Sasori was delighted when he heard Mukai and asked:
"You mean all those new functions added to the Mountain God Mecha can now be powered by this Lightning Release?
And that ultimate killing move you mentioned can be used too?"
"No way! Don't even think about it!
The ultimate killing move can only be used when you're truly cornered and facing an unbeatable enemy.
Normally, just stick to controlling the improved Crow and Black Ant.
At most, put on the Mountain God Mecha and fight in that. That'll be enough!
Stop thinking about the ultimate killing move at every turn. Who opens a fight by throwing out their biggest move?"
Faced with Mukai's concerned scolding, Sasori could only scratch his head sheepishly.
He was a year older than Mukai, yet somehow the other boy always seemed more mature.
The little follower he once knew had now become the team's undisputed captain.
Even Pakura, their team leader and Jonin, often sought Mukai's advice.
It was incredible!
Earlier, during breaks from using combination Ninjutsu to reinforce the tunnel, Mukai had worked with Sasori to extensively modify the Mountain God Mecha.
But although the modifications had consumed a great deal of Chakra Metal, they had shown no actual offensive results.
According to Mukai, the modifications had only added features such as ultra-high-torque electric motors. To actually power them, an external energy storage unit was still needed.
These past few days, Sasori had only been able to look at the cool, newly modified Mountain God Mecha. Being unable to use it had been hard to bear.
Mukai watched the Shinobi World versions of supercapacitors fill up one after another and was very pleased with the efficiency.
Each Shinobi World supercapacitor could store at most 300 kilowatt-hours of electricity,
which in later times would only have been enough to power a household for ten-odd days.
But converted to Chakra, that was already equivalent to all the Chakra of a Lightning-natured Chunin!
And Mukai could store it in bulk using only Chakra Metal, insulating paper, and sealing runes!
Senjutsu Chakra wasn't the only way to make use of nature's great power!
He had never been stingy about investing resources in improving his companions' mecha.
Seeing how eager Sasori was to try it, Mukai handed him two supercapacitor plug-in boards.
Each board had six Shinobi World supercapacitors fixed to it.
Now that it had a power source, the Mountain God Mecha, which had been modified from head to toe, was beginning to show what it could do.
The core cockpit was no longer the makeshift egg shape it had once been.
Now, the Mountain God Mecha looked like the upper half of a giant seated on a tracked platform!
Its upper body alone stood over two meters tall!
Its two thick mechanical arms were fitted with power-assisted ultra-high-torque electric motors.
Combined with reduction gears, they could deliver strikes at different speeds and strengths.
Now that it had power, the Mountain God Mecha finally looked like a real mecha.
Its torso served as the cockpit for the entire mecha, and its defensive capabilities were downright monstrous.
Besides using the ultrathin insulating paper produced by Konan for the innermost layer,
Mukai had added a full three layers of Chakra Metal armor with different structures, from the inside out.
He had even gone so far as to run high-voltage electrodes through the scale-like Chakra Metal plates on the outermost layer.
Normally, beneath the outermost Shikigami coating, it looked like an ordinary, handsome suit of armor.
Once someone damaged it, high-voltage arcs would burst forth as the armor plates shattered.
True Shinobi World special reactive armor.
To match its exceptionally high defense, it had three attack modes: long-range, mid-range, and close-range.
The lower portions of its spring-loaded legs had been replaced with tracked modules.
In its normal state, motors could drive the tracks for rapid movement over complex terrain at high speed.
In combat, the Mountain God Mecha could stand up!
Using the stored energy in overload mode, the entire Mountain God Mecha would not need to rely entirely on Chakra Threads to move for a period of time,
and could move and attack with tremendous power on its own!
Mukai looked forward to the despair enemies would feel when facing the Mountain God Mecha.
The modified Mountain God Mecha was larger overall and needed to be used as a trump card. Bringing it out in ordinary situations would be overkill.
Mukai and the others all had this problem now.
To deal with it, Mukai had also given the unpowered mecha, including Pakura's and Shisō's, dual-form modifications.
