Boom!
A massive sonic boom exploded over Konoha, vibrating even the stones of the Hokage Rock.
Exchange students from various nations conducting 'friendly exchanges' in Konoha instinctively covered their ears.
Someone looked up.
It was a meteor.
No, it was a crimson steel giant, trailing a long plume of flame, crashing toward the clearing outside Konoha in a brutally defiant display of physics.
"What on earth is that?!"
Darui, from the Hidden Cloud Village, had completely lost his usual lazy demeanor.
His muscles were taut, and Lightning Style chakra instinctively crackled across his skin—a stress response to an extreme threat.
Before anyone could react, the red giant performed a sudden halt in mid-air that defied all physical logic before slamming heavily into the ground.
Thud!
The earth surged violently, and a massive cloud of dust billowed into the sky, blotting out the sun.
Then, a loud, arrogant voice, amplified by a megaphone, pierced through the dust and echoed throughout Konoha, reaching even deep into the forest kilometers away.
"Tsunade!!"
"Come out and look! This is the grand treasure this Sage brought back for you!"
"Hahaha! Do you see this crimson majesty? Isn't this Sage handsome?"
The dust settled.
A twenty-meter-tall crimson Unit-0 stood tall upon the earth.
The setting sun hit its angular armor, reflecting a heart-stopping cold glint.
Specifically, the golden horn forcefully added to its head shimmered in the sunlight, exuding a sense of violent beauty.
The cockpit hatch popped open, and Jiraiya stood atop the mecha's head, striking a classic pose, his white hair dancing wildly in the wind.
A deathly silence fell over the training ground.
An Iwagakure ninja's jaw dropped, his kunai hitting the ground with a clang.
He stiffly turned his neck to look at Nara Shikaku, the Konoha representative who was equally stunned.
"Is this... also one of Konoha's... jutsu?"
His voice trembled.
He recalled the instructions from the Tsuchikage, Onoki, before leaving: "Go to Konoha and take a good look at just how far their technology has progressed."
Now he had seen it.
But wasn't this a bit too much?
This wasn't a jutsu.
This was a monster draped in iron!
If Iwagakure had to face such a thing...
His mind conjured the Particle Style his Tsuchikage was so proud of.
Particle Style could indeed disintegrate objects, but against a steel beast of this size and speed, that giant iron foot would likely crush them before the Tsuchikage could even finish his hand signs.
Nara Shikaku wiped cold sweat from his forehead, his lip twitching.
He looked at Jiraiya shouting atop the mecha, feeling utterly helpless.
This guy really didn't understand the meaning of 'low profile'.
However...
Shikaku glanced at the pale faces of the international students around him, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
Since they wanted to intimidate, they might as well make it absolute.
"Ahem."
Shikaku cleared his throat and adopted a nonchalant expression. "No need to panic, everyone. This is just a piece of... agricultural machinery Konoha is currently testing."
"Agricultural?!"
Darui pointed at the two massive thrusters on Unit-0's back and the ten-meter-long physical chakra blade hanging at its waist, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "You call that agricultural machinery? Is that sword for slicing watermelons?!"
"Of course, it's for clearing wasteland."
Shikaku replied without blinking. "The forests around Konoha are too dense, after all. We need high-powered equipment for weeding. Alright, everyone, today's tour ends here. Please return to your dorms. Remember to accurately record what you saw and heard today in your journals and send them back to your villages."
The ninjas from various villages exchanged looks, seeing deep fear in each other's eyes.
They had to report this immediately!
Konoha didn't just have those 'guns' that required no hand signs; they had this steel giant that could fly and tunnel!
If the Kage weren't informed, the four great ninja villages would be ground into powder if a war ever broke out!
...
Meanwhile, at Konoha Training Ground 3.
波風水門 withdrew his gaze from the village outskirts and shook his head helplessly.
"Sensei really is... full of energy."
He had just handed the hot potato that was the Tenseigan over to Orochimaru.
The moment that snake saw the Tenseigan, he fell into a state of frenzy, immediately locking himself in the lab and declaring he wouldn't see anyone until he had analyzed the results.
Even Minato, the Hokage, was kicked out.
