Chapter 43: Shadows, Scrolls, and a Hidden Blade
After Shinra left the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen sank back into his chair. The room was silent save for the faint crackle of his pipe.
Abruptly, he spoke into the seemingly empty space. "What is your assessment of the boy?"
The moment his words fell, a second voice resonated from the deepest corner of the room, where shadows pooled thickest, as if woven from the darkness itself. "Exceptional. His future is boundless."
It was a chillingly effective concealment. The presence had remained utterly undetected, not only by Shinra but also by the three sharp-eyed Sannin.
Hearing such an unequivocally high evaluation, Hiruzen paused, taking several long draws from his pipe. The speaker was a man whose ability to judge potential was legendary within certain circles. For years, every individual he had marked as having "qualifications" had never failed to become a top-tier combatant for Konoha. An assessment of "boundless" was unprecedented.
"Very well," Hiruzen said after a moment of contemplation, a trace of grim resolve in his eyes. "You will take charge of his initial training personally. We must accelerate his growth. Time… is a luxury we may not have."
"Understood, Hokage-sama. I will make the arrangements."
With that, the sense of a presence vanished as if it had never been. Only Hiruzen knew the shadow-walker had already departed.
Silent. Moving through darkness, hidden within it. Utterly enigmatic.
This was the capability of Konoha's current Commander of the Anbu.
Leaving the Hokage Tower, Shinra returned home first. He spent the afternoon in the simple, warm company of Kushina and Mikoto, sharing a lavish, meat-heavy feast they had prepared. After eating, Mikoto presented him with a specially made, oversized bento box, packed to the brim with more protein.
The trio then made their way to the training grove together… to practice.
Shinra didn't immediately dive into the Strength of a Hundred techniques. He began with a warm-up, loosening his newly forged body.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Punch after punch hammered the air, the sound like steady drumbeats. As Shinra moved, his entire musculature trembled and gradually began to boil with exertion, each fiber growing more refined and potent under the strain.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and night draped itself over Konoha. Shinra kissed Kushina and Mikoto gently on their foreheads, watching as they left for their respective homes, their figures swallowed by the twilight.
Only then did he begin his true, solitary cultivation.
He was drenched in sweat, but felt no fatigue—only an indescribable sense of fluid power and vitality. Wiping his hands, Shinra carefully retrieved the cyan scroll Tsunade had given him and began to study its contents in earnest.
The Strength of a Hundred (Chakra Enhanced Strength).
At its core, it was a specialized application of chakra control. An analogy from his past life came to mind: cultivating immortality. Some used their cultivated energy for ethereal spells, others channeled it directly into their flesh. The energy was the same, but the application dictated the result.
The Strength of a Hundred was a method of chakra manipulation that demanded extreme, surgical precision. It involved instantaneously flooding specific muscle groups with a burst of chakra to create explosive amplification.
This surge couldn't be too violent, or it would cause catastrophic damage instead of enhancing strength. Yet it couldn't be too weak, or it would fail to produce the monstrous power the technique was famed for. In short, mastering it was no less difficult than learning an A-rank or even S-rank ninjutsu.
After studying the scroll back and forth for over an hour, Shinra rubbed his temples and set it aside.
"Well, no harm in trying. Maybe I really am a genius," he muttered, a hopeful smirk touching his lips.
He clenched his fist, attempting to replicate the chakra flow pattern described.
BOOM!
His fist shot forward, impacting the rocky cliff face he used as a training dummy.
The rock shuddered. A dense network of cracks radiated from the point of impact, spreading like a spiderweb to cover half the rock wall in an instant.
And then…
Nothing.
Shinra felt no particular joy. This level of damage was something he could achieve with his bare fists without the technique. He hadn't tapped into the unique amplification at all.
"So… it really isn't that simple," he sighed, a wry laugh escaping him. He pushed aside his impatience and settled in, beginning the painstaking process of trial and error, adjusting his chakra flow minutely with each attempt.
Minutes bled into hours. It was nearly midnight, and the entire village of Konoha slept soundly. Shinra had been practicing for a solid five hours. The rock wall looked like it was on the verge of total collapse from his relentless, failed attempts.
And still, he had no true breakthrough, no spark of understanding.
"Not only talented, but relentless in his training. No wonder he defeated Uchiha Masaki."
Just as Shinra was engrossed in his frustrating practice, a pair of eyes watched him from deep within the tree line, their gaze venomous as a death god's.
"Hmph! Leaving this boy alive would indeed be a disaster. Fortunately, your time is up."
Miyamura Ichiro, former Academy instructor, hid in the shadows. The killing intent radiating from him disturbed the very air, making it feel heavy and cold. After the incident where Uchiha Masaki was publicly brutalized during his class, Ichiro hadn't just lost his teaching position. The Uchiha clan, furious and humiliated, had made his life a living hell, applying pressure that left him broken and desperate.
With nowhere else to turn, he had readily accepted the offer—the mission to eliminate Shinra. Success would not only allow him to vent his seething hatred but, more importantly, would earn him a place under the Uchiha's mighty wing. Promotion and prestige would be within his grasp.
The thought made Ichiro's expression twist into something truly hideous. He looked at Shinra, drenched in moonlight and sweat, as if he were already a corpse.
(End of Chapter)
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