Scientific Ninjutsu!

"Don't be ridiculous! They're just a few Genin!"

From a firing slit in the cliff wall, the Scarred Jonin watched the three Konoha brats below, who seemed to have given up resisting and were whispering among themselves. Yet for some reason, his unease only grew.

"Quick! Use Rock Avalanche! Bury them!"

At his roar, the four Stone Ninja sped up their Hand Seals. The canyon walls began to crack with a teeth-grating sound, as if a gigantic mouth were slowly closing around them.

At that critical moment—

"Minato, now!" Nishikawa Tetsu called in a low voice.

Without hesitation, Namikaze Minato trusted his teammate, who had graduated from the Ninja Academy alongside him.

The golden figure turned into a streak of light once more. Facing the rocks tumbling down from above, he charged straight toward the sturdy, semicircular earthen bunker without a moment's hesitation.

"Looking to die!"

The Scarred Jonin sneered and controlled the spikes on the Earth Flow Wall, ready to meet the attack.

But this time, Namikaze Minato didn't rush in for close-quarters combat. Five meters from the bunker, he suddenly flicked his wrist, sending three bulging paper bags flying like projectiles. They passed precisely through the narrow firing slit.

A Kunai followed close behind, slicing through the bags in midair.

"Pff!"

Grayish-white powder erupted inside the enclosed bunker, spreading rapidly like a dense fog and filling every corner.

"Cough, cough! What is this? Poison gas?"

"No... It looks like flour? And it smells like rust?"

The Stone Ninja coughed in confusion from inside the bunker.

They had expected Explosive Tags or poison gas bombs, not a choking cloud of dust.

The instant he threw the bags, Namikaze Minato had already forced himself to change direction. He used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat rapidly, landing back in the Safe Zone.

"Now, senior!" Nishikawa Tetsu's voice was so calm it was almost cold.

He didn't need to be reminded. A glint flashed in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes as he readied himself.

He channeled Chakra into the Shuriken bearing an Explosive Tag and threw it using the Uchiha's distinctive Shurikenjutsu.

The Shuriken traced a strange arc through the air, avoiding the falling rocks. Like a venomous snake slipping into a burrow, it flew straight through the firing slit, which was still spewing white dust.

For an instant, time seemed to stand still.

Inside the bunker, the Scarred Jonin saw the Explosive Tag fly in, its fuse sparkling. He also saw the air thick with a high concentration of Aluminum Powder mixed with flour. His pupils shrank to pinpricks.

As a battle-hardened Jonin, he didn't understand science, but his instincts told him he was staring death in the face.

"Def—"

He only managed to shout a single syllable.

The Explosive Tag detonated.

A tiny spark instantly ignited every speck of dust suspended in the enclosed space.

The dust, which would ordinarily have burned gently, set off a chain reaction. The heat from the rapid combustion caused the air to expand hundreds of times over. The sealed bunker turned into a pressure cooker, then erupted when it reached its breaking point.

"BOOOOM!!!"

An explosion several times louder than the Rock Avalanche shook the entire canyon.

The supposedly indestructible Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall hadn't been broken from the outside. It had burst outward from within like a balloon!

Orange-red flames mixed with the shock wave, tearing apart the earthen defenses in an instant. The enormous blast of hot air hurled the four Stone Ninja out like rag dolls.

The terrifying heat instantly vaporized the rain around them, forming a gigantic white mushroom cloud of steam.

Even the three standing dozens of meters away felt the scorching wave wash over them.

"This..."

Uchiha Fugaku instinctively raised a hand to shield his face. His usually composed, proud expression was now filled with shock.

He stared at the bunker, which had been razed to the ground, and the Stone Ninja lying scattered across the earth, their bodies charred black and their fates uncertain. His throat felt dry.

That power was more terrifying than even a B-rank or A-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu.

And all it had taken was a few bags of powder and an Explosive Tag?

The dust gradually settled.

Nishikawa Tetsu stepped out from behind a rock, brushed the dust off himself, and held a Kunai in his hand.

"That's a dust explosion."

He walked toward the fallen Stone Ninja, explaining in an even tone, as if he were summarizing a lab report.

"In an enclosed space, combustible dust mixed thoroughly with air will undergo a violent oxidation reaction when exposed to an open flame. With the Aluminum Powder and iron oxide I added, the explosion also produced a Thermite Reaction, reaching temperatures of over two thousand degrees."

As he spoke, Nishikawa Tetsu reached the Scarred Jonin.

The man had a tenacious grip on life. Though he had suffered severe burns all over and the hardened skin he'd been so proud of was torn and blistered, he still twitched faintly. His eyes held traces of utter terror and bewilderment.

"Cow...ardly..." The Scarred Jonin forced the words out of his throat.

"This is war, not a duel."

Nishikawa Tetsu expressionlessly raised his Kunai and drove it straight into the man's heart.

"Pfft."

Blood spattered into the rain.

Then, suppressing the turmoil churning inside him, he searched the body with practiced ease, pocketing the man's Ninja Tool Pouch and intelligence scrolls. He moved like a seasoned bounty hunter.

Namikaze Minato came over too. Watching Nishikawa Tetsu work, he looked conflicted, but mostly impressed. "How did you figure everything out in that situation?"

"Observation." Nishikawa Tetsu stood and handed Namikaze Minato a bloodstained scroll. "If we hadn't used the terrain and their defensive mindset against them, we'd have been buried just now."

Uchiha Fugaku walked over.

He looked at the four bodies on the ground, then at Nishikawa Tetsu, who was wiping his Kunai. He remained silent for a long while.

His earlier contempt and disdain had vanished completely.

Nishikawa Tetsu still had little Chakra, and his Taijutsu was still mediocre. But the tactical planning he'd demonstrated in that brief moment—and the chilling "knowledge" behind it—made Uchiha Fugaku realize that the boy wasn't a burden.

In fact, he was far more dangerous than most Chunin who only knew how to trade blows with their opponents.

People who played the tactical game had dirty minds!

"Hey."

Uchiha Fugaku spoke. His tone was still somewhat awkward, but his usual arrogance had faded considerably. "Was that a Ninjutsu too?"

Nishikawa Tetsu looked up and met the black eyes that had already deactivated their Sharingan. The corner of his mouth curled slightly.

"No, senior. That was science."

Uchiha Fugaku's mouth twitched as if he wanted to argue, but after looking at the carnage before him, he merely snorted and turned away.

"Don't get carried away. You did well this time."

He paused, then lowered his voice, making the words difficult to hear.

"That was decent command work just now."

For a proud Uchiha, that was high praise indeed.

Nishikawa Tetsu smiled without exposing the feigned indifference of his tsundere senior.

"We've finished clearing the battlefield. We need to leave quickly. An explosion that big will draw more enemies soon."

"Mm."

Namikaze Minato nodded. There was a new trust in the way he looked at Nishikawa Tetsu. Although they'd both graduated from the Ninja Academy, the two of them hadn't really interacted before.

But even though this had been their first time working together, the makeshift Team Five had already forged something called a bond amid their trials of life and death.

The rain was still falling, but the three of them walked on with much lighter steps than before.

Still, Uchiha Fugaku kept sneaking glances at Nishikawa Tetsu's Ninja Tool Pouch, silently wondering: Just what the hell else is this guy carrying in there?