The furious crowd continued listening to the end of the story.
The siblings learned the truth and wanted to go to Lord Hokage to expose Danzo. But after Root ninja joined Root, Danzo had a Cursed Seal carved onto their tongues.
The Root ninja who bore the Cursed Seal of the Tongue couldn't say anything "bad" about Danzo.
The moment they tried, the seal punished them, leaving their bodies rigid and unable to move—or even making them lose consciousness.
So the siblings could only think about it. In the end, their bodies went rigid, and they couldn't report Danzo.
But the siblings hadn't realized that once they triggered the seal, Danzo would know immediately.
When Danzo learned the two siblings wanted to betray him, he promptly assigned them a mission. Both were assassinations.
They were at the same location, and they wouldn't learn their targets' identities until they arrived.
He also made it clear that failing the mission meant death.
The siblings, who now wanted only to survive, went to the mission site together.
Only after arriving did they discover that the person they had to kill was each other.
If they didn't kill the other, they couldn't complete the mission. And anyone who failed the mission would die.
They sensed that the people hiding nearby were all stronger than they were.
So the younger sister begged her brother to kill her.
She said that after what had happened, she hadn't wanted to live. She had stayed alive only for her brother.
Now, if he didn't complete the mission, he wouldn't survive. And without him, she wouldn't live on either!
But before she could finish speaking, her brother decisively plunged a knife into his own heart.
As he lay dying, her brother said, "Little sister, live on. You're more talented than I am, and you have a better chance of getting revenge!"
Following his words, the younger sister cut off her brother's head with her own hands, returned to Root, and completed the mission. She survived.
Looking at the girl who had lost everything, Danzo smiled with delight. He said that only those who had lost everything could be without feelings—and a tool without feelings was the truly useful kind.
"And so, her brother died. His younger sister didn't cry at his grave. She simply used the knife he'd killed himself with to carve the character for 'revenge' into her face."
A short figure, with a veil over her face and her entire body wrapped up, finished the story calmly. Without even glancing at the furious crowd, she walked straight away.
She walked unhurriedly, as though the story she had just told hadn't affected her at all.
"That's too horrible! Hearing that makes me want to beat Danzo up! How could he do something like that?"
"Baka yarou! Is beating him up enough? That bastard Danzo deserves to die!"
"Damn it! How could someone like that become a Hokage Advisor? We have to kill him!"
"Damn it, who are you? How do you know all this? And how do you know so many details? Aren't Root ninja forbidden from talking about Lord Danzo?"
"Exactly. Everyone, don't be fooled. How could something like this be true? Lord Hokage and his advisors are always spreading the Will of Fire. How could they do something like this?"
"Baka, it does seem suspicious. You're not making this up, are you?"
The short figure had already reached the door. She stopped with her back to the crowd, then slowly raised a hand and removed her veil.
"Baka, I'm talking to you! You can't leave until you explain yourself!"
Someone short-tempered stepped forward and grabbed her, turning the short figure around.
The hothead had still been wearing an angry expression, but the moment they saw the short figure's face, they froze, stumbling over their words.
"Uh, y-you're... You're her?"
The hothead stepped aside in dismay, and everyone got a clear look at the short figure's face.
They could all see that the youthful face must once have been delicate and pretty.
But now, it was covered in crisscrossing scars.
The scars formed a single character: "revenge."
"Nani... Why? Why would you think this was fake? It really happened. Why think it was fake?"
A-Chou looked at everyone without expression. There was no confusion in her voice, and her emotions didn't stir.
But she felt a little restless. She remembered what emotions were, but she had lost them.
She couldn't smile anymore, and she certainly couldn't cry. Yet now, she felt something inside—something like discomfort.
I should go find Tuoye. I don't feel well. He's a doctor; he can treat me.
A-Chou headed for the secret base.
Inside the secret base.
Since meeting each member of the Spark Society here, Kimura Takuya had proven his strength and transplanted Ninja Tiger arms onto them.
Third, he had removed everyone's Cursed Seals of the Tongue.
The method was simple: cut off the sealed tongue, then soak it in nutrient fluid to keep it alive. That way, the seal remained intact and wouldn't be triggered, so Danzo wouldn't find out.
As for the people whose tongues had been cut off, Kimura Takuya could heal them with a single touch of his finger.
Only after removing the Cursed Seals of the Tongue did Kimura Takuya truly understand the evil side of the Ninja World.
He couldn't help but marvel: true evil went far beyond the killing of innocents.
It was the violation of the most basic boundaries of human decency that truly wounded the heart and made it impossible to eat or sleep in peace.
This was something no part of the original story would ever reveal, yet it was truly hidden in the world around them.
Out of sight.
"Boss Tuoye, is it really all right to have A-Chou expose her scars in front of everyone like this?"
"It's her choice. She had no choice before, but now she's chosen to act this way. I agree with her, too. Only by facing her fear can she awaken her emotions again."
"Boss Tuoye, is that technique you mentioned real?"
"Yes, it's real. But it's not perfect yet. I'll finish refining it. We'll have to wait a little longer; it won't take long. If we used it now, we wouldn't get the best possible result from the revival."
Kimura Takuya was busy studying the cells of a Transparent Escape ninja and Yakumo's cells.
He was also examining some recently acquired samples: Neji's cells, Kurenai Yuhi's cells, and others.
After observing them for a while, he concluded that Kekkei Genkai Disease was almost impossible to cure.
Kekkei Genkai abilities came from genes, and so did the disease.
To cure Kekkei Genkai Disease, he would have to alter the genes. But after altering them, he would "cure" the Kekkei Genkai ability along with the disease.
No ninja with a Kekkei Genkai could accept that.
No wonder even the Ninja World's great scientist, Orochimaru, couldn't handle Kekkei Genkai Disease.
It wasn't that he couldn't. It was that once he did, there would be no point in it for him.
Cure Kekkei Genkai Disease while preserving the ability.
For now, Kimura Takuya had no solution either.
Even having acquired Hashirama Cells—the sort of thing treated like a cure-all in countless Naruto fanfictions—
Kimura Takuya still wasn't optimistic about them.
After all, even the First himself had died under mysterious circumstances. Kimura Takuya suspected Hashirama might have died of Kekkei Genkai Disease.
The more powerful the ability, the more terrifying the price it tended to demand.
The First's powerful Wood Release ability might well have drained his life force.
That was far too similar to the pathology of most Kekkei Genkai diseases.
The more someone used a powerful ability, the faster their body deteriorated.
But he hadn't obtained the First's cells yet, so Kimura Takuya couldn't reach a conclusion.
Once he killed Danzo, he'd be able to get the First's cells. Soon.
"Tuoye, I don't feel well. Help me."
Before you continue