She Looked Quite the Monster

"Who are you?" the girl asked with curiosity in her emerald eyes. On the surface, she seemed like a normal, sunny, cheerful girl, but there was something sinister about her.

Yura smiled faintly and cut straight to the point. "Would you like to leave with me? Leave this cage behind?"

The blonde girl froze, her eyes suddenly lighting up. She thought for a moment, then said, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Why?" Yura tilted her head in confusion. "Why should I be afraid of you?"

"I'm a monster," the girl said with a sunny smile. "A monster who manipulates people's hearts."

"How convenient," Yura replied with a smile. "I'm a monster too. One who takes people's hearts."

She meant that literally. After mastering Earth Grudge Fear, taking people's hearts was only natural.

The girl grew a little uneasy.

Yura's words had clearly startled her. She shrank back, and the pair of transparent, fairy-like wings at her lower back fluttered lightly. Then she lowered her head and murmured mournfully, "I hate this so much..."

Yura watched her in confusion.

If she could hide the fear and panic deep inside her, she might have been able to scare Yura.

When Yura didn't react or say anything, the girl repeated, "I hate this so much..."

She was trying very hard to put on a sinister monster voice.

The mood turned awkward. Yura watched her performance in silence, while the girl secretly stole a glance at her face.

After a long while, the girl hesitantly asked, "You really are a monster?"

Yura nodded.

Probably.

The girl believed her.

After all, she hadn't sensed even the slightest fear deep inside Yura.

To her, Yura was a completely unknown, unfathomable black hole. She couldn't stir up any fear in Yura at all.

"Then..." the girl said, "I'm definitely not going with you!"

"That's not up to you." Yura smiled faintly, then slashed at the barrier.

A huge breach split open with a harsh, scraping tear. The girl shrieked, sprang to her feet, and raced back into the shrine without looking back. She slammed the doors shut, then leaned against them, her face tense and her heart pounding.

I'm doomed! What do I do?!

A real monster is here!

Yura's lips curled into a smile. After observing the girl at close range, she could tell that the girl was a typical case: she possessed immense mental strength and could withstand a great deal of negative emotion, allowing her to stably resist the Tailed Beast's mental influence.

Born into a mad ninja clan, hatred was her camouflage.

Her nature was just like that of the Tailed Beasts.

It was interesting. Whether it was Kaede or the Jinchuriki before her, in Takigakure's history of more than sixty years, there had never been any rumors of a Jinchuriki going berserk.

That was undoubtedly far better than the suffering endured in the Five Great Villages.

Was it because everyone in the village was kind and friendly, and the Jinchuriki had been moved by them?

Given how corrupt Takigakure's leadership had been in the early days of the Five Great Villages, that was impossible. Without a doubt, it was the Jinchuriki's own remarkable character and abilities that had kept the village peaceful for so long.

Yura lifted her foot and kicked the doors open.

After all, Yura was a monster. She was strong.

"Ah..." The girl cried out in pain, caught completely by surprise. Lucy tumbled across the floor, rolling for a short distance before huddling in the corner of the shrine and staring at Yura.

Somehow, tiny tears had gathered in her eyes, threatening to fall.

She was incredibly weak...

Yura didn't know what to say. If not for the subtle force in the air that could affect other people's mental states but had no effect on Yura, Lucy was undeniably incredibly weak.

She was like a mouse facing a cat—completely outmatched.

So even though her acting was clumsy, other people still found their emotions stirred up by her. Without realizing it, they would slowly go mad and destroy themselves. That was the real reason the Uji Clan feared her.

Yura was curious about this way of using negative emotions. Although she could absorb them and use them as nourishment, she didn't have any particularly effective way to put them to use.

"Don't you know any ninja techniques?" Yura asked.

Lucy looked at her and hesitantly nodded. "No one taught me."

"What did they teach you?" Yura asked.

"Hour of the Ox Worship." Lucy gestured as she spoke. "I think it's called the Summoning Technique. It summons a strange little thing that's kind of cute. It's pretty easy to use."

"Stand up," Yura said calmly.

"O-okay..." Lucy replied timidly as she got to her feet, looking anxious.

Is she going to eat me?

The sixteen-year-old girl had slightly messy, shoulder-length blonde hair and wore a red-and-white shrine maiden's outfit. After studying her emerald eyes and taking in her appearance, Yura asked, "You're wearing shrine maiden's clothes. Which deity do you serve?"

