Temporary Shelter in Abandoned Cave, Resource Acquisition Through Reverse Hunting

Inside the dim, cavernous grotto, the air was cold and damp, thick with a nauseating stench of mold and the excrement of unknown creatures. Mizuki Han leaned his back against a thick stalactite, gasping for air. Every breath sent a stabbing, knife-like pain through the puncture wound in his chest, which had been forcibly sealed shut by ice. Yet, he didn't even furrow his brow; he simply stared fixedly toward the cave entrance.

Haku huddled in a corner three steps away, her hands clutching her knees. Her small face was deathly pale, and her large eyes still held lingering traces of terror. She dared not make a sound, keeping her breathing shallow, terrified of disturbing the demon who had just crawled out of hell before her eyes.

"Drip."

A drop of murky groundwater fell from the cave ceiling, splashing into the puddle at Han's feet with a crisp echo. As the water fell, Han's gaze turned sharp as a blade.

His body was pushed to its absolute limit. Although the system had used Haku's high-purity genes to forcibly repair his fatal wound and refine his Ice Release, the foundation of this body was abysmal. The original owner had been tortured in the death row cell until nearly dehydrated, and he had just endured a state of suspended animation followed by an attack from mutant rats. Now, let alone performing ninjutsu, even standing up and taking two steps required him to rely on sheer, iron-willed determination.

He raised his left hand, covered in dark red scabs, and slowly placed it over the layer of ghostly blue ice on his chest. The chakra within him was like a thin trickle in a dried-up riverbed, pitifully weak.

"Just a little more," Han whispered, his voice as raspy as sandpaper on stone. "Solidify a bit more."

He forcibly channeled his remaining wisps of chakra into the ice layer on his chest. The ice crystals emitted a faint "crackling" sound as they forcibly contracted, brutally squeezing and sealing the surrounding capillaries and muscle fibers that hadn't yet fully closed. The excruciating pain drove into his nerves like a barb, causing his body to tense violently. Cold sweat instantly soaked his tattered Anbu uniform, but his black eyes remained terrifyingly dead, devoid of even a shred of weakness.

This was his micro-management. There was no energy to waste; every thread of chakra had to be used where it counted, even if the price was treating his own body like a corpse that felt no pain.

Two minutes later, the pain in his chest grew slightly numb. Han slowly exhaled a breath of air tinged with faint frost and turned his gaze toward Haku, who was curled up in the corner.

"Come here," he said coldly.

Haku trembled all over, like a startled fawn, but she remembered what Han had just said—obey. Biting her lower lip and suppressing the fear that made her knees weak, she crawled on her hands and knees to Han's side, not daring to look up.

Han reached out with the fingers that had just wiped away the monster's blood and lifted Haku's chin. The little girl's skin was very fair, a sickly pallor from years of living without sunlight. There was even a faint scratch on her chin, a scrape from the stone walls during their escape.

"Do you think we are safe now?" Han's voice sounded exceptionally chilling in the empty grotto.

Haku shook her head timidly. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back, not daring to let them fall.

"Good." Han withdrew his hand, his gaze piercing through the cave exit toward the endless dark passage. "In this place, safety is a joke. We have no food, no water, no weapons. Even the weakest mutant rat or a Genin who just graduated from the ninja academy could easily crush us."

He paused, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile that was both extremely insane and cruel.

"Since they treat us like rats while conducting their boring 'great purge' up there, why don't we play the part of man-eating rats for once?"

Haku looked up abruptly. Although she didn't understand the complex vocabulary, she heard a bone-chilling, pure murderous intent in Han's tone. It was an extreme thirst for survival and the ultimate revenge against all enemies who threatened his life.

Han didn't need sympathy, much less a lingering, pathetic existence. His "persecutory delusion" had fermented into the most vicious of schemes. He was going to kill, he was going to seize resources, and he was going to build his own absolute safe zone in this perilous underground world using the most primitive, bloody methods.

"Listen," Han's voice dropped to a low hiss, like a viper flicking its tongue. "We aren't far from the main sewage outlet. Those Anbu won't find us with their large-scale search, so they will definitely set up supply points and hidden sentries at key nodes. What we need to do is find a straggler, skin them, drain their chakra, and take their ninja tools."

Although Haku was just a little girl, she had grown up in the Blood Mist; she vaguely understood what Brother Han was planning to do. He wanted to kill those masked bad guys? He wanted to actively seek death in such a desperate situation?

Han ignored Haku's shock and used his remaining strength to force himself to stand straight. He had to act immediately, before the Anbu completely sealed off this underground labyrinth. He pulled the only kunai he had—the one still bearing Haku's tooth marks—from his tool pouch and scraped it hard against the slick stone wall.

"Scritch." A faint spark flashed.

Han glanced at the heavy darkness outside the cave. Without a Soldier Pill, his stamina would recover extremely slowly. He had to find an Anbu supply point as quickly as possible.

Just as Han prepared to leave the grotto with Haku, a faint, highly unusual ripple came from thirty meters outside the cave.

It wasn't the sound of footsteps, but the very light "squelch" of water being stepped on in a rhythmic, deliberate manner.

Han's body tensed instantly. He pressed Haku to the ground and held a finger to his lips, signaling her to remain absolutely silent. He himself became like a ghost merging into the darkness, pressing silently against the stalactite at the cave entrance.

He narrowed his eyes, peering through a tiny gap, using the faint light patches from the underground river to look out.

Two figures wearing Mist Village Anbu masks were passing through a water-logged passage, one behind the other. The one in front had a full scroll hanging from his waist, while the other carried two short blades on his back.

Supply point personnel! They had actually delivered themselves to his doorstep!

Han's pupils constricted, his heart pounding violently in his chest. A cruel smile slowly bloomed beneath his cold mask. These were, after all, fat sheep delivered right to him.

He turned his head, his gaze locked coldly onto Haku's deathly pale little face.

"I need a drop of your blood. Do you dare?" Han whispered in a soundless breath.

Haku's eyes widened as she looked at the kunai glinting with cold light at Han's fingertips. Before she could even react, Han's wrist flipped violently, and the tip of the kunai drove straight toward her slender neck!