The Wounded Don't Deserve to Catch Their Breath

The area he had marked was a blind spot that Morikawa Raiga's patrol route had to pass through.

It lay between two supply tents, right beside a babbling stream. The ground was a soggy mess from the constant moisture.

A perfect ambush site, but it still needed the perfect bait—and a foolproof killing move.

Xuan withdrew his gaze from the muddy ground and slowly turned his attention to the inside of his tent.

Besides him, three other severely wounded men lay there. Two had completely lost consciousness, their vital signs as weak as flickering candles in the wind.

Only the Hidden Sand Village ninja in the bed at the farthest corner still had a shred of resilience left. A broken puppet string was embedded in his chest, and his chakra was leaking away like air from a punctured ball, yet it still retained a peculiar tenacity.

He'll do. The final supplement.

Xuan made his decision. His plan began to silently unfold like an invisible spiderweb, with Morikawa Raiga at its center.

He needed to perfectly combine the two ninjutsu he had just acquired—[Earth Style: Rock Pillar Prison] and [Wind Style: Vacuum Wave].

The former would restrain Morikawa Raiga's prized speed and explosive Lightning Style power, while the latter would serve as the killing blow.

But that was not enough.

Morikawa Raiga was a sensory ninja. Any large-scale movement of chakra would expose Xuan instantly.

The moment his opponent stepped into the trap, he had to complete the jutsu's setup with the smallest possible disturbance.

That required chakra control at the absolute peak, as well as an opportunity—an opportunity that would make Morikawa Raiga willingly enter the trap and lower his guard.

The night deepened. One campfire after another went out, leaving only patrol torches tracing scattered streaks of light through the darkness.

Most of the medical ninja had also retired to their tents, leaving only one or two night watchmen behind.

All was silent except for the wounded men's pained groans mingling with the rushing stream.

The time had come.

Xuan maintained his "weak" posture, his eyelids trembling faintly as though he were caught in a nightmare.

Yet within his perception, a nearly imperceptible black mist seeped from his palm. Like living vines, it crept silently along the ground and spread beneath the Hidden Sand Village ninja's bed.

[Inferno Perception] clearly fed back the other man's condition. His soul already hovered at the edge of collapse.

The resistance to devouring was almost nonexistent.

"Devouring initiated. Target: Dying Hidden Sand Village chunin. Estimated time: 90 seconds."

On the system panel, the energy reserve began to tick upward slowly and steadily: 190... 193... 196...

A jumble of memory fragments flooded into Xuan's mind, mostly basic puppet manipulation techniques and methods for making chakra strings. They held little value for him.

But that pure chakra energy was like rain after a long drought, swiftly filling his final deficit.

Morikawa Raiga's footsteps approached from afar. His patrols were extremely regular, passing through Xuan's area every fifteen minutes.

Xuan calculated the timing precisely. Just as the other man was about to reach the blind spot in his field of view—the trap location he had selected—he controlled the black mist and extracted the last trace of life force from the Hidden Sand Village ninja.

The ninja's body suddenly convulsed, then fell completely silent.

At the same time, a distinctly different notification sounded in Xuan's mind.

"Energy Reserve: 200/200. Unlock requirements met. New function module loading... Loading progress: 10%... 30%..."

Xuan ignored it. All his focus was on what came next.

He separated a thread of weak chakra and precisely injected it into the corpse, which still retained some warmth. He stimulated its nerve endings, making its right hand suddenly swing.

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic collision abruptly rang out in the silent night.

The corpse's hand had knocked over the metal medicine tray beside the bed.

The sound was not loud. Covered by the noisy stream, ordinary guards could easily have overlooked it.

But to an elite jonin who kept his senses at maximum alertness, that sudden noise was like the only spark in the darkness—impossible to miss.

Sure enough, the steady footsteps in the distance came to an abrupt halt.

Xuan's heartbeat did not quicken in the slightest. Everything was under control.

He knew that someone like Morikawa Raiga possessed an almost obsessive need to control the area under his responsibility.

He would definitely come investigate such an abnormal sound himself.

Just as expected, after a few seconds of hesitation, one set of footsteps broke away from the patrol and headed straight for Xuan's tent.

Steady and powerful, every step landed precisely on the timing Xuan had anticipated.

Xuan kept his eyes closed, his breathing even. As if disturbed by the earlier sound, he turned uneasily in bed, facing sideways toward the tent entrance.

That position allowed him to catch the newcomer's figure immediately from the corner of his eye.

His right hand hung limply over the side of the bed, but his fingertips had already lightly touched the damp earth.

Earth Style chakra, mixed with a trace of Wind nature, began rapidly weaving underground like countless fine threads.

It stirred no ripples at all, merely altering the density and structure of the soil within the trap zone.

The footsteps drew closer and closer, reaching the tent entrance.

"New function module fully loaded: [Ninjutsu Deduction] activated. Energy may be consumed to optimize, fuse, or create new combinations from existing ninjutsu."

The system notification sounded at just the right moment. The corner of Xuan's lips lifted into an almost imperceptible smile.

Heaven really is helping me.

Without hesitation, he silently said, "Deduce an instant-cast combination of [Earth Style: Rock Pillar Prison] and [Wind Style: Vacuum Wave]."

"Deduction initiated. Consuming 10 energy points. Plan generated: [Wind-Slaughter Earth Burial]. Construct an invisible cage with Earth Style, then infuse it with high-density Wind Style chakra. It can detonate the instant the target steps inside, creating a vacuum wind blade killing field that contracts inward. Advantages: Instant cast, concealed, immense lethality. Disadvantages: Greatly increased chakra consumption, preparation time of 0.3 seconds."

0.3 seconds. That was enough!

The tent flap was slowly lifted by a hand, and Morikawa Raiga's vigilant, stern face appeared in the entrance.

His sharp gaze swept through the tent, first landing on the already cold corpse and the overturned medicine tray. His brows furrowed slightly, as if he were judging whether this was merely a normal death from severe injuries.

His gaze then passed over the other "sleeping" wounded men, lingering briefly on Xuan without detecting anything unusual.

After confirming there were no signs of outside intrusion, Morikawa Raiga relaxed his guard slightly.

He stepped forward, preparing to inspect the corpse more closely.

Now!

One of his feet had just stepped onto the muddy ground between the two supply tents.

In the darkness, beneath Xuan's tightly shut eyelids, a scarlet gleam flashed and vanished.

The system's cold notification and Morikawa Raiga's footstep into the trap overlapped perfectly in that instant.