"I believe you."
Possessing an independent personality and consciousness means being capable of independent thought and growth.
Naturally, this also brings the possibility of betrayal.
When creating puppets, Ryuji never transplants others' experiences or personalities. He starts from scratch, molding them to be absolutely loyal to himself.
The birth of these puppets invariably treats him as their creator to be loyal to, eliminating the need for such complications as with the Third Kazekage.
But precisely because of this, the Third Kazekage believed Ryuji's words.
If it were just for his power, there would be no need to replicate the Third Kazekage's personality and will.
That would only create trouble for oneself.
And if it were to seize the village's power... so what?
After all, Ryuji is also a Shinobi of Sunagakure.
Even if he eventually becomes the Kazekage, it's the same.
In his original expectations, Ryuji was one of the candidates for the next Kazekage.
If he truly becomes Kazekage in the future, it doesn't matter.
"In that case, come out and help quickly. Due to your disappearance, the village dispatched a large number of personnel to search, which attracted attacks from neighboring countries."
"Understood."
…
Ryuji sat on the tank's turret, surveying the entire village.
Amidst the array of adobe buildings, smoke and flames were everywhere. The sounds of battle and collisions constantly drifted from all directions.
"With the Third Kazekage managing the overall situation in the village and Gin assisting, there shouldn't be major issues. I'll head to the frontlines first!" Ryuji stood up and formed hand seals.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!!
Steam erupted from the exhaust pipes. The tank's armor transformed, extending eight steel support legs while the tracks below retracted, turning it into an eight-legged walking fortress.
"To the main gate!"
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!!
Valves released large amounts of steam. The war fortress moved its eight steel legs, scuttling forward like a spider.
It didn't take the road but climbed the cliff face like a spider.
Its movements appeared heavy and slow, but its strides were large. Soon, it reached the top of the canyon.
The sounds of battle from the frontlines suddenly grew louder, flooding into his ears all at once.
Several Sunagakure's Chunin, defending against attacks from within the village, instantly appeared before Ryuji, kneeling on one knee. "Ryuji-sama!"
"What's the current situation?"
"Rasa-sama is leading everyone in a desperate resistance. But we have less than a thousand people, including Genin. The enemy numbers nearly ten thousand. The situation is not optimistic."
"I understand. Continue your guard duty."
"Yes!"
The Sunagakure's Shinobi returned to their posts.
Ryuji looked down the path between the two mountain peaks. The passage, no more than seven or eight meters wide and a hundred meters long, was densely packed with corpses. Blood flowed, dyeing the base of the mountains red.
"The situation is indeed not optimistic."
Ryuji frowned slightly.
Although the corpses in the passage were all from the Allied Forces, outside the passage lay a flat, open desert.
The defenders on the mountain peaks, combined with the defensive installations, could have completely annihilated the enemies outside the passage.
The fact that so many enemies died within the passage indicated that the enemy had breached the outermost defense.
Judging by the numbers, it had happened more than once.
"Anyway, let's go up and assess the situation first."
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!!
Steam valves released vapor. The tank moved its eight steel legs again, carrying Ryuji up the mountain.
Defensive works were built starting from the mountainside, with another layer every ten meters, totaling six layers of defenses.
Due to the tank's size, Ryuji drove it directly to the mountaintop.
It was already crowded with people.
Wounded lying in the rear receiving treatment, Shinobi standing at the forefront engaging the enemy.
Everyone looked tense and covered in blood and dust.
The tank's massive size naturally drew attention as soon as it arrived, attracting many gazes.
Not everyone in a village knows each other, let alone a machine this large.
However, the battle was fierce. Those who saw Ryuji on the tank and his forehead protector quickly returned to the fight.
A graceful figure landed before him. Pakura asked with a deep frown, "Why did it take you so long?"
"Many rats infiltrated the village. One elite team wanted to breach the gate from the inside in a coordinated attack. I dealt with them."
"These guys came prepared!"
"Obviously, there are spies in our village. The news of the Third Kazekage's disappearance was probably transmitted out immediately."
"Damn it!"
Pakura angrily punched the tank's armor, then looked up at Ryuji. "How many times have you used your Railgun?"
"Once."
"Only one shot left, then."
Pakura bit her thumbnail, saying angrily, "I was hoping your 'Iron Tyrant' could fire a shot first to relieve pressure on the frontline."
A high-tech product requires countless scientific technologies to manufacture.
Although Ryuji learned how to build a railgun from the book 'Detailed Explanation of Electromagnetic Cannons', he couldn't build one.
Because the components needed to build a railgun themselves are high-tech products. He didn't understand their principles and couldn't manufacture them.
Ryuji relied on Ninjutsu and various technological transformations from other worlds to create this one Railgun.
Among them, the small nuclear reactor used as the power source was replaced with Chakra.
Chakra is a miraculous energy. If fully mastered, one can control all creation.
Using Chakra as a power source is merely a very basic technique.
However,
Something that requires a nuclear reactor as a power source… the amount of energy it consumes is immense. Even without precise calculation, one can roughly imagine it.
The largest Chakra Storage Scroll Ryuji could find, even fully charged, was only enough for two shots.
Pakura and Ryuji were once teammates. During a mission together, they encountered a giant mutated monster.
Ryuji dealt with it using the Railgun back then.
Therefore, she was very familiar with this thing.
However...
"That's all in the past." Ryuji smiled. "I've developed a Chakra Storage Device. Although the device is a bit bulky and takes up space, so many mounted weapons had to be removed to fit it in, it can store much more Chakra, enough for four shots. Even after using one earlier, there are still three shots left."
"That's great! Quickly pull it to the front and fire a shot. The enemy's offensive pressure is too high."
Pakura happily jumped off the tank and cleared the way ahead.
Ryuji drove the vehicle forward. People ahead automatically made way.
Soon, he reached the very front and saw the enemy.
On the endless desert, Shinobi wearing four different uniforms charged like waves toward their position.
On the mountain's defensive works, countless Sunagakure's Shinobi operated siege engines to counterattack.
A sky-blotting rain of arrows and kunai shot forth. With each mechanical roar, countless enemies fell.
But the enemies seemed unafraid of death, surging forward one after another.
From the far rear, others used Ninjutsu for long-range attacks, covering their comrades' advance.
"Ryuji, can you take out that unit?"
Pakura pointed to an Iwagakure's unit several hundred meters away.
That Iwagakure's unit was positioned several hundred meters back, out of range of most Ninjutsu and weapons.
Yet they could spit out fist-sized rocks at a high frequency, like cannonballs, easily breaking through the defensive works.
Their dense barrage even caused the entire mountainside to tremble constantly.