Naruto: I Have Cursed Spirits!

Chiba propped himself up with his katana, his back against the rough tree trunk. The poison had already begun to blur his vision.

Kuroi and Sakikawa lay in front of him, gasping for breath, blood spreading from their ankles.

Sakikawa pushed himself up with both hands, eyes filled with utter despair and unwillingness.

A dense swarm of puppets had surrounded the three of them so tightly that not even air could pass through. A Suna ninja stepped out from among the puppets. He looked at the three like prey that had fallen into a trap, his gaze cold and cruel.

Kuroi looked at the approaching Suna ninja, hatred flashing in his eyes.

"Akasuna!"

"Suna actually sent you to ambush us!"

Puppet masters were Suna's secret weapon. This time, to prevent Ame and Konoha from signing a treaty, Suna had actually dispatched Akasuna, who was a puppet master.

"It ends here."

Akasuna stared at the three ninjas before him.

Chiba tightened his grip on his katana, his knuckles turning white.

Sakikawa closed his eyes.

Despair consumed them.

Above Chiba's head, a crow covered in pitch-black feathers perched on a tree branch let out two soft caws.

Akasuna looked up, poisoned needles shot out from his hand.

The crow flapped its wings and soared upward.

The needles missed.

He narrowed his eyes.

Black feathers floated down slowly from the sky.

Then, a figure, faster than the circling crow, silently burst through the falling feathers and dove down at a speed the naked eye could hardly track.

The figure was small, yet radiated explosive power.

Akasuna had anticipated it, how could an ordinary crow evade his poison needles?

A puppet master never fought head-on.

He instantly retreated. A puppet leapt in front of the diving figure, Shiratori.

His form closed in like a ghost. His katana swept across the puppet's body.

Crack.

A sharp, crisp sound of splitting echoed. The puppet was instantly cleaved in half, falling apart like a pile of junk.

Akasuna's brows furrowed. How could his puppet be destroyed by a single slash?

He leapt onto a tree branch. His fingers twitched slightly, countless puppets surged toward the small figure.

Shiratori's movement left behind a blurred afterimage in the air.

His body weaved through the mass of puppets.

His sharp blade let out piercing howls as it struck the weaknesses of every puppet with precision.

Fast.

Accurate.

Deadly.

Not a single wasted move. A sword style born purely for destruction.

These puppets, modified by a master to have no weaknesses, were now being sliced open like watermelons under his blade.

"That's Shiratori!"

"H-He's here?!"

Kuroi's voice trembled.

More terrifying than death itself was the realization that the one who came to save them was Shiratori.

If he risked his life to rescue them, how could they ever bear it?

[Pain detected: Kuroi +5000 points]

[Energy transferred to Kenjaku]

[Development progress: 30%]

"He must've snuck out," Sakikawa said firmly.

There was no way Hanzō would've let him leave the village alone.

Watching the figure darting among the puppets, his breathing grew heavy.

He mustn't get hurt.

He mustn't be in danger!

He was the hope of Ame!

His worth far exceeded that of the three of them combined.

[Fear detected: Sakikawa +5000 points]

[Energy transferred to Hanami]

[Development progress: 20%]

"Shiratori!"

Chiba's vision had already been swallowed by darkness. Hearing Kuroi and Sakikawa's words, his eyes turned blood-red.

Why is he here?

How could he have snuck out like this!

Does he not care about his own life?!

[Rage detected: Chiba +5000 points]

[Energy transferred to Jogo]

[Development progress: 25%]

"I came to save them, shouldn't they be gaining gratitude and affection toward me? But fear and anger?" Shiratori thought to himself.

Pain, at least, was something he could somewhat understand.

His slashing motion didn't stop.

Akasuna's puppets truly had no weaknesses, after all, they weren't human.

But conveniently, Nanami's technique, "Ratio," could forcibly generate an invisible weak point on any person or object. The split ratio of this weak point was a fixed 7:3.

This 7:3 split point became an absolute weak spot defined by the technique.

As long as the marked 7:3 point was hit, it would ignore all of the target's defensive strength, durability, or special resistance, and inflict critical-level damage.

Whether or not the puppets had weaknesses, he forced one into existence.

A technique based on rules was, in the end, unshakably logical.

Clang!

A bone-jarring metallic crash exploded in the air.

Sparks flew in all directions.

He felt a surge of immense force transfer through his katana, numbing his arms. He staggered backward several steps before barely regaining his balance.

A massive puppet appeared before him, surrounded by a horde of humanoid puppets.

[Killing Intent detected: Akasuna +5000 points]

[Energy transferred to Sukuna]

[Development progress: 51.6%]

He glanced up at Akasuna, who was perched in a tree.

It seemed Akasuna had realized something was wrong and had chosen to widen the distance between them. He yanked sharply on his chakra threads, and the massive puppet levitated into the air. Its chest armor opened up to reveal a dark cannon barrel.

A harsh purple-black chakra light quickly gathered within it.

Fwoosh.

Three thick chakra beams, each as wide as a bowl, tore through the air in a triangular pattern, sealing off all paths of evasion for Shiratori.

He sheathed his katana without the slightest panic.

From beneath his feet, a surge of silver-gray liquid metal erupted like boiling water.

Mercury.

The mercury moved with his cursed energy, controlled effortlessly at will.

It acted like a living creature, responding to every twist of his cursed technique.

A huge flowing mercury shield instantly formed in front of him.

Boom!

The three beams slammed into the shield with tremendous force.

The impact dented the surface, creating massive shockwaves.

Mercury splashed and scattered from the violent energy burst.

Although the shield was tattered and riddled with holes, swaying on the brink of collapse, its inherent nature kept it from fully shattering.

Shiratori spread the fingers of his left hand, aiming at the puppet in midair.

An intense wave of freezing cursed energy burst forth.

Frigid air rapidly swept forward, engulfing the massive puppet in the sky.

Crack.

The puppet's arms froze instantly. The cold spread across its entire body.

No matter how Akasuna manipulated the chakra threads, the frozen puppet wouldn't budge.

Akasuna scowled, severed the frozen puppet's chakra threads from his fingers, and quickly reattached them to a new puppet.

Was he seriously having this much trouble with a kid?

Today, he would crush Ame's genius while still in the cradle.

[Killing Intent detected: Akasuna +5000 points]

[Energy transferred to Sukuna]

[Development progress: 52.1%]

The chakra threads danced.

Three humanoid puppets leapt out from behind the frozen giant.

One puppet launched rotating chainsaw blades from both arms, screeching through the air at low altitude, aiming for Shiratori's lower body.

The second puppet opened a mouth mechanism and sprayed a massive cloud of poisoned senbon needles, densely packed and sealing off his retreat.

The third puppet deployed multiple barbed iron whips from its back, which slithered like venomous snakes around from behind, lashing toward his sides and back.