The world stopped spinning, and I found myself standing ankle-deep in a massive, shallow pool of glowing blue water.
The cavern around me was vast, the dark stone walls lined top to bottom with complex, interlocking fuinjutsu seals that pulsed with a faint, rhythmic light.
[NOTICE: THE BODY OF WATER IS CONSTRUCTED OF PURE CHAKRA.]
Before I could fully process the sheer volume of energy in the room, the water began to violently bubble. Crumbled rocks from the cavern edges levitated, drawn into the glowing blue liquid. The water and stone fused together, rapidly constructing into towering, brawny golems.
As they took shape, the pure blue chakra shifted, igniting with different nature transformations—some erupted into roaring flames, others crackled with dense lightning or flowed with rushing water.
[ENEMIES DETECTED: RAMPANT CHAKRA PHANTOMS]
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT ALL ENEMIES]
I drew my [IVORY SHORTSWORD] as my mind instantly flashed back to previous dungeon runs.
Golems, I thought, falling into a combat stance. Just gotta shatter their hard outer shells and destroy the chakra cores. Simple enough.
I blurred forward, targeting a massive, fire-aspected Phantom. I swung my blade in a horizontal arc, carving a massive chunk out of its rocky torso.
I was ready to follow up with a quick strike at its chakra core, but there was no core to be found.
What the hell?! I thought, scanning its body.
Suddenly, the glowing water around my ankles surged upward. The golem absorbed the ambient chakra in the room, and its rocky, flaming shell instantly regenerated in a fraction of a second.
Tch, looks like this is gonna take a while, I thought, jumping back to avoid a massive, flaming backhand. Hopefully not too long.
I recalled my sword and raised my right hand, funneling a massive amount of dense chakra into my palm.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: RASENGAN (MAXIMUM OUTPUT)]
The spiraling yellow sphere roared to life—but only for a split second. The moment the jutsu fully formed, the complex fuinjutsu seals lining the cavern walls flared brightly. The dense chakra of my [RASENGAN] was violently ripped from my hand, dissipating into the atmosphere and merging seamlessly with the glowing pool below.
"What?! No way!" I gasped, my eyes widening in shock.
The Phantoms began to close in.
So physical attacks get negated and Ninjutsu gets absorbed by the room, I mused, as the golems started to surround me. I guess there's only one way to go about this then.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: ADAMANTINE SEALING CHAINS]
Thick chains erupted out of me, lashing out like vipers to push the encroaching Phantoms back. The spiked tip of my lead chain pierced squarely into the chest of a water-aspected golem.
When the chain connected, the dark metal lit up. A blinding, neon-blue pulse traveled down the length of the chain, surging directly into my back.
My eyes rolled back as I felt chakra start to flow into me. It was a suffocating sensation, like my chakra coils were balloons being pumped past their bursting point.
I have to vent this out! I thought, fighting through the burning pressure in my chest. But how?!
I frantically scanned the room before I found a matching water-elemental script among the complex seals, glowing beneath the water. I shot another chain out and forcefully expelled the excess chakra from my network straight into the floor seal.
The seal absorbed it eagerly, and the Phantom attached to my chain visibly shrank, its watery form losing density.
I have to drain them, I realized as the scope of the trial started to set in. They can't be destroyed traditionally. They need to be bound, siphoned of their chakra into my own body, and that energy must be manually filtered into the correct elemental seals.
I looked around the cavern. There are practically hundreds of them, if not more, I thought. Maybe I can speed things up?
I briefly considered summoning a massive army of [SHADOW CLONES] to speed up the process, but quickly scrapped the idea. No. They're made of pure chakra, I contemplated. The room would just absorb them the second they touch the water. I'll have to put them all down manually.
I sighed and stepped towards the nearest Phantom, shooting my chains out at it.
What followed was a tedious, agonizingly repetitive process of chakra control. For every Phantom I bound, I had to perfectly balance the intake of violent elemental energy while simultaneously venting it out. A single slip in concentration meant my internal network would suffer negative after effects.
I bound, I drained, and I vented. Over and over and over again.
When I finally drained the very last drop of energy from the final Phantom, the cavern went pitch black, the glowing water completely vanished, and I was sent back into the archive room.
I collapsed onto my hands and knees, panting heavily, my muscles screaming in exhaustion.
[TRIAL 4 CLEARED: CHAKRA SUPPRESSION]
[SKILL MASTERY UNLOCKED: CHAKRA DRAINAGE]:
Type: Passive.
Effect: The Player can now actively siphon and absorb ambient or hostile chakra through their Sealing Chains to replenish CP.
[REWARDS: +45 INT, +125,000 XP, 325,000 Ryo]
[LEVEL-UP!]
[FULL RECOVERY ACTIVATED]
[NEW LEVEL: 231]
[RYO BALANCE: 55,479,375 → 55,804,375 RYO]
The golden light of the [FULL RECOVERY] washed over me, instantly erasing the bone-deep exhaustion.
