"Click!"
Orochimaru slammed his right hand down, pushing the palm-sized red main power switch on the console all the way down.
The sweat on his palm clung to the plastic switch. It felt slick.
He even forgot to breathe.
Dead silence.
The pause lasted less than half a second.
"Hummm-!"
A deep, savage roar of energy erupted in the very center of the laboratory.
The sound was low, but its penetrating force was terrifying. It was like thousands of tons' worth of pumps drawing water at once, pressing down on everyone's hearts and making them uneasy.
A dazzling blue light came on without warning.
The light pierced straight through the thick black canvas covering the flatbed cart.
Bands of light cut through the dim laboratory like swords, bathing it in a deathly white glare.
Even the mouse holes in the corners were clearly visible.
Overhead,
the mechanisms on the four thick steel chains suspending the black canvas sprang open with a clatter.
The chains came loose and crashed against the iron rim of the flatbed cart, throwing off a few orange sparks.
The enormous black canvas lost its support.
It crashed down.
Like a gigantic curtain, it struck the concrete floor, kicking up gray dust more than two meters high.
A colossal machine stood fully exposed.
It was five meters tall, like a small, cold iron tower.
Heavy blue-gray steel armor covered its entire body. The plates were two fingers thick, their edges fastened tight with solid rivets as thick as a finger.
It had none of the refinement of traditional ninja tools. Every line exuded a crude, violent aesthetic.
Thick hydraulic rods and dense clusters of black rubber oil hoses lay exposed at its arm and thigh joints.
In the center of the mecha's chest,
a transparent glass dome half a meter across was embedded in the armor.
Inside was a miniature Four Symbols Seal Chakra Reactor. Ink-black array markings flowed along the inner surface of the glass.
Deep-blue Chakra churned wildly inside the reactor, like the eye of a typhoon locked firmly in place.
Orochimaru gripped the iron railing with both hands, his fingernails scraping several white marks into it.
"Pilot! Take your position!" His voice cracked as he shouted.
A civilian Chunin in a single gray cloth garment ran out from the back of the crowd.
His face was pale, and his legs shook like dead branches in an autumn wind.
He ran to the mecha's feet and climbed the iron ladder welded to the outside of its right leg.
On the third rung, a piece of dried mud under his foot slipped.
"Ow."
The Chunin's knee struck the iron railing hard, and he sucked in a sharp breath of pain.
He did not dare stop. Gripping the edge of the iron plating with both hands, he scrambled into the open cockpit above the chest armor.
The hatch closed.
With a dull thud, the heavy steel plate blocked it from view.
The Chunin sat in a seat welded from pig iron.
His hands trembling, he pulled over three black hoses attached to the back of the seat. Each hose ended in a sharp metal probe.
He gritted his teeth, reached behind himself, and drove the probes into the Chakra points on either side of his spine.
"Argh!"
The Chunin let out a stifled scream.
The Chakra in his body, mixed with a little blood, was forcibly drawn through the hoses into the reactor.
The miniature Four Symbols Seal array markings in the chest blazed to their brightest in an instant.
Blue light shone through the glass dome, bathing the ground ahead in a deep-blue glow.
Then,
the mecha's square steel head slowly lifted.
The gears in its neck meshed with a grating creak that set teeth on edge.
Its two eyes, made of high-strength blast-resistant glass, suddenly lit up with glaring red light.
"Hiss-"
Four exhaust pipes on either side of its shoulders vented high-pressure white steam at once.
The scalding steam surged toward the roof, heating the incandescent bulbs overhead and making them swing back and forth.
The mecha raised its right leg.
Its thick hydraulic rods compressed, moving the heavy steel foot off the flatbed cart.
Then it planted the foot heavily on the laboratory's concrete floor.
"Boom!"
The ground shook.
The instant the foot landed, the half-meter-thick concrete floor burst apart.
Spiderweb cracks spread wildly in every direction from beneath the mecha's foot.
Fragments of stone shot outward like hidden weapons, striking the metal cabinets with a clatter.
Shu Shiraishi stood on a steel-frame walkway more than ten meters above the floor.
One hand resting on the rusty iron railing, he looked down at the colossal machine.
"Test," he said.
Orochimaru snatched up the metal megaphone on the console beside him.
"Bring out Rashomon!" He held the megaphone to his mouth and roared.
At the far end of the testing area,
three Anbu Ninja hurried out of formation.
All three bit their thumbs at once, smeared blood across their palms, and slammed both hands onto the concrete floor.
"Summoning Technique: Triple Rashomon!"
The ground and building shook.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three enormous bronze gates, each five meters tall, burst through the laboratory's concrete floor and rose from the ground.
