The Vastaya's Blood Is Burning

"To become strong, we must first understand what true strength really is."

Looking at Samui, whose jaw was practically about to dislocate, Sora spoke unhurriedly.

"Is it an endless variety of ever-changing ninjutsu and elemental techniques? Or physical prowess capable of splitting mountains and rivers, like that of a savage beast?"

"Or perhaps extraordinary intelligence, absolute calm, and perfect mental fortitude?"

"None of those."

He took out a cigar from his ninja tool pouch. Watching Samui continuously rub her jaw and cheek, Sora exhaled a post-coital puff of smoke.

"There is only one standard for true strength."

"That is chakra!"

"A ninja's battle is, at its root, a battle of chakra. As long as your chakra is strong enough, nothing is a problem."

"No matter who your enemy is, no matter what methods they use, you can crush them with sheer force—just steamroll them with your invincible chakra."

"B-but..."

Samui looked troubled.

Of course, she understood that.

The former God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, had been exactly like that.

Legend had it that once the God of Shinobi clasped his hands together, the entire world would be covered by forests as dense as mountains and seas.

What, you were asking about the enemy?

They had long since become nourishment for the giant trees!

It was said that the Land of Fire's sprawling, lush forests owed much of their density to the God of Shinobi.

The tailed beasts, feared as calamities of the ninja world, were the same.

If they saw something unpleasant, they simply fired a Tailed Beast Bomb and wiped it clean, leaving not a speck behind.

But chakra was, to a certain extent, something determined almost entirely by birth. If you were born with it, you had it. If you were not, then you basically never would for the rest of your life.

Clans such as the Senju Clan, the Uzumaki Clan, and the Six Paths descendant ninja clans that Ye belonged to all possessed enormous reserves of chakra. From birth, the chakra within their bodies was several or even more than ten times that of ordinary people!

But Samui came from an ordinary family. Where could she possibly obtain chakra on that level?

"Chakra is produced by the balanced mixture of spiritual energy and physical energy, but that does not mean the amount of chakra we are born with is all the chakra we will ever have."

"External aid, the practice of forbidden techniques, and so on can all help us strengthen our chakra."

"Of course, the most famous and widely known of those methods is becoming a jinchuriki."

"A jinchuriki?"

"That's right." Sora idly played with a stone in his hand as he said calmly, "There are many ways to increase your chakra, such as Sage Mode, which absorbs natural energy, or special seals that store chakra. But finding you a tailed beast is the simplest and most convenient option."

Listening to Sora speak with such confidence, Samui immediately thought of her teacher and Yugito Nii, with whom she had a fairly close relationship.

Both of them were jinchuriki. Before becoming jinchuriki, they had been ordinary children like her, possessing neither exaggerated bloodline limits nor special bloodline enhancements.

But after becoming jinchuriki, their strength had unquestionably placed them among the very best in the entire village—even the entire ninja world!

But the problem was, tailed beasts were not so easy to control.

Her teacher, Killer B, and Yugito Nii had suffered untold hardships to master the power of their tailed beasts. Only in the end, after completing their self-transcendence at the Waterfall of Truth, had they gained their tailed beasts' recognition.

The hardships involved were enough to make listeners weep and onlookers mourn.

Besides, there were not that many tailed beasts in the world.

Back when the God of Shinobi had distributed the tailed beasts, the Eight-Tails and the Two-Tails had gone to Hidden Cloud, while the other tailed beasts had each found their own homes.

And the ones who possessed them were all major ninja villages and powerful factions.

Those factions all treated tailed beasts like treasures, clutching them tightly in their hands. How could it possibly be her turn, a mere Hidden Cloud chunin?

Perhaps because she knew she only had a few days left to live, allowing her thoughts to run wild about the future, Samui voiced every thought in her heart. To her surprise, it made Sora burst into laughter.

"What do you mean, tailed beasts are hard to control? One punch from me and they'll behave."

"Then I'll stuff it into the Amber Purifying Pot and get you some chakra every ten days or half a month. Easy, isn't it?"

"Th-this..."

Samui was a little dumbfounded, but she quickly thought of something, and her expression changed slightly.

This big shot wasn't planning to kill Teacher Killer B, was he?!

Thinking of this big shot's earlier attitude toward the Eight-Tails, Samui truly felt that was possible.

Forget it. It didn't matter anymore.

She was about to die anyway.

Thinking of the hundreds or thousands of Hidden Stone ninja outside, Samui sprawled flat on the ground with her limbs spread wide, staring blankly at the sky.

The sun, bright and clear only moments ago, seemed to sense the girl's gloomy, restless mood. It silently hid behind the mist, while the sound of water vapor boiling rose beside her ears.

Hm?

Something wasn't right.

He was only warming some wine—could it really boil hard enough to steam?

"Bzzz!!"

A piercing whistle tore through the air as Samui stood there in confusion. Before she could react, agonizing pain shot through her arm.

Sora grabbed her from where she had been lying on the ground and staring up at the sky, then flung her back into the house, tossing her beside Kitsuchi, who was bound by seals.

"Boom!!"

Before Samui could figure out what had happened, the place where she had been standing suddenly exploded, leaving behind a massive crater!

"Th-This! Has he arrived?!"

No matter how slow Samui's reaction was, she understood what was happening now.

Amid the thick smoke, a tall red figure slowly rose to his feet.

His entire body was wrapped in vermilion samurai armor, with a woven vest layered over it and decorated with rivets and pipes. He wore a vermilion conical hat on his head as well.

Most eye-catching of all was the enormous steam-emitting device on his back, shaped like a boiler and looking thoroughly bizarre.

"That outfit..."

The strange attire left Samui stunned for a moment. As if recalling something, her pupils suddenly contracted, and she shouted a warning, "Lord Sora, the one who came is Hidden Stone's Five-Tails jinchuriki—the Steam Ninja, Han!"

"Yeah, I felt him."

Sora drained the warmed wine in one gulp, stuffed the stone in his hand into his ninja tool pouch, and looked at the fully armored figure before him with a bloodthirsty grin.

The Vastaya beast bloodline granted by the Sett template had begun blaring alarms like mad the instant this man appeared.

It was a special sensation that only emerged when he encountered a powerful foe—a uniquely powerful individual.

But—

—as a battle-crazed wolverine, he had no use for such inferior emotions as fear!

Just sensing the surging, powerful chakra spilling from Han's body made Sora's fighting spirit and battle intent rise higher and higher!

"Girl, isn't the jinchuriki you wanted delivering himself right to your door?"