Your Turn!

Late at night.

Shinji, fully armed in his apartment, waited in silence.

Unlike last night, he was no longer excited or impatient. He was much calmer and more composed.

[Prepare to repel the invasion.]

The mysterious voice sounded beside his ear right on schedule.

"Phew."

He let out a breath and put on his mask.

In the next instant, with a soft swish, he vanished from the apartment.

When he came to, Shinji found himself at the foot of a great mountain.

"Where is this?"

He looked around.

A vast mountain range stretching for dozens of miles came into view. It looked completely unfamiliar to him and was certainly nowhere near Konoha Village. But the vegetation was lush, and the temperature and humidity were no different from Konoha's, so there was a good chance he was still within the Land of Fire.

"My clearance is still too low."

He sighed to himself.

If he were an official Lantern Bearer of the Shinobi World, he probably wouldn't be stumbling around cluelessly like this, without any information.

Putting that thought aside, he looked toward the mountain ahead.

The mountain gave him one impression above all: stillness.

Rising beneath the night sky, it looked like a gigantic monster holding its breath, waiting for its prey to come to it.

"Maybe I should come back another day?"

Shinji joked to himself to ease his nerves, then sprang forward and raced toward the mountain.

As Shinji entered the mountain and moved through the forest, he increasingly sensed that something was wrong.

Even in the dead of night, a mountain so thick with vegetation should have had at least some insects chirping or birds calling. But this place was far too quiet.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a shadow leaped out of the darkness.

Shinji had already activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and spotted the attacker at once. His right hand moved to the ninja tool pouch at his waist and drew a Kunai as he rushed to meet the attack.

Clang!

A shrill clash of metal rang through the dark, silent forest.

After blocking the attack and leaping back, Shinji finally saw that his assailant was a ninja wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector.

"A Konoha Ninja. No, wait!"

He realized something was wrong in an instant.

The Konoha Ninja who had ambushed him looked terrified, not at all like an attacker. What's more, his body was connected to a series of Chakra Threads, each one stretching deep into the forest.

Most people would have been horrified by such a sight and lost their composure.

But for Bloodline Ninja with special eyes, the threads concealed in the darkness were clearly visible. The Chakra flowing through them even pointed straight to the enemy's true location.

"Hmph. Cheap tricks!"

Shinji snorted. He ignored the controlled Konoha Ninja and charged straight into the forest, following the threads coursing with Chakra.

The enemy's methods were somewhat like a Sunagakure puppeteer's, but Shinji quickly ruled that out. A puppeteer shouldn't be able to control a puppet from so far away.

Since he was here to repel an invasion, he had already guessed who was at the other end of those threads.

With the aid of the Breathing Technique, he moved at incredible speed. The dark forest posed no obstacle to his Mangekyō Sharingan.

A moment later.

He darted out of the woods into an open area, and the sight before him made his expression shift.

The owner of the threads was exactly who he had suspected: Mother Spider Demon, the white-haired, white-robed demon from the Mount Natagumo demon family.

But he hadn't expected to find seven Konoha Ninja under her control, standing around her like puppets and guarding her.

"Eight Konoha Ninja in all, counting the one from before. That's two whole squads."

Shinji was genuinely surprised that so many Konoha Ninja had fallen into her hands.

But then he thought about it. It wasn't strange for ordinary ninjas to be killed on their first encounter with a demon when they knew nothing about demons.

Besides, ordinary ninjas weren't necessarily stronger than the top swordsmen in Demon Slayer, who had mastered the Breathing Technique.

The samurai of the Land of Iron, after all, had established themselves in the Shinobi World with nothing but their sharp swordsmanship and iron wills, despite being unable to use ninjutsu.

And among ninjas, even a Jonin—or a Kage Level powerhouse—could easily lose their life with just one moment of carelessness.

The Third Kazekage, hailed as the Strongest Kazekage, had been ambushed by Scorpion and died under mysterious circumstances. In the end, even his corpse was turned into a Human Puppet.

The truly terrifying thing about the Shinobi World was its high ceiling.

The mightiest fighters could cleave the moon with a sword and cross the stars!

Of course.

People with that kind of strength were exceedingly rare in the Shinobi World.

Most fighters in the Shinobi World were ordinary ninjas who relied on Kunai and Explosive Tags. None of them—including Shinji himself—could afford to underestimate demons!

After steadying himself, Shinji studied Mother Spider Demon, his expression growing more serious.

Earlier, when he'd seen the Chakra flowing through the threads, he'd clung to the hope that it had leaked from the controlled Konoha Ninja. But now that he'd seen Mother Spider Demon, he had to admit that the demon invading the Shinobi World already had Chakra within her.

Just as he was learning the Breathing Technique, the demons invading the Shinobi World were also trying to master Chakra.

And those demons had a tremendous advantage: they could devour people from the Shinobi World and seize their Chakra through the flesh and blood they consumed.

Across from him, Mother Spider Demon hadn't expected Shinji to find her so quickly, so she stared at him in a daze while he observed her.

But she quickly recovered and sent all the Konoha Ninja under her control to attack Shinji. "Die!"

In an instant.

The seven Konoha Ninja, terrified and unable to control themselves, were driven by the threads to attack Shinji.

"Total Concentration!"

With a bang, Shinji burst into motion, cracking the ground beneath his feet. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he shot through the seven Konoha Ninja's encirclement.

Slash.

His Kunai swept through the air in a perfect arc, slicing through all the threads controlling the seven Konoha Ninja from behind.

The seven Konoha Ninja, suddenly freed, were all taken aback. They instinctively turned to look at Shinji.

Shinji glanced at them indifferently.

Thud, thud, thud!

In an instant, they fell one after another.

The seven Konoha Ninja had been exhausted by Mother Spider Demon's torment. The moment their eyes met Shinji's, his genjutsu put them to sleep, and they collapsed unconscious.

"What's wrong with these people?!"

Mother Spider Demon froze, her face full of disbelief.

She couldn't understand why seven swordsmen she considered quite formidable had passed out after Shinji merely glanced at them.

Just then.

Shinji's eyes, glowing with an eerie light, slowly shifted toward Mother Spider Demon. "Hey, your turn!"