Naruto: This Genius is Somewhat Ordinary-Chapter 435
"So that’s it," Fujimoto Tōma said, watching the bone-white mask covering Hirako Shinji’s face. "Your official charges were attempting to obtain corruption power... and being sentenced to execution as corrupted entities."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"And yet... you actually succeeded in gaining that power."
Shinji shook his head behind the mask.
"We didn’t chase this power. We were victims of it."
"Maybe," Tōma said. No agreement. No denial.
Then he studied Shinji’s chakra output carefully.
"Even with that boost... this is all?"
The gap was still massive.
"I’ll be generous," Tōma said calmly. "You can all come at me together."
Earlier, that sentence had sounded like arrogance.
Now?
The other three former captains hesitated.
One-on-one... they might actually lose.
"Then don’t blame us for ganging up," Muguruma Kensei said, cracking his fists together.
"If you can manage it," Tōma replied, smiling slightly.
Finally.
Four captain-class fighters together...
Now that might be interesting.
Three massive chakra surges exploded outward.
Kensei’s mask formed first. White, rectangular, with six hollow slits. Metal gauntlets wrapped his forearms like weapons built into his body.
Aikawa Love pressed clawed fingers to his forehead. A horned demon-style mask formed over his face.
Otoribashi Rōjūrō’s mask formed into a bird-of-prey design, beak sharp and curved.
They surrounded Tōma.
Then Love moved first.
His weapon appeared in his grip.
A massive spiked club. Bigger than several men combined.
It looked like a siege weapon.
He spun it one-handed like it weighed nothing and brought it down toward Tōma with crushing force.
It stopped mid-swing.
Love’s eyes widened behind his mask.
Not because he chose to stop.
Because Tōma had caught it.
One hand.
Chakra wrapped his arm like a visible storm.
"...Raw strength alone isn’t enough," Tōma said calmly. "And you’re nowhere near Akiyama Kenpachi’s level."
Tōma’s body didn’t look huge.
But with chakra reinforcement...
He stood at the absolute peak of physical force in this world.
His eyes flicked sideways.
The other three were already rushing him.
The chakra around his hand exploded outward, forming a massive spectral hand.
It grabbed the club’s head.
Then Tōma swung.
Hard.
The club screamed through the air.
Love screamed with it.
"DAMN IT!"
Kensei tried to rush in during the swing.
Then Love’s body filled his entire vision.
Too fast.
Tōma had let go deliberately.
Aimed.
BOOM.
Love slammed into Kensei.
The club followed right behind them like divine punishment.
Kensei barely managed to punch it aside before it flattened both of them.
The other two lost focus for half a second.
"...Where are you looking?"
Tōma’s voice sounded right beside them.
Lightning cracked.
"Ichi Form: Thunder Flash."
The slash came like pure electricity.
Straight toward Shinji and Rōjūrō.
At the last second, the ground beneath them exploded.
They launched backward.
Barely escaped.
The tip of Rōjūrō’s mask beak shattered off.
Both were sweating heavily.
That attack...
Too fast.
Too precise.
Love staggered upright, dizzy.
Kensei looked mostly intact.
Four captain-class fighters.
Versus one man.
And they were losing.
Behind them, the lieutenant-class fighters were stunned.
They knew Tōma was strong.
They didn’t know he was this strong.
Against the Commander-General, they might at least survive briefly.
Against Tōma?
Running might not even work.
"...I overestimated you," Tōma sighed.
He’d actually used serious output.
And now they were too shaken to keep pushing.
Disappointing.
"You can’t use your second release while masked, right?" Tōma asked suddenly.
"...Basically," Shinji said. "More accurately, we don’t have enough chakra to maintain both simultaneously."
"Shame."
Then Tōma shook his head.
"Then masking up was your worst tactical choice."
Without their second release abilities, they lost their most dangerous tools.
Now they were just stat-boosted fighters.
Against someone who already outclassed them physically.
"Try stopping this next attack together," Tōma said.
"If you succeed... I’ll help you."
Shinji’s face lit up.
Then froze.
"...If you fail," Tōma added lightly, "you might die."
He stepped into the air.
Floating high above them.
Chakra exploded outward.
Lightning danced around his body.
Not just lightning chakra.
Fragments of multiple lightning-based combat techniques blended together.
Low-tier.
Mid-tier.
High-tier.
All fused into one attack pattern.
His answer to hybrid combat theory.
Like Shijōin Yoru’s close-combat chakra burst technique.
Except Tōma fused everything into a sword strike.
"Go Form," he said quietly.
"Annihilation."
Lightning converged onto Still-Mind Mirror.
Not a giant blade.
Not a slash.
It became something closer to a focused beam of condensed lightning.
Forget whether physics approved.
Power didn’t need permission.
Below, the four masked captains went pale.
There was nowhere to dodge.
They were too late.
Only one choice left.
Block.
They roared, pouring every drop of chakra into a barrier.
The beam hit.
And the world turned white.
The barrier instantly started collapsing.
But didn’t break.
It flickered.
Shuddered.
Held.
When the light faded...
Tōma smiled slightly.
He already knew they’d survive.
Go Form wasn’t stronger than Form Four yet.
But strong enough.
Then he saw why the defense felt sturdier than expected.
Everyone was there.
All members of their faction.
They’d joined the barrier at the last second.
"Hey!" Sarugaki Hiyori shouted, bat resting on her shoulder. "You said we could all jump in, right?!"
"Correct," Tōma said.
Relief flooded the group.
They’d gained something huge.
An ally they never expected.
Meanwhile, Tōma was thinking.
He’d already decided the moment he saw their masks.
The fight?
That was just personal curiosity.
Testing their hybrid state.
Because soon...
His chakra compression would reach absolute limit.
And then?
He’d need a new path forward.
Shinobi power and corruption power...
Both came from human souls.
Two evolutionary branches.
One rational.
One primal.
He’d assumed they couldn’t merge safely.
Unless someone was born that way.
But these people...
Proved otherwise.
They couldn’t use both states at once.
Not enough chakra.
Tōma did not have that problem.
If someone like Kurosaki Ichigo could eventually balance multiple power systems...
Then theoretically...
So could he.
Of course.
Crossing that line would mean permanent consequences.
The Capital would brand him an enemy.
The Grand Council would demand execution.
Even the Commander-General might hunt him personally.
...But not yet.
His chakra hadn’t reached true absolute compression limit.
When it did...
Then he’d consider it.
Maybe.
If he couldn’t find a cleaner path first.
...
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