Tamura Zairo did not feel discouraged. Instead, he calmly began explaining the second sealing scroll.
"Inside is a special ninja tool I made myself. Its power is sufficient to kill a jōnin."
"A ninja tool capable of killing a jōnin—and you made it yourself?"
Yondaime A couldn't help but speak up, his tone filled with doubt.
He had only recently become a jōnin himself. For a ten-year-old brat to claim he had created a weapon capable of killing a jōnin—
That was simply impossible!
The Third Raikage and Dodai, however, were more puzzled and curious than dismissive. With the one billion ryō as proof, they regarded the boy more highly now. This was clearly no ordinary child—he shouldn't be one to speak nonsense.
"I need an open and concealed location to demonstrate it."
Tamura Zairo offered no further explanation, directly stating his requirement.
At a time like this, words were meaningless. Only real performance would do. He had absolute confidence in the weapon he had made.
Although its precision suffered due to material limitations, its power was definitely not lacking.
"Let's go to my training chamber."
The Third Raikage glanced at the boxes of money, stood up, and headed out, agreeing to Tamura Zairo's request.
Tamura Zairo quickly followed. Dodai sealed away the one billion ryō, then took the two scrolls and followed along with Yondaime A.
Before long, they arrived at a training chamber carved into the mountain beneath the Raikage Building. This was the Third Raikage's personal training room, filled with equipment for physical conditioning.
It perfectly matched the style of Kumogakure—and especially that of the Raikage.
Although it was called a training chamber, the space was enormous—one hundred meters long and wide, with a height of fifty meters. The surroundings were reinforced with steel, extremely sturdy.
The three men said nothing, quietly waiting for the boy's performance.
Tamura Zairo did not delay. He took the second sealing scroll from Dodai, unsealed it, and revealed three massive weapons inside.
"These three weapons were developed from inspiration I got while playing with blow darts and fireworks. They use explosive tags as propulsion, pushing metal warheads forward through these steel tubes. Their power mainly depends on the quality of the explosive tags and the strength of the metal.
"Because of my status, I can't purchase high-grade explosive tags, so all the ammunition here uses the lowest grade. The power is average—each round contains ten explosive tags.
"And this one," he said, lifting the smallest rifle, "I've named the Fire God's Spear. It's mainly used for ultra-long-range precision strikes."
As he introduced it, Tamura Zairo picked up the rifle and a single round, then inserted the thumb-thick bullet into the chamber and pushed the rotating bolt forward to lock it in place.
He raised the nearly two-meter-long sniper rifle and aimed it at the far wall, preparing to fire—then hesitated.
This weapon was a knockoff inspired by a World War II film he had seen in his previous life, where Soviet soldiers used a rifle to shoot at tanks. The structure was extremely simple—essentially just a steel pipe. But the fact that it could pierce tank armor spoke volumes about its recoil.
And his ammunition used ten explosive tags per round. Even if they were all low-grade, the combined power was anything but small.
Even if he could withstand the recoil, he would likely still be injured. Not to mention the possibility of the barrel exploding.
"Using this Fire God's Spear requires a very strong physique. My physical condition probably isn't sufficient."
Tamura Zairo turned to look at the three men. His gaze finally landed on Yondaime A, whose body was packed with bulging muscles.
"How do you use it?"
Yondaime A did not refuse. He stepped forward and took the Fire God's Spear, looking somewhat excited.
Although he was impulsive by nature, he wasn't stupid. The boy's explanation had been simple, but he had already grasped the core principle.
It was using the explosive force of the tags to launch the metal projectile—its effect would definitely be formidable.
"Channel chakra into this spot to activate the explosive tags inside the bullet. Be careful. I've made it, but I haven't tested it in real combat yet. The materials aren't great either—be careful it doesn't explode."
Tamura Zairo gave a brief explanation and warning, then decisively retreated—retreating all the way behind Dodai, in fact.
Dodai glanced at the boy hiding behind him and using him as a human shield, feeling speechless. Still, he didn't bother arguing and focused intently on Yondaime A, who was raising the steel tube.
The Third Raikage also watched with great interest. He had already understood the principle himself—it was indeed novel. The only question was how powerful it would be.
They didn't have to wait long.
Yondaime A casually aimed at a pillar on the opposite wall and activated the explosive tags inside the bullet.
Bang!
A deafening roar erupted as flames burst from the barrel. At the same moment, a walnut-sized dent appeared in the far wall.
The Third Raikage and the others hurried over to inspect it, their expressions instantly turning solemn.
Although it was only a walnut-sized crater, the walls here were made of steel, ten centimeters thick.
To leave such a mark on steel like that demonstrated just how terrifying the power was. If this hit a human body—even the torso—it would be blown apart on the spot.
Even defensive ninjutsu would require techniques enhanced with elemental transformation to withstand it.
Dodai used a kunai to pry out the severely deformed bullet from the crater and examined it before commenting.
"The strength of your warhead isn't sufficient. If you switched to a harder alloy, its penetration power would increase significantly."
This was far stronger than throwing kunai or shuriken by hand. Even with his own strength, a thrown kunai would only stab into flesh—it would be difficult to pierce through. But if this bullet struck the human body, any limb hit would be shattered, and a hit to the torso would mean certain death.
"The accuracy is terrible."
Yondaime A looked at the pillar ten meters away, clearly dissatisfied. The Fire God's Spear in his hands was also slightly deformed, and the shell casing was jammed inside, unable to be ejected—damage caused by the violent explosion earlier.
Still, these issues could be solved by upgrading materials. But the poor accuracy was a fundamental flaw.
Facing Yondaime A's dissatisfaction, Tamura Zairo knew it was time for him to shine.
"I've thought about that. Spiral grooves can be carved inside the barrel to make the bullet spin, stabilizing its trajectory and improving accuracy—but the manufacturing difficulty is too high for me to handle.
"Besides that, we can try adding ninjutsu enhancements. For example, using Earth Release to increase the hardness of the barrel and bullet, boosting explosive force and penetration. Lightning Release and Wind Release can also enhance penetration and accuracy. Wind Release can even reduce air resistance during flight, lowering friction losses.
"Water Release could rapidly cool the barrel, allowing continuous rapid fire. Fire Release could imitate explosive tags by sealing fire techniques into the warhead for secondary damage—or compress explosive tags into the bullet so that they detonate upon hitting the target, like fireworks…"
As Tamura Zairo laid out his ideas, Dodai's eyes lit up.
This really was a viable path.
If implemented, the power of such a super-weapon would increase dramatically.
More importantly, its range would be far from short. One hundred meters wouldn't be its limit—it might even reach over a thousand meters. With higher-grade explosive tags, the range could be extended even further.
What kind of ninjutsu could currently reach beyond a thousand meters?
Yondaime A stroked the Fire God's Spear despite the heat, looking as though he wanted to kiss it. He clearly adored it and longed to possess a fully realized version of this terrifying weapon.
The Third Raikage, meanwhile, turned his gaze toward the other two massive weapons. Judging by their sheer size alone, their power would be immense—filling him with anticipation.
Dodai and Yondaime A followed his gaze toward the remaining two weapons, equally eager with expectation.