On the Table

Sensing the situation of the Uji Clan within the secret stronghold, Yura looked at Shuichi, who stood solemnly to the side, and asked, "Have any of your family members gone missing?"

Shuichi was stunned, then said, "Has the rumor reached even the village?"

Three years since the village was founded, without the constant life-and-death struggles between ninja clans, that child Kyoko no longer had enough fresh ingredients; oh, what would she become? How strange.

"Who is she to you?" Yura asked.

"My younger sister," Shuichi replied.

Yura nodded and smiled faintly, "Do you want to know where she is?"

First, a look of sudden, explosive joy appeared in his eyes, but immediately after, the blood drained from his face; he had long harbored a bad premonition.

"She's on the dinner table," Yura said with a faint smile.

Huh?

Understanding the meaning, Shuichi's entire being swayed, his soul shattered, and after a long while, he began to laugh somewhat maniacally, snot and tears streaming down his face.

"I still underestimated the madness within the clan. Akemi, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Well, another one gone mad.

"In this ninja world, if you aren't sitting at the dinner table, you are on it," Yura remarked with a touch of sentiment.

Shuichi could no longer hear her; he was already broken.

In her perception, the Hour of the Ox Worship was chasing normal people and slaughtering them wildly, but as for those maniacs in a state of mental derangement, this thing didn't even spare them a glance, bypassing them entirely.

Clearly, the successive generations of the Uji Clan had long discovered this; in order to control and drive the Hour of the Ox Worship, and also for self-preservation, people intentionally leaned toward madness. As it evolved through the generations, the clan's culture became one where madness was considered beauty, though it wasn't easy for a normal person to truly go insane.

All things in the world have cause and effect.

So, who created the Hour of the Ox Worship? This secret would vanish along with the Uji Clan, disappearing completely from the history of the ninja world.

In the ninja world, there are many forbidden techniques involving the soul. As a member of the Ghost Clan, Yura is also capable of manipulating souls. Soul transference is the concrete manifestation of this ability; the immortal body is merely an incidental byproduct, a mere appearance.

Beyond the power of her hair, the soul could also become an ability Yura focuses on developing.

As for how exactly to develop it, she was still in the dark.

But the utilization of negative emotions can, generally speaking, also be categorized as the utilization of the soul.

Yura drew the Onikiri from her waist, examining the resentment and negative emotions entwined around the blade.

This sword, originally named Heshikiri, was just an extremely sharp blade. The key to it becoming the Onikiri capable of slashing spiritual bodies lay in the resentment entwined around the blade; this was a way of using negative emotions to harm and touch spiritual bodies.

By simply observing, Yura could imitate it.

Perhaps it could be called a change in the nature of the soul.

Since she had only just obtained it, she didn't have the leisure to work on it for the time being.

But besides this method of utilization, it wasn't as if Yura lacked other means; she had simply not realized this before and had underestimated it.

A flicker of fire danced and rose from her fingertips, spreading along the blade.

Yura's ghost fire is a hellfire that uses the burning of negative emotions as fuel. Beyond being able to affect reality, it also possesses the ability to harm spiritual bodies—a dual change in the form and nature of the soul.

Both of these methods can be categorized as the materialization of the soul, and in contrast to this, there is the spiritualization of matter.

It sounds complicated, but both point to an ultimate answer: the immortality that humanity dreams of.

Orochimaru's immortality technique is precisely the process of soul materialization. Although the paths they walk are not the same, the truth at the destination must be exactly the same.

But some things, how should one put it, are simply unreasonable; some people are born standing at the finish line.

For example, Yura at this moment.

"If you're fine, then go; infiltrate Kumogakure." Sheathing her blade and leaving behind the broken Shuichi, Yura walked out.

The remaining madmen of the Uji Clan would have to be slaughtered by Yura's own hand.

