On the battlefield, tension hung thick in the air. Hundreds of ninjas formed an impenetrable perimeter around Byakuya.
"Perhaps we can talk this out," the Third Hokage called from a distance, hoping to resolve the crisis through dialogue.
"There's nothing to talk about. My goal isn't to rule—it's simply destruction," Byakuya shook his head.
As soon as the words fell, the ground beneath Maito Gai collapsed in a massive quake. He was hurled forward, crashing directly into Byakuya's field of vision. His fist, the size of a clay pot, began to grow larger with each passing second.
Yet before a punch capable of obliterating hundreds of meters of street could land, Byakuya stood unflinching. He raised his right hand slightly, and amidst the massive flow of air, caught the strike firmly.
"I'm not like you fragile types," Byakuya muttered, tilting his head and evading a right fist that could have flattened a mountain: "At this level, it's barely even a warm-up for me."
"So… can your Eight Gates technique open the Ninth Gate?" Byakuya asked, stepping back to create distance, evading the spatial distortions of Kamui, while looking at Kai, who was already grimacing in pain after just a few punches.
"If not, then Konoha is doomed today."
With that, under the stunned gaze of everyone around, Byakuya raised his right fist—and instantly vanished from the spot.
In the next moment, moving at a hundred times the speed of sound, Byakuya became invisible to the naked eye. In what seemed like frozen time, he swung his right fist over the entirety of the main city area.
The Konoha main district, covering nearly 40 million square meters, was subjected to Byakuya's systematic assault.
For every ten thousand square meters—a 100x100 meter area—he struck the ground at incredible speed. Then, like a diligent farmer, he moved to the next section, repeating the process.
At his current speed—100 times the speed of sound, roughly 34,000 meters per second—combined with the time spent striking, the total time required to destroy Konoha's main city was…
Less than 20 seconds.
Watching Byakuya vanish from sight, the ninjas were utterly bewildered. Only Maito Gai, who had opened the Eight Gates, could perceive the staggering speed and the looming danger being transmitted from afar.
In an instant, before they could even react, they felt it:
A blinding wave of light and heat slammed into them from all directions at supersonic speed, engulfing them completely.
Even with chakra shielding their bodies, which were harder than steel, these ninjas spat blood as they were blown away by the shockwave.
Amidst the endless tumbling, the deafening roar reached their ears, wrapping around their eardrums, leaving them temporarily deaf.
From a bird's-eye view, clouds of dust erupted from the ground in Konoha village, buildings swallowed in swirling debris, all reduced to ruin.
Seventeen seconds later, Byakuya stopped. Konoha lay utterly devastated.
Well… almost.
At least the Uchiha clan's ancestral lands were spared—he had shown some mercy. A surprisingly considerate gesture!
'Boring.' Byakuya turned his back on the ruined village, unimpressed.
All of this… was just him toying with weaklings. Anyone with his level of overwhelming power could have done the same. For some reason, he felt a fleeting kinship with a certain bald man.
He was already… invincible.
With his [Stance] activated, all the strength in his body condensed. Each punch and kick now possessed ten times the power.
And once strength reached tenfold, his training efficiency naturally increased tenfold as well. Every exercise exerted full pressure on every muscle.
In other words, a regimen that previously took ten days to improve his physique tenfold could now, if he trained seriously and disregarding mental limitations, increase his power tenfold in a single day. The next day, his strength would jump another tenfold based on the previous day.
And this was only the beginning. As additional attribute points accumulated, his training effects would continue to escalate, eventually reaching a level where even he would hesitate to throw a full-powered punch.
According to projected training efficiency, one full-powered strike might boost his physical capabilities by thousands, or even tens of thousands of times.
This… was the so-called "God's Training."
Of course, no matter how intense the training, it was still finite. Byakuya could clearly perceive the gap between finite and infinite power.
He did not know how strong his body, combined with his stats, could eventually become, or how long it would take to break the barrier from finite to infinite.
Byakuya muttered to his stats: "Maybe ten thousand… maybe a hundred thousand… perhaps even a million?"
"Byakuya-kun really is impatient."
Not far away, Orochimaru approached with Uchiha Sasuke. They both felt a chill seeing the countless lights of the village extinguished behind Byakuya.
Even if he had overestimated Byakuya's strength, the shock of witnessing it firsthand was beyond imagination.
Sasuke stared blankly at the village that had survived for decades, now destroyed. Despite his grudges, he still felt a pang of sorrow.
"Don't worry. For your sake, I spared the area where your Naruto and the others are," Byakuya waved off.
Although he had decimated Konoha, many ninjas survived since he had not targeted anyone specifically. The villagers, however… were less fortunate, scattered and torn apart.
"Continue? Wipe Konoha clean, even splitting worms in half?"
"Or just punish the culprits, tear Danzo and the others apart alive." Byakuya presented two options.
"…Second one," Sasuke said after a long silence, then looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Thank you."
Byakuya, surprised at the unexpected gratitude, chuckled.
"No need. We're all comrades in the same group. In the future, barring accidents, we'll be working together for a long time. This is just a small favor—it's not worth a thank you."
Orochimaru, standing nearby, looked at the two in confusion, not understanding the "group members" relationship.
Meanwhile, somewhere beneath the cement-covered ruins of Konoha, a man encased in steel emerged, punching through the ground and spitting out dust.
He stared blankly at the devastated streets. "So this counts as the Konoha collapse plan?"
He hadn't expected the previously hopeless plan to nearly succeed—but it had, just without their involvement. This dungeon run… was unusually bizarre.
(End of Chapter)