"Move! Move! Get that fire under control!"
"Yagami… that boy really went too far this time. Burning down half the forest is not something I can simply write off as battle damage."
At the edge of the forest behind the battlefield, Sarutobi Hiruzen shouted orders with a weary expression.
Yagami had driven the Mist shinobi straight into the woods. In itself, that was not a bad decision.
The problem was that his attacks had been far too reckless.
After all those explosions and beams of light, the entire area had turned into a blazing mess, giving Hiruzen a headache before the battle had even fully ended.
If they could extinguish such a large forest fire, then it would be fine.
But if they failed, and another strong wind blew through—
There was no telling how many kilometers the flames would spread.
At that point, this would no longer be a small matter.
If the damage was calculated properly, the cost would probably be more than a hundred times higher than repairing Konoha's outer wall.
"Water Style: Water Turbulence!"
"Water Style: Water Turbulence!"
"Water Style: Water Turbulence!"
Dozens of Konoha shinobi stood in a line, forming hand seals at the same time before releasing Water Style ninjutsu together.
The same technique, layered and strengthened by so many users, surged forward in an instant.
A wide torrent formed, more than ten meters across and five or six meters high, rushing toward the burning forest like a roaring river.
The waves crashed over the flames.
And yet, even with that many shinobi working together, they only managed to extinguish around thirty to forty meters of fire.
Compared to the sea of flames Yagami had created, stretching nearly a thousand meters wide, it was barely enough to make a difference.
"Take soldier pills and continue! Do not let the fire spread!"
Seeing the shinobi panting heavily, Hiruzen immediately gave another order.
This was not the time to stop.
Before a strong wind came, they had to push the fire back.
"Yes!"
The Konoha shinobi answered in unison, their voices surprisingly spirited.
Compared to fighting the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and a full invasion force, putting out a fire was nothing.
At least this would not cost them their lives.
At most, they were cleaning up after Yagami.
Whoosh—!
At that moment, the sound of something cutting through the air rang out.
The culprit behind the forest fire—
And at the same time, Konoha's hero—
Yagami finally flew back.
"Lord Third."
Yagami slowly landed beside Sarutobi Hiruzen and glanced at the burning forest with a faint, guilty smile.
"It is not that bad, right?"
A fire like this, in this world, could still be handled with ninjutsu.
If this had happened in his previous world, even planes might not have been enough to save it.
"Yagami…"
Hiruzen looked at him and let out a helpless sigh.
"Next time, try to show a little restraint."
"Fortunately, there is no strong wind right now. Otherwise, Konoha's losses would have been enormous."
There was no real blame in Hiruzen's tone.
Compared to saving the village, Yagami setting the forest on fire was not exactly a major offense.
"Ah… understood."
Yagami scratched his head awkwardly.
For the sake of prestige, he had indeed made the scene a bit too dramatic.
But in just that short time chasing down the Mist shinobi, he had gained more than thirty thousand prestige points.
Now, his stored prestige had once again passed the ninety-thousand mark.
"By the way, what happened to the Mist shinobi?"
After seeing Yagami nod, Hiruzen relaxed a little and asked seriously.
There were battles both inside and outside Konoha right now. He had no choice but to pay close attention to Kirigakure's movements.
"They should still have a little over three thousand people left, but I scattered their formation completely."
Yagami smiled.
"They will not be able to regroup for a while."
This rescue had brought him an enormous harvest.
The irritation he had felt from rushing back in such a hurry had already vanished.
"I see… that is good."
Hearing Yagami's answer, Hiruzen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But when he remembered the sight of Yagami constantly firing beams of light from the sky, he could not help sighing inwardly.
Powerful long-range attacks.
The ability to fly.
For any enemy, Yagami was an opponent almost impossible to deal with.
No wonder Konoha's nearly collapsing situation had been reversed the moment he arrived.
"If there is nothing else, then I will not disturb you, Lord Third."
Yagami looked around, then smiled.
"I will head back to the village first."
At this point, Danzo was commanding one side of the fire area, while Hiruzen handled the other.
Yagami did not know Water Style ninjutsu, so staying here would not help much.
"Go back and rest."
Hiruzen nodded.
"You rushed all night to return here. You must be exhausted."
After fighting through the night himself, Hiruzen naturally assumed Yagami had flown back from the front line at full speed the entire time.
He had no idea Yagami had only spent two hours on the road.
"Then I will take my leave."
Yagami gave Hiruzen a strange look.
Then he bent his knees slightly, kicked off the ground, and shot into the sky, flying straight toward the village.
At this time, on Konoha's outer wall, aside from the Water Style shinobi sent to fight the fire, the rest of the village's ninja were still gathering.
The moment they saw Yagami flying over, thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd.
Although they had fought hard through the entire night, none of them looked sleepy.
On the contrary, their faces were flushed with excitement, as if the exhaustion had been burned away by victory itself.
"Yagami-sama!"
"Yagami-sama!"
"Konoha is saved!"
"Long live Yagami-sama!"
Cheers echoed across the sky above Konoha.
For the first time, Yagami truly experienced what it felt like to be welcomed as a hero.
In the original story, when Naruto saved Konoha from Pain, perhaps it had felt something like this.
The only difference was that Naruto had gone from being hated to being accepted.
Yagami had skipped the hated stage entirely and gone straight from recognition to reverence.
Among the crowd on the wall, Yagami spotted Mikoto at first glance.
He waved casually to the villagers and shinobi, then slowly descended toward her.
The moment his feet landed on the stone wall, Yagami and Mikoto looked at each other.
For a brief instant, the surrounding cheers seemed to fade into silence.
Both of them could clearly see the longing in each other's eyes.
They had not been separated for long.
But too many things had happened in that short time.
Because of that, it felt as though they had been apart for much longer.
"You look tired."
Looking at Mikoto's slightly haggard face, Yagami could not help raising his hand and gently brushing his fingers across her cheek.
Perhaps because she had been anxious and awake all night, faint shadows had appeared beneath her eyes.
Mikoto lowered her gaze slightly, but she did not move away.
The warmth in that small gesture made her chest tighten.
"Ooooh!"
"Yagami-sama!"
The surrounding Konoha shinobi and villagers immediately burst into teasing cheers.
Mikoto, who had just been feeling warm and relieved, instantly turned red.
"Ha ha…"
Feeling the heat rising beneath his palm, Yagami could not help laughing softly.
Then, under everyone's staring eyes, he wrapped an arm around Mikoto and lifted her from the wall before flying away.
"Yagami-sama is amazing…"
"So that is what flying looks like?"
"Lady Mikoto is so lucky…"
Watching Yagami disappear into the sky with Mikoto in his arms, many of the villagers and young shinobi looked on with envy.
Some envied Mikoto for being held by the hero who had saved Konoha.
Others simply envied Yagami's ability to fly through the sky.
Because Mikoto had been standing near the far side of the damaged wall, many people had not been able to see Yagami up close.
That alone left them feeling regretful.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Update schedule: 7 chapters/week
Every 300 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.