The world twisted.
The moment Shikage opened his eyes, the pitch-black cave was gone. He now stood in a vast, lush forest so dense the canopy blocked out the sky.
It looked eerily similar to the Forest of Death… except every shadow here hid something deadly.
Even within his perception range, seven or eight presences radiated terrifying killing intent.
Shikage flickered upward, landing on a towering treetop. From above, he scanned the sources of danger.
In the next instant, glowing yellow status bars appeared one after another.
[Lv.11 Blood Hunter Swarm]
[Lv.36 Sabertooth Leopard]
[Lv.41 Death Black Bear]
...
The moment they sensed his gaze, the hidden jungle predators stopped hiding. They surged toward him from every direction.
Shikage didn't panic. If anything, the corner of his mouth curved into a faint, eager smile.
"Let's begin."
The words rippled across the shadows like rings on still water.
In the next heartbeat, silent shadow soldiers rose one by one.
They moved without a sound, yet worked in perfect sync—like they shared one mind. In an instant they became reapers of death, carving through every living thing around them.
Screams, blood, and corpses piled onto the shadow soldiers' dark armor, giving them an even deeper, more terrifying aura.
Shikage strolled along a path paved with severed limbs and gore, smiling contentedly as he watched his experience bar climb at ridiculous speed.
He barely had to think. No.2 handled every detail of the legion.
Only now did he realize how much he had underestimated the power of [Clear Mind, Sharp Strategy].
He also realized his previous "command" of the legion had been straight-up amateur hour.
Not that he cared. If he wasn't good at it, he'd just raise someone who was.
The template from [Shadow Vassal · Nara Shikamaru] could create the perfect legion commander.
The only limit was the number of soldiers he could field.
With that thought, Shikage decided to cut loose and wage a full-scale legion war.
Thanks to his class restrictions, his [Shadow Storage] slot was capped at twenty soldiers inside the legion space.
But [Shadow Extraction] had no such limit.
As long as his MP held, he could pull a hundred shadow soldiers at once!
That was already the beginning of a true legion!
So the dungeon monsters that had just fallen melted into the shadows and rose again as cold, obedient soldiers.
The slaughter continued.
Blood spread.
Shadows devoured.
The lord advanced.
...
After downing who-knows-how-many blue potions, Shikage stood on a high ridge and surveyed the entire Training Ground No. 0.
He had wiped out almost every small monster on the outer edges.
Anything that had once shown yellow danger level (minor threat) was now pure white (no threat at all).
Only the monsters in the central zone still glowed yellow… and deep in the heart of the training ground, one glaring orange presence burned like a signal fire.
"Boss, huh?"
Shikage murmured, but his smile was full of anticipation.
He didn't rush straight into the boss zone. Instead, he ordered the shadow soldiers to clear the area methodically, step by step.
Several hours later, after every monster except the boss had been exterminated, Shikage split off a shadow clone and let it take over the boss fight while his main body watched.
The moment his clone stepped into the boss territory, the deepest part of the swamp at the center of Training Ground No. 0 stirred.
A massive dark-green python, coiled tightly, slowly raised its head.
It flicked a shadowy tongue. When its jaws parted, razor fangs gleamed with faint purple light.
The environment shifted with every breath—rain, thunder, lightning—every exhalation screaming "boss-level threat."
Shikage stood on a tall branch dozens of meters away, eyes locked on the dungeon boss. For the first time, his focus sharpened to its absolute limit. He was going all-out.
Even though orange-rank monsters weren't as dangerous as red ones, they could still threaten his life.
Even if this was only a shadow clone, he refused to lose.
He leaped lightly from the branch and walked straight toward the coiled serpent.
Behind him, shadow after shadow rose.
Just like the ever-lengthening shadow stretching from his own feet.
...
With a deafening crash, the colossal body collapsed.
Foul dark-green blood poured from countless wounds across the thick serpent corpse, sizzling as it hit the bottomless swamp.
Shikage sat atop the snake's head, slightly winded, and casually opened the daily quest rewards.
[Reward 1: Full Status Recovery (100%)]
In a soft green glow, every bit of stamina and energy he had spent flooded back to peak condition.
He turned his attention to the serpent beneath him, lips curving into a satisfied smile.
This boss had been the strongest opponent he had faced so far.
Far beyond anything the Nara jonin he had killed earlier could compare to.
Just the raw toughness of its scales made him wonder if it could go toe-to-toe with Orochimaru's Manda.
Not to mention its ability to summon storms and control the weather—that had given him real trouble during the fight.
It also reminded him how important battlefield environment could be.
If he could bring this python boss into the legion, the Shadow Legion's biggest weakness would be perfectly covered.
Calming his excitement, he stood up, lightly tapped the scales under his feet, and spoke softly.
"Rise."
...
After confirming there were no more spoils left in Training Ground No. 0, Shikage reluctantly left the dungeon.
Inside the dark mountain cave, a ripple of space spread outward.
Then a tall, streamlined figure slowly materialized.
Shikage stepped out of the cave with a bright smile, basking in the warm sunlight, mood soaring.
This dungeon run had been an absolute goldmine.
His experience bar was stuffed. He had shot straight to Level 30!
Every ninjutsu skill had leveled up, especially Shadow Sewing—now at Lv.3 thanks to constant use.
He had also obtained a dungeon specialty: Magic Crystals.
These energy ores came from the bodies of dungeon monsters and contained powerful magical power.
He didn't know how to use them yet, but he had a strong feeling they held huge potential.
He stored them away, then turned his attention to his Shadow Legion.
The gains weren't just his own—the soldiers had grown massively too.
But what excited him most was the new boss.
That's right. Shikage had successfully recruited the dungeon boss into his legion…