You, Want to Die Once and See What It's Like?

In the Shinobi World, there were probably many ways to hurt Yura.

The most typical example was Sealing Jutsu.

Yura's soul resided inside her blade. Attacking the blade with Sealing Jutsu was an effective method, but it was worth noting that destroying the blade did not mean Yura's soul would be destroyed. When Inuyasha defeated her, it seemed that Kagome had manually shot an arrow to smash Yura's body. In reality, Kagome's purifying spiritual power had directly cleansed Yura's soul.

If the blade serving as her vessel was damaged, at most Yura would be unable to act for a time.

Just as when Yura had first revived, she had transferred her soul into the blade while dragging her dead, agonized, and heavy body along.

Another way to hurt Yura was to attack her soul directly.

Soul-Absorption Jutsu, Phantom Dragon Nine Seals, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Spirit Transformation Technique, the Totsuka Blade, the Kusanagi Sword Onikiri, which could cut spiritual bodies, and the Truth-Seeking Orb of Kekkei Mōra.

In the Shinobi World, without priestesses like Kagome and Kikyo as natural enemies, Yura's immortality might not compare to Kaguya's, but it was an undeniable and incredibly powerful mechanism.

As Huan sent out a message, night gradually fell. At nearly ten o'clock, a disheveled man in his thirties arrived at Yura's lair.

"Lord Gen!" Huan excitedly went to greet him.

Mochizuki Gen.

Yura sat atop the Black Nest, looking him up and down.

He was lean, tall, and long-legged, with smooth white hair falling over his shoulders. There was no denying he was a handsome man.

Yura felt he looked familiar, but couldn't remember where she'd seen him. In her memories from when she was alive, she'd only met him once.

"Where is she?" Though he seemed somewhat disheveled, he couldn't hide the refined manner beneath. He looked like a cultured man who was clearly well-read.

And he was strong!

Since reviving, Yura had never encountered a ninja who gave her a faint sense of danger. Hashirama didn't count; when she was alive, Yura hadn't even realized how dangerous that grinning fool was.

"Eh?" Huan watched as Mochizuki Gen looked around, bewildered.

Wasn't Yura sitting right there in midair?

Sure, Yura could fly, but it wasn't as if she was invisible.

"Isn't she right here?"

C-can't he see her?

Realizing this, Huan was once again struck by just how powerful and dangerous Yura was.

"Here?"

Mochizuki Gen frowned, discreetly surveying his surroundings. His gaze swept over Yura several times, always unconsciously overlooking her. Yet his instincts keenly sensed something strange. Everywhere around him was tinged with an uncanny sense of wrongness. His body's instincts told him a dangerous, deadly predator was lurking nearby. Just standing there made his hair stand on end.

A genjutsu? No...

A special Kekkei Genkai?

No...

Mochizuki Gen said nothing, unleashing his sensory abilities to their fullest. He wasn't a sensor-type ninja, but the instincts honed between life and death still helped.

Clearly, this was a show of force. If he couldn't find her, he had no right to speak with her.

He'd meant to assess her, but it seemed he was the one being sized up.

Resting her chin in her hands, Yura studied the man with interest. Her cold gaze occasionally swept over the vulnerable points of his body: his neck, heart, and abdomen.

It was fascinating. Thanks to her demonic vision, which let her see clearly even at night, Yura could make out the muscles tensing and the hairs standing on end wherever her gaze fell.

Yura had recognized him by now. She'd almost failed to recognize him with a different hair color. He was one of the Six Paths of Pain—the Human Path, the teacher ninja from Hidden Waterfall. Judging by the years, at this point he should be the Human Path's father or grandfather.

Come to think of it, when the Human Path traveled the Shinobi World, he'd even had the leisure to worry about peace. Hidden Waterfall must have been so peaceful and prosperous that he was bored out of his mind.

Maybe his family upbringing had influenced him, too.

In short, he was probably a good person.

Five seconds had passed—plenty of time for Yura to chop him into mincemeat.

At last, Mochizuki Gen's gaze settled on Yura. At first, his instincts had told him she was there, but there'd been nothing in his field of vision. The moment he realized someone was there, Yura's figure appeared before his eyes, sudden yet natural.

Mochizuki Gen felt a chill in his heart as he looked at Yura, seated in midair, but his muscles relaxed.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Yura, a rogue ninja." Yura smiled faintly.

"Eh?" Huan looked at Yura, who had changed her name, and thought for a moment before swallowing his question.

"Koga..." Gen paused, then said, "I'm Mochizuki Gen, a Jonin of Hidden Waterfall."

Yura nodded and asked, "How did you find me?"

"An impressive concealment technique," Mochizuki Gen said. "Like a stone or a weed by the roadside, even when people see it, they tend to overlook it without thinking. Some strange force subtly twists the mind, interfering with vision and altering perception. Even if people see it, they don't notice its existence."

"To put it simply..."

Mochizuki Gen lowered his head slightly to avoid meeting Yura's eyes.

"I instinctively didn't want to see you. My brain was deceiving me."

Yura clapped her hands and smiled faintly. "Impressive. But it's just a little trick. Once someone notices it, they can see through it."

Mochizuki Gen shook his head. "If this counts as a little trick, then there are no impressive techniques. If I weren't skilled in this myself, I probably wouldn't even know how I died."

"You seem to have mastered an interesting technique," Yura said. "Let me guess—it's a mental secret technique."

Yura could tell he had just used some kind of secret technique to pinpoint her location.

"It's a trifling trick, not worth mentioning."

"You're avoiding eye contact with me..." Yura smiled. "Do you think my technique is activated through the eyes? Or is your technique activated by looking into someone's eyes? Or do you have some psychological trauma around eye contact? What, have you seen Uchiha Madara's Eternal Mangekyō?"

Uchiha Madara!

The moment that name came up, Mochizuki Gen's hand trembled slightly. A moment later, the great waves rising in his heart quickly subsided.

He had remarkable control over his emotions.

"If you managed to escape with your life from Senju Hashirama, I recognize your strength," Mochizuki Gen said. "Now, let's formally discuss how we'll cooperate and divide up the heads."

"Wait..." Yura rose into the air and walked down through empty space, as if descending steps. Her hair supported her feet, holding her a foot above the ground. Since she wasn't tall enough, she made up for it with her position, looking down at him as she said, "Let me see what you can do."

If Yura knew what kind of power someone had, she would never bother testing them.

Everything about the man before her was unknown to her, despite his being a living person in the Shinobi World. That made her very interested.

Besides, this man was somewhat stronger than she'd expected. To prevent certain things from happening later, she needed to establish who was in charge.

"I have no interest in cooperating with the weak."

Watching events unfold, Huan's expression stiffened. Why were they suddenly fighting? Weren't they on the same side?

Was Yura actually this combative?

Mochizuki Gen looked up, meeting Yura's eyes. "Junior, you're too arrogant."

"Senior, do you want to die once and see what it's like?" Yura smiled faintly as she brushed the hair from beside her ear and watched him with a dangerous gaze.

The atmosphere abruptly shifted, heavy with killing intent.

After quietly exhaling, Mochizuki Gen said gravely, "In that case, bring it on, junior."

"Then be careful, senior." Yura lowered her hand. Behind her, her hair grew wildly, and in the blink of an eye, sixteen black spiral spears appeared around her.