With the closed fan resting on his shoulder, Tanaka wandered leisurely through the Hidden Rain Village.
Although the sound of clashes grew louder as he approached the conflict zone, he didn't feel any pressure. He could see the red dots on the map and avoided the largest one, which possibly indicated Hanzō's location.
Even though he was supposed to be partially immune to poison, at least not to the point of being incurable since he had the body of a gamer, this didn't mean he would walk straight into the eye of the storm without being sure he could come out alive.
He felt much more confident being on a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of ninjas fighting each other than in facing ninjas like Hanzō and possibly other elite ninjas from Konoha.
Obviously, he didn't think that those ninjas—who were facing Hanzō—would be the future Sannin. It was still too early for the battle between them, though the circumstances were already beginning to change...
'Could it be?'
He himself didn't know. He couldn't completely trust the original storyline he knew from the anime. After all, the one in charge of Konoha now was Danzō, not Hiruzen.
Different leaders, different approaches. Especially now that he had heard of the greater involvement of the Uchiha, who had previously been avoided from being sent to war.
There were several reasons for this, one of them being the fear that with the death of a Uchiha in combat, their excessive love would lead them into a cycle of revenge and rage, potentially giving rise to a new Madara. Because of this, the number of Uchiha participating in the war was quite limited and controlled.
However, Danzō's perspective was different. To him, every Uchiha in the war was potentially a new pair of Sharingan in his possession.
He also kept the relatives of those who went to war under surveillance; if any of them became a threat, he wouldn't just wait for the worst to happen. In the worst-case scenario, he would set a trap and acquire another pair of Sharingan.
Or so Tanaka imagined, considering the personality that Danzō displayed in the anime. But... he could be wrong, and his assumption could be just mere speculation based on the Danzō who lived in Hiruzen's shadow.
Now that Danzō had achieved what he had always dreamed of... Would he continue to be the same, or would something change? Would he still incessantly seek more Sharingan and the extermination of the Uchiha, or would this ambition belong to the past?
Hmm, even trying to get into Danzō's mind with his parallel thoughts, Tanaka couldn't imagine a scenario where Danzō would undergo a radical change and abandon his fixation on the Uchiha. In the end, Danzō's obsession didn't seem like it would vanish just because he had fulfilled his dream of becoming Hokage. In fact, he might become even more unrestrained, especially in his experiments...
Setting aside Danzō's intentions, Tanaka focused his attention on the battlefield, which was now becoming clearly visible in his line of sight.
This was a different area from where he was as 'Yami,' a location closer to the Hidden Stone Village. Because of this, the presence of ninjas from that village was significantly greater.
The confrontation was unfolding between the ninjas of Konoha and the ninjas of Iwagakure.
"Damn Iwagakure ninjas...!"
"Damn Konoha ninjas...!"
"Die!"
Hearing the exchange of some ninjas, Tanaka raised an eyebrow but didn't think much of it. Perhaps, in the heat of the moment, they seemed more idiotic, despite fighting with their lives on the line.
Of course, the scene itself was far more grim than the war depicted in the Naruto anime. There were no distracted ninjas, nor large-scale jutsu attacks; most of the time, ninja tools were used for direct confrontations, or their attacks might hit their own allies.
As he walked, Tanaka began to get closer and closer.
"Someone, help me!"
A voice, sweet and childlike in origin. There was fear in her words as she screamed for help.
On the map, he saw various yellow and red dots. Only two were green.
The yellow dots represented ninjas who didn't see him as a target; the red ones were basically those who, regardless of their origin, would attack him even if he were just a simple civilian.
As he walked, two ninjas from the rival villages clashed with kunai right in front of Tanaka. The metallic sound echoed, and sparks flew from the kunai.
"You're in my way." Saying these words in a neutral tone, Tanaka simply used the body of the giant fan to strike each of them in the stomach, making them stagger back from the impact.
"Gahh! Damn it!"
"Urghh, who are you, bastard?"
First said the Iwagakure ninja, followed by the Konoha ninja.
Both were wearing Chunin uniforms from their respective villages. They were ninjas that Tanaka didn't need to take seriously, given his current power.
"Bastard...!"
When they were ignored by a strange boy with an equally strange weapon that had struck them before, rage began to bubble up inside them.
There was nothing worse than being treated like this. Wounding their pride as ninjas, especially as men, was hard to swallow.
"Die!"
Sighing, Tanaka simply spun the closed fan, quickly striking the Konoha ninja, followed by the Iwagakure ninja, sending them both flying several meters away.
Then, he continued walking.
His movements were noticed by some ninjas on both sides. However, they were already busy fighting each other and couldn't abandon their current opponents to go after him.
