Dark Release (Part 2)

Seven days later, while Yahiko was teaching Ye Wuji about the relationship between chakra, hand seals, and ninjutsu, dozens of figures darted through a vast mountain range at the border of the Land of Earth, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Rain.

As they drew closer, it became clear that one person was fleeing in front, with the others chasing him.

"Chukichi, stop running! You can't escape. Just surrender!" Dozens of people pursued him, shouting as they went. Some also used ninjutsu, such as Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique and Water Release: Water Formation Pillar, trying to hinder the fugitive ahead.

Once they got a good look, it was clear these people were Mist Ninja. The man fleeing in front wore a Mist Ninja Forehead Protector, too. He was evidently Chukichi, the man they had been discussing chasing—and the one who had stolen half of the Mist Ninja's Scroll of Sealing.

Chukichi already had several wounds. They didn't look serious, but they still slowed him down.

As Chukichi ran, he seemed to sense something and abruptly changed direction, heading the other way. He hadn't gone far when about twenty people appeared on the path ahead. They had apparently planned to cut off his escape, but hadn't expected him to be so alert that he could sense an ambush while fleeing.

After dodging and fleeing for a while, Chukichi reached a mountain peak. His pursuers were close behind. When he reached the summit, he discovered a cliff ahead, its depths impossible to see. More importantly, powerful winds seemed to blow below all year round, and the rocks down there looked razor-sharp.

Just as Chukichi prepared to flee in another direction, he turned around and saw that the path behind him was completely surrounded by Mist Ninja.

Seeing this, Chukichi seemed to give up hope of escaping. He stood where he was. "What a grand operation. You sent so many people after me alone. Should I feel honored?"

By then, the Mist Ninja had all reached the summit and quickly formed a perimeter. The twenty Jonin stood at the front. Ueda stepped forward first. "Chukichi, enough talk. Hand over the Scroll of Sealing. You know you've got no chance now. I never expected you to have ties to the Stone Ninja. You came here to join them, didn't you?"

"That's none of your concern. I didn't expect you to come too, Kazuki." Chukichi didn't even look at Ueda. The Jonin named Yuki Kazuki stepped forward. "Chukichi, I didn't want to come, but you really shouldn't have taken that Scroll of Sealing. You were wrong to do that. I've got nothing to say if you want to run, but you really shouldn't have done this."

"Hmph. If I didn't have something valuable in my hands, I'd have been dead long ago. But since you're here, I won't go easy on you. Still, as a friend, I'll warn you to be careful. I'm a cautionary tale." Chukichi looked at his friend as he spoke.

"Enough of this nonsense. We all know what's going on, Chukichi. We can negotiate about other things, but you must hand over the Scroll of Sealing, even if all you took was a copy. The safety of Kirigakure is at stake. Here's my final offer: if you don't hand it over, I'll take it myself." Ueda cut off Yuki Kazuki, who had been about to say more, and delivered his ultimatum.

"Then come and take it." Chukichi had never considered handing over the Scroll of Sealing.

"Fine. Attack!" With that, Ueda immediately used Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

The other Jonin surrounding them also used Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique at Ueda's signal. In an instant, twenty water dragons soared through the air, roaring as they charged at Chukichi. The attack covered such a wide area that he had nowhere to run, but he didn't even try.

Just as the twenty water dragons lunged at him, Chukichi quickly formed several hand seals. "Dark Release: Absorption Hole!" As soon as he spoke, he thrust both hands toward the oncoming water dragons. The twenty dragons slowly turned back into water and fell to the ground. A moment later, they had all vanished.

"Dark Release? I never thought you'd awakened your clan's Kekkei Genkai. I was wondering how you'd managed to escape so far. Now it all makes sense. But I never expected you to have kept it hidden all this time. You always acted as if you couldn't awaken it. So it was all an act." Hétián stared in shock for a moment before speaking.

"If I hadn't hidden it, I'd have been killed at the first opportunity. I'd planned to wait until the war was over, then go home and surprise my family. I never thought the surprise would turn out like this." Chukichi spoke bitterly. "But since you've come, I'll collect a little interest first."

"Dark Release: Evil Self-Destruction!"

Chukichi's entire body was enveloped in blue light. Then the light turned into blue flames that spread outward from him toward the Mist Ninja.

"Careful! Don't touch them—take cover!" Ueda shouted first. Many people heard him, but five of the Jonin were still struck by the blue flames, along with half of the Chunin nearby.

The Jonin quickly escaped using the Substitution Technique, but two of them didn't react in time and were completely engulfed by the blue flames. Of the Chunin who were hit, only a handful managed to escape.

The people surrounded by flames screamed and writhed before falling to the ground. Their cries gradually weakened, then faded away.

The surviving Jonin and Chunin all looked grim. The Jonin had suffered few casualties, but half the Chunin had been lost in an instant. The three Jonin who had escaped looked unable to fight for the time being.

