"The mission called for 'weeding.' It never said we had to pull them out by hand."
Shengu Xuan's utterly unabashed reply left Naruto speechless again, his face flushed red as he struggled to come up with a single word of rebuttal.
Kakashi stepped forward, glanced at the thick stack of bills, then at Shengu Xuan. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly and declare the mission complete.
In a sense, Shengu Xuan had indeed completed the mission in the most efficient, flawless way possible.
It was just that this method... challenged a normal ninja's entire worldview far too much.
On the way back, Naruto was still fuming about the "cheating," while Sasuke remained silent throughout, though the thoughtful gleam in his eyes grew ever brighter.
He was considering the versatility of Shengu Xuan's ability.
Assassination, infiltration, head-on combat, logistics... even... weeding was this efficient.
This was no longer merely a "technique." It was practically an all-powerful "authority"!
The more he thought about it, the more keenly he felt the insurmountable gulf between himself and Shengu Xuan, and the desire in his heart burned ever hotter.
After they returned to the village, Kakashi turned in the mission and soon picked up another D-rank mission for them.
"Clear Training Ground 4?" Naruto read listlessly from the mission scroll. "More boring manual labor..."
"This training ground has been abandoned for a long time because of geological issues. The village is now planning to redevelop it, so someone needs to clear out the rubble and tangled roots inside," Kakashi explained. "This will be much harder than weeding, so stay sharp."
Sasuke's eyes, however, lit up.
Clearing rocks and roots? This was the perfect chance to test his strength and the power of his ninjutsu! He wanted to see just how large the gap between him and Shengu Xuan was in sheer destructive power.
Soon, Team 7 arrived at their destination-Training Ground 4.
The sight before them was even worse than they had imagined.
The entire training ground was riddled with pits, its surface covered in enormous granite boulders half buried in the soil and countless hard roots as thick as bowl rims, coiling underground like giant pythons. These roots and rocks intertwined to form a complex underground network.
"How... how are we supposed to clear this?" Sakura's little face paled as she surveyed the ruin-like scene.
"Watch me!" Brimming with enthusiasm again, Naruto formed hand seals. "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Dozens of Narutos appeared. Some worked together to push boulders, while others hugged roots and pulled with all their might, but the rocks and roots were buried deep underground and did not budge.
"Dammit! Rasengan!"
One of Naruto's clones formed a blue chakra sphere in his hand and slammed it against a boulder!
Boom!
With a muffled crash, stone chips flew everywhere. A large crater had been blasted into the boulder, but its main body remained standing.
Meanwhile, Sasuke began his own attempt.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
The enormous fireball struck an exposed, thick root with precision. Flames blazed, scorching the root's surface black, but aside from a plume of thick smoke, it caused no substantial damage.
"Dammit..." Sasuke gritted his teeth. This level of destructive power could not possibly complete the mission.
Watching his two students' futile efforts, Kakashi sighed again. "Looks like we'll have to use the most primitive method. Dig it out bit by bit, chip it away bit by bit. I doubt we'll finish in less than three to five days."
Just as everyone was at a loss, Shengu Xuan, who had been observing from the sidelines, suddenly stepped forward.
He slowly walked to the center of the training ground, where the largest granite boulder stood, almost half the size of a room, with countless thick roots tangled beneath it.
Shengu Xuan could sense that underground in this area, years of decaying vegetation and geological compression seemed to have trapped a large amount of marsh gas and geothermal energy, creating an extremely unstable energy field.
And the Shendu Template within him seemed to resonate strangely with this "explosive" energy.
[Ding!] [Resonance detected between the host's internal power and an external high-density unstable energy source!] [New ability activation conditions met!]
The system's notifications rang out in his mind, making the corners of Shengu Xuan's lips rise involuntarily.
"Finally."
Ignoring his teammates' puzzled looks behind him, he slowly extended his right hand and gently pressed it against the enormous granite boulder.
"Hey, Shengu Xuan, what are you doing?" Naruto asked in confusion. "You're not planning to push it away with your hands, are you? That one's even bigger than the one I hit with my Rasengan!"
Sasuke and Kakashi also watched Shengu Xuan intently. Both wanted to see what this boy, who always managed to create miracles, was planning this time.
The instant Shengu Xuan's palm touched the cold rock-
[Congratulations, host! New ability successfully unlocked: Dragon Talisman (command over explosions, the power of the divine dragon, the divine authority of explosive destruction that burns all things to nothing)!]
