Chapter 109: The Shameless Kizaru and the Furious Tatsumaki
"Looks good enough. Go run ten more laps."
Kizaru nodded in satisfaction—Orochimaru's tech was as reliable as ever.
Flashy Flash examined the wristbands for a while before returning to the track. This time, he had barely run a kilometer before noticing something was off.
These wristbands didn't just weigh heavily on his body—they also created intense air resistance with every movement. Even without wind, it felt like he was pushing against a storm.
Every single step now required massive effort. Forget running fifty laps like before—even one lap drained his energy significantly.
And his speed? Nowhere near what it was. The first lap alone took nearly three minutes. His pace continued to drop, and by the time he finished ten laps, the others were already having lunch with Kizaru.
The same Flashy Flash who'd run fifty laps in just over forty minutes had now taken more than an hour to complete ten.
"I... I'm done!"
Flashy Flash staggered over, panting heavily as he stood before Kizaru.
Since dismantling the brutal training system of the Ninja Village, he hadn't looked this worn out in years.
He had wanted to ask Swift Flash about the next phase of training—but seeing the freshly delivered food, even he, a man used to enduring everything, hesitated to move.
"Eat something first. This afternoon's training is hell-level."
Kizaru could easily read Flashy Flash's current condition. Running ten laps under more than 20x gravity had pushed him to the limit.
Only his superior body control let him keep standing in front of Kizaru at all.
This time, Flashy Flash hesitated for just a second before obediently sitting down and accepting a meal from one of Blizzard's team members.
He needed to restore his strength quickly for the next stage. At first, he had some doubts about Kizaru's training camp—but after experiencing these incredible weighted wristbands, he had begun to believe.
"Um, Flashy Flash-senpai… do I have to wear the wristbands all the time too?"
Captain Mizuki raised her hands, looking slightly pitiful.
She hated the sensation, like being constantly crushed under something. She had been following the training seriously—so why did she have to wear the same heavy bands as Flashy Flash-senpai?
"Hang in there. If you can keep them on until the training ends, you should end up much stronger than this guy here."
Kizaru casually pointed to Blueflame, the current Rank 6 A-Class hero.
The chakra-weighted wristbands Orochimaru made weren't cheap—they cost 20 dimensional coins per pair on the chat group's exchange list, equivalent to about 2 kilograms of gold.
Of course, the actual cost to make them wasn't that high, but Orochimaru's pricing showed just how valuable they were.
"What! Are you serious?"
"We just have to wear them until the training ends?"
"She's ranked 71st in B-Class… and she could become stronger than an A-Class Rank 6?"
...
The heroes eating nearby were stunned by Kizaru's words.
Blueflame, who'd just been used as the comparison, stared intensely at Mizuki's wristbands, practically itching to snatch them off her arms and wear them himself.
"Lord Flashy Flash—how can we get wristbands like those?"
One of Blizzard's former team members finally spoke up. He had left her team to grow stronger on his own—but things hadn't gone as planned.
"No rush. You guys aren't ready to wear them or handle my training yet. In time, I'll issue everyone a pair."
Kizaru waved it off. You needed a certain foundation to use the wristbands. Apart from Flashy Flash and Mizuki, only Blueflame barely met the minimum requirement—but forcing them on now would do more harm than good.
Once the heroes had adapted to the training camp and needed higher intensity to feel pressure, then the time would be right.
As for Flashy Flash and Mizuki—their foundations were too solid. Without the wristbands, Kizaru's training wouldn't be effective on them.
Hearing that Kizaru would eventually give everyone those magical wristbands made the heroes light up with joy—and they started looking forward to the upcoming training sessions even more.
At that moment, in the hearts of all the heroes, Swift Flash was the very embodiment of heroism.
…That is, until the hellish afternoon training session actually began—and they realized just how naive they'd been.
"What are you all standing around for?! Everyone—1,000 power snatches and 1,000 clean-and-jerks! Weights set at ten times your own bodyweight!"
"…Three thousand squats, then five laps of frog jumps. Begin!"
"No lying down! Get up—unless you want me to get rough!"
…
Zzzzzzzzzzzz…
"WAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
The heroes, getting their first taste of hellish training, still tried to sneak around the rules at first—only to discover that Kizaru's Observation Haki was covering the entire training ground at all times.
Anyone who tried to slack off under his watchful eye was immediately struck by a precise bolt of lightning-style jutsu, electrocuting them until they were on the verge of collapse.
Blizzard and the members of her team who hadn't made it into the training camp watched the scene while trembling. Thankfully, their physical stats were too low and Kizaru had rejected their participation—otherwise, they'd be the ones suffering right now.
Time always feels longer when you're in pain. As the first rays of sunset hit the training grounds, the hero Magic Hands—now with a scorched, explosive hairdo—couldn't stop the tears of regret from flowing.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one. Several heroes had the exact same fried hairstyle, and even Blueflame had ended up with a blackened face after getting zapped for zoning out. With everyone looking ridiculous, it wasn't quite as embarrassing anymore.
"Huh? The sun's already setting? Well, I guess that's it for today… Hm. Let's just call this a warm-up for you guys. The real hellish training starts tomorrow."
Still lounging on his beach chair, Kizaru stroked his chin while speaking—his words nearly gave the heroes a heart attack.
If they had known the training camp would be this brutally intense, at least a third of them would've quit on the spot.
Even now, after making it through the first day, many were seriously doubting whether they could last a whole month. Could any human even endure this?
"This… this isn't something a human can survive…"
"I feel like I'm about to die…"
"Can this really make us stronger?"
…
The heroes supported each other as they crawled off the training ground. A whole afternoon of hellish workouts had brought them closer together.
"Flashy Flash… do you really think this kind of training works?"
