Naruto world: The Rise Of The Sand Village

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the clouds, drawn by the metal rod at the top of S.T.A.R. Labs, and was transformed into pure energy, channeled below.

Hardy felt that everything around him—except for himself and Barry—had become unfamiliar.

Looking around, he saw dazzling halos everywhere, dreamlike and surreal, impossible to see clearly.

Beautiful, yet terrifying.

The fear came from Hardy's perception of the terrifying energy fluctuations around him.

This was a simulation of the environment at the birth of the universe, under extremely high-energy conditions.

At the control panel, Caitlin reached out and pressed a red button beside her.

"Boom!"

A precisely timed explosive, accurate to a tenth of a millisecond, began its countdown according to the results from the supercomputer.

The energy reaction in the underground accelerator chamber grew more and more intense. Deafening booms sounded continuously, but Hardy could still clearly feel his own breathing and heartbeat.

"Hoo…"

Hardy took a deep breath. With his right hand hidden from Barry's view, he formed a hand seal, channeling the Wind Release chakra in his body. His left hand, in his pocket, pressed a stun baton against his thigh.

Until a certain moment arrived.

"Boom!"

Before Hardy could even register what had happened, a shockwave slammed him to the ground.

He felt dizzy and feverish, struggling to stand up.

He was also trembling, weak all over, and his heart was racing.

Even Hardy, whose body was strengthened by chakra, felt like this. Barry, who had lost his powers and was now just an ordinary person, fared even worse—he fell unconscious.

No, that wasn't really "worse," Hardy thought to himself as he looked at Barry.

At this moment, Barry's skin glowed red from within, revealing the texture of his skin and muscles in sharp detail, with some wounds appearing as well.

But at the same time, red lightning crackled around Barry's body, and those wounds were rapidly healing, just barely visible to the naked eye.

"Barry! Barry!"

Voices called out from the hallway. Hardy suddenly remembered that the shock to his real body had caused his transformation jutsu to fail, so he quickly formed the hand seals and transformed again.

He also noticed that his control over chakra seemed smoother than before.

Everyone rushed in.

Joe and Alice ran to Barry's side, looking worried.

"Are you alright?"

Caitlin turned to Hardy with concern.

"I'm a bit dizzy, and my ears are ringing. My body feels hot."

With Caitlin's help, Hardy stood up straight.

"Let's get you to the medical bay. I'll check you and Barry over."

Joe carried Barry, while Cisco and Caitlin helped Hardy to the medical bay.

S.T.A.R. Labs had top-notch medical equipment, and Caitlin was a bona fide biomedical PhD. She quickly diagnosed both of them.

"There's no problem. Barry has some minor injuries, but his body is readapting to the Speed Force. With its effects, his recovery will get faster and faster. He might even wake up in the next second."

"Mr. Watt's condition is a bit better than Barry's, but his body is being transformed by dark matter energy. He needs a lot of nutrients—mainly because he burned through so much stored energy that he's a bit hypoglycemic. He just needs to eat something."

Caitlin explained, looking at the images and data on the instruments.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief.

Hardy put his hands on his hips and nodded slightly.

His own scan with medical ninjutsu had come to similar conclusions.

From his own condition, it was clear he'd been affected by dark matter.

He just couldn't tell exactly what power he'd gained yet.

"Want one?" Cisco asked, handing Hardy an energy bar from a nearby box. "Caitlin made these high-sugar energy bars especially for Barry. One bar provides ten thousand calories, plus all the trace elements the human body needs."

"Thanks, man."

Hardy took the energy bar and began to chew on it.

It tasted a bit like ginger candy, but much sweeter—almost cloyingly so.

However, not long after eating it, Hardy felt much less dizzy, so he ate two more.

An adult male burns between 2,250 and 3,000 calories a day. For Barry, as long as he wasn't engaged in high-intensity combat, a high-sugar energy bar was just enough to meet his usual energy needs. But once a fight broke out, he'd have to treat these bars as his main meal to keep up.

By the time Hardy finished his third bar, Barry opened his eyes.

With a barely perceptible flash of red light, Barry cleared out seven or eight high-sugar energy bars in an instant.

"Woohoo! That familiar feeling!"

Barry tossed the wrappers into the trash and cheered.

"Congratulations!"

Cisco high-fived Barry in celebration.

"I feel like I'm a lot faster than before. Maybe I could even beat Zoom now."

Barry bounced in place, grinning from ear to ear.

"Zoom has absorbed your former Speed Force, so he's probably even faster than before. Why don't you try it out on the treadmill first?"

"OK."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Barry flashed over to the super treadmill Cisco had built and started running.

A blurred red figure darted rapidly on the treadmill, accompanied by dazzling flashes of red lightning—brilliant and eye-catching.

"Don't worry. Barry's body has long since adapted to the Speed Force, while your transformation will probably take a bit more time," Caitlin said, glancing at Barry and then at Hardy.

"I think… I've more or less figured out what my superpower is," Hardy said, feeling the rush of wind generated by the Flash's sprint.

At least, he understood part of his power.

The Wind Release and Lightning Release chakra within him were more active than ever.

Especially his sensitivity to the wind.

No matter how subtle the changes in airflow, he could sense and detect them with pinpoint accuracy.

He could hear the voice of the wind.

And…

Hardy stretched out his left hand.

In an instant, dust swirled and a whirlwind formed on the ground, quickly condensing into a small tornado that Hardy held in his hand.

A faint smile curled on Hardy's lips.

Just now, he hadn't used any chakra—he'd done it purely by instinct. If he combined this ability with chakra, it could work perfectly with Wind Release, each enhancing the other.

What about lightning?

Hardy extended his right hand, frowning slightly.

A crackling sound of electricity filled the air.

Unfortunately, this wasn't natural lightning—it still relied on his own Lightning Release chakra.

Even so, Hardy could clearly feel that his control over Lightning Release chakra had reached an extremely high level.

Without any further training, he had already fully mastered the shape transformation of Lightning Release.