Naruto: I'm in Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 422 The Natural Energy of the Artificial Human

Faced with Deidara's burning gaze that seemed to burst with sparks, and that fervent shout of mutual appreciation, Menma's expression remained completely unchanged.

He casually pulled out an ordinary kunai without any explosive tags from his ninja tool bag, flipped and tossed it with his fingers, the cold glint of metal flashing in the air.

Menma's gaze bypassed Deidara, whose eyes were filled with the fervor of seeing a kindred spirit, and landed on Onoki Sora and Kirara.

"An artificial human... and not the crude, half-finished product from the Boruto era," Menma thought to himself.

In his memory, during the Boruto era, out of his obsessive concern about the future of the ninja world, Onoki secretly created artificial humans such as "Ku" and "Kirama." Although they possessed special abilities, they had serious flaws, required frequent maintenance, and had extremely limited range of activity and endurance, making them more like unstable experimental subjects.

These two in front of me not only followed Deidara on a long journey to Konoha and participated in the Death Forest trial that lasted for several days, but they were also able to react quickly and use Dust Release to defend themselves in the face of an explosion of that scale. Their stability and level of execution far surpass those of Boruto twenty years later.

What concerned him even more was that, under Kagura's extremely subtle perception, the flow of Sora and Kyoma's chakra, besides the unnatural emptiness and precise mechanical regularity unique to androids, also faintly contained a trace of extremely faint natural energy.

"Very well," Menma's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he stopped tossing and catching the kunai in his hand, holding it firmly.

"Let's take this opportunity to test the mechanized humans created by Onoki and Mount Myōboku, see just how capable they are, and what tricks they have up their sleeves."

"Hinata!" Menma said to the girl behind him who was on high alert, without turning around.

"You and Naruto, focus on dealing with Deidara. His clay explosions have a large blast radius, but his close-quarters combat is a weakness. Use the Byakugan's insight and Gentle Fist to limit him, while Naruto uses Shadow Clones to harass and trigger explosions."

"Leave the other two to me."

"Yes, Menma-kun!" Hinata replied immediately without the slightest hesitation.

She had absolute trust in Deidara, and the veins in her Byakugan were slightly bulging as she firmly locked onto Deidara's kijutsu and chakra flow.

At the same time, a feeling of warmth and fighting spirit welled up in her heart.

Menma-kun entrusting important opponents to himself and Naruto is a recognition of their strength!

"Understood! Brother Menma!" Naruto's main body, mixed in with the shadow clones, shouted excitedly, and more shadow clones began to gather around him.

"Alright! Let's beat this blond guy flat first!"

"Charge!!"

The moment the tactical arrangements were given, Mianma also moved.

With a flick of his wrist, the ordinary kunai transformed into a blurry gray line, shooting straight toward the three members of the Iwagakure squad.

It was slow, had a clear trajectory, and didn't even have much chakra attached to it; it looked like a casual, probing attack.

"Huh?" Seeing that the other party completely ignored him and began to make tactical arrangements and launch an attack, Deidara was stunned for a moment, and then a feeling of being slighted and annoyed surged into his heart.

"Damn it! How dare you ignore me? Treat me like a joke?! Where is your passion for art?!" Deidara felt that the resonance between "artists" had been tainted.

Sora and Kirara watched the incoming kunai warily, preparing to fight.

Sora noticed that the kunai did not have an explosive tag attached, and suspected that the other party was about to get close, so he slightly turned his body and easily dodged it.

However, just as the kunai flew past Kong's side and shot towards the open space behind him...

A sudden change has occurred!

The ordinary kunai suddenly exploded with a "bang" and a cloud of white smoke!

A figure suddenly appeared from the white smoke!

With a sudden twist of his waist in mid-air, his right leg, like a battle axe, swept fiercely towards the nearest empty space with lightning speed, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air!

"What?!" Deidara and Kirara's pupils shrank dramatically!

boom--!

A dull thud of flesh colliding rang out!

Sora Ohno was caught off guard by the kick, and his left cheek took the forceful and tricky roundhouse kick.

The immense force sent him flying backward to the side!

After flying backwards for more than ten meters, Kong Cai barely managed to steady himself. He spun around in the air several times before landing somewhat unsteadily, his feet carving two deep furrows in the solid ground, raising clouds of dust!

"Empty!" Mica exclaimed.

He knelt on one knee, supporting himself with one hand on the ground.

He slowly raised his head, and instead of redness and swelling, several cracks appeared on his sturdy face.

On his left cheek, where he had just been struck by the whip kick from the face numb, several fine black cracks had appeared on his skin, like those on a piece of cheap porcelain!

