Ghost Army

As the moon sets and the sun rises, a new day begins, and the once-quiet streets start to bustle with people.

The crowd starts their calls and selling.

Outside the temple, the guards who were taking turns on duty are visibly relieved, yawning and changing shifts.

Naruto wakes up from his sleep only to find that Rock Lee is no longer in his bed.

Turning his head to look out the window, he sees Rock Lee carrying a guard with an expressionless face while doing squats.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, seven hundred and thirty-two... Big brother, can you stop twisting?"?"

"Seven hundred thirty-three... Mmm~"

The scene is quite bizarre.

Naruto suddenly remembers a saying, "Have you ever seen the Oni no Kuni at four in the morning?"

Rock Lee is truly working hard to the point of being frightening.

The remaining guards from Oni no Kuni look at Rock Lee with admiration in their eyes.

They know that Rock Lee comes out to exercise early in the morning before dawn.

His dedication has moved everyone.

It has boosted their morale.

They no longer feared the Ghost Army they might face next.

There were still a few days before the army attacked.

That day would also be the most suitable day to seal Sprites.

They needed to go from Oni no Kuni to the sealed land.

On the way, they would definitely encounter countless terrifying enemies.

From the map, they needed to pass through difficult terrains like valleys and swamps.

Due to the existence of Sprites, the sealed land was filled with lonely souls, and the air was cold and damp.

For an ordinary Ninja to be able to unleash 80 of his combat strength after entering the grounds was not considered thick.

There were many things that could not be explained with common sense in the Shinobi world.

On their way forward, whether it was the turbid air, the ghosts filled with negative emotions, or even the fear in their hearts, they would become the last straw that crushed their hearts.

This time, many people would die on this sealing journey.

Inside the palace.

Shion was practicing the number one Kidō that Naruto taught.

Hadō #1: Shō.

She extends her youthful right finger and a white light flashes.

"Phew." The small wooden board in front of her is pierced through, releasing a wisp of green smoke.

"The power is not bad, but you still need more practice. The good news is that your control over spiritual pressure is already at a beginner level. As for the bad news..." Naruto ponders for a moment, then looks at Shion, who has a hopeful and eager expression, and criticizes her mercilessly:

"With your previous experience and relevant abilities, you should have been able to progress faster. Your rate of improvement is still too slow."

"Tch! Don't praise me to death!" Shion widens her eyes and mutters.

She waited for so long just to receive such a comment. Shion feels quite unhappy.

Naruto-sensei is strict.

"Keep practicing. Right now, your control over spiritual pressure is far from standard. Don't even think about reaching Shikai; I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself even with a Zanpakuto."

Despite Naruto usually being very gentle, he becomes extremely strict when he takes on the role of a teacher.

Shion also understands Naruto's good intentions.

In a few days, she would face Sprites.

Time is running out, and she can't afford to be lazy.

According to the mission of the priestess in previous years, she needed to use her life to seal Sprites.

But after awakening her Zanpakuto and obtaining the power of a Shinigami, Shion's inner resistance to this mission grew.

The power of Zanpakutō and Reiatsu gave her hope and confidence.

She didn't want her ending to end with death.

She wanted to use the newly obtained energy to deal with Sprites forever.

"Drink!" She raised Zanpakutō and practiced hard with the Sword technique.

In the middle was Kidō's cultivation.

Ever since she was born, she had been served by countless believers.

Don't talk about training, someone can even feed you while you eat.

She had never undergone such intense training before.

Thus, in less than ten minutes of training, she was already drenched in sweat.

"Don't stop. Maintain your original strength and speed." Naruto divided out a Kage Bunshin to supervise Shion's cultivation. His main body and Rock Lee went to the forest to start their daily training.

Using the yellow rock as a weight, he trained his strength in the yellow sand.

This Rock Lee was bare-chested, his muscles bulging.

This wild scene stunned the guards in the distance.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Finally, the day to go to the sealed land arrived.

At the same time, Ghost Army also left the border of Oni no Kuni.

Each and every one of them was tall and sturdy, about two meters tall. They were completely gray and looked like stone giants.

They formed a large army of gray and approached the city gates.

Naruto and the other two stood on the city walls, looking at Ghost Army who was approaching from afar with grim expressions.

"Is this also Ghost Army? It is strange. They look like stone giants." Naruto said with a gloomy face.

"Sugoi, I want to fight with them." Rock Lee sighed and rubbed his hands together, looking excited.

"Sage, our opponent is Sprites' subordinate. You have to bear with it. These small fries are not worthy for us to fight." Neri said expressionlessly. The bugs in his body quietly crawled out and crawled towards Ghost Army along the city wall.

If everything went smoothly, the bugs might be able to collect the body tissues of these monsters.

"Get into formation." With a command, the archers on the city wall pulled their bows back, and the muscles in their hands tightened.

"Fire!" The arrows that filled the sky shot towards Ghost Army, densely covering the sky.

The rain of arrows accurately fell on Ghost Army, and everyone was happy.

"We hit! Great, let these bastards taste our power!"