Having nothing else to do, Minato thought of his disciples who had been 'left to their own devices' for a while.
Inside the training ground, blades clashed.
Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha were engaged in high-intensity sparring.
Their movements were so fast they were a blur to the naked eye, leaving only sparks and afterimages exploding in the air.
Shisui's Body Flicker Technique had reached a level of perfection; a mere flash of his body often landed him in Itachi's blind spot.
But Itachi's reactions were equally astounding; his shurikenjutsu combined with Great Fireball Technique always managed to neutralize the offensive at the critical moment.
Minato nodded in satisfaction.
These two Uchiha geniuses truly didn't require much of his concern.
Their foundations were incredibly solid, and their combat intelligence was top-tier; they only lacked experience and chakra reserves.
Minato's gaze finally landed on a silver-haired youth in the corner of the training ground.
Kakashi Hatake.
He wasn't participating in the sparring but stood alone before a wooden post.
He held a short sword in his hand.
It was a memento from his father, Sakumo Hatake.
Kakashi had his eyes closed, his breathing steady and long.
He held a drawing stance, motionless, like a statue.
But the aura around him was undergoing a subtle transformation.
Previously, because Kakashi had been transplanted with Obito's Sharingan, his chakra was constantly being drained.
To Minato's keen senses, that feeling of leaking chakra was as obvious as a candle in the dark.
But now...
Minato was surprised to find that the chakra fluctuations on Kakashi were no longer leaking.
It was as if they were being forcibly locked within his body by some power, or even... locked within the blade in his hand.
"Interesting."
Gamakon, the purple toad resting on Minato's shoulder, suddenly spat out a sunflower seed shell, a hint of praise flashing in his toad eyes. "The kid has good intuition."
"Gamakon-san, this is..." Minato was somewhat confused.
"Just watch," Gamakon tilted his chin. "He's about to strike."
Just as he spoke.
Kakashi snapped his eyes open.
He took a step forward and then—
Drew his blade.
Clang!
A crisp, pleasant ring of the blade suddenly echoed throughout the training ground.
The sound wasn't sharp, yet it had extreme piercing power, causing the sparring Itachi and Shisui to instinctively stop and cover their ears.
A white flash vanished in the air following Kakashi's movement.
Thwip.
The solid wood training post in front of Kakashi, thick enough for two people to hug, silently slid apart.
The cut was as smooth as a mirror; even the grain of the wood was clearly visible without a single splinter.
More terrifyingly, the white blade light didn't dissipate after cutting the post but continued to extend for a full five meters, leaving a bottomless crack in the ground.
Kakashi slowly sheathed his blade.
"Whew..."
He exhaled a long breath of turbid air. His originally pale face now had a healthy flush.
He raised his hand and touched his left eye, a look of unbelievable joy flashing across his face.
"I'm really... not tired."
Kakashi looked at his hands and murmured, "Previously, using the Sharingan with Lightning Blade would drain half my stamina in one hit. But now... the power of this strike is even greater, yet the consumption is less than a tenth of what it used to be."
"Clap, clap, clap."
Crisp applause rang out.
Minato walked out from the shade with Gamakon, smiling.
"A brilliant strike."
Minato walked up to Kakashi, his gaze lingering on the smooth cut for a moment, his eyes full of wonder. "Kakashi, in this strike, I saw the shadow of your father... No, it's even more refined than the White Fang's swordsmanship."
"Sensei!"
Seeing Minato, Kakashi immediately straightened his body and bowed respectfully.
Itachi and Shisui quickly gathered around, looking at the crack in the ground with shock in their eyes.
"Senior, what jutsu is this?" Shisui couldn't help asking. "I didn't sense any nature transformation in the chakra."
"This isn't a jutsu."
The one answering wasn't Kakashi, but Gamakon on Minato's shoulder.
Gamakon hopped onto the wooden post and tapped the smooth cut with his claw.
"This is called 'Blade Intent,' or you can understand it as... a high concentration of essence, energy, and spirit."
Gamakon looked at Kakashi and grinned. "Kid, how does it feel? Injecting all your essence, energy, and spirit into the blade—does it feel like that damned eye isn't sucking your blood anymore?"
"Yes."
