Collapse, Pain, Unconsciousness

"Get out. Stand guard outside. No one enters without my order."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

The Third Hokage did not want anyone else to know about the Spirit Transformation Technique, not even his own direct Anbu subordinates.

After the two Anbu left, the Third Hokage walked to the bedside and finally opened the "first-aid kit."

The moment Li Yao caught sight of some of the items inside, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and unprecedented terror engulfed him completely.

"Do you know? A ninja's endurance is very strong."

"If you still had your original body, these little things would be nothing more than a tickle to you. Not worth mentioning."

As he spoke, the Third Hokage picked up a long, thin needle. He glanced at the trembling Li Yao, then smiled. "Fortunately, you only recently took over this body. It has never been through battle, so its tolerance for pain is very low. You will definitely be able to feel pain at its most extreme."

"No... no, no... don't."

Li Yao instinctively clenched his fists. He shook his head, trembling as he tried to pull back, his bloodshot eyes wide with terror as they stared at the long needle in the Third Hokage's hand.

Although the Third Hokage had not yet done anything, Li Yao's mind was already involuntarily imagining all the ways that needle could be used.

He felt as though his fingernails were already sending waves of piercing pain through him.

"Lord Hokage, I'll tell you everything. Don't torture me. I'll really tell you everything."

"Please, please..."

Like a lamb awaiting slaughter, Li Yao looked at the Third Hokage with terrified, pleading eyes, instinctively begging him again and again to spare him.

"Very convincing acting!"

"But it's useless."

Although the Third Hokage could not sense even the slightest trace of pretense from Li Yao at this moment, such instinctive physical reactions were indeed difficult to fake.

But it was impossible for him to believe Li Yao's words.

In this world, where all kinds of ninjutsu and secret techniques ran rampant, there was a Memory Seal technique that could perfectly conceal a spy. The spy would not even know that he was a spy, so naturally there would be no trace of acting.

Who was to say that Li Yao before him had not also had related memories sealed away, causing him to sincerely believe that he was merely a civilian rather than a ninja?

If that was the case, then with Chakra unable to invade Li Yao's Chakra, no one could remove Li Yao's Memory Seal.

The Third Hokage could only torture Li Yao with pain, forcing him through his survival instincts to break through the Memory Seal in his own mind. Then he could use the Memory Probing Technique.

Before ninjutsu capable of invading memories and unsealing them had been developed, this was the standard method in the ninja world for undoing a Memory Seal.

It was a proven method, which was why the Anbu kept torture implements for this purpose.

"I'm not acting! I really am not acting!" Li Yao was sobbing uncontrollably now. He truly was not acting.

The Third Hokage felt nothing. Smiling with a double meaning, he said, "Only genuine pain can make you remember everything."

The Third Hokage easily pried open Li Yao's clenched fist, seized his thumb, and lightly touched the sharp tip of the long needle against it.

Li Yao immediately began trembling even more violently. The bed rattled with a rapid clattering sound, like a machine gun firing at full speed.

His left arm trembled the most violently, yet his thumb remained so steady in the Third Hokage's grip that it hardly seemed like it belonged to him. But his sensation there was at its most acute.

"I... you... motherfucker, I already said it was true! Can't you fucking understand?!"

"Fuck... you damn Sarutobi monkey, fuck your mother!"

Seeing that the Third Hokage had no intention of sparing him, Li Yao's emotions finally collapsed completely.

He cursed the Third Hokage furiously, in Mandarin no less. He no longer cared about anything and only wanted to vent the terror in his heart.

Perhaps because of Li Yao's sudden outburst and the Mandarin he could not understand, the Third Hokage was briefly taken aback. He paused, then frowned at Li Yao. He had no idea what the man was saying.

But from Li Yao's expression and the hatred in his eyes, the Third Hokage knew that the words he could not understand were certainly not kind ones.

