Chapter 152: A Dead Genius Is Worthless

High above the eastern edge of the Konoha front-line camp—roughly a thousand meters in the sky.

Ōnoki hovered silently, his gaze fixed on the Konoha shinobi still holding out under the joint assault of Sunagakure and Iwagakure forces. His brow creased slightly.

By his calculations, with over 3,000 shinobi attacking from both east and west, even someone as strong as Jiraiya shouldn't be able to hold out for long. Konoha's troops were heavily outnumbered—three to one. They should have started collapsing after ten minutes at most.

That was the plan, anyway.

Once the Konoha lines started to break, the puppet corps from Sunagakure, positioned to strike from behind, would deliver a devastating blow.

But then... Sunagakure blew their cover early.

Even from seven or eight kilometers away, in the darkness of night, Ōnoki could clearly see the wide-scale Magnet Release and Scorch Release techniques lighting up the battlefield.

And then there was that man they called the Yellow Flash.

Stronger than he'd expected.

Using the Flying Thunder God Technique with terrifying precision, that golden-haired shinobi had managed to stall their entire offensive—even while Konoha was massively outnumbered.

"Konoha really is a breeding ground for geniuses..." Ōnoki sighed with a touch of envy in his voice.

Compared to Konoha, where talent popped up like weeds, Iwagakure hadn't produced a shinobi that truly dazzled in years.

Kitsuchi, was loyal and dependable—but his strength was just passable. Worse, he had zero talent for leadership. If Kitsuchi were to inherit the title of Tsuchikage, Iwagakure might plunge into decline almost immediately.

"A genius who dies... is worthless. Don't you think so, Tsuchikage?"

A quiet, detached voice came from beside him.

It was a boy, short in stature, with a Kirigakure forehead protector tied tightly across his brow.

"You're not wrong," Ōnoki murmured with a nod, side-eyeing the youth standing beside him—who, truthfully, wasn't much taller than him.

Geniuses didn't just come from Konoha.

This boy, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, was a prodigy in his own right. And the one floating silently behind him, blindfolded with a forehead protector but still able to perceive the entire battlefield—and carry the Mizukage into the sky—was no slouch either.

"A moment ago, the enemy who appeared in the south defeated Rasa and Pakura. Rasa is seriously injured. Pakura, lightly wounded, is retreating northwest," the blindfolded Iwa-nin reported softly, describing events several kilometers away as if they were happening right in front of him.

"…Just as the Mizukage said. An extremely dangerous opponent," Ōnoki muttered after a pause, turning his eyes toward the southern edge of the Konoha camp.

He had agreed to this temporary alliance with Kirigakure mostly due to the overall strategic situation of the war.

As for the intel Kirigakure had provided—he'd been skeptical.

A supposed "ordinary" Konoha shinobi who had inherited the Second Hokage's jutsu, stolen the legacy of the Second Mizukage, assassinated the Third Mizukage, and manipulated conflicts between Kumo and Kiri to incite war across the Hidden Villages?

A serpent slithering in the shadows, pulling strings across the entire ninja world—hoping to provoke chaos and then devour everything in the aftermath?

Impossible.

And yet... that "ordinary" Konoha shinobi named Yamanaka Shinno—

Had risen through the ranks of Root to become Deputy.

Had, just as the Mizukage predicted, assassinated Hanzo the Salamander of Amegakure.

Had impersonated a Kirigakure ANBU to frame the Mist and ignite conflict.

That kind of resume—Ōnoki was now nearly fifty percent convinced it was all true.

And now, that same shinobi had just taken the field. In just two minutes, he'd defeated both Rasa and Pakura.

Rasa, a candidate for the Fourth Kazekage, might have been young and inexperienced, but with his Magnet Release: Gold Dust and Pakura's Scorch Release as backup—even Ōnoki would approach that duo cautiously.

But facts were facts.

Even Ōnoki couldn't deny it anymore: this man was a threat unlike any he'd encountered before.

Stronger. More dangerous. And far more cunning than any of them had assumed.

"If nothing unexpected happens, I believe he'll appear on the main battlefield soon," the young Mizukage said calmly. "Wouldn't it be wise to withdraw Kitsuchi while you still can, Tsuchikage?"

Konoha's upper brass may have thought their encirclement plan was secret, but nothing escaped the eyes of White Zetsu.

Thanks to their interference, the combined surprise attack force from Iwa and Suna was bolstered by an extra thousand troops.

Even if Konoha's reinforcements arrived immediately, the numerical advantage was too great. The encirclement plan was already a failure.

Initially, he'd only joined in hoping to take out a high-value Konoha shinobi and escalate the conflict.

He never imagined he'd hook such a big fish.

Yamanaka Shinno—someone who had hidden so deeply that even he hadn't dared to approach—had actually revealed himself to protect his fellow Konoha shinobi from annihilation.

And now that Rasa and Pakura had fled alive, Shinno had no choice but to keep fighting. To intervene directly on the front lines.

There's a big difference between an enemy lurking in the shadows... and one fully exposed.

Once Ōnoki got a good look at Shinno's power for himself, it'd be easy to spread rumors about his "terrifying track record."

He wouldn't have to lift a finger.

Iwa. Suna. Even Kumo.

Every Hidden Village would start suppressing, sabotaging—or outright plotting to eliminate him.

Even if they couldn't take him out directly, they'd still plunge the ninja world into chaos trying.

And with four villages focused on dragging Shinno down, his real plan could finally begin.

...

Whoosh—whoosh—

Faint sounds cut through the night air.

High above the battlefield, Yamanaka Shinno shifted into Sage Mode, his body cloaked in a black, luminous aura.

He retracted the glowing energy and activated Silent Walker, concealing his presence as he melted into the darkness.

Using Flying Thunder God, he bypassed the entire front line, slipping silently beneath Ōnoki and the two Iwa-nin floating high in the sky.

He looked up.

A thousand meters above, he could sense two very distinct chakra signatures—subtle, but unmistakable.

The Rinnegan. And... a tailed beast?

Shinno froze, his leap cut short.

What the hell?

Why did two Iwa-nin have the chakra of the Rinnegan and a Tailed Beast?

They were doing everything they could to mask their presence, but this close—especially with his enhanced sensory abilities from Yin-Yang Sage—he could feel it clearly.

Rinnegan chakra. Tailed Beast chakra. A short kid barely taller than Ōnoki...

Yagura Karatachi?

Shinno narrowed his eyes.

He tried to use the system to access their Trait panels, but they were still too far—almost a kilometer away. And with Ōnoki being barely 130cm tall and Yagura at 140cm, they looked like rice grains from his vantage point.

Too damn small to make anything out.

...

Boom!

Sage Mode flared to full power.

Shinno crouched low and slammed his palm into the ground. In a burst of black light, he launched himself skyward like a comet.

Whatever Black Zetsu was planning—he'd deal with it the simple way.

By smashing it to pieces.

----------------

Pls Drop some Power Stones

Fanfic is finished on Patreon (258 chapters in total.) 

Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)