Your Secret Techniques Make Fine Teaching Materials

Inside the shrine, silence reigned like a tomb.

The air was thick with the peculiar scent of rotten timber mixed with century-old dust, but now, all of it was being swept away and purified by an even more primal, more violent aura.

On the altar, Xuan's seated figure seemed to transform into a black hole devouring everything, even the light around him faintly warping.

The power of Azure Dragon within him was being analyzed and reconstructed at an unprecedented speed, wildly merging with his own chakra and the dense lightning-nature natural energy of this land.

Outside the shrine, the cold wind howled.

Saori's slender fingers moved like those of the most precise weaver, connecting threadlike, nearly invisible chakra strings to the puppet's joints and building a three-dimensional warning net covering a radius of five hundred meters. Any living creature that stepped into the area, even a snow rabbit, would trigger the alarm bell in her palm.

Farther out, Baba Tesshin worked like a diligent cleaner, using clusters of blazing Fire Release ninjutsu to vaporize every footprint and scent trail their group had left in the snow, along with several meters of surrounding snow, leaving behind not the slightest clue.

They had built him a temporary "safe zone," while Xuan was carrying out a storm-like revolution of the mind within it.

Deep inside his consciousness, the [Law Simulation] system was operating madly at a speed beyond mortal comprehension.

"Warning: Large-scale chakra aggregation reaction detected. Simulation process accelerating..."

"Lightning Release: Nine Heavens forbidden technique [Lightning Armor: True Release] model under construction... Data sources: Azure Dragon memory fragments, surviving Hidden Cloud Village manuscripts. Reverse engineering in progress..."

"Simulation progress: 37%... 48%... 62%..."

"Correcting errors... Seventeen energy overflow nodes detected in the original technique, resulting in immense energy consumption and irreversible damage to the user's nervous system. Optimization plan initiated..."

"Plan A: Enhance cellular activity and forcibly endure the damage. Rejected. Does not conform to the principles of sustainable development."

"Plan B: Integrate Wind Release drag-reduction properties to construct a 'plasma laminar flow layer.' Feasibility: 92%. Pathway integration in progress..."

"Redundant pathways detected. Recommend merging the third and fourth stages of chakra compression. Technique activation time can be reduced by 0.3 seconds..."

Cold, efficient prompts cascaded through Xuan's mind like a waterfall.

He was not learning. He was dissecting, devouring, turning a lost forbidden technique into something that belonged to him alone.

Suddenly, the clamor outside and the storm within seemed to reach perfect synchronization at that very instant.

Xuan's tightly shut left eye remained still, but his right eye abruptly opened!

Within that pitch-black pupil, three tomoe slowly rotated. Around them, the previously broken, bone-spike-like markings suddenly stretched out, converged, and completely closed into a perfect yet eerie ring-shaped pattern, like a crown of thorns locked in Eternal Cycle.

The initial prototype of "Eternal Cycle" was complete!

"Hah!"

A low roar burst from his throat. It was not merely a vocal sound, but the explosive eruption of chakra through his vocal cords!

In an instant, a layer of dazzling azure electric plasma burst from every pore of his body like a living creature, covering him from head to toe!

It was not the solidified form of traditional Lightning Armor, but a thin, highly compressed layer of active Lightning Release chakra containing terrifying energy.

Arcs of electricity ran across his body without producing harsh crackling sounds. Instead, they emitted an almost silent hum, like the rotation of stars.

[Lightning Armor: True Release], reborn!

Moreover, imperceptible micro-cyclones flowed over the armor's surface, reducing air resistance to its absolute minimum.

Thanks to the perfect integration of Wind Release drag-reduction technology, this "True Release" form of Lightning Armor consumed only one-fifth of the energy described in the original records!

Xuan slowly rose from the altar. The stone floor beneath his feet silently cracked apart, unable to bear the energy field leaking from his body.

He made no motion to gather strength. He merely took a seemingly casual step forward.

Bzzzt—!

His figure blurred instantly, like a glitching image. An afterimage made of lightning remained where he had stood, while his true body had already appeared ten meters away!

