In truth, the Kazekage's disappearance was a foreknowledge benefit unique to a transmigrator. The information Masayo brought was this: the Kazekage had not appeared for nine days.
Aside from Yoru, no one believed the Third Kazekage had gone missing. Not only had the ninja world not reached such a conclusion, even the upper echelons of Sunagakure were unaware that their Kazekage had disappeared.
For top-tier ninja, their own strength and techniques were their greatest secrets.
Avoiding everyone and secretly training a certain jutsu or combat technique, disappearing for seven or eight days or even half a month, was completely normal and not strange at all.
Moreover, as the leader of a village, the Kazekage held countless secrets. Not appearing in public was simply too normal.
Only a transmigrator knew that this was the fuse of the Third Shinobi World War, and that at the very beginning of the war, Sunagakure would bite into Konoha like a rabid dog.
Right now, Konoha had already relaxed.
Among the Sannin, only Orochimaru was still in the village. On the front lines, there was not a single Kage-level expert commanding, nor was there any veteran commander who had experienced the last war.
Yoru had already confirmed this long ago. The main commanders at the front were all trash jōnin who had risen through seniority and closeness to the so-called Konoha F4. Under their command, Konoha's opening in the war would absolutely be caught off guard, thrown into panic, and they might even try to conceal the truth to reduce their own responsibility. Only after being completely crushed or even annihilated would the Third Hokage receive the real intelligence.
In short, before Sunagakure's frenzy was beaten down, Konoha's frontline ninja would remain in constant danger. There would be neither excellent commanders coordinating the overall situation nor reinforcements dispatched with urgency by the Hokage.
Yoru immediately made a decision—to take a mission and leave the village, avoiding this most dangerous period.
[Fortunately, everyone close to me is just ordinary clan members. Aside from Shisui and old man Nobuyuki, I don't need to inform anyone.]
"Masayo, come out with me for a bit. Let's take it as relaxation."
"At night? What's there to relax about? Going to find Root's base? Something that boring, this cat won't go."
Yoru clearly knew who his enemies were, and he also understood the principle of "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." So he regularly took time to investigate them, including Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Setsuna, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and Root.
Among them, the ones on the surface were all big figures. Basic intelligence could be obtained through open channels. Combined with his improved Earth Release and infiltration ability similar to White Zetsu's Mayfly Technique, he could steal most information quite well.
If necessary, he could even know what Uchiha Setsuna ate every day, who he met, and even what kind of underwear he wore.
The only target he could not locate was Root.
He had indeed found some Root-related buildings and underground chambers, but their scale was small, and the number of stationed personnel never exceeded three. The main base of Root had never been found.
Konoha was simply too large. With a barrier diameter of nearly ten kilometers, the search area approached 250 square kilometers. It was too vast.
Yoru could understand Masayo's resistance, but he continued to explain, "Not leaving the yard. Leaving Konoha."
Masayo was startled. "Yoru, did you smell danger?"
"Yes. At least for me, it's dangerous."
"Alright, let's go. This cat will accompany you."
"Tomorrow I'll find a suitable mission. It should be far from the village, preferably outside the Land of Fire, and last more than half a month."
"And it has to be a solo mission. No teammates. I don't want anyone dragging down our freedom."
"Meow, you're afraid others will complete the mission too seriously and ruin your plan to slack off and drag time, aren't you?"
"…You could say that."
…
Yoru was indeed in a hurry, but his planned departure was delayed for a full ten days. It wasn't until late September that he finally walked out of Konoha's gates with his pack.
First, the conditions he wanted for the mission were too strict. Such missions were not always available.
Second, he really had money now. Whether from Shisui or purchases through Cat Fortress, the supplies at home had piled up to an absurd degree—frozen meats, medicinal herbs, spices, and ingredients of all kinds, both diverse and abundant. It took time to deal with them.
Well… with Yoru's current appetite, the processing speed was indeed not fast enough. If a true big eater like Hinata Hyuga had been born ten years earlier, it would have been much easier.
Then there was the Uchiha clan revival fund from Nobuyuki. From the day he received it, Yoru had been handling it continuously, transporting part of the less important assets and documents to Cat Fortress every day.
But for valuable items like ninjutsu records and chakra metal, he could only dig pits and hide them himself. That also consumed a lot of time.
Finally, there was his communication with Shisui and the self-study plan for the coming years.
This little brother was his future proxy to control the clan. Even if he left, Shisui's training and ideological guidance could not stop. He had to shape the boy's worldview into his own.
For that, Yoru not only prepared a long training plan but also completely unsealed his twenty-four major scrolls and handed them to Shisui, allowing him to access all the content for self-study.
He even bribed one of Masayo's subordinate cats to form a contract with Shisui, so they could stay in contact through that cute calico cat.
Only after finishing all of this did Yoru take Masayo, bid farewell to Uchiha Shisui and old man Nobuyuki, as well as all his neighbors, and leave Konoha.
Unlike the last time he left on a mission, when he had been nervous and cautious, even though the world was now on the brink of war, Yoru did not feel the slightest bit of worry.
Because he had already reached Foundation Establishment.
Foundation Establishment.
Foundation Establishment.
Important things must be said three times.
Last time he left the village, he was just a pitiful, weak, and helpless genin with two-tomoe Sharingan.
But this time, he was a cultivation powerhouse at the Foundation Establishment stage.
Extremely powerful!
His Sharingan had advanced to three tomoe, and his ocular power had surpassed the limits of a normal three-tomoe Sharingan. His genjutsu ability was so strong it had no equals.
After seventy days of Foundation Establishment, daily body tempering, and operating in big-eater mode, his physical strength had undergone a qualitative leap. His arm strength alone had increased fivefold.
After obtaining the Uchiha clan revival capital, he had mastered all Fire Release techniques, greatly enhancing his combat power.
In addition, he had the systematic swordsmanship taught by Nobuyuki, as well as Earth Release derived from cultivation and three divine abilities.
Now, even jōnin were nothing to him. Even against Kage-level enemies, Yoru dared to fight.
Eighteen years since transmigration, eighteen years of hiding and enduring—he finally had some strength to hold his head high.
Freedom meant having the courage to leave whenever you wished.
As he stepped out of Konoha this time, Yoru's mindset could be summed up in one phrase—
"The sky is vast for birds to fly, the sea is wide for fish to leap."
So much so that he completely forgot—
Among the countless annotations he had written in his twenty-four scrolls were teachings derived from "dragon-slaying arts," as well as many direct quotations from instructors.
When Uchiha Shisui saw them, his scalp went numb. He was completely stunned.
Shisui carefully copied down those shocking words, memorized them line by line, and then destroyed them entirely, leaving not even a single symbol behind.
[Big brother Yoru trusts me, but I cannot trust myself. I must eliminate these hidden dangers for him.]
Shisui's self-driven resolve—
was destined to leave Yoru completely dumbfounded.
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