In Year 37 of Konoha, war orphan Aoba Yuto has only three weapons: dissection notes, homemade insect repellent, and the Three-Body Technique to keep himself alive.
While Minato shines on the battlefield, he crouches in a trench recording the habits of poisonous insects. While the Sannin make a name for themselves in the Land of Rain, his hand remains steady as he amputates wounded soldiers' limbs.
"Surviving," he writes on tree bark with blood, "takes more talent than being a hero."
Years later, when the Nine-Tails' claws tear through the night sky, the man always mocked as a "medical cockroach" stands amid the ruins, green light from his Mystical Palm Technique joining into a web of life.
"Look! Aoba-senpai is glowing!" the surviving children cry.
He looks down and flips through the yellowed first page of his manual. "No, it's just the moonlight reflecting off the Hokage Rock."
The toughest roots in Konoha often grow in shadows no one sees.
