Cursed Techniques * Cursed Instruments

He once used this method to trap a Butterfly.

He could do it back then, so why does it seem like he's doing it for the first time now?

Tobirama stared at the frozen Fire Fly, his mind racing.

He remembered it clearly: Izuna was chasing a Butterfly in the courtyard, pointed at it, muttered something, and the Butterfly fell to the ground.

At the time, Tobirama found it strange but assumed it was a technique unique to the Uchiha Clan and didn't ask any further questions.

I never expected it to be magic from his world.

But now that Mokushō is teaching him from scratch, Izuna listens attentively but practices awkwardly, as if it were his first time.

They seemed to know nothing about that world.

At the same time, he seemed to know almost everything about what was going on here. He started by answering questions about the types of Fire Release Ninjutsu, the weaknesses of the Hyuga Clan, and the future of the Namikaze family. And recently, he even talked about me.

And then there was the precise display of the family crest when he orchestrated the event to promote his Big Brother in front of the Hokage Building.

Everything proves that he understands this world very well, even better than they do.

Why? What caused this phenomenon?

Another strange thing is that Mokushō, this Yōkai from Izuna's world, seems to have completely accepted the fact that "a Great Tengu he admires doesn't even know the most basic magic," and teaches Izuna from scratch without questioning it at all.

"Izuna, you give it a try." Mokushō back half a step, making room for Izuna.

Izuna raised his hand, put two fingers together, and aimed at the nearest Fire Fly in the grass.

"Bind!"

With a single sound, the Fire Fly's light abruptly stopped, then fell to the ground, its wings still half-open.

"It worked!" Izuna's eyes widened, and he ran over, reaching out to gather the Fire Fly into his palm.

Fire Fly flickered in his palm, casting a pale green glow between his fingers.

"This is the first time I've ever observed Fire Fly so closely..." His tone was filled with undisguised curiosity.

Tobirama looked at him.

This is also quite strange; he seems to be particularly interested in certain things that are related to nature. He doesn't believe that no one has ever not caught Fire Fly to play with as a child; the novelty should have worn off long ago.

But he acted as if he had never seen this thing before—no, not that he was completely unaware of it, but rather that he had only learned about it from books and had never seen it with his own eyes.

Why?

More and more questions arose, but Tobirama felt like he had nowhere to ask them.

He could find out everything by simply pressuring Izuna or Mokushō, but for some reason, he resisted pressuring them from the bottom of his heart.

Tsk. That's strange.

Tobirama?

Izuna's voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Izuna stood up, the Fire Fly in his palm already released, its light swaying and drifting back into the grass.

Tobirama glanced at him, then at Mokushō.

Mokushō was wearing a fox mask, and the red eyes on the fox's forehead were staring straight at him.

Tobirama sighed softly, gathering his thoughts and ceasing to dwell on them.

He raised his hand, just like Mokushō and Izuna had done, and put his two fingers together.

He sensed the Natural Energy around him, and then he "saw" those tiny Light Vein flowing in his field of vision, like alternative Fire Fly.

He focused his Mental Power on his fingertips and aimed.

"Bound."

The Fire Fly stopped.

Tobirama walked over and picked up the little creature from the ground, holding it in his palm.

"As expected of Tobirama, he learns so quickly," Mokushō shrugged. "It took me a whole day to do that back then."

Tobirama frowned slightly. Although it was a very ordinary conversation, the familiarity in it made him unable to help but retort, "Why am I comparing myself to you?"

Mokushō tilted his head to look at him, "Because this speed is the normal speed."

Not a drop leaks.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes, but he knew he wouldn't get any answers by asking now, so he changed the subject.

Now that we've learned it, shouldn't we be able to move on to further studies?

Mokushō nodded.

"Next is the line being Writing."

"First-tier?"

"That's right, a derivative branch of Writing." Mokushō put his two fingers together, fingertips pointing downwards, and gently drew a line on the ground in front of him.

A white line appeared on the ground, thin and straight, lying across the feet of the three people.

The line flashed briefly, then a thin layer of white light rose from the ground, separating the two sides of the line.

"The line belongs to both offensive and defensive, near- and long-range Barrier Ninjutsu," Mokushō said, pointing to the white light. "The line I drew on the ground just now can defend against an attack with the power of Great Fireball."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow slightly. A simple line-drawing motion, and his defense could stop Great Fireball? That's far too easy.

Then, Mokushō raised the hand that was suspended in mid-air, maintaining a straight line, and pointed forward.

The line instantly shortened.

The white light that originally stretched for several feet shrank to about a foot long, but the brightness of the Barrier suddenly increased, becoming so white that it was almost blinding, like a short, horizontal Short Sword in the night.