They stood firmly in the mecha's path.
Savage demon heads were carved into the faces of the bronze gates. Their rings, as thick as a child's arm, rattled.
This was a top-tier defensive structure capable of altering the trajectory of Ninjutsu.
Shu Shiraishi looked at the bronze gates below.
"Break them," he ordered.
Inside the cockpit,
the civilian Chunin took a deep breath of air that smelled of engine oil.
His eyes were fixed on the aiming reticle on the control panel.
Both hands gripped the two cold pig-iron control levers tightly.
He shoved them forward, all the way.
The exhaust valve behind the mecha's right arm sprang open.
Chakra was frantically squeezed out of the reactor and surged through the lines into the mechanical arm.
"Boom-"
A blue jet of high-temperature exhaust blasted from behind its elbow, extending more than two meters.
The tremendous thrust propelled the giant mechanical fist through the air.
Trailing a savage blast of wind, the steel fist slammed squarely into the first Rashomon.
"Clang!!!"
A deafening burst of metal rang out.
There was no struggle, no pause of even half a second.
The great bronze gate, capable of withstanding an A-rank Ninjutsu head-on, was like a crisp biscuit struck by a sledgehammer.
The demon head caved in instantly, then burst apart.
Large fragments of bronze and splinters of wood flew in every direction.
The fist's momentum did not falter.
The hydraulic rods shrieked under the strain, driving the giant fist onward.
The second gate. The third.
Three explosive impacts sounded almost as one.
The machine blasted a clear tunnel straight through the one-and-a-half-meter-thick Triple Rashomon.
Bent and twisted bronze spikes still hung in the air around the edges.
The wind from the punch pierced all three gates, its remaining force undiminished.
It struck the reinforced concrete load-bearing wall at the far end of the laboratory.
A huge hole exploded in the wall, and cold wind swept in from outside, carrying sand and dirt.
Rubble rained down on them.
The hand holding Orochimaru's metal megaphone shook violently.
"Clatter." The megaphone fell onto the console and rolled twice.
He did not even glance at it. His mouth hung slightly open, and he forgot to breathe.
"Defense test."
Shu Shiraishi's voice came from the steel frame above once more, cold and utterly without inflection.
The five Uchiha city guards standing at the edge of the testing area exchanged looks.
Their eyes were full of shock, but they did not dare disobey the order.
The five quickly stepped forward, their hands flashing through Hand Seals.
Their cheeks bulged.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Five orange-red fireballs, each two meters across, carried waves of searing heat
as they hurtled straight toward the Chakra Mecha in the center of the testing area.
The fireballs struck the blue-gray steel armor one after another.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Flames burst out in an instant.
The five-meter-tall steel beast was completely engulfed in the blaze.
A dazzling orange-red sea of fire churned through the laboratory.
The air temperature soared. The baked enamel on the nearby metal cabinets curled and peeled away.
The acrid stench of scorching mingled with the smell of heated metal, rushing into everyone's nostrils.
Orochimaru clenched his teeth and stared at the flames without blinking.
That was C-rank Fire Style. Even a Jonin who took it head-on would be burned to a crisp.
The flames burned for more than ten seconds.
The Chakra burned out, and the firelight gradually faded.
Black ash still drifted through the air.
The Chakra Mecha stood steadily where it was.
The reactor in its chest still glowed deep blue. Its red electronic eyes stared straight ahead through the smoke.
On its heavy blue-gray steel armor, aside from a layer of black soot left by burning gunpowder,
not even a scorch mark remained.
The primer was completely intact.
Not even one of the large rivets holding the armor in place had come loose.
The surface of the steel plates was frighteningly hot, but the armor itself was undamaged.
The legs of the five fire-breathing Uchiha city guards went weak.
Overtaxing their Chakra was secondary. The frustration of seeing that the Fire Style they took pride in was not even enough to warm up the lump of iron
shattered the last of their arrogance.
"Hiss-"
The hydraulic valve on the mecha's right arm gave a long hiss of escaping air.
The giant steel fist, covered in bronze fragments and black soot, slowly withdrew to its side.
The heavy machine stood steadily in the middle of the wreckage.
Its weight of several dozen tons pressed firmly against the ground.
The aftershocks shaking the laboratory floor were still spreading outward through the concrete slabs in waves.
The soles of everyone's feet were numb.
Throughout the entire No. 1 core laboratory,
all the scientists who had taken part in its research and development, the engineers covered in shiny black grease,
and even the Anbu Ninja standing guard nearby
all held their breath.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on this incredible steel beast.
The vast space was utterly silent.