The afterimage took a full half second to slowly fade.

[Lightning Flash: Zero-Time Movement], achieved!

At the same time, a hundred meters outside the shrine.

Darui and the Hidden Cloud Village elite squad under his command were stealthily advancing through the dense snow cedar forest like phantoms.

As one of the Third Raikage's most trusted guards, his sensory abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people.

Suddenly, he raised a hand sharply, signaling the entire squad to stop.

"Something's wrong!" he said in a low voice, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. "The air... it's pricking my skin."

The surrounding team members froze, then felt it as well.

It was as though countless invisible steel needles were lightly piercing them. Their hair rose involuntarily, and the air was filled with the scorched scent unique to a high-frequency electromagnetic field.

"This isn't a natural phenomenon!" Darui's expression turned grave beyond measure. "An energy field of this intensity... it's like a living thunderstorm has been compressed inside that tiny shrine! Everyone, take cover and prepare to breach!"

However, his order had barely left his mouth when it was cut off by a bolt of lightning that tore through the night.

BOOM!!!

A slender yet incomparably condensed bolt of lightning did not descend from the sky. Instead, it shot horizontally from inside the shrine at a speed beyond the limits of dynamic vision, striking a massive boulder the height of two men a hundred meters to their side with unerring precision!

The lightning flashed and vanished. There was no earth-shaking explosion, only a dull cracking sound.

Dense spiderweb-like fractures emerged from the center of the boulder. Then, in the next second, it collapsed with a crash into a pile of evenly sized fragments.

But what made Darui and all the Hidden Cloud Village ninja's scalps go numb was that, at the moment the rubble flew apart, the lingering charge and moisture in the air formed a projection of a human face—the final frozen expression of the old ninja who had been sent to guard the forbidden technique archive and had long since been listed as killed in the line of duty!

Horror, unwillingness, and a trace of bewilderment and fear as though he had seen a ghost or god were woven across that face. It was lifelike, like an accusation from a wronged soul!

After using [Soul Devourer] to read the deceased man's strongest emotions before death, Xuan had recreated this memory projection through Lightning Release chakra shape transformation techniques that had reached the pinnacle!

"You saw it, didn't you?"

A voice, not loud, yet clearly audible to every person present.

It seemed to come from no particular direction, as though it had been squeezed out of the air from all sides and sounded directly in their minds.

"Your so-called 'top secret' is nothing more than a series of equations waiting to be solved in my eyes."

Before the words had faded, the shrine's long-rotted and collapsed doors were pushed open by an invisible current of air.

Bathed in the azure electric plasma flowing over his body, Xuan walked out slowly.

With every step he took, a faint explosive sound rang beneath his feet, as if space itself had been compacted underfoot.

The Lightning Armor on his body rose and fell faintly with his breathing, flickering between light and dark like a colossal lightning beast symbiotically bound to him.

His gaze crossed the hundred-meter distance and locked precisely onto Darui.

"How much stuff did your teacher leave behind in that archive that hasn't been burned clean?" Xuan asked in a tone as calm as if discussing the weather. "For example... the activation code for the Second Raikage's ultimate weapon, Thunder God's Hammer?"

The words were like a true thunderclap exploding in Darui's mind!

He instinctively tightened his grip on the Executioner's Blade, "Lightning Plow," strapped across his back. Beads of cold sweat instantly formed on his forehead.

"You... How could you possibly know that...?" he shouted, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "That is... that is the highest secret known only to the Raikage of every generation and a very few core members!"

"I don't need to steal, and I don't need to deceive."

The corner of Xuan's mouth lifted into a cold arc.

He slowly raised his right hand, palm upward.

Three egg-sized spheres of lightning condensed out of thin air, spinning at high speed.

One was the spatial coordinate anchor for [Lightning Flash: Zero-Time Movement], flickering erratically as though it could blink out of existence at any moment.

Another was the energy core of the third forbidden technique he had only just completed simulating in his mind but had not yet truly used—[Lightning Release: Heavenly Starfall]—brimming with destructive gravitational fluctuations.

