Kakashi Hatake stared solemnly at the Cloud Shinobi jonin before him. His body was covered in more than a dozen blade wounds. Though they were all shallow, most barely breaking the skin, he had still been injured.
The frigid northern wind howled through the forest, as savage as sharp blades. It pierced through his jonin vest and scraped painfully across Kakashi's exposed wounds.
The goateed Cloud Shinobi jonin held his blade horizontally, his expression somewhat ferocious as he panted heavily.
"You Konoha brat, you're quite something..."
Kakashi's heavy kick had landed squarely against his ribs, seemingly breaking several of them. He forced himself upright, but every breath brought a faint stab of pain.
The entire forest was bleak and gloomy. The fallen trees seemed to have opened a circular lid over the hidden woodland, revealing thick grayish-yellow clouds overhead.
Both men stared intently at every movement the other made. Even the sound of breathing seemed like a crime at this moment.
Rustle!
The branches swayed under the gale, leaves rustling down as Kakashi and the Cloud Shinobi jonin vanished at once.
Gripping his sword hilt with both hands, Kakashi bent his knees slightly and launched himself forward, cracking the ground beneath his feet as he charged at the Cloud Shinobi jonin like a hawk skimming the earth.
The Cloud Shinobi jonin swiftly raised his kunai to block, but Kakashi's short blade was already closing in on his face in an instant.
"So fast! Damn it!"
The white-haired brat before him seemed to have unleashed incomparable potential, becoming even faster. The Cloud Shinobi jonin was startled and quickly shifted his stance, using his kunai to block Kakashi's attacks.
Blocking was naturally faster than slashing, not to mention that a kunai was far lighter than a short sword. The Cloud Shinobi jonin's kunai wrapped around the short blade, and the experienced Cloud Shinobi jonin did not let down his guard in the slightest.
A continuous barrage descended like a torrential downpour. The Cloud Shinobi jonin's kunai flashed through the air, repeatedly colliding with Kakashi's short sword.
Earth Style: Rock Spikes!
The instant the short sword and kunai collided again, sharp stone spikes suddenly erupted beneath the Cloud Shinobi jonin's feet. Unable to dodge in time, he could only stomp down hard and leap back more than ten meters.
Only after landing did blood slowly seep from the cut along one side of his cheek.
"Konoha truly produces endless geniuses..."
The Cloud Shinobi jonin had roughly gauged Kakashi's strength. A boy of barely twelve or thirteen was already faintly suppressing him—he was undoubtedly one of Konoha's geniuses.
"Your captain has probably already dealt with Daiko, hasn't he? Looks like I may fall into your hands today..."
Mentioning his companion's death did not seem to stir much emotion in the Cloud Shinobi jonin. He merely glanced around covertly. Tiny insects had already crawled all over the gray-brown trees. In his understanding, the Aburame Clan jonin leading this team was lurking nearby, watching covetously and safeguarding the genius before him.
He seemed to have become the whetstone for the boy before him!
Only then did Kato Osamu shift his attention from sensing the battle between Kakashi and the Cloud Shinobi jonin to the Cloud Shinobi girl before him.
The Cloud Shinobi girl gripped her kunai, every nerve taut as she stared at the hooded boy whose face was hidden, searching for the slightest opening.
"May I know your name?"
"That way, when I cut you apart, slice you into strips mixed with blood and whatever else, I can label them with your name..."
"So you won't die with regrets..."
The hood slowly fell away, revealing Kato Osamu's sinister smile. The howling cold wind slipped into the Cloud Shinobi girl's collar. Whether from the cold or something else, her body inexplicably shuddered.
"I once heard a story. There was a particularly interesting punishment in it..."
"They would carve sandalwood into the shape and size of a sword. Then, holding the sandalwood in one hand and a large wooden mallet in the other, they would hammer it into a person through the anus, through the entire body, until it emerged from the mouth."
"That was not even the most important part. The most important part was avoiding every vital organ, so the victim would not die immediately. They would live in agony worse than death, until they could only watch their entire body rot and breed maggots before dying in unbearable pain."
"Of course, I won't let anything so disgusting grow on you. I'll suspend you in the air and use the sharpest blade to cut the tender flesh from your entire body, slice by slice, turning you over and cutting again and again."
