Rescue Operation, Part Ten

The dark clouds that obscured the full moon did not stay in the sky, but continued to drift into the distance. Suddenly, the soft and bright moonlight poured down again like flowing water, silently soaking the vast mountains and forests, and even the gently trembling green leaves were tinged with a slightly bright silvery glow.

A soft, chilly night wind sobbed softly, whistling as it passed through the trees.

The pungent smell of blood spread silently on the night breeze, attracting nocturnal predators; pairs of green lights moved at the sound.

Electric Snake, as thick as an infant's arm, twisted and tangled with dazzling silver-blue lightning, forcibly weaving together the unruly, thick arc of lightning like a rope, shaping it into the form of a snake. With a wave of Araki's hand, the lightning-sparkling snake opened its mouth wide, revealing Thunder Fang formed from condensed lightning, and fiercely bit down on Katsuki's chest.

Araki's eyes revealed a mixture of smugness, excitement, and pleasure.

No matter how brilliant you are, you still died at the hands of Araki. With a single strike of Electric Snake, even a wild bull living in the high mountains of the Land of Lightning could have its internal organs Electric Shock. How could he not be excited to kill such a top genius? The pleasure of killing a top genius is indescribable.

He thoroughly enjoyed torturing those so-called geniuses, but unfortunately, many of them were undeserving of their titles, unable to withstand even a dozen or so moves before being cleaved in two. None of them could match Katsuki's resilience, forcing him to go all out and barely managing to finish her off...

"What the hell? The Sage of Six Paths is above me! Am I seeing a ghost?"

Araki screamed. As a seasoned Jonin had seen many strange Ninjutsu and Secret Technique, he considered himself to have a strong enough nerve, but the scene before him still made him widen his eyes, open his mouth, and let out an incredulous scream.

The Electric Snake charred Katsuki's skin and flesh, instantly charring the bright red muscles of his chest, exposing his fresh, vibrant, and violently beating heart, lungs, liver, and other strange human organs.

Well, to be honest, Araki has seen plenty of scenes of heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers. When he was young and vigorous, he also liked to dig out his opponent's internal organs to show off his strength. Internal organs are nothing new to him.

It's just a human whose chest, flesh, and bones have been charred into a pile, exposing his internal organs, and he's still panting heavily. Is this even human?

"It hurts so much!"

Katsuki exhaled a breath of stale air, and his two tender red lungs twitched rapidly. The exposed lower half of his trachea also trembled. In short, the scene was as bizarre as it could be; Araki had never seen anything like it in his life.

"You... you... what exactly are you?"

Araki trembled, looking at Katsuki as if she were a monster.

[**Healing], activated.

Katsuki gritted his teeth as the charred flesh at the edge of the large hole in his chest peeled away, revealing bright red buds that then grew at a visible speed. His stark white bones also multiplied like bamboo shoots sprouting in spring, and his broken ribs healed rapidly, protecting his internal organs.

"Hmm!"

This wasn't without its price. Katsuki's originally rosy complexion turned pale, the muscles in his cheeks slumped slightly, his eyes bulged out, and he became noticeably thinner. He let out a muffled groan, and his eyes turned a savage green, like those of a wolf.

Katsuki was furious. He had really suffered a huge loss this time. Those damned Cloud Ninja almost killed him. Although he was lucky enough to survive, he was half-dead. He couldn't swallow this insult until he got his revenge.

The flesh growing on his chest didn't appear out of thin air; it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Half of his accumulated fat was instantly used up. Only by drawing energy from excess fat in other parts of his body could the wound heal so quickly. Otherwise, hehe...

"Lightning Release: White Lightning Strike"

He raised the short sword in his hand, silvery-white arcs of lightning coiling around the tip and blade, then intertwining and coalescing. His muscles bulged, and bright rings of electricity leaped up his calf muscles. He moved like a spring, transforming into a shadow and lightning bolt as he rushed towards Araki.

The short sword, crackling with lightning, stabbed out fiercely, aiming for Araki's heart, who was still in shock and hadn't yet recovered.

"You bastard, go to hell! You little brat, go die for your Araki!"

Araki reacted in that instant; his Jonin training and the combat instincts honed in life-or-death situations helped him dodge Katsuki's powerful attack.

The short sword grazed Araki's left rib, tearing off a large piece of flesh from under Araki left armpit. The bloody flesh was instantly charred by the electric shock, turning into dry charcoal that fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

"Dry!"

He cursed angrily in frustration. White Lightning Strike was one of Sakumo's most frequently used Ninjutsu, or rather, it should be called Nintaijutsu, or a hand seal-less Ninjutsu. In any case, it was a very practical technique. He used the short sword in his hand to gather as much lightning as possible, and then used nature transformation to bind the lightning to the short sword.

After all, metal weapons have the property of attracting lightning, and the White Lightning Strike technique was developed by Sakumo using this property.

Strictly speaking, this isn't a particularly advanced technique. Just as Sand Ninjas imbue their blades with wind-like energy, Cloud Ninja also add lightning to their short swords to increase their lethality.

However, White Lightning Strike was a technique that Sakumo extracted from the heads of more than ten Cloud Ninja Lightning Release after Jonin them, and then combined with his own insights to create a refined version of it. Compared to the crude Lightning Release Nature Transformation of ordinary Cloud Ninja, White Lightning Strike was far superior.

Compressing a certain amount of lightning into a high density, forming a silvery-white lightning bolt, and confining it to the tip of the blade without wasting a single spark of lightning, requires an extremely high level of mastery of the nature transformation of Lightning Release Chakra. There are no shortcuts; it requires solid fundamental skills.

Unfortunately, although he had just begun to grasp the basics of White Lightning Strike, he had not yet learned the Body Flicker Technique that would accompany it. Right now, he was only using Lightning Release Chakra to activate the cells in his legs, and with the enhancement from the Hito Hito no Mi, even with all of these combined, he was still lacking and still quite inexperienced.

"Kid, I don't care what you are, I just don't believe I can't kill you."

The excruciating pain radiating from his ribs caused Araki's eyes to turn bloodshot, the dense blood vessels revealing his murderous intent. His longsword, crackling with lightning, slashed towards Katsuki's neck.