Naruto: Being a Shinobi with no System But...

The seawater still boiled, and the whirlpools clawed at the air, letting out low, mournful whimpers.

As Orochimaru’s voice trailed off, a figure stepped out from the hatch behind him.

Deep blue hair. Bloodless, pale skin. The whites of his eyes were ink black, and the pupils a washed-out white.

The Third Kazekage looked down at his own body, then at the person standing calmly on the water’s surface.

”Third Kazekage, Roshi-kun is the man who killed the Fourth Kazekage. You’ll be very pleased to witness his power,” Orochimaru said.

”Infighting among Konoha ninja, and yet they use me as a weapon…”

Iron sand surged out from his cuffs and the hem of his cloak, rising into the air as fine black grains.

”However, since you’re an enemy of Sunagakure—”

The iron sand shot forward.

Countless particles compressed into bullets, shrieking through the air as they poured down toward the sea.

At the same time, the seawater in front of Roshi suddenly heaved upward, forming a flowing wall.

The Iron Sand slammed into the water wall and lost its momentum.

The Third Kazekage stepped out of the cabin.

His feet found no footing, yet he floated effortlessly in midair. His white cloak snapped in the wind as even more Iron Sand gathered from every direction.

Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wings!

The black sand condensed into a pair of wings on his back. They vibrated once, lifting him higher into the sky.

Below, the iron sand scattered across the sea began to change.

It rose, forming countless spikes that locked onto Roshi from every angle before firing all at once.

Rat–Dragon–Hare–Tiger.

Finishing the four seals in an instant, Roshi caused the seawater beneath his feet to coil upward, spiraling into the sky and shaping into a water dragon over twenty meters long.

The dragon roared forward to meet the incoming Iron Sand.

The first spike pierced its head but was crushed immediately by the raging current. The second. The third. Every spike that struck the dragon’s body was ground apart, the iron sand swept away by the rotating flow.

The dragon’s momentum didn’t falter. It lunged straight toward the Third Kazekage in midair.

He beat his wings once to dodge.

Black arcs streaked through the sky as he slipped past the dragon’s charge, hands clapping together in front of his chest.

The scattered iron sand reassembled, compressing into a massive black cylinder that hammered down toward the dragon’s midsection.

The blow struck home. The dragon’s body burst apart in a spray of water.

But the droplets didn’t fall.

Roshi formed the bird seal, and the spray hardened into thousands of projectiles that fired all at once.

Water Release: Water Bullets!

The Third Kazekage didn’t evade. The water bullets riddled his body, punching countless holes through him. No blood flowed—only fine dust drifted out of the wounds.

High above, from the airship that had already climbed to a safe altitude, Orochimaru watched the exchange with a faint smile.

A moment later, the Third Kazekage’s perforated body knit back together as scattered fragments flew home.

”Those resurrected by this forbidden technique can’t be killed, Roshi—”

Before the ”-kun” could leave his lips, Orochimaru noticed the sea in front of Roshi twisting into a whirlpool, spinning faster and faster.

The vortex hurled seawater into the air with immense centrifugal force, shaping it into a towering water column. As it climbed higher, the top split and took form—three water dragons bared their fangs.

Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!

All three dragons surged upward, attacking from different directions as they converged on the Third Kazekage, who was still reforming in the sky.

Just as he moved to flap his wings and dodge, his expression changed.

A thin film of water clung to the surface of the iron sand. Within that film, foreign chakra seeped in, interfering with his magnet release.

The Iron Sand’s movements dulled.

The wings’ vibration slowed by half a beat.

And that half beat was enough.

All three water dragons clamped down at once.

Their jaws slammed shut, swallowing the Third Kazekage into a prison of surging water.

Seeing this, Orochimaru’s smile didn’t fade. He formed another hand seal, and a second hatch on the airship’s side slid open.

Another figure leapt out and landed lightly on the sea.

Dark skin. Long hair, half white and half green.

The instant he touched down, he entered a partial tailed beast transformation. The Eight-Tails writhed behind him, its tentacles lashing.

At the same time, he opened his mouth and unleashed three consecutive Tailed Beast Balls at the water column imprisoning the third Kazekage.