"I'll cut off your nose and your ears. Your face is so beautiful—I'll peel it off layer by layer, perfectly intact, so your beauty can exist forever..."
"Oh, right. I'm also a medical ninja, so I won't let you die... I'll let you watch your flesh being stripped from your body with your own eyes. Your gleaming white skeleton will be the final gift I give you... Beautiful ladies should always be treated with a little gentlemanly grace, and that naturally includes a carefully prepared gift..."
"Come, beautiful Cloud Shinobi girl. Let me present my proudest masterpiece. You will surely be moved to tears..."
Dim blue flames flickered through the dark forest as the cold wind howled. Kato Osamu concealed himself within the shadows, wearing a cruel and eerie smile.
The Cloud Shinobi girl's throat bobbed. Her foot shifted slightly, making a creaking sound. It seemed as though a raindrop had landed on her forehead, but what slid past her eyes was vivid red. Drip, drip—dark red blood continuously fell from every part of her body.
Crows began cawing from the treetops overhead...
"This is genjutsu!"
"Release!"
The world spun. The Cloud Shinobi girl suddenly let out a breath of relief, but before she could react, she discovered that she could not move at all. Intense pain shot from her body into her brain, as though something inside her was burning hot.
"What?!!"
Her pupils abruptly contracted as if she had seen something unbelievable. Her body had been pierced through and mounted between two massive boulders. Sharp blades swept across her body, shaving off strips of soft, bloodied flesh.
"Feel the pain!"
In her eyes, a figure like a sky-supporting giant slowly emerged from the horizon. It was the Konoha boy who had stood before her just moments ago!
He swung an enormous blade across her body. The pain was as though her soul were being torn apart, making her whole body tremble.
The pain slowly tore her flesh apart bit by bit without completely severing it, until the skin and flesh over every part of her body hung from her like tangled threads. Her nerves transmitted every inch of agony to her brain.
Time slowly passed. With gleaming white bones already exposed, she could no longer endure it. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
"She really is fragile..."
Looking at the girl before him, tears welled in the corners of her eyes from the intense pain, and a smile appeared on Kato Osamu's face.
"It seems no one can avoid being moved to tears by such a beautiful gift..."
This was his first time using genjutsu. The girl, who had seemed fairly capable, had fainted merely under his gaze. It seemed the layered genjutsu enhanced by soul power was quite effective.
"It's a pity I didn't get to admire the ending..."
Kato Osamu chuckled softly and quickly began forming hand seals.
Soul-Extinguishing Blade!
After Kato Osamu's simplification, the originally uncomplicated hand seals had been reduced to only three. The Soul-Extinguishing Blade was essentially just a type of Sealing Jutsu, except that it sealed an ability.
A faint phantom of a long blade appeared in Kato Osamu's hand and slowly pierced into the Cloud Shinobi girl's brow.
Soul Extraction!
The Soul-Extinguishing Blade radiated greed and plunder. The girl's phantom slowly emerged from her body, transforming into strands of pure soul energy that flowed into the blade. As he felt his spiritual body continuously filling out, Kato Osamu frowned instead.
"This is... false memory!"
Proficient in soul techniques, he could sense that the girl's memories concerning those dozen or so Konoha shinobi had been completely altered. They were false memories layered over the originals.
If the Soul-Extinguishing Blade had not dissected every strand of soul energy, even he might have mistaken such subtle differences for the girl's original memories. The person who had constructed these false memories possessed exceptionally skillful methods.
"If it wasn't them, then who was it?"
"Why implant false memories into them?"
"Could it be... someone planned all of this from behind the scenes? Just to provoke Konoha's anger?"
The girl's false memories made Kato Osamu's heart sink. Silently altering the memories of these Cloud Shinobi was no trivial matter and involved far-reaching implications. It felt as though he had once again touched upon some hidden darkness within the Shinobi World.
It seemed that some force hidden in the shadows was interfering with the entire war, yet neither Konoha nor the Cloud Shinobi had noticed its existence.
"Anyone staging such a grand performance must be plotting something..."
"What exactly is this mastermind's goal?"
After carefully considering every detail, Kato Osamu could not detect the slightest abnormality. If he had not happened to discover the girl's false memories, even he would not have harbored any suspicions.
"Creak..."
A sudden sound rang out, and Kato Osamu, lost in thought, abruptly turned around!
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