Others couldn't sense it, but Kurama, the strongest of the nine tailed beasts, could clearly feel the change in Shiki's eyes.
He was certain of one thing.
That power hadn't been there before.
And yet, the moment he felt it, a deep instinctive warning rose inside him. It was the kind of threat that made even him feel uneasy, as though this was something he could not fight against head-on.
That only made Kurama even more confused.
What kind of power is this…?
For something to make even him feel threatened—
What the hell is happening to this ninja world?
How long had he been sealed away?
And in that time, the ninja world had changed so much that monsters like this were appearing one after another.
While Kurama was still processing that thought, Koharu stared at Shiki as if she were looking at some kind of demon.
"How is that possible?!" she screamed. "That was my strongest ninjutsu! How could you possibly—?!"
With the boost from Mōryō's chakra, that combination Wind and Fire Release technique had already reached the level of an S-rank attack.
Against almost anyone else, it would have been devastating.
Unfortunately for her, the one standing in front of her was Shiki.
"And you still want to argue when I call you a frog in a well?"
With a smooth motion, Shiki flicked his blade in a clean arc, cutting away the charred remains before casually sliding it back into its scabbard.
Then he looked at Koharu with an almost helpless expression.
"Come on already," he said, sounding like he was humoring a stubborn child. "At least try hard enough to make this interesting."
"You—!"
She was furious.
Her eyes widened with rage as she glared at him viciously.
Shiki was stronger than her. That much was already obvious.
But what truly made her furious was the way he kept looking down on her so casually, as though none of this even mattered.
"That look in your eyes is pretty scary."
But instead of being intimidated, Shiki only laughed.
Then—
Boom.
The ground beneath him cracked apart.
In the next instant, Shiki vanished from where he stood.
"Looking for me?"
His calm voice suddenly came from right beside her.
"What—?!"
Koharu's eyes widened.
She hadn't sensed him move at all.
One moment he was standing in front of her, and the next—
He was already behind her.
She immediately tried to raise her arm and counterattack, but Shiki was faster.
His sword flashed.
Slash.
Her arm was severed cleanly and fell to the ground.
Koharu's expression twisted. She didn't even bother reacting to the pain. She instantly leaped backward, putting more than ten meters between them in a panic.
Shiki didn't chase her.
He simply stood there and let her retreat.
"Come on, Shiki-sama!"
Seeing the situation turn so quickly, Shion, who had been worried just a moment ago, finally relaxed and called out in support.
"Hmph!"
Even after losing an arm, Koharu still forced out a cold snort, her face twisted with contempt.
"I've already been transformed by Mōryō's Chakra. I can regenerate any part of my body at will. It's only an arm—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her expression froze.
Then she looked down at the place where her arm had been cut off, disbelief filling her eyes.
No matter how much chakra she poured into it, no matter how desperately she tried to force the regeneration—
Nothing happened.
There was no sign of recovery at all.
It was as if that arm had never been capable of healing in the first place.
"How…?"
Her voice came out shaky now.
That shouldn't have been possible.
The monster's chakra was still inside her. She could feel it clearly.
So why?
Why wouldn't her arm regenerate?
Koharu slowly lifted her head and stared at Shiki in disbelief.
"What did you do?!"
Her voice came out almost like a shriek.
Why?
Why was the monster's chakra still there, yet her arm still wouldn't come back?
Shiki looked at her and smiled faintly.
The reason was simple.
When he cut off her arm, he hadn't just severed flesh.
He had used the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and sliced through the arm's line of death.
The moment that line was cut, the arm itself lost all vitality.
Its existence had effectively been terminated at the source.
It was like cutting away the very cause behind its existence.
And once that happened, no amount of regeneration could bring it back.
"So I'll say it again," Shiki said calmly. "You're just a frog in a well."
Koharu had sat in Konoha's highest ranks for far too long.
She knew too little about the things that truly existed in this world.
Her understanding of the ninja world had probably remained stuck in the era of the Second Hokage.
"You bastard—!"
Koharu roared at Shiki.
Her voice was fierce, but anyone with eyes could see it now.
But anyone paying attention could see through it. Beneath all that rage, there was fear—real fear.
The kind that showed in the brief hesitation in her eyes, in the way her body had already started thinking about retreat before her pride could catch up. She could still scream and glare all she wanted, but it was obvious by now that Koharu was afraid of Shiki.
She no longer wanted to fight him.
"Trying to escape?"
Shiki's tone turned amused, almost playful.
That single line instantly made Koharu snap.
"As if!" she shouted. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm not afraid of you at all!"
But the louder she yelled, the more obvious it became.
She was terrified.
"Damn it…"
Her expression darkened.
Her mind was already racing, desperately trying to figure out how to get out of this alive.
But before she could think any further, Shiki's voice sounded beside her again.
"Don't bother. You're not getting away."
"What?!"
Koharu whipped her head around—
And what entered her sight was not Shiki himself.
Only his sword.
A slash so overwhelming it felt as though it could split heaven and earth itself.
"Die."
One strike.
And everything fell silent.
Since he wanted to test the power of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shiki hadn't used any advanced swordsmanship in that attack.
Even in its current incomplete state, the power of those eyes was already terrifying.
And Shiki had no doubt—
Once his compatibility reached one hundred percent, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception would become one of his greatest trump cards.
A power close to the level of cause and effect itself.
At this point, Shiki could already say it with confidence.
Even if it were a god—
He could kill it.
"Hm?"
As Shiki returned the Ō Wazamono to its scabbard, his eyes suddenly shifted.
It was as if he had sensed something.
He turned and looked toward a distant point beyond the Land of Demons.
That chakra…
The moment he expanded his Observation Haki, his expression changed slightly.
Black Zetsu… and White Zetsu.
So that's why it felt familiar.
Those two bastards.
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