Shadowkhan

Although he now had the Shadowkhan as his lackeys, along with two heavy hitters in Chixing and Uncle, plus the Rooster Talisman, the fundamental fact that Qian Yu possessed no Chakra had not improved in the slightest...

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

Seeing this, Qian Yu just wanted to slap himself. Damn it, was I still unable to resist the temptation of the gacha? Capitalism, you win!

The hearts Jack had previously hoarded should be enough to sustain him until he could refine his own Chakra... So, it was time for Chixing and Uncle to make their entrance.

To ensure the "script" had a certain degree of flexibility and to prevent any inability to embellish it later, he still needed to perform a little bit of stitching.

At dusk, the sky gradually darkened.

In Konoha Forest, a wild wind whistled, blowing through the gaps in the trees and making a rustling sound. In a clearing with few shrubs, a battle was unfolding.

"Who on earth are you people?!"

Surrounded was the "future Fourth Hokage," the "fastest man in the Ninja World," the little blondie—Minato Namikaze!

After using a kunai to block a barrage of incoming shuriken, his gaze remained locked on the black-clad ninjas that had already filled the entire forest.

They were pitch black, wrapped in night-crawling ninja gear, their exposed skin a strange, sickly blue, and their eyes radiated a scarlet, murderous light. Without any intention of responding to Minato, they all rushed forward at once.

--Swish, swish, swish!

When it came to speed, Minato had never feared anyone. Although the black-clad ninjas were as elusive as ghosts and difficult to track with the naked eye, Minato's Flying Thunder God was faster. With a flash of yellow light, a few rounds were already over. Minato rotated his sharp kunai, and several Shadow Ninja fell to the ground.

But no blood sprayed from their necks; the fallen Shadow Ninja all turned into billowing black smoke and dissipated, as if they had never existed at all.

"This is?"

Naturally, this left Minato puzzled, and he was immediately at a loss. "Could it be... some kind of secret technique?"

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

"So... I have to find the caster...?"

Although Minato's sensory abilities were average, he was an elite Jonin after all, so sensing the surrounding forest was no problem.

However, after taking the opportunity to sense his surroundings, Minato wore a look of surprise. In the vast forest, there was no one else besides himself and this group of Shadow Ninja.

Moreover, there wasn't a shred of Chakra in these Shadow Ninja!

While he was surprised, the Shadowkhan had already launched their second wave of attacks, each drawing a katana from who knows where and charging forward.

Although Minato could stay or leave as he pleased thanks to the Flying Thunder God, as a Jonin of Konoha, he had a duty to investigate the presence of so many ninjas from an unknown faction so close to the village.

At the very least, he had to obtain some intelligence!

With that, Minato pulled all the kunai from his ninja tool pouch and threw them forward simultaneously.

The group of Shadow Ninja, however, didn't care about their lives at all; even having their throats slit couldn't stop their charge.

"Now!"

The sharp blades flashed with cold light, and just as they were about to pierce Minato's body—

"Flying Thunder God!"

With a flash of golden light, Minato appeared behind the Shadowkhan. Then, the Chakra in his palm compressed, and a high-density, constantly rotating ball of Chakra condensed—

"Rasengan!"

The Rasengan slammed into the back of a Shadow Ninja. The powerful pulling force sent it flying instantly, and the airflow surged forward, kicking up dirt and dust while pushing through an entire row of Shadow Ninja and several thick trees.

However, the moment Minato relaxed, countless shuriken once again obscured the sky, heading toward him. The shadows on the surrounding stumps, shrubs, and rock walls also took shape, turning into countless Shadow Ninja to surround Minato once more.

"Endless...?"

Minato didn't have much Chakra and couldn't sustain a long battle. Just as he was contemplating whether to retreat, a strange noise came from the bushes in the forest, and two figures glowing with green light emerged—

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

It was impossible to tell if he was even "human"... The figure was round, with pink skin, short, cylindrical limbs, and a pointed head—a perfect starfish.

No... it should be said that it was a starfish!

And a starfish monster wearing a dark red suit, a rose boutonniere on its chest, and a cape with the word "Justice" written on the back!

"Oh my! The Shadowkhan have returned indeed! Chixing! Buy Uncle some time to prepare a spell!"

"Understood, Uncle."

"Hell Hound!"

In Minato's astonished gaze, the surrounding temperature rose sharply. Immediately after, Chixing's cylindrical fist turned into red, yellow, and black molten lava, stretching out toward the Shadow Ninja.

The scorching magma burned a large number of Shadow Ninja into nothingness, scorching the ground and turning the turf black. Then, Chixing's body suddenly turned into bubbling lava, blocking the sharp shuriken attacks head-on and swallowing them.

"That is?! Lava Release?!"

As a native of the Ninja World, Minato immediately identified Chixing's ability as one of the Kekkei Genkai: Lava Release.

But the next moment, he shook his head and dismissed the thought, because... there wasn't a trace of Chakra in Chixing's body... it was somewhat similar to natural energy... but it wasn't Sage Mode.

It was as if... it were an ability that didn't belong to their ninja system at all...

To avoid being caught in the magma, Minato temporarily withdrew from the battlefield, locking his gaze on the battle between Chixing and the Shadowkhan.

Although Uncle and Chixing did not seem to harbor any hostility toward him, this was, after all, the Land of Fire, within the territory of the Konoha Forest. The sudden appearance of someone with such destructive power still warranted vigilance; for all he knew, this could be a spy from some hidden village wielding a secret technique.

Just as Minato was observing, one of the Shadowkhan ninjas reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone carved with a "rooster pattern."

"What is that?"

Minato, unable to fathom why the black-clad ninja would pull out a stone, intended to keep watching, but the very next moment, he felt the surrounding grass, soil, and gravel slowly begin to float, and his own body involuntarily lifted off the ground.

"What is happening?!"

Seeing the items on his person, including the ninja tools in his pouch, all drifting into the air, Minato's eyes widened in bewilderment. Not far away, Uncle clutched his blowfish and gecko tightly, screaming at the top of his lungs:

"Aiya! The Shadowkhan have already obtained the Rooster Talisman!"

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

As the group struggled to control their floating bodies, Chixing transformed his fists into magma, which then took the shape of flaming dog heads as he charged toward the Shadowkhan—

"Dog-Biting Crimson Lotus!"

The two elongated magma dog heads seemed to possess a life of their own, snapping and biting, turning the air scorching hot. However, just before they could make contact with the Shadowkhan, they were intercepted by an invisible hand and redirected to fly back toward the group.

"Aiya! It's the divine power of the Rooster Talisman!"

The entire Shadowkhan unit dissipated at that moment, but the weightlessness effect and the magma dog heads showed no signs of stopping. They tore up the earth, swallowing and incinerating everything in their path as they spread wildly.

The temperature continued to rise, flushing his face a deep red. Minato hurriedly gripped his floating Flying Thunder God kunai.

Flying Thunder God—