Both the Third Kazekage and the water prison were blown apart.

Dust scattered across the sky.

A few seconds later, that drifting dust began to converge once more.

”I expected that the Third Kazekage alone would be no match for you,” Orochimaru’s voice drifted down from above. ”That’s why Blue B, the former Jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, is the one truly meant to entertain Roshi-kun.”

Roshi glanced at Blue B and gave a slight nod. ”Indeed, if it’s for entertainment, I can only be grateful.”

Blue B opened his mouth again. This time, the chakra he gathered swelled into a tailed beast ball even larger than the last one.

Roshi immediately dove beneath the surface.

His silhouette vanished into the depths, leaving only widening ripples.

Blue B couldn’t cancel the attack in time. All he could do was wrench his aim downward and fire the fully charged ball at the spot where Roshi had disappeared.

The Tailed Beast Ball plunged into the sea.

The surface caved inward, forming a massive crater—then a blinding light erupted from below.

BOOM—!!!

The sea exploded.

Water was hurled into the sky, then crashed back down as a torrential rain.

But in that very same instant, several streams of water shot up from beneath Blue B’s feet, coiling around his limbs and torso.

The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki roared and struggled, but as the water tightened, a dozen wooden planks snaked up beneath the streams and wrapped around his body.

The wood branched and thickened, more limbs sprouting, binding him tighter and tighter.

Blue B’s tailed beast cloak peeled away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At that moment, a black cylinder over three meters wide came crashing down from above.

It crushed Blue B outright, along with the water and wooden restraints around him.

The sea erupted again, flinging fragments and spray high into the air.

Just as Blue B’s body began to regenerate, the sea for dozens of meters around him suddenly heaved upward.

It wasn’t a wave. The entire mass of water rose like a living thing, folding in on itself to form a colossal cube that sealed Blue B inside as he re-formed.

Watching this, Orochimaru ordered the airship beneath him to climb even higher.

”To think you’d find a way to counter Edo Tensei so quickly. But this is only the beginning.”

”No matter how impressive your chakra is, it’s finite. Edo Tensei bodies can fight without rest.”

”From now on, I’ll just keep wearing you down.”

Roshi surfaced from below, standing atop the massive water cube.

Beside him, Blue B’s trapped body was tightly bound by blue-gray vines.

The vines pulsed—loosening, then squeezing. With every constriction, they siphoned another thread of chakra from Blue B.

”I see it differently,” Roshi pointed at Blue B. ”If his chakra can recover infinitely, then so can mine.”

”Or,” Roshi said slowly, ”perhaps you’re planning to end this technique.”

”Orochimaru.”

---

”They’re here, Obito,” Zetsu said.

”Hmph. Which direction?”

”From the sky. I’ve sensed it—Jiraiya’s chakra.”

After so many rounds of hide-and-seek with Jiraiya’s team hunting Akatsuki, Black Zetsu knew that chakra all too well.

”The sky?!”

So Jiraiya has a way to fly… No, he’s using Sky Ninja equipment… Konoha shouldn’t have that… No, this must be Sunagakure lending their equipment to Konoha’s people.

”Besides Jiraiya, Kakashi is here as well. Likely in his capacity with that bureau.”

Obito did the math.

Jiraiya has left. Roshi is out at sea… Which means in Konoha, only Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the others remain, with at most one Uchiha Shisui.

He was satisfied.

”Play with them here for a while. After that, it’s time to go after our real target.”

Orochimaru wasn’t someone who cared for simple pleasures, but sitting in the gondola of a blimp hundreds of meters up, eating a carefully prepared meal while watching the battle flicker on and off below… This feeling of slowly wearing down his prey was quite enjoyable.

Meanwhile, in a small submarine hundreds of meters underwater, Roshi was also quite content. After diving beneath the surface and restraining Blue B, he had switched out for a clone to maintain the stalemate. No matter what other tricks Orochimaru had prepared, letting a clone take the opening hits was unquestionably the right call.