"Chukichi, you—" Yuki Kazuki shouted.

But Chukichi didn't even look at him. Scared now? You should've thought of that earlier. You chased me, so now you can all die!

"Dark Release: Absorption Hole!"

After forming the hand seals, Chukichi pointed his hands at the Mist Ninja.

Yuki Kazuki hurriedly shouted, "Everyone, be careful! Resist with all your strength!" As soon as he finished, Ueda shouted too. "Chunin, fall back! Jonin, dodge and resist with all your strength!"

The survivors who understood the danger did their best to resist and evade, but some didn't know what was happening and couldn't figure out what was going on.

After a while, someone cried out, "What's going on? My chakra is disappearing!"

At that, the others began to realize that their own chakra was slowly draining away too.

Yuki Kazuki called out, "His Kekkei Genkai is Dark Release. It can absorb other people's chakra, but don't panic. The Jonin can resist if we focus our strength." As he spoke, bodies began hitting the ground with a series of thuds. Yuki Kazuki looked around and saw people collapsing. A closer look revealed that all the Chunin nearby had fallen.

Yuki felt a jolt of alarm. Why had all the Chunin collapsed? Even if their chakra had been drained, surely they shouldn't have reacted like this.

"Something's wrong! It's not just absorbing chakra—it's draining their stamina too! Everyone, get out of range of his jutsu!" Yuki Kazuki immediately realized what was happening and warned the others, rapidly retreating as he did.

"You're too late to figure that out. My Dark Release has reached its second stage. Did you really think I was afraid of you? I deliberately lured you here so I could kill every last one of you! Hahaha!" Chukichi laughed loudly.

Only a few Jonin had barely managed to escape the range of Chukichi's jutsu. The rest were struggling to hold on where they stood, seemingly unable to move.

"Enough playing around. I'll finish you all now. As for Kirigakure, I'll definitely go there." With that, Chukichi formed hand seals, preparing to use "Dark Release: Evil Self-Destruction" again and wipe them all out at once.

Among the Mist Ninja, the few Jonin who had escaped the range of Chukichi's Absorption Hole had already lost more than half their chakra. Worse, much of their stamina had been drained as well. Since they hadn't realized he could absorb stamina, they had been slow to escape. Now they wanted to dodge this jutsu, but they were too weak to do so.

Chukichi was caught up in the excitement of being able to wipe out the Mist Ninja. This was the first step in taking revenge for his clan. He knew that one man challenging an entire village—especially Kirigakure—was completely unrealistic, but that didn't diminish his desire for revenge. As a wielder of Dark Release who had reached its second stage, Chukichi believed that if he could awaken the third stage, he might at least teach Kirigakure a lesson, even if he couldn't get his revenge. He was confident he could kill the Daimyo of the Land of Water, even if he couldn't destroy Kirigakure.

The reason he had come here was that he had indeed reached an agreement with the Land of Earth to join them. Among the Five Great Nations, other than the current Daimyo of the Land of Water, who had lost his mind and wanted to wipe out every Kekkei Genkai clan, the other villages welcomed people with Kekkei Genkai, since they could strengthen their military power.

To join the Land of Earth and gain the attention of its Tsuchikage, Chukichi needed to bring something with him. The Mist Ninja's Scroll of Sealing was the perfect gift. Of course, he had never intended to take the entire Scroll of Sealing from Kirigakure. He wouldn't even have been able to get out of the village if he had. As a former member of one of Kirigakure's upper-class clans, Chukichi understood a village's strength all too well, especially one of the Five Great Nations.

That was why Chukichi had decided to copy the Scroll of Sealing. Unfortunately, the Third Mizukage caught him after he had copied only half of it. He had thought he was doomed, but the Third Mizukage unexpectedly let him go. It was only after Chukichi had escaped Kirigakure that the Mizukage sent people after him. Chukichi only understood later that the Third Mizukage had done this to keep the other Kekkei Genkai clans from losing faith. But Chukichi had no intention of thanking him for his kindness. His heart was filled with hatred over the destruction of his clan. He didn't care about any of that.

So Chukichi had fought his way forward as he fled, never revealing his Kekkei Genkai. He had planned to lure his pursuers to one place and wipe them all out.

"Hahaha!" Looking at the Mist Ninja struggling, Chukichi felt immensely pleased. Then, in an unexpected move, he abandoned the hand seals he had only half completed, took a scroll from his pack, and tossed it up and down in his hand. "This is the half of the Scroll of Sealing you wanted. Why don't you come and get it? Look how generous I am—I'm letting you see it. Now you can die with no regrets, right? Isn't this what you came all this way for? At least you got to see it, so the trip wasn't a waste. Now, die!" At the end, Chukichi tossed the scroll into the air and began forming hand seals. "Dark Release: Evil Self-Destruction!"

Just as he shouted the word "Destruction," a soft thump sounded. Chukichi felt a sudden pain in his chest. He couldn't form the final hand seal—or even finish saying the last word.

