The freezing wind howled through the massive, jagged hole in the airship’s hull.
Kenji stood in the center of the debris, rolling his shoulders. He didn't look at the army of Snow Guards he had just slaughtered to get here. He didn't look at Team 7. He stared dead at Doto Kazahana.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled, pointing a finger at Kenji. "I was in the middle of talking!"
"And I don't care," Kenji replied, not taking his eyes off the armored dictator.
Doto recovered from the blast, standing up straight. The black prototype armor encased his entire body, thick and heavily reinforced. A dark, purple chakra hummed through the plating.
"You're the rat that's been dismantling my forces," Doto sneered, his voice metallic and booming through the helmet. "I don't know how you got on my ship, but you just signed your own death warrant."
Doto raised his right gauntlet. The purple chakra flared, condensing into a massive, spinning sphere of dark ice.
"Black Dragon Blizzard!"
He thrust his fist forward. A roaring, serpentine dragon made of pure, razor-sharp black ice shot across the laboratory, aiming directly for Kenji.
"Get out of the way!" Kakashi shouted.
Kakashi blurred forward, his hand screaming with the sound of a thousand birds. He slammed his Raikiri directly into the jaw of the Black Dragon, attempting to split the jutsu down the middle.
The lightning met the black ice. But there was no explosion.
Instead, the Raikiri was sucked entirely into the black armor. The purple lines on Doto's suit glowed brighter, completely absorbing Kakashi’s A-rank assassination jutsu. The kinetic force of the dragon threw Kakashi backward. He landed in a crouch, his lone eye wide.
"It absorbs Ninjutsu," Kakashi warned instantly.
"My turn!" Naruto roared, launching himself off the wall.
A swirling blue Rasengan roared in Naruto’s palm. He slammed it dead into the center of Doto’s chest plate. The armor didn't even dent. The swirling chakra of the Rasengan drained rapidly into the black metal, feeding the suit's power core.
Doto laughed. He backhanded Naruto, sending the blonde crashing violently into a row of steel computers.
"Ninjutsu is obsolete," Doto declared, spreading his armored arms. "This suit absorbs all chakra. It turns your own attacks into my fuel. You are nothing against the future."
Sasuke stood near the door, his Sharingan spinning. His teeth ground together. Kakashi's Raikiri. Naruto's Rasengan. Neither of them worked. The armor is a perfect defense against chakra.
"Stay back," Kenji ordered.
Kakashi looked over his shoulder. "Kenji, don't be reckless. Any jutsu you use will just power him up."
"Good thing I'm not using a jutsu," Kenji said flatly.
He didn't weave a sign. He just bent his knees.
Soru.
The solid steel floor beneath Kenji’s boots cratered. A sonic boom shattered the remaining glass in the laboratory.
Kenji simply vanished.
Doto’s heads-up display flashed red, the sensors screaming with sudden kinetic warnings. But there was no chakra signature to track.
Kenji materialized directly inside Doto's guard.
"What—" Doto gasped.
Kenji’s right fist blackened entirely, coated in dense, jagged Armament Haki. He didn't aim for a weak point. He aimed dead center.
Kenji drove his fist into the black breastplate.
The sound was like a cannon going off indoors. The "indestructible" armor didn't absorb a thing, because there was no chakra to absorb. It was pure, unadulterated physical violence.
The thick black metal shrieked and caved inward. Doto vomited blood inside his helmet. The sheer kinetic force of the blow lifted the massive dictator off his feet and sent him flying backward, crashing through two structural pillars before slamming into the far wall.
Team 7 froze. Sasuke’s Sharingan tracked the impact, his eyes wide with shock. Kenji hadn't used a single drop of chakra. He had just broken the armor with raw, terrifying physical strength.
Doto panicked. He pulled himself out of the rubble, his chest plate severely dented. He raised both gauntlets, firing a barrage of explosive ice projectiles.
Kenji walked right through them.
The ice shattered against his Haki-coated skin like fragile glass. Kenji closed the distance at a walking pace, his dark eyes locked onto Doto like a predator cornering a wounded animal.
Doto drew a thick, chakra-vibrating broadsword from his back, swinging it desperately at Kenji’s neck.
Kenji didn't dodge. He raised his left hand and caught the vibrating blade by the sharp edge. The steel ground against his Haki, shooting sparks across the room, but it didn't cut him.
With a simple twist of his wrist, Kenji snapped the broadsword in half.
He stepped forward, grabbing Doto by the throat of his heavy armor. He lifted the dictator entirely off the ground with one hand.
"You interrupted my scene," Kenji whispered, his voice a cold, dead rasp.
Doto thrashed, punching Kenji’s ribs with his armored fists. It was completely useless.
"Your suit eats chakra," Kenji noted, looking at the glowing purple lines on the armor. "But what feeds the suit?"
Kenji plunged his free hand directly into the dented center of the chest plate.
[Skill Activated: Steal (Targeted Component)]
Space warped for a fraction of a millisecond. The glowing, heavy power core vanished from the suit’s internal housing and materialized in Kenji’s inventory.
Instantly, the black armor went completely dead.
The purple lights shut off. The hydraulic joints locked in place. The heavy metal instantly became a three-hundred-pound steel coffin. Doto couldn't move his arms. He couldn't move his legs. He was entirely paralyzed inside his own weapon.
"Wait," Doto choked out, his voice muffled behind the dead helmet. "I can give you the technology! I have gold! I run this country!"
Kenji stared at him with absolute boredom.
He didn't answer. He raised his right hand, the Armament Haki turning his skin pitch black.
Kenji drove his fist directly into the faceplate of the helmet.
The reinforced glass and steel shattered instantly. The blow caved the front of the helmet completely inward with a sickening, wet crunch.
Doto Kazahana went limp.
Kenji dropped the massive, dead weight of the armor onto the floor. The heavy metal clattered loudly against the steel decking, then fell perfectly silent.
The laboratory was dead quiet, save for the howling wind outside.
Kakashi lowered his guard, his lone eye wide. Naruto picked himself up from the ruined computers, staring at Kenji in absolute awe. Sasuke clenched his fists, a bitter mix of jealousy and realization burning in his chest. That’s what I need. Speed and power that doesn't rely on jutsu.
Kenji ignored all of them. He flicked a piece of shattered glass off his knuckles and turned around.
He walked slowly across the ruined laboratory toward the heavy steel chair.
Yukie was panting heavily, her chest heaving. She was still bound by the thick, chakra-conductive cables, the Hex Crystal glowing faintly on her chest. She had watched Kenji dismantle the nightmare that had haunted her for ten years in less than sixty seconds.
Kenji stopped in front of her.
He didn't look at the extraction device. He just reached out, gripped the thick steel cables binding her wrists, and ripped them apart like they were made of cheap string. He snapped the restraints on her ankles next.
He stood up, towering over her. His knuckles were bruised. His grey robe was torn. His hands were coated in Doto's blood. He looked like an absolute monster.
And as Yukie looked up at him, a heavy, suffocating wave of heat pooled in her stomach.
Kenji reached down. His bloodstained fingers gently gripped her chin, tilting her head up to look him directly in the eyes.
"Now," Kenji murmured, his voice a low, dark rumble. "Where were we?"