Then everyone began using ninjutsu. They could not match the spectacle of Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha, but they worked much faster than before. As for the areas farther from the shore, Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha took care of those.
If they could not clear everything in one go, they did it twice, continuing until all the debris was gone.
As for Naruto, he took Hinata back to the Altar. Now that she had come out, he could teach her the techniques.
Naruto gave Hinata two cultivation techniques and one martial technique.
Myriad Spirit Longevity Art, Zha Yin Art, and Heart-Destroying Palm.
Children from great clans started cultivating chakra at the age of three, and Hinata was no exception. Naruto gave her the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art so she could replenish the life force she had lost.
The spiritual energy cultivated through the Zha Yin Art had a yin and gentle nature. Naruto had searched for a long time before finding this technique.
The Heart-Destroying Palm used spiritual energy vibrations to strengthen the destructive force of its hidden power. When that power entered an enemy's body, it wreaked havoc on their organs.
Hinata had practiced the Gentle Fist since she was little, so she already knew how to use hidden power. That was why Naruto had given her the Heart-Destroying Palm.
Naruto took Hinata to an inn in Muyuan Town and rented a room. After leaving a Flying Thunder God Mark in the bathroom, he waited for Hinata to gather a change of clothes, then used Flying Thunder God to take her to the place where Jiraiya had used the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art some time ago.
It was the place with the richest concentration of Wood Spirit Qi Naruto had encountered so far. Using the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art there would yield twice the results for half the effort.
Naruto had already told Hinata what would happen the first time she used the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art, so she took off her Hokage Cloak and handed it to him.
Naruto nodded to show he understood. Hinata sat cross-legged and began circulating the Myriad Spirit Longevity Art. Since she was still young and had only cultivated chakra for three years, she had not lost much life force.
The gathered Wood Spirit Qi was nowhere near as overwhelming as it had been for Jiraiya, either. It did not take as long, and Hinata finished absorbing it after about two hours.
Hinata had also completed the cleansing of her meridians and marrow. As soon as she opened her eyes, Naruto hurried over and took her back to the room they had rented.
After leaving the bathroom, Naruto lay down in the room and waited for Hinata. After a long while, she finally came out.
Hearing the door open, Naruto looked up. Hinata's skin looked even fairer than before, and he could not resist reaching over to pinch her cheek.
Hinata's face flushed, but she just looked at Naruto without stopping him.
Hinata had always carried a lovely fragrance, a little like lavender. Naruto noticed that it had grown stronger, then took a deep sniff.
Hearing him sniff, Hinata blushed even more and murmured, "Naruto-kun..."
Naruto scratched his head. "Ahem, Hinata, you smell so good that I couldn't help myself. Hehe."
"Um, do I? I can't smell anything," Hinata replied softly.
Naruto nodded. "Let's not talk about that. We should head back."
Hinata nodded, and Naruto took her back to the Land of Whirlpools.
He had Hinata cultivate by the Altar. Once she had settled into her training, Naruto left a Shadow Clone to watch over her and went outside.
When he reached the ruins-clearing site, Jiraiya gave him a knowing smile and said, "You little rascal."
He had sensed the fluctuations in the spiritual energy when Hinata started absorbing it, so of course he knew what had happened.
Naruto said nothing, only grinning sheepishly before joining the cleanup.
Two days later, everything that needed clearing had been removed. Once they filled in all the holes in the ground, the entire island was completely flat.
Since they had used ninjutsu to clear the place, hardly any vegetation remained on the island.
Back at the underground Altar, everyone sat down cross-legged. Jiraiya glanced at Naruto, who nodded and said, "Let's continue assigning the next tasks."
Everyone nodded, showing they were ready.
"Shisui, go to the Land of Waves and find a man named Gato. Once you've found out where all his wealth is kept, send word to me. I'll head over right away," Naruto said to Shisui Uchiha.
After hearing his assignment, Shisui Uchiha nodded and said, "Yes."
Naruto then turned to Sakon and Tayuya. "Take some gold coins and go with Shisui to the Land of Waves. Once you get there, split up. Find some workers who are good at construction, give them part of their payment in advance, then bring them back. The more people, the better."
Naruto looked at the others. "Kidomaru, Ichirobo, the two of you are in charge of digging another passage downward beside the Altar. It doesn't need to be very deep for now; about five meters will do. Once it's dug, make some holes along the passage to build prison cells."
One of them could grow four more arms, while the other was known as Hercules. It would be a waste not to put their abilities to work digging a passage.
