The trade route connecting Konoha with the border villages was a mess. Overturned wagons, looted crates, and the few guards who tried to resist lay inert.
The Konoha jōnin assigned to the mission—an experienced chuunin named Genma and a sensory-type kunoichi, Yugao—arrived on the scene, sweaty and panting, only to find Satoru Gojo already there.
Gojo was sitting casually on a pile of smashed crates, munching on a sweet treat he had conjured from thin air. At his feet, lying motionless in ridiculous positions, were the rogue ninjas of Waterfall Village. They weren't dead, but they weren't conscious either. One had his head embedded in a tree, another was tangled up in a human pretzel, and a third was floating two meters off the ground, completely motionless, his eyes blank.
"Gojo-san!" Genma exclaimed, panting. "What... what happened here?"
Gojo looked at them with a lazy smile. "Oh, hey, guys! You guys are just in time for the closing show. These guys were kind of boring, really. They tried to be intimidating, but their water jutsu was depressing. They need more... pizzazz."
Yugao, with her sensory ability, sensed the renegades' chakra signatures. They were intact, but their life energy was almost nonexistent, as if they'd been drained. It was a technique she'd never seen before.
"Did you... neutralize them?" Yugao asked cautiously.
"Sure," Gojo said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "With a little Hollow Purple for the initial shock, and then a little fun with my Limitless. They're harmless now. It'll take a couple of days to untie all those spatial knots in their bodies. And the floating guy will stay there until I get bored of him!"
Genma put a hand to his temple. "But... wasn't it necessary to capture them for interrogation?"
"Bah, nonsense," Gojo retorted. "With those weak jutsus, I doubt they'd know anything interesting. If they had valuable information, I would have 'interrogated' them my way. But they were just thugs. A bore." He stood up, stretching. "Well, mission accomplished. Is there anything of interest around here? Maybe a good restaurant."
Genma and Yugao looked at each other, completely dumbfounded. They'd been sent to deal with a B-rank threat that required careful strategy, and Gojo Satoru had "neutralized" it in minutes, without breaking a sweat, and in ways that defied all ninja logic.
"Gojo-san," Genma said, trying to sound professional. "We need to report this to the Hokage. And secure these... renegades."
"Go ahead," Gojo said with a casual gesture. "I'll handle the logistics. You know, this gave me an idea."
Gojo opened his Dimensional Shop in his mind.
[S-Grade Sealing Scroll (5,000 XP)]
[Instant Transport: Enhanced Smoke Ball (1,000 XP)]
[Exotic Candy from Other Dimensions (50 XP per unit)]
"Hmm, 5,000 Dimension Points... is a bit pricey for a sealing scroll," Gojo thought. "But it would make things easier with these fools." With a sigh, he purchased the S-Grade Sealing Scroll.
An ancient and elegantly crafted scroll appeared in his hand. With a series of swift movements that Genma and Yugao could barely follow, Gojo touched each of the unconscious renegades. The scroll glowed, and one by one, the twisted, floating bodies of the ninjas disappeared in a puff of smoke, sealed within the scroll.
"There!" exclaimed Gojo, putting the scroll away. "Now just take this to the Hokage. It's much lighter and easier to transport. You're welcome!"
Genma and Yugao could only gasp. Never in their lives had they seen anything like it. Gojo Satoru's power was not only immense, but also incredibly practical, yet completely terrifying. The B-rank mission had been completed, but the real challenge was understanding the being who had executed it.
"I'll go ahead," Gojo said, disappearing in an imperceptible flash before they could reply.
"There's a dango stand at the entrance to Konoha calling for me. Don't be long!"
The two jōnin were left alone at the scene of chaos, staring at the scroll containing the renegades and the aftermath of Gojo's "fun." The normalcy of Konoha, and the ninja world in general, was about to be severely challenged by the appearance of the blind sorcerer.