Chapter 56: Son of Thunder

"This is my real mother. I'm just borrowing a bit of motherly love—Lord Tsuchikage, you don't mind, do you?" Baimu gestured toward Ah Fei.

"Recognizing a summoning beast as your mother? Be my guest," Onoki replied indifferently.

"Well then, let a mother's love fill your body~" Ah Fei said, as flamboyant as ever.

The animation of White Zetsu’s upper body had already been beautified by Baimu; it resembled the movie "Venom," with white cells slowly crawling and covering Baimu’s entire body, immediately boosting his stats by a notch.

Next was the scene of buying cheats.

"Grandpa Kakuzu, let's discuss something... how about lending me one of the masks on your back?" Baimu whispered to Kakuzu.

"How do you know my secret? The last time I used them was forty years ago, in the battle with the First Hokage..." Kakuzu frowned.

"Alright, let’s skip the boasting for now. Look me in the eyes and tell me, what do you see?" Baimu met Kakuzu’s gaze.

"Bounty."

"It's wisdom! In the ninja world, nothing escapes the eyes of intelligence!" Baimu raised two fingers and pointed at his own eyes.

"Not lending." Kakuzu shook his head. As a matter of principle, there were two things he never lent: money and his life.

"Why not?"

"Because I bet on you losing." Kakuzu took out a receipt. He usually didn’t gamble, but today, this money was practically free.

"Damn it! I’ll rent—will that do?" Baimu slammed a million ryo into Kakuzu’s hand.

"It can only be for a little while..." In the face of money, a small principle could sometimes be bent. "Wind, lightning, water, fire, earth—which one do you want?"

"Is that even a question? We’re fighting Iwagakure, so of course, lightning." Baimu replied.

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The Earth Grudge technique is powerful, but it demands a strong physique. If your body bursts, I’m not refunding your money."

"Don’t worry." Baimu was quite confident in this Hashirama clone body of his.

Kakuzu reached into his cloak with a series of creaks and, after a long rummage, handed Baimu a blue mask. Behind it, a mass of black, wiry tentacles slowly writhed, like tangled horsehair worms, enough to make one’s scalp tingle. Faintly, a fresh red heart could be seen, beating vigorously.

"This is my old man. Young people need a little encouragement from their elders—Lord Tsuchikage, you don’t mind, do you?" Baimu raised the blue mask.

So, it’s a contest of how many cheats one can stack?

"Your family is really extensive," the Tsuchikage sneered, offering no objection.

"Whew... Hope this isn’t too disgusting." Baimu took a deep breath and slapped the lightning mask onto his chest. The sharp tentacles of the Earth Grudge technique seemed to sense a command and, like mad things, drilled through his skin, burrowing into his body.

Agonizing pain exploded in his mind, sweat pouring down his forehead. He gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing his chakra from resisting the foreign invasion, letting the Earth Grudge tentacles violently worm into his meridians. Lightning chakra surged through every inch of his body.

The price of acquiring foreign power was steep. The agony of the Earth Grudge invasion nearly made Baimu faint, but his powerful vitality left him acutely conscious—so much so that his "Potential Burst" was triggered, doubling his stats once more.

Now, Baimu’s body was wrapped in White Zetsu’s armor, dazzling blue lightning arcing across his skin. His attributes soared past 5,000. With one more surge of "Overlord’s Passion," he’d be approaching elite jonin level.

"System detects massive foreign power influx: Attribute—Lightning"

"Hero Experience Card mechanism triggered"

"What the—? It has this function too?" Baimu was dumbfounded.

"Matching power..."

"1. Heart of the Tempest, Kennen"

"2. Thunderous Roar, Volibear"

"Please choose..."

"Hmm? The electric shuriken or the ramen bear? Only a fool would choose the bear... isn’t 'Endless Storm Prison' more appealing?" Baimu chuckled inwardly.

"Thunderous Roar selected—importing power system..."

"Hey, hey, hey, wait!! When did I say I’d pick the bear!!" Baimu roared, but it was too late; the cheat had already been processed.

"Import successful! Enjoy your experience!"

"New mission: Defeat Akatsuchi"

"Reward: 500 gold coins"

"Woohoo—let’s go!" Baimu basked in the system’s pampering. "One last question—can this experience card be extended for a month?"

"Tch, it’s called an experience for a reason. Twice is just freeloading. As they say, freeloading once is delightful..."

"Freeloading forever is delightful?" Baimu grew excited.

"Goodbye, freeloading freak." The system disconnected.

...

"Are you done yet? Or do you want to call on your ancestors as well?" Onoki was growing impatient. With a great battle imminent, he was busy and didn’t have time for such dawdling.

"Alright, alright, let’s warm up and begin! Akatsuchi, care to join me?" Baimu twisted his waist.

"Uh... sure," Akatsuchi agreed, awkwardly twisting along.

"Shangji, come watch your captain exercise!" Baimu lay on the ground and patted the earth.

"Seriously... with so many people watching?" Shangji covered his face, unable to look.

Baimu was already huffing, starting his sit-ups. As sweat flowed, his muscles swelled once again.

With all the cheats in place and buffs stacked, Baimu patted Ah Fei. Still, this twisted armor looked too ugly—even victory wouldn’t make it cool.

The next moment, Ah Fei transformed into a white bear pelt, draping over Baimu. The massive bear’s head rested atop his own, making him look like a giant snowfield bear.

"Let the battle begin!!!"

A deafening roar!

No matter how many people had bet against Baimu, the cheers for him far surpassed those for Iwagakure.

Because... this was their captain.

...

Baimu and Akatsuchi faced each other a hundred meters apart. One was cloaked in blue lightning, the other armored in yellow stone. Without any signal, both let out a fierce roar and charged.

