(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 30 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)
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Life was fleeting but full of unexpected twists and turns.
Colt had already planned to leave the Land of Snow tomorrow and find a place with sufficient natural energy to practice the Sage Mode.
But plans often change.
To keep him there, the Snow Princess of the Land of Snow had sacrificed too much after all.
Faced with such warm hospitality, Colt wasn't heartless.
Since Koyuki needed him so desperately, he decided to stay a while longer.
During the day, he came to the valley where the generator was located to practice the Sage Mode, and at night, he worked diligently to fight a different type of battle.
Ten days later, on a flat stone platform.
Colt was quietly sitting, continuously inhaling the surrounding natural energy into his body.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
[Sage Mode], activated!
At that moment, his entire being's power skyrocketed.
An invisible shockwave violently stirred the air, sweeping everything around him and blowing away a shower of gravel!
Even the stone platform on which he sat couldn't bear the terrifying pressure, and numerous cracks appeared.
Colt felt a strange sensation in his back as if something was about to emerge.
*Swish*
After a muffled sound, Colt realized that a pair of pure white energy wings had appeared behind him!
The energy in his body had completely transformed from chakra to sage chakra!
Not only had his chakra undergone a qualitative change, but even his physique, speed, and reflexes were greatly enhanced.
He opened his eyes, now able to clearly sense chakra within a 50-kilometer radius, five times larger than he could do before.
Colt frowned, then took out a kunai to use as a mirror, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, there wasn't much change to his face, only a tear-shaped mark appeared under his right eye.
There was a hint of otherworldliness on his already handsome face, and with the angel-like light wings behind him, his whole being exuded a fatal allure.
"Am I a bird-man now?" Colt mused, looking at the wings behind him with curiosity.
With a mere thought, Colt rose into the sky, reaching an altitude of thousands of meters in the blink of an eye.
"So fast!" Even he was taken aback by his current speed, and this was just one of the insignificant increases in Sage Mode.
After flying to a sparsely populated wilderness area, Colt stretched out his right hand, while spreading his fingers.
"[Sage Art: Five Swirling Dragons of Destruction]!"
As his voice fell, without moving, dragon-shaped chakra with five attributes - wind, earth, water, fire, and lightning - condensed at his fingertips.
In an instant, they transformed into giant dragons hundreds of meters long.
They rushed, roaring on the way, and razed the mountain before them to the ground.
"This power could destroy the Susanoo, right?" Colt said, satisfied with the natural disaster he had caused.
The most important point was that this was just ninjutsu released without hand seals.
After entering Sage Mode, seal-less ninjutsu seemed to have become instinctive.
As long as it was a technique he had mastered, his thoughts alone could form it with a single movement.
In the future, when he meets powerful opponents, he wouldn't have to fumble with hand seals, which would be much more efficient.
Five minutes later, Colt descended from the sky and exited his Sage Mode.
The pure white light wings disappeared, and he felt the long-forgotten sensation of weakness.
It wasn't a true weakness per se, just the huge gap brought by exiting the Sage Mode.
To no longer experience this strange feeling, Colt made a decision.
In the future, he must learn to enter the Sage Mode in seconds and maintain it for much longer.
Now that the Sage Mode training was complete, it was time to return to Konoha.
This time, including his travel time, it had been half a month since he left.
If he didn't return soon, he guessed Tsunade would be worried.
Upon learning that Colt was leaving, Koyuki was particularly reluctant.
"Can't you stay? If you stay, I can give you anything. I'll even make you the ruler of the Land of Snow."
A woman in love can be quite unreasonable, offering her country away with a single breath.
Truly touching.
"Enough!" Colt sternly reprimanded, "Am I the kind of person who's greedy for power? What I like is just you. I have no interest in the Land of Snow or anything else!"
Koyuki felt a warmth in her heart and whispered in Colt's ear, "As long as you stay, I can..."
"Whoa..." Colt sucked in a sharp breath.
In the end, Colt reluctantly refused Koyuki's temptation and embarked on his journey back to Konoha. He couldn't stay anymore, but he wouldn't just forget about her.
Watching him leave, Koyuki silently made a decision.
As soon as things in the Land of Snow were settled, she would continue her acting career.