The Third Hokage smiled, unconcerned. His mental defenses had broken. Good. This was exactly the sort of collapse he wanted; only then would the body and mind's instinctive drive for survival break through the Memory Seal in his mind.

"Feel this ultimate pain properly!"

The Third Hokage slowly inserted the needle into the gap beneath Li Yao's thumbnail.

"Hiss..."

Li Yao, who had been cursing wildly, instantly fell silent. An unimaginable pain erupted from a tiny point beneath his nail and surged through his entire body.

Li Yao sharply sucked in a breath. Under that instantaneous, overwhelming pain, his whole body stopped trembling violently.

At that moment, the intense pain overwhelmed both his psychological and physical fear.

A brief instant later.

"AHHH!"

A miserable scream echoed throughout the interrogation room. Outside the interrogation room, the Explosion Squad guards heard that scream, which seemed capable of piercing the soul. Even they, despite their high tolerance for pain and their ability to gouge out an eyeball without changing expression, could not help but shudder.

Inside the interrogation room, the Third Hokage did not stop. Holding the sharp needle, he slowly but forcefully pushed it deeper into the gap beneath Li Yao's nail.

Only then did Li Yao's body seem to react to the agony from before.

He began thrashing even more violently and frantically than before.

He bounced up and down, twisted wildly from side to side, and screamed in agony.

Tightly bound to the bed with bandages, he was like a fish suffocating on land, frantically twisting his body without the slightest relief.

At this moment, Li Yao's mind had gone completely blank from the pain. There was only pain, with no other thoughts.

For Li Yao, who would howl in pain even from an injection, he was already highly sensitive to pain on a psychological level.

If the pain of a long needle being driven beneath a fingernail was a one for others, then the pain Li Yao felt now was a ten.

And adding Li Yao's own psychological sensitivity to pain—

The pain he felt at this moment was a fifteen.

Even adults would be left with tears and snot streaming down their faces, veins bulging all over their bodies from this pain. Yet Li Yao's pain was fifteen times greater on top of that.

Li Yao had now completely lost the ability to think from the pain.

On the bed, Li Yao's body was covered in bulging veins and blood vessels, like that of a hundred-year-old man.

That showed just how much pain he was in.

In the end, before the Third Hokage could drive the needle all the way through Li Yao's thumb, Li Yao passed out from the pain.

The instant Li Yao lost consciousness, the Third Hokage did not even pull out the needle. He immediately formed hand seals with both hands.

"Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."

The familiar method was used once again. The Bringer-of-Darkness Technique's genjutsu Chakra swiftly entered Li Yao's body.

A few seconds later, the Third Hokage frowned and lowered his hands.

"Still not working?"

As expected, even after passing out from pain, Li Yao's consciousness remained tightly fused with his Chakra. The Third Hokage's genjutsu Chakra was instinctively rejected by Li Yao's consciousness, and the genjutsu failed.

"This man's spiritual will is very strong!"

The Third Hokage immediately came to that conclusion. Then he pulled the long needle from beneath Li Yao's thumbnail, wiped away the blood still on it, and placed it back in the first-aid kit.

After glancing at Li Yao, whose bulging veins had not faded even in unconsciousness, the Third Hokage turned and left the interrogation room without continuing the torture.

Li Yao had already gone a day and a night without food. Once the pain reached too high a level, his body would enter a protective state and make him pass out. That conflicted with the Third Hokage's purpose.

Moreover, the Third Hokage feared that if he tortured Li Yao too much, Li Yao might be unable to withstand the pain and die outright. By then, regret would come too late.

He would return tomorrow night.

After leaving the interrogation room, the Third Hokage instructed the Explosion Squad to take good care of Li Yao. Give him enough food and water, and make sure he was lively and well by tomorrow night.

Only a healthy and strong Li Yao could feel pain most clearly, and only then could he break through the Memory Seal in his mind.

Only then could the Third Hokage obtain the perfect Spirit Transformation Technique he wanted.