Hayate immediately spotted Hotaru waiting nearby, flanked by several High Table Adjudicators standing guard. He walked straight up to her and commanded, "Take me to the site. I need to see for myself if what we need is there."
Hotaru looked at Hayate's face, noting a flicker of genuine excitement. This was the first time she had seen her usually unflappable boss display such emotion; even the gift of several hundred million dollars or a two-billion-dollar bounty hadn't moved him this much.
"Please follow me, Boss," Hotaru said, leading Hayate into the newly excavated tunnel.
The tunnel was deep, descending dozens of meters into the earth. Along the way, Hayate saw teams of Adjudicators hauling out loads of soil, while muffled explosions and Rock Lee's sharp shouts echoed from the depths.
Soon, Hotaru led him to the end of the passage. There, Lee was relentlessly striking a semi-translucent, grayish-white wall of energy, while Sasuke was positioning Explosive Tags on unexcavated sections for directional blasting.
Upon seeing Hayate's arrival, everyone stopped. "Lord Hayate!" they greeted respectfully.
Hayate nodded. "You've done excellent work. To achieve this in just three days is beyond my expectations."
"It seems our luck is holding out as well. We found the target at the very first of our three predicted locations."
In truth, Hayate had expected this to take ten days or more. He had even been mentally prepared to have to buy out and relocate the Hell's Kitchen police station if the first sites failed.
Hearing his praise, smiles broke out on the faces of both Lee and Sasuke, despite being covered in grime. Hayate walked up to the energy barrier to inspect it. He vaguely recalled that the site of the Dragon Bone was sealed—a seal eventually broken by Iron Fist in the original lore.
"Lord Hayate," Lee noted, "this seal doesn't seem incredibly strong. I believe I can break it with continuous physical force."
Hayate nodded, narrowing his eyes as he peered through the barrier. He could see the faint outline of something massive, but it was blurry. He frowned; this was the Marvel world, after all. Who could say for certain if what was sealed here was Dragon Bone or some ancient demon?
If he accidentally unleashed a high-level entity or a projection of a Dimensional Lord, he wasn't yet strong enough to handle that kind of fallout. He needed to be sure.
"Sharingan, Open!"
In an instant, Hayate's eyes shifted, the crimson pupils with two tomoe appearing. With the Sharingan's clarity, he could finally see through the energy wall. Revealed before him was the colossal skeleton of a dragon.
A "Bone Dragon" was the term that came to mind. He knew this was likely a previous incarnation of Shou-Lao the Undying. Before each rebirth in K'un-Lun, the dragon would leave behind a physical shell. Eons ago, Shou-Lao had undergone nirvana here when the land was a wilderness; over millennia, that wilderness had evolved into a metropolis, leaving the dragon's remains buried deep beneath the city.
Confirming it was indeed Dragon Bone, Hayate gave his orders. "Sasuke, use Chidori with me to strike the seal. Lee, use your strongest taijutsu for a continuous assault. We break this now."
"Hotaru, maintain order and make sure the men don't panic when things get loud."
"Yes!" the three replied.
As Hotaru organized the perimeter, Lee initiated a barrage of high-speed strikes. Sasuke and Hayate both began weaving hand seals. Lightning gathered in their palms, the high-pitched "chirping" of a thousand birds echoing through the narrow tunnel.
The Adjudicators, initially startled by the display, watched with growing awe. Is this the power our Elder commands? Will we ever have the chance to learn such things?
"Lightning Style: Chidori!"
Hayate and Sasuke lunged forward, slamming the concentrated lightning into the seal. The energy wall shuddered violently, its thickness visibly dissolving under the electrical discharge.
"Keep going," Hayate urged. He had briefly considered using a massive cluster of Explosive Tags, but too few would be ineffective, and too many would likely cause the entire tunnel to collapse, burying them alive.
The three continued their coordinated assault on the ancient barrier.
Above Ground.
Stick led the members of the Chaste onto the land Hayate had purchased. Over the past few days, his scouts had tracked the movements of Hotaru and her High Table teams. The constant stream of trucks hauling away soil was impossible to hide.
When the scouts reported that Hayate Shiranui himself had arrived at the site, Stick made his move. He concluded that Hayate was close to finding the Dragon Bone—if he hadn't found it already.
Sensing the guards at the main gate, Stick gave a simple command: "Attack."
Several Chaste ninjas slipped through the shadows, reaching the guards before they could react. With clinical precision, they drew their daggers and slit the guards' throats.
Dragging the bodies inside to hide them, the ninjas opened the gates. Over a hundred Chaste members, led by Stick, surged into the site. They moved with lethal efficiency, killing everyone in their path.
Stick and his followers did not share Daredevil's "no-kill" rule. They cut through the High Table guards without a hint of mercy.
The sounds of the slaughter didn't reach the depths of the tunnel. Below, the roaring thunder of the Chidori drowned out everything else, masking the silent death unfolding above.