Time passed, and before she knew it, the night had gone. The morning light of dawn pierced the earth, while underground was a different scene; unknown moss and mushrooms emitted a faint glow. Yura walked into a secret stronghold—this was the stronghold of the Hero Clan. Because it was close, Yura chose this place.

With the mole Huan providing cover, the Hero Clan held no secrets from Yura.

Without the Hero Water, the only Jonin was currently guarding the elders in the conference room of Takigakure.

While killing people, Yura thought of something interesting.

In the ninja world, the boundary between life and death is very blurred. What kind of existence is the soul, really? In the eyes of the current Yura, killing a person does not represent the end of life, but rather that the physical body has been destroyed and the person has transformed into another form. Only when a person's soul and will are completely destroyed can it be counted as death in the true sense.

Then, what would happen if she told Madara about the project to materialize the souls of the whole world?

Compared to the illusion world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, what consequences would a world of soul materialization bring?

The dead would be resurrected, the living would be immortal, the instinct for survival would disappear, selfish desires would become faint, and humans would become thinking spiritual entities. They would not lose love or affection; they would simply be immortal forever.

Saying it is immortality is just removing the limitation of lifespan; the soul itself can still be destroyed.

The incidental effect would likely be the achievement of a world of permanent peace.

Yura shook her head.

"What a truly boring world that would be."

Without human desire, how would Yura pass the time watching the fun? In the future, how would she play on the computer?

Therefore, Yura could not bring herself to agree with the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

No, it was far too arrogant. How much must one look down on humanity to believe that human selfishness and greed would simply fade away? After all, a person's dreams never end.

Was she not the perfect example? Even after becoming an immortal thinking entity, Yura's desires remained as potent as ever. Some extreme spirits, like the Hour of the Ox Worship, were simply incomprehensible lunatics.

So, once this business in Takigakure was finished, what should she do next?

Conquer the world?

No, no, where was the fun in conquering the world?

Yura clapped her hands in sudden realization. Behind her, a ninja who had been charging forward, screaming and covered in blood, collapsed. He looked at the back of the girl sitting high in the void, his hand reaching out with eyes full of lingering resentment, surrounded by the fallen bodies of his clansmen.

"If there is no place for me to rest, then I shall build one myself. A paradise of my own, a Gensokyo that even the gods would envy and yearn for."

"Therefore, I say, this ninja world needs monsters! Many, many monsters!"

Compared to doing something for lofty, grand themes like the so-called happiness and peace of humanity.

Yura would much rather do something for her own small happiness.

As for peace in the ninja world?

Who cares about such things? That is the sort of thing only the protagonist of a shonen manga would worry about.

A new day began. Early in the morning, in the dungeon, Kakuzu slowly opened his eyes. His chest was still faintly oozing blood; the blade Yura had struck him with earlier had not been very deep.

Using a ninja's bone-dislocation technique, he freed himself from the shackles and dropped down from the torture rack.

He twisted his rusted neck, emitting a series of cracking sounds.

"It is time."

The agreed-upon time for the operation was noon, but Kakuzu had to observe the situation beforehand; he did not trust Yura all that much.

Just then, the guarding ninja arrived for a routine check.

Inside and outside the cell, separated by iron bars, the two locked eyes.

Kakuzu formed hand seals and opened his mouth toward the ninja.

Fire Style: Searing Migraine

A pillar of orange-yellow flames surged out violently, instantly passing through the bars and slamming into the rock wall of the deep corridor, the fire raging toward both ends of the hallway.

In an instant, the violent flames ceased, leaving a melted hole in the bars, with molten iron dripping slowly onto the floor.

The figure of the ninja who had been standing there was reduced to nothing.

Finally, revenge. This guy should have died a long time ago!

The foul air in his chest dissipated. Kakuzu raised his hand to the forehead protector on his brow, and a blade of Wind Style chakra nature transformation slowly carved a scratch across it.

From this moment on, he was a rogue ninja.

There was no longer any room for hesitation.