The Shirakawa incident concluded, and time flew by.
A convoy of carriages traveled along a small forest path. Birds chirped and fragrant flowers bloomed all around, and the orange-yellow fallen leaves covered the road like a carpet. The tranquil atmosphere completely relaxed the young boys and girls on the carriages.
They had set out from the southwestern front in the height of summer, in August. The journey was long, and they even had an unexpected battle along the way. By the time they reached Konoha, it was already deep autumn. The leaves on the surrounding trees were mostly withered and yellow, and there were watchful, wary eyes in the forest.
On the carriage, they received news of the ceasefire between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning. The Third Raikage had fought alone against ten thousand enemies until he was exhausted and died in battle. Before his death, he had killed thousands.
Everyone sighed with emotion at his power, but Otonashi shook his head slightly.
The First Hokage was too naive. He did indeed eliminate the clan wars, but he raised the intensity of warfare to a new level. Now, there were so many coffins that they couldn't even be counted!
Of course, this couldn't be blamed on him. Who knew that the Tailed Beasts, which initially seemed like nuclear weapons, would become outdated so quickly?
Compared to "the three great truths" — supersonic penetration, a megaton of TNT's power, but without self-awareness, and able to be completely controlled by rational leaders — the Tailed Beasts were truly inadequate as a deterrent of peace!
Lost in thought, the carriage climbed a small hill. In the distance, walls dozens of meters high could be seen towering in the forest. They were slightly curved, like city walls enclosing Konoha within.
These were the outer walls of Konoha, often mocked by Otonashi as being "silver-plated pewter spearheads." They were indeed tall enough, but they were incredibly thin, unable to withstand even slightly stronger ninjutsu. Moreover, the curvature was too large, making complete monitoring truly difficult.
It was said that they "prevented gentlemen but not villains," which probably referred to these outer walls.
Now it was wartime, and the level of alert was obviously very high. The carriages passed through the small path, then crossed the farmland and pastures outside the village. The main gate was already in sight.
The gate was not large, with the symbol of Konoha and the character "忍" (shinobi/ninja) on it. Several ninjas stood at the gate, signaling the convoy to stop. Under martial law, outsiders like the laborers were not allowed to enter Konoha. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if a cartload of explosive tags were brought in.
"Get off the carriage. From now on, the team is disbanded," Hiashi Hyuga announced the disbandment order, jumping off the carriage.
"Yes!"
The young boys and girls either stretched their limbs or looked around. Even Team 17 hadn't returned to Konoha for half a year, and they were all filled with excitement. However, this did not include Otonashi and the others.
Kakashi, Otonashi, Obito, and Shisui were all orphans whose parents had died. Except for Shisui, who had uncles and aunts to take care of him, the other three had nothing to do when they got home.
"Shall we go to a gathering? There's a pretty good barbecue restaurant on the commercial street."
"Forget it. The house hasn't been cleaned in half a year. I can't go back to Konoha and still stay in a hotel."
"I want to visit my grandmother's grave. Let's get in touch tomorrow if there's anything."
Having spent several months together and cooperated in a battle, the two teams had a pretty good relationship. Rin and Shizune saw that everyone had plans and gave up the idea of inviting them to visit.
"Then let's all go our separate ways. Whoever feels bored can come to my place. Anyway, I need someone to help clean the house."
"Pfft, no way."
Otonashi's heartfelt invitation was met with rolled eyes. He could only shrug and walk into Konoha's main gate.
There were also several ninjas waiting here, and some of them had the Uchiha clan's fan symbol on their backs. It was the Uchiha clan. The leader had a serious expression and was holding the hand of a lively and curious little boy.
Uchiha Fugaku had brought the clan's elites to welcome Shisui, the clan's strongest genius.
"Otonashi, do you want to come to my uncle's house as a guest?" Shisui, however, directly pulled Otonashi. The latter looked at the middle-aged man's stern expression and immediately declined politely.
"The Uchiha are going to celebrate your achievements. What am I going there for? Alright, if you feel guilty, treat me to barbecue tomorrow."
"Okay then. I was going to introduce you to Itachi."
Shisui, who had just turned eight, didn't notice his uncle's expression at all. Or rather, his thoughts were already higher than those of these clansmen. Unfortunately, Otonashi noticed.
His great-grandfather had harmed the Uchiha terribly. How could he dare to visit someone else's house?
The crowd dispersed. Even Hiashi Hyuga had a beautiful wife to take him home. Judging by the hurried steps, it was clear that they were eager to make a baby. The three teenagers under the setting sun looked at each other and then dispersed.
