Blown Apart

ANBU, the assassination and special tactics force, had been personally founded by the iron-fisted Second Hokage, laying the true foundation for the Hokage's authority.

Without ANBU, a Hokage was merely a lone Kage-level powerhouse.

At the very top were the ANBU captains, each at least Kage-level.

Below them were multiple four- or five-man squads. Squad Leaders relayed orders and led missions, with strength ranging from elite jonin to Kage-level.

Every official member was at least a special jonin, with the vast majority being jonin.

Below them were reserves like Ryōken.

To become official members, reserves had to pass through three stages.

Only after passing all of them could they become official members.

The first stage was relatively simple: basic physical fitness tests, mastery of mid- and high-level ninjutsu, and mastery of advanced ninja techniques.

The second stage was a selection process among the reserves. Those who ranked near the top could enter the third stage.

The third stage was a high-difficulty mission, which could be undertaken alone or as a team.

After explaining ANBU's structure to Ryōken, the ANBU ninja handed him a mask and a set of ANBU clothes before preparing to leave.

He had no intention of wasting even a moment chatting.

Ryōken curled his lip, took the outfit tailored specifically to his build, and put on the mask.

Viewing the underground world from behind the mask, he immediately felt a sense of belonging. The previous feeling of being out of place vanished.

Ryōken wandered around ANBU for a while before arriving at the place responsible for official-member examinations.

It was a fairly large plaza, with equipment scattered here and there.

Tightly sealed rooms were evenly distributed around it, their doors covered in Sealing Jutsu Formulas.

At that moment, more than ten reserves like Ryōken were testing their physical strength.

The test used barriers, with results determined by the damage dealt to them.

A reserve walked up to a pitch-black barrier and threw a powerful punch at it.

The barrier's surface immediately bulged backward, visibly deforming.

"Special jonin."

The ANBU ninja responsible for recording nodded. With a glance, he roughly noted down the result, then called to the person behind him.

"Next!"

Another reserve stepped forward and repeated the same motion.

This barrier was what ANBU used to test strength.

"Using barriers to test strength may not be perfectly accurate, but it can still determine one's level. The senior who came up with this method was truly brilliant."

One of the waiting reserves praised it.

Another reserve beside him laughed. "Yeah, but I heard this thing has limits. It's only a barrier, after all. If a Squad Leader came to test, it wouldn't be able to measure them."

"It's already pretty good that it can accurately measure jonin-level strength."

The reserves stepped forward one after another to test themselves. Once finished, they stood aside and waited, most of them casting a few curious glances at Ryōken.

Though he wore a mask, it was easy to tell from his build that Ryōken was still a teenager.

Seeing this, they could not help shaking their heads, their eyes carrying a fair amount of contempt.

They admitted that becoming a reserve at such a young age perhaps meant he had exceptional talent, but trying to become an official member so soon was simply wishful thinking.

Still, they were not acquainted with him, so they said nothing. They assumed Ryōken was merely young and reckless, unaware of how difficult the official-member examination was.

Once he experienced it for himself, he would naturally retreat in the face of difficulty.

With that thought, they stopped paying attention to Ryōken and instead looked at the person in front of him.

They began discussing him excitedly.

"I wonder how strong Hyuga Setsuna is. He's an elite of the Hyuga Clan."

"At the very least, he should be jonin-level. After all, Hyuga clan members are all proficient in taijutsu."

Hearing their discussion, Ryōken could not help looking at the man a few more times. Through the mask, he could indeed see that it was the Byakugan, and his interest was piqued.

Soon, it was Hyuga Setsuna's turn. He threw a punch, and the barrier immediately bulged backward by a large amount, though he clearly still had strength to spare.

Thus, the barrier eventually returned to normal and did not exceed its limit.

"Jonin."

Hyuga Setsuna clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied, and walked unwillingly to the side.

"That's impressive."

"The Hyuga Clan focuses on the Gentle Fist, so they aren't especially skilled at this, right?"

"Yeah."

The ANBU ninja looked at the measurement result, then gave Hyuga Setsuna a couple of surprised glances.

"As expected of an elite of the Hyuga Clan. His raw strength alone has reached this level. If his Gentle Fist were a little more refined, he'd have jonin-level strength, wouldn't he?"

After muttering that, he called to Ryōken behind him.

"Next. Hurry up."

Seeing that it was Ryōken's turn, the reserves who had already finished testing showed some interest. They all wanted to know just how strong Ryōken was.

Though they did not hold much hope.

Hyuga Setsuna also turned his gaze toward him. A reserve so young was already enough to earn his attention.

"What do you think?"

"Looking at how skinny he is, at most he's an elite Chunin, right?"

Ryōken walked up to the barrier and studied it with interest. He found it rather fascinating. Was this the Naruto World's version of black technology?

Ryōken's overall strength was currently around that of an elite jonin.

But this barrier test seemed more like a test of arm strength. Ever since he began practicing the sword, splitting mountain rocks and cleaving waterfalls had greatly strengthened his arms.

He did not know the exact extent of it. He only knew that it was very strong.

"How much force can this barrier withstand at most?"

Standing before the barrier, Ryōken turned and asked the ANBU ninja.

He was quite interested in this sort of black technology. When he had read the original work before, he had only felt that the Naruto World's ninjutsu-based black technology was already incredible: radar-like sensory ninjas, ninjutsu that could construct buildings in an instant, Orochimaru's super laboratory, and so on.

There had even been a chakra cannon in the movies.

He had not expected there to be barrier-related black technology as well, even if it was only used to test strength.

What a strange and wondrous world.

"Just test it."

Since Ryōken was the last one and looked very young, the ANBU ninja assumed he was merely going through the motions, so his tone carried a hint of impatience.

Of course, he knew the limit of this barrier test. Hyuga Setsuna's result had already surprised him; it was nearly the strength of a mid-level jonin.

The barrier's limit was roughly Kage-level.

He had never considered the possibility that Ryōken might exceed that limit. It would already be impressive if he could deform it.

"Fine."

Ryōken nodded calmly. Too lazy to ask anything further, he stepped up before the barrier with a lazy posture.

He clenched his fist.

And punched!

Without a sound.

The pitch-black barrier suddenly shook violently. Under everyone's stunned gazes, the entire barrier was directly punched apart and dispersed.