Tobio stepped out of the swirling portal and into an utterly alien domain. The sky above him was an infinite grid of numbers, equations, and shifting mathematical symbols. The air hummed with the faint sound of calculating abacuses and clicking gears. The terrain beneath his feet was composed of glowing numerical patterns that shifted with every step he took, making it feel as though the ground itself was alive and thinking.
"What is this place?" he muttered, scanning his surroundings.
This was the domain of Numerion, the God of Numbers. A place where logic reigned supreme and chaos had no foothold. Everything here was precise, calculated, and deeply unsettling for someone who relied on instinct as much as Tobio.
He adjusted the massive scroll on his back and began walking cautiously forward. The portal to his next destination would be here somewhere—assuming the God of Numbers allowed him to leave.
After walking for what felt like hours through the endless mathematical wilderness, Tobio encountered an obstacle. A massive, translucent wall stood in his path, shimmering with strange symbols and glowing runes.
Upon closer inspection, the symbols rearranged themselves into a question:
"What is the sum of all integers from 1 to 100?"
Tobio frowned. "Seriously? A math question?"
He had no choice but to think back to his shinobi training. He remembered Heikō once mentioning that every problem had a solution, no matter how difficult it seemed. With a sigh, he crouched down and began scribbling calculations into the glowing dust at his feet.
He vaguely remembered the formula for such problems. After a few minutes, he stood confidently and shouted at the wall, "The answer is 5,050!"
The wall rippled, the symbols rearranging themselves again. Finally, the barrier dissolved, allowing Tobio to pass.
As he continued through the domain, Tobio encountered other challenges moving bridges that required solving equations mid-step, pathways that disappeared unless he balanced mathematical symbols on both sides, and even sentient creatures formed from numbers.
One such creature, a towering golem made entirely of ones and zeroes, blocked his path. It let out a deafening, robotic roar and charged at him.
Tobio reacted instinctively, drawing Kagekiba from its sheath. The blade glowed with a faint, dark energy as he parried the creature's attack. The fight was brief but intense, with Tobio using a combination of taijutsu and shadow-based ninjutsu to outmaneuver the numerical beast.
When the golem finally dissolved into a cascade of numbers, Tobio sheathed his blade and pressed on.