Akatsuchi, originally two meters tall, now seemed a three-meter stone giant, his bulky body made light and agile by Onoki’s Light-Weight Boulder Technique—truly making the heavy feel weightless.

Baimu, draped in white bear fur, appeared just as burly and powerful. A beast-like roar thundered from his throat, vibrating the very air.

His advance was ponderous and heavy; just the fearless look in his eyes was enough to chill any opponent.

Each footfall resounded like thunder.

"Rolling Thunder" activated!

"Greatly increases movement speed. If you hit an enemy, the first one will be knocked into the air and slammed down behind you."

Baimu’s speed soared, the wind howling in his ears like the laughter of the grim reaper.

A towering stone giant and a charging warrior—before they even collided, anyone else would have suffered shattered bones from such force. The atmosphere was thick with the scent of death, tension building.

"Going head-to-head with Akatsuchi? Hmph, what an idiot." Onoki didn’t even bother to watch. Even with the Light-Weight Boulder Technique, he wouldn’t dare collide with Akatsuchi’s monstrous strength.

The Treasure Hunters covered their eyes, unable to watch. Their storytelling captain probably didn’t know how to fight—how could he possibly match a stone giant in brute force?

Yet the next moment’s clash proved everyone wrong.

At zero distance, Baimu ducked, wrapped his arms around Akatsuchi’s pillar-like thighs, and with a heave, flung the three-meter stone man over his back like a sack of flour. The ground shook violently, stone chips flying everywhere.

Akatsuchi’s tough hide left him unscathed, but he was utterly bewildered. What just happened? How was he suddenly flat on his back?

"What!!!!" Onoki was stunned. Akatsuchi’s charge was like a meteor strike, his weight like a giant elephant. How could anyone possibly lift him?

"Roar! Go, Captain!" The crowd erupted in cheers.

"Akatsuchi, even in a match, you shouldn’t hold back," Baimu grinned, offering a hand instead of pressing the attack.

How does one bully an honest man?

First, show a bit of goodwill, let him feel a spark of friendship—then the honest man won’t have the heart to go all out.

Baimu’s thoughts were truly devious.

"Th-thank you..." Akatsuchi, blushing, grabbed Baimu’s hand and got up. He had indeed held back a bit in the final charge—this was just a spar, after all, no need to go all out. But still, he never expected to be thrown by someone so much smaller.

"Let’s go again! This time, I’m serious!" Baimu’s right fist, wrapped in iron chains and crackling with lightning, smashed toward Akatsuchi.

"Charged Strike!"

"Bring it! Stone Fist Technique!" Akatsuchi countered with his own punch, his rocky fist the size of a cooking pot.

Boom!

The clash snuffed out the lightning and sent chips of stone flying.

Baimu staggered back three meters, his arm aching as if the bones might shatter. Akatsuchi’s brute strength was terrifying—what a waste he wasn’t a dung collector.

"Stop trying to match my strength..." Akatsuchi, as expected, had fallen for it and was already starting to hold back.

"Again!!!" Before he could finish, Baimu hurled his blood-red butcher’s blade, wreathed in lightning and trailing a long iron chain, straight at Akatsuchi’s face.

The attack was fast, but Akatsuchi, under the Light-Weight Boulder Technique, was nimble. His hundred-pound stone fists seemed weightless as he blocked in a cross before his face.

But chain-blade weapons are known for their ghostly unpredictability—Hanzo’s sickle-and-chain could slice a plate of pickled fish in a second.

Baimu gave the chain a tug, instantly changing the blade’s trajectory. It arced behind Akatsuchi’s neck while he, foolishly, guarded his face, wasting his field of vision.

The chain circled twice around his neck, tightening on the blade’s barbs, binding both his arms and pulling Baimu up onto Akatsuchi’s nape.

"Roar!!!!" Akatsuchi’s monstrous strength could tear steel as easily as dried tofu. With a flex, the chain forged from black steel groaned.

"Akatsuchi, don’t—this is a family heirloom..." Baimu cried out in pain.

"Uh..." Honest Akatsuchi hesitated, at a loss. In village sparring, you didn’t destroy your opponent’s weapon. But if he didn’t, how could he break free?

In those precious seconds of hesitation, Baimu’s hands flashed through seals with blinding speed—a set of dazzling seals completed in the blink of an eye.

"Thunderous Claw!"

"Face the storm!!!"

A dark thundercloud gathered overhead as Baimu finished the seals. With a thunderous roar, a pillar of lightning as thick as a barrel crashed down—not onto Akatsuchi, but onto Baimu himself.

"Such incredible speed! Never have I seen hand seals performed so swiftly!" Onoki gasped.

This little brat is truly powerful!

Rumble!

With the bear’s ultimate move unleashed, a bolt of lightning struck, endless thunder power pouring into Baimu’s veins. His eyes turned to pure electric blue, every gesture crackling with storm energy.

"Tremble before my roar!!!"

"Supreme Roar!"

Another soul-shaking thunderous bellow made Akatsuchi’s heart tremble. Baimu’s fists, guided by lightning, pounded the stone armor again and again.

As the speed of his attacks increased, arcs of chain lightning danced across Baimu’s hands, making him a master rivaling even the legendary ramen chef—except he was pulling lightning, not noodles.

With lightning’s natural advantage over earth, the stone blocks on Akatsuchi’s body crumbled away, paralyzed by electricity. All his strength was useless, unable to break free.

"Damn! I rented it too cheaply!" Kakuzu, watching Baimu transformed into the Son of Thunder, clutched his million ryo and uttered a new curse he’d just learned.

...

Seeking investments and recommendation votes.