I yanked the front door open, its hinges creaking under the strain.
A thick blast of gunpowder smoke mixed with plaster dust hit me in the face, choking a couple of tears out of me and making me sneeze several times.
I rolled up my sleeves, Armament Haki already primed over my fists. That surge of chakra just now had been way too strange.
Cold as ice, just like those white-eyed freaks from the Otsutsuki clan.
I stepped out over the broken bricks, glass shards crunching beneath my soles.
The smoke slowly cleared. There weren't any aliens floating outside the courtyard wall with fishing rods.
Just four figures standing in disarray, covered in dust and grime.
The man in front wore an Elite Jonin vest and had a little patch of dark stubble on his chin.
He still clutched a scorched Scientific Ninja Tool scroll, coughing as he fanned the air with his hand.
"Cough, cough... That explosion was way too powerful. This black technology is way too unreliable."
The blond kid behind him shouted as he slapped the dirt off his clothes, hopping all over the place.
"Konohamaru-sensei, didn't you say this Scientific Ninja Tool could breach a barrier without making a sound?"
"It nearly burned all my hair off!"
I froze, the black aura around my fists slowly fading. Konohamaru?
I rubbed my eyes and took a closer look at the bearded Elite Jonin.
It really was that snot-nosed brat who used to trail after Naruto. Somehow, he'd grown this tall.
He looked pretty solidly built, too.
But what was with the three little brats behind him? Why did this lineup look so familiar?
A little dark-haired girl in red-framed glasses was glaring with her Sharingan active.
A deathly pale boy wore a snakelike smile, traces of senjutsu