The closer Dan Katō's soul came to Takahashi Yū, the more obvious the resistance became, but he thought it was merely the mind-invading effect of [Murderous Intent Fluctuation] described in the intelligence.
Relying on his firm will, he drew closer and closer to Takahashi Yū, unaware that this was a difference in soul strength. Within the high-density soul environment around Takahashi Yū, Dan Katō's soul could barely move.
The Yamanaka Clan Head still did not know what had happened, but he could sense the fluctuations of a soul technique. Thinking some reckless Yamanaka clansman was responsible, he kept shouting for them not to approach!
Dan Katō turned a deaf ear. From childhood to adulthood, his family's Spirit Transformation Technique had never failed him!
Holding one arm across his forehead to shield himself from a nonexistent gale, Dan Katō floated toward Takahashi Yū step by step, extending his free hand to knock Takahashi Yū's soul out!
The soul pressure beside Takahashi Yū had already reached such a level that he could only strain to touch him with his fingertips. Even making Takahashi Yū's soul waver slightly would let the other clan heads rescue Hyūga Tenmei!
Takahashi Yū was still struggling against the Shinobi Clan Heads, completely unaware that an invisible man beside him was trying desperately to touch him.
Almost! Almost there!
Dan Katō had already abandoned his plan to duel Takahashi Yū's soul. Now, he only wanted to touch him once!
His fingertips squeezed laboriously through the spiritual pressure around Takahashi Yū and made slight contact with his bare shoulder.
Boom!
It was as though a grenade had exploded in Dan Katō's mind!
The soul-based [Murderous Intent Fluctuation] was already a surging ocean. Now that it had found a tiny opening, it immediately formed a funnel-shaped vortex!
It surged madly into Dan Katō!
The killing intent amplified tenfold by [Murderous Intent Fluctuation] scythed through Dan Katō's consciousness like grass, eroding his soul!
"Aah! Aah! Aah..."
The screams deep within Takahashi Yū's mind shook him so badly that his whole body relaxed, and the Inuzuka Clan Head seized the opportunity to rescue Hyūga Tenmei from his grip on his head.
Grabbing Hyūga Tenmei by his kimono collar, the Inuzuka Clan Head nimbly darted behind the Nara group. He rubbed his arm and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, the Nara men collapsed straight onto the ground. They were exhausted, their chakra nearly drained, yet they had still needed to keep wrestling with that beast Takahashi Yū. On top of that, the shadows wrapped around him had been continuously disappearing for some unknown reason.
Any longer and they would have broken down. They were elites of the Nara Clan! If they had been allowed to bind the Third Hokage, they were confident they could hold him for half a day.
Takahashi Yū had never heard screams that penetrated so deeply into his soul. His hands instinctively covered his ears, though that probably did no good.
Behind him, the Akimichi Clan Head saw Hyūga Tenmei rescued and immediately ran out of strength. His hands rested limply on Takahashi Yū's shoulders, as though Takahashi Yū were carrying him on his back. His entire body had grown a size thinner.
The Yamanaka Clan Head could also faintly hear the screams coming from the spirit form. He climbed down from Takahashi Yū and looked around, first trying to find the clansman using the Soul Secret Technique.
"Who the hell wasn't listening properly at the clan meeting and used a secret technique? Find them, quick! Even if we treat them, they'll end up drooling!"
The Yamanaka Clan Head looked around, swearing. Faced with the bewildered crowd, he too fell into thought.
"Clan Head, we wouldn't dare! Lady Ayano kept stressing it. I haven't used a bit of chakra!"
"Exactly, Clan Head. We couldn't use it even if we wanted to. Lord Takahashi Yū's presence scared us weak."
Several Yamanaka Clan shinobi shook their heads. Then whose soul fluctuations were these?
"Takahashi Yū, stop!" Tsunade finally arrived, vaulting over the broken courtyard wall with the corpse-like Dan Katō.
Seeing Dan Katō, the Yamanaka Clan Head slapped his thigh. Holy shit, this young man really has guts! The Spirit Transformation Technique!
"Tsunade, Dan Katō used the Spirit Transformation Technique? Where did that young boyfriend of yours get the nerve?" The Yamanaka Clan Head went to meet Tsunade, relieved. As long as it was not someone from his Yamanaka Clan suffering.
"I didn't have time to tell him the intelligence on Takahashi Yū! Nara Clan Head, can you do anything?" Tsunade skidded to a halt. Her sensory ability was weak, but even she could feel the intense soul fluctuations around Takahashi Yū.