But then there were cries of alarm everywhere. In his line of sight, Ghost Army seemed to not feel the pain of being hit by an arrow at all. His pace was still the same, not slowing down at all.

"Continue" The flaming rocket immediately fell.

Soon, there were "ding dong" sounds as the Ghost Army's sturdy bodies were almost impervious to blades and spears.

"What a strange creature." Naruto retracted his gaze and led his team members to meet up with Shion.

Next, they needed to bring Shion to the sealed land.

At the same time, Ninja from the other villages and Oni no Kuni's army had already charged toward Ghost Army.

Countless Ninjutsu burst forth on the battlefield.

At first, the fierce Ninjutsu made the Ghost Army retreat step by step.

Although they were impervious to blades and spears, ninjutsu could still inflict lethal blows on them.

As time passed, the ninjas' chakra began to deplete, allowing the Ghost Army to regain the upper hand, causing the humans to cry out in agony as they were mercilessly slaughtered.

"The sealing grounds are half a day's journey away from here, and we need to traverse the treacherous terrain," said one of them.

Naruto's team and a few Ninja escorted Shion together.

Sitting barefoot in the sedan chair, Shion continued to concentrate, her hands constantly attempting to shape her reiatsu into various forms, aiming to achieve the desired training effect.

Thinking of Sprites who was about to face her mother's life seal, the girl was full of anxiety.

She was afraid that she would not be able to complete her mission if she did not do well enough.

However, when she thought of Naruto, who had the power to make Sprites tremble, her heart could not help but relax.

Thinking back to the days when she trained with Naruto, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled up.

Naruto taught me so carefully. He won't like me, right?

If he confesses to me, should I accept it or not~~~

The team walked steadily in the forest, and the surroundings were terrifyingly quiet.

Naruto's team had discovered the problem a long time ago.

"The forest is too quiet. There isn't even the sound of birds."

"Be careful." Naruto looked at Rock Lee and Neri.

"Don't worry, everything is ready." Rock Lee compared his muscles.

"Are these the ninjas from Konoha? They look mysterious with their masks, and they don't seem very strong." Several other ninjas from different villages gathered together and whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with curiosity as they looked toward Naruto's team.

As the strongest Ninja Village in the Shinobi world, Konoha would naturally receive the most attention.

Most of their eyes were on the muscular Rock Lee.

Ninja, who was good at Taijutsu, was qualified to participate in Oni no Kuni's commission.

He must be quite strong.

As for the other two.

One was a weak woman.

There was another person who looked harmless.

There didn't seem to be anything special about them.

Due to the aura of Naruto's team that prevented strangers from approaching, Ninja didn't approach them for a while.

Along the way, there were no accidents apart from strange silence.

However, when they approached the sealed land, something unexpected happened.

"Boom." The originally stable ground suddenly split open, and broken rocks scattered everywhere. Soon after, Ninjutsu, which was like fire and water, came from all directions.

"It's good that you're here!" Rock Lee was the first to attack. He directly met a fireball coming at him. The muscles of his hands bulged and he punched out with a loud wind-breaking sound.

"Boom." The first wind created a large number of air currents and formed an invisible spiral in front of Rock Lee that could pierce through everything. It stabbed toward the fireball.

"Chi." The fireball was directly swept into pieces, scattering into sparks that fell to the ground.

Ninjas from all over the country also rushed to attack, releasing Ninjutsu to block the rest of the Ninjutsu.

These ninjas are at most Chunin levels.

Suddenly, the ground in front of them cracked, and a Ninja jumped out, one hand Doton directly overturned several Ninjas in the front row,

Soon, three other ninjas appeared from the surroundings, unleashing a continuous stream of water, fire, and earth-based ninjutsu.

They were a group of four siblings. Initially, their ninjutsu skills were average, but after receiving power bestowed by a supernatural being, they became incredibly strong. They gained the ability to proficiently use ninjutsu of various elements such as fire, water, and earth.

"Boom." In their ferocious eyes, the area where Shion was exploded.

"Mission accomplished. That was pretty easy," they said casually as they effortlessly retracted their hands, disdainfully looking at the dense and rolling mass before them.

Then, they found out.

A towering transparent wall stood in front of them. It was very neat and tidy. Behind the transparent wall was Ninja with a desperate face.

The expected pain did not come, and these Ninjas were stunned.

"I'll leave these guys to you, Sage, Insect Queen."

"Sprites, leave it to us!"

Naruto came to Shion's side and carried him behind her with the latter's shy eyes.

Shion was barefoot and her toes were intertwined shyly.

"Who is that man? He easily blocked Ninjutsu." Not only were Sprites' subordinates shocked, but even the Ninjas who were part of the alliance, were also shocked.

To be able to face the combination that even Jonin had to avoid, this man couldn't have already reached Kage rank, right?

Naruto didn't give them a chance to react.

With a kick of his legs, he disappeared from everyone's sight with Shion.

The area fell into a short silence.

Soon, it was broken by the strange screams.

"Ahyaya, Konoha's Root Tornado!"

The mentality collapsed. There have been close contacts in the neighborhood, and now it's under lockdown again.