While the name of the [Divine Court] had just dropped like a bomb among the higher-ups of the ninja world, behind that growing sense of deterrence, the internal construction of the organization was advancing at high speed in a brutally strict fashion.
Deep in the base, a massive training space had been opened up.
Unlike any ordinary training ground, this place looked like it existed for one purpose only: hellish training.
Anyone who set foot here was destined not to be ordinary.
There were no unnecessary decorations, only cold metal walls all around and hard composite flooring underfoot.
Dozens of young ninja were undergoing high-intensity live combat sparring on that floor.
They were mostly between fifteen and twenty years old, all wearing the same close-fitting black combat gear.
None of them wore a forehead protector from any village, and none hid their faces behind masks.
At first glance, you really couldn't tell which village they came from.
But for this unit… that sort of identity no longer mattered.
Every face still held a trace of youth, yet in their eyes there was a firmness and coldness far beyond their age.
The entire space was devoid of idle chatter.
Only the harsh clash of weapons, the rapid sound of footsteps, and deliberately suppressed, heavy breathing echoed through the room.
No one complained about the harshness of the training.
No one backed down because of pain.
Those who fell would immediately climb back up and throw themselves into the fight again.
Among these trainees, a few figures were particularly eye-catching.
A long-haired girl with purple hair wielded her blade with agile speed.
Every cut she made struck straight toward a vital point, a lethal elegance hidden within each motion.
Uzuki Yugao, one of the top prodigies in the Anbu reserve, was currently locked in fierce combat with a young member of the Uchiha clan.
In another corner, a pale-faced boy was fighting.
His body looked frail, and from time to time he let out a suppressed cough.
Yet his swordsmanship was vicious and tricky.
His blade always came slanting in from the most unexpected angles.
Moonlight Hayate, inheritor of Konoha-ryu Kenjutsu (Konoha-style swordsmanship), was using his unique sword style to tangle with a Hyuga clansman skilled in hard fist taijutsu.
The two were actually evenly matched—despite him looking sickly and weak.
Aside from them, there were many other elite heirs of Konoha's various clans in the training ground.
The Uchiha youths had already awakened their single-tomoe Sharingan.
The Hyuga heirs used their Byakugan to see through every slightest flaw in their opponents' movements.
The Sarutobi youths handled all sorts of weapons with practiced ease.
These were the first batch of core combatants of the [Divine Court].
They had been carefully selected from all departments and clans of Konoha after the strictest screening of loyalty and potential.
The very first standard of selection was absolute loyalty to Shinju.
They would share a single, supreme title—
The God Guard.
Hatake Sakumo, the legendary "White Fang of Konoha," was the chief instructor of this unit.
Sakumo stood on the high platform at the edge of the training ground, arms crossed over his chest.
His gaze was like that of a hawk, sweeping over every trainee below, not missing even the tiniest flaw.
His training methods overturned all the traditions of the Konoha Academy and even the Anbu.
These trainees could never have imagined training like this before.
Sakumo had completely discarded all those complicated hand-seal-heavy ninjutsu lessons, and he also ignored large-scale techniques that required massive chakra consumption.
In his curriculum, he emphasized only three most fundamental elements:
Speed. Precision. Lethality.
All training revolved around one core question:
How to kill the enemy in the shortest time, with the most accurate strike, in the most efficient way.
"Uzuki Yugao!"
Sakumo's voice suddenly rang out.
Right in the middle of a high-speed exchange of blows, Yugao's body reacted the moment she heard her name.
She forced her opponent back with a single slash, stepped away, sheathed her blade, and stood up straight, waiting for the instructor's orders—like an elementary student waiting for a teacher's guidance.
"Your blade is too soft."
Sakumo's assessment was direct and sharp.
"The essence of Hatake-ryu Tōjutsu (Hatake-style sword techniques) is to unleash the strongest cutting power at the shortest distance and with the fastest speed."
"You're pursuing variety and fluidity in your sword forms too much.
That actually weakens the killing power of each strike."
"Remember, the sword in your hand is not a prop for some graceful performance.
It's a tool for killing.
On a real battlefield, everything changes in an instant.
You must seize the single fleeting moment of opportunity."
"Yes, Sakumo-dono!"
There was no dissatisfaction or rebuttal on Yugao's face.
Sakumo's gaze then shifted and fell on Hayate.
"Moonlight Hayate!"
Hayate, who had just dodged a Hakke Kusho (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm), immediately stopped moving and, like Yugao, stood respectfully and listened with full focus.
"Your Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon)—its sword trajectories are unpredictable.
It's certainly very deceptive."
Sakumo first offered a nod of approval, but then his tone changed.
"But your body is completely unable to keep up with your sword."
"Are you playing around? This is the battlefield.
The enemy won't give you even the slightest chance."
"Every time you cough, every pause when you change your breath—
in a real fight to the death, each of those is a fatal opening that could get you killed ten times over."
"You may not realize it, but that's the reality."
"Starting today, your physical training load will double.
Only when you can, in a single breath, unleash thirty-six full sequences of Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon) without coughing…
will you be considered barely qualified."
"Y-yes… cough, cough… yes, Sakumo-dono!
I'll do my best—no, I'll give it my all."
Hayate covered his mouth as a fit of violent coughing shook his body.
But when he lifted his head again, his pale face held eyes that were even more determined than before.
Sakumo poured everything he had learned over a lifetime into them:
the distilled essence of his swordsmanship,
the assassination skills tempered through countless life-and-death missions,
and his deep understanding of timing and rhythm in combat—
all of it he passed down to these young successors without holding anything back.
What he was teaching them was not how to simply complete missions,
nor how to become so-called "excellent ninja" in the traditional sense.
What he wanted was for them to survive.
To strengthen their ability to live through battle—
and to turn them into the most efficient, most pure war machines born for killing.
For this group of young geniuses, the name Hatake Sakumo was a living legend.
His death in the past had once cast a shadow over many of them.
But now, they had a new chance.
This time, they were determined to seize it.
To receive his personal instruction was something they never even dared to dream about before.
To catch up to the back of Konoha's White Fang—
that had become their most concrete, most immediate goal.
And to become a member of the God Guard,
to fight under the man who changed the fate of the entire village with his own strength,
the god who created a new era—Shinju-dono—
that was, from the bottom of their hearts, the highest honor they could be proud of.
Every last one of them, with almost fanatical devotion and passion,
crazy-hard squeezed out every bit of their potential,
greedily absorbing every shred of knowledge and technique Sakumo taught.
They understood crystal-clear what their own existence meant.
Their future enemies would be the monsters of the Akatsuki organization,
beings with Kage-class and even super-Kage-class power—
and the deepest, darkest shadows lurking behind the entire ninja world.
Each one of them had to become stronger—
strong enough to crush all obstacles in their path.
Only then would they be worthy of the weight carried by the title "God Guard."
This young unit, under Sakumo's own hand, was rapidly taking shape.
On Shinju's path to one day conquer the entire shinobi world and establish a completely new order,
they would be the sharpest spearhead—
and also the most solid cornerstone.
(End of Chapter)
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