Chapter 203:
Zabuza slowly opened his eyes. As he warily scanned the unfamiliar surroundings, he tried to recall what had happened before he lost consciousness.
"…To think that ghoul has grown this powerful… Even with the Shinki Armor provided by the CCG, I still couldn't defeat him," Zabuza muttered, mocking himself. "The fact that I even made it back is pure luck."
Suppressing the dull pain from the wounds left by the Shinki Armor's vicious bite, Zabuza took a deep breath and climbed down from the bed. He began loosening his stiff joints, then picked up a white suitcase next to him. Inside it was his favorite Kagune greatsword.
"Lord Zabuza, you're awake!"
The sound of the door opening startled him, and Zabuza immediately prepared to open the white case—until he saw the figure standing in the doorway and relaxed.
"Haku, how long was I unconscious?"
"A week, Lord Zabuza," Haku replied with a sweet smile.
"A week, huh…"
Zabuza narrowed his eyes, murmuring to himself.
Umbrella Organization's Underground Base
"Deputy Director? Deputy Director, sir?"
Jiraiya turned to look at the SHIELD Deputy Director Husky, who was staring off into space with a dog-headed visage, and called out.
"Apologies," Shunhi murmured as he came back to his senses—clearly still stunned.
"What's wrong, Deputy Director? You seem… a little out of it," Jiraiya asked, probing for information.
After all, anything capable of shocking SHIELD's Deputy Director had to be extraordinary.
Husky chuckled softly. "I'm just surprised. A project SHIELD had abandoned… actually succeeded."
Everyone in SHIELD had gathered around, eyes fixed on a piece of advanced black tech—a liquid metal robot, developed based on SHIELD's abandoned theory, by Clone Gray Wolf.
Even Shunhi, who had been deliberately fading into the background, showed up in person. After all, this was the first time something from another world had been created without system assistance.
"Hey, Clone Gray Wolf, how did you make this thing?"
Dr. Katasuke, once the head of Konoha Village's Scientific Ninja Tools Division, examined the liquid robot with amazement as he asked.
"Well, I remembered Deputy Director once casually mentioning an abandoned SHIELD project—a shape-shifting liquid robot. So I combined it with some Water Release and Puppet techniques to create it," Clone Gray Wolf said bashfully, sneaking a glance at Red Wolf standing nearby.
"Hey, Orochimaru, what exactly is a liquid robot?" Jiraiya asked discreetly.
Orochimaru gave him a sideways glance and said, "Put simply, it's a killer robot that's mastered Transformation Jutsu."
"Not quite," Shunhi interjected. "If that were all, SHIELD wouldn't have abandoned the project. The liquid robot was just the first step…"
"The Skynet Project…" Orochimaru murmured, a fanatical look creeping onto his face.
To bring about absolute peace in the Shinobi World, they needed an absolutely fair and rational judge. Thus, SHIELD launched the Skynet Project.
Skynet—this perfectly fair, purely rational adjudicator.
"Artificial intelligence… with self-awareness…" Dr. Katasuke echoed, a similarly obsessed look spreading across his face.
Konoha Village Gates
"…So, the Jar Merchant will take Boruto's place and accompany you on the mission," Shikamaru said to the team led by Sasuke, standing at the village gate.
Due to the failed mission in the Land of Wind, Shikamaru had made this decision.
Right now, Konoha's top priority was to strengthen its forces.
However, with Naruto and Sasuke already at the peak of the Shinobi World's power ceiling, they could hardly improve further without some sort of miraculous event. That meant Boruto's power was the only one that could still be cultivated.
In short, if even the once-lazy Boruto could grow strong enough to become the future version they'd met, then just imagine how powerful he could become if he actually put in the effort now.
After all, Future Boruto had said it himself—the future could be changed.
"Come on, we just got back from the Land of Wind and now we're heading straight to the Land of Iron?" the Jar Merchant grumbled.
Naturally, negotiations between the Land of Water and the Land of Fire were set to take place in the always-neutral Land of Iron, currently led by the aging Mifune.
"Sorry to trouble you again, Jar Merchant," Naruto said apologetically. "As a token of appreciation, Konoha will offer your Hydra Corporation some favorable policies." He then turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, be careful on the road. I'm worried Evilmoku might target Tentō. We've already lost one Armor Warrior—we can't afford to lose another."
Tentō was the son of the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, and the current wielder of the Flame Dragon Armor.
"Don't worry. I know what's important," Sasuke replied with a nod.
Naruto's message was clear—if it came down to choosing between the Daimyō and his son, they must prioritize protecting Tentō.
If the Daimyō died, they could appoint another one. But if the Flame Dragon Armor was lost, the entire Shinobi World would be doomed.
There was no replacing that.
"Wait for me!"
"Shinki? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, looking at the boy who had just run up.
"Lord Hokage, I want to go too," Shinki said, his face bearing its usual solemn expression.
"But this mission…"
In truth, Naruto didn't want Shinki coming along. It was a dangerous assignment, and he'd promised Gaara to take care of the boy.
Given that this involved the Armor Warriors and the murky connections between the Land of Water's Daimyō and the Shell Organization, Naruto suspected a high chance that Evilmoku would be involved.
"Please, Lord Hokage, rest assured—I won't drag anyone down."
Shinki bowed deeply in earnest request.
There was no doubt he was the weakest member of the soon-to-depart team.
Even with a Bloodline Limit like Magnet Release, the team already included three Sharingan users, two of whom also had the Rinnegan—not to mention the enigmatic Jar Merchant, who could go toe-to-toe with Evilmoku. This was arguably the strongest squad in Konoha's history.
"Hmm…"
Naruto was still hesitating.
"Let him come," the Jar Merchant said, stepping forward. "Maybe Shinki will surprise us during this mission."
With the loss of the Daimyō's bloodline from the Land of Wind, Shunhi had decided to make Shinki the new wielder of the Wind Eagle Armor.