End of Battle

Time shifts back slightly. The secret stronghold of the Qian Gui Clan is somewhat remote, located deep underground. This is a cruel and extremely reclusive ninja clan; their conduct within the village is far more mysterious than that of the Uji or Kusanagi clans, strictly adhering to the secretive ways of the shinobi.

Within their clan grounds, Yura did not find much—though one could not say she found nothing at all. Yura discovered a peculiar bathing pool.

A Blood Pool.

In the pool, filled with a thick, foul-smelling, viscous liquid, floated one skull after another. The skulls were small, the bone walls thin, the brow ridges weak, and the foreheads steep; by all indications, they belonged to women—young women.

"What is this?" Yura looked toward Aoi.

With a look of disgust, Aoi said, "The bathing pool of that old hag Xun!"

"What does that mean?" Yura asked.

"To preserve her youth," Aoi said with loathing. "The old hag Xun has a penchant for torturing and killing beautiful young women to bathe in their blood."

Yura lowered her eyes. So, there really was someone here who had practiced the forbidden Earth Grudge Fear technique.

Why is it that as long as people live long enough, they will eventually attempt every forbidden taboo?

"Because you are ugly, you escaped this fate?" Yura asked with interest.

Aoi looked at Yura, wanting to speak but hesitating. After a long moment, she said, "I am not ugly, just plain-looking."

"Same thing," Yura said. "If I think you aren't pretty, I can just say you are cute."

Aoi gritted her teeth fiercely. It was so infuriating, but she couldn't win in a fight.

"Let's go. To the stronghold."

The Qian Gui Clan's stronghold was built with a distinct style—or perhaps one should say it was crude. The strategy remained the same: find the leader, kill them in one strike, and then deal with the remaining leaderless ninjas.

Yura was looking forward to a battle against Earth Grudge Fear.

On the surface, it was a secret technique to steal hearts, but upon closer inspection, it was not that simple. First, it allowed for a certain degree of bodily modification, a form of immortality. Second, besides stealing hearts with elemental affinities, could one also steal Kekkei Genkai? Was it limited to only five hearts? What about Yin-style or Yang-style hearts?

Would this user of Earth Grudge Fear, different from Kakuzu, manifest a different version of the technique?

Unfortunately, the old hag Xun was at the meeting hall, and Aoi had no information regarding Earth Grudge Fear.

For now, it was best to find the forbidden scroll as quickly as possible.

In front of a main building, Yura stopped, a thoughtful expression on her face. This structure featured a rather ancient architectural style, predating even the Warring States period. This style was known as the Buddha Land Pure Soil.

Incense smoke curled everywhere, and stone lamp towers lined the streets. The hall before her was brightly lit, and the faint sound of chanting could be heard.

"They believe in Buddha..."

"The head of the Qian Gui Clan..." Aoi said, "inherits the title of Qian-Gui Princess generation after generation. She usually eats vegetarian meals and chants Buddhist sutras to pray for blessings. No clansmen dare to disturb her."

Aoi stepped forward and pushed open the main hall doors.

In the vast, empty hall, the first things to catch the eye were five giant stone Buddha statues, several meters tall, each wearing a stone demon mask; it was impossible to tell which Buddha they represented. Following that, the three walls were densely packed with smaller Buddha statues, all of which also wore stone demon masks.

The Thousand Buddha Wall!

A sense of sacred solemnity washed over her, carrying a trace of eerie oppression.

Beneath the five giant statues sat a bhikshuni dressed in monastic robes. Compared to the usual alluring women of the Qian Gui Clan, her figure and back alone exuded a sense of dignity and holiness.

The chanting stopped abruptly.

In Yura's perception, the entire hall was surrounded by deep resentment, permeating the very bones with an eerie chill.

The bhikshuni turned around, her eyes fixed directly on Yura. They flashed with a strange light, her expression as calm as an ancient well, yet filled with solemnity.

"This benefactor, your hair is beautiful, but it carries the scent of blood."

She was very beautiful; her bone structure was that of a rare beauty, yet she was completely bald.

"Heh..." Yura chuckled, saying, "It is the scent of my own kind. The scent of a ghost."