The clamor was gone, leaving only solitude.
Konoha's greenery was excellent, with oval-shaped houses everywhere. Glancing at the famous Hokage Rock, Otonashi walked towards the west district. Along the way, acquaintances kept greeting him.
Everyone said that the teenager who had started high and fallen low had finally returned to the right path. But because the achievements of Shirakawa Village were hidden, he had not yet reached the level of astonishing everyone. On the contrary, there was rumor that Kakashi was about to be promoted to Jonin.
Otonashi didn't suspect that Kakashi had swallowed his credit. He just needed to think a little to know that someone was protecting him.
'Guilt? Or do you want me to be obedient and be a good knife?'
The teenager turned a corner and saw the mottled walls of the courtyard in front. He shook his head slightly. Only after understanding the history of the Senju family did he understand that besides the Will of Fire, there was something else in Konoha called politics.
Some things cannot be protected by justice alone.
He pushed open the courtyard gate, and a dilapidated Japanese-style courtyard came into view. The area was not as exaggerated as the Uchiha family's, but it was still a medium-sized home. However, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and the pond had overflowed due to the continuous rain.
It was a scene of withering yellow, with only a few green bamboos growing vigorously at the corner of the wall, even exceeding the height of the wall.
If it were well maintained, this would definitely be an exquisite garden. But Otonashi never had the time for it. He was used to it. He opened the door lock and entered the dusty entrance hall.
The house was completely silent, and everything remained as it was when his parents died several years ago. Most of the rooms were locked, and Otonashi entered the innermost one. As soon as he opened the door, he smelled a foul, sour odor.
"Damn it, I forgot to take out the trash when I left."
He quickly opened the window to ventilate, and then collected the garbage. The smell hadn't dissipated, so he sat down on the floor, staring blankly at the sun gradually sinking below the horizon. He remained stiff for several minutes, then let out a long sigh.
"I finally made it back alive..."
There was an unreal feeling of detachment from the battlefield to home. The brilliance of ninjutsu flashed through his mind, the flesh cut by the blade, the limbs torn apart by explosive tags. His hands seemed to still retain the sluggish feeling of a sharp blade cutting through flesh.
Time and time again, scene after scene, the path of a ninja was accompanied by bloody storms. The most despairing thing was that this road would continue to stretch endlessly.
If you want to live, you have to kill. If you want to eat, you also have to kill. Ninjas don't have a basic salary. This is the way of survival.
Suddenly, the ferocity on Otonashi's face disappeared. Obviously, he had packed the future into his heart. Melancholy was useless. If you want to live, you have to fight with your own hands!
He stood up abruptly, turned on the light, opened the closet, and took out a notebook from the hidden compartment inside the wall. The paper was already yellowed, but the writing on it was still clear.
Apart from his body, Otonashi relied on nothing more than a knife, a letter, and a notebook. What he held in his hand was the notebook from the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
This notebook was precious, but also not too precious. Because there were no forbidden techniques, secret techniques, or even high-level ninjutsu recorded on it.
It was just the daily ninjutsu insights of that science otaku. It was effective for children, but worthless to strong people who had already formed their own styles.
After using ninjutsu for decades, one would already have habits. Learning other people's methods would be abandoning the root and pursuing the end. Only talents like Orochimaru, who developed new techniques, needed to absorb the experience of their predecessors.
But the ninjutsu that Otonashi had learned since childhood would be compared with the insights in the notebook. The same ninjutsu would inevitably be different after being filtered by the Second Hokage's thoughts. In addition, some ninjutsu could also be adapted again by incorporating his own ideas into Senju Tobirama's insights.
Like the Lightning Body.
With a foundation, ideas, the insights of predecessors, and his own unique chakra control ability, creating his own ninjutsu was a matter of course.
It was a pity that many pages of this notebook had been torn out. Otonashi deduced from the context that those were records related to human experimentation.
"I should read the Water Release section." Otonashi flipped to the previous crease, and saw that the opening sentence read: "Some thoughts on simplifying the Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
The Water Dragon Bullet was powerful, but its more than forty hand seals were arguably the most useless of ninjutsu. Otonashi had fought dozens of battles, large and small, and had never used it. But seeing this, his gaze immediately sank into the book.
Returning from practical combat on the battlefield, he obviously felt it more deeply. Page after page was turned, almost forgetting the time. Especially those small chakra usage techniques that seemed ordinary, but could actually determine life and death in real combat.
The night was deep, and the lights flickered in the dusty room.
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