Soul Firefly Technique

"What was the consequence for those who failed their mission? Tell me!"

The Root ninja standing atop the platform wore a mask Kato Xu had never seen before. His voice was not loud, yet it carried an iron-blooded edge.

A-Three had died a year ago. This man wearing an unknown mask was also called A-Three.

"Mission failure: commit suicide to atone!"

Below the platform stood twenty children, eight or nine years old, every one of them speaking in a cold voice.

Most of their eyes revealed a trace of ferocity. Though still young, they were no longer to be underestimated.

For children like them, who had never known what was right and what was wrong, their standards for judging things had been completely shaped by the teachings they received.

Kato Xu remained expressionless.

Over three years, he had learned how to perfectly hide his emotions and put on the proper facade.

Coldness was the mark of a Root ninja, and also the mask Kato Xu had chosen for himself.

"Very good. One hour. I will give you only one hour. By then, I want every one of you to have a prey in your hands."

"Earth Release—Iron Prison!"

The Root ninja standing on the platform began to use ninjutsu.

"Rumble..."

The ground began to shake. Earthen walls rose from every direction, forming a circular enclosure roughly a hundred meters across.

Kato Xu looked at the Root ninja on the platform and understood that someone who could effortlessly cast such a ninjutsu was at least a Jonin-level ninja.

Meanwhile, prisoners delivered from Konoha Prison were sent one by one into the Iron Prison.

"Eight, nine, ten..."

Staring at those prisoners, Kato Xu understood what this arrangement meant. He simply had not expected it to come so soon.

At most, fifteen people would survive.

He turned his head and swept his gaze around.

They were only eight- or nine-year-old children, yet they were already scrutinizing those around them, even growing faintly wary.

"Enter!"

The Root ninja on the platform gave a soft shout, and everyone vanished in an instant.

Those who could stand here were all the best among their peers. Those who had failed to endure had long since become dry bones.

The Three Basic Techniques, the foundations of ninja taijutsu, Kunai and shuriken, even some low-level ninjutsu—everyone had already mastered them skillfully.

When life was threatened, people always unleashed incomparable potential.

The prison formed by Earth Release was not particularly large, but at this moment, it was exceptionally silent, mingled with a grim killing intent and desolation that filled every inch of the air.

"Other than the platform in the center, there are ninja presences on the earthen walls to the east, south, west, and north as well..."

Kato Xu chose a concealed tree and quietly hid behind it, sensing every movement around him.

The first things he noticed were the Root ninjas atop the four high walls, who were brazenly giving off powerful auras.

"It seems this assessment is anything but ordinary..."

Without further thought, he shifted his attention to the other hidden corners nearby.

Forests, bushes, rocky outcrops—an enemy could be hiding anywhere within the Iron Prison.

Every person was someone he needed to guard against.

Spiritual light emerged in Kato Xu's hand, drifting out like tiny fireflies. Their glow slowly faded, gradually turning transparent as they flew into the forest and vanished, scouting in every direction.

These little tricks were an application of his Spirit Transformation Technique. During his three years in Root, he had undergone quite a few similar trials, yet he had never used the Spirit Transformation Technique even once.

Though this secret technique could be called a supreme weapon for assassination, its drawbacks were equally obvious. Once his soul left his body, his body could not move. Without a concealed place to store it, or someone he trusted absolutely to guard it, he would merely be placing himself in the most dangerous situation possible.

He could only seek another path. Fortunately, he seemed to possess a special talent when it came to souls, and had successfully developed several minor techniques.

Clusters of chakra containing a trace of his spiritual perception scattered outward. Without deliberate control, they randomly dispersed through the forest and quietly concealed themselves.

"Ah!"

A sudden scream shattered the forest's silence.

"Soul Firefly Technique!"

Hearing the sound, Kato Xu activated his ninjutsu. The chakra clusters hidden throughout the forest were instantly triggered, transmitting images of their locations back to him before dissipating into nothingness.

In an instant, he found the locations of seven or eight people.

Aside from the prisoners who had never cultivated chakra, anyone with even slightly sharper senses detected the chakra fluctuations the moment the Soulfire Insects activated and knew they had been exposed.

Noises began rising and falling through the mountain forest, accompanied now and then by screams.

The children who had hidden themselves began spotting one another as they leaped about. Some chose to flee, while others chose to ambush.

Only those bold prisoners, clueless as to what was happening, continued lying in wait in secret.

Through Kato Xu's senses, two men in their forties wearing prisoner uniforms were quietly hiding behind a large tree.

He silently approached them.

Fools were foolish no matter when or where. It was unimaginable that people who had lived in this world for so many years would still judge the difference in strength by age and body size alone.

As he quietly reached their backs, Kato Xu had not expected the two prisoners to still be peeping at a girl.

"This old man will drag someone down with me even if I die."

"Hehe, this little girl is quite pretty..."

Kato Xu narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the girl in the distance...

"D-Five..."

The girl was the only female among the remaining twenty, and also the strangest one—she possessed a warm, gentle smile.

Even in Root's harsh environment...

Kato Xu had never provoked this girl. He kept his distance from people he could not understand. Someone who always smiled like that was surely not as simple as she appeared.

Just as he was about to leave, D-Five suddenly turned her head. A Kunai grazed past the tree beside Kato Xu.

"Come out. I know you're here..."

D-Five drew out a Kunai and gripped it in her hand, watching her surroundings warily.

"Won't you come out? Or are you still going to be like before, using your sensory abilities to avoid every battle and hiding until the end of every trial...?"

"I don't avoid every battle..."

Kato Xu tapped off the ground and revealed himself. Two shuriken shot out, piercing the throats of the two prisoners.

These prisoners were merely ordinary people. Even if they were stronger than average, the gap between them and ninjas was far too great.

"So it really is you, Wei..."

D-Five silently watched the two prisoners collapse. She merely glanced at them and made no move, but Kato Xu could clearly sense that she had become several degrees more serious than before.

"Don't be nervous. I have no desire to do anything meaningless, especially meaningless fighting."

"The two here should be enough to pass this trial."

D-Five looked at the black-haired boy before her, whose entire body was wrapped in a black cloak. Then she suddenly smiled softly and put away her Kunai.

"Wei, who only knows how to run, truly lives up to his reputation..."

"It isn't worth mentioning. I only do it to survive."

"Desperately developing sensory ninjutsu because you're afraid others will join forces to kill you. What a genius, Wei..."

Kato Xu gave D-Five a surprised look. The girl showed him her signature gentle smile again.

"Just a trivial trick. Not worth mentioning..."

Kato Xu quietly gathered chakra beneath his feet and swiftly threw out a Kunai. While D-Five dodged, he instantly darted into the forest and vanished.

Kato Xu fled without even taking the prey he had killed. He could sense that the emotions this girl displayed seemed filled with light and gentleness. Over the past three years, he had also come to understand his talent for sensing souls.

Other than certain exceptionally powerful beings from whom he could sense nothing at all, few could disguise the fluctuations of their souls so flawlessly.

"This girl truly isn't simple..."