Jiraiya's anxious shouts echoed across the training ground, but Naruto paid him no mind.
The black mist surging from the Summoning Technique array showed no signs of dissipating; instead, it grew thicker and more viscous, writhing and contracting as if alive. The air was thick with a choking, rusty smell, a mix of gunpowder and stale blood. Jiraiya and Hinata instinctively held their breath; that scent belonged to no battlefield in this world.
At the center of the black mist, a silhouette gradually became clear.
Finally, the mist was completely pushed open and absorbed by a tall figure. A man simply stood in the middle of the array, appearing out of thin air.
He wore a set of dark green, standard-issue armor, strangely designed and full of angular, industrial lines, covered in scratches and old damage. In his hand, he held a black, long-barreled weapon, crude and menacing in appearance, with a muzzle large enough to fit a fist. The man's face was etched with the ravages of time and gruesome scars, his eyes wary and fierce, like a beast that had just crawled out of a meat grinder, exuding a 'keep away' killing intent.
All of Jiraiya's muscles tensed.
He couldn't sense any Chakra flowing from this man, not even a tiny bit. But this only made him more terrified. The pure killing intent, forged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, was more intense and pure than that of any villain or criminal he had ever encountered.
Another monster.
He instinctively adopted a combat stance, his hands already forming seals, ready to summon Bunta to fight. He sharply yelled at Naruto: "Naruto! What is this thing? Release it quickly!"
The summoned man, Karsten, looked around in confusion. The sunlight, the trees, the fresh air—all of it was starkly different from the eternal, gray sky filled with gunfire and wailing that he remembered. He growled in a rough, hoarse language that Jiraiya and Hinata couldn't understand at all: "What the hell is this place? Psychic sorcery?"
His gaze quickly swept over the horrified Jiraiya and the pale, frightened Hinata, finally settling on Naruto, who was closest to him.
He looked like just a harmless blonde kid.
But in an unfamiliar environment, any unknown was a threat. Karsten's soldier's instinct made him raise his weapon without hesitation, the massive black muzzle pointed at Naruto's head.
"Naruto!" Hinata shrieked, her Byakugan instantly activating out of fear.
Jiraiya's heart leaped into his throat, and he was about to act recklessly.
Just at this critical moment, Naruto moved.
He didn't retreat, nor did he form hand seals, even ignoring Jiraiya's warning. He took a step forward, facing the dark, gaping muzzle.
He spoke in the same rough language, with an undeniable tone of authority and the gravitas of a superior.
"Lower your weapon, soldier."
The voice wasn't loud, but it exploded in Karsten's mind like a clap of thunder.
Karsten trembled all over.
This voice... although it sounded childish, the sense of authority from the top of the chain of command, etched deep into his soul, was incredibly familiar to him. It was the voice that had sustained them through countless trenches, before charges, in their most desperate moments, pushing them to continue fighting.
He looked at the blonde youth before him with hesitation, lowering his muzzle slightly, his eyes filled with confusion and doubt.
"Who are you? How do you speak Imperial Gothic?"
Naruto calmly met his gaze, Karsten's face, etched with doubt and hardship, reflected in his ice-blue pupils.
"Karsten Rahn, Corporal of the 3rd Company, 101st Cadian Shock Troops." Naruto's voice was steady and clear, as if he were reading a file, "During the Siege of Tarans, your left leg was struck by Bolter fragments from a Chaos Space Marine. I pulled you from the pile of corpses."
Every word was like a heavy hammer, striking Karsten's heart.
His pupils suddenly contracted to their extreme.
These details, these details known only to him and that great person! The old injury on his left leg now throbbed faintly due to his master's excitement. He trembled, staring intently at the twelve-year-old boy before him, as if trying to see through this young skin to that awe-inspiring figure who, in a hail of bullets, with cold words and eyes of steel, had led them to victory time and time again.
"Your standard-issue Bolter, Lucius Pattern 97. The stock is engraved with an 'A', the initial of your deceased daughter, Emily."
"On the right side of the gun body, three centimeters above the trigger, there's a scratch about two fingers long. On the third day of the Siege of Tarans, a ricochet hit there, and it took you three nights to file down the burr, complaining incessantly that it disrupted the weapon's balance."