"I'll never stop loving that," I said, flexing my hands. "Now how long did that take? Two days? Three? I know it gotta be more than two, but it shouldn't be no more than—"
When the notification appeared, my brain shut down for a moment.
[TIME ELAPSED: 6 DAYS, 14 HOURS]
"Do my eyes deceive me, or does that say SIX FUCKING DAYS?!" I croaked, my eyeballs nearly popping out of my head.
Oh shit! I thought, scrambling to the scroll. There's no time to waste. I have to do this last trial as quickly as I can.
But before I could place my hand on the scroll, a massive wave of vertigo slammed into my brain.
"Ahhh! What the fuck is this?! And why now of all times?!" I exclaimed as I grabbed my head and stumbled backward.
A flood of memories violently injected themselves into my consciousness. The three clones I had dispatched to the B-Rank Gates with my army had dispersed.
I saw flashes of dark, cavernous dungeons. I felt the rumble of Igris's greatsword cleaving through hordes of monsters, and heard the terrifying screech of Beru ripping a massive Boss to pieces. The mental fatigue of absorbing three distinct consciousnesses running simultaneous, multi-day dungeon raids hit me like a truck.
Those dumbasses did it again, I groaned, waiting for the migraine to subside. I really gotta tell them to stop dispersing all at once.
The headache was immediately followed by a symphony of golden System chimes.
[NOTICE: S-RANK QUOTA ACHIEVED.]:
Total Monsters Killed: 43,945 / 10,000 (Requirement Exceeded)
Total Boss Monsters Killed: 50/50 (Requirement Met)
[REWARD DEPOSITED IN INVENTORY: S-RANK DUNGEON GATE KEY]
I opened up my [INVENTORY]. Resting in the S-Ranked slot tab was a key emitting an ominous, pulsing black-and-red energy.
"Oh yea, that dungeon's gonna be hard as shit," I muttered, as I closed the tab. "But I need to boost my level up some more before even considering attempting that."
The other notifications I received were also very interesting.
[LEVEL-UP!] …. [LEVEL-UP!]
[NEW LEVEL: 237]
[DUNGEON 1 REWARDS: (93% HP x 50) x 4.5 = 20,925 + 250,000 Clear Bonus = 270,925 Ryo]
[DUNGEON 2 REWARDS: (88% HP x 50) x 4.5 = 19,800 + 250,000 Clear Bonus = 269,800 Ryo]
[RYO BALANCE: 55,804,375 → 56,345,100 RYO]
The notifications cleared, leaving me alone in the quiet expanse of the archive room.
I did some quick mental math. If I had spent almost seven days in the fourth trial, that meant I had about seven and a half days remaining before the Chunin Exam Finals kicked off and Orochimaru's invasion began.
I have enough time, I thought, rolling my shoulders.
I approached the scroll once again, eager to finally attain full mastery of the chains before the war started. The moment my fingers brushed against the aged parchment, the System reacted.
[CLAN TRIAL 5: THE MONARCH'S BINDING]
[COMMENCING IN 3... 2... 1...]
Instead of the archive room shifting around me like it previously did, my entire body suddenly went numb. All the strength vanished from my legs, and I saw my body collapse limply onto the cold stone floor.
"What the fuck?!" I let out, staring at my current ethereal form. "I look almost like a ghost. This is wild! What kind of trial is—"
A strange sensation suddenly rippled through me as my new form was violently sucked directly into the scroll.
**********
When my vision finally cleared, I was standing in a desolate recreation of Uzushio's mainland. The crumbled buildings were bathed in the eerie, blood-red light of a massive moon hanging low in the sky.
Whole lotta red this week, it's kind of ridiculous, I thought, looking around the surreal landscape.
I continued to scan the area, until something caught my eye.
What the hell...?! I thought as I saw a woman with long, vibrant red hair standing about fifty feet across from me.
She stood at perfect attention, radiating an intense, suffocating pressure that made the very air feel heavy. But as my eyes locked onto her face, I did a double-take in disbelief.
[ENEMY DETECTED: ECHO OF THE RED-HOT HABANERO - KUSHINA UZUMAKI (S-RANK)]
No fucking way, I thought, with widened eyes. You're definitely not supposed to be here! How are you even here?!
As I took a closer look, I noticed that her eyes weren't normal. The sclera were pitch-black, and her irises glowed with a fierce, aggressive crimson light—just as her hair did.
The chakra, I realized suddenly, the pieces instantly clicking together. It manifested this version of you when I poured the essence of your chakra into the scroll to unlock this last trial.
The System confirmed my terrifying deduction.
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT THE BOSS TO ATTAIN FULL MASTERY OF THE ADAMANTINE SEALING CHAINS]
Damn, so there's no other option, I thought, taking a single step forward.
The moment I did, the echo of Kushina attacked.
Her red hair whipped wildly around her, and nine glowing golden chains erupted from her back with explosive force.
Whoa, that's fast! I gasped, as I instinctively summoned my own chains and blurred forward to meet her.