Her eyes flashed, and the Qian-Gui Princess said, "What brings you here?"

Yura looked at Aoi. Aoi froze, then tactfully retreated, exiting the hall. The Qian-Gui Princess did not stop her, simply watching. As Aoi stepped out, the hall doors slammed shut automatically.

"I have no advice to give," Yura said with a light smile. "I only wish to request one item."

"What item?" the Qian-Gui Princess asked.

"Earth Grudge Fear," Yura replied.

"Then..." Closing her eyes slightly, the Qian-Gui Princess suddenly snapped them open. Her calm expression turned ferocious as she shouted, "There is nothing to discuss!"

Genjutsu. Binding Technique.

Before her eyes, the world suddenly inverted. Six massive, sharp metal stakes pierced Yura's body. Feeling not a shred of pain, Yura looked calmly at the Qian-Gui Princess opposite her.

A pain-based illusion—quite impressive, but Yura felt no pain.

The Qian-Gui Princess raised her hand, and a coiled red rope whipped out from between her fingers.

Secret Technique. Vermilion Rope Technique.

Before she could act, two strands of hair behind Yura's head formed into hands, weaving seals at high speed.

Earth Style. Earth Spear.

The next moment, a deep, pitch-black luster spread across Yura's white kimono. Within the woven fibers of the fabric, Yura's hair surged and wove itself into armor. Raising her arm, she blocked the attack of the Vermilion Rope.

The finger-thick rope struck the broad black sleeve Yura had raised, emitting a series of harsh, metallic screeching sounds as it scraped against the fabric.

With the first strike failing, the Vermilion Rope recoiled back into the hands of Qian-Gui Princess, who stared at the pitch-black clothing on Yura's body with wary suspicion.

No hand seals, not even a movement of the hands; the defense wasn't covering her skin, but rather coating her garments.

"What incredible precision in chakra control..." Qian-Gui Princess frowned, saying, "Earth Style: Earth Spear, is it..."

Then she would have to use Lightning Style.

A wisp of electric light raced along the vermilion rope, instantly flaring into a brilliant discharge.

The blackness continued to spread, weaving itself into a pair of pitch-black gloves over Yura's hands and body.

Her gaze fell upon the rope hanging naturally from Qian-Gui Princess's hand. This thing was made of women's hair—a vast amount of it—soaked in blood and woven through secret arts. It carried a thick, lingering resentment that made it incomparably sharp.

"So, we're the same type of Stand user." Yura chuckled to herself, reaching out to press her hand against the hilt of Onikiri and drawing it into a mid-level stance.

She would lure her opponent into thinking she was a sword user.

Qian-Gui Princess let out a disdainful scoff. "What do you think my Vermilion Rope is? Do you really believe that mere blades..."

Before the words could finish, silent lines of blood bloomed across Qian-Gui Princess's body. Her eyes filled with shock; she watched in disbelief as crisscrossing slashes erupted across the ground around her. In an instant, her entire body was segmented into a pile of gore.

Yura stood where she was, watching the fragments of the corpse in silence.

This was not an opponent who would die so easily.

"Old hag Xun, just how long have you been alive?" Yura asked.

How many times she would have to cut her depended on how many lives she had—and whether she had enough for Yura to carve through.

"You brat!" A harsh, terrifying female voice echoed in overlapping layers from all directions. In an instant, the small Buddha statues on the three Thousand Buddha Walls seemed to come to life, opening their eyes in unison and chanting together.

Illusion: Thousand Buddha Sanskrit Chant.

Yura lowered her eyes. Let me guess, where is the main body hiding?

It's too hard to guess. I'll just kill them all.

The air rippled and twisted as the layered, illusory sounds resonated through the great hall, creating a crushing sonic pressure capable of pinning a person in place.

Auditory illusion, how impressive.

Yura's hair strands destroyed her own eardrums.

Before her, five giant stone Buddha statues rose simultaneously. Vein-like lines bulged across their bodies, pulsing like pumping blood. As the statues came to life, they opened their mouths, and five different elemental chakra attacks began to gather within.

Do you know what a laser ball is?

