Half a Year Later

Over the next half year, events unfolded exactly as the Third Hokage had expected.

After enduring the agonizing "stimulation" of pain, the Third Hokage did not stop. He had somehow obtained a medicinal liquid and made Li Yao drink it.

Then Li Yao experienced an itch that seemed to come from the depths of his heart.

At first, the itch did not feel particularly intense.

But the moment he reached out to scratch himself in an attempt to relieve it, the itch only grew worse and worse, until he could not stop.

Moreover, this itch that came from within could not be relieved by scratching at all.

Scratching his skin only made him itch more and suffer more.

Itching might not seem as stimulating to the senses as pain.

But in truth, intense itching could torment the senses just as much, making one wish for death.

Li Yao had never imagined that itching could torment someone into passing out.

When the itch drove him completely insane, making him disregard life and death as he thrust both hands into his own chest, trying to tear it open and seize his heart to knead it viciously for relief, he finally could not endure it any longer and fainted.

Even after it had come to this, the Third Hokage did not let him off.

The psychological torment that followed likewise made Li Yao wish he were dead.

The Third Hokage placed a rat covered all over in sharp, coarse bristles into a bottle, then shoved the bottle's mouth into Li Yao's mouth. With a small Fire Release technique, he drove the panicked rat into Li Yao's pitch-black throat.

That night, Li Yao watched helplessly as the rat burrowed down his throat. The alien sensation, combined with the terror in his mind, made him pass out once again.

After that came all manner of tortures: Luring the Snake into the Hole, centipedes crawling into his ears.

Whatever was more twisted, whatever could shatter Li Yao's mind more thoroughly, the Third Hokage used it.

Li Yao's mental state deteriorated day by day.

Finally, on a night half a year later.

The Third Hokage, who had not yet finished dinner, suddenly received a report from Baku at home. Li Yao had been unconscious for ten days, and no matter how they stimulated him, he would not wake up.

"Has he finally broken?!"

The instant he heard the report, that was the Third Hokage's first thought. Then, unable to contain his excitement, he rushed back to the interrogation room with Baku.

"Without my orders, no one is allowed inside."

After opening the interrogation room door, the Third Hokage instructed Baku and the others before eagerly entering the room himself.

Inside the interrogation room, Li Yao lay quietly on the torture bed, which also served as a hospital bed. A needle was still inserted into the hand resting beside him, connected to an IV bottle filled with nutrient solution.

Half a year of torment had not only broken Li Yao's mind—his body had collapsed even more severely. He could now only stay alive through nutrient solution.

At this moment, Li Yao's face looked as though he were in his forties or fifties.

His skin was no longer smooth. It had become thick and rough, as if it had endured the ravages of decades.

Looking closely, several gray-white hairs could be seen among the strands scattered across the pillow.

This was not natural silver-white hair like Kakashi's, but hair that had aged as his body entered its declining years.

The torment of the past half year had primarily damaged his body.

The number of times human cells could divide was limited to begin with.

The Third Hokage continuously destroyed Li Yao's body, then rapidly regenerated it with Medical Ninjutsu, drastically consuming the lifespan of Li Yao's cells.

That was why, after only half a year, his body had entered a state of aging.

This alone showed just how horrifying and brutal the torture Li Yao had endured over the past half year had been.

"Genjutsu—Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"

The Third Hokage arrived beside Li Yao's bed and immediately cast a genjutsu on him.

Whether Li Yao's mind had truly broken depended mainly on whether his genjutsu could succeed.

"Hm?"

"What's going on?"

The Third Hokage suddenly stared around him in shock.

Darkness!

An unimaginable darkness!

There was no color other than black.

"This guy... actually reflected my Bringer-of-Darkness Technique?!!"

The Third Hokage was deeply shocked and confused. Shouldn't this man's mind have broken, leaving him unable to control his own Chakra?

Why were his consciousness and Chakra not only still tightly fused together, but even stronger than before?

More importantly, he had actually reflected his genjutsu!

This left the Third Hokage utterly stunned. He was the Third Hokage, one of the few ninja standing at the pinnacle of the ninja world. Who could reflect a genjutsu and make him fall victim to it himself?

Even the Uchiha Clan's three-tomoe Sharingan, or even the Mangekyō Sharingan, could not reflect his genjutsu so easily.

Yet now, someone he had tortured for half a year—a man who seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown—had accomplished it. How could the Third Hokage not be shocked?

"Release!"

The Third Hokage rapidly formed hand seals, dispelling the rebounded genjutsu—the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.

As the darkness faded and his vision returned, the Third Hokage stared at Li Yao on the hospital bed, a deep wariness flashing through his eyes.

This man absolutely could not be allowed to live!

The fact that he could easily reflect the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique proved that he possessed an extraordinary talent for genjutsu. Combined with his innate ability to resist all Chakra intrusion, perhaps no one in this world could withstand his genjutsu—aside from the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan, renowned for its skill in genjutsu.

Even the Third Hokage himself doubted that he could withstand it.

And if he could not withstand it, that meant that if he encountered Li Yao at his peak, he would be instantly killed.

Powerful genjutsu-type ninja were simply this unreasonable.

Especially in a one-on-one battle, facing one was practically a death sentence.

Someone like this absolutely could not be given a chance to leave alive.

But... what if he could obtain the secret behind this man's talent?

At that thought, the Third Hokage's eyes once again glinted with fervent desire.

The ability that made him wary was also the very ability he coveted.

But... as he looked at Li Yao, whose mind refused to break no matter how he was tortured and might even have grown stronger, the Third Hokage felt helpless.

Over the past half year, he had exhausted every method of torture capable of driving someone insane. Yet none of them had worked. For the moment, he had no idea how to pry open Li Yao's mental defenses.

"Continue torturing him?"

The Third Hokage frowned and considered it, then shook his head.

"It's useless."

"If we continue, this man will die."

Li Yao's body appeared to have merely entered old age, but his condition was actually far worse than it looked.

Whenever Ran used Medical Ninjutsu to treat Li Yao's injuries now, the time required grew longer and longer.

Sometimes, a wound no larger than a willow leaf required half a day of uninterrupted treatment with the Mystical Palm Technique before it would finally heal.

This showed that Li Yao's body was already on the verge of collapse.

If they continued using physical torture to worsen his injuries, Li Yao's body might suddenly lose all vitality. No matter how they used the Mystical Palm Technique, his wounds would no longer close, and he would ultimately die.

The Third Hokage had no intention of letting Li Yao live forever, but he did not want him to die yet.

"How is his body?"

The Third Hokage called Ran inside. He wanted to know Li Yao's condition, and why he had remained unconscious—why his mental will had not only failed to collapse, but had instead grown stronger.

Having treated Li Yao's body throughout the past half year, Ran understood his condition very well.

Ran explained, "Lord Hokage, he should have entered a vegetative state. His mental will has completely abandoned his body and sunk into dormancy."

His mental will had abandoned his body... did that mean they could search the memories in his mind?

The Third Hokage's eyes lit up. Thinking it highly possible, he immediately had Baku, who was outside, notify Inoichi Yamanaka to come over.