Shinichi stood before the unconscious Roshi, with three Wood Dragons hovering around him.
To his left coiled the Magnet Wood Dragon, its body wrapped in violet patterns and shining with a metallic glow.
To his right hovered the Scale Wood Dragon, its armored body supported by a pair of wings.
And directly before him floated the newly born third construct, the Lava Wood Dragon. Its dark red body radiated such terrifying heat that the surrounding air visibly warped.
The three dragons lowered their heads around him in complete obedience.
With a single thought from Shinichi...
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique!"
The Lava Wood Dragon opened its massive jaws. Molten magma churned within its throat before erupting outward in several enormous lava spheres. Trailing dark red streaks across the sky, the blazing projectiles crashed into the distant ruins of Loulan.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions thundered one after another.
A towering stone structure took a direct hit. The terrifying heat instantly melted through the ancient masonry, causing the entire building to collapse. In mere seconds, the huge tower crumbled into smoking rubble and flowing magma.
Shinichi looked at the rising flames and dust, then nodded slightly in satisfaction.
'The power of Lava Release is pretty good.'
He calmly evaluated the destructive force, but to him, it was only "pretty good" compared to the true reward he had gained.
Slowly raising both hands, Shinichi looked down at his palms. He clenched his fists, loosened them, then clenched them again, as if testing the strength of a newly acquired weapon.
And that weapon… was his own body.
'The Seven-Tails and the Four-Tails…' he thought silently. 'The feedback from absorbing the chakra of two Tailed Beasts…'
He lowered his hands and stared ahead into empty space, as though calculating something invisible.
'Before leaving Konoha, if I used the True Several Thousand Hands, the wooden Buddha could barely reach two hundred meters. That was my limit back then.'
His eyes narrowed slightly.
'But now… if I go all out, its height should reach three hundred and fifty meters.'
A difference of one hundred and fifty meters was absolutely terrifying.
The size and weight of the True Several Thousand Hands increased exponentially with its height. A four-hundred-meter wooden construct was far more massive than a three-hundred-meter one.
The attack range of the Thousand-Armed Strike would nearly double, while the destructive power and area coverage of each strike would increase several times over.
More importantly...
'A height of four hundred meters is enough for me to do whatever I want in the current ninja world!'
A wild smile slowly spread across Shinichi's face.
'Even if it means taking on an entire ninja village alone!'
"Ha... Hahahaha!"
He raised a hand to his face as laughter escaped through his fingers, completely uninhibited. When he lowered his hand again, his eyes were sharp, and the smile on his face had only widened further.
"It's only been three months since I left Konoha," he muttered softly. "Just three short months, and I've already reached this level... yet this is only the beginning."
His gaze grew colder and colder.
"Akatsuki, Nagato, Obito, Madara... even the entire ninja world itself..."
The corners of his lips curled upward.
"How are any of you supposed to compete with me?"
After the brief outburst, Shinichi slowly exhaled and suppressed the emotions on his face. The excitement faded from his eyes, replaced once more by cold indifference.
Then he turned around and looked at the unconscious Roshi again.
The testing of his power and his moment of reflection were over. Now it was time to deal with business.
Shinichi formed a hand seal.
Several thick wooden beams burst from the ground, wrapping around Roshi's body before dragging him upright and pinning him against a protruding wooden stake. Thick vines tightly bound his arms, legs, and torso, leaving only his head barely able to move.
Shinichi slowly walked up to him.
Spreading the fingers of his right hand, he pressed his palm firmly against the top of Roshi's head.
"You said that more than ten years ago, you encountered someone who also controlled a Scale Wood Dragon," Shinichi muttered as the chakra flowing from his fingertips accelerated. "In that case, I'm almost certain now..."
"...The 'him' you encountered... was the future me."
The Scale Wood Dragon was unique to him. It was the core ability of his mutated Wood Release.
'But the current me has no intention of returning to the past,' Shinichi thought calmly. 'And I have even less interest in the Dragon Vein. Which means there's only one possibility.'
His amber eyes reflected Roshi's tightly shut face.
'Something happened in the future. Something serious enough that the future me chose to travel back in time and collect the chakra of the Tailed Beasts.'
Shinichi pressed his palm down slightly, increasing the flow of chakra.
'Since my future self made such a decision... let me see what exactly happened back then.'
"Memory Reading!"
Buzz!
Roshi's body suddenly trembled violently.
Countless images, sounds, and sensations surged into Shinichi's mind through the chakra connection. Closing his eyes, he quickly navigated through the chaotic flood of fragmented memories, searching for the scene he wanted to see.
Soon...
'Found it.'
"Hey, Roshi... you seem distracted again."
As the two traveled toward the border of the Land of Earth, Han, the Five-Tails jinchuriki, noticed the unusual look on his partner's face.
Roshi continued walking but glanced sideways at him.
"Yeah," he admitted quietly. "I've had a bad feeling ever since we entered this area. My heart feels strangely heavy."
Han walked beside him and slightly lifted the brim of his straw hat, revealing his calm eyes.
"It's fine," he said evenly. "With the two of us together, even if this mission involves facing Orochimaru of the Sannin... as long as we want to leave, nobody in the ninja world can stop us."
His voice carried absolute confidence, but it wasn't arrogance.
Neither he nor Roshi were the inexperienced jinchuriki they once were. After surviving the Second Shinobi World War and enduring years of harsh training, both of them could already enter complete Tailed Beast State while still maintaining a large degree of rationality.
They could wield nearly seventy to eighty percent of Son Goku's and Kokuo's power.
The combined strength of two fully transformed Tailed Beasts was enough to change the outcome of a small war.
Even...
Han's thoughts suddenly stopped.
His expression turned serious as he abruptly halted and looked toward the sky. Beside him, Roshi did the same.
High above them, a mysterious figure was rapidly descending while riding atop a massive dragon-like creature.
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