Enma King

Konoha, Fourth Training Ground.

The spot had once been the edge of a relatively open woodland, but now it was a complete mess.

Trees as thick as bowls lay scattered in every direction, their broken trunks exposing fresh splinters. The solid ground was riddled with pits and crisscrossing trenches, as if a giant beast had trampled it over and over.

Boom! Bam! Thud!

The dull sounds, like pounding drums or cracking rocks, rang out without pause. Each was accompanied by a faint tremor in the earth and a spray of dirt and stones.

Two figures moved at speeds too great for the naked eye to follow, darting across the limited clearing. They clashed, broke apart, then crashed together again with even greater force.

One figure was nimble and swift, yet after every head-on collision, the greater force drove him back.

The other was as imposing as a mountain. Each movement carried a crushing weight, as if it were not made of flesh and blood but cast from solid steel.

Another straightforward clash of fists!

Bam!

A blast of air burst outward. The smaller figure—Higashino Shinichi—shot away at astonishing speed, hurtling backward into a tree so large that two people could barely encircle its trunk. The tree groaned under the strain, then snapped.

Amid the flying splinters, Shinichi grunted. He used the falling tree to break his fall and staggered to the ground, carving two trails several meters long before he finally managed to steady himself. His chest churned with pent-up blood and energy, and his arms throbbed with numbness.

His training clothes were soaked through with sweat and dust, clinging tightly to his bulging muscles. They were torn in several places, and his exposed skin was flushed and bruised.

But his eyes shone with astonishing brightness. He fixed them on the massive shape emerging from the dust ahead. His breathing was labored, yet his focus bordered on exhilaration.

As the dust began to clear, an extraordinarily tall figure came into view.

It stood about two and a half meters tall and wore Konoha's Forehead Protector squarely on its brow, but it was no human.

Its entire body was covered in thick, coarse, silver-white fur that gleamed with a cold, metallic sheen beneath the sunlight filtering through the trees.

Its muscles bulged, their rugged lines full of explosive power, as if it had been carved from the hardest granite. They held a raw strength that made the heart tremble.

Its round eyes were pure gold, wild and keen. When its mouth parted slightly, glints of light flashed off its fangs.

Simply standing there, it exuded the oppressive presence of an ancient ferocious beast.

It was the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's summoning beast, the Enma King, renowned throughout the Shinobi World for his "Boundless Strength and Indestructible Adamant Body."

When Higashino Shinichi had told the Third Hokage that he wanted to learn from a senior with an exceptionally powerful physique and an incomparably resilient body, this old companion had immediately come to mind.

The Enma Clan was born with overwhelming physical strength. Their muscles and bones were far stronger than humans could imagine, and without any deliberate Chakra enhancement, a casual gesture was enough to shatter stone monuments.

Their muscle density and bone strength were astonishing, giving them a natural resistance to blunt force and allowing them to absorb blows with ease. Ordinary swords could barely scratch them, making them walking fortresses of steel.

And so the Enma King became Shinichi's instructor for this period of intensive training.

At their first meeting, the Enma King had been blunt: he had no complicated, profound training methods to teach. The Enma Clan's way of tempering the body was simple and brutal.

They fought constantly, using their bodies to feel impacts, endure injuries, and adapt to pain. They pushed themselves in battles at the very limits of their strength, forcing their potential to emerge and tempering every inch of muscle and every bone.

After the fights, they used their clan's secret medicinal baths and salves to help their bodies recover, heal hidden injuries, and consolidate their gains. Through this cycle of destruction and rebuilding, their bodies grew stronger and stronger.

Put simply: take a beating, then take medicine.

For a brief moment, silence fell over the center of the training ground. Shinichi worked to steady his breathing, feeling the numbness in his arm muscles and the searing heat, like red-hot irons pressed against them.

The Enma King adhered to his clan's simplest creed: only when pushed to the brink—or even beyond it—could flesh and blood undergo transformation.

His instruction was therefore almost merciless: as long as the trainee wouldn't die, train him to the point of death.

They had been sparring like this for quite some time. At the end of each day's training, Shinichi was covered in bruises of every size, with hardly a patch of uninjured skin. His bones felt as if they were about to fall apart.

Fortunately, the secret medicine the Enma King provided afterward was truly miraculous. Shinichi's constitution was also far beyond that of an ordinary person, and the Big Eater Trait gave him the special ability to absorb nutrients and convert them into energy with exceptional efficiency. That was how he had managed to endure such grueling training.

"Kid! Watch out!"

The Enma King's voice boomed like a bell, rough with a metallic rasp. As soon as he spoke, his massive body dipped slightly, and the muscles in his powerful legs suddenly tensed.

Rumble!

The ground beneath his feet caved into a deep crater. The Enma King launched himself into the air, his huge body displaying astonishing speed and explosive force that belied its size!

Like a falling meteor, he combined his terrifying weight with the momentum of his descent, turning it into a raw, brutal attack and bringing it down on Shinichi, who had only just regained his footing.

A shadow engulfed him, and a fierce wind bore down. The air itself shrieked as it was pushed aside!

He couldn't block it head-on!

The instant the Enma King leapt, Shinichi reacted. He didn't dodge backward or to the side as one normally would—the attack covered too wide an area.

Instead, he surged forward, charging beneath the Enma King and into the blind spot below his body. At the same time, he lowered himself as far as he could, almost scraping the ground, like a streak of black lightning skimming across it.

Whoosh!

At the last possible moment, Shinichi narrowly slipped past the edge of the spot where the Enma King was about to land. The ferocious pressure of the wind nearly dragged him off his feet, and it stung his exposed skin.

Boom!!!

The Enma King slammed into the ground. Like a meteor impact, a violent shock wave spread outward in a ring from the point of impact. The hard earth rippled like water, heaved upward, then exploded!

Countless rocks and clods of earth flew into the air, leaving behind a terrifying crater over ten meters in diameter.

Shinichi didn't pause for even a moment. The instant he dodged the fatal blow, he was already thinking of a counterattack. Using the flying dirt and stones for cover, he spun sharply and twisted his waist, channeling all his strength and Chakra into his right leg. His devastating side kick swept toward the Enma King's ankle—the joint that was relatively difficult to brace with, just after landing—like a battle-ax!

Thud!

His shin struck the Enma King's ankle, but the sound was like a kick landing against a solid steel pillar.

The Enma King's body only swayed slightly. He didn't even move half a step.

"Decent force, but still not enough!" the Enma King rumbled. He casually swung his huge arm, sweeping it toward Shinichi like a giant tree trunk, with the force to crush everything in its path.

Shinichi hurriedly pulled back his leg and crossed his arms in front of himself.

Thud!

His arms collided with the Enma King's forearm. Shinichi felt as if he had been hit head-on by a giant tank charging at full speed. His arms went numb at once, and his whole body slid backward beyond his control, his feet carving deep furrows in the ground. He slid more than ten meters before he finally managed to absorb most of the impact.