NOVEL WEB Chapter 36: Hidden stone.
I stood surrounded by Hidden Stone shinobi—twenty genin, eight chunin, and one surviving jonin. They stared at me with caution, the weight of my previous actions making the air thick with tension.
I just smiled.
"**Hell's Paradise**," I whispered.
A pulse of emerald light burst from my body—natural energy flaring outward like a shockwave. The air warped and shuddered, and even the leaves rustled in reverse as if recoiling from the pressure. The Hidden Stone ninja barely had time to react.
It was like a wave of power ,which can only be seen in an conqueror .
In the next instant, their eyes went blank.
The world around them faded, and their minds were pulled into my genjutsu.
**Hell's Paradise.**
Within that illusion, time froze. I didn't waste the opportunity.
Dozens of tree-sized spears erupted around me like a crown of death. Controlled entirely by my will, they shot out and pierced every immobilized shinobi one by one—silent, precise, merciless.
Only the civilians and the Kusagakure ninja remained untouched. I had excluded them from the genjutsu, as I had no quarrel with them.
Outside the illusion, the stunned Grass ninja and civilians stared at me in disbelief. They had seen nothing but a pulse of green light—and now their enemies were impaled, unmoving, lifeless.
I walked forward, calmly.
Roots slithered out of the ground, dragging the bodies beneath the soil. I spared only the three jonin. They had valuable intel.
A spear of wood extended from my right palm. With cold efficiency, I decapitated each of them and sealed their heads into a storage scroll.
No emotion. No hesitation.
Then I turned to the Kusagakure ninja, some of whom were still shackled. With a flick of my hand, another wooden spear sliced through their chains.
I approached the one with the highest chakra—an older man, clearly a high-level chunin. The others rushed to assist the civilians while he stepped forward.
Even though he was older than me by decades, he bowed slightly.
"Thank you… shinobi of Konoha," he said respectfully.
That's when it hit me again.
**This world doesn't care about age. Power decides respect.**
I asked him, "What happened here?"
He didn't hesitate. "We received a mission from our village head. A rescue operation. Civilians were said to be taken by bandits near the bridge. We followed the trail… but it wasn't bandits. These were ninja. We couldn't identify their village from their gear."
I nodded.
He looked down. "I had hoped you'd keep one alive for questioning, but…"
"No need," I interrupted. "I identified them".
His eyes widened,"can you tell me who they where?" but I cut him off before he could ask more.
"Your mission was to rescue civilians, right? Then complete it. Tell your village head the bandits are gone. The job is finished."
He nodded slowly, still unsure.
Then I stepped closer and lowered my voice.
"One more thing. You and your team will say nothing about me. Not my name. Not my jutsu. Not my clan. All you'll say is that a lone Konoha shinobi came, eliminated the attackers, and left."
He gulped and nodded quickly.
Of course, I didn't expect complete secrecy. But even if they talked, I didn't care. I wasn't hiding my power out of fear—I just needed time. Time for Tsunade to finish her experiments. Once that was done, the world could see me for who I really was.
But not yet.
With the last of the details handled, I turned and began my journey back to Konoha.
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The path was quiet, but my thoughts weren't.
Hidden Stone. Why here? Why now?
I already knew the answer. During the **Third Great Ninja War**, the Kannabi Bridge became a critical point. Minato led Kakashi, Obito, and Rin in a mission to destroy it and cut off Stone's invasion route.
That battle led to Obito's "death."(In a sense according to other's before the reveal). Led to Madara finding him. Led to everything—the Akatsuki, the Fourth War, the cycle of pain.
But what if… that battle never happened?
If I report this now—expose the Iwa shinobi to the Hokage—he might send Konoha forces to counter. That could derail the war before it begins. And if it does, Obito never falls, never meets Madara, never becomes Tobi.
Kakashi never gets the Sharingan. The timeline collapses.
I couldn't allow that.
But why was I even sent here?
That's when the puzzle pieces fell into place.
Hiruzen wouldn't assign me this kind of mission, not unless he truly believed it was simple. He had been supporting the Senju quietly. He wouldn't risk me.
Which meant… someone lied to him.
The Root.
Danzo.
A Root agent must've reported this threat disguised as a simple bandit mission. Danzo saw an opportunity—to test me, or to eliminate me. Maybe both. And Hiruzen, trusting the report, passed the mission to me without suspicion.
Danzo… you tried to kill me.
My fists clenched as I walked.
He was playing games again—games in the dark, gambling with people's lives. But this time, he gambled against the wrong person.
I'm not just a prodigy. I'm a Senju.
And I would bury him with my own hands.
I would speak to Tsunade first. We'd decide what to report to the Hokage and what to hold back. I would make sure Hiruzen stayed on our side—and when the time came to expose Danzo...
I'd strike. And I'd make sure he never walked away.