Since the enemy had released the Reanimation on Blue B and shifted into a stalling strategy, Roshi was happy to let his real body rest. When the clone’s chakra ran low, he would simply dive back into the water and swap in a fresh one. It was mentally tiring, yes, but his body was recovering well.

”Roshi-san, the Communication Toad has brought intelligence. A Sunagakure ninja arrived to report. ”The vanguard forces have already clashed several times with Hiruko and Biwa Jūzō. Aerial reconnaissance of the Flying Fortress has been repeatedly disrupted by Storm Release. No other members resembling the Akatsuki Organization have been discovered for now.”

Orochimaru, Hiruko, and Biwa Jūzō.

With only those three appearing, either Obito and the others were still waiting for the Five Great Nations to commit more forces, or… they had already moved.

There were only so many places they could go, and even fewer they were likely to choose.

If they wanted to deliver a truly crippling blow to the alliance of the Five Great Ninja Villages, the most effective method was to strike Konoha. As long as Konoha couldn’t stand firm, the current joint blockade would collapse in short order. Kirigakure would withdraw. Iwagakure would sit back and watch. Sunagakure would recalculate its gains and losses. Kumogakure would have no other options.

Then the Land of Snow would become a safe haven where Akatsuki could grow unchecked overseas, occasionally siding with one village to strike at another.

The village leaders wouldn’t dare leave home lightly; they had to guard their own lands. Even if someone disappeared, they wouldn’t dare conduct a large-scale search for fear of being hit while they were gone.

So once Konoha’s headquarters showed the slightest opening, the enemy’s target was obvious.

Today, or tomorrow at the latest, there would be news.

He glanced at the tiny Katsuyu resting on his shoulder and waited for the report.

---

Konoha Village, Hokage Office.

Sunlight spilled through the window, casting a warm gold sheen over the documents spread across the desk. The scene was tranquil, almost peaceful—but Tsunade had no mind to appreciate it.

Waiting was even more agonizing than she’d imagined.

She realized she hadn’t felt like this in years. Was it last year? Or the year before? Though she still bore the title of Hokage, there hadn’t been much she truly needed to worry about.

If something came up, someone else would handle it. She just did what she needed to do. If she had an idea, she’d talk it over with that guy, and they’d reach a conclusion quickly. If she didn’t have any ideas, it didn’t matter, because that guy always did.

Aside from not being able to leave the village at will—Hokage had to stay and guard the village, after all—this kind of life had been pretty good. She could’ve gone on like that until he got tired of his current position, and then the two of them could throw everything aside and retire to enjoy life.

Thinking of this, the corners of Tsunade’s mouth curled up slightly.

Then the smile faded.

Uchiha Madara… a man like that, and he still knew how to ruin things just when her life was finally going smoothly.

She looked down at the scroll on her desk, the one inscribed with the Reverse Summoning Formula.

If the enemy’s real target was the village, she would call everyone back. And if the enemy’s trump card was actually in the Land of Snow, this was also a way to pull people out at any time.

That was precisely why Roshi and Jiraiya had been dispatched.

With time to prepare in advance, those two were the best at handling complex battlefields—and they had the most ways to retreat. On top of that, their reputations made their departure the most convincing way to sell the illusion that Konoha was empty inside.

”Lady Tsunade.”

Inoichi Yamanaka’s voice sounded directly in her mind.

”The Defense System has detected an anomaly. Something has entered the Land of Fire’s borders, but we can’t confirm what it is.”

”Can’t confirm…” Tsunade repeated under her breath.

Which means, if it isn’t… forget it.

”Immediately follow the prearranged protocol. Contact Genma’s team and have them bring Ōnoki here.”

”Yes.”

”Tell Ōnoki that if Iwagakure suffers any losses because of this, Konoha is prepared to take full responsibility for compensation.”

”That old man doesn’t want to be chained to a fortress for the rest of his life, unable to move!”

”Yes!”

Tsunade drew in a deep breath and first summoned Katsuyu.

”Katsuyu, inform Roshi at once,” she said rapidly. ”Tell him to prepare to return to Shikkotsu Forest first. Have him ready—the Reverse Summoning might be activated at any moment.”

”Understood.”

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