That way, she would have plenty of time to live in the Land of Fire, and there would naturally be more opportunities for the two to meet.
Two days later.
After returning to the Land of Fire by a passenger ship, Colt didn't delay.
He immediately began his journey using the [Flying Thunder God]. He couldn't use it before because it took way too much chakra.
Before that, he had left the [Flying Thunder God] marks on all the towns he visited.
This time, it took him less than half an hour to arrive at Konoha's gate.
Looking at the two familiar gate guards, Colt smiled and greeted them.
Izumo and Kotetsu were startled when they saw his sudden appearance.
After a simple registration, Colt headed to the Hokage building.
He also carried the documents for this mission, which he had to give to Tsunade before he could go home.
Behind him…
"The 13-year-old Jōnin... stronger than Kakashi," Izumo said, filled with a mix of awe and sadness.
A few months ago, he was a Chūnin, and Colt was just a Genin taking the Chūnin exam.
Now Colt was a Jōnin, and he... was still guarding the gate.
Meanwhile, when Colt arrived at the Hokage's office, he heard Tsunade's furious voice.
"What were Kakashi and Guy thinking? How could they exhaust their chakra by arguing and fighting?!"
Looking at Tsunade, who was seething with anger, Colt felt a bit uneasy.
"What's going on here?"
Tsunade's eyes lit up when she saw him.
"You're finally back, kid! If you hadn't returned, I was planning to send an ANBU to hunt you down!"
Colt smiled, knowing that Tsunade was just joking.
But before he could tease her back, he heard some shocking news.
"Sasuke Uchiha has defected to Orochimaru's hideout, and I've sent Shikamaru to form a team to pursue him."
"Colt Kamiyo, I now officially appoint you as the leader of the pursuit team. Immediately go to intercept Sasuke Uchiha, bring him back, and eliminate all enemies!"
(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 30 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)
****************
Within five minutes of returning to the village, Colt was sent out again.
Sasuke had finally embarked on his original path, defecting from Konoha to seek refuge with Orochimaru.
However, it seemed that because of Colt's presence, the timeline had somewhat accelerated.
Logically, Sasuke should have completed more missions before preparing to defect.
Running swiftly towards the northern part of the Land of Fire, Colt didn't use [Flying Thunder God] to hurry, fearing he might miss the marks left by Shikamaru and the others.
As the most intelligent of the Konoha 12, he believed that even if Shikamaru didn't know whether reinforcements would arrive, he would leave a secret code to guide the way for any latecomers.
According to Tsunade, the pursuit team had been gone for nearly half a day.
If they ran at full speed, they were likely almost at the border by now.
After all, ninja speed was not to be underestimated.
Sure enough, before he had gone too far, Colt keenly found Shikamaru's signal on a large tree and immediately determined the direction.
In fact, Colt could have run directly to the Valley of the End, and with his speed, he would definitely arrive before Naruto and Sasuke's battle concluded.
The problem was that the battles Shikamaru and the others were facing were also very dangerous, and without help, they might die.
Gaara and his siblings were still in Sunagakure, so they couldn't provide support.
With his [Sharingan] fully activated, chakra fluctuations within a ten-mile radius were within Colt's detection range.
Soon, he sensed the first familiar chakra signature.
When he arrived, he saw Choji holding a red pill, attempting to swallow it.
"Stop!"
Colt knew this was the Akimichi clan's secret medicine, and the red pill was the third and most dangerous one. Once ingested, it would likely result in death.
Choji wouldn't die due to his plot armor, but it would be enough to incapacitate him for a while.
But since he had reached him, then there was no need for that.
"[Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet]!"
A shuriken shot out, knocking the pill from Choji's hand.
Simultaneously, a fire dragon spewed from Colt's mouth, engulfing Jirobo in flames.
Colt himself appeared before Choji in an instant.
"Colt!"
Choji was overjoyed, not for himself, but for Shikamaru and the others pursuing the enemies ahead.
With Colt around, these Sound ninjas were nothing to worry about.
"How long ago did Shikamaru and the others pass?" Colt asked Choji without looking at Jirobo, who was gradually being reduced to ash.
At the same time, he used a healing technique to treat Choji's injuries.