Chukichi looked down and saw a white, stick-like object piercing his heart from behind and protruding from his chest. Before he could turn to see who had stabbed him, a shadow flashed past his eyes. The scroll hanging in the air had landed in that figure's hand. The person stood in front of Chukichi, and he could finally make out his face. He wore ordinary ninja clothes and had two white dots on his head. Numerous white objects protruded from his body, making him look like a hedgehog.

"So it was you. I never thought they'd send you too. So you suspected I might have awakened my bloodline. The strongest warrior of the Kaguya Clan, wielder of Shikotsumyaku—Kaguya Daichi." Chukichi spoke through clenched teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"I didn't expect you to awaken it either. The Third Mizukage sent me here mainly as a precaution. I never thought you really would awaken it. It wouldn't have mattered even if you had. Taijutsu is the Kaguya Clan's greatest strength. Your ability to absorb chakra wouldn't be very useful against us. But I never expected that after awakening your Kekkei Genkai, you'd already have reached its second stage.

"So the second stage of Dark Release can absorb stamina too. Honestly, even I was startled. In a direct fight, wouldn't your ability counter the Kaguya Clan as well? Fortunately, you only just awakened the second stage, which is why I was able to sneak up on you. I could have let you go, but given your way of thinking and your ability, I'm afraid you'll have to die here, Momohara Chukichi." As he spoke, Kaguya Daichi didn't retract his Kekkei Genkai. Those white things were his bones. That meant Kaguya Kimimaro was probably his descendant.

"Come to think of it, the war should be over by now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here dressed as a Chunin. What a shame. I'm going to die, but don't expect to get my body. I'd rather die than return to that village. I hope your clan doesn't end up like mine. Hahaha!" With that, Chukichi shouted, "Dark Release: Evil Self-Destruction!"

Hearing Chukichi, Kaguya Daichi thought he was going to make a last stand. He hurriedly leaped back with the Scroll of Sealing in hand. He wasn't about to test whether he could withstand the blue flames.

But something unexpected happened. The blue flames burned on Chukichi's body. Only then did Kaguya Daichi understand what Chukichi had said. As the flames engulfed him, Chukichi leaped off the cliff behind him. Looking down, they could see blue flames falling through the air.

Kaguya Daichi watched Chukichi laugh loudly as he fell and sighed. The others who had escaped to the side returned, and the ninja whose chakra and stamina had been drained were slowly recovering.

"I didn't realize Lord Kaguya was here too." Yuki Kazuki spoke first, then thanked Kaguya Daichi for saving his life.

Kaguya Daichi waved a hand. "Don't mention it. The Third Mizukage sent me here without informing you. I'm sorry about that. Now that it's over, everyone should get ready to head back and report. The war has ended this time. Who knows when the next one will start?"

No one responded to Kaguya Daichi. They were all thinking, "The war's finally over. We can get some rest. Everyone knows the Kaguya Clan are battle fanatics."

Once the Mist Ninja had finished cleaning up, Kaguya Daichi also confirmed that the Scroll of Sealing really was the original copy. Then they quickly left the area, having taken care of the ninja who had died in battle.

After the Mist Ninja left, the area became deserted once more. A long while later, three people slowly emerged from what looked like a rock. The one in the middle seemed to be a young man in his thirties. He had a well-proportioned build—not fat or thin—and was about 1.7 meters tall. The Forehead Protector on his brow had a circle with a horn, the symbol of Konoha. The two beside him wore tight-fitting clothes and animal-patterned masks. They were Konoha Anbu.

"Lord Hiruko, it looks like the Mist Ninja were pursuing a rogue ninja," one of the Anbu said.

The other Anbu chimed in. "Lord Orochimaru and Lord Jiraiya received word that a large group of Mist Ninja had arrived. Since we didn't know what they were after and feared they might be connected to Hanzo of Amegakure, they sent us to investigate. It looks like this was just a coincidence, but we should still be careful and keep watching them until they leave."

After hearing the two Anbu, the young man named Hiruko said, "You two go back and report what happened here to Orochimaru and Jiraiya. I'll stay and keep an eye on them to make sure they really leave."

"Lord Hiruko, why don't you go back while we stay and keep watch?" one of the Anbu suggested.

"Don't worry. I may not be good at much else, but I can run if I have to. If anything seems wrong, I'll leave at once. Besides, you're much faster than I am. Report back to Orochimaru and Jiraiya as soon as possible so they can relax. They're fighting Hanzo, after all. At your speed, you might even get back before I've gone very far," Hiruko said.

The Anbu was about to say something, but the other stopped him with a look. The second Anbu spoke up. "All right, then. Please be careful, Lord Hiruko." With that, the two Anbu vanished.

Hiruko watched the Anbu racing into the distance and murmured over and over, "Kekkei Genkai. Dark Release." After repeating it several times, he looked toward the cliff Chukichi had fallen from. He pondered for a while, then jumped straight down.