MWM Chapter 179

In fact, overall, he was quite pleased with this result.

Because it meant that the tasks on the panel were not set in stone and could be altered by his intervention. Otherwise, if a task with an unfavorable outcome suddenly appeared one day, it would be quite a disaster.

For instance, if a task suddenly appeared stating that Wanda was gonna die and instructed him to prepare her body, it would mean that no matter what he did, Wanda would die, and he could only wait helplessly for the result.

However, if the task could be changed through intervention, he could actively influence the development of events to prevent Wanda’s death, causing the task to disappear. This would allow him to use the task as a sort of early warning system.

Of course, there were drawbacks as well. For example, now he was reluctant to interfere with Gamora and Nebula.

Otherwise, with his current strength and resources, he could easily track down Gamora and Nebula, forcibly seize the Mind Stone and Tesseract from them, and perhaps even extract some valuable information about Thanos from them to prepare for the future.

With the Mind Stone and Tesseract in his possession, he could decide when to let the Chitauri army invade Earth, without needing to rush.

However, if he were to act now, the result could be that the main mission would simply disappear, along with the opportunity to access the cultivation world he had been eagerly waiting for. The next main mission could lead to an unknown world and might not appear for a long time.

So, aside from occasionally taking on some side missions, he focused entirely on practicing ninjutsu and magic at home.

Meanwhile, aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. temporary base, the Helicarrier, Nick Fury looked at the phone in his hand, unable to stop his lips from twitching.

Since becoming the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., it was the first time someone had dared to hang up on him like this.

Yet even so, he could only swallow his pride. If it were in the past, he would have used all sorts of methods to covertly control Leo and his wife, Wanda—these two dangerous individuals capable of wielding magic.

But now, that was clearly not an option. Not only could he not do that, but he also had to find a way to bring the couple into their fold.

Because restarting the “Project Pegasus” to harness the Tesseract’s energy to create weapons had attracted two malevolent extraterrestrials. Not only did they steal the Tesseract, but they also managed to take control of some of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best agents and scientists, including Hawkeye, Barton.

Now, he was caught in a delicate balance—negotiating with Hydra while trying to recover the Tesseract and thwart the aliens’ schemes. It was becoming overwhelming.

For the Hydra situation, he sought help from Maria Rambeau, a friend he had met during the Kree invasion, and the founder of S.W.O.R.D., the Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division.

He also deployed Ava Starr, the unintended result of the “Project Goliath”—a girl who, due to a quantum experiment accident, had gained the ability to alter her molecular structure. She was a highly trained agent, codenamed “Ghost.”

With both sides cooperating, they managed to temporarily suppress Hydra’s growing audacity, especially that of the Winter Soldier, who had attempted to assassinate him three times already.

As for the two aliens, his original plan was to enlist Tony Stark, Leo—who seemed to know the aliens’ secrets—and Black Widow.

Though Tony Stark remained wary of them, he was willing to help in such a significant situation. Fury had also sent the good-natured Coulson to persuade him gently.

Black Widow was already an agent under his command, so a single order was sufficient.

The most troublesome one, however, was Leo—a seemingly philanthropic businessman who was, in reality, a cunning and ruthless man who wouldn’t act without benefit.

That’s why Fury had personally called and even prepared very generous terms for negotiation. But who knew Leo wouldn’t even give him the chance to talk before hanging up?

“Natasha, you seem to have a good relationship with Leo’s wife. Go and see if you can persuade him to help us,” Nick Fury decided, calling in Black Widow through his communicator.

The two aliens appeared to possess technology far more advanced than anything on Earth, making it nearly impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s normally invincible satellite tracking system to find them.

Therefore, he was trying to gather as much strength as possible. If the two aliens truly intended to use the Tesseract to bring an alien army to Earth, as Leo had suggested, then at least they needed to have the power to fight back.

That was the worst-case scenario. In the best case, they could find the aliens ahead of time and prevent them from summoning an alien army.

He was acutely aware of the potential strength of these extraterrestrial forces. When the Kree Empire’s fleet had appeared above Earth, if it hadn’t been for Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, scaring them off single-handedly, Earth would have been doomed.

Even with Earth’s current level of technology, he didn’t believe for a moment that they could withstand the might of the Kree Empire’s cosmic fleet.

This is why he was so enthusiastic about the Avengers Initiative.

Captain Marvel had shown him that for Earth to resist those vast cosmic civilizations and powers, it would take thousands of years of development. Only superheroes could bridge that enormous gap in civilization to protect Earth.

Of course, superheroes who are orderly and follow his regulations. Uncontrolled superheroes could be just as much of a threat.

The next day, within the space of his wardrobe.

Leo was inscribing five explosive runes on a large square piece of yellow paper. Then, forming the hand seals for the explosive Fire Release, he carefully pressed them into the square paper.

“Boom!”

However, as soon as the explosive Fire Release was halfway through being inscribed, it suddenly detonated, sending Leo flying through the air before landing after several mid-air somersaults.

“This tandem explosive tag technique is really tricky to craft!”

Standing up, Leo used his wand to cast a healing spell on himself, then took out another piece of square paper and cautiously resumed his previous operation.

As expected, he was blown up again.

The Tandem Explosive Tag, recorded in the Sealing Scroll by the Second Hokage, was a highly destructive jutsu.

Unlike normal explosive tags that only explode once, the Tandem Explosive Tag, when activated, continually summons new explosive tags to explode at a specific point. One becomes two, two become four, four become eight, and so on, indefinitely multiplying.

The explosion’s range and power increase over time and only cease when the caster stops the jutsu or the target is killed by the explosions.

Because the explosions do not differentiate between friend and foe, in normal circumstances, if the caster and their allies are not fast enough, they could end up getting blown up along with the enemy. This is why it was classified as a forbidden technique and sealed away.

Leo had recently been researching this highly powerful jutsu, but clearly, it wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.

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