Kaede came back quickly and led everyone to the rear pond. Under a lot of curious stares, he unpacked more than a hundred basketballs, flags, waterproof markers, and tape measures.
He divided the jobs. He would maintain Water Prison. Big bro would shape wind paths with different deflection patterns to create acceleration channels.
The princesses would record data. Rudi would label each basketball and feed it in. Since everyone had to stand on the water's surface, others would take turns watching where the balls emerged, pacing out distance, and planting flags at the farthest points.
No one knew exactly what Kaede was up to, but it looked… like something.
"Trial 001—go!" Kaede called.
Ennosuke plunged both hands into the huge water sphere. His fingers flashed through signs—Wind Formation: Sealing Array—and the ball tightened into a thin, long water vortex. As each labeled basketball entered the channel it shot forward like a seed from a gourd sling. Buoyancy mattered, of course, but because they were all the same balls, they could ignore that and hunt for the best launch angle. The Second Princess jotted figures without missing a beat.
"Trial 112—release!" Now there were two Ennosukes braced on the sides of the sphere, and one more standing beside Kaede. The crew on the flanks threw a B-rank wind technique, disturbing the air into streaming layers. Ennosuke added a C-rank assist to the nature change.
They'd tweaked the shape of the Wind Killing Formation and its flow.
Three techniques snapped at once. The basketball entering the channel ripped through like a small cannonball, punched out the far side—then, under pressure and friction, burst midair.
Seeing the plume, Kaede whooped. "That's it! With Trial 111 we were smacking trees a kilometer away. With Trial 112 the ball detonates in the air." He jumped up and hugged Ennosuke's neck. "Thanks, bro."
(For the real-world feel of the setup, imagine the online compressed-ball acceleration tests.)
Lu was wide-eyed. "I didn't think a little ball, once accelerated, would hit that hard!"
Naturally, none of them knew the E = mc² story; this world never read Einstein.
After a while they huddled to review.
"Kaede-sama, can we stop picking up balls by noon? I'm beat," one princess groaned.
"Thanks for the grind—seriously," Kaede laughed helplessly.
The Second Princess handed him the clipboard. "Here's the data. And… the test was fun. Once something accelerates, the power is incredible. No one has really noticed that—until now."
Standing on a giant's shoulders, Kaede had ended the experiment quickly—and skipped a lot of dead ends. Each shot adjusted the next. Maybe there was still room to climb, but even this discharge rate was frightening.
The Fourth Princess tilted her head. "Kaede… your 'endurance' isn't really about throwing basketballs, right?"
Ennosuke explained for her. "The middle section is what boosts endurance. The balls just keep you safe. If we put a technique in the middle instead, the power multiplies."
The Fourth Princess lit up. "Then show us! I want to see the result by noon."
Kaede's brow edged up. "You really want to see it? You know what you're asking?"
The Third Princess nodded, and Asuma added dryly, "If he blows away half the capital, Your Highnesses want to watch how a single technique erases tens of thousands of people."
Biwako's face tightened. "Kaede, are you serious? What you said at noon—was that true? Can that technique really wipe half a district?"
The Fire Capital was one of the world's largest cities—on par with a small shinobi nation. After the giant-shark incident, Kaede had no intention of hiding his ceiling anymore.
Aoi raised her hand. "You know which technique he means, right?"
Everyone looked at her again. Seeing Kaede didn't stop her, Aoi said, "Last time—that super shark—what mountain was the cave in?"
Ennosuke grabbed her shoulders, excited. "Wasn't it Meteorite Mountain's cave?"
Thinking of the lake, Ennosuke connected it to Water Style—big wave levels, big cannon pressures—and then shook his head hard. "No way. Impossible! Is big bro actually unbeatable? No one alive could do that!"
Curiosity exploded; questions chirped around Aoi like sparrows.
"Quiet," Kaede said softly. "This is a national secret. Don't get too worked up—and keep it as quiet as you can."
Master Wang trudged at the front like a herder, with a whole crowd trailing behind. As they climbed, more villagers tagged on.
"Don't you people have jobs?" Kaede muttered.
Master Wang wanted to crawl into a crack. This was surely the Leaf's first ever street-side public inspection.
After a lot of winding paths they reached the broken kiln cave. Sure enough, Sun Long-Rabbit's father was imprisoned inside. The family reunion burst into tears.
Then someone else started crying—Master Wang.
He clutched his head and rolled on the ground like a madman.
The ring of onlookers stepped back, forming a circle and pointing inward.
"Look! He must have angered the gods. Heaven's already punishing him!"
(End of Chapter)
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