"Hidden in your left boot is an Emperor's Tarot card, 'The Star'. Sergeant Mina gave it to you before charging into the Chaos lines; it was the last intact thing she had on her."
Karsten's lips trembled, and a nearly distorted word, filled with endless reverence and disbelief, squeezed out of his throat.
"P-Political Commissar, sir?"
Naruto nodded slightly.
"The Emperor's will has brought us together again."
Boom!
This affirmative reply, like a final command, instantly shattered all of Karsten's doubts and defenses.
He immediately shed all hostility, putting away the deadly weapon called a Bolter. He sharply snapped his feet together, his heels hitting the ground with a dull thud, then straightened his back with all his might, giving Naruto an impeccable, standard military salute.
The swiftness of his movement made his worn armor clatter with a crisp sound.
"Political Commissar, sir! Soldier Karsten, reporting for duty!"
His roar was loud and strong, filled with the excitement of surviving a catastrophe and the absolute loyalty of finding his place again.
The training ground fell into a dead silence.
Jiraiya and Hinata stared, dumbfounded, at this utterly incomprehensible scene.
Although they didn't understand a single word of the strange language, the scene unfolding before them was more impactful than any explanation.
The man who, a second ago, had been fierce, murderous, and ready to shoot, had undergone a dramatic 180-degree change in attitude after a few words with Naruto.
That reverence was not feigned; it was absolutely pure and genuine.
Jiraiya's mind was blank.
Had he fallen under a Genjutsu? Impossible.
He himself was a master of Genjutsu; everything before him was real and undeniable.
What on earth was going on?
Minato's son... what had he been through all these years? Political Commissar, sir? What was that?
Jiraiya scratched his head, feeling overwhelmed.
Hinata also stared blankly at Naruto's back, wondering what Naruto had experienced in places she couldn't see. It must have been very difficult.
Naruto paid no attention to the two petrified people behind him.
He looked at the soldier standing rigidly before him and issued a new command in Imperial Gothic.
"Relax, Karsten. This is not a war zone; it is my home."
"Yes, sir!" Karsten replied decisively, but his body remained tense.
Naruto observed him, and the Bolter in his hand, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
"Your equipment... what is the supply situation?"
At this, a hint of bitterness appeared on Karsten's face. "Reporting, sir, it's very bad. Our regiment has been out of contact with the main force for too long. My Bolter only has three magazines left. The power cells are also nearly depleted."
Naruto nodded.
An Astra Militarum veteran with only three magazines left.
Is this the mystery of the Summoning Technique?
Directly "anchoring" a unit with a deep soul connection to him from another universe's timeline.
This could no longer be explained by Chakra and Ninjutsu.
He turned around and looked at Jiraiya, who was completely dumbfounded.
"Ero-sennin," Naruto said calmly, "Your Ninjutsu is very useful."
Jiraiya's mouth twitched. He was in no mood to quibble about the address; he just wanted to know what was going on.
"Naruto... this... what on earth..."
Naruto didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked at Karsten and said again in Imperial Gothic: "Karsten, show this... ally, your weapon."
"Understood, Political Commissar, sir!"
Karsten stepped forward and handed the menacing Bolter to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya instinctively took half a step back, warily eyeing the "iron lump."
Naruto calmly explained: "His name is Karsten, my former subordinate. What he holds is called a Bolter, a kind of... large-caliber Ninja tool."
"Ninja tool?" Jiraiya felt his worldview being repeatedly dragged through the mud.
"Find a target," Naruto told Karsten, "Let him see the effect."
Karsten acknowledged the order, looked around, and finally aimed his gun at a training boulder on the edge of the training ground, easily half a person's height.
He skillfully disengaged the safety and pulled the trigger.
There was no loud bang, only a muffled "thump" sound, like compressed air being instantly released.
The next second, that hard boulder, to the horrified gazes of Jiraiya and Hinata, silently... exploded.
It wasn't shattered; instead, it was violently blasted into a cloud of dust from within by a raw force.
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