Two massive forces gathered overhead, suspended high in the sky. Tsunade, watching from the stage, frowned deeply. If that kind of power spiraled out of control, the casualties would be devastating.
She turned toward Naruto.
"Naruto, if they fire techniques of that scale and lose control—"
Naruto looked back at her, instantly understanding her concern.
"Relax. They understand their limits. With a thousand shinobi supporting the formation, the power is huge, but the control isn't nearly as unstable as you think. And even if something goes wrong, both sides will stabilize the situation."
"They're not Lee or Orochimaru. They know when to stop." Naruto grinned. "And besides—I'm standing right here."
Tsunade exhaled and looked back toward the battlefield.
The converging chakra condensed into a massive purple sphere in the sky, while the colossal Lightning Release: Kirin led by Uchiha Yu's formation completed its shape in mere seconds—it only felt slow because of the overwhelming pressure.
"Zabuza! Take this! Let's see who's stronger today!"
Yu had always been overshadowed by Zabuza in direct confrontation. Now, with the power of Kirin supporting him, he felt absolute confidence.
Zabuza smirked.
"Then let's see it. What do you say—brothers?"
"NO!!"
A thunderous roar answered him. Their morale surged like a blazing fire.
Yu frowned. Morale might seem intangible, but on a battlefield, it could amplify strength in terrifying ways.
"Attack!!"
Thunder ripped through the sky as the enormous Kirin descended with unmatched destructive might.
Zabuza snorted and launched his counterattack—the massive chakra sphere surged upward and collided head-on with the Kirin.
He had long understood Kirin's mechanics: devastating penetration, overwhelming force, and long duration.
So he planned to decide victory in one decisive strike.
The clash erupted with a deafening explosion. Lightning detonated outward, the battlefield floor cracked and disintegrated beneath them. Both forces strained under the pressure.
Uchiha Yu felt the crushing force battering against him, a torrent of power threatening to overwhelm his control. At that instant, he grasped Zabuza's intent.
He shut his eyes—then snapped them open.
His crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan evolved, transformed by the enormous mental energy flooding through the formation.
Five interlocking circular tomoe spun within a larger ring—the pattern of a temporary Mangekyō Sharingan manifestation.
Zabuza stared wide-eyed.
With the amplified mental force transmitted through the formation network, Yu's spiritual pressure surged outward like a crashing wave.
For just a heartbeat, Zabuza's entire formation froze—their chakra control faltering by the smallest margin.
And in battle, a single instant decides everything.
The colossal Kirin ripped through the chakra sphere, shattering it. Before Zabuza's side could react, the lightning scattered harmlessly into the sky.
The drill concluded. It was, after all, only a training exercise—not a true battle to the death.
A number of shinobi suffered minor injuries, but the Medical-ninja corps immediately stepped in and healed them.
This scene left the Konoha clan leaders silent.
How had Umbrella trained so many Medical shinobi so quickly?
Naruto naturally had his methods. Medical talent was limited, so he had divided the corps into specialized departments, training them in large numbers. Those with true aptitude could continue learning advanced medicine. And Naruto's knowledge and systems from his previous world were far more advanced than anything in the shinobi world.
Transplanting those systems here was trivial.
Zabuza walked up to Uchiha Yu and slapped him heavily on the shoulder.
"Good fellow. I didn't see wrong, did I? When did you awaken a Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Yu gave a bitter smile.
"Don't misunderstand. I only used everyone's chakra to amplify my mental energy temporarily. That surge let me break past the limit of the Three-Tomoe for a moment. It's not a true Mangekyō awakening."
"I didn't gain a unique Mangekyō ability—just a massive boost to my Genjutsu power."
Zabuza raised an eyebrow, then laughed and patted his shoulder again.
"That's already incredible. If you can reach Mangekyō temporarily, doesn't that mean you're already close to awakening the real thing?"
"You brat."
Yu couldn't help but grin. He had desired the Mangekyō more than anything—the greatest pride of the Uchiha. Failing to awaken it had always weighed heavily on him. Though talented, he knew he could never compare to the true prodigies.
But now…?
Maybe the distance wasn't as great as he believed.
For a long time, Yu had believed he might never awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in his lifetime. Zabuza's words struck him like lightning. Even if he had reached the Mangekyō level through the combined strength of others, Mangekyō was still Mangekyō.
Trying to defeat someone wielding a Mangekyō using only a Three-Tomoe Sharingan was nothing but a fool's dream.
And now that he had experienced this threshold, perhaps awakening his true Mangekyō with his own power was no longer impossible.
Naruto, observing from the stage, was also visibly surprised. He hadn't expected Yu to discover an alternate path to reach Mangekyō-level power. Naruto had originally prepared a plan to help Yu awaken his Mangekyō in the future—but now, it looked like that path might be much easier.
The clan heads behind Tsunade exchanged shocked glances. They had witnessed everything, and yet, compared to the godlike power displayed moments earlier…
Even the Mangekyō seemed lacking.
Sasuke, watching from the sidelines, felt his chest tighten with envy.
When would he awaken his own Mangekyō?
Naruto had once promised him that when he awakened it, he could finally seek vengeance against Uchiha Itachi.
Once Zabuza's formation withdrew, the next units entered the arena.
Naruto called them mechanized units.
The first wave consisted of shinobi with low combat ability, equipped only with the most basic chakra-assisted firearms—lethal only to Genin at best.
But the later units were stronger, clad in Chakra Armor.
And last to enter were the shinobi who had defected earlier from the Hyūga Branch Family. Hyūga Hiashi's expression darkened, and sorrow flickered in his eyes.
Their leader—Neji.
A deputy commander stood behind him, as Neji's mission differed from the others.
Every member of this unit carried Umbrella's most advanced Chakra Firearms, capable of seriously injuring even high-level shinobi below Kage-class. Their attack range was immense, and their destructive output far surpassed previous generations of weaponry.
The Byakugan bloodline were not only natural scouts—they were natural marksmen. Their precision, awareness, and reaction speed allowed them to exploit firearms to an entirely different level. They even excelled in medical sciences due to their unparalleled understanding of internal systems.
Restricting them to only the Gentle Fist had been a tragic waste of talent.
With these Hyūga shinobi, Naruto now commanded the equivalent destructive power of hundreds of elite Jōnin.
By now, the joint drill had come to an end. Although Naruto still had far more he had yet to reveal, what had been displayed was already enough to shake Konoha to the core.
The era was changing—and changing fast.
...
TN:
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