"This is a single line of defense. The range is smaller, but it can defend against more powerful attacks." Mokushō withdrew his hand. "The higher the density, the stronger the defense. The cost is a sharp increase in Mental Power consumption, and the coverage area will naturally decrease. If you want it to be effective, you have to calculate exactly where the opponent will attack."

Izuna leaned closer to the shortening white light, which illuminated half of his face. "Wow, amazing... Can you control this at will?"

"Of course, once you're skilled enough, you can defend even without drawing lines." Mokushō said, dispersing the "force" and raising his fingertips again.

He glanced at the old tree not far away; it was an old pine tree with a thick trunk and cracked bark.

Mokushō pointed his fingertips toward the tree and made a sudden slash in the air.

A white line shot from his fingertip, cutting towards the tree with a sharp whistling sound. A flash of white light, a soft "swoosh," and a deep gash appeared on the trunk, the bark peeling back to reveal the white wood beneath.

Izuna said "Oh," her eyes sparkling.

"This is a single line, a blade." Mokushō withdrew his hand. "Attack type. The longer the range, the wider the cut, but the penetrating power will decrease accordingly. To cut deeply, the line must be short."

"If it's extremely short, it will look like this!" He pointed forward.

A series of white lights shot out from his fingertips, moving so fast they almost formed a straight line. With a few muffled "poof" sounds, a row of holes, each an inch deep, appeared on the tree trunk, forming a straight line.

Mokushō lowered his hand, the white light at his fingertips dissipated.

"One Line, Swift, is a single-shot type with strong penetrating power but a small range." He turned to look at Tobirama and Izuna. "The basic variations of One Line are these three: Forceful Defense, Blade Attack, and Swift Combo. The rest are variations and combinations based on these three."

Izuna stood beside the tree, reached out and touched the row of holes, then dipped his fingertip into one to test its depth, clicking his tongue in amazement. "Good heavens, if this hit a person..."

Mokushō shrugged. "So be careful when you practice, don't use it on people."

Tobirama stood to the side, his gaze shifting from the tree to Mokushō's hand.

The previous set of movements was fluid and seamless, with no pauses between the three variations. The switching between pressing and blade was done in the blink of an eye, and the rapid-fire was extremely fast.

Is this the power system of another world?

But something else was on his mind.

"As far as I know, Barrier Ninjutsu are all advanced techniques, but judging from what you just demonstrated, I'm pretty sure these moves are comparable to our Ninja Tools throwing. Could it be that Barrier Ninjutsu are the simplest techniques in your world?"

Mokushō seemed stunned, then he waved his hand, "No, no, how could that be! Barrier Ninjutsu are always the most difficult spells to learn, don't misunderstand that."

"But you just said it's Barrier Ninjutsu."

"It's just a basic application," Mokushō said. "It's called Barrier Ninjutsu, but it's actually just the most basic application of guiding Natural Energy with Mental Power, like binding. As long as you can shout out a 'one line,' you can use it."

"What are those advanced applications like?" Tobirama asked.

Mokushō paused, seemingly embarrassed, and said, "Uh... that's complicated."

"If it's very powerful, we can use it at sea," Tobirama said, his tone unhurried.

Izuna immediately leaned closer. "I want to see too!"

Mokushō glanced at Tobirama, then at Izuna, sighed, and shrugged. "The main problem is that I don't have the ability. Izuna and I don't have a deep enough bond; he's always been suspicious of me."

Izuna opened his eyes wide. "I didn't!"

"Sigh..." Mokushō slumped his shoulders, his tone carrying just the right amount of grievance, "That's true, I'm just a Shikigami, and I appeared out of nowhere at that... It's normal that you don't trust me."

"I really didn't!" Izuna exclaimed anxiously, taking a step forward.

"Don't argue with me," Mokushō raised his hand and shook his finger. "There's a connection between us. You should be able to feel how much I trust you, but you've never believed me."

Izuna fell silent.

Tobirama stood to the side, a gratified smile on his face, as if he were seeing his own child finally succeed.

"Good job, at least you're not that stupid."

Izuna's little face scrunched up. "What do you mean, 'finally not that stupid'?!"

"Right now I am merely Shikigami, and even as a vessel, I am just an ordinary Tsukumogami Instrument. Only when I truly gain your trust and our hearts are in sync can I become Blessed Instrument and unleash my original power."

Tobirama stopped laughing and turned to look at him, "Blessed Instrument? What's that?"

"It is an instrument that is blessed by its master and is willing to die for its master; in short, it requires mutual trust."

Tobirama frowned. "Trust between the two sides? Is that all?"

"Hey!" Mokushō finally jumped up, his voice rising several decibels from behind the fox mask, "Do you know how hard it is to completely trust someone?!"

