A foul wind rushed at them, reeking as if from the rotting corpse of some enormous beast left to decay for months, mixed with the filth of the sewers. It was enough to make anyone's senses reel. In the darkness, several pairs of eerie green eyes flickered like will-o'-the-wisps, fixed on the only two living creatures in the passage.
Haku's small face turned deathly pale in an instant. She instinctively clutched Mizuki Han's clothes, her teeth chattering. This wasn't the presence of a ninja. It was something more primitive, the hunger of a more chaotic beast.
Mizuki Han reacted in the exact opposite way. Instead of retreating, he gently pushed Haku behind him and stepped forward, placing himself between her and the threat. His body was still weak, and the searing pain in his chest clung to him like a shadow. Yet at that moment, his eyes shone with startling brilliance, like two black opals polished to perfection, reflecting the eerie green glimmers before him.
"Squeee—!"
With a piercing shriek, the monsters in the darkness finally revealed themselves. Three giant rats, each the size of a grown terrier, but their appearance had long since crossed the bounds of anything natural. Their fur had fallen out in patches, exposing dark red muscle beneath, and twisted bone spurs jutted from their backs. Corrosive drool dripped from the corners of their mouths, sizzling and filling the ground with white smoke.
Mutated test subjects, or contaminated creatures. Whatever they were, they considered this place their lair, and any intruders were food.
"Roar!"
The largest mutant rat suddenly sprang off its hind legs, becoming a blur as it lunged at Mizuki Han's throat, trailing a foul stench. It moved incredibly fast, its claws carving streaks of light through the air. An ordinary Genin would probably have no time to react to such an ambush.
Haku's heart nearly leaped into her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut without thinking.
Mizuki Han didn't move an inch.
He simply raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and gave the oncoming shadow a gentle squeeze.
No Hand Seals.
No surging chakra.
Not even the slightest unnecessary movement.
"Crack—!"
A crisp, sharp snap rang out in the empty passage.
The mutant rat, caught midair, froze as if someone had hit pause. Within a tenth of a second, visible frost spread from its head and raced across its entire body! The cruel green light in its eyes was instantly frozen into two lifeless glass beads.
The next moment, Mizuki Han clenched his fingers.
"Boom!"
The enormous ice statue exploded in midair, scattering into a rain of glittering shards mixed with dark red flesh. They fell in a bloody shower. The revolting stench was instantly sealed away by the extreme cold.
One strike. Instant kill.
Clean, decisive, and almost cruelly beautiful.
The two mutant rats left behind stiffened at the bloody, bizarre sight. Their animal instincts filled them with unprecedented fear. They wanted to retreat, to flee back into the depths of the darkness.
But Mizuki Han would give them no chance.
His gaze turned icy. He pressed the index and middle fingers of his left hand together and made a small sweep toward the ground.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
Two razor-sharp ice spikes erupted without warning from the slick floor. At a vicious angle, they pierced the two mutant rats through the jaws and burst out through the tops of their skulls!
The monsters couldn't even scream. They were pinned fast in place, their bodies twitching faintly with residual nerve impulses as the green in their eyes quickly faded.
The entire fight, from beginning to end, lasted no more than three breaths.
Mizuki Han hadn't even moved his feet.
This was the control Ice Release granted him at the intermediate level. He no longer needed complicated Hand Seals or a massive supply of chakra to maintain its form. Wherever his thoughts went, ice took shape. It was a qualitative leap.
The deathly silence returned to the passage, broken only by the steady drip of water.
Haku slowly opened her eyes. Before her lay a scene straight from hell: three monster corpses pierced by ice spikes, and the slender back of the boy standing among them, like a demon god.
Along with fear, her small face held an indescribable shock and awe.
Mizuki Han slowly exhaled a breath of misty air. The instant ninjutsu had nearly drained the small amount of chakra his body had just recovered. His chest wound throbbed with tearing pain, reminding him that his body was still on the verge of collapse.
