Naruto: My version is ahead of the ninja world

In the ninja world, being confined to the identity of a ninja seems a bit too narrow-minded, but if possible, Yugen still wants to maintain his human form, which can be considered a kind of mental fastidiousness.

Since both methods of enhancing defense can achieve the goal, and Yu Xian has already obtained "Sage Transformation," while "Software Modification" requires more cost, Yu Xian naturally gave up the latter for the time being.

Besides the software modification, Yugen also saw the Orochi-ryu Substitution Technique. To be honest, Yugen had already unintentionally mastered this technique... There was no way around it, he had gotten used to "shedding his skin" in Ryuchi Cave.

Snake molting is the core of the Orochi-ryu Substitution Technique.

This is a crucial life-saving skill; Sasuke Uchiha once used it to escape Itachi Uchiha's Amaterasu.

This technique isn't used very often, but it can be life-saving when necessary.

In short, if we disregard the gains from Ryuchi Cave, the most common and frequently used technique that Hazen acquired after going to Orochimaru's laboratory was actually the Hidden Shadow Snake Hand, a technique with a C-rank learning difficulty... This technique is worth practicing; it's very practical.

After recording the knowledge in his mind and completing the entire inventory, Yu Xian confirmed that nothing had been missed. He then put away his pen and scroll and couldn't help but sigh:

"I've already mastered a tattoo technique, but I still can't even create a physical clone like a shadow clone. Is that reasonable?"

Yu Xian popped a soldier's ration pill into his mouth, then closed his eyes to rest for a while. He shifted his focus and began to think about another problem.

"What does Konoha, or rather, the ninja village, mean to me?"

Well, there's no need to think about it so complicatedly and profoundly, because at least in the Land of Rain region, Yugen's direction can only be close to Konoha.

"Let's adjust this issue. Next, we should consider how to leave the Land of Rain?"

"The north and east are the areas where Iwagakure operates. The Kusanagi route seems to be the safest, but there was just a major battle there. After a war, the Iwagakure ninjas are probably similar in style."

"To the south is the area where the Sand Village operates. The Sand Village ninjas and the Rain Village ninjas frequently clash, and they create large areas of poison gas."

"Should we take the southeast route directly to leave the Land of Rain? The Konoha camp is located ahead in this direction."

"Or should I take the same route as last time to enter the Bird Country...? Without my teammates' support, how am I supposed to cross the Iwagakure-controlled area alone?"

"And there are Jinchūriki..."

"Hey, why don't we spend two years in the Land of Rain doing wilderness survival training? The intensity of the Second Shinobi World War should drop drastically by then."

After a moment's thought, Yugen realized the difficulty of escaping the Land of Rain.

Staying in the Land of Rain was just a joke. Yu Xian had already decided on the best course of action: first, travel southeast in the Land of Rain for a distance, then head east into the Land of Grass, and finally return to the Leaf Village camp via the Land of Grass route.

"southeast……"

Yu Xian left the tree hole, preparing to move southeast, but after taking only one step, he immediately stopped.

"Uh, which direction is southeast?"

Deep in the jungles of the Land of Rain, finding one's way is indeed a difficult task, given the climate conditions there where even the sun is rarely seen.

Fortunately, Yu Xian managed to discern the direction he had come from yesterday; barring any unforeseen circumstances, he had come from the east.

"Let's go. Hopefully, my experience will hold up."

Yu Xian stepped into the rain. If he could move at full speed, he would surely be able to cross the Rain Country within a day. However, in this environment surrounded by enemies, he could only remain vigilant and proceed cautiously, groping his way forward little by little.

Although he called the changes that happened to him "Jugo-ification", he was ultimately different from the later Jugo... Jugo could control animals to perceive their environment, which was something that Hazen could not do.

Yugen didn't know his exact location in the Land of Rain, but one thing was certain: Amegakure was located in the direction he was moving forward, not in the direction behind him.

…………

Once the movement began, Yugen was careful enough to do an impeccable job of visual concealment, except... chakra signatures cannot be hidden.

Several hours later, Yu Xuan stepped into the sensory range of an enemy ninja.

"Captain, someone's coming from the northwest..."

"Number of people?"

"There's only one person."

"Could it be a village ninja? In any case, prepare for battle."

"Yes."

Since we cannot confirm the identity of the visitor, it is only natural to treat them as an enemy.

The Rain Village ninja immediately formed an encirclement formation, waiting for Yugen to arrive.

But when Yu Xian arrived at this place at a leisurely pace, he suddenly stopped... He instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Having spent a long time in the Land of Rain, Yu Xian was quite sensitive to his environment, so he felt a sense of unease, the source of which was rather mysterious—he felt that the ambient sounds in front of him were not quite the same as before.

Without a second thought, he immediately prepared to bypass the area.

Seeing that the newcomers weren't fooled and didn't even approach the encirclement, the Rain Village ninja had no choice but to reveal themselves... They had no choice but to see Yugen's Konoha headband.

"Well……"

A talking tree? Well, that's not surprising. Yu Xian suddenly stopped in his tracks and wiped the rain off his face.

"If possible, could we pretend we didn't see each other?"

That's impossible, of course. This group of Rain Village ninja was already in an ambush, so their answer was only one word:

"kill!"

The tree trunk beneath Yu Xian's feet trembled violently. He unleashed a burst of chakra from his feet, and just as the enemy was rushing towards him, he unexpectedly appeared in front of one of them.

Under the gloomy sky, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck, illuminating the small battlefield in the forest as if it were daytime.

Yu Xian concealed the azure chakra sphere within this bright light.

The lightning flashed and disappeared in an instant, followed by a deafening roar of thunder.

The booming sound masked the slight noise of the Rasengan being activated, and the next moment, the extremely difficult A-rank ninjutsu plunged into the enemy's abdomen.

After his chakra reserves increased significantly, Hagen no longer needed to meticulously calculate how to use every single bit of chakra during battles.

Although he cannot squander chakra, he can cast spells multiple times in a single battle.

The average quality of Amegakure's ninjas was already weaker than that of the three great ninja villages, and their number of Jonin and elite Jonin was even less compared to the three great ninja villages.

The squad of Chunin and Genin in front of Yu Gen was no match for the high-speed, high-burst attack "module" of Body Flicker Technique and No-Mark Ninjutsu.

As the thunder subsided, an enemy fell in the falling rain.

At this moment, Yu Xian felt that getting used to something was a terrible thing.

Without realizing it, he had grown accustomed to the forests and rain of the Land of Rain, to the ever-present threat of attack and the ever-present, lingering smell of blood, and to the feeling of taking another's life...