Naruto turned to Hinata. "Hinata, you're in charge of preparing food for everyone each day."
Then Naruto looked at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru, you're in charge of building a fairly large structure above the entrance. You can decide how big."
"Pervy Sage, give Shisui a Communication Toad," Naruto said, turning to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya nodded and summoned two Communication Toads, handing one to Shisui Uchiha and setting the other aside.
Seeing this, Naruto stood up and said, "That's everything. Now everyone can get started."
Everyone left, leaving only Naruto, Hinata, and Jiraiya behind.
Jiraiya said to Naruto, "Let's go to Muyuan Town first. There's a lot we need to prepare."
Naruto nodded, then took Hinata and Jiraiya to Muyuan Town.
They wandered around the town, which stocked goods from all over the world. They could buy most of the ordinary supplies they needed there.
They started at the largest grain shop in Muyuan Town and bought a huge amount of long-lasting food, along with oil and various seasonings. When Naruto saw the handcart the shop used to transport goods, he bought that too.
He had the goods loaded onto the cart. Once it was ready, Naruto created several Shadow Clones to push it to an empty alley, then used Flying Thunder God to take the cart back to the Altar.
He created a few more Shadow Clones and had them sort and put away the supplies from the cart, then returned to town.
After getting back, they continued buying supplies. By evening, they had bought everything they needed.
They returned to the Altar. Naruto used Flying Thunder God to bring the purchases there, and his clones sorted and put everything away.
So by the time they got back, all the supplies had already been arranged by category.
After calling over the others who remained and having dinner together, they resumed their various tasks.
Hinata went to the food storage area to prepare the ingredients needed for breakfast the next morning.
Naruto and Jiraiya went to the other side, where some iron ingots and a set of forging equipment had been laid out.
Naruto created a Shadow Clone, and together they moved the ingots and equipment to the room where the Death God Mask had been kept.
The things in there had already been moved elsewhere by Orochimaru. The room was now completely empty.
Naruto brought over some Chakra Conductive Metal as well. Once he had finished, he nodded to Jiraiya, then stepped back to watch from the entrance.
Jiraiya wasted no time and began forging. He gathered spiritual energy in his hands, then drew on the flame within the vortex.
Fire coalesced between his hands, and as he fed it spiritual energy, the flames grew larger and hotter.
Jiraiya used spiritual energy to lift the Chakra Conductive Metal. The pile of metal quickly melted into liquid.
As for the impurities, Jiraiya controlled the fierce flames and burned them away, turning them into black smoke.
Once he sensed that the liquid was free of impurities, Jiraiya controlled the flames and slowly lowered the temperature.
Then he directed the spiritual energy in his body toward the liquid, steadily increasing its intensity as he shaped the metal while it gradually solidified.
At last, two hammers took shape in front of Jiraiya. The larger one was a meter and a half long, with spikes all around its massive head. The whole thing looked incredibly vicious.
The smaller hammer looked like an ordinary forging hammer, with nothing unusual about it.
Once the hammers had cooled completely, Jiraiya withdrew his spiritual energy, and both fell to the ground.
The larger hammer slammed into the floor, leaving a crater and making a loud thud.
Jiraiya walked over with a hearty laugh and lifted the hammer from the crater. He poured spiritual energy into it, then looked at Naruto. "Want to give it a try?"
Hearing Jiraiya ask him that, Naruto swallowed and stared at him speechlessly.
Jiraiya just laughed and said nothing more. Carrying both hammers, he went over to the forging equipment. Since they had just been forged, they were black all over, so Jiraiya still needed to polish them.
As he polished them, the spikes on the hammerhead became smoother, and the whole hammer turned a bright silver.
Only then did Naruto step forward and look at the massive hammer, which gleamed coldly. "Pervy Sage, it's my turn now, right?"
Jiraiya nodded. "Don't worry, I'll forge yours right away."
At this stage, they lacked special metals and had little experience with artifact refining. Compared to the weapons described in the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining, what Jiraiya had forged so far could only be considered ordinary weapons.
But in the Shinobi World today, they were already rare treasures.
After finishing the final step, Jiraiya began forging again. When Naruto had given him the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining, he had told him that he wanted a halberd.
After studying the weapon designs in the Encyclopedia of Artifact Refining, Jiraiya had chosen one for him.
However, the great halberd described there required too many special materials, and Naruto would not have been able to wield it if Jiraiya had forged it to those specifications.
So he planned to use only Chakra Conductive Metal and forge it in the shape of that halberd. As for its size, he would make it to suit Naruto's current stature.
Before you continue