Under the system's high-purity genetic repair, he could feel his parched meridians being recast by ice and snow, growing tougher and wider. Countless tiny ice crystals had forcibly bound together the torn muscle fibers and lung tissue, stimulating them to regenerate. A thin layer of ice had already formed over the wound, stopping the bleeding.
It was a savage form of healing that traded destruction for survival. It had dragged him back from death's door, but the side effects were just as obvious: his body was changing into something inhuman, something closer to ice.
He turned and looked at Haku, whose face had gone pale with lingering fright, and his brow creased almost imperceptibly.
He walked up to her and looked down at her.
"What are you afraid of?" His voice was utterly flat and cold.
"I... I..." Haku was at a loss under his icy gaze.
"Are you afraid of those monsters? Or me?" The corner of Mizuki Han's mouth curled into a cruel smile. He reached out, dipped a fingertip into the frost clinging to one of the corpses, and gently rubbed it across Haku's lips.
The bone-chilling cold made her shudder.
"Remember this feeling." Mizuki Han's voice seemed to ring directly in her soul. "Fear is a privilege of the weak. In a place like this, you don't have that privilege. Your tears and fear are useless. They'll do nothing but hasten your death."
He paused, his eyes growing more profound. There was an absolute possessiveness in them, like a superior looking down on what belonged to him.
"You only have to do one thing: obey all my orders. Your life is mine, so you're not allowed to die before I do. Understand?"
Those words made Haku's heart pound harder than any monster could. Looking at the boy before her, she understood for the first time that they were no longer simply members of the same clan. They were master and servant, an absolute relationship that allowed no argument.
She nodded hard, forcing all her fear and tears back down.
"Good."
Mizuki Han withdrew his hand and turned, continuing deeper along the underground river.
Mutated creatures had appeared here, which meant they were far beyond the Anbu's regular patrol zone. But it also meant more unknown dangers lay ahead. His current condition wouldn't allow him to fight another high-intensity battle.
He needed a completely safe place to recover from his injuries, and then... plan his next move.
The two of them followed the winding underground river for nearly another hour. Mizuki Han was utterly exhausted. Every step made his chest wound feel as if it had been seared by a branding iron. His face was pale as paper, and his lips were beginning to turn blue.
Just as he felt he couldn't go on, a deep, shadowy opening appeared around a bend in the river.
It was an abandoned cavern carved out by the flowing water. The entrance was hidden, surrounded by slippery moss and oddly shaped stalactites. It was an ideal hiding place.
Mizuki Han's spirits lifted. He and Haku struggled inside.
The cavern was much drier than the passage outside, and large enough to hold more than a dozen people.
After confirming there were no other creatures, Mizuki Han finally relaxed. He leaned against the cold stone wall, slowly slid down to the ground, and began to breathe heavily.
His weakness swept over him like a tide. Even lifting a finger felt like too much effort.
He had survived.
From the death cell to Kisame's pursuit, then to the lair of mutated monsters, he had used every ounce of cunning and every trump card he had. At last, he had won a brief moment of peace.
But Mizuki Han's eyes held no relief at having survived. They were only cold and still.
He glanced at Haku, curled up a short distance away and watching him with concern and a trace of fear. Then he looked at his empty hands and the pitiful few ninja tools he had left.
Food, medicine, weapons... They had nothing.
They could last only a few days here before starving to death, or being found by the returning Anbu search party and crushed like bugs.
A ruthless conqueror never left his fate to chance.
In the face of despair, retreat meant death. Only by pressing forward could he find a chance to survive!
Mizuki Han's gaze pierced the darkness of the cavern, as though he could see the Anbu on the surface and in the underground passages, slaughtering at will and imagining themselves the hunters.
A wild, vicious plan quietly took shape in his mind.
He licked his cracked lips, his eyes gleaming like a beast's.
So what if he was unarmed?
He would show those fully equipped "hunters" that in this dark underground world, the real hunt was only just beginning!
Before you continue