Chapter 120: Mysterious Army
After the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, took his seat, the leaders of the villages and the representatives of other organizations began filing into the hall one after another.
This joint Chunin Exam was not merely a festival for the Five Great Nations. The smaller villages had their own goals. They intended to use this stage as a ladder, to show their strengths, attract talent, and win a share of the new era's attention.
The ninja world's flow of people had changed completely from what it was a few years ago. Inside the chakra networks built by the major nations, even village bandits were being wiped out systematically. Order had returned to roads that once belonged to chaos. The world looked almost prosperous.
Before long, the conference chamber was packed with distinguished guests. Shinobi in countless uniforms took their places, and Shinigami who had cast aside the old ninja form arrived as well.
As the newest profession cultivated by Las Noches, Shinigami, Death Gods, had started stepping onto the global stage as a self organized force. Their numbers were not large, and most served in support roles rather than open combat. Still, their symbolic weight was enormous.
The ninja world had never seen anything like this. No one had experience to rely on, no old handbook to consult. So for now, they followed the precedent of a Five Kage Summit. The Five Great Villages hosted, while smaller villages and organizations that had earned a place in the Chunin Exams were invited to attend and speak. With the Army Without Borders standing behind them, those smaller villages could finally be treated as voices rather than footnotes, even under the pressure of the major powers.
When everyone had arrived, a strange tension settled over the hall. Then the Fourth Hokage, Minato, stepped onto the podium in silence. He offered the room a bright, practiced smile.
"First, congratulations on the upcoming Chunin Tournament. With all of your support, this joint exam is about to begin. It is worth celebrating, and it marks a real step toward peace in the ninja world."
He paused, letting the applause that never came fade naturally.
"However, that is not the main reason I called all of you here. If this were only about the exams, there would be no need to gather every leader in one room."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"What Konoha needs to share is something we discovered during deep underground testing, in the natural veins and cavern systems beneath our territory."
Minato snapped his fingers.
A semi transparent projection unfolded in the air. The image showed a mechanical body lying on an operating table, something that looked as if it belonged in a science fiction novel rather than under the soil of the Land of Fire.
It had a mass produced, streamlined design. Its shell was simple, square, and pure white, shaped into a humanoid frame. Even in the displayed footage of it being shattered, the white joint structures were clear, as were the pale internal substances whose composition no one could identify.
The moment the projection appeared, nearly everyone in the hall instinctively turned a skeptical glance toward Rasa. Only Sunagakure was famous for mechanized constructs on this scale.
"What is that, a puppet or a robot?" someone muttered aloud. "Did the Sand Village make this?"
"No."
Rasa's voice cut in, calm and flat. He looked at the projection and shook his head.
"You can tell by the markings alone. A true robot requires complex internal conduits for propulsion, and a mechanical core for intelligence and command. Neither Sunagakure nor Iwagakure has mastered small scale mass production mechanization of this type. And those internal structures are not pipelines or hydraulics we commonly use. They are more like integrated modules. Our technology has not reached the point where chakra alone can drive that kind of perfect integration."
The Raikage, A, leaned forward, eyebrow raised.
"Wait, is that the Uchiha fan emblem?"
A low murmur rippled across the room.
"Las Noches made it?" A continued, eyes narrowing. "Shouldn't you ask Aizen about that? Konoha used to be close with him."
Minato kept his expression neutral.
"Hueco Mundo has already stated these units do not belong to any Uchiha within their faction. And looking at the structure, the emblem is likely a coincidence. The shell contains a chakra signal receiver. It resembles a symbol, not a clan stamp."
He straightened on the podium, voice dropping into something colder.
"What we can confirm is this. The object is an automated chakra machine. Its operating principle cannot be explained by any known chakra development theory. If none of you claim responsibility for it, then we may be facing a disaster on the level of Moon Dream."
The hall stiffened.
"Because we have detected self replication."
"Self replication?" someone echoed.
"Yes." Minato nodded once. "Approximately every seven days, it absorbs chakra and natural energy from underground, forms a new body, and multiplies into another individual."