Tobirama looked at him suspiciously, "Then do you believe Izuna?"

"I completely trust him." Mokushō without hesitation.

Even if he disagreed with you?

"Yes! Because if that really happens, it must be Izuna who's right! I was wrong!"

Tobirama looked at him in surprise.

Mokushō said it so smoothly, as if he had said it countless times before.

Then he frowned. Where did this unusual trust come from?

Izuna seemed to have thought of this as well, and his expression became strange. "Why do you trust me so much? We haven't known each other for very long, have we?"

"It is my honor to be corrected by Lord Tengu!" Mokushō raised his chin, his tone filled with an almost devout pride.

"Don't give me that half-hearted answer!" Izuna glared at him.

"I didn't!" Mokushō's voice rang out, "Tengu is the greatest Yōkai in the world!"

Izuna took a step back, taken aback by his sudden enthusiasm. "So what exactly is this Tengu?! That's ridiculous!"

"I don't care! Tengu are just that great!" Mokushō said, hands on his hips. "Tengu are the embodiment of mountains and wind, the guardians of Shugendō, and the sword that can cut down all evil. Your world doesn't understand the greatness of Tengu because you don't have a true Tengu here!"

Izuna raised his hand and made a "stop" gesture. "Okay, okay, great, great, calm down first."

"I'm calm! I'm just stating the facts!"

Tobirama stood to the side, watching this farce unfold, his lips twitching.

"So," he began, steer the conversation back on track, "You mean, as long as Izuna truly trusts you, you can become a so-called 'Blessed Instrument' and unleash your original power?"

Mokushō turned to look at him, the Red Eyes on his fox mask gleaming in the moonlight. "That's right."

How strong was your original power?

Mokushō's tone was unusually serious. "Probably... he could fight Hashirama Senju to a draw."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow.

Can he fight to a draw with his Big Brother?

Wait a minute. Tobirama frowned, something vaguely appearing in his mind, seemingly a scene from a battle Isshiki.

His memories were shrouded in mist, but one thing stuck with him.

Trees.

Trees, Wood Release, Tree Yokai? Tobirama stared at him; had he already made his appearance then?

Tobirama wanted to recall more details.

It was a chaotic battle; dust and the aftershocks of Chakra mingled together, severely blurring visibility.

He remembered something emerging from the ground. He remembered Madara's Susanoo, his Big Brother's Sage Mode, and Izuna's slashes.

Then what?

Then about trees... trees...

Tobirama frowned, trying to think in that direction.

But as soon as my thoughts touched that edge, it was like stepping on a slippery patch of moss; my foot slipped, and I slid over it.

By the time he realized what was happening, he was already thinking about something else.

Wait, what was I thinking just now?

He stood in the moonlight, the night breeze blowing from the sea, carrying a salty, damp coolness.

Fire Fly flickered in the grass, like a breathing sea of stars.

He stared at the swarm of Fire Fly, his brow furrowed.

What was I thinking about just now?

Tobirama turned his head and saw that Mokushō was looking at him.

The Red Eyes on the fox mask gleamed eerily in the moonlight, their expression unreadable.

"What's wrong?" Tobirama asked.

"What's wrong? You suddenly started spacing out." Mokushō's tone was exactly the same as before.

Tobirama's brow furrowed even more. Was I spacing out?

Before Tobirama could figure it out, Mokushō kindly reminded him, "You just said that I can really stand up to Hashirama?"

Tobirama blinked. Right, that's what he was asking just now.

"Can you really stand up to Hashirama?" he repeated, but a strange feeling lingered in his heart, as if something was slipping through his fingers.

Mokushō let out a "sigh" and waved his hand. "No, not at all. As you know, I'm an Inari God, and my techniques are basically aimed at agriculture and commerce. I said I could contend with Hashirama because I can't be easily killed! As long as agriculture and commerce exist, I can resurrect indefinitely!"

He paused, then added subtly, "Of course, the so-called resurrection doesn't actually mean having no memories, and Izuna has to re-establish Contract with me."

Tobirama stared at him speechlessly. "What kind of resistance is this?"

"Why doesn't that count?" Mokushō retorted confidently. "Your Big Brother might be able to kill me, but he can't destroy agriculture and commerce. As long as people need to eat and do business, I won't die, so he can't be considered a winner!"

Izuna was both amused and exasperated. "What kind of 'spiritual victory' is this?"

Tobirama agreed, "Good words. You're not even as good as Tailed Beast. At least Tailed Beast can reincarnate with its memories. You..."

Mokushō, despondent.

"You could just say I'm lame..."

Tobirama revealed Dead-Fish Eyes.