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"What happened over by the church?"

"Was someone fighting just now?"

"Shh, it was that kid who had a conflict with the priest before. He was fighting the priest just now, and it looks like the priest is dead..."

"Dead?! That kid killed someone!"

"No, I saw the whole thing. The priest had already turned into a demon. The kid got rid of a great threat for us."

"Then shouldn't we be grateful to him?"

"Of course! He's the hero who saved the whole village!"

The people around them whispered among themselves, looking at Chiba with admiration.

But Chiba's expression was troubled. If the villagers hadn't seen the priest turn into a demon, they might have treated him as a murderer. How could he possibly have been called a "hero"?

But Mira's right hand had already been possessed by a demon, or more precisely, she had taken over the demon. The villagers hadn't seen her take it over, though, and even if they had, they would have thought she was possessed.

Hodrian wasn't around either, and there was no one to guide Mira in using Take Over Magic.

Chiba gritted his teeth and hurried home.

Chiba pushed open the door and went inside. He looked around, only to find no one there.

"Who is it?!"

Lisanna's voice came from inside a room.

"It's me." Chiba stepped into the room the voice had come from and answered in a low voice, "Chiba."

"Chiba!" Lisanna said in surprise from beside the bed.

But Chiba didn't look at her. His gaze turned to the girl in black robes sitting on the bed.

Her black hood concealed her face. Only when she heard the name "Chiba" did she tremble and gently raise her head.

"Chiba..."

Her voice was low and hoarse. She had clearly just been crying.

Chiba walked quietly to the bed and gently sat down.

But Mira recoiled as though she had been shocked, instinctively hiding her right hand.

"You don't have to hide it, and you don't have to be afraid. I know everything."

Chiba spoke softly.

"But... my hand..."

Before Mira could finish, Chiba leaned forward and gently drew her into his arms.

He stroked her back and comforted her softly. "It's okay. Lisanna won't hate you, Elfman won't hate you, and neither will I. You're you. You're Mira, not a demon."

The girl held Chiba tightly, clutching his clothes as her delicate, slender shoulders trembled. She cried.

A week later.

Over the course of that week, word spread that Mira had been possessed by a demon. Although the villagers didn't openly come to their house to cause trouble, they would deliberately keep their distance whenever they saw Mira and the others outside. They even avoided their house.

Perhaps it was because, after Mira took over the demon, demonic energy remained in the church where it had been hiding. Without the demon suppressing it, the energy spread everywhere. Although it wasn't enough to turn people into demons, it made many of them more irritable and quick-tempered. Even their livestock grew agitated, while wild beasts came down from the mountains to attack farms more frequently.

As time went on, the villagers came to believe that Mira was responsible. Their fear of her gradually turned to disgust, and they believed that the demon-possessed girl would bring calamity to the village. If Chiba, the "hero," hadn't been there, they would very likely have come to drive Mira and the others away.

During that week, Chiba also made another trip to the Ninjutsu Chamber.

To enter this mysterious place where Ninjutsu was stored, all he actually had to do was close his eyes and silently recite its name, and he would be allowed inside for ten minutes. This time, Chiba chose only two Ninjutsu.

One C-rank and one B-rank Ninjutsu!

First was Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.

It was another signature Ninjutsu of the Uchiha Clan, a group-attack Ninjutsu that involved spitting out fireballs in rapid succession. Their paths resembled the fruits of a garden balsam, and their trajectories could be controlled with Chakra. Shuriken could also be added to increase their power.

Second was Water Release: Water Formation Wall Technique, a fairly good B-rank defensive Ninjutsu that made up for his lack of one.

He had chosen Water Release because he wanted to challenge himself to master Chakra Nature Transformation for every attribute.

However, although he had picked one Fire Style and one Water Release technique, Chiba himself had no time to practice them. He was frantically gathering Chakra while staying by Mira's side, converting water-attribute Chakra into water, and perfecting every part of the body tempering method.

With no other choice, he could only use Shadow Clones to learn the Ninjutsu and then gain their training experience from them.

He had to admit, the Shadow Clone Technique was quite good in that respect.

In the end, he not only mastered the method of converting Chakra into water, but also learned the Water Formation Wall and Phoenix Flower Jutsu, and finally perfected the body tempering method.

Although his Shadow Clones did the Ninjutsu training, he still had to bear their fatigue. He trained so frantically that he nearly worked himself to death.

Fire, wind, and water.

He had already mastered Chakra Nature Transformation for three attributes.

That showed just how extraordinary his talent was.

Perhaps he really could master Chakra Nature Transformation for all seven attributes.

Only after perfecting the body tempering method did he learn that Hodrian's method was called the "Hel" Body Tempering Method, meaning "hell."

To put it plainly, as long as you weren't dead, you trained yourself half to death.

The Hel Body Tempering Method was divided into three stages, corresponding to the three stages of Shadow Flame Splits the Heavens. As for Chiba right now... well... he couldn't even be considered a beginner.

Because... he felt that only a madman would train in this Taijutsu.

And Alili, who had worked even harder than him to learn this Taijutsu, no longer came here.

A few days later, Chiba prepared to go to the blacksmith's shop to collect the Ninja Blade, Kunai, and Shuriken he had ordered.

They should be ready by now.

But just as he was about to leave, Mira grabbed his hand and insisted on going with him.

The two of them had been practically inseparable that week. Even at night, Chiba would coax her to sleep before sleeping on the floor himself.

So when she heard that Chiba was going out, she insisted on going with him.

Chiba couldn't talk her out of it, so he reluctantly agreed to let her come along.

He could only hope nothing unexpected would happen...

On the road to the village, Mira clung tightly to Chiba's arm. A loose black robe concealed her petite figure, but even so, someone recognized them.

"Mom, that person looks strange."

"Shh! Stay away from her. She's the cursed demon from outside the village. Don't have anything to do with her."

"Hmph! A demon who brings calamity to the village should have had the sense to leave long ago. Yet she's shameless enough to stay."

"We suggested it to the village chief ages ago, but he said the hero who saved the village lives in her house, so it wouldn't be very convenient to drive them out to their faces."

"Hmph! And now the demon's strutting down the street."

"I really don't understand. Wouldn't it be best if a demon who brings chaos just died?"