No blood seeped from the crack's edge; instead, it shimmered with an unnatural matte sheen.

Even more bizarrely, through the cracks, one could vaguely see that what lay beneath was not flesh and bones, but rather a faint green energy network shimmering slightly.

"This is...?!" In the players' rest area, Gaara and Temari, who had been watching the battlefield closely, both narrowed their eyes almost simultaneously.

Both of them immediately noticed the abnormality in Sora's body.

"Kankuro!" Temari whispered.

Kankuro had long since abandoned his lazy demeanor. He crossed his arms, his brows furrowed, and his eyes, covered by paint, were fixed on the strange cracks on Sora's face.

As a legitimate successor of the Sunagakure puppeteers and having learned even more advanced puppetry techniques from the Otsutsuki clan of the Moon in the Land of Stars, he has a keen eye for talent.

"It's strange..." Kankuro's voice was filled with confusion and seriousness.

"The structure beneath the crack... is definitely not the muscle tissue of a living person, nor does it resemble any biological or puppet material I know of."

"It's called a puppet, but it doesn't have the obvious characteristics of a puppet's joints, and its movements are too fluid. It breathes and has chakra flowing..."

"If I had seen a forbidden technique scroll from Sunagakure recording the creation of puppets from living people, it would have generated intense resentment and death energy, but he didn't. And..."

He paused, then pointed to Kong's next action: "Look, he's repairing himself."

In the arena, Kong was clearly aware of the damage to his "outer shell".

He was somewhat flustered and quickly raised his left hand, forming a peculiar hand seal in front of his chest.

hum-

A wisp of pale green, vibrant energy quickly spread from the cracks in his cheek.

Wherever the green energy passed, the black cracks healed and disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the damaged skin became smooth and flat again, as if it had never been damaged.

"Natural energy... traces of Sage Chakra, though faint, are not to be mistaken." A knowing glint flashed in Menma's eyes.

That makes sense.

Why did Onoki dare to bypass the surveillance of the Star Country's military advisory group in Iwagakure and secretly advance this forbidden artificial life experiment, achieving results beyond expectations?

"Mount Myōboku... that old toad, as expected, couldn't resist and extended his reach into the ninja world." Menma thought to himself with a cold sneer.

It seems that the old toad didn't listen to the message Jiraiya had given him last time.

Or perhaps, with that old toad's abilities, he glimpsed certain future fragments that deviated from the timeline, sensed the threat or opportunity facing Mount Myōboku, and thus chose to cooperate with Ōnoki, who also harbored fear of the Land of Stars and whose ambitions remained undiminished.

To curb the uncontrollable Asura, whose strength had already subtly surpassed that of the Sage of Six Paths, that old toad was truly willing to go to great lengths.

Onoki provided Iwagakure with resources and the secret techniques of creating artificial humans, as well as his own cell samples, while Mt. Myōboku provided methods for utilizing natural energy and some knowledge of Sage Mode.

The combination of the two gave birth to "Kong" and "Mica," two more complete and promising "artificial humans" than the original work.

The Star Country's secret intelligence unit and the military advisory group stationed in Iwagakure had long noticed the unusual movement of some supplies and personnel in Iwagakure, and also noticed Onoki's elusive movements and frequent contact with certain forbidden research sites.

However, the other party was discreet enough, and with the cover provided by the Tsuchikage's identity, they were unable to obtain decisive evidence.

Now it seems that all the anomalies have a reasonable explanation.

His kick just now not only contained regular chakra, but also a trace of dark chakra.

This chakra possesses a unique nature, combining destruction and erosion, capable of inflicting considerable damage even on opponents of Jigen's caliber.

"Using natural energy to maintain the activity and repair of the artificial body... It's a good idea, but the technology isn't perfect. It seems that old toad wasn't willing to give away the real thing, or maybe Onoki himself doesn't understand it." Menma made a judgment instantly.

This allowed him to make a more accurate assessment of the combat capabilities of the two androids.

They have weaknesses, and significant ones at that.

Just as Mianma was analyzing Kong's information, his mind raced, Yunmu also made her move on the other side.

"You rascal, how could you hit the air so hard?" Yunmu sighed softly, her voice still sweet, but with a hint of coldness.

She casually waved the small purple parasol in her hand forward.

call--

A pale purple fragrance, carrying the rich scent of violets, swept towards the direction where Menma was!

The aroma is sweet and intoxicating, quickly spreading through the air.

Several Naruto shadow clones who rushed up from the side to attack Yunmu immediately became sluggish and chaotic upon contact with the fragrance, their eyes glazed over, and they actually began to attack each other!