Even so, his presence on the battlefield caused discomfort on both sides.
"Who is he? Someone from Amegakure?"
Some speculated. There was no way to be sure, after all, the only thing they knew about him was the strange outfit he wore, which didn't seem to belong to any known village, nor was there a headband to identify his origin.
Speculating that he was from Amegakure was simply because they were still in Amegakure territory. It was more plausible to think so, especially since, not long ago, some had seen him attack both Konoha and Iwagakure ninjas.
When Tanaka approached the crying girl, he saw a young girl around 11 or 12 years old with messy green hair. Despite the rain, her hair appeared dirty, and her clothes were tattered. She was hiding behind the debris of a house that had been demolished due to the war.
Another feature that stood out, besides her green hair, were her purple eyes, shielded by large glasses with cracked lenses.
"Hello, little girl." Tanaka crouched in front of her. "You were the one who asked for help a little while ago, right?"
"W-Who are you?" She stammered, cautiously.
Just because he seemed harmless didn't mean she felt safe; after all, he was a stranger. And even though she had asked for help, it didn't mean she would trust just anyone.
"My name is Zephyr," Tanaka lied, "and I'm from the Revolutionary Army."
However, it wasn't a complete lie. It was something that would exist sooner or later...
"Revolutionary Army?" The little girl asked innocently, trying to recall a name like that, but nothing came to mind. "What is that?"
'Can I trust him?'
"I won't go into details, but I can say that it's an organization that fights against the corruption and depravity of this world," he said.
When she heard this, the girl's eyes widened. It seemed like she had heard something unreal.
'Does such a thing exist? Since when?' Although young, she wasn't ignorant. Before the war began, she still had access to information, and although she knew little, she knew enough about the main villages, among other things. However, she had never heard of such an organization.
As he observed her, noticing that she was still cautious, Tanaka created a wind barrier with a simple hand gesture. Immediately, several shurikens that were coming toward them were repelled and sent back to whoever had thrown them.
"Beng! Beng! Beng...!"
The ninjas from both villages managed to defend themselves with a kunai and looked in his direction with increased caution.
"Who are you!?" a Konoha ninja shouted.
He was drenched from the rain and wore a Jonin uniform while holding a medium-sized sword. His hair and eyes were black.
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LV81 Ibarai Uchiha
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When Tanaka assessed him, Ibarai activated his Sharingan, displaying a cautious expression but not hiding the arrogance in his smug demeanor as he showed off his two-tomoe Sharingan.
"An Uchiha, huh." Tanaka murmured.
'If I kill him, will his eyes drop as loot?' If so, although he didn't necessarily want to use them, it wouldn't be a bad idea to implant them in a pet he intended to create in the future.
Although he didn't plan to implant them in something like a crow, it would be interesting to implant them in a species of lion or tiger...
Just imagining the scene of a lion using Sharingan was already appealing to him.
As for Dōjutsu, he preferred to have something like the Byakugan.
What the Sharingan could do for him, the system itself could do better. Any advantage the Sharingan possessed, he could eventually achieve as well. If he wanted, he felt that even copying jutsu just by observing wouldn't be impossible. With his parallel thoughts and enhanced vision, he could observe every detail and replicate it.
These thoughts passed through his mind in a fraction of a second. Each parallel thought followed a line of reasoning while he never took his attention off the ninjas around him.
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||- Note -||
Chapter 71 is already released on Pa treon!
patre on.com/Tozoku
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Next chapters: Chapter 49: Dōjutsu Seed, Chapter 50: What is the Origin of This Monster?, Chapter 51: 4 Days Later..., Chapter 52: The Choice That Shapes the Future, Chapter 53: Rasengan?, Chapter 54: Anchor Vantian, Chapter 55: The Wrath of Tanaka, Chapter 56: Level 99, Chapter 57: Third Commander of the Revolutionary Army, Chapter 58: A Dark Plan to Gain the Support of the Masses: Civilians Pay the Price for Danzo's Ambition., Chapter 59: The Reactions of the Five Great Villages., Chapter 60: The Fall of Danzo?, Chapter 61: The End of an Era, Chapter 62: Calm Before the Storm, Chapter 63: Tsunade Arrives at the Leaf Village, Chapter 64: Sage Mode and..., Chapter 65: Potential to Become a Mega Playboy, Chapter 66: Is it Mito Uzumaki?, Chapter 67: Hero or Puppet?, Chapter 68: Konoha is in Danger!, Chapter 69: Prelude Before the War, Chapter 70: Coup d'État, Chapter 71: The War Cry That Makes the Ground Tremble