Seeing Takahashi Yū bent over in the center with his hands over his ears, showing no sign of struggling against Dan Katō, Tsunade was frantic. She could faintly hear Dan Katō's screams. Of course, it was not that she already had such deep feelings for him, but rather that she had not yet lost faith in Konoha and still sought to protect it.
"Huh? Me?" The Yamanaka Clan Head pointed at himself, his face full of disbelief.
"What could I possibly do? In this situation, nobody would dare interfere." The Yamanaka Clan Head did not want to cause any unnecessary losses.
The soul fluctuations around Takahashi Yū were the most intense the Yamanaka Clan Head had ever witnessed in his life. Mental-or rather, soul-techniques were inherently mysterious, and even the slightest damage could be irreversible.
Seeing even the head of Konoha's foremost clan in mental techniques shake his head, Tsunade grew more anxious. She carefully laid down Dan Katō's corpse-like body, clenched her fists, and moved to approach Takahashi Yū.
Takahashi Yū felt nothing in particular at the moment, except that the screams in his head were unbearably piercing, and he could not adjust the volume. It was like a cheap pair of headphones had been welded into his brain, playing on repeat at maximum volume with the worst sound quality. It was getting hard to endure, and he pressed his hands harder over his ears.
Connected to the outside world, [Murderous Intent Fluctuation] grew increasingly uncontrollable, surging wildly around Takahashi Yū. Fortunately, it had not materialized. Otherwise, who needed the Night of the Nine-Tails? Murderous Intent Fluctuation alone could wipe Konoha off the map.
The shinobi outside suffered for it. They endured the onslaught of killing intent, with a particularly vicious surge every so often, yet none dared leave. Tsunade was already here; could the Third Hokage be far behind?
If the big boss arrived and found you had run off, just watch how he made your life difficult!
Braving the wildly dancing killing intent, Tsunade approached Takahashi Yū one step at a time. She had been feeling deeply frustrated lately. Nothing had gone smoothly since her return to the village. Her proposal to benefit Konoha had been rejected, Grandma Mito sighed all day, and now the man she had just begun to like was in critical danger. All of this left Princess Tsunade, pampered since childhood, in extremely low spirits.
Now, she wanted to do her part, not only for Dan Katō but also to keep Konoha from being weakened. The closer she came to Takahashi Yū, the more Murderous Intent Fluctuation she endured, and the more severely it eroded her will. But Tsunade had lived through several wars, and her willpower far surpassed that of most people. She inched forward with difficulty.
When she came within three steps of Takahashi Yū, Tsunade could no longer withstand the pressure. She dropped to one knee, bracing both hands against the ground as she fought desperately against it.
Tsunade could barely breathe. The gap... is it really this great?
Huff, huff.
"Tsunade, give it up! We'll pull you out!" shouted the Yamanaka Clan Head from the perimeter, beckoning the Nara clansmen to drag the kneeling Tsunade out with their shadows.
Struggling to support herself with one hand, Tsunade waved the other behind her to tell them not to.
"I'm Konoha's princess! The First Hokage's granddaughter!"
Veins bulged across Tsunade's body, and sweat poured down her. Her planted foot cracked the ground beneath it, and she swiftly raised her kneeling leg, stamping another small crater into the earth.
The frenzied killing intent around Takahashi Yū swept incessantly over Tsunade's body, as though a reef had suddenly appeared in the eye of a storm. As if conscious, the killing intent stopped flailing wildly and began converging on her!
Blood-red killing intent engulfed Tsunade completely. Bloody wisps burrowed into her forehead like threads, eroding her brain.
A savage aura filled her mind, like a raging fire burning through the village. Countless tormented souls screamed in her head, and innumerable severed limbs bound themselves around her. Red stained her eyes, leaving only her slightly vacant pupils, but even those were slowly being consumed!
Tsunade did not hold out long. Blood-red color stained her pupils, and all strength immediately left her body. She collapsed, staring blankly at the sky with red eyes.
The surrounding shinobi were frantic. Whether Dan Katō died did not matter, but if something happened to Tsunade, wouldn't that old monster Mito go on a killing spree?
Just as the Nara men were about to drag Tsunade out with their shadows, green light suddenly shone from her chest!
Everyone was startled by the familiar chakra. Far away, the leisurely approaching Third Hokage and Mitokado Homura also underwent drastic changes in expression!
The First Hokage's chakra!
Abandoning their walking pace, the two bounded onto the rooftops and raced toward the Hyuga Clan Compound at full speed.
Strands of chakra brimming with life flowed from the necklace on Tsunade's chest. Some entered her body, continuously using its life-filled chakra to neutralize the killing intent entrenched within her. As her consciousness steadily cleared, Tsunade gazed at the green chakra beside her with clear eyes and could not help murmuring to herself.