"Mmm! It smells so good... Wait, I'm a little dizzy..."

Why did you hit me?!

"It wasn't me! My body moved on its own!"

The chaotic infighting among the shadow clones temporarily prevented the other shadow clones from getting close.

But this fragrant breeze was merely a feint.

Mica's true killing move was in her eyes, which suddenly lit up with a faint purple light, as dazzling as jewels!

Just as Menma's gaze shifted slightly due to the fragrant breeze, it met Mica's purple pupils.

A brilliant purple light shone in Mica's eyes!

A powerful gaze, imbued with a strong will to possess and control, invaded Menma's mind!

She wanted to turn this dangerous boy into a puppet in her hands!

However, in the next instant, the elegant smile on Mica's face suddenly froze.

Instead, there was a deathly pale expanse and an overwhelming sense of terror!

Her spirit, her consciousness, did not invade or control her as usual the moment her pupil power touched the mental barrier of her face numbness. Instead, it was as if she had crashed into a boundless, bottomless dark vortex!

An immense and despair-inducing suction force came, forcibly dragging and swallowing her spiritual body!

The world is spinning!

When Mica regained her senses, she found herself standing in a completely unfamiliar, dark red world filled with endless desolation, bloodshed, and the aura of death.

Beneath my feet lay scorched, cracked earth, soaked with dark red scabs, exuding the pungent smell of rust and ash.

The sky was an unchanging, oppressive dark red dome, devoid of sun, moon, and stars, only low-hanging, rolling clouds like congealed blood.

The air was thick with an overwhelming stench of blood and despair.

And a chilling, bone-chilling killing intent.

Before her stood a towering mountain of corpses, piled high with countless mangled bodies!

The corpses were dressed in uniforms from different ninja villages, their faces contorted, their deaths varied, and the flowing blood gathered into streams, forming crimson puddles at the foot of the mountain of corpses.

Witnessing this scene alone almost overwhelmed Mica's spirit with boundless fear and chill.

However, what terrified her even more was the presence at the top of the mountain of corpses.

A gigantic fox demon, covered in dark red fur and with ten ferocious tails swaying behind it, was perched atop the mountain of corpses!

Its beastly eyes, as red as lava and radiating pure malice, were looking down at her as if she were an ant that had accidentally wandered into a dragon's lair.

With just eye contact, Yunmu felt as if her spiritual body was about to be completely torn apart by that pure malice!

On the body of the dark red ten-tailed fox, a figure leaned casually against it.

It was a black-haired boy.

He was dressed in a long black robe, his posture relaxed, even somewhat languid.

But his eyes were colder than the blood-red world around him, and more desolate than mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

He leaned against the ten-tailed fox demon, which resembled a ferocious beast capable of destroying the world, as if he were enjoying a peaceful afternoon with his eyes closed.

As his eyelids slowly lifted, his gaze fell upon the trembling spirit form of the mica—

"Ugh—!!!"

In the real world, on the sports field.

Mica let out a short, piercing scream that was so shrill it was almost inhuman. The light in her purple pupils went out instantly, replaced by boundless fear and disorientation!

Her petite body jolted violently, and she staggered back several steps. The white bandage wrapped around the lower half of her face came undone from the violent trembling, revealing her delicate yet deathly pale chin.

"Kirin?!" Deidara, who had just dodged Hinata's Gentle Fist pressure point strike and was about to throw the clay bird, turned around in horror upon hearing the sound. He saw Kirin as if all her strength and soul had been drained away in an instant, her eyes were vacant, and her face was filled with extreme, distorted terror.

She could no longer hold on; her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground with a thud, her whole body trembling violently as if it were a leaf.

The previous elegance, composure, and playful mystery have vanished, leaving only a sense of collapse and fear from the depths of the soul.

In that brief moment, what exactly did she see in the black-haired boy's mental world?!

Menma slowly withdrew his gaze, no longer paying attention to Yunmu, who had already suffered a mental breakdown.

He looked at Sora, whose face had just been repaired and whose eyes were extremely serious, then glanced at Deidara, who had been surrounded by Naruto's shadow clones in the distance, before finally fixing his gaze back on Sora.

"Let me see how many punches you can take?" Menma clenched his fists and cracked them in front of his chest, while taking a step and walking slowly towards the void.

boom--!!!

Just as the match reached its climax, a burst of smoke suddenly appeared on the VIP viewing platform, instantly attracting the attention of tens of thousands of spectators.

Mianma stopped and looked up, only to see two figures leaping out of the smoke.

"Orochimaru couldn't hold back any longer?"