"The Black Ship's true destructive power lies neither in its hull nor in its energy core."
"The shells for its main cannon are alive. Kill the shells, and the Black Ship becomes nothing but a decoration."
"You can... kill cannon shells?!"
Everyone present looked utterly bewildered, unable to wrap their heads around it.
Seeing their baffled expressions, Langwei stopped beating around the bush and laid it out. One sentence sent chills through everyone present.
"The cannon shells I'm talking about are the Shinobi World's nobles and the various Daimyō bloodlines."
"These people are special slaves the Celestial Dragons left in the Shinobi World. They're also the expendable fuel that activates the Black Ship's main cannon."
"Under the Celestial Dragons' system of warfare, every devastating cannon blast consumes the life force and bloodline essence of those slaves as fuel."
"The more individuals there are, the more terrifying the blast becomes."
Boom!
At those words, everyone present froze in stunned silence, their bodies turning cold.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the Daimyō and nobles, who stood above everyone, controlled the Shinobi World's governments for a thousand years, and enjoyed wealth and luxury-
Had been nothing but living cannon shells raised by the Celestial Dragons in the Shinobi World all along. Expendable war supplies!
After a brief, deathly silence, Naruto stood stunned, then let out a long breath, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"So that's it... That's what it was!"
"In that case, all that killing we did before ended up being an enormous good deed, entirely by accident."
Understanding dawned in Naruto's eyes as all the lingering questions finally fell into place.
"When the Celestial Dragons first appeared, they deliberately spread word throughout the Shinobi World that all the Daimyō and nobles were their slaves."
"I was