Chakra again.
A second Moon Dream.
Whispers exploded through the chamber. Those already sick of chakra's cruelty, those who had lost people to Moon Dream and learned to hate the power system itself, immediately turned their attention toward the Shinigami. The moment something strange was traced back to chakra, the air filled with fear, suspicion, and half formed theories.
Minato did not bother with ceremony. A sequence of documents and test reports appeared before the leaders, hovering in neat rows of light. He spoke clearly and without hesitation.
"Please understand what I am emphasizing. Each of these humanoids can multiply."
"They resist low to mid level ninjutsu the way Blut Vene armor does. They possess extreme self repair capability. They also show solid resistance to blades and blunt force. Their combat power is roughly equivalent to a Chunin specializing in defense while wearing Blut Vene armor."
His voice grew heavier.
"And such a unit creates one more unit every seven days. There is no upper limit we can detect."
"This is why I asked you here in person. Konoha does not want your geological maps or hydrological secrets. But the crisis of an infinite army is not a rumor, it is an objective reality."
"I urge every nation to inspect the underground structures within its own territory and accelerate the development of deep level detection instruments. This is not Moon Dream. This threat already shows organized behavior and individual characteristics. We do not yet understand it, but we cannot treat it lightly."
Silence hung over the room, thick as wet stone.
The Kage of the great villages frowned. The smaller village leaders and organization heads looked lost, as if someone had suddenly asked them to solve a war they had not even imagined. They were not here to carry the world. They were here to recruit, to trade, to shine. This kind of problem was too large for their hands.
Then a cold voice rose.
"Hmph. Is that all you called everyone here for?"
Danzo's sneer carried no respect for the Hokage's platform.
"No wonder Aizen didn't even bother to show his face. He likely thinks this is nothing worth panicking over."
He stood and walked toward the exit, pausing only to turn back. His eye swept across the Kage and the smaller leaders with faint contempt.
"The greatest crisis in the ninja world is the crisis of peace. As long as the major villages maintain peace, any conspiracy built by some hidden hand is a laughable trifle."
"If the combined wisdom of the world cannot surpass the creator of this so called infinite army, then let him rule it. I intend to keep the Chunin Exams fair, so I will not remain here. You who hold true territory may discuss it among yourselves."
With a dull thud, Danzo left without another word.
His departure became a signal. One by one, leaders of small villages and mid tier organizations found polite excuses, bowed, and withdrew.
If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up.
Their priority was still the exams, still attracting talent and resources by showing the world their village's unique value. Global apocalypse was not their business, not until it reached their doorstep.
But the Five Great Kage did not move. They remained seated, brows drawn tight as they studied the data Minato had provided. Unlike the borderless factions, they owned actual land, people, and infrastructure. They understood exactly how catastrophic this kind of hidden threat could become.
If Minato was right, then in only a handful of cycles, the underground world would be choked with these white semi mechanical monsters. And once they surfaced, the entire world would drown beneath an endless tide.
In truth, only after the outsiders left could those who mattered finally speak plainly.
"Since you're so certain they replicate without limit," the baby faced Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, said at last, "you must have tested it."
His eyes stayed sharp despite his young face.
"Explain the pattern. What exactly have you observed? I trust you are not calling this a crisis over a trivial anomaly, but we need the details."
"We captured one unit two months ago," Minato answered. "After a full inspection, we placed it in a monitored zone and allowed it to reproduce naturally to test for limits."
He looked at the four Kage still present and nodded.
"Ten cycles later, seventy days total, the monitored mountain interior was filled with them. Exactly one thousand and twenty four units. There was no sign of slowing."
"Even after we removed five hundred and twelve at random and scattered them to other monitored sites, they continued to multiply at the same pace."
A hard silence followed.
Yagura's frown deepened. A's jaw tightened. Rasa clasped his hands together, staring at the projection as if it might crawl out of the air.
"You should have brought this to us sooner," Rasa murmured.
His voice was quiet, but the weight behind it was heavier than a sandstorm.
Because if this was real, then something terrible was already moving beneath their feet.
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