Chapter 13

A week passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, Sosuke's strength had increased significantly.

Now, if he had to fight Sakumo again, at least he wouldn't be completely overwhelmed in terms of strength.

However, there was still quite a gap between them, making him unwilling to slack off. He continued to push himself in training every day with determination.

After becoming more familiar with the speed of the Devil Fruit, Sosuke improved even more. He was confident that his speed could definitely rank in the top three of Konoha and even the entire shinobi world.

He wasn't sure about being first because he still didn't know how fast the Third Raikage was.

After all, the Third Raikage was the one who truly brought the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to its peak, and his speed was definitely not to be underestimated.

The biggest improvement he had made over the past few days was in the range of his electromagnetic wave. 

The technique itself was improving rapidly, and even Enel, with his half-strength, could monitor the entire Sky Island from ten kilometers away.

Sosuke's talent in this area was also quite impressive. He was now able to monitor an area two kilometers away.

This range is just as good as the powerful Byakugan.

Over the past few days, Sosuke hadn't gotten any messages from the system and understood that, at the very least, Shizune had not died. 

This meant there was still a chance to obtain the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

However, he couldn't understand why, since Dan was already dead, Danzo was still keeping a little girl who was only about two years old.

Then Sosuke remembered that Dan had also died early in the original story, but Shizune didn't encounter any problems and was instead taken away by Tsunade.

Shizune's fate seemed likely to follow the same path as in the original story, and she probably wouldn't be in any danger anymore.

Aside from Shizune's situation, Sosuke hadn't forgotten his patrol, and he had been watching whether there were any Sand shinobi teams nearby.

This was really important because it was related to Kamui and thinking about whether he needed Sharingan to use this jutsu.

Sosuke decided to go out and search for them himself if he didn't meet any enemies in the next three days. No matter what, he had to learn Kamui.

As he was about to begin training for the day, Sosuke noticed something strange in the distance.

Beneath the ground, he detected the sounds of several heartbeats. This clearly meant that someone was moving underground using Earth Style.

These individuals were no ordinary enemies. They were located about four hundred meters underground which is almost impossible for most sensing shinobi to notice.

Moreover, reaching such a deep depth wasn't something anyone could do without a high level of skill in Earth Style.

If they weren't skilled enough, they would have been crushed by the terrifying pressure around them.

This meant that this team had been specially selected.

"It seems like my target has appeared..."

In the Land of Wind's border, and being proficient at Earth Style, it's almost certain these are Sand Shinobi.

They were unlucky to run into him, and his senses had no blind spots, and he could sense clearly even two kilometers underground!

The deep underground, several shinobi wearing Sunagakure forehead protectors were carefully moving forward.

This time, their mission was to investigate the patrol routes along the Konoha border and the supply and transportation routes for the entire border defense team.

This was extremely important for the upcoming war, so they were specially selected, and each of them was a ninja specializing in Earth Style.

The goal was to achieve a secret infiltration. 

The entire VVillage Hidden in the Sand took this mission very seriously and dared not make any mistakes. 

Every one of them was extremely cautious, and none of them spoke to avoid giving away any clues.

Their journey was going smoothly.

According to the map in their memories, they should have crossed the borderline by now and were already deep inside the Land of Fire.

Suddenly, a large blue beam of light fell from the sky.

It looked like lightning, and the beam instantly turned the soil into liquid, like magma, before continuing to dig down. 

The beams actually penetrated several hundred meters into the ground.

Fortunately, the sound of the lightning was quite loud, and the group of sand shinobi heard it and quickly moved to avoid it.

They were moving very slowly underground but had no choice but to leave the ground to avoid this beam.

Above the ground, the group of Sand shinobi finally jumped out in order to evade.

At this point, they had realized they had been exposed.

Standing in front of them was a young man, looking about seventeen or eighteen years old, with messy black hair and a short sword at his waist.

Sosuke looked at the five people in front of him and thought that at least they were smart enough to escape to the surface. 

Otherwise, they would have been dead for sure after his earlier attack.

This was Heaven's Judgment that Enel had once used, and since it didn't require much shaping, Sosuke had also mastered it.

The five Sand shinobi in front of him were not weak at all, and even one was at the level of a Kage with a chakra comparable to Sakumo Hatake.

He was sure of this.

The chakra levels of the other four were also at the level of Jonin.

Since the enemy had appeared, Sosuke had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. The two villages were enemies now, not allies as they would be later.

The five Sand Shinobi were all experienced fighters who quickly formed a battle formation as soon as they were exposed.

The four Jonin moved forward while the Kage shinobi retreated to the back, subtly indicating that he was being protected.

Then, the shinobi took out ten scrolls. After opening them, he formed hand seals and then hit the scrolls.

In the next moment, ten puppets made entirely of wood appeared. They were dressed in white cloaks, each holding a different weapon.

When Sosule saw this scene and the shinobi's red hair, he immediately thought of the famous puppet master from the shinobi world, Sasori of the Red Sand.

'Could this be Sasori's father?'

Thinking this, Sosuke realized that the appearance of this Kage Shinobi did indeed resemble him to some extent.

After searching his memories, he discovered the identity of the person in front of him.

'Shirou Fumizawa, the son of the current counselor, Chiyo Fumizawa. He is also the new generation genius of the Sand Shinobis. He's been guarding the border and has fought with Sakumo many times, and he hasn't lost yet!'

He hadn't expected to encounter such a big fish. 

Shirou Fumizawa was the leader of the Sand Shinobi border team. If he defeated him, Sosuke's reputation in Konoha would rise drastically.

Knowing the enemy's identity, Sosuke wasn't scared and saw it as an opportunity to test how much stronger he had become from his training.

On the other side, Shirou Fumizawa noticed that Sosuke's chakra was only at the level of a Tokubetsu Jōnin and couldn't help but underestimate his opponent.

But since he was an experienced shinobi, Shirou knew that being deep in enemy territory meant he had to go all out and finish the fight quickly, even if the enemy wasn't very strong. 

Otherwise, Shirou could get surrounded and die.

"Attack!"

With his command, the four jonins immediately began forming hand seals.

Meanwhile, Shirou controlled the ten wooden puppets, a set of wooden puppets modeled after his mother's design, charging Sosuke to buy time for his teammates to complete their hand seals.

...

1st Bonus Chapter - 200

2nd Bonus Chapter - 500

3rd Bonus Chapter - 1000