"Grandpa..."
Once the killing intent inside her body had been exhausted, the remaining green chakra joined the other portion that had remained outside her body and drifted toward Takahashi Yū.
Upon touching Takahashi Yū, the chakra from the First Hokage's Necklace split into thin, rope-like strands. Following a mysterious pattern, they wound around him like a ball of yarn. Dan Katō's soul, which had been continuously eroded by killing intent, finally escaped. Drawn to his own body, his tattered soul shot back inside, and the body on the ground immediately shuddered.
His training really showed. An ordinary shinobi's soul would probably have been worn out of existence long ago.
Finally freed from the screams, Takahashi Yū dug a finger into his ear. What torture. Coming back to his senses, he discovered green light surrounding him and could not quite figure out what was happening.
After regaining consciousness, Tsunade shuddered as well. The will within Takahashi Yū's killing intent had frightened her, but when she saw Dan Katō's body suddenly twitch, she had no time to dwell on it. She hurried to her young boyfriend and cradled him in her arms.
The glow of Medical Ninjutsu lit Tsunade's hands, but looking at the completely unwounded Dan Katō left her at a loss. She could only look helplessly toward the Yamanaka Clan Head. He shook his head. His soul was already damaged; even if treated, he would still end up drooling.
Inside the ball of yarn formed by the First Hokage's chakra, Takahashi Yū actually felt quite comfortable. The life radiating from the green chakra made him feel warm all over, after all, but he still had business to attend to.
Takahashi Yū swung hard, slamming his fist into the green chakra. The entire sphere suddenly expanded outward, only to resiliently contract again.
"It has Sealing Jutsu properties too?"
When punching failed, Takahashi Yū could only press his body against the mass of chakra. With Sealing Jutsu properties involved, he would have to wear it down with [Dan-Ability].
That came from experience. The Sand Shinobi knew a thing or two about Sealing Jutsu, after all. Brute force could break it too, but that might take longer than wearing it down with [Dan-Ability]. He did not know how strong this Sealing Jutsu was, either, whereas [Dan-Ability]'s energy-isolating property did not care how strong it was.
It was just that his progress with [Dan-Ability] was too low. It had been his last main trait to activate, after all, and currently became ineffective less than a centimeter from his body.
Takahashi Yū could only press closer to the chakra to increase the surface area of contact. The effect was clear: the green chakra kept flowing, trying to replenish the side he was wearing away, but its efforts were futile.
Seizing the opening before him, Takahashi Yū materialized his killing intent and wedged it firmly into the gap. Using that as a foothold, he released his Murderous Intent Fluctuation outward, and the green chakra of the First Hokage was devoured by the red Murderous Intent Fluctuation.
Standing in place, he controlled Murderous Intent Fluctuation to shred the last trace of green chakra. Takahashi Yū sensed an angry gaze and turned to see Tsunade sitting on the ground, holding the unconscious Dan Katō in her arms and glaring at him.
Takahashi Yū chuckled.
"That boyfriend of yours gave me quite a hard time. How does a grown man scream that horribly?"
"But he dared attack my soul. I, Takahashi Yū, acknowledge him."
"He doesn't need your acknowledgment!" Tsunade interrupted, pointing at Takahashi Yū as she angrily rebuked him.
Tsunade recalled the nightmare-like sensation of the killing intent invading her, then looked at Dan Katō, whose fate remained unknown. Overcome with anger, she could not help shouting.
"Takahashi Yū, what people outside say about you is right. You really are a demon!"
Her words echoed through the Hyuga Clan Compound, and the shinobi present immediately paled. The Undying Squad members looked at Tsunade with disgust, while the Uchiha F3 were already poised to act. Even the Third Hokage, who had raced to the edge of the Hyuga Clan Compound, quickened his steps, not stopping even when his Hokage robe slipped off.
"A demon?!"
"You, Konoha's princess, call me a demon?!"
Takahashi Yū lowered his head and forced the angry words from deep in his throat. Dark shadows concealed his expression.
Only the red killing intent behind him kept churning, expanding ceaselessly as it shot into the sky!
"Who did I become like this for? Was my kekkei genkai like this at the start? I killed nearly five thousand Sand Shinobi and nearly a thousand Iwa Shinobi. Their blood could dye all of Konoha red!"
"Their corpses could fill Konoha!"
"I killed their comrades, their teachers and students, their families. If they call me a demon, I, Takahashi Yū, accept it!"
"But!..."
Before you continue