But the moment we clashed, the difference in skill between us became painfully obvious. Her fighting style was incredibly reminiscent of young canon Naruto's—getting in close and attempting to overwhelm the opponent with a flurry of blows. But hers was much more terrifyingly methodical. There was no wasted movement. She dictated the pace of the combat, forcing me to desperately try to match her rhythm.
Every time I swung my weapons or lashed out with my chains, her golden chains instinctively and almost autonomously moved to cover her blind spots, defending her exactly like Gaara's sand would protect him. They completely overwhelmed my own chains, effortlessly batting or deflecting them away.
This is getting ridiculous! I gritted my teeth, jumping backward to create distance.
I rapidly formed hand seals, unleashing a barrage of Wind and Fire style jutsu, followed immediately by a volley of shuriken thrown by a dozen [SHADOW CLONES].
But the echo didn't even flinch. Her chains wove into a flawless golden net, completely blocking the elemental attacks. Then, the chains snapped forward like whips, tearing effortlessly through my clones. To my absolute horror, the golden metal absorbed the chakra from my clones, causing them to disperse and powering her up.
Yea, I might have lost my damn mind to forget about that, I thought, equipping [KNIGHT KILLER] to my hand. She counters ranged attacks and feeds on clones. What next? She gonna bring back the dead, too?
I threw the dagger directly at her head.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SHADOW THUNDER GOD]
I vanished in a flash of black lightning, intending to materialize right beside the dagger for a blind-spot strike. But before my body even fully reformed from the teleportation, a golden chain was already waiting for me. It predicted the exact spatial shift and swatted me out of the air like a fly, sending me crashing onto the floor.
I rolled to my feet, and spat out blood. Of course she knows how to counter that, I thought. She probably has years of accumulated muscle memory, spent sparring with Minato!
Desperate to find an opening, I raised my hand.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: RULER'S HAND]
I wrapped my telekinetic grip around her, intending to force her off balance. But the echo simply drove two of her chains deep into the ground, anchoring herself. The telekinetic pull was entirely nullified by her perfect chakra grounding.
After seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere, I released the technique. The moment I did, she ripped her chains free and launched a devastating, spear-like thrust straight at my chest.
She's too strong, I thought, my focus narrowing as I tracked the incoming lethal strike. I'll have to use her own strength against her.
I equipped the [IVORY SHORTSWORD] and gripped it tightly, waiting for the perfect micro-second to trigger [RIPOSTE]. The blade descended, and the timing window opened.
But just as my sword flared with golden light and I moved to parry, the ground directly beneath me exploded.
SHLUCK!
"Ahhhhhhhh!" I roared in agony, as a golden chain burst up, and violently impaled my thigh.
The force of the upward strike shattered my footing, completely disrupting my stance and canceling the [RIPOSTE] sequence before my blade could even connect with her attack.
I was left completely wide open.
The echo's remaining chains wrapped around my limbs like golden vipers. They didn't crush my bones or try to rip me apart. Instead, the spiked tips plunged directly into my tenketsu.
A terrifying, icy sensation flooded my veins as my entire chakra network began to forcibly shut down. Without chakra to sustain it, my mental avatar began to violently pixelate and shatter into fragments of light.
The world began to dissolve into static as a notification appeared across my fracturing vision.
[NOTICE: YOU HAVE BEEN DFEATED. TRIAL FAILED.]
[EJECTING FROM DOMAIN...]
Everything went pitch black.
*********
I woke up gasping for air, my hands instantly flying to my thigh and my chest. I was lying on the cold, dusty stone floor of the archive room. There were no puncture wounds, and no blood, but my body felt impossibly heavy and weak, like I hadn't moved for years.
[NOTICE: YOUR CHAKRA NETWORK HAD BEEN SUPPRESSED.]
[TIME OF SUPPRESSION: 30 MINUTES.]
You've got to be kidding me, I thought, lying on the stone, still groggy and trying to get my bearings.
"That was intense," I wheezed, massaging my temples. "She had no openings, and her chains were ridiculously strong."
As I began to settle down, I asked the System for a time elapsed update.
[TIME ELAPSED: 4 DAYS]
I closed my eyes briefly, a wave of bitter frustration washing over me. "Damn, how'd that happen?" I questioned openly.
The System thoroughly explained that three full days had been spent fighting a losing, grueling battle of attrition in the trial-scape. The fourth day had passed while I was lying unconscious on the archive floor, my physical body recovering from the shock of the severe network suppression.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I can't reattempt it, I thought, after a while. At least for now, anyway. If I went back in, I'd likely miss the Chunin Exams. And if I miss the invasion, Konoha probably falls. And that's something I can't let happen, especially with that [SOUL CONTRACT] with Hiruzen still active on me. Who knows what the System might do to me if this village falls.
I got into a seated position and stared up at the dark ceiling of the archive room. I was genuinely in awe of how terrifyingly strong the echo of Kushina had been, but the cost of that lesson was brutal. I only had about three and a half days left to prepare for a war.
"I really wasted four days," I muttered, letting out a long, heavy sigh. "Ain't this a bitch."