Chapter 92: The Temptation of Returning Home
In the past two years, Ishiro had never been idle. In fact, he had experienced even more battles than during his time with Team 18. With the prosperity of the trade route, the number of enemy ninjas sent by other nations to spy was astonishing.
Fortunately, with his sensory ninjutsu and the enhanced barrier system he had specifically set up during the construction of the supply station, Ishiro could detect all of them—none could escape his perception.
And for Ishiro, there was only one response to enemy ninjas: kill.
If it was a genin, Ishiro simply dispatched a squad or two. For lone chūnin, Fu and the others could handle them with a few extra hands.
If multiple chūnin attacked together, Ishiro would personally lead a squad of seven or eight to eliminate them. With sensory ninjutsu and Camouflage Technique, Ishiro almost always succeeded.
The most troublesome situations were when a jōnin-led squad or multiple jōnin came together. In such cases, Ishiro would retreat to the core structure, then alert nearby Anbu or outposts.
Thanks to prior coordination, they wouldn't charge in and reveal the base's defenses. Instead, they'd rendezvous at a distance and assist Ishiro in launching a coordinated counterattack.
Over two years, Ishiro personally killed over 50 chūnin and 30 jōnin with his subordinates. With Anbu and outpost support, they even took down more than 20 jōnin, including one elite jōnin.
But this came at a cost—casualties among Ishiro's men were high.
As the trade route expanded, so did Ishiro's team—now numbering thirty chūnin squads. Eleven of these suffered casualties; three squads were completely wiped out.
Yet compared to the strategic gains, the higher-ups considered this acceptable.
---
In these two years, Ishiro had grown immensely.
He had fully mastered his B-rank kenjutsu, although he had yet to reach "proficiency." True proficiency meant being able to imbue a normal blade with chakra—a feat common in the samurai world.
Even so, Ishiro's current level allowed him to stand toe-to-toe with regular jōnin using kenjutsu alone. His original purpose—covering his weakness in close combat—had been more than fulfilled.
In addition, he had completely mastered several B-rank ninjutsu:
Violent Water Wave: Reduced from 27 hand seals to 9
Drizzle Technique: From 13 seals to 5
Torrential Rain Technique (his signature): From 21 seals to 8
Double Decapitation Technique: From 27 to 9
Hardening Technique: From 24 to 15
Rock Concealment Technique: From 31 to 19
Cold Stream Strike (close-range): Now only 18 seals
His previously learned C-rank jutsu had also improved:
Earth Clone: 14 → 7 seals
Earth Submersion: 15 → 11 seals
Rock Fragment Technique: 19 → 9 seals
Water Bubble Technique: 20 → 13 seals
Newly learned jutsu:
C-rank Genjutsu: For incapacitated enemies, still needed 19 seals
Fire Release: Great Fireball: Only 6 seals thanks to prior-world memory
Fire Whip Technique: 18 seals, not heavily practiced
B-rank Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire: Recently learned, still required 23 seals
Although Ishiro had mastered fire-nature transformation, fire wasn't one of his innate affinities. Its proportion within his chakra was low, making high-cost fire jutsu like Phoenix Sage Fire very difficult to cast effectively.
His seal speed also improved—from 4.7–5.2 seals/second to 5.0–5.3. Chakra capacity? From 3.2A to approximately 13A.
But Ishiro's biggest breakthrough was with Body Flicker Technique—he had achieved no-seal casting.
This was a game-changer.
After achieving this, he sparred again with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. The results shocked them.
Yahiko, a taijutsu user, couldn't beat Ishiro anymore. His Body Flicker still required seals, and his base speed wasn't fast enough to overpower Ishiro. The combat distance was always under Ishiro's control. A ninjutsu user who couldn't be approached was terrifying—Yahiko had nothing to say.
Konan didn't fare much better. Their duel ended in a draw. Ishiro couldn't touch the flying Konan, so he used Earth Submersion to vanish. Neither could defeat the other.
Nagato still beat Ishiro—but this time, Ishiro felt they were almost evenly matched.
Had Nagato not possessed so many Rinnegan abilities, Ishiro might have won. Of course, Nagato held back, suppressing his power to upper-jōnin level. If he went all out, he could Body Flicker in front of Ishiro before Ishiro could react—instant loss.
Nagato's combination of seal-less teleportation and chakra-absorbing black rods made him nearly unstoppable. Once hit, an enemy was basically incapacitated.
Add in the Rinnegan's other absurd abilities… Ishiro couldn't imagine who in the ninja world could fight a full-powered, Six Paths-combined Kage-level Nagato.
After seeing Nagato's strength, Ishiro gave him a toy dagger—a joke gift. The blade was hollow; if stabbed, it would retract into itself.
Ishiro hoped that if the original timeline came to pass, Nagato would use it to save Yahiko—and go settle the score with Konoha.
Yes, Konoha. After two years, Hanzō finally lost patience and contacted Danzō.
It was after receiving intelligence about Root's increasing activity in the Rain Country that Ishiro decided it was time to return to the village and consult Ōnoki about the next move.
If Ishiro was going to stir up trouble in the Rain Country, someone else had to be assigned to hold the supply station.
And there was another reason for Ishiro's return—promotion to jōnin.
As previously discussed by the upper echelon, this trade route mission was Ishiro's jōnin trial. Now that the mission was complete, it was time to return and receive his reward—official promotion.
After briefing the new station commander on important matters, Ishiro rushed back to the village.
But he kept glancing at his three subordinates, thinking, Why are they so slow? They're holding me back!
Among the three, Jun, the slowest, gave Ishiro a deadpan look. This guy's clearly a ninjutsu user like me, but he's faster than the two taijutsu types. And now he's blaming us for being normal?
Fu and Seiten read Jun's expression and felt awkward. Especially Fu—he used to be the fastest. But ever since Ishiro learned seal-less Body Flicker, that title was gone. Fu needed three hand seals to cast it, and he could only use it once per fight—he wanted to cry.
Ishiro, oblivious to their feelings, only wanted to get back home. Even though he didn't have many friends there, he was eager to walk around familiar places again.
They traveled nonstop until Jun was nearly exhausted. Finally, they reached the village. As soon as they arrived, Jun ignored Ishiro's fake concern and stormed off without a word.
Ishiro scratched his head awkwardly. He didn't go to the Tsuchikage's office immediately but decided to rest at his home first.
However, once he got there, rest was the last thing on his mind—a black ninja cat was sleeping inside.
This wasn't surprising. Ever since Ishiro left Team 18, he hadn't seen much of Shironeko, Little Rock, or Shiden, but he often encountered Dan'go, the ninja cat who belonged to Shironeko.
Dan'go always came to nap in Ishiro's home whenever Shironeko returned to the village, hoping to absorb natural energy. It never really worked, but Ishiro was used to seeing Dan'go around.
But this time, Dan'go gave off a completely different feeling…
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 25 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that help the story a lot Thank you