The Shinobi World had no shortage of Death Gods and Jashin.

"Uh..." Lucy froze. "The Sage of Six Paths."

Yura narrowed her eyes. Had the Uji Clan been a ninja clan passed down from the Ninjutsu Sect era?

"Is it appropriate for a monster like you to serve a sage?" Yura asked, her tone peculiar.

"Is it not?" Lucy said. "My family told me to serve him..." Her toes curled awkwardly inside her shoes. "I don't even know what the Sage of Six Paths looks like. Is he a monster or something else...?"

"He looks quite the monster, that Sage of Six Paths," Yura cut in. "You're a monster too, so you're equals with him."

"You've met him?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"More or less," Yura replied. "He doesn't look human, anyway."

"That's amazing..." Lucy flattered her, her eyes darting around as she plotted something—probably a way to escape.

Just then, a voice sounded deep within Lucy. It was Chomei, the Seven-Tails.

"Lucy." The Seven-Tails spoke in a handsome male voice. "She says she's met the Sage of Six Paths. Ask her what his name is."

Yura raised an eyebrow...

She sensed a ripple of emotion.

"Um, do you know the Sage of Six Paths' name?" Lucy asked.

"You get along pretty well with the Tailed Beasts," Yura said with a smile. "Let me think. Was it...?"

A strand of hair lightly touched the seal on Lucy's abdomen. As Yura's power flowed into it, she connected to the enormous mass of chakra within.

In an instant, the world turned upside down and everything changed. Yura brought Lucy into the world of her mind.

The seal was so crude that Chomei could lounge at ease amid birdsong, flowers, and bright sunshine in Lucy's inner world.

Yura turned her head, her scarlet eyes meeting Chomei's.

"You..." Chomei flapped his wings, his voice filled with surprise.

"Is there something you'd like to ask me, Chomei?"

She knew my name.

For a thousand years, only the Tailed Beasts and the Sage of Six Paths had known their names.

There was no need to say more. Chomei lay back down, watching Yura warily.

Lucy had been here before. After a brief moment of surprise, she darted beneath Chomei and hid behind his heavy armor, glaring fiercely at Yura.

"This huge thing is a fearsome Tailed Beast! They call him a natural disaster! Scared now?"

"Wait, Lucy," Chomei said gravely.

Ignoring Lucy's antics, Yura looked at Chomei and said, "Good. I have some questions for you."

"Go ahead, powerful ninja," Chomei replied. "If I know the answers, I'll tell you."

"What's going on with her?" Yura pointed at Lucy. "Is her power a Kekkei Genkai?"

Chomei shook his head. "Considering its strength, Kekkei Tōta would be a more appropriate name. If my guess is right, it's a weakened form of the power the Sage of Six Paths used to connect people's hearts."

I see.

The Bridge Clan? Yura mused. The connection between people could be likened to a bridge.

Connecting people and helping them understand each other seemed wonderful, but the darkness deep in people's hearts meant that cases like Lucy's could occur. They could contaminate one another, one person infecting two.

Lucy had accumulated such an enormous amount of negative emotion by absorbing the feelings of others over a long period. She hadn't gone mad purely because her own mental strength was powerful and resilient enough. As a massive source of negative emotional contamination, she unconsciously polluted the people around her, driving them insane.

No wonder this act of connecting people had abruptly disappeared during the Ninjutsu Sect era, abandoned by the ninja as a whole.

In this situation, even if the Sage of Six Paths were alive, he would have nothing to say. He could only feel despair.

The Bridge Clan's records must have been destroyed around that time.

Lucy stamped her foot, feeling slighted by Yura's disregard, but she didn't dare approach.

"Then you should know that she'll go mad sooner or later if this continues," Yura said. "Especially if she stays with you for a long time."

"I know," Chomei replied gravely. "But you seem to have a way to help her, powerful ninja."

"My name is Yura," Yura said. "Come with me, and I'll keep her safe."

After a moment of silence, Chomei said, "All right."

"Huh?" Lucy looked up at the enormous bug in disbelief. "What are you doing, big bug?"

"Go with her, Lucy," Chomei said. "Otherwise, you won't live much longer."

What a sensible little bug.

Yura nodded, closed her eyes, and returned to the real world, leaving them to sort things out themselves. She looked at Lucy, who still had her eyes closed.