One hero finally mustered the courage to ask.
To them, Flashy Flash—being an S-Class hero—was the most qualified to give an honest assessment.
If even he thought the training was pointless, then continuing might really be a waste of time.
"I don't know… All I know is that Swift Flash is stronger than me."
Out of respect for the shared suffering, Flashy Flash answered for once.
After the afternoon's intense training, he felt that something in his body had started to change. But with the wristbands still on and his stamina completely drained, he couldn't confirm it.
Still, even if today's training yielded no results, Flashy Flash was willing to keep going.
No one understood better than him just how hard it was to break through the limits of the human body.
So far, Swift Flash was the only person he had ever seen accomplish that.
Even if there was just a one-in-ten-thousand chance… it was worth trying.
The heroes looked at one another—those who had been thinking of quitting suddenly found themselves reconsidering. At the very least, no one wanted to be the first to give up.
"…Huh? Nobody quit? That's actually kind of surprising…"
Kizaru had already expected that someone would back out—but to his surprise, even when the two buses arranged by Blizzard's group arrived to take the heroes to the hotel for rest, not a single person came to him asking to quit.
"Everyone really treasures this chance to get stronger…"
Blizzard could fully understand the mindset of the heroes participating in the camp. If the training wasn't so insanely intense, and there was even a slight chance to leap forward and become an S-Class hero, even she would want to join.
"Is that so? Then let's see if they can make it through tomorrow. If they do… we'll give them a little surprise the day after."
Kizaru didn't bother to lower his voice. A few sharp-eared heroes overheard his words—and were instantly overjoyed.
Their perseverance hadn't been in vain!
If they could just endure one more day, they'd get to receive direct instruction from Swift Flash!
Even Flashy Flash, who had been resting with his eyes closed on the bus, opened his eyes and glanced in Kizaru's direction.
Unfortunately, Kizaru didn't say anything else.
Only when the buses disappeared from view did he finally stand up and stretch lazily.
After spending the whole day sunbathing, he could feel a noticeable improvement in his strength. If he kept this up, it wouldn't be long before he could try wrestling that bald guy for real!
"You're not just messing with them, right?"
Blizzard looked at him suspiciously. She knew Kizaru too well—those comments just now were clearly meant for the heroes to overhear.
Every time he used that tone in the group chat, it usually meant he was planning something shady.
"How could I? I—Admiral… wait, I mean Fleet Admiral—have always been true to my word. As long as they can push through tomorrow, the day after I'll start teaching them the Navy's Six Styles. Mhm… only if they make it through tomorrow."
Kizaru's expression was completely innocent.
Back in the day, old man Zephyr had dangled the Six Styles in front of him just like this. And now? He could use every single technique with ease.
These moves came from a former Admiral of a completely different world—a lifetime's worth of refined combat experience. Passing it on to these heroes was a once-in-a-lifetime blessing. It definitely wasn't just because Kizaru got tortured by that training once and now wanted others to suffer the same way. Nope.
Meanwhile, the heroes on the bus ride to the nearby hotel were completely exhausted—physically and mentally pushed to their absolute limits. Most of them collapsed into bed the moment they reached their rooms.
Only a few, those with special assignments, stayed awake.
"Dr. Bofoi, as per our agreement, I'm sending you the training camp data now…"
Death Gatling, suppressing his fatigue, opened a secure, anti-eavesdropping communication device and addressed the screen, where an old man with four large buckteeth appeared.
Back when he had just become a hero, Death Gatling had sought out S-Class Rank 6, Metal Knight, to undergo body modification in pursuit of greater strength. That favor had never been repaid—until now.
After signing up for Swift Flash's training camp, Dr. Bofoi had reached out, asking him to secretly record and send back information about the camp.
"Wahaha, good work, Death Gatling. I'll be sure to reward you later… By the way, I heard Flashy Flash and Swift Flash had some kind of conflict?"
Dr. Bofoi was very pleased as he reviewed the footage. Though his main focus had always been weapons and war machines—evident from his "Metal Knight" codename—he was also highly proficient in human modification.
Swift Flash might still only be ranked ninth among the S-Class heroes, but from the intel Bofoi had gathered, his physical capabilities were beyond ridiculous.
No normal human should possess such overwhelming strength. Bofoi suspected Kizaru had undergone some new, unknown form of modification—something even he hadn't discovered yet.
"Yes. Before the camp started, Sweet Mask and Flashy Flash both challenged Swift Flash. They were defeated—Flashy Flash chose to stay and join the camp afterward."
Death Gatling nodded. He wasn't surprised Dr. Bofoi had heard about it. After all, for every hero like him who owed Bofoi a favor, there were probably others who willingly fed him information.
No one knew how many of the fifty heroes in the camp were secretly working for Bofoi.
"Wahaha… interesting. Did Flashy Flash sense something? Keep watching him. Report the moment anything changes."
Without waiting for a reply, Dr. Bofoi cut the connection.
The same kind of scene was playing out not far from Death Gatling's room. Captain Mizuki barely managed to turn on her comm device before collapsing onto the bed, already too exhausted to speak. Within seconds, she was snoring, drooling onto the pillow.
The Hero Association staff member on the other end of the call looked at the sleeping Mizuki, mouth agape and drool leaking out, and couldn't help but be filled with silent frustration.
There was no way to wake her through the comm device, so all they could do was curse their luck—of all the people they could have chosen to be their mole, why this airhead?
Dr. Bofoi, who had also infiltrated the Hero Association's internal network through technical means, was just as speechless.
In order to gather as much intelligence as possible, he had hacked into the Association's systems with the intention of co-opting their existing spies.
But to think they'd assign such a useless idiot as their informant—it was a total waste of his precious time!
°°°
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