Kakashi nodded heavily, his gaze toward Gamakon filled with gratitude. "It's all thanks to Lord Gamakon's guidance. The Spirit Locking Technique you taught me allowed me to learn how to control the Sharingan's overflowing chakra and guide it into the blade."
"Before, the Sharingan was a leaking bucket; chakra was constantly flowing out."
Kakashi explained with a hint of excitement in his voice, "But using this technique in battle... I actually feel like the burden has completely vanished."
"My next goal is to maintain this feeling in my daily life."
Hearing this, Minato had a moment of realization.
Kakashi's biggest weakness was his small chakra pool and his inability to deactivate the Sharingan.
Gamakon's method not only solved the mana consumption issue but also turned trash into treasure, using the Sharingan's Yin Release chakra to enhance the sharpness of his swordsmanship.
"Concentrating essence, energy, and spirit into the blade..."
Minato pondered, "This sounds somewhat similar to the principles of Senjutsu, yet it's completely different."
"Of course it's different," Gamakon snorted. "Senjutsu borrows natural energy; this thing taps into one's own potential. This kid, Kakashi, has no talent for Senjutsu, but he has a resilient character and has experienced great ups and downs, making him perfect for practicing this 'idealistic' swordsmanship."
"As long as he has a blade in his heart, he can cut through steel even if he's holding a twig."
Gamakon's words left all three youths in deep thought.
Especially Itachi; he looked at Kakashi, the tomoe in his eyes spinning slowly as if he were calculating whether this technique could be applied to shurikenjutsu.
"Alright."
Minato clapped his hands, breaking everyone's train of thought.
"Since Kakashi has found his own path, I can rest easy."
Minato looked at these three future pillars of Konoha with a gentle smile.
"However, just practicing isn't enough."
"You all saw that big fellow Jiraiya-sensei brought back just now, right?"
The three nodded.
The commotion was so big it would have been hard to miss.
"That is an ultimate weapon prepared to combat the Otsutsuki."
Minato's expression turned serious. "But a weapon is ultimately a dead object with too many limitations. For the next period of time, I will have Guy join you. The four of you will treat Unit-0 as an imaginary enemy and find a way to defeat it."
As Minato's voice fell, a brief deathly silence enveloped the training ground.
Only the rustling of the wind through the treetops could be heard.
Kakashi's hand on the White Fang short sword tightened slightly, a rare look of bewilderment appearing in his dull eyes.
He looked up toward the crimson steel giant steaming in the clearing outside the village, currently undergoing maintenance by Orochimaru's team, and swallowed hard.
"Sensei," Kakashi pointed in that direction, his voice dry, "are you serious? You want the few of us to take down that steel colossus?"
Shisui and Itachi also looked at each other.
Although they were geniuses and had awakened the Sharingan, their ninja common sense told them that a body of flesh and blood against a steel creation weighing dozens of tons was a suicidal act.
Minato held up a finger and corrected, "It's 'defeat' it. Or more accurately, survive under its attacks and find an opportunity to counterattack."
Gamakon, resting on Minato's shoulder, spat out a sunflower seed shell, a mischievous glint in his purple toad eyes.
"Don't look so miserable, kids."
Gamakon said slowly, "What do you think the future enemies are? The Otsutsuki clan won't follow any ninja rules. They can fly, their bodies are as hard as diamonds, they can absorb ninjutsu, and a casual strike can shatter the heavens and the earth. Although this Unit-0 is a bit clunky, in terms of 'high attack and high defense,' it's the perfect simulation target right now."
"And..."
Minato added, his eyes turning sharp, "if we can't even deal with a machine made by humans, how are we going to protect the village when the real 'Otsutsuki' descend?"
These words were like a heavy hammer, pounding into the hearts of the three youths.
Protect.
That was a word etched into the bones of every Konoha ninja.
The tomoe in Itachi's eyes spun slowly, his original hesitation gradually replaced by a firm fighting spirit. He looked at Minato and asked in a low voice, "What are the rules?"
"There are no rules."
Minato took a step back, clearing the field. "Apart from not attacking Jiraiya-sensei himself inside the cockpit, anything goes. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, tools, even traps—use whatever you want."
##Discount##
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