not attracted anyone’s attention.
…
…
On a mountaintop.
Yagami Yue sat cross-legged on a large rock, his eyes closed as he cultivated his chakra.
It had already been a year since he had left Konoha and entered the battlefield.
He was now eight years old, approaching nine.
His body had grown dramatically compared with when he was seven.
And because of the Character Cards, his body had undergone an enormous amount of training.
Since chakra was energy extracted from the body’s cells, his chakra reserves had also increased by leaps and bounds.
They had now reached the level of a jōnin.
With his current chakra reserves, Yue estimated that he should finally be capable of using Misaka’s ultimate attack— the one-billion-volt attack.
Of course, after using it, his entire body would probably be completely drained.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
At that moment, a genin rapidly arrived at the mountaintop.
“Lord Yagami Yue, Lord Orochimaru has summoned all the senior officers.
There is an important matter to discuss.”
Yagami Yue remained completely motionless.
His eyes were still closed.
He sat cross-legged in silence, as though he hadn’t heard a thing.
The genin didn’t say anything further.
He understood the situation and quietly withdrew.
Only after a long while did Yue finally open his eyes.
Electricity crackled across his body.
Ever since obtaining Mikoto Misaka’s electromagnetic abilities, his chakra cultivation had accelerated considerably.
At the same time, his control over Misaka’s abilities had become increasingly refined.
When Yue finally arrived at the command headquarters, everyone else had already gathered.
Orochimaru.
Nara Shikaku.
And several other senior shinobi.
“Sorry I’m late,” Yue said.
“Yue-kun certainly works hard at his training…” Orochimaru said, completely unconcerned by his tardiness.
“Can’t be helped.
The shinobi world is too dangerous.
I have to work a little harder to survive,” Yue replied.
The group chatted casually for a while.
Then the meeting officially began.
Orochimaru spread out a large map.
It showed the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.
“Since the battles on the Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri fronts have eased somewhat, Nara Shikaku and I have decided to launch a major operation here in the Land of Wind.”
“Our primary objective is to inflict heavy casualties on Sunagakure and severely weaken its fighting strength.”
“The location of the battle will be…”
Orochimaru placed his finger on a particular location on the map.
A mountain beside a city.
Kikyo Mountain.
Yagami Yue’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Kikyo City.
Kikyo Mountain.
In the original history of Naruto, there had indeed been a major battle between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind known as the Battle of Kikyo Mountain.
However, whether in the manga or the supplementary materials, very little information about the battle was available.
The earliest mention of the Battle of Kikyo Mountain in the manga came during a conversation between the Third Hokage and Anko during the Chūnin Exams.
According to that conversation, Kabuto had been one of the orphans created by that war before eventually being brought back to Konoha and raised there.
Furthermore, Konoha had completely routed the Sand forces during this battle.
Sunagakure suffered enormous losses, severely damaging its foundations and completely changing the balance of the war between Konoha and the Sand.
And now—
Kikyo City belonged to the Land of Wind.
“Our objective this time is to use the capture of Kikyo City as bait, forcing Sunagakure to send reinforcements…”
Orochimaru paused.
“And to prevent Chiyo, Ebizō, and the Fourth Kazekage—three Kage-level shinobi—from personally intervening and blocking our operation, I’ve specifically transferred Minato Namikaze here.”
“Just in case.”
The moment Orochimaru finished speaking, a blond-haired man walked into the room.
Minato Namikaze.
He was sunny.
Handsome.
Warm.
The kind of person who naturally made others lower their guard and feel as though they could become friends with him.
Yagami Yue was handsome as well.
But because of his personality, he tended to be cold and distant.
He had the aura of a reserved, almost untouchable handsome young man.
Minato’s handsomeness was completely different.
They were two entirely different styles.
“Hello, everyone.”
Minato greeted everyone enthusiastically.
His gaze briefly rested on each person in the room, giving everyone the impression that he genuinely respected them.
And following him into the room were his three students.
Kakashi.
Obito Uchiha.
Rin Nohara.
All three were around eleven or twelve years old—roughly two years older than Yagami Yue.
Kakashi was already a chūnin.
Obito and Rin were still genin who had only recently graduated from the Academy.
Kakashi’s expression was tense and cold.
Even colder than Yagami Yue’s.
This was Yue’s first meeting with Minato’s team.