Ice and Blood Merge, Awakening Life; System Extracts Pure Genes

Drip. Drip.

Turbid droplets splashed into the stagnant water, the sound echoing through the gloomy underground passage.

Kisame's footsteps had long since vanished without a trace, leaving only Haku's stifled, desperate whimpering in the tunnel. The young girl knelt in a pool of blood, her hands clutching her hem tightly. Her delicate face was crumpled with tears, yet she dared not touch the "corpse" on the ground. She knew the rules of the ninja world: a dead person was merely a lump of flesh that had lost its value. And she was alone once again.

Just as she was about to be swallowed by despair, Mizuki Han, lying on the ground, suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of black blood mixed with shards of ice.

"Cough... ugh!"

The blood sprayed into the puddle, instantly freezing into dark red ice due to the extreme cold. Mizuki Han's body convulsed violently. The moment the Turtle Breathing Technique was released, his stalled heart began to beat with a near-frenzied intensity, attempting to force the remaining blood into his withered vessels. But his body was too shattered; his lungs had been pierced, and every breath felt like a blade cutting through him. He struggled to open his eyes, his vision blurred, and the agonizing pain made him gasp.

"Brother Han!" Haku's eyes widened as she cried out, a flicker of incredible radiance instantly igniting in her previously dull pupils. She scrambled toward him, ignoring the filthy water, her small hands trembling as she tried to cover the gaping, bleeding hole in his chest, though she had no idea how to help.

Mizuki Han gritted his teeth, refusing to let out a single groan. His consciousness was clear—clearer than it had ever been. While his feigned death had deceived Kisame, his condition was barely better than being dead. His chakra was bottomed out, his lungs were punctured, and he was suffering from severe blood loss. An ordinary person would not have survived three minutes with such injuries.

"Blood..." he rasped, the word barely audible, like a candle flickering in the wind. His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, locked onto Haku, a flash of extreme madness deep within his gaze.

He needed energy. He needed the primal life force to repair this crumbling shell and the chakra to fill that terrifying void.

And the only source of energy present was Haku—a young girl with the high-purity bloodline of the Yuki clan flowing through her veins.

Haku froze. As she looked into Han's eyes, which were cold and devoid of human emotion, she suddenly understood. Without hesitation or a moment's doubt, the young girl raised her left arm and bit down hard into her own wrist. Her sharp little canines pierced the skin, and blood welled up instantly.

She pressed her bleeding wrist to Han's lips, her voice trembling with tears but filled with firm resolve: "Brother Han, drink my blood! I'm not afraid of the pain!"

Warm blood dripped onto Han's icy lips, carrying a faint, metallic tang. Mizuki Han did not refuse. Like a traveler dying of thirst, he opened his mouth and drank greedily. The blood flowed down his throat, bringing a faint trace of warmth.

But more importantly, accompanying the warm blood was the cold, mechanical voice of the system.

[High-purity Ice Release Kekkei Genkai gene (Haku) detected...]

[Conditions met. Empire Procreation System, deep fusion initiated!]

[Extracting gene sequence... Extraction progress: 10%... 30%... 70%... 100%!]

[Extraction successful! Forcibly repairing host's gene chain and healing the dying body...]

As the system's countdown ended, a violent, life-filled energy erupted from Han's heart. This power was not the meager, pathetic remnant he had previously extracted from corpses, but pure, high-dimensional energy far exceeding his current level. It surged through his meridians like a raging ice dragon.

"Urgh!" A low, pained growl escaped Mizuki Han's throat. Wherever that power passed, his withered meridians were forcibly widened, and the severed fibers were woven back together at a visible rate under the dual stimulation of cold and vitality. Most agonizing of all was the horrific hole in his chest where Kisame had pierced him.

Haku covered her mouth in terror. She saw the blood on Brother Han's chest stop flowing. The blood was rapidly frozen and crystallized at a microscopic level, turning into an ice layer harder than steel. Then, a ghostly blue light emanated from within the ice. Driven by the system's power, the broken flesh began to grow wildly, attaching itself to the ice crystals and forcibly connecting the severed lungs and muscles at a speed that defied medical logic.

This was extreme, violent repair. There was no gentle medical ninjutsu, only the brutal method of forcibly fusing the Ice Release with his flesh. While this method could keep him alive, the accompanying pain was no less than being sliced a thousand times.

Mizuki Han was drenched in cold sweat, his fingers digging into the stone floor until his nails bled. Yet his expression grew more ferocious, and a cruel curve touched the corner of his mouth.

He could feel the thin Ice Release bloodline in his own blood undergoing a qualitative leap under the impact of this high-purity gene. The temperature of his ice became lower, its density higher, and his control over chakra skyrocketed exponentially.

[Congratulations to the host, gene fusion initially completed.]

[Ice Release Kekkei Genkai level increased: Primary → Intermediate.]

[Chakra storage capacity increased; minor repairs completed.]

The system's voice faded away. Mizuki Han stopped convulsing. He gasped for air, greedily drawing the blood-scented, foul-smelling air of the tunnel into his repaired lungs. The air was atrocious, yet he found it sweeter than anything he had ever tasted.

Because he had survived.

Slowly, using his newly healed hands to push off the sewage-covered floor, he stood up shakily. Although his body remained weak and the wound in his chest still throbbed, the chakra surging within him gave him an unprecedented sense of security.

The fullness of returning power was more intoxicating than any drug.

Mizuki Han looked down at his blood-stained hands. With a slight movement of his fingertips, a small, exquisite Ice Senbon, radiating a bone-chilling cold, instantly formed in his palm. No hand seals, no buildup; a mere thought was enough to manifest a blade. This was the micro-control of an intermediate Ice Release.

"Brother... Han?" Haku huddled in the corner, watching the standing Han with a hint of fear. At this moment, his presence was deeper and colder than when he had faced Kisame. It did not belong to a boy, but to a demon that had just crawled out of hell.

Mizuki Han turned his head to look at the deep, bloody teeth marks on Haku's wrist.

He walked over, offering no thanks, no tender comfort. He simply reached out with a hand still stained with his own blood, gripped Haku's chin, and forced her to look him in the eye.

"From now on, you are not allowed to shed a single tear." Mizuki Han's voice was like congealing frost, filled with unquestionable authority. "Tears cannot save your life. In this Mist of Blood, only this..."

He raised the glowing Ice Senbon in his hand and pressed it gently against Haku's soft cheek, "...can keep you alive. Do you understand?"

Haku shivered from the bone-deep cold, but looking into Han's cold, no-longer-dying eyes, she nodded vigorously. As long as she could follow him, as long as he didn't die, anything was fine.

"Let's go." Mizuki Han put away the Ice Senbon, offered no more words, and turned to walk into the deeper darkness.

Although Kisame had left, the great purge was still ongoing, and this underground space remained unsafe. He had to find a hidden shelter, and then... he would make the Anbu pay a hundredfold, a thousandfold, for the humiliation of being toyed with like a rat.

He was not the kind of stray dog to hide under the covers and tremble after surviving a disaster.

Mizuki Han and Haku trekked along the dark underground river, their steps heavy and uneven. The terrain grew increasingly complex, and the air was filled not only with stench but with the scent of rotting poison. Deep within the underground sewage system lay a forbidden zone that even the Anbu were unwilling to enter.

Just as they turned past a dripping stalactite pillar, Mizuki Han stopped abruptly, the chakra in his body instantly condensing to a high degree.

In the darkness, several pairs of glowing green eyes locked onto them. Accompanying them was a thick, suffocating, fishy stench. It was a scent that could never come from a human.

It was... some kind of mutated monster.