The Shadowkhan

Although he now had a gang of minions in the Shadowkhan, two powerful allies in Chixing and Uncle, and the Rooster Talisman, the fundamental problem of Qian Yu having no chakra remained completely unchanged...

"The Chakra Scroll in the System Store costs 500 Dimensional Points..."

Seeing this, Qian Yu wanted to slap himself. Damn it, he still hadn't been able to resist the temptation of the gacha? Capitalism, you win!

The hearts Jack had saved up before should be enough to keep him fed until he could refine chakra... So next, it was time for Chixing and Uncle to make their appearance.

To give the "script" some room to develop, and prevent himself from being unable to embellish it later, he still needed to do a little stitching.

Dusk fell, and the sky gradually darkened.

In Konoha Forest, howling winds swept through the gaps between the trees, rustling the leaves. A battle was taking place in a clearing with few shrubs.

"Who are you people?!"

Surrounded by enemies was "the future Fourth Hokage," "the fastest man in the Ninja World," the blond-haired boy—Minato Namikaze—wearing a Konoha flak jacket and a Konoha Forehead Protector!

He blocked the many shuriken flying toward him with a Kunai, then fixed his gaze on the black-clad ninjas already spread throughout the forest.

Their bodies were pitch-black, wrapped in dark ninja garb. The exposed skin had an eerie blue-green tint, and their eyes glinted with a vicious crimson light. They didn't respond to Minato at all; they simply charged at him as one.

—Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Minato had never feared anyone when it came to speed. Though the black-clad ninjas were as hard to track as ghosts, his Flying Thunder God was faster. Yellow light flashed, and after only a few exchanges, the sharp Kunai in Minato's hand spun around, bringing several Shadow Ninja down.

But no blood spurted from their necks. The fallen Shadow Ninja all turned into billowing black smoke and vanished, as if they had never existed.

"What?"

This naturally left Minato puzzled. Completely baffled, he wondered, "Could this be... some kind of secret technique?"

Bound by the way a ninja thought, Minato naturally assumed the Shadowkhan before him were puppets summoned by some secret technique, or perhaps a special kind of Clone Technique.

"So... I need to find the one performing the technique...?"

Minato's sensory abilities weren't particularly impressive, but he was still an elite jonin. Sensing the surrounding forest was no problem.

But after taking the opportunity to sense the area, Minato looked astonished. In the vast forest, there was no one besides him and the Shadow Ninja.

And these Shadow Ninja didn't have a trace of chakra in their bodies?

As Minato stood there in surprise, the Shadowkhan launched a second assault. Each one drew a katana from who knew where and charged at him.

Though Minato could use the Flying Thunder God Technique to stay or leave as he pleased, it was his duty as a Konoha jonin to investigate why so many ninjas from an unknown force were stationed so close to the village.

At the very least, he needed to get some information!

With that, Minato pulled out all the Kunai in his ninja pouch and flung them forward.

The Shadow Ninja didn't care about their lives at all. Even being slashed across the throat couldn't stop their charge.

"Now!"

The sharp blades gleamed coldly. Just as they were about to pierce Minato—

"Flying Thunder God!"

A flash of golden light, and Minato appeared behind the Shadowkhan. Then chakra compressed in his palm, forming a high-density sphere of chakra that spun rapidly—

"Rasengan!"

The Rasengan slammed into the back of a Shadow Ninja. Its tremendous force sent him flying, and the rushing air kicked up dirt and dust, sweeping through an entire row of Shadow Ninja and several thick trees.

Yet the instant Minato let his guard down, countless shuriken once again blotted out the sky and flew toward him. Shadows on tree stumps, shrubs, and rock walls took shape, becoming countless Shadow Ninja who surrounded him once more.

"Do they never stop...?"

Minato didn't have much chakra and couldn't keep fighting for long. Just as he considered retreating, the shrubs in the forest rustled, and two figures with green light reflected on their faces emerged.

One was a frail old man wearing a white shirt beneath a yellow vest, dark blue trousers, brown leather shoes, and small round glasses. The other...

It was hard to tell whether he was even "human." He had a plump body, pink skin, short cylindrical limbs, and a pointed head. He looked exactly like a starfish.

No... He was a starfish!

And not just any starfish, but a Starfish Monster wearing a dark red suit, a rose boutonniere on his chest, and a cape bearing the word "Justice"!

"Oh my! The Shadowkhan really have returned! Chixing, hold them off while I prepare a spell!"

"Understood, Uncle."

"Hell Hound!"

As Minato stared in astonishment, the temperature around him rose sharply. Then Chixing's cylindrical fist turned into red, yellow, and black lava and stretched toward the Shadow Ninja.

The scorching magma burned countless Shadow Ninja to nothing. It scorched the ground, charring the grass, and then Chixing's body suddenly turned into bubbling lava. He blocked the sharp shuriken head-on and swallowed them.

"That's?! Lava Release?!"

As a local of the Naruto world, Minato immediately took Chixing's ability for one of the Kekkei Genkai: Lava Release.

But the next moment, he shook his head and rejected the idea, because... there wasn't the slightest trace of chakra inside Chixing. It was somewhat like Natural Energy... but not Senjutsu.

It was as if... this was an ability that didn't belong to the ninja system at all...

To avoid being caught in the magma, Minato temporarily withdrew from the battle and focused his attention on Chixing and the Shadowkhan.

Uncle and Chixing didn't seem to be hostile toward him, but this was still the Land of Fire, within the borders of Konoha Forest. He needed to stay wary of someone with such destructive power suddenly appearing. Couldn't he be a spy from some other ninja village who knew a secret technique?

As Minato watched, one of the Shadow Ninja pulled a stone carved with a "chicken pattern" from his pocket.

"What's that?"

Minato couldn't understand why the black-clad ninja had taken out a stone, so he continued watching. But the next moment, the grass, soil, and pebbles around him slowly began to float, and his own body rose into the air against his will.

"What's happening?!"

Seeing everything on his body—including the tools in his ninja pouch—float into the air, Minato looked utterly bewildered. In the distance, Uncle clutched his pufferfish and gecko tightly and shouted in anguish—

"Oh my! The Shadowkhan have gotten the Rooster Talisman!"

"Don't you dare bully Uncle! Take this!"

As the others floated helplessly into the air, Chixing turned both fists into magma, then transformed them into flaming dog heads and charged at the Shadowkhan—

"Dog-Biting Crimson Lotus!"

The two elongated magma dog heads seemed to be alive as they snapped and gnawed, heating the air around them. But just before they could reach the Shadowkhan, an invisible hand stopped them and sent them flying back toward the group.

"Oh my! It's the Rooster Talisman's power!"

The entire Shadowkhan vanished, but the weightlessness and magma dog heads showed no sign of stopping. They swept along the ground, swallowing and scorching everything around them as they spread wildly.

The temperature kept rising, turning Minato's face red. He hurriedly grabbed one of the floating Flying Thunder God Kunai.

Flying Thunder God—