It is a lighting device commonly used in light shows, parties, and stage performances, capable of rotating 360 degrees to shoot out multi-colored laser beams.

This sword technique required Yura's absolute concentration.

"Too noisy, old hag."

Yura raised her left hand and flipped her palm downward...

Black Secret Technique: Inner Style — Forest of Swords Array.

Her hair grew wildly. Around Yura, dense strands of hair condensed into fine threads. Radiating 360 degrees from her center, they whipped and slashed with extreme speed. The trajectories of the strikes were intricate and orderly, forming a regular, intersecting web of sword paths.

In a mere instant, everything within a hundred-meter radius of Yura was sliced apart.

Dense, crisscrossing sword marks appeared on the ground, the walls, the ceiling, and the stone statues, radiating outward in a perfect, square grid.

Everything around her was shattered.

The Thousand Buddha Walls, the stone statues, the great hall itself—all of it.

Outside the hall, Aoi felt a sudden flash before her eyes. Everything she saw was sliced into neat, uniform cubes. They hung suspended in mid-air for a brief moment before crashing down, the great hall collapsing into ruins.

Above the ruins of the hall, the old hag's frantic screams rang out.

"My heart! No! My heart!!!"

Standing in the center of the swirling dust, Yura sighed softly, her eyes sweeping over the pools of blood splattered beneath the square-cut rubble.

Those hearts had been stored inside the Buddha statues.

On the ruined ground, severed segments of vermilion tentacles still struggled and writhed.

What did it matter how many lives she had? She would simply cut them down.

After one strike, Yura could make her owe back hundreds of lives.

Having many hearts wasn't like having extra lives in a game; they didn't revive one by one in a strict sequence. By laying them all out like this, it was easy to wipe them out in one go.

In Yura's eyes, Kakuzu's five hearts were no different from one. As long as they couldn't be separated by too great a distance, it was quite...

As the ground shook, a massive vermilion monstrosity surged up from deep underground. The moment it leaped from the earth, Yura jumped, dancing through the air. A multitude of vermilion tentacles lashed out at her. Yura didn't move her body, instead bouncing repeatedly between the clusters of tentacles, her invisible eight legs stepping on them to gain leverage and climb higher into the air, until she had retreated beyond the tentacles' maximum range.

These tentacles lacked the ability to slash. They looked like strands of hair, but felt more like strips of flesh. They should be quite smooth to cut.

In the cavern, Yura stood diagonally in the air, perched on a strand of hair hanging from the ceiling. She looked down at the monster on the ground with cold indifference.

It was entirely vermilion, its body covered in dense, writhing tentacles. On its front hung a demonic mask, which hissed and roared at Yura in the air.

"Chakra! Why can't I absorb your chakra!!!"

So, you have completely abandoned your original body and transformed yourself into a hair monster, even possessing the ability to absorb chakra through physical contact.

What a pity...

Yura rarely uses chakra.

Whether or not you absorb this meager amount of chunin-level chakra makes no difference.

To a conventional ninja, you might be an overwhelming, top-tier enemy.

Yura locked her gaze onto the mask; the mask roared and opened its mouth, a light igniting within.

Then, die.

Abruptly, a circular hole was pierced through the mask, followed immediately by a second, then a third—a dense barrage of attacks punctured the mask until the entire thing shattered.

How can one possibly block or dodge an invisible attack?

For a ninja, it is an unsolvable offensive.

"Damn you, you brat! Who—the hell are you!!!"

"Farewell..." Yura smiled faintly.

In her perception, this was the only remaining cluster of negative emotions.

Beyond that, she had been able to suppress and dominate the fight the entire way because her Malice Perception allowed her to read the intent of the sword qi, keeping Yura in a preemptive position from start to finish. If she let her opponent even cast a single ninjutsu, Yura would consider it her own loss.

Accompanied by a final, shrill, and frantic scream, the hair monster's massive form crashed heavily onto the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. Nearby, the ninjas of the Qian Gui Clan arrived from all directions.

Sweeping her crimson eyes toward the Qian Gui Clan ninjas, Yura lifted a finger, and strands of hair shot out silently.