Prologue

"72 locations."

"Not bad, only 9 parts are missing. I'll demonstrate the optimized version for you now, but only once. How much you understand depends on you."

"Yes, thank you, Brother Shiro."

"Heh, why say all this? Just watch closely."

Next, Shiro demonstrated the optimized Secret Sword to Hikari. After the demonstration, Shiro disarmed the Monohoshizao in his hand, without disturbing Hikari who was deep in thought, and returned to his room.

Nakamura and the others originally wanted to stay in the courtyard to take a look, but after seeing that Shiro was using a secret technique, the two of them consciously returned to the house.

Seeing that Shiro had returned alone, Nakamura asked curiously, "Where's Hikari? Why didn't she come back? And what's wrong? You look so listless."

"It's alright, she just needs a rest. Hikari has grasped something and is in the courtyard; don't let anyone disturb her for now. I'm going to rest now," Shiro said, shaking his head and forcing himself to stay awake.

"Are you really alright? You don't look well." Nakamura frowned as he saw Shiro's appearance.

"I'm really fine, I just need to rest for a bit." With that, Shiro walked towards his room.

Seeing that Shiro insisted, Nakamura had no choice but to believe him, since they couldn't find a medical ninja they could trust.

Back in his room, Shiro immediately sat cross-legged on the floor to meditate, relieving the mental stress caused by borrowing Kojiro's thought patterns.

In fact, Shiro had known about this usage for a long time, but he had never dared to use it, fearing something like what happened now.

You should know that Shiro has undergone more than a year of meditation and rigorous training, and even so, Shiro still feels very uncomfortable.

If it were a year ago, Shiro would definitely have collapsed.

Of course, there are ways to avoid it. One way is to abandon this usage. This way of thinking was only a small part at the beginning and can be completely discarded at the start.

The other option is to go with the flow, but that's not the outcome Shiro wants. He just wants to be himself and walk the path he chooses, even if it's a forced choice.

Therefore, Shiro chose to fight head-on, but Shiro overestimated himself and underestimated the Heroic Spirit.

That thought pattern grew too fast; Shiro simply couldn't control it, and his original idea of using it for cultivation was extinguished.

And so, Shiro meditated all night, well, until the middle of the night, and then he fell asleep right away.

The next morning, everyone saw a sight that made Mizuki's eyes light up!

Taichi helped Shiro out of Shiro's room.

"Clang!"

The bowl in Mizuki's hand fell to the ground. She was slightly taken aback, then excitedly pulled Hikari over.

"Hikari, look at you! You came out together, but you're still so weak!"

Shiro stared speechlessly at Mizuki, whose face was beaming with excitement, and Hikari, whose face was flushed.

He said helplessly, "Don't overthink it. My leg just went numb, and I was just asking Taichi up."

"Hehe, I'll get to know."

Seeing her like this, how could Shiro believe it? But there was nothing he could do. He kissed her, saying, "Fine, whatever makes you happy."

"Haha, how are you, Shiro? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine now, it's just that I forgot to lie down to sleep yesterday, and my legs are numb."

Yes, you read that right, his legs were numb. After all, he sat cross-legged all night yesterday, it would be strange if his legs weren't numb.

Meditation only trains the mind, not the legendary internal energy cultivation, and it doesn't have that blood-circulating effect. Of course, meditation doesn't actually require sitting cross-legged, but Shiro thinks it looks more sophisticated. That's why his legs went numb.

"I'm sorry, Brother Shiro, I troubled you last night." Hikari, who was standing to the side, stopped smiling, stood up, bowed to Shiro, and said.

Clearly, she had learned about Shiro's situation from Nakamura and the others after she returned yesterday.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. I was just taking this opportunity to test out a secret technique."

"Secret technique? Didn't you learn it through talent yesterday?"

"Ha, how could that be, Heiichi? I only learned this Secret Sword technique from Master Sakumo before. Yesterday, I was just using the secret technique to speed up my thinking. I'm not that powerful."

"That's true, but your talent is quite remarkable. As far as I know, there aren't many people who have mastered this Secret Sword technique."

"I've learned it, but it's not part of my combat system plan, so I don't plan to study it in depth. And it's meaningless for beginners, so it's a bit of a waste." As he finished speaking, Shiro shrugged, looking helpless.

"Alright, stop talking and come eat breakfast. We have a mission to carry out later. Shiro, is your leg alright?"

"Don't worry, Captain, it'll be over in a bit. It won't affect the battle."

"Okay, that's good."

In fact, since waking up, Shiro had been using Chakra to revitalize his legs, as he would be fighting later. However, since Shiro did not know Medical Ninjutsu, his efficiency was somewhat low.

In the end, it was still a bit short, so he called Taichi to help him up, since Shiro didn't know if Nakamura and the others' plans for the day had changed.

However, given the current progress, we will definitely be able to get to the battlefield in time, and the plan remains unchanged from yesterday.

And so, Shiro and the others fought against those puppets for another day. To their delight, Mizuki and the others had made significant progress compared to yesterday.

This will not have been in vain for the lessons Nakamura taught us yesterday.

Surprisingly, even on the third day, Shiro and his group's mission was still to fight puppets. Although this could train Mizuki and the other ninjas who had little combat experience, it was a good thing.

However, they didn't bring many supplies with them this time, and they've almost used them all up in the last two days.

At the same time, they didn't forget that there was a big guy waiting behind them. If they kept dragging this out, they'd run out of kunai, and then what would be the point of fighting?

Therefore, on the night of the third day, the leaders of each ninja village went together to the Shrine Maiden's palace to inquire about the preparations for the sealing, because if they delayed any longer, they would have to leave.

After all, they brought along the village's genius ninja this time. If the mission failed, they would only face some punishment, which their status could handle.

But it's a bit troublesome that a genius has perished here.

Clearly, the Shrine Maiden understood this as well. After all, the reward she offered wasn't much, and the fact that she was able to secure the aid of the Five Great Nations was largely due to her noble cause of saving the world.

As for how much they believed, you can tell from the ninjas they sent.

Therefore, the Shrine Maiden quickly gave them a reply: if they just held on for one more day, the sealing ritual would be ready!

Having gotten the answer they wanted, Nakamura returned. For them, as long as the delay wasn't indefinite, it was fine. They could always break out at any time, and the Moryo weren't targeting them anyway.

As for destroying the world? They just laughed it off. In their eyes, it was nothing but ignorance. How powerful could something they'd never even heard of be?

Just wanted to say hi, the author of "Konoha's Holy Grail System" has left the palace (a popular online novel), so if you're looking for something to read, you can check it out. Oops, wrong author, it's Hokage, not Konoha...