After the clan meeting ended, Hiashi left the Hyuga ancestral hall with a proud look on his face.
Every movement he made was observed by his uncle, the Second Elder of the main family, Hyuga Elder #2. A flicker of doubt passed through his aged, clouded eyes, but he didn't step forward to confront Hiashi. Instead, he let out a few silent sighs and turned away.
"Hiashi... I don't know what you're planning, but if it's for Hyuga sake, then go ahead."
"I'll support you—even if it costs me my life."
"Sister… I wonder what you would think of all this…" Hyuga Elder #2 muttered to himself, raising his eyes to the sky.
…
"What was I thinking?"
"I got the idea from the training guidance that Uchiha Hikaru gave to Lady Hinata. Coincidentally, Tenten's family deals in ninja tools, so she and I ended up inventing this firearm together."
"I don't know much about ninja tools myself. All I could do was offer ideas and inspiration. The actual blueprints and forging were all done by Tenten."
Ten kilometers north of Konoha, Neji stood nervously under questioning from Tobirama Senju, offering his answer with humility.
But Tobirama didn't seem satisfied. He felt Neji was being too modest, and his sharp instincts picked up on the boy's discomfort. Instead, the Second Hokage turned to Tenten.
"Tenten, you tell me. I get the feeling this kid is still holding something back."
Well-versed in reading people, Tobirama saw through Neji's reluctance immediately.
Tenten stole a glance at Neji's profile. She knew he was only doing this for her benefit, but she couldn't accept credit that didn't belong to her.
"He's… mostly right, but not completely," she confessed.
"We worked on the designs together. About 70 percent of the blueprint was drawn by Neji. As for forging, I only asked my father to create the firearm's casing. Even he couldn't make the small, precise internal parts—not without proper molds. Everything had to be handmade."
"It was thanks to Neji's intense Gentle Fist training that he developed the chakra control precise enough to polish those tiny components."
As she finished, Tenten felt Neji's wordless gaze on her. She stuck out her tongue playfully.
"You don't have to hand things over to me. I'll develop ninja tools that are way stronger than these three firearms someday!"
Tenten's tsundere declaration lightened Neji's mood, and he couldn't help but nod.
"You're right. I underestimated you."
"I'll be waiting for the day you invent something that surpasses even firearms."
Tenten met Neji's cheerful, open smile—one she'd never seen from him before. Her eyes lingered longer than expected, and she felt herself lose track of the moment.
"Hmph!"
"Just wait. I will surpass you!"
Tobirama watched the two young shinobi with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
This… this is the Konoha I want to protect.
This is the future I want to see—Konoha, thriving.
By the time the questioning ended, the 200-plus Hyuga branch members had already been introduced to the firearms by Orochimaru. They stood at attention, weapons in hand, facing hundreds of targets placed at ranges of fifty, one hundred, two hundred, and a thousand meters.
Tobirama brought Neji and Tenten over to the eager crowd of Hyuga branch members and leaned down slightly to ask them:
"Well? You two want to give it a shot? These weapons were your designs, after all."
The two nodded enthusiastically.
Tenten grabbed a pistol from a nearby rack—compact, around 20 centimeters in length—while Neji chose a sniper rifle over a meter long.
Tenten grinned. "I'll try the small one. Without the Byakugan, I can't hit anything at long range anyway."
Neji responded, "Then I'll use the sniper rifle. I never had the chance to finish tuning it."
The two took position in front of a row of Byakugan-wielding Hyuga, gripping their weapons in both hands, aiming carefully at the fifty-meter target with one eye closed.
"First round of the shooting test: Pistol group. Each person will fire ten rounds. Begin!"
With Orochimaru's command, the Hyuga shinobi holding pistols began firing in staggered rhythm, channeling chakra into their weapons and unleashing their shots.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Over a hundred pistols discharged in near-unison, the deafening cacophony echoing across the training grounds. Yet every face among the shooters carried a single shared expression:
"Not enough! Way not enough! Ten shots? I need more!"
Orochimaru observed calmly, watching each shinobi until the final round was fired before issuing the next instruction.
"You'll form into pairs. Count each other's hits and log them on the form. Report back when complete."
The shinobi began calculating their partners' results one by one.
Neji handled Tenten's scoring.
While he worked, Tenten turned to Tobirama with curiosity sparkling in her eyes.
"Lord Tobirama, why does it feel like this new version uses way less chakra? If this were the old model, I'd only manage a few rounds before running dry."
"What did you do!?" she asked, practically bouncing with excitement over the firearm's mechanics.
Tobirama accepted the pistol from her, placed a finger on a small button above the grip, and—click—an 11-centimeter-long rectangular cartridge popped out.
"This," he said, "is the magazine. Think of it like a quiver of arrows. Before firing, chakra must be compressed into small spheres that serve as ammunition."
"But since it's difficult for most shinobi to condense chakra to that level, and since the drain is enormous, I made some adjustments."
"Instead of pure chakra rounds, I designed these with iron bullets—pointed at the front, flat at the rear. They only need a small amount of chakra injected into the air chamber at the back as a power source."
"When the trigger is pulled, the back of the bullet is ruptured. Chakra bursts out of the small tail cavity and propels the bullet forward."
"This drastically lowers the user requirement and chakra consumption. The trade-off is fixed power. It's only lethal within a hundred meters."
"But that's fine. Pistols aren't meant for long-range combat."
Neji and Tenten absorbed every word of Tobirama's explanation, both deeply impressed.
He really was the master of forbidden jutsu...
His thinking was years—decades—beyond theirs.
Just then, Neji finished tallying Tenten's results.
"Your best shot was in the 9-ring. Worst hit was a 3-ring. Out of 10 shots, your average hit landed in the 7-ring zone."
He paused. "Not bad at all. I wonder how that stacks up to the Hyuga marksmen…"
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Send Power Stones
Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
Second Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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