"More than half an hour, northwest," Choji said quickly, knowing that time was of the essence.
"Stay here. I'll send the others back to you."
With that, Colt leaped into the air and continued onward, forming hand seals to create several Shadow Clones.
Neji's battle with Kidomaru…
After running for ten minutes, he encountered Neji entangled in spider webs.
Under his [Sharingan's] perception, Kidomaru's hiding place was clearly visible.
The flying chakra feathers on Colt's wrist bloomed and increased to regular size, and were imbued with strong wind-nature chakra.
Subsequently, they were sent flying towards Kidomaru.
Kidomaru in the shadows also noticed the sudden attack and spat out a large amount of spider silk for defense.
These spider threads were products of his chakra and were as sharp as blades.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The spider web Kidomaru relied on didn't last even a second and was torn apart like paper.
Unprepared, thousands of flying feathers passed through his body, and he died without even activating his second-stage curse mark.
"Go back the same way to find Choji, and wait for me to return," Colt instructed.
Before Neji could thank him, the Shadow Clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Shikamaru and Tayuya's battlefield…
As a descendant of the Nara clan, Shikamaru's tactical skills were unquestionable.
But his lazy nature meant his taijutsu and ninjutsu were poor, only at an average level.
Faced with the three demons Tayuya controlled, he could only dodge desperately.
Aside from his shadow manipulation, Shikamaru lacked any effective offense.
"Damn it!"
Barely dodging an attack from an enraged demon, Shikamaru was already showing signs of fatigue.
For the first time, he regretted his laziness. If he were stronger, maybe he could defeat the enemy at this moment…
Thinking of Choji and Neji, who had volunteered to stay behind and block the enemy, Shikamaru felt even more anxious.
"Chidori!"
At that moment, the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air.
Colt, his body crackling with electricity, appeared before the three demons. The powerful current paralyzed them, leaving them rigid and immobile.
"[Chidori Sharp Spear]!"
A spear of lightning extended from his palm, slicing through the three demons.
Tayuya's face contorted with shock, and she hurriedly played her flute to cast a Genjutsu.
"So noisy!"
Colt's face showed annoyance, but he remained undisturbed, with his speed even increasing.
The materialized lightning-nature chakra pierced Tayuya's heart without hesitation.
"Try not to get any curse marks in your next life. And stay clear from snakes…"
After saying that, he withdrew his hand.
There was a trace of regret in his expression.
In fact, Tayuya was attractive and had an interesting personality and past, but after receiving the curse mark, she had become truly unredeemable.
Being bitten by Orochimaru had major drawbacks.
Shikamaru limped to Colt's side, heard his "advice" to the fallen enemy, and was left speechless.
Colt looked at the embarrassed Shikamaru, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Will you still be lazy in the future?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He didn't ask about the status of Choji and the others.
Because since Colt came here, his expression hadn't changed in the slightest, which meant his companions must be safe and sound.
However, it was time to try harder.
Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to protect his friends.
Shikamaru's hand clenched slightly.
Colt keenly observed his changes but said nothing.
Smart people would always be quick to understand, and they would make better choices even after experiencing temporary setbacks.
He believed that Shikamaru would give people a different impression after today.
On another front, Sakon, who was confronting Kiba, was also beheaded by Colt's Shadow Clone.
The three Shadow Clones dispelled one after another, and the original Colt received their memories, completely relieved.
This mission would greatly contribute to everyone's growth.
At least no one would be complacent, and they could clearly recognize their own shortcomings.
Naruto's chakra signature was getting closer.
Eventually, Colt met Naruto, who was confronting Kimimaro in a meadow.
The wooden barrel where Sasuke had been contained was gone. It seemed Sasuke had completed his transformation and left.
"Naruto, go after Sasuke. Leave this to me."
Colt glanced at Kimimaro, who stood quietly and waved his hand.
He knew Naruto's temperament well. If he wasn't allowed to confront Sasuke, he'd probably be depressed for years.
It was better to let the two of them have their confrontation.
Moreover, he was also interested in this guy, Kimimaro.
"Colt, be careful. This guy is really strong."
Gritting his teeth, Naruto nodded, issued a warning, and then ran off into the distance.
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