Konoha, the Hokage's office on the top floor of the Hokage Building.
Sunlight spilled through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows onto the desk as Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi leisurely smoked his pipe. Before him sat a faintly glowing crystal ball.
This was the Third's signature ninjutsu-the Telescope Technique. He usually loved using it to monitor the village, dignifying it with the name "observing the people's lives."
At that moment, the crystal ball showed the Ninja Academy's graduation examination grounds.
"Young people these days really are getting worse with every generation... Hmm? What is Mizuki doing? Using a Fūma Shuriken against a civilian student?"
A trace of displeasure flashed through the Third's normally cloudy old eyes. Just as he prepared to secretly order the Anbu to intervene, what happened next made this old man, who had lived through three Shinobi World Wars and was known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," completely lose control of his expression.
Inside the crystal ball.
That dead-last student named Shengu Xuan crushed the Fūma Shuriken, forged from refined steel, with one hand.
Then he shattered half the examination grounds' floor with a single stomp.
Finally, he punched the Chunin Mizuki straight through a wall.
Clack.
The pipe held between the Third's lips dropped straight onto his desk. Scalding ash scattered all over the floor, but he noticed none of it.
"This... this power..." The Third shot to his feet, bracing both hands firmly against his desk, his face almost pressed against the crystal ball.
He had sensed no chakra fluctuations whatsoever from Shengu Xuan!
Pure physical strength? Impossible! Even Might Guy, who had honed his taijutsu to its utmost in the village, could never collapse most of the examination grounds with a single stomp through physical strength alone without activating the Eight Gates Release!
But that was not what shocked the Third most.
When Shengu Xuan snapped his fingers in the image, and four pitch-black ninja with scarlet eyes emerged from the shadows and hung Mizuki upside down, the Third's pupils contracted violently into pinpoints.
"Anbu!" the Third called in a low voice.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Four animal-masked Anbu ninja instantly appeared in the office, kneeling on one knee.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Analyze the image in the crystal ball immediately!" The Third pointed at the four Shadow Ninja kneeling on one knee behind Shengu Xuan in the crystal ball, his voice carrying an almost imperceptible tremor. "Tell me, what ninjutsu is that? Is it a variant of the Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Technique?"
The lead Anbu ninja raised his head and studied the crystal ball closely for a while. The voice beneath his mask carried utter shock. "Lord Hokage, this... this is definitely not the Nara Clan's secret technique! The Nara Clan can only control shadows, but this boy... he is giving shadows physical form! And..."
"And what? Speak!"
"Furthermore, I can sense no sign of life from those four black summoned beings, nor any trace of flowing chakra. They are like... evil spirits truly made of shadows! They completely defy the principles of ninjutsu!"
The Third took a deep breath and slowly sat back in his chair, his mind churning like a storm-tossed sea.
Terrifying monstrous strength without chakra!
An uncanny ability to give shadows physical form and summon undying, indestructible shadow creatures!
Moreover, he had checked Shengu Xuan's background. Three generations of his ancestors had all been Konoha civilians, and his parents had died during the Nine-Tails' Attack. He had absolutely no special bloodline!
"Could it be..." A feverish light erupted in the Third's cloudy eyes as he imagined an extremely plausible explanation. "An extreme lack of chakra instead caused some ultimate mutation in his body's genes? This is an unprecedented... ultimate mutant Kekkei Genkai beyond conventional understanding?!"
That must be it!
He traded chakra for absolute physical strength and the power over the laws governing shadows!
Konoha actually has such a peerless, unpolished gem hidden within it! If we can gain control of this power, Konoha's military strength will take a qualitative leap!
"Pass on my orders!"
The Third slammed his hand on the desk, displaying the Hokage's authority. "Immediately suppress all news of what happened at the Ninja Academy examination grounds! Issue an S-rank gag order to every student and teacher present today! No one is to reveal a single word about Shengu Xuan's abilities to outsiders!"
"Yes!"
"Also, raise the security clearance on Shengu Xuan's file to the highest level-S-rank classified. Only I may access it. Send two Anbu squads to protect him covertly around the clock. Under no circumstances may spies from other villages make contact with him!"
"As you command!" The Anbu accepted their orders and instantly vanished.
The Third relit his pipe, drew deeply on it, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. Looking through the window toward the Ninja Academy, he gave a faint, gratified smile.
"Where leaves dance, fire burns without end. Shengu Xuan, you are Konoha's new hope for the future..."
Meanwhile.
Deep beneath Konoha, inside a gloomy base where daylight never reached.
This was the headquarters of Konoha's darkest department-Root.
Dim candlelight flickered, illuminating a cold, sinister old man seated on a massive stone chair, half his body wrapped in bandages and his right eye covered.
The Darkness of Konoha, Shimura Danzō.
Tap, tap, tap...
A Root ninja wearing a blank mask appeared before Danzo like a ghost, dropped to one knee, and presented a secret report that had just been intercepted.
"Lord Danzo, this is urgent intelligence just sent by our mole in the Hokage Building. Hiruzen has just raised the file of a civilian Genin named Shengu Xuan to S-rank and issued a gag order."
"Oh?" Danzo's sole remaining left eye snapped open, a sinister gleam flashing through it. Anything that made that old softie Hiruzen so nervous that he even invoked S-rank security clearance was certainly no ordinary matter.
He snatched the secret report and rapidly scanned it.
When he saw the phrases "no chakra," "crushed a Fūma Shuriken with one hand," and "summoned a lifeless shadow army," Danzo's hand suddenly trembled, and his breathing instantly grew heavy.
"No chakra, yet such terrifying strength and uncanny summoning techniques... This is a perfect killing weapon!"
Undisguised greed erupted in Danzo's eye.
He knew Hiruzen all too well. With his weak personality, Hiruzen would only use some "Will of Fire" to slowly reform a monster like this. That was a sheer waste of a precious gift!
Only in his hands, through Root's brainwashing and brutal training, could this mutant Kekkei Genkai that defied common sense become the strongest blade for protecting Konoha-and for seizing the Hokage position!
"The Shadowkhan... killers who need no chakra... Perfect. Absolutely perfect!"
Danzo abruptly rose, driving his cane heavily against the floor with a dull thud.
"Hiruzen, you've grown old. You cannot control such dangerous power. Konoha's darkness is mine to bear!"
"Alpha! Beta! Gamma!"
Danzo called out coldly.
Instantly, three Root elites radiating icy killing intent appeared before him.
"Go! Find out Shengu Xuan's route home. Before Hiruzen's Anbu take full control, 'invite' him to Root!"
"If anyone interferes, kill them without exception!"
"Yes!" The three Root ninja turned into dark shadows and disappeared.
Looking around the empty basement, Danzo's lips curled into a cruel sneer.
At that very moment, Shengu Xuan, who had just walked out of the Ninja Academy's gates and was preparing to head home and have a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate his successful graduation, suddenly stopped.
He tilted his head slightly, and deep in his eyes, a scarlet demonic glow belonging to the Fire Demon quietly lit up.
"Interesting..."
A sly smile curled Shengu Xuan's lips.
The [Shadowkhan] within his body had sensed several rats with no regard for their own lives quietly moving to surround him through the nearby shadows, brimming with malice.
"I've only just finished warming up, and some fools are already delivering themselves to my door?"
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