Now their mecha each had two forms.
Their normal forms resembled inconspicuous vests,
with Chakra alloy protection added only to vital areas such as the neck, torso, arms, and lower legs.
In particular, the extremely high-purity Chakra Metal gloves on their hands provided excellent amplification,
whether for casting Ninjutsu, strengthening Chakra Threads, or even enhancing Shisō's muscular strength.
Taking inspiration from the Saints' Cloths and the way Sasori had turned himself into a puppet in the original timeline,
Mukai placed the main bodies of the mecha in storage scrolls on their backs.
Everyone else had three storage scrolls, but Sasori needed to carry some extra supercapacitors, so his back had been designed with four scroll slots.
That way, they normally looked like ordinary ninja, and with the cloaks commonly worn in Sunagakure over them, they were even less conspicuous.
When a battle broke out, they only needed to undo the seals on the scrolls,
and the main bodies of their mecha would cover them from head to toe within a second.
That was when they were at their strongest!
Of all these mecha, Shisō's had actually been the most difficult to modify.
After all, Shisō was a pure Taijutsu ninja, so Mukai had taken great pains to ensure his mecha's flexibility and defense.
Sasori went over to the little mountain of Iron Sand to test the newly powered Mountain God Mecha,
while Mukai began tuning the Combat-Type Fierce Tiger Mecha with a somewhat nervous Shisō.
After more than twenty years of relentless effort, Shisō's physical condition had reached an almost absurd level of strength.
The fact that he could run at full speed carrying over a thousand jin of Iron Sand on his back while using the Second Activation of the Seven Heavens Breathing Method was proof enough.
He didn't even need to throw a punch. The impact of that weight and acceleration alone was almost no different from being hit head-on by a truck.
What Mukai needed to do was work out how to use the mecha to minimize the strain on Shisō's body,
and how to better bring out the power of the Seven Heavens Breathing Method.
So those were the two main points of focus for the Tiger-Leopard Combat Mecha.
The everyday mecha was the leopard form.
Aside from the protection over vital areas, the entire inner garment was woven and reinforced with high-purity Chakra Metal wire.
Not only did it provide good defense, it also allowed Chakra to strengthen his muscles and bones more effectively during normal use.
It was equivalent to amplifying Shisō's own Chakra, which produced noticeable results during his daily training.
This everyday form was more agile and could support Shisō in maintaining the Second Activation of the Seven Heavens Breathing Method.
The complete tiger form, on the other hand, was truly formidable.
Its stylized helmet, resembling the Gold Leo, had a respirator mask.
This was no decoration.
Inside one of the complete tiger form's scrolls were sealed small, ultra-high-pressure oxygen cylinders!
The oxygen, which Mukai had separated from the air through precise control, then compressed into the cylinders,
would provide a highly efficient, saturated supply of oxygen when Shisō adjusted his breathing!
With the tiger-form mecha's help, Shisō could safely activate the Third Activation!
That was an amplification equivalent to opening the third gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation, the Gate of Life!
Pure physical strength!
In this state, the tiger-form mecha on Shisō's body
served mainly to amplify his own Chakra and protect his muscles and ligaments from overstretching.
Shisō's current limit was the Fourth Activation, but Mukai had strictly forbidden him from using it.
Once he activated the Third Activation, his body would sustain injuries of varying degrees,
even with the mecha providing full protection and a saturated supply of pure oxygen.
For Shisō as he was now, the Second Activation was already more than enough to deal with an ordinary Chunin.
His attacks were already strong enough. With the mecha's support, the damage was more than necessary, so there was no need to take such a risk.
Shisō naturally understood Mukai's concern.
These special training exercises alone, which looked like work but were actually tailored to the Seven Heavens Breathing Method, showed how deeply Mukai understood him.
This was the man who had recognized his worth!
During the days Mukai and the others spent testing and modifying their armor,
various clashes began to grow more frequent across the Shinobi World.
And the Chunin Ninja Exams were drawing near.
It was time to set out!