Chapter 5: Accompanying the Young Lord on Campaign
Orochimaru's rare praise—Minamoto Ren accepted it calmly. He had earned it.
Or rather… this was the outcome he had calculated from the start.
Out of all the people in Konoha, all the possible angles to approach, why had Ren chosen Senju Nawaki?
On one hand, the kid was easy to manipulate.
But on the other hand—the return on investment was astronomical.
Think about it: one Senju Nawaki… how many people, how many resources, how much Hokage-level authority could he mobilize?
Whatever Ren gave here, he could reclaim a hundredfold—from Tsunade, from Orochimaru, from Jiraiya, and maybe even from Sarutobi Hiruzen himself.
Letting the ambition fade from his smiling eyes, Ren said nothing more. But in his mind, every favor, every conversation, every calculated gesture was a thread in a vast web—a web that, once complete, would ensnare the entire ninja world.
In the tent, the four of them stood quietly, waiting for Nawaki's emotional outburst to run its course.
Once the tears finally stopped, Orochimaru gave the long-awaited marching orders.
It would take about ten days to reach the border of the Land of Rain.
Tsunade, by rank and reputation, had been named overall commander—with neither Orochimaru nor Jiraiya objecting.
The orders she had given in the recent tactical meeting were now being relayed through her officers.
"All genin squads numbered fifteen and above will move with the main force into the Yuwaku Gorge. Squads numbered below fifteen will act as flanking support and advance into the Yūryō Mountains!"
Ren's brows furrowed slightly.
Squad 15—that was the rough dividing line between life and death in this war.
If memory served him right, the campaign would end in utter disaster.
Konoha's forces would be nearly wiped out. Only the Legendary Sannin would be spared by Salamander Hanzō, earning their infamous title in blood.
Which meant—Ren had just narrowly escaped the fate of being cannon fodder.
But in exchange… he now faced a new threat: Hanzō of the Salamander himself.
Shaking off these useless thoughts, Ren steeled his will once more.
He believed in action. Fate could shift at any moment—in the next decision, the next encounter.
Until he actually died, he refused to give up the fight.
Seeing that none of the three spoke, Orochimaru chuckled lightly.
Genin always looked nervous before battle—but for him, this mission carried little real risk.
The only real threat—Hanzō—was rumored to be storming castles in the Land of Iron.
No time to worry about a special task force like theirs.
In other words, this campaign was more about training than combat.
With that thought, Orochimaru raised his arm and gave the command as squad leader:
"Move out! It's going to be a long day's march!"
In an instant, hundreds of shinobi took off into the trees, running and leaping like a swarm of locusts bursting into flight.
These weren't just any locusts, though—every single one of them was at least chūnin level.
The lower-ranked genin, especially those who hadn't yet mastered chakra control, had no choice but to sprint hard on foot.
"Now's a great time to practice, Nawaki," Ren said, walking beside him. "As long as we don't fall too far behind, we'll be fine."
"The thing is... tree-walking requires stopping," Nawaki said, confused. "Wouldn't that mean falling behind right away?"
"You don't have to stop." Ren gave him a clever smile. "Just leap onto a branch, then lean back and let yourself fall. I'll catch you from below. The moment you can stabilize yourself mid-fall—that's when you've grasped the basics of tree-walking."
Nawaki's eyes lit up.
"Ren, you're a genius! When I become Hokage, you have to be my chief advisor!"
He wasn't stupid.
He'd understood Ren's idea immediately.
Tree-walking and water-walking were nothing more than exercises in chakra control—learning how to distribute chakra evenly (or unevenly) through the soles of one's feet.
Once you understood the principle, it was easy to design different ways to practice.
Soon, Minamoto Ren and Nawaki were fully immersed in training.
Nawaki would leap forward from branch to branch, then purposefully fall.
Ren, running just behind, would catch him mid-fall—never slowing their travel, though it certainly made the journey more exhausting.
"Clever shinobi," Orochimaru remarked with a rare smile, observing from a distance.
He appreciated intelligent subordinates.
By the fifth day, Nawaki had successfully learned how to adjust the chakra flow in his feet depending on the surface—his excitement was uncontainable.
"Ren, look! I did it!"
The boy was practically horizontal, suspended mid-fall between two branches, grinning like a madman.
"I knew you could," Ren praised him without hesitation.
Then, turning his head mid-stride, Ren called out to another member of their squad:
"What about you, Hyūga Haining? Want to give it a try?"
"Eh? Oh… no, it's fine. I've been practicing on my own at night…"
Haining, with dark circles under his eyes, looked utterly drained.
"Don't be shy. I'm five years older than you both—looking after you is part of the job. Come on."
Ren smiled. His ambitions extended beyond Nawaki.
Power was a web—and every thread had its value.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Hyūga Haining agreed.
Ren gave off a trustworthy, big-brother vibe, calm and reliable.
Despite being a Hyūga, Haining didn't sense any danger in accepting his help.
Nawaki, on the other hand, couldn't help but pout.
He'd grown used to monopolizing Ren's attention, and now that someone else was taking half of it… well, it didn't sit well with him.
When did Hyūga Haining get this annoying…?
Unlike Nawaki, Haining picked it up faster—he had full mastery within just three days.
After all, he was a main house Hyūga, and his clan's control over chakra was famously precise.
"Hmph! Ren, Orochimaru-sensei said we're supposed to keep pace with each other!" Nawaki grumbled. "You've been helping Haining all day—what about your own training?"
"Me?" Ren smiled faintly. "I've already mastered it."
"What? You have?" Nawaki's eyes widened. "You mean you've been hiding it from me this whole time?"
"Nope. I only just got the hang of it these past few days. Thanks to you two sharing your experiences. Without that, I couldn't have picked it up so quickly."
Haining gave him a side-eye so hard it could cut through steel.
Those scattered mutterings of ours count as "experience"? If that's all it takes, I should've mastered tree-walking months ago.
Still… this was Minamoto Ren.
Even his lies sounded pleasant—though this time, he was telling the truth.
And the secret lay in his Kekkei Genkai—Shikotsumyaku, the Dead Bone Pulse.
The hardest part of chakra control was dealing with variations in chakra output caused by the subtle shifting of pressure points in the soles of the feet.
Even the tiniest change in muscle tension could throw everything off.
But with Shikotsumyaku, Ren didn't need to master that kind of muscular precision at all.
He could manipulate his bone structure to pin his chakra points exactly where he wanted them—perfect chakra flow, no training required.
Seeing that neither Nawaki nor Haining believed him, Ren didn't bother explaining further.
He leapt lightly onto a tree trunk and leaned backward mid-air, holding perfectly steady at a 45-degree angle—without moving an inch.
"There. Believe me now?"
Ren landed as lightly as a leaf and took off again.
Nawaki stared, dumbfounded.
What the hell…? I thought we were all the worst in our class—when did we end up traveling with a genius!?
Haining, annoyed, activated his Byakugan to examine Ren's feet.
You telling me someone can learn tree-walking just by watching? The only thing I'm watching is a walking poem of frustration.