Boom-!
A scorching, violent energy that seemed capable of blasting everything in the world into powder surged from Shengu Xuan's palm into his body in an instant!
He felt as though he held a miniature sun!
A scarlet totem of a coiled divine dragon flickered into view on his right arm, radiating a heart-stopping, searing heat!
"Wh-what is that?!" Kakashi's Sharingan widened abruptly. He clearly saw a red energy filled with an aura of destruction gathering wildly inside Shengu Xuan!
Sasuke felt that terrifying wave of heat too. The quality of that energy was countless levels above his Great Fireball Technique!
"Digging this place out would take too long."
Shengu Xuan slowly raised his head, revealing a smile tinged with madness that made both Sasuke's and Kakashi's scalps prickle.
"Let's use a more efficient method and settle it all at once."
Before his words had faded, he poured the Dragon Talisman's power into the boulder beneath him without holding anything back!
"-Explode!"
There was no earth-shattering roar, only an extremely muffled "pfft."
Then the enormous granite boulder, half the size of a room, along with every tangled root beneath it, instantly became the finest red powder, swirling through the air!
It was not an explosion!
It was annihilation!
A visible ring of crimson shock waves erupted outward, with Shengu Xuan at its center!
Ruuumble-!!!
Everywhere the shock wave passed, all the rocks, roots, and even soil on the ground were instantly broken down and vaporized, becoming red dust that shot into the sky!
"Oh no!" Kakashi's expression changed drastically. He grabbed Sakura while shouting at Naruto and Sasuke, "Get out of the way!"
Naruto was sent flying by the terrifying shock wave, tumbling several times through the air before landing in a heap. Relying on his Sharingan's predictive ability, Sasuke narrowly ducked behind a boulder, but the impact still left his blood churning.
As the red dust filling the air slowly dispersed.
The entire Training Ground 4 had been utterly transformed.
The pitted ruins, once covered in rocks and roots, had become an enormous, glasslike crater more than fifty meters across, its surface as smooth as a mirror!
A molten red glow and scalding steam still rose from the crater's edges.
And Shengu Xuan stood quietly at the very center of that enormous crater, without so much as a crease in the hem of his clothes.
He surveyed his handiwork and nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm, that's much cleaner."
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi-four people, four dumbstruck faces, their brains having completely lost the ability to think.
Strength... speed... an undying army...
And now, this... terrifying explosive power that could reshape the terrain in a single strike...
Just how many monstrous abilities... did this guy have?!
Kakashi's heart sank to rock bottom. He abruptly scanned their surroundings, his expression turning incredibly grim.
"Everyone, prepare for combat!" he barked. "That much noise is bound to draw in any enemies nearby!"
No sooner had he spoken.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two dark figures darted like phantoms from the nearby woods and landed steadily on the edge of the enormous crater.
They wore Kirigakure uniforms, with bandages wrapped around their faces, enormous Kubikiribōchō swords on their backs, and chains attached to their arms.
They were none other than Kirigakure's rogue ninja, the Demon Brothers-Meizu and Gozu!
"Heh heh heh... what a stroke of luck." One of them looked down at Team 7 and gave a hoarse, cold chuckle, his gaze finally settling on Kakashi. "Who would've thought we'd run into Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, here?"
The other licked his lips, his greedy gaze sweeping over Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
"An Uchiha brat and a jinchūriki too... what a lovely gift."
Their gazes deliberately ignored only the one standing at the center of the enormous crater, the very person who had just caused all of this-Shengu Xuan.
To them, he was merely an ordinary brat who seemed to have no chakra at all.
Kakashi's gaze instantly grew deadly serious.
"Chunin... and two of them. This is trouble!"
He had never expected a D-rank mission to bring out enemies worthy of a C-rank mission, or even a B-rank mission!
And the Demon Brothers' appearance also meant...
"The Land of Waves... Tazuna..." Kakashi instantly realized something.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Seeing the enemies appear only excited Naruto. "Finally, a fight!"
Yet before Kakashi could give an order.
A voice colder and more contemptuous than the Demon Brothers' drifted from the center of the enormous crater.
"Two bugs with a death wish dare discuss how to divide up my teammates right in front of me?"
Shengu Xuan slowly raised his head. Within his pitch-black eyes, a crimson gleam belonging to a divine dragon intertwined and flickered with a scarlet gleam belonging to a demon.
"Who gave you the nerve?"
Before you continue