"As long as I've seen it once, or as long as there's enough data to support it," he said softly, his voice carrying the indifference of a creator, "I can take apart its bones, dissect its meridians, and then... replace them with my own flesh and sinew."

As his words fell, his five fingers suddenly clenched!

The three lightning spheres representing the Hidden Cloud Village's lost forbidden techniques collided and fused in his palm!

They did not explode. Instead, under laws of a higher dimension, they were forcibly kneaded together and compressed, finally becoming a point of pure, profound... darkness!

In the next moment, Xuan pointed that darkness toward the sky.

A massive pillar of black lightning that pierced heaven and earth silently shot from his fingertip, smashing violently into the dense clouds!

There was no sound and no light—only ultimate destruction and devouring!

At that moment, it was as though the sky had been punched through with a hole.

Then, centered on that black lightning pillar, the clouds across the entire heavens began spinning madly, forming a gigantic lightning vortex.

Chain lightning like silver serpents brewed and erupted within it, illuminating the entire border mountain range as bright as day.

A man-made lightning storm that should never have existed descended.

The system notification sounded at just the right moment:

"[Law Simulation] proficiency +15%!"

"Lightning Release: Nine Heavens analysis rate has reached 71%. Core law fragment 'Authority of Lightning' acquired."

"Maximum simulatable ninjutsu limit increased to SSS-rank ×2!"

Beneath the storm, Xuan lowered his hand.

Without sparing another glance at Darui's squad, who had been thoroughly intimidated into place, he turned and walked back into the shrine's shadows.

The storm's afterwaves stirred the hem of his black clothes, making him look like a demon god withdrawing divine punishment.

Only after the lightning storm gradually subsided did Darui seem to come back to life from suffocation. His knees went weak, and he nearly fell to the ground as he gasped violently.

Trembling, he looked up at the shrine, which had returned to deathly silence. On its ruined outer wall, he saw a massive charred mark.

It was an enormous tomoe pattern. At its center, two words had been branded in equally wild strokes—

Mine.

Just then, the encrypted communicator at his waist suddenly sounded an urgent, highest-level alarm.

He answered it with a trembling hand.

"...This is headquarters! Darui, can you hear me?!" Mabui, the Raikage's secretary, spoke from the communicator, her voice filled with extreme urgency. "Emergency order! Abandon the mission immediately. All personnel are to evacuate the target area at maximum speed! I repeat, evacuate immediately!"

Darui froze, then asked hoarsely, "Why?! The target is right here, he—"

"Shut up and listen to me!" For once, Mabui's voice carried a hint of fear. "Just now, Intelligence analyzed the energy field data you transmitted and... the image of that 'face.' Headquarters has determined that the target possesses an unprecedented ability for 'super-individual cognitive contamination'! His very existence is a living weapon capable of overturning our intelligence network and the foundations of our understanding! Threat level... has been raised to SSS-rank!"

"Headquarters has authorized the final response plan for SSS-rank rogue/intrusion targets—the 'Lightning Prison Cage' plan! Evacuate immediately. Do not make any unnecessary contact!"

The transmission cut off.

Holding the cold communicator, Darui looked up in a daze at the sky, now strange and unpredictable because of the artificial storm.

High amid the dark clouds, a Crow with jet-black feathers silently circled.

Within its crimson eyes, rings of purple ripples slowly revolved. The Rinnegan quietly recorded everything happening below, including the two domineering words on the wall. Then it flapped its wings and vanished soundlessly into deeper darkness.

SSS-rank threat... Lightning Prison Cage...

A bone-deep chill rose up Darui's spine.

He knew what that plan meant.

It was not an encirclement. It was a seal.

It was the Hidden Cloud Village's final measure, prepared to deal with disasters on the level of a legendary tailed beast rampage.

And now, the target of that terrifying plan, one that would not hesitate to turn a vast region into a dead zone, was only one man.

He did not know where this man would appear the next time he emerged from this shrine, nor what earth-shaking "welcome" awaited him.

But he had a premonition that the land chosen as the "cage" would witness a mythic battle unlike any before.