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summer?
Danzō's mouth twitched.
No wonder you brought a shovel and dared to dig a hole here?
"This is not where you should be. Leave now!"
"Oh."
Akira Tsubaki looked disappointed and left with his shovel and backpack.
On the way, he couldn't figure out what Danzō was doing in the back mountain.
"If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. The shade isn't good here, so I'll change spots."
Going around to the sunnier side of the back mountain, he chose another good location.
The woods were dense, and there was a stream not far away.
The only downside was that this side faced the village.
"As long as I pay attention, I shouldn't be noticed by people in the village."
At the same time.
Danzō walked to a hidden stone wall on the shady side of the back mountain and activated a mechanism.
Click!
Accompanied by the triggering sound, a stone door slowly rose.
Danzō's figure vanished into the depths of the underground lair.
"Why are you here?"
In the darkness, Orochimaru emerged from his laboratory with a raspy voice.
"Sunagakure raided the Land of Rivers; your experiment will be put on hold for the time being," Danzō explained the reason for his visit.
"Oh, is that so…"
Orochimaru looked disappointed.
His experiment had achieved preliminary results, only to be interrupted by the looming war. The Hokage would certainly deploy him to the front line.
"By the way, did you tell anyone about this secret laboratory?" Danzō suddenly asked.
He thought of Akira Tsubaki, who had been nearby just moments ago, finding the coincidence too strange.
A Genin, why would he come to the shady side of the back mountain? Summer? That reason is truly far-fetched.
Danzō hadn't worried earlier, but the more he thought about it now, the more suspicious he became.
"Tell someone? Do you think I'm an idiot?" Orochimaru's tone was disgruntled.
The experiments conducted here were illegal; why would he tell anyone?
"Well, then I regret to inform you that the secret laboratory may have been exposed," Danzō warned.
"Huh? Exposed?" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Just now, I saw a Dead Last from Team Minato nearby."
"Team Minato? Namikaze Minato's squad?"
Orochimaru instantly became alert.
Anyone else would be fine, but Namikaze Minato was a Ninja even more talented than himself.
This, Orochimaru had to admit.
The current problem: Namikaze Minato's disciple suddenly came to the back mountain, even trying to dig a hole near his secret laboratory!
What does that mean?
Is he truly here to escape the heat?
Only an idiot would believe that.
"Why didn't you eliminate him just now?" Orochimaru demanded.
"This is your secret laboratory; you must handle it," Danzō shot the problem back.
A joke!
Namikaze Minato had begun to master Space-Time Ninjutsu; who knew if he had left any tricks for his disciple?
Moreover, even if the secret laboratory was discovered, it was Orochimaru's fault. What did Danzō have to do with it?
Boom!
Suddenly, there was a slight tremor from the cave's rock wall.
Although it was only brief, both men instantly noticed it.
Looking at the bent, deformed shovel, Akira Tsubaki wanted to cry.
"Careless. I forgot that a shovel can't dig through solid rock."
Crouching in front of the stone wall, Akira Tsubaki tossed the shovel aside.
He had been focused on digging a hole but had neglected the issue of dealing with stone.
Now, before the bunker was even started, his tool was ruined.
"If I go back to the village for tools now, I might be discovered."
"How can I dig a hole without tools?"
He couldn't just hide under a tree forever. The probability of being discovered that way was extremely high, and what if it rained?
After thinking about it, he checked the Strength attribute on his panel.
Strength: 114 -Kage-level
And then, Akira Tsubaki had an idea.
Tools?
What tools do I need?
I am the best tool there is.
"No tool is reliable; only doing it myself works!"
Taking a deep breath, Akira Tsubaki raised his right fist, gathering his immense strength.
Then.
Boom!!!
The moment his fist connected with the stone wall, a huge burst of power erupted.
The hard stone wall shattered instantly, and cracks began to spread rapidly.
Crack, crack.
Akira Tsubaki took a few steps back, looking at the falling gravel with delight.
With that single punch, he had blasted out a small cave large enough to accommodate a person.
"It's just a pain in the fist."
Looking at the reddened back of his hand, Akira Tsubaki rubbed it gingerly.
Not a big problem.
"My Physique attribute is also Kage-level, so I should recover quickly."
Among the four-dimensional attributes, his Physique was the highest, surpassing his Strength by 30 points (based on the Chapter 22 table).
After cleaning up the gravel, Akira Tsubaki used the rubble to build a simple stove.
Then, he slipped into the cave with his backpack.
On the mountainside!
Orochimaru and Danzō stood on a tree, watching Akira Tsubaki disappear into the newly formed cave, and they both fell silent.
Finally, Danzō spoke first.
"So, were we overthinking it? The Dead Last was just afraid of the war, so he ran to the back mountain to hide?"
"The Dead Last?" Orochimaru was speechless.
Based on the tremor they felt moments ago, he concluded that the Genin named Akira Tsubaki must have blasted out that cave with his fist.
Blasted out a cave with one punch—and you call this a Dead Last?
What made Orochimaru even more incredulous was that he hadn't detected the slightest fluctuation of Chakra.
In other words, Akira Tsubaki did it with pure, raw physical strength.
Involuntarily, Orochimaru recalled Might Dai and his son.
It seems he is another Ninja who lacks Ninjutsu talent and has been practicing pure Taijutsu.
Happy Hot Springs Bathhouse.
Obito cursed loudly.
Kakashi's hair was drooping.
Rin was sweating profusely.
Finally, they completed the arduous task of cleaning the bathhouse.
"Akira, that bastard, has been gone since the start! It was just the three of us working!" Obito was furious.
"Excessive!" Kakashi agreed.
"We're finished cleaning. Let's go find Akira and hand in the mission together," Rin suggested, wiping off her sweat.
The result.
The three of them searched the entire bathhouse